#1 Frankenstein Concordances

"We visited the tomb of the illustrious Hampden, and the field on which the patriot fell (117)."

John Hampden was an English politician in the early 1600's. He was a skilled regimental officer and a war strategist. He died from a battle wound in 1643 and is still known as a hero today. Shelly may have picked Hampden as the subject of this sentence because she perhaps looked up to him as a child and thought he would be a good name to mention in the novel. 

"We rest; a dream has power to poison sleep. 

We rise; one wandering thought pollutes the day.

We feel, conceive, or reason; laugh or weep,

Embrace fond won, or cast our cares away;

It is the same: for, be it joy or sorrow,

The path of its departure still is free.

Man's yesterday may ne'er be like his morrow;

Nought may endure but mutability (67)"

Mutability is a poem by Shelly's husband, Percy Shelley. The word, mutability means the ability to change, which is most likely why Shelly chose to have this poem in her novel. The novel is about how Frankenstein and his monster change throughout their lives. They each change a significant amount. Victor has a lovely, loving childhood, but ends up alone and depressed. THe monster learns and grows very fast, starting out as an ignorant, kind soul, and ending with an angry, violent view of the world. The two characters constantly change, which is what the poem mutability is about. 

"Remember. that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed (69)."

-This is a biblical reference to God and Adam. To the Monster, Victor is his creator, therefor he is God to him. Victor is supposedly playing the role of God, but he can also be seen as the devil in some parts of the novel. The monster is also multiple biblical characters as well. He can be seen as Adam because he was created and sent off to live alone in the world and figure out how to go about life. But he could also be seen as an angel for helping the Delaneys with their house work and having a naturally kind soul without any nurturing. But then he turns into a devil when he learns the evil ways of the world, so he switches once again. Shelley makes up all of the major biblical characters between the monster and Victor.

"God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and abhorred (93)."

-Throughout the novel, Shelley demonstrates parallels between the monster and multiple biblical characters. He could be Adam,  Satan or an angel. In this quote though, Shelley shows how he is unlike all of them. He is not like Adam, because he is not "beautiful and alluring", and he is worse off than Satan because even Satan had companions. He is no angel either because he was not created by God. All the monster is is the ugly side of Victor. It is what the inside of Victor supposedly is really like.

"I compassionated him and sometimes felt a wish to console him; but when i looked upon him, when I saw the filthy mass that moves and talked, my heart sickened and my feelings were altered to those of horror and hatred (106)."

-This quote shows a clear theme in the novel. Victor wants to help the monster because he is a normal person who has compassion for people in need, but when he looks at the monster and sees it's gruesome, horrid figure, he doesn't want to help it anymore. This shows a part of human nature of how people frequently judge others by their looks, no matter who they are inside. Shelley uses this point throughout the book to emphasize how dysfunctional human society truly is. 

"I had gazed on him while unfinished; he was ugly then; but when those muscles and joints were rendered capable of motion, it became a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived (36)." 

-Dante deli Alighieri was a major Italian poet of the Middle Ages and is the author of the poem, the Divine Comedy, which is considered one of the greatest works of world literature. The poem describes Dante's travels through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise in detailed, imaginative ways that represent, at a deeper level, the soul's journey towards God. The poem shows that Dante was very insightful and imaginative poet that could conceive many possibilities in life. Shelley uses his name in Frankenstein to show how horrid and unbelievable the creation of the monster was. She narrates Victor's thoughts and how horrified he was that he thinks even Dante, who can create such wild stories, would not be able to imagine such a situation as his. She may also have mentioned Dante because the Divine Comedy represents journeys through life and the afterlife towards God and the change that one goes through, which is what the monster and Victor are both doing throughout the story. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Comedy

-This is an exert from a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge written in 1797. The poem is about a mariner coming back from sea with his crew and all of the adventures that he went through. The one exert that Shelley chose to use matches exactly with what is happening in in Frankenstein at the moment. Victor has just created the monster and is frequently checking behind his back to see if the monster is close behind him. But he knows he is, even when he doesn't look, because the monster will always be there from then on, no matter how physically far away is actually is from Victor. 

http://www.ram.org/contrib/rime_ancient_mariner.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rime_of_the_Ancient_Mariner

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Taylor_Coleridge

"My wanderings were directed towards the Valley of Chamounix. I had visited it frequently during my childhood (64)."

