Animal Farm is a short allegory that displays the conflicts of a communist, totalitarian government. Although considered a classic by the literary circles of America, Animal Farm reads like a children's book. Taking into account the talking, literate animals, this book touches on the borders of fantasy. George Orwell wrote this book about communist Russia, but now it has become a subtle rebellion agaisnt totalitarianism in general.

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

Siddhartha covers the basics of Buddhism, enligthenment, and Nirvana in about 190 pages of easy reading. This adventure follows a man through life, while he tries different paths in an attempt to reach enlightenment. The writing is not difficult or long winded, but is written to be understood. The concepts of this book are some-what hidden, but they are not difficult to understand. The reader just has to look for the ideas as they appear in the text.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Fahrenheit 451 is a great book that criticizes and condemns censorship. Although Fahrenheit 451 is considered a classic, the writing of the book is simple, with a descriptive nature that entertains the reader as he reads. Many great books lack the lyrical quality of a book like Fahrenheit 451. The concepts presented in this book are also easy to grasp, as the book does not posess any extended metaphors or allegory. This book contains a plethora of information, making it one of the easiest classics to write about.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men is a concise book that tells the story of two farmers in about 110 pages. Steinbeck is a highly regarded writer, considered one of the greatest American authors. This book is commonplace on high school curriculum and yet another easy read. If you're reading this book for a high school class, be prepared to write a paper about the importance of language in the book.

The Stranger by Albert Camus

This book is realistically for the "B" and above students. The Stranger is short novel filled with existenialist ideas and morals, which are subtlely showed with no obvious clues. One must be prepared to study and think about this book intently before any hopes of writing a decent paper amount. However, any paper that impresses a teacher about this book will get an "A" for sure. This book is on this list because it is an easy read, but the concepts are deep below the surface, and therefore the reader must be prepared to dive into this book headfirst.

I suggest that you do read up on other novels with characters of Jack Ryan (The Hunt for Red October), John Clark and Ding Chavez (Clear and Present Danger) both novels made into movies. Once you've been down in the bush with these guys you'll understand a little more of the action and chemistry these three guys have and what it means to be the best in the art of unconventional warfare. The way Mr. Clancy writes and incorporates the special operations tactics of U.S. Army Rangers and Special Forces techniques is truly awesome. From the use of real special operations equipment, to the covert actions of a Delta Force Operator. Rainbow six is my first recommendation of the Men's Book Club in the action department.

I will be reviewing another book later this week, so please stay tuned for further readings. The next book is a great up and coming story teller from Afghanistan.

Please, if they're any suggestions out their let me know and we can review these novels as well. Till next time bookworms, Men's Book Club is out.

It's On Like Donkey Kong, Where the reviews of your Men's Book Club Won't Go Wrong.

The character line up for this piece of literature is both intriguing and peculiar. The fact that two men are working and traveling together really contradicts the common "loner" theme of this time. In addition, Steinbeck offers only two women as characters in the simple plot of this book. Curley's wife is not even named by Steinbeck. Naming a character is a simple task that may describe or reflect actions of the character. Not only is she not named, but she is also described as a flirty, promiscuous woman (Steinbeck 23). At the end of the novel, Lenny kills her. Steinbeck, with no regret, kills off a nameless, almost worthless, character (83). Curley's wife is looked down upon by society, similar to the women at this time. She represents the view that men have of women in this particular setting, time and place.

In addition to Curley's wife, Aunt Clara is the second woman of the total two women in the novel. The only detail about Aunt Clara described by Steinbeck is that she used to give Lenny mice to pet (43). Aunt Clara is also described as the enemy towards the end of the book. When Lenny recalls his nice aunt, he blames her for his addiction to soft things (101). Once again, we see another female looked down upon by someone, in this case, blamed for something that causes a prominent climax, the killing of Curley's wife and the killing of a girl in Weed, the last town the two men lived in. In addition to blaming Aunt Clara for the accident, she is also actively portrayed as a very motherly figure, a stereotype that references the common view that women were supposed to keep to the home to “ care for children and do such tasks as milking cows and washing clothes” (DaMetz 15). Aunt Clara represents the motherly figure expected of many women at the time when this book takes place.

