DRJ #1: Hamlet, Act 1

I found Polonius to be like my grandfather. He was always trying to impart his experiences in life to us. Polonius' speech to Laertes really reinforced some of the statements I remember hearing when I was younger: Neither a borrower, nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry... He, Polonius, was caring of his children, and especially in trying to impart what he knew of their nature that they themselves did not quite understand. Of course we learn later that some of Polonius actions are for his own benefit, but next DRJ for that...

I thought Act 1 was all about setting. We are given Hamlet and his suffering, his frustration and rage, with his monologue in the hall after all have left him. We are given Polonius and his caring for his children; his warnings to Laertes and his warnings to Ophelia of her involvement of Hamlet. We also see Hamlet's reaction to his father's ghost and the setting of the desire for revenge in Hamlet. All these give us the hint that something bad is coming, it is brewing, and Hamlet is going to set it loose.

Why do you think Claudius actually wants to see Hamlet stay rather than go back to school at Wittenburg. With the grief surrounding Hamlet, and not seeming to subside, would it not have been a better move to send him back to school and get him away from the scene of the crime?

SSRJ #3 I Am The Grass by Daly Walker

The graphic descriptions of Daly Walker's own actions in Vietnam stunned me. It really kept me from being able to focus on the rest of the story during my first reading of it. The book Vietnam: A History, by Stanley Karnow had many stories of horrific events but none were first hand accounts or confessionals like the brief descriptions Walker gives. I think Walker, needed to give his accounting of his actions to free himself however the actions he described make me wonder if he had to seek legal council to confess his actions.

The setting in this story, the country of Vietnam, is Walker's antagonist. He acknowledges how his shocking actions and experiences upon returning from Vietnam kept him from accomplishing much in the first couple of years after his time in Vietnam: "After I was discharged from the Army, I went home to Chicago and hung around there for a couple of years, haunted by memories and nameless faces. Devoid of hope or expectations, smoking dope and dreaming dreams of torment, I drifted from one meaningless endeavor to the next"

(D. Walker, paragraph 3). Later on in the story, after repairing the cleft-lipped children successfully, Walker is feeling a little atonement and goodwill. This goodwill and atonement will be short lived when he cannot repair the thumbless hands of his trips sponsor Dihn. The failure to graft toes onto Dihn's hand, so he might help his own countrymen again brings Walker back to his antagonist when he states: "God damn this dirty little Job of a country. Nothing turns out right here" (D. Walker, paragraph 140). There is also an unstated or indirect irony that Dihn brings up about Americans versus Vietnamese. Walker states: "Dihn believes that our lives move in circles, repeating themselves endlessly like the four seasons" (D. Walker, paragraph 135). Walker does not believe this, he sees his life on a straight path with a finality at the end of the path. The irony of the beliefs is that after Walker's experience in Vietnam he was completely unmotivated and angry about what he had done and what he felt Vietnam had done to him. He let those feelings control him and in turn wasted significant time. Later on though, Vietnam became a motivator for him. His desire to atone for his actions and to end his pity for himself led him to become a surgeon and begin helping people. This is the great irony of Walker's life. Vietnam was traumatic and devastating for himself and because of himself. In the end it becomes an endless reminder of the good he is capable of and must continue to do.

Two questions for everyone: Do you think Walker spoke to legal counsel before he wrote this story with his confessed actions? How do you think Walker's family felt upon reading his story?