-The Valley of Chamounix is located in the department of the Upper Savoy in France. It is known for its picturesque scenery and beauty and is very tourist friendly. Shelly most likely chose such a place for Victor to visit frequently as a child to show how lovely his childhood was. The mention of his great childhood leads to a later theme in the novel of nature versus nurture. 

http://www.encyclopedia123.com/C/Chamounix.html

"When I was about five years old, while making an excursion beyond the frontiers of Italy, they passed a week on the shores of Lake Como (16)."

-Lake Como is a tourist attraction and is the third largest lake in Italy. It is also where Mary Shelly and her husband first looked for a home in 1818. It is a beautiful place, but during Shelly's excursions in Italy, both of her children died within a year apart. This marked the place of beauty with a shadow that is echoed in her writing. She writes of Lake Como as a nice place for Victor to spend his childhood, but she may also be foreshadowing the fact that he is tainted no matter where he goes. Shelley hints at another theme with this use of Lake Como that even though it may look beautiful from the outside, what is behind its beauty may not be beautiful at all.

http://www.english.upenn.edu/Projects/knarf/Articles/mellor9.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Shelley

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Como

"..They consisted of Paradise Lost, a volume of Plutarch's Lives, and the Sorrows of Werter (91)."

-These three books all influence the monster's thoughts and actions once he reads them. Paradise Lost, generally considered one of the greatest works in the English language, is a poem by John Milton describing the fall of man. It first tells how Satan was expelled from Heaven and then goes into the story of Adam and Eve and their sins and guilt. This poem teaches the monster about sinning and doing wrong. It is also his influence for wanting Victor to create a female version of him, so he can have his own "Eve". Plutarch's Lives is a series of biographies of famous men. Each biography shows the mistakes and failures that the men made in their lives and explores the influence on each character. Sorrows of Werter was written by Johann Wolfgang von Goeth in 1774. It is a fictional story that taught the monster sorrow and pain. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorrows_of_Young_Werther

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_Lives

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Man

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost

"Remember. that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed (69)."

-This is a biblical reference to God and Adam. To the Monster, Victor is his creator, therefor he is God to him. Victor is supposedly playing the role of God, but he can also be seen as the devil in some parts of the novel. The monster is also multiple biblical characters as well. He can be seen as Adam because he was created and sent off to live alone in the world and figure out how to go about life. But he could also be seen as an angel for helping the Delaneys with their house work and having a naturally kind soul without any nurturing. But then he turns into a devil when he learns the evil ways of the world, so he switches once again. Shelley makes up all of the major biblical characters between the monster and Victor.

#1 whoops, forgot this 1984 one

"Moreover, his varicose ulcer had begun itching unbearably. He dared not scratch it, because if he did so it always became inflamed (10)."

-The mention of Winston's varicose ulcer pops up numerous times in the novel. It is usually at times when he is feeling weak or in stressful situations. Orwell uses the varicose ulcer to represents the weak part in Winston. He has motivations to do great things and he is intelligent enough, but he is never quite strong enough to accomplish what he needs to. There is always something holding him back. The varicose ulcer, which is a chronic wound, represents not only the weakness in Winston, but also all of mankind. 

# 1 The Handmaid's Tale Concordances

“Then comes the old Rachel and Leah stuff we had drummed into us at the center. Give me children, or else I die. Am I in God’s stead. Who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? Behold my maid Bilhah, She shall bear upon my knee, that I may also have children to her (88)."