Whenever women are mentioned in the plot of the novel, they are usually in the context of a sexual nature. The ranch hands, including Lenny and George, frequently visit the local whorehouse (Steinbeck 11). This is an example of how women in the novel are associated with promiscuous behavior. In addition, none of the main characters ever mention wives or when they do mention wanting beautiful girls, they don't want to be committed to her. After reading the detailed account of Curley and his wife, one gets the feeling that the relationship is more physical than an emotional attachment (53). Throughout the novel, the men never mention any type of healthy relationship with women like marriage or any other type of formal relationship. This biased stereotypical information that Steinbeck floods the plot with references yet another common stereotype from men towards women. The belief that women were property for sexual pleasure and that they were worthless was prominent in this time.

Anti-feminism and unfair women's rights still exist in the present day world. Even though much advancement for women's rights have been made since the time in the book, women today still suffer from unfair disadvantages in the government and jobs. Steinbeck's view on anti-feminism is very discrete, yet many people can still refer passages to present day culture. Steinbeck gives the reader a small sample of the thoughts that he has, and lets the reader take the course of mystical interpretation.

The narrator of a novel is an often-overlooked character. When reading, we rarely take into account how the background and personality of the narrator could influence the retelling of events. In The Woman Warrior, Hong Kingston gives the book a distinctly feminine tone by making herself an involved and opinionated narrator. The stories here effect “Maxine” on a much more personal level. She relates each story to her personal life. In “No Name Woman”, Maxine compares her aunt's possible adultery to how she herself coped with boys in school. “As if it came from an atavism deeper than fear, I used to add “brother” silently to boys' names. It hexed the boys, who would or would not ask me to dance, and made them less scary and as familiar and deserving of benevolence as girls” (WW 12).

Integrating herself into the talk-stories serves as a testament to Maxine's womanhood. In “White Tigers”, Maxine places herself in the shoes of Fa Mu Lan. “She said I would grow up a wife and a slave, but she taught me the song of the warrior woman, Fa Mu Lan. I would have to grow up a warrior woman” (WW 20). Instead of simply reciting various talk-stories, Maxine uses each one to develop facets of her femininity. She takes on each story as a life lesson. The female nature can be associated with strong emotions, and Maxine's comparison of her life to the stories

As narrator in China Men, Maxine is much less personally involved in The Woman Warrior. Not only is she less present in the book, but she uses the talk-stories more to provide commentary on men's behavior rather than as a parallel to her own experiences. The grandfather in “The Father From China” exemplifies this theme in his doting over the female baby. “He walked slowly, adoring the peachy face. He sat by the side of the road to look at her. He counted her pink toes and promised that no one would break them. He tickled under her chin” (CM 20). Instead of taking the story and comparing it to herself, Hong Kingston elaborates more on the individual characters from a distance.

Characters in China Men also are less emotional then those in The Woman Warrior. “He grew the habit of clamping his mouth shut in a line, and the sun baked that expression on him.” (CM 114) Bak Goong keeps his thoughts and feelings inside of him, instead of expressing himself. The stories in China Men lack the emotional and personal involvement that was seen in The Woman Warrior. The author's perspective here can be seen as being representative of the masculine nature of not having ones emotions so close to the surface.

Hong Kingston supported this difference in an interview with the New York Times in 1980:

''In a way, "The Woman Warrior" was a selfish book. I was always imposing my viewpoint on the stories. In "China Men" the person who "talks story" is not so intrusive. I bring myself in and out of the stories, but in effect, I'm more distant. The more I was able to understand my characters, the more I was able to write from their point of view and the less interested I was in relating how I felt about them.'' By doing this, Hong Kingston draws parallels between the emotional make-ups of men and women.

Understandably, Bradbury could not have known what a great book he was writing at the time. The purpose of this book was to teach people to leave the television and the families' people had created on the screens and go back to reading classic literature. As he says “There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them”. He also said that television is a thoughtless activity and as every one of those quarter second clips goes by on the screen we forget to think, all the fast pictures going by makes us think we're thinking. Books are not the opposite of televisions as they do not teach us how to think, but they are the catalyst for individually developing our minds in a good way. The main character Guy Montag brings up a story from his youth about how his older roguish cousin paid him to fill a sieve with sand at the beach. He continually tries and tries to fill it up, but the sand always sifts through. This is how books work with our minds, they never stick around for too long, but you have to keep trying because putting something worthwhile into your brain continuously is better than nothing at all. If no one ever put any literature, books, or truth into their minds, the world would turn into an awful place.

