Analysis #3 "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House

In the movie, "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House", the Blandings decide to move away from the city and find the perfect house. One problem after another arises until they decide to build a new house from the ground up. In the process of building the house, the project becomes larger and larger and more expensive. At the end of the film, they are broke, but they have the house of their dreams. How does this contrast with our views of home ownership in today's world? Many of us will never be homeowners, spending our lives in rented apartments, condominiums, or houses. Many people in the real estate market today are in danger of losing their homes because they bought houses that they really could not afford to own. The loans being made were interest only and when the housing market changed for the worse, they were left with a mortgage with a rising interest rate that they could no longer afford. Since very few, if any payments had been made toward the principal on the house, soon they were"upside down" when the bottom fell out of the market.The "dream house" was now worth less than what it originally cost to purchase. Couple this scenario with the rising unemployment and you have a large group of people who may never have the satisfaction of owning a home. The question worth asking is this? Does everyone deserve to own a house? If one lived in the city of New York, one would be quite content to spend their life in an apartment, and never dream of owning a home. How would Sigmund Freud analyze the dream thought and the dream content in regard to home ownership in our world today? Freud states "The dream-thoughts and the dream-content are presented to us like two versions of the same subject matter in two different languages"(819). How is one able to translate the dream as it relates to us today? Conversely, how does the theory of the Oedipus Complex enter into this discussion? Do we want to attain home ownership because we feel that we deserve it, or is there an underlying competition to do better than one's Father? Freud states that the words of the chorus in "Oedipus Rex" "strikes as a warning at ourselves and our pride"(816). Something to consider when one decides where and how to live.


"Works Cited"

Leitch, Vincent B. Ed.
The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism Second Ed. New York: Norton, 2010. Print.

July 21, 2010 , Analysis #2 "Mother"

The woman in this painting could be anyone, from anywhere. It is likely this was

from a time period when family portraits were commonly done, so it could be from fifty

to over one hundred years old. There is an indication that the subject comes from a privileged

background due to her style of dress, hair and the setting of the portrait. While she is not

smiling there is an air of serenity about her and we can sense that she is a person who is

accustomed to the finer things in life. It is difficult to determine the age of the woman from the

painting, so actually she may be a young lady. The eyes give nothing away, and one cannot tell if

they are sad or merely uninterested in the process of sitting for a portrait. From the background

of the painting, it is difficult to detect more clues due to its abstract nature.The body language of

the woman suggests an air of repose, indicating leisure pursuits as opposed to work.

In analyzing this painting from the perspective of Structuralism, Ferdinand De Saussure would

look at the relationship between the "signified" and the "signifier" to find that they can be

viewed as a symbol of a culture, that of "Mother". "The signifier( sound- image) and the signified

(concept), brought inseparably together like the two sides of a sheet of paper"(847). These two,

when combined together constitute the sign. The sign, in this case is the Mother, as we have

led to think of her in our culture.

Works Cited
Leitch, Vincent B. Ed. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Second Edition. New York:
Norton, 2010. Print.

Helen of Troy and Patty Hearst, Victims or Participants?

Mary Finnigan

Dr. Steven Wexler

English 436- Major Critical Theory

13 July 2010

Helen of Troy and Patty Hearst, Victims or Participants?

The sagas of Helen of Troy and Patty Hearst share many characteristics that can be examined under the microscope of classical literary criticism. Both women were kidnapped against their will, and later vilified by those who chose to view their abductions as free will choices. As Gorgias of Leontini writes in “ Ecominium of Helen”, several reasons can explain the reasons for Helen’s departure to Troy. They are “the will of fortune and the plan of the gods,” or she was “seized by force” or “captured by love”(39). If she was “persuaded by speech [logos]” and her mind was “deluded”[39], she must be held blameless for her actions. Gorgias asserts that Helen was persuaded by the power of speech and is therefore cannot be held accountable for her actions. He holds the persuader responsible for the wrongdoing, not the victim in this case. The victim, Helen was swept away by the rhetoric of convincing speech by Paris . “If it was love that did all these things, she will easily escape blame for the error that is said to have occurred”(40).In the writing of Gorgias, Helen cannot be seen as someone who was complicit in her kidnapping and the ensuing Trojan War that came about as a result.
In the case of Patty Hearst, many of the same classical literary theories apply. Patty Hearst was a 19 year old college student at UC Berkeley in Berkeley, California in 1974 when she was kidnapped and held for ransom by members of the Symbionese Liberation Army. The S.L.A. was a small, radical fringe group that declared war on the United States. While her parents made attempts to pay the ransom, the S.L.A. rejected these attempts, and Patty Hearst was held as a captive for one and one half years before she was captured by the Police. After her capture, she was prosecuted, found guilty, and sent to prison for robbery. Many people believed that she willingly participated in the crimes that were committed. Evidence strongly suggests that she was a victim of the Stockholm Syndrome and was brainwashed by her captors. Her free will, like Helen of Troy’s, was taken from her {by force} and she adapted in order to survive. She even went so far as to change her name to “Tania” in deference to a fallen “comrade” in the S.L.A. (You Tube clip).
The kidnapping of Patty Hearst has all the classic elements of Tragedy as defined by Aristotle in his writing “Poetics” (93). These elements included plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle and song. Though this tragedy was played out in modern day on television and in print, it still contains all the elements of a Greek Tragedy and the catharsis that is brought about at the conclusion of the play. Both Helen of Troy and Patty Hearst were forced against their will, into situations where they were required to adapt in order to survive. As Gorgias would agree, “Whether she did what she did, invaded by love, persuaded by speech, impelled by force or compelled by divine necessity, she escapes all blame entirely”(41).


‘Works Cited’
1. Leitch, Vincent B. Ed.
The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 2nd ed.
New York: Norton, 2010. Print.
2."Patty Hearst, 2001 - Notorious Presidential Pardons - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. Web. 13 July 2010. .

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here is to a great summer and an interesting way of learning!! mary finnigan