Mr. Bratwurst

3. Identify and interpret the architectural images Jane uses to denote Mr. Brocklehurst in this chapter. What is the impact of these images on the development of his character?

"A long stride measured the schoolroom, and presently beside Miss Temple, who herself had risen, stood the same black column which had frowned on me so ominously from the hearthrug of Gateshead. I now glanced sideways at this piece of architecture. Yes, I was right: it was Mr. Brocklehurst, buttoned up in a surtout, and looking longer, narrower, and more rigid than ever."

I think its a very interesting and unique method of description to use architectural imagery to describe someone, and I think that also makes it a very good method of description.

As Mr. Brocklehurst (which sounds like Mr. Bratwurst) comes into the scene, Jane quite obviously has a very negative view towards him from the beginning. She outrightly states that she isn't looking forward to his arrival, and he is presented in a very negative light. This sets the stone for Mr. Bratwurst to have negative connoted descriptions, which consist of architectural comparisons. Jane first plainly says, "I now glanced sideways at this piece of architecture". Instead of metaphorically comparing him to architecture, she blatantly says so as if it was a defining quality of him. She then continues saying, "...looking longer, narrower, and more rigid than ever." These are characteristics that could easily be given to a skyscraper much less a human, and qualities that have more of a negative connotation, especially when describing a person. Additionally, she referred to him as a "black column" and a "long stride" which "measured the schoolroom". By referring to him as a black column he puts architectural characteristics on him in accordance with the color black which is generally a negative color, and by referring to him as a long stride that measured the schoolroom, she put non-human qualities onto him, supporting her purpose.

This creates a very dehumanized description of Mr. Bratwurst. I have never read Jane Eyre, and for all I know his character could be completely different, but from this excerpt I get the idea that Mr. Bratwurst is a very closed-minded and strict character, simply because he is described with dehumanizing imagery like a building. His character is developed in a way that suggests he isn't very human at all, and in a way he doesn't have basic human qualities like emotion and sympathy. The way he acts in the end of the excerpt toward the curly-haired girl kind of supports that idea.

The usage of this imagery really caught my attention because it isn't always that you hear someone described architecturally. I think this is what makes it such a good method of description, because it's so different.

Little babe-magnet

When I looked at this assignment and saw that we had to find the seven deadly sins in advertising, I immediately thought of car advertisements. Cars can be advertised demonstrating ANY of the seven deadly sins. This specific ad is hilariously interesting to me for many reasons.

This is an ad made in 1996 by Daihatsu Motor Co. in Japan for the Daihatsu Hijet MPV. Most of the ad is taken up by the words, "Picks up five times more women than a Lamborghini", and then pictures a Daihatsu Hijet MPV with a man sitting in the front seat and five other women in the car. 

It is most likely intended for an audience of men. Specifically men that don't really have a way with women, which can be inferred by the message and the image of the man in the car. He is wearing large glasses and a turtle-neck, which is not a very attractive combination, if I do say so myself. The intended male audience is probably that of the middle class, because it compares the cheaper car being presented to a much more expensive Lamborghini, inferring the audience cannot afford such an expensive car. The intended audience is also probably very small-minded and single men, who are fooled by the use of women as a persuasive method.

The ad uses black and white coloring and formatting to create contrast between the words and the background and make the words the focus of the ad. The car is also in a white color, the same as the background, to not bring as much attention to it as the words. The words read, "Picks up five times more women than a Lamborghini". This ad clearly uses lust as a method of persuasion. The main focus of the ad is a sentence that suggests that this cheap and unattractive car is better compared to a Lamborghini just because it has more space to pick up specifically women. Lamborghini is a car company that was extremely successful at the time, and comparing their crap car to Lambo was a big mistake in my point of view. Especially since it is suggesting that the only reason it is better than a Lambo is because of the amount of women it can hold. You should also read the fine print at the bottom that you probably assume are factual details about the car itself. The little paragraph begins with, "Forget your Italian racers. This little babe-magnet is the Daihatsu Hijet MPV. Don't laugh... Two sun roofs for when things get hot." I find it hilarious because its basing it's entire advertising methods on the subjugation of women and the assumption that the intended audience won't realize how crap of a car it is after being told it can hold five women. No wonder this ad and this car had no success whatsoever. 

Sonia Rosemarie Wrobel

Every single part of my name has always been, and always will be, mispronounced. Sonia Rosemarie Wrobel. I have always had mixed feelings about my name. I love how unique it is because nobody has the same name; I have only ever met 3 people with the name Sonia. But I also hate the fact that it is never pronounced right, and Sawn-ya Rosemary Wraw-ble does not sound very pretty in my opinion.

Sonia is a name that doesn't really have a single origin. I've been told its Brazilian, Polish, Italian, Slovakian, and many others. My parents told me that they liked the sound of my name. They liked how it flowed. My name also means 'wisdom', but my parents didn't even know that until I told them one day after researching the origin of my name. I have always had negative feelings towards it because of the common mispronunciations and lack of meaning. That is why I have never let it define me. I think my first name is a method of identification, but in order to define me it has to have meaning, which to me it doesn't. Although I have always been made fun of for having an herb as a middle name, Rosemarie has more meaning because it stems from both my grandmothers; my mother's mom's name is Rosa, and my father's mom's middle name is Marie. This pleases me because it reminds me that I will always have a part of them with me, even though its just in my name, which gives it meaning. Because of this, I was an advocate for hyphenated last names for children, because then their last name would represent both sides of their family. But then I realized once they got married to another hyphenated-last-named person, and they had more children, it would get pretty messy. Imagine "Sonia Wrobel-Greene-Villari-Dovinola"--yikes!

Anna Quindlen, in her essay "The Name is Mine", remarks,"there are two me's, the me who is the individual and the me who is a part of a family of four..." Quindlen's essay relates quite a lot to my mother. My mother, Maria Rita Villari, kept her last name instead of taking the Wrobel name, and I had asked the same question to my mother that Quindlen's son asked her. My mother assured me that her name was part of who she was, but she also didn't believe that she was obligated to change her name just because she got married. My mom answers to Mrs. Wrobel even though she doesn't technically identify as a Wrobel, and in doing that she represents her "me" that is part of a family. Yet, she stays true to her name's individuality, her other "me". The individuality of my mother's name especially identifies her as an Italian; Villari is such an Italian name that almost anyone can realize it immediately. She already moved across the world for my father, so she believed she shouldn't have to get rid of part of her Italian identity as well. I always completely understood why she kept it and had decided as a child that when I get married I will keep my name as well.

In addition to representing something as simple as a name, I think Quindlen's quote also represents the struggles of being an individual who is part of a larger whole in our current society. As an individual in our society, its difficult also being part of the larger whole because of the different judgements and perspectives put in place. People can be mean, especially today with so many controversial issues being brought up to the surface. I think I really became "two" when I entered the IB Program. That's when I really had to start thinking critically about situations and I began to formulate my own opinions on ideas. I have become "two" because I am an individual now with specific ideas and views, but I also feel the need to conform into the larger whole. Although I should be proud of who I am and what I believe, I don't reveal it all because of judgement and the large amount of my peers and friends who are very strong in their beliefs. I am a people-pleaser, I do everything that I do for the good of other people, and that forces me to be "two". What other people see, is not necessarily the truth.

Anna Quindlen's quote, while describing the complex of a name, also represents the complex of society and one's role in it. Therefore, the same way I believe my name doesn't define myself, I don't think a specific version of "me" can define myself either. What I reveal to other people does not make me who I am. I get to decide what defines myself.