My version of what the word dystopian means is that the world has come out the opposite of what we wanted it to be like. I know that's kind of a crude description, but I've grown a love of dystopian style art. Movies like Idiocracy, Pleasantville, and Brazil show artist renderings of what they think the world will be like as we continue on our current course of action. Books like Fahrenheit 451, 1984, and Brave New World have much in common with the movies I mentioned earlier, but the one central idea that all anti-utopian media outlets possess is that mankind has become a wasteland of human thought.

The big difference that gives Fahrenheit 451 the edge over all the others of its genre is that it gives a logical and feasible reason to the breakdown of the mind, the choice to quit reading. Is today the same as Bradbury's depiction of the future? No, we aren't even close, colleges are still teaching liberal arts to young minds, English classes can still give reading assignments, and bookstores are still legal. Are we heading down the same path as the book? My unfortunate instinctual answer is yes, websites like Wikipedia, Sparknotes and Cliffnotes.com are shortening books so that whole works of literature can be read in under an hour. Movies like The Bourne Ultimatum, Moulin Rouge, and Sin City give us no time to stop and think about what's going on while we watch them. And I've heard too many of my friends say they only read when they have to.

To conclude, reading is a blessing of the people that writers give to us. Although our fast-paced lifestyle is fun and a part of our culture, I think that we need to begin reading more to add texture to our lives. As Professor Faber says “Do you know why books such as this are so important? Because they have quality.” And what does the word quality mean? To me it means texture. This book has pores.” (Faber, 83) If we could add texture to our lives and still appreciate roller coasters, violent video games, and high-speed action movies, I think the world would be a better place. That would define the paradise of having your cake and eating it too.

Early on we can discern that Juliet is concerned with marriage. She expresses this in relation to Romeo in the lines, “If he be married, my grave is like to be my wedding bed.” (Act 1 scene 5, lines 136-137). From this we know that before Juliet even considers other romantic possibilities, marriage is foremost in her mind. On the topic of love, Juliet is both practical and negative. While talking to Romeo during Act 2, scene 2, she appears to be very doubtful of his love: “O, swear not by the moon, th'inconstant moon, That monthly changes in her circle orb, Lest that thy love prove likewise variable,” (lines 109-111). In addition, Juliet seems to look down on love alone as something impure: “If that thy bent of love be honorable, Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow,” (lines 143-144). In these lines she is asserting the fact that marriage is most important, and acts as a form of approval or justification for feelings of love.

Romeo, in contrast to Juliet, holds love in his highest respects. He believes it to be an unstoppable, infinite force: “With love's light wings did I o'erperch these walls; For stony limits cannot hold love out,” (Act 2, scene 2, lines 66-67). Despite the impracticality of this statement, it vindicates his positive outlook on love. Romeo also often associates and confuses love with the concept of beauty. His first description of Rosaline focuses only on how beautiful she is: “And she's fair I love,” (Act 1, scene 1, line 209), and when seeing Juliet for the first time, he is immediately entranced with her appearance. At this, he falls in love with her and forsakes his love for Rosaline; “Did my heart love till now? Foreswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night,” (Act 1, scene 5, lines 54-55). In this statement he is directly relating beauty to love, as if beauty were a measure of love in his “crystal scales”. In terms of marriage, Romeo appears to be completely uninterested. He sees it more as a transient phase that will allow him to further pursue love: This explains his hastiness in getting married to Juliet. There is also a possessive and binding element to Romeo's conceptions of both marriage and love. When first seeing Juliet, he remarks, “What lady's that which doth enrich the hand of yonder knight?” (Act 1, scene 5, line 44).This shows that Romeo thinks of Juliet as an accessory; an object. He emphasizes this idea again during the wedding scene: “Then love-devouring death do what he dare -It is enough that I may but call her mine,” (act 2, scene 6, lines 7-8). This shows that much of what love meant to him was the ownership of Juliet.

