Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Reading Journal-Assignment 7

Juvenal is very critical of those who struggle to obtain a great amount of wealth and the exaltation of wealth. The narrator (or Juvenal) immediately starts out on a rant explaining why he satirizes things at all and a huge reason why is because of this infuriating behavior, such as worshipping wealth. He states, “Weatlh has the prior claim, and the badge of the sacred office…Wealth, in our hearts, is set in the veriest Holy of Holies, Though we have not yet built temples in honor of Money” (p. 21). This shows how the population he’s talking about worships money just as if it was a deity or god to be honored in a building resembling something as sacred as a temple.

In Innocents Abroad, Twain creates a more dynamic narrator who is critical of wealth, for example his criticism of the Medici family, but at the same time he appreciates all the products of wealth and it is the measurement by which he judges the value of anything. Through a series of thoughts you eventually come to understand the dichotomy of Twain’s narrator’s ironic concepts regarding wealth, whereas, Juvenal’s narrator is more obvious is his disdain for concerns of wealth.

I think Twain values free speech and depicts his narrator as someone who is annoyed at the Roman people for not taking advantage of this very powerful form. His narrator doesn’t want to be bothered by the impoverished people hanging around the attraction to bother him because it’s really their own fault for not taking charge within their government. I’m pretty confused as to what Juvenal thinks about free speech, but I think he shows his lack of confidence for the people to ever stand up for themselves and be truthful; therefore, this value of free speech is lost on them. Twain represents a very playful attitude about the arts in his story. The narrator mocks St. Peter’s as being too “bulky,” and yet he loves it as well. There’s a certain sarcastic attitude towards Michelangelo and how he was your basic “over-achiever” designing half of Rome, it seemed. Juvenal does not have this playful affection/mocking tone towards the arts, artists, and patrons. He sees the whole system as being corrupt and nasty. I think Juvenal would value “truth” and “control over one’s greed” to be the most noble qualities. He says that, “Virtue alone is proof of nobility” and I think that truth and elimination of greed are two characteristics of nobility that Juvenal is lobbying for.


First Satire: “Meanwhile, all by himself, on a couch unshared, their good king will/Gobble and guzzle the choicest products of land and ocean. Down goes a whole estate; from such luxurious tables,/Broad and antique, down goes a whole estate at one sitting” (p. 22).

I liked this quote because it made me think of the king as sitting down and consumed an entire house. He eats a quantity the size of an entire property/estate/house! I think this is a good use of hyperbole in order to get the idea across that these rich men are consuming so much in excess that it equates an entire household.

Fifth Satire: “To the main event, a battle royal, the freedmen/ Versus the rest of you, with goblets and crockery flying./You stop a jug with your face, pick up a napkin to wipe it” (p. 56).

This quote is crazy because the thought of having your face smashed in with a jug and then wiping yourself off with a napkin, and then for everything to fine and dandy is absurd. I think this is definitely a use of burlesque, since having your face broken is serious and giving it a wipe of the napkin to fix it is silly and ridiculous.

Seventh Satire: “What big lies they puff out as they heave and pant like a bellows/Drooling all over their chins and halfway down to their navels!” (p. 95).

I believe this quote employs some hyperbole and some irony. This quote’s funny because it makes you wonder how any of the lawyers succeed if all we’re to see them as are these drooling idiots in court.

Eighth Satire: “how does he dare be/Proud of the conqueror’s title bestowed, or of the Great Altar,/Hercules’ own, if he’s silly, and avaricious, and softer/Than a Euganean lamb? The chests of his forebears were hairy;/Look at him, though, with his butt all smootherd by Catanian pumices!” (p. 102).

I definitely think this is Juvenal’s use of mock-heroics, parody, and irony all in one. This passage amused me because I can’t image myself looking up to this heroic figure after the humorous physical description that is given. I think that’s the whole point.

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