Henry K – Story Power

Author: Henry K

When I first read The Stranger by Albert Camus, I hated Mersault. His indifference to major moments like his mom’s death, his lack of work ethic, and his choice to help people like Raymond made him a dislikeable character who was hard to relate to. However, as much as I critiqued Mersault for his actions, his philosophy stuck with me. Mersault lived how he chose