Lady Capulet is similar to Juliet in her approach to marriage. In Act 1, scene 3, the first point of discussion she brings up with Juliet is marriage: “Well, think of marriage now,” (line 69). As she continues to speak of Paris, she seems to imply that his beauty is a measure of how marriageable he is, and that marrying Paris will open the doors for love: “This precious book of love, this unbound lover, To beautify him only lacks a cover,” (lines 87-88). This relation of beauty to marriage is similar to the men's relation of beauty to love. However, Lady Capulet seems to avoid the topic of love in its lone form, and never speaks of it when not in relation to marriage. This implies that she is disapproving of love without marriage, or has negative thoughts on love. Lady Capulet's approaches to love and marriage are in many ways similar to Juliet's.

Mr. Capulet, on the other hand, believes in love coming prior to marriage. When speaking to Paris about his proposal for Juliet's hand, he says, “But woo her, gentle Paris, get her heart; My will to consent is but a part,” (Act 1, scene 2, lines 16-17). By these lines he is implying that Juliet's love is worth more than his fatherly consent. This asserts that Mr. Capulet, like Romeo, believes that love is highly important. However, upon the death of Tybalt, everything changes and Mr. Capulet suddenly becomes highly interested in marriage: “a Thursday, tell her, She shall be married to this noble earl,” (act 4, scene 1, lines 20-21). Mr. Capulet's sudden interest and hasty marriage plans were probably the result of him realizing his own morality, as explained in his comment on Tybalt's death in the same scene: “we were born to die” (line 4). From this we can infer that he associates marriage with the concept of countering death. Mr. Capulet certainly has the most complex and trivial approaches to love and marriage, as his opinions on the two subjects change repeatedly. However, it is clear that he has similar views to Romeo.

From this we can see that the men and women of Romeo and Juliet have approaches to love and marriage that contrast each other significantly. Shakespeare wants the audience to realize that the differences in these approaches are realistic, and that misunderstandings due to them have the potential to cause later problems.

During the novel Steinbeck gives many clues that their dream is futile as many tedious obstacles present themselves. The rabbits sit like "grey, sculptured stones," which then run for cover at the forthcoming footsteps; this represents the calm before the storm of Lennie and George's world.

Candy's dog was “a dragfooted sheep dog, grey of muzzle” which Candy had raised from a puppy. The dog eventually gets shot mercifully by Carlson, another ranch hand who cannot stand the smell and says that it's Candy who is not being kind keeping him alive. During the exchange of views Candy looks for alternatives, he looks to Slim who is the most respected ranch hand, due to his talents to help him. Despite this, Slim takes Carlson's point of view and offers Candy one of his puppies to raise up. "Candy looked about unhappily." "No" he said softly. "No, I couldn"t do that. I had "im too long." It is clear from this that no one understands the bond that Candy shares with his dog as the majority of the other ranch workers travel alone, not including Lennie and George who are also misinterpreted, especially by the boss.

Curley's wife is married to the boss' son Curley as of 2 weeks. She is quite often misunderstood by the other ranch workers and considered a "tart" and a "looloo." Some would argue that she was just lonely, being the only woman on the ranch. She couldn't freely talk to the other workers as they thought she would get them "canned", being the boss' son's wife.

Curley's wife, throughout the novel was portrayed as, very well made up "She had full, rouged lips", with fine clothes "She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers". This sort of attire is inappropriate for on a ranch which shows that she still longs for the "movie star" life she was told she could have by an admirer. She represents the failed dreams of many women stuck in loveless marriages. Throughout the novel Steinbeck never named Curley's wife as she was seen as a possession, not a person. Curley's wife was the only woman mentioned on the novel, aside from Lennie's Aunt Clara, ideally because in those days women were seen as a trap to ensnare and ruin men.

Slim is considered "the Prince of the ranch", which shows that the workers, even Curley respect him, and what he does. Slim is a "jerkline" skinner, very skilled in his work, "He was capable of killing a fly on the wheeler"s butt'. He is also one of a very few that understood the bond Lennie and George shared, himself and Candy are the only people that show compassion to George in his loss at the end of the novel.