This is a biblical reference to the story of Jacob’s two wives, Rachel and Leah. When Jacob first saw his Uncle’s two daughters he fell in love with Rachel, the more beautiful of the two. Jacob made a deal with his Uncle to marry Rachel, but he was tricked into marrying Leah instead. He married Rachel as well shortly after. Rachel was beautiful, but could not bear children. Leah bore children easily, but Jacob never loved her at all. The maid, Billah, is a reference to Rachel’s maid who became a surrogate mother for her when Rachel became jealous of Leah’s ability to produce children. Although Rachel had Jacob’s love, Leah was never jealous or hateful towards Rachel. In the novel, the center where the handmaids are sent to be taught about the new society and its rules is called the Rachel and Leah center. It is possible that Atwood named it that because the center is used to turn the women from Rachels into Leahs. Leah is the biblical favorite of the two women. 

http://www.wordlibrary.co.uk/article.php?id=167

#2 HT

"'Blessed be the fruit,' she says to me, the accepted greeting among us. 

'May the lord open,' I answer, the accepted response (19).'"

This phrase that the girls say to each other is a prayer called the "Hail Mary" ensuring the ability to produce children. In the Bible the full phrase is "Blessed be the fruit of thy womb, Jesus". In the novel, the women bless the womb of each other so each baby can be born healthy and stay alive. Since the only role of women in their society is to produce children, they bless each other's wombs as often as possible. Atwood shows the reader this by having the women greet each other in this specific way.

http://www.catholicplanet.com/catholic/hail.htm

#3 HT

"As long as we do this, butter our skin to keep it soft, we can believe that we will some day get out, that we will be touched again, in love or desire (97)."

Atwood uses butter to represent hope, which is a theme in this novel. As long as the girls have something that reminds them of the past and something for them to know that they are going against the rules, they can still hope. Almost everything has been taken away from them, but when they can find a way to take something back, it makes a huge difference and helps to keep their sanity.

#4 HT

"Moira sitting on the edge of my bed, legs crossed, ankle on knee, in her purple overalls, one dangly earring, the gold fingernail she wore to be eccentric, a cigarette between her her stubby yellow-ended fingers. Let's go for a bear (37)." 

This introduction of Moira shows the reader her character in the story right off. Atwood shows that she is Offred's rebel friend in college who Offred remembers fondly. This characterization foreshadows Moira's future in the up tight, religious society that both the girls end up in. She plainly does not fit in with it, being such a unique individual and rebel, and she ends up living life there in a very different way than most women in the society. 

#5 HT

"I saw her go out, to the ambulance, on a stretcher, carried by two angels (91)."

This sentence creates an illusion of actual angels carrying Moira out of the building. In reality, the "angels" in the novel are soldiers who fight to expand their country's borders. They're nothing like the majestic beings that are brought to mind by the word angel. Atwood did this to show how corrupt the society truly was and to create a false illusion in the reader's mind.

#6 HT

"One of the grave stones in the cemetery near the earliest church had an anchor on it and an hourglass, and the words In Hope.

In Hope. Why did they put that above a dead person? Was it the corpse hoping, or those still alive? Does Luke hope (106)?"

Hope is a major theme that Atwood frequently emphasizes. Loss of hope and hope to continue on. Offred has hope that Luke is still alive and that everything will adjust itself eventually. All of the people fighting against the society hold some sort of hope. The phrase In Hope carved into the grave stone shows that hope lives on even after the holder of it dies. 

#7 HT

"The camera pans up and we see the writing, in paint, on what must have been a bed sheet: TAKE BACK THE NIGHT (119)."

"Take back the night" is a reference to an international march and rally that was originated by  the feminist movement and was intended to protest sexual violence. The march was named after a memorial read by Anne Pride at an anti-violence rally in Pittsburgh in 1977. The first "Take Back the Night" march organized in the United States took place in San Fransisco, California in 1978. The author shows Offred's mother's character by showing that she was in a march like this one. It shows that her mother was involved and outspoken for women's rights.

http://www.catholicplanet.com/catholic/hail.htm

#8 HT

"For lunch it was the Beatitudes. Blessed be this, blessed be that… Blessed are the merciful. Blessed be the meek. Blessed are the silent. I knew they made that up, I knew it was wrong, and they left things out, too, but there was no way of checking (89)." 

