For Better or For Worse

Hello my fellow blog readers, Shakespearean Taj is back! How art thou?! Yeah, that is about all I have got. Anyway, what I really wanted to come talk about was assimilation. From my knowledge, assimilation is the process of comprehending an idea and / or any type of information. After reading the novel Native Son by Richard Wright, I have noticed the benefits and downsides of assimilation and how it ultimately shaped this particular novel as a whole. One of the main characters, named Jan, undergoes assimilation, that results in a positive manner, when his girlfriend is killed. When Jan finds out his mistress (see what I did there) is killed by the protagonist, who he was acquainted with, he came to an understanding that it was what society made out of him that overall pushed him to commit such a crime. By being able to understand this very idea, he found the courage to in fact reach out to the protagonist and defend him on his trial, even though he was guilty. However, assimilation that results in a negative manner is when the protagonist kills his first person. Too bad this book was not a tragedy because Shakespeare would not treat me like this.

Okay so in this novel, the protagonist, Bigger Thomas, ends up killing the daughter of a wealthy white family, at this point, he experiences a sense of control over his life that he has never felt before. This idea of gaining control through killing someone leads to him actually killing another character in the novel, which then leads to various other consequences. As a whole, this comes to show that assimilation is almost always the reason for one’s path to enlightenment or path to corruption. Fair thee well!

In Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar, the main point of the play was to show that striving for power for the wrong reasons ultimately leads to the downfall of one who is looking for such power. Personally, I think this was a great message to showcase throughout the play because it can apply to anyone in high positions. However, I really don’t get why Shakespeare even wrote the play. I think that literary merit is the value and purpose of a piece of literature. Julius Caesar provides value in regards to its theme, but it does not provide a purpose for why the play was written. His work is valuable to an extent because it does not provide as much value as more popular works such as Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet. His intention was not really stated or maybe I just did not get it. Honestly though, I did like the book and I thought it was really well written. 

My Cup of T(aj)

Hello, I would like to start by introducing myself. I am just another local adolescent that just so happens to be extremely fond of Shakespeare. Just to clarify, I am not necessarily deeply enchanted or allured by all of William Shakespeare's works, I would just prefer to occupy myself with his works over any other poem, novel, or play handed to me. To be completely candid, I'm not even that big of a reader. It is not that I generally dread reading, but more of in my free time, that is something that you would more than likely find me not doing. I'm actually almost positive that if you are ever to catch me reading, it is almost always because I have no choice but to for a class requirement. Fortunately, in my previous years of English and Literature courses, I have encountered and have been enlightened by several of many Shakespearean works. Throughout my previous school years, I also encountered other novels that I overall appreciated, such as: Their Eyes Were Watching God, To Kill a Mockingbird, Lord of The Flies, Catcher in the Rye, Fahrenheit 451, and Anthem. So, if I’m not reading anything by William Shakespeare, I am most likely reading anything by the author of the previous books because they have peaked my interest. No exceptions. I should probably also mention, I am kind of a picky reader. If I am going to read anything, it is going to be by an author that I am familiar with. If not, I become completely incapable of reading. But hey, if you stay tuned, you know, you’ll probably find out a lot more about the Shakespearean Taj!