George:

• Has hopes for the future
• Annoyed with Lenny for causing him so many jobs and troubles
• Is not large
• Takes care of Lenny
• Plays solitaire

Lenny:

• Has hopes for the future
• Dependent on George to guide him
• Sometimes picks up on things
• While mentally slow his reactions and thoughts are also slow although his actual movement can be fast
• Physically cannot converse well with others except for George because of his mental retardation
• He is set apart for being mentally retarded, huge, and strong
• He is defenseless mentally but has very good defense physically
• He is lonely from being set apart and rejected
• Likes to pet furry or soft things [to deal with loneliness]
• Loves mice, puppies, and rabbits
• Is amazing at bucking barley
• Simplistic

Slim:

• He is the skinner on the ranch
• Initially suspected of having an affair with Curley's wife
• Very serious in his image
• Slim is a very smart and wise person, he is very knowledgeable and can solve many problems and issues and so people seek him out for help
• He is a nice person in general
• He owns lots of puppies that Lenny wants, and gives one to Lenny

Curley's Wife:

• Loneliest character on the ranch
• Only woman on the ranch
• She is neglected by her husband (Curley)
• Curley treats her like an object (possession, this is also shown because she is referred to as HIS wife and doesn't have her own name to be called by in the book)
• She is taken by Curley as for granted
• Curley goes out with the rest of the guys to whore houses even though he is married to her
• Curley wants her to always be in their house
• Curley is very jealous even while he does go to whore houses with the rest
• Curley wants her isolated so no other man can talk to her and this makes her seem like a tramp when she does talk to other men even though she is just lonely
• Tries seducing the men to get attention
• Curley thinks he can impress her with soft hand, so he wears a glove with Vaseline in it instead of paying attention to her
• Rightfully, Curley's wife hates him and doesn't mind him to getting hurt
• She thinks she has influence because she is the wife of the bosses son and thinks she can get Crooks in trouble
• Had the chance to become a movie star
• Lenny accidentally kills her

Curley:

• He is the Boss's son
• Is intimidated by Lenny's presence and so hates him
• Thinks he is tough
• He is very aggressive and wants to fight a lot
• He is small
• He is mean
• He is married and treats his wife horribly so she is lonely and is called a tramp
• He is cocky and often loses his temper

Crooks:

• The stable buck at the ranch
• He is the only black man on the ranch
• He is subject to racism
• He has a bad back and rubs something on to it to make it better
• He is lonely because others do not work with him because of racism and because his back restricts him to doing only small tasks
• He reads to deal with his loneliness but to no avail
• He can be considered somewhat of an intellectual because the two books he owns and reads is a dictionary and a book on law
• He has no hopes for the future
• He lives alone, and has become untrusting, paranoid, and suspicious of potential friends
• He is sad and grumpy
• He scared Lenny about George being gone because that is how he always feels
• He "sees" things [that aren't their]
• He feels he will go crazy lest he finds a good companion of any type soon
• Is defensive
• Considers helping Lenny and George but changes his mind when Curley's wife degrades him

Candy:

• Old crippled man
• Lost his hand at the ranch
• He is the swamper at the ranch
• Owns an old dog he likes that is sickly
• Lets Carlson shoot the dog
• Somewhat disabled from taking big steps himself
• Offers George and Lenny half the money needed to buy the ranch in return for coming with them
• Got 250 dollars for losing his arm

Carlson:

• Big fat man who works at the ranch
• Owns a German Luger pistol (which George steals from him to kill Lenny after he strangled Curley's wife)
• Hates Candy's dog and with Candy's barely willing consent shoots it

Andy Cushman:

• In jail because of a whore

Whit:

• He is young
• He works on the ranch
• He showed Carlson a magazine with a letter from William Tenner (an old worker on the farm)

The Boss:

• He is Curley's dad
• He owns and controls the happenings at the ranch
• He is suspicious of George and Lenny traveling together when they first arrive
• Lenny spoke to him even though he promised George not to

Al Wilts:

• Sheriff in the town where Lenny and George work (Soledad)
• Curley wants to find him to figure out who killed his wife

Aunt Clara:

• Deceased aunt of Lenny
• Appears to him in a vision and scolds him, this suggest she did no treat him nicely as a child

Plot:

• Lenny and George had to escape their town because they were being looked for because Lenny, because it was soft and he liked soft things, grabbed a hold of a woman's skirt and would not let go
• Lenny and George find a new job on a ranch and begin to work there to save up money for their own future ranch and business that they plan to buy from two old people, one of which needs an operation
• Crooks scares Lenny about George not coming back and at first Lenny believes him and becomes anxious
• Lenny crushes Curley's hand
• Lenny kills Curley's wife

Thought:

Racism:

• "Ya see the stable buck's a nigger" (p. 21).