The Beatitudes are a set of teachings from Jesus that represent Christian ideals of love and humility. There are about eight different ones and each teaches mercy, spirituality and compassion. In the novel, the Aunts use the Beatitudes to teach the girls exactly how they should act in society. Atwood most likely left out "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."  The makers of the society would leave this particular one out because many people are persecuted in the society daily, like scientists and people from other religions, and they don't want anyone to have pity on the "criminals". They also most likely left out "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." This suggests that if the women protest and fight for what they want, their wishes will be fulfilled. They don't want to give these women any sort of hope. In the place of the ones they left out Orwell came up with  "Blessed are the Silent," so the women do not protest for their rights.

http://robertwells.tripod.com/Beatitudes.html

#9 HT

"Then I think: I used to dress like that. That was freedom. 

Westernized, the used to call it (28)."

The term Westernized comes from the process of Westernization, which is when societies adopt new ideas from Western culture and blend them into their own. In Westernized societies there is freedom in diet, religion, ideals, politics, language and other cultural ideas, and most of the ways of different lifestyles come from the European culture. In the Handmaids Tale, there is no freedom to adopt new ideas to live from different countries or places. There is one set way to live. Atwood brings up the term Westernized to remind the reader how different this fabricated world is compared to the present. Offred is reminded of Westernization when she sees the Japanese tourist's scandalous outfits and realizes she used to have the freedom to dress in the same way.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westernization

#10 HT

"And so I step up, into the darkness within; or else the light (295)."

The term, "the light", is often used to describe heavenly visions and other worldly places that will lead to something better. The society that Offred lives in is suppose to be a depiction of how God wants everyone to live their lives. It was created by humans to be the ideal world and place to live in. The irony of it is that to most people living in in the society, it is actually hell. Atwood uses the term "the light" at the very end of the novel to give the reader hope that Offred finally does escape from the hell she was living in.

#2 1984 Concordances

"And then a voice from the telescreen was singing:

'Under the spreading chestnut tree

I sold you and you sold me:

There lie they, and here lie we

Under the spreading chestnut tree' (66)."

-This song is Orwell's take on a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called The Village Blacksmith. Chestnut trees can symbolize happiness and prosperity, which is why Orwell chose this particular poem. This quote foreshadows the end of the novel when Winston is sitting in the Chestnut Tree Cafe. It is right after his last meeting with Julia when they both admit to betraying one another which goes along with the line "I sold you and you sold me". Now that they have let each other go and do not have any feelings for each other anymore and have both chosen to be oblivious to all the lies around them, they are free and as happy as anyone can be living in Oceana. Winston is, metaphorically speaking, safe "Under the chestnut tree" in the Chestnut Tree Cafe.

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1452

http://www.symbolic-meanings.com/2007/10/23/symbolic-meaning-of-chestnut/

#3 1984

"On each landing, opposite the lift shaft, the poster with the enormous face gazed from the wall. It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran (5)."

-Orwell shows the reader that Winston is always being watched no matter where he goes. The poster of Big Brother makes it look like the eyes are always following the watcher of it, which will make anyone feel guilty and act in certain ways. Orwell uses the poster of Big Brother to symbolize the power that the government has over the people in the novel. Big Brother also may be a reference to Uncle Sam, who was a fictional character used by the American government to recruit people for the army during past wars in history. Millions of posters of Uncle Sam were all over the U.S during World War II, which was around the time 1984 was written. Big Brother is a personification of Oceana's government, which is the same for Uncle Sam within the American government. Orwell may have seen Uncle Sam as a way that the government manipulated people in the U.S. into doing things, which is what Big Brother is used for in 1984. Orwell also uses a family term, brother, which is parallel to the family term, Uncle, that the American government came up with for their personification. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Sam

#4 1984

"WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH (7)."