Loneliness:

• Many of the characters in Of Mice and Men are lonely, it is one of the biggest ongoing themes of the book
• "Guys like us... are the loneliest guys in the world" (p. 13).
• Lenny pets mice for comfort in being lonely (seeks companion ship in furry animals)
• • The men like to talk about their plans for an ideal future and if they have hope it brings them pleasure and helps them cope with loyalty, if they don't have hope, it gives them some

Friendship:

• Lenny on many occasions imitates George, this is because he is dependent on him and looks up to him for guidance - "Lenny imitated him" (p. 7).
• At one point George says Lenny is his cousin to answer why he hangs around with him. He also quickly brings up what a good worker he is when they notice he is mentally retarded. This shows that, George stands up for Lenny sometimes saving his hide by doing so because in a strange manner he cares about Lenny, not only as a source of companionship
• George protects Lenny

The collection consists of 18 short poems, none of them written in verse, but mainly subdivided into stanzas of 3 lines each. There are only 5 exceptions to this rule, more precisely in "The God Fit" (p. 40), "The God Coup" (p. 41), "God's Beloveds Remain True" (p. 47), "God's Mother" (p. 48) and "God's List of Liquids" (p. 52). Both in "God's Mother" and "God's List of Liquids", the formal differences seem to hint on the idea of structure and order. Both poems contain a list, which could be interpreted as an allusion to God's habit to organise, to set up a framework or even a divine master plan. "The God Fit" ends in one single line, "The God Coup" is a four line poem and "God's Beloveds Remain True" is not subdivided into stanzas at all. The underlying connection between these three poems is the desperation that lies in feeling abandoned by God. People try "to escape God who is burning" (p. 40, l. 6) while they feel "untended" (p. 40, l. 7). He is described as "a grand heart cut" (p. 41, l. 1) and while "man surges" (p.41, l. 2), he does nothing more than "tarry" (p. 41, l. 4). In contrast to the descriptive address of "The God Fit" and "The God Coup", the voice of mankind expresses itself in "God's Beloveds Remain True", bewailing the status quo. The irony of feeling helpless and forsaken while "Chaos overshadows" (p. 47, l. 1) and not having the option to leave God behind because they "have been instructed to call this His love" (p. 47, l. 29) clarifies the forlorn position of God's beloveds. The term "beloveds" itself bears a sarcastic undertone when the speaker tells about them being "strangled by bitter light" (p. 47, l. 3), even "slit and drained out" (p. 47, l. 20). "The God Fit", "The God Coup" and "God's Beloveds Remain True" form a trilogy of misery, leading from God's infernal terror over God's indifference regarding mankind to God's tyrannical leave-no-options policy.

Another aspect of God is discussed in "God's Woman" (p. 46) and "God Stiff" (p. 46). These two poems ostensibly deal with the role of women in the process of creation. God asks "His woman" (p. 46, l. 1) whether she is "angry at nature" (p. 46, l. 1) without making clear what exactly he means by the term "nature".

The woman replies that she does "not want nature stuck / up between" (p. 46, l. 2f) her "legs on" (p. 46, l. 3) his "pink baton" (p. 46, l. 3). Furthermore, she does not want it "ladled out like geography whenever" (p. 46, l. 4) his "buckle needs a lick" (p. 46, l. 5). The image of God suddenly undergoes a change from supernatural fiend without a cause to a sexist male creator, who formed man after his image but forgot about the humiliating position of women in creation altogether. The idea of devising a reproduction process in which one (the male) has to penetrate the other (the female) in order to soil the female body with the actual semen and, thus, secure the species' population is portrayed as unnecessary and degrading. His possibly uttered excuse does not convince the woman of the necessity of the human spawning procedure and God is cornered with the question "what do you mean Creation" (p. 46, l. 6). This negative image is underlined in "God Stiff" by the fact that for the woman, "His zipper going down" (p. 46, l. 6) sounds like the word "Treachery" (p. 46, l. 6). If God really created man after his image, all negative and sexist behavior patterns of men must originate from God himself. He is part and root of all sexist male behavior.

The portrayal of God is completed in "God's Justice" (p. 49) when the reader is told that "in the beginning there were days set aside for various tasks" (p. 49, l. 1). One of those days was reserved for God to create justice, but instead "God got involved in making a dragonfly" (p. 49, l. 3). Watching his new creation, he "lost track of time" (p. 49, l. 4) and completely forgot about his actual plan to bring justice to the world. In deep fascination, God beholds the dragonfly, every little detail catches his eye and his attention. He is described as the stereotype human male who just found a new toy, be it some sort of electronic entertainment device or some other trivial matter. All his effort and all his devotion rests with something that can, objective, be seen as far less important than e.g. the concept of justice, yet there is no Sign of God being about to take notice of this antagonism. He is characterized as being rather unreliable, and assuming that there are at least 2 million[3] different species of animals on this planet to fascinate him, expectations for justice to be created are sure to be disappointed.

One intriguing fact is the textual connection between "God's Woman" and "God's List Of Liquids". In the latter, the list of liquids ends with the substantive "Time" (p. 52, l. 16). The context of this list is that "God had the book of life open at pleasure" (p. 52, l. 3) and was arranging terms under the headline "For I made their flesh as a sieve" (p. 52, l. 6). However, the noun "Time" also appears in "God's Woman" when God urges his woman to choose between "Fire. Time. Fire"

(p. 46, l. 8) Taking into account the contents of "God's Woman" and "God's List Of Liquids", it seems probable that God lets his woman choose between pleasure (the term "Time" appears on the page "PLEASURE" of God's book of life) and desolation (the desolation of fire when God "is burning" as on page 40, line 6 of the poem "The God Fit"). It remains uncertain what his woman chose, but the idea of both concepts having the potential to negatively alter the "flesh" (p. 52, l. 6) of man, one by burning, one by aging, leaves the conclusion that even the items considered as pleasure by God carry a foul side effect for his creation.

Carson describes God as not being compatible to the human nature. What God considers a pleasure is considered a curse by man. God is differently minded than we are, and due to this fact, he lost interest in us a long time ago. "Our blind gestures / parodied / what God really wanted" ("My Religion", p. 40, l. 27ff) and God reacted by retiring from his business of taking care and pursued his ambitions and hobbies such as creating more simple, but also more beautiful things such as dragonflies. What for us feels like God's anger or the impression that we were abandoned could just be the frustration and resignation of a God who created a being that is unable to conceive him. Carson appears to pity God and she intends to hold up her faith to support God until "all the people in the world" ("My Religion", p. 39, l. 8) find out just "how simple it would have been" ("My Religion", p. 39, l. 5) to give God "this simple thing" ("My Religion", p. 40, l. 32) that he really wanted. God is not there to help us, he needs our help until we have learned to see and listen, or as Carson says it "my religion makes no sense / and does not help me / therefore I pursue it" ("My Religion", p. 39, l. 1ff).

[1] Carson, Anne. Glass, Irony and God. Introduction by Guy Davenport. 1995. New York: New Directions. New Directions Paperbook, Fifth Printing. "The Truth about God", 39-53

[2] Carson, Anne. Glass, Irony and God. Introduction by Guy Davenport. 1995. New York: New Directions. New Directions Paperbook, Fifth Printing.

[3] Nisimov, Felix. The Physics Factbook. Edited by Glenn Elert. 2003. "Number of Species"

The first striking fact about the 31 poems contained in "Short Talks"[1] as it appears in Plainwater[2] is their length, they vary from one line (p. 31: "On Gertrude Stein About 9:30") to 20 lines (p. 42: "On The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Deyman") while the majority consists roughly of about 10 lines. The poems further lack rime which could be intended to put stress on the content of the poems rather than the language. The very brief appearance of the poems in question underlines and supports the image of the author walking through an exhibition of paintings, works of art, or, more abstract, feelings and thoughts, while cogitating one piece at a time, paying full attention to the thoughts and feelings, connotations and associativities that this particular item provokes, but in the end leaving the scenery to proceed to the next item in line. Another supportive argument for the theory of the poems being intended as captions is the choice of the title scheme, all titles begin with the preposition “On”, followed either by the title of a painting (p. 37: "On the Mona Lisa") or by an expression or topic the author might have associated with a particular piece of art (p. 31: "On Trout"). In this case, the phrase “piece of art” also implies the artistic work of thought and idea.