-Each of these phrases are opposite of what they would be in a normal society today. This represents the society that Winston lives in. It is possible that this is how Orwell saw the society he lived in or where it was very soon headed. The novel was written in the 1940's around the time of WWII and also the time when technology began speeding up and commercial television was first developed along with many new warfare technology. These three phrases could be how Orwell was seeing the world at the time and Winston could be a representation of George Orwell himself.

#5 1984

"Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past (204)."

-Orwell uses this quote to show how in control the party truly is. The party not only controls the people that live in Oceana, but it also controls events that occur in the past and future, because events from the past can always be erased. No matter what Winston says, O'Brien is right and Winston is wrong. If O'Brien says that the photograph of Jones, Aaronson and Ruthorford never existed, then it never did exist, because according to the records, it didn't, and that is all that matters. There is also no reality of the past, because if everyone says something happened, then it did, and the one person that claims that it actually did not happen is the insane one.  

#6 1984

"The Ministry of Love was the really frightening one. There were no windows in it at all. Winston had never been inside the Ministry of Love, nor within half a kilometer of it… Even the streets leading up to its outer barriers were roamed by gorilla-faced guards in black uniforms, armed with jointed truncheons (8)."

-It is expected that the Ministry of Love would be good, because love is almost always seen as a good thing. But when Orwell writes that it was the most frightening one of all the ministries and mentions how it has no windows and is heavily guarded, it is confusing and disturbing. It makes the reader wonder what could be in it and why they call it the Ministry of Love if it is so dark seeming. When the author mentions the fact that Winston has never been close to the Ministry of Love, he is foreshadowing the fact that some day he will be there. 

#7 1984

"'It was a church at one time. St.Clements Dane, it's name was.' He smiled apologetically, as though conscious of saying something slightly ridiculous, and added: 'Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St.Clements!… Here comes a candle to light your bed, Here comes a chopper to chop off your head' (83)."

-This is a reference to the St.Clements Church in the City of Westminster, London. The song that Mr.Charrington sings to Winston is a song that the bells on the church play. The song comes back throughout the book here and there whenever Winston asks a new person if they know the rhyme. No one knows all of the rhyme except for O'Brien. This is strange because O'Brien is actually part of the Party, and yet he remembers the rhyme perfectly. It is possible that Orwell did this to show that O'Brien was different from the rest of the people in the society. He was evil and good at the same time. He truly believed that the things he was doing were right and there was no other way that could be better. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oranges_and_Lemons

#8 1984

"The telescreen - perhaps to celebrate the victory, perhaps to drown the memory of the lost chocolate- crashed into 'Oceana, t'is for thee.' You were suppose to stand to attention (25)."

-This is possibly a reference to one of America's most patriotic songs, My Country 'Tis of Thee, which was written by Samuel Francis Smith in 1831. The song was America's National Anthem until 1931, when the Star-Spangled Banner became the official anthem for the U.S.  Orwell changed the title to 'Oceana T'is for Thee' instead of 'Oceana T'is of Thee', possibly because Oceana is a subservient society where the people are slaves to the country, so they are for the country. In the present ways of the U.S. the people are part of the society and are at liberty to live however they choose so they are of the country. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Country,_'Tis_of_Thee

#9 1984

"Of all horrors in the world-a rat! (120)"

-When Winston realizes there is a rat nearby he panics. The reader finds that rats are one of Winston's worst fears. Orwell uses this to foreshadow the end of the novel when Winston has his face eaten alive by rats, only because the torturers know it is his worst fear. This is Winston's one greatest weakness that fails him but also saves him from more pain in the end. 

#10 1984

"Nonsense. The earth is as old as we are, no older. How could it be older? Nothing exists except human consciousness (218)." 

-Orwell shows the reader a theme here in the novel of human consciousness. He explains that there is nothing in the world except what people think. The world is only there because the mind sees it there. Technically nothing exists while people are sleeping because human consciousness is the only thing that is real.