Carson's language is unique, her style of expressing emotions (p. 41, "On the Youth at Night": “Terrific lava shone on his soul.”) and her metaphors (p. 43, "On Orchids": “We live by tunneling for we are people buried alive.”) underline the sensual and deep sensations that can be evoked when losing yourself in devotion to paintings, music or comparable works of the human intellect. Therefore, the caption theory seems probable.

The reader is witness to the inner monologue of an imaginary character (p. 39, "On Rain": “It was blacker than olives the night I left.”), sometimes possibly of the author (p. 37, "On Walking Backwards": “My mother forbid us to walk backwards.”) and sometimes it stays completely out of focus where the origin of the thoughts lies (p. 31: "On Disappointments in Music"). This stylistic device enables the reader to take part in the imaginative and creative process that lies behind the poems, to identify with the individual who took the chance to express ideas regarding the variety of paintings, to think, rethink and maybe even think on where the author stopped.

Furthermore, the occasional mentioning of philosophers' or artists' names (p. 30, "On Chromoluminism": “Seurat - the old dazzler - has painted that place.”; p. 31: "On Gertrude Stein About 9:30"; p. 31, "On Disappointments in Music": “Prokofiev was ill ...”; p. 32: "On Ovid"; p. 32: "On Parmenides"; p. 34, "On the Rules of Perspective": “These are the views of Braque.”; p. 35, "On Rectification": “Kafka liked to have his watch an hour and a half fast.”; p. 36, "On Sleep Stones": “Camille Claudel lived the last thirty years of her life in an asylum ...”; p. 37, "On Waterproofing": “Franz Kafka was Jewish.”; p. 38, "On the End": “Rembrandt wakens you ...”; p. 38: "On Sylvia Plath"; p. 40, "On Charlotte": “Miss Bronte & Miss Emily & Miss Anne used to put away their sewing ...”; p. 42, "On The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Deyman": “One wonders if Elsje ever saw Rembrandt's painting, ...”; p. 43, "On Orchids": “... , writes Emily Dickinson in a letter ...”; p. 43, "On Penal Servitude": “Dostoevski went in ...”; p. 43: "On Hölderlin"s World Night Wound') stresses the image of diverse individual artistic pieces, but it also depicts one of the central possible arguments against the caption theory. When taking a closer look at the range of the names on record, we can count four distinct painters, but 12 artists of a different creative section (11 philosophers and writers, one composer). This leads to the conclusion that either the author has intentionally or subconsciously made a large associative link between a painting and other artistic fields or the caption theory is no longer valid for the loosely connected context of painting and caption.

The most hindering factor in finding a final solution and, thus, a final answer to the question whether the caption theory is probable or not is simply the absence of the original paintings. The objective of liberating the poems from their visual counterparts is intelligible, yet it leaves the reader not the option to take a look at the paintings as well or decide to blank them out when necessary; one could argue that the reader's freedom is restricted for the sake of the purity of literature.

For interpreting Carson's feelings, thoughts, connotations and viewpoints, for following her train of thought, for sympathizing with the ideas that obviously struck her while viewing certain paintings and for finding a deeper appreciation by seeking Carson's link between canvas, mind and word the display of the corresponding paintings would certainly be helpful, but for enjoying 'Short Talks' it is rather irrelevant. Assuming Carson's ability to build bridges across all boundaries of genre, style or variety, in the end it remains quite certain that the caption theory still finds support even in the present text format which lacks the original paintings. The overall feel and look (in a broader sense) of her collected poems tells us so.

References

[1] Carson, Anne. Plainwater. 1995. New York: Vintage Books. First Vintage Contemporary Edition, March 2000. "Short Talks“, 27-46

[2] Carson, Anne. Plainwater. 1995. New York: Vintage Books. First Vintage Contemporary Edition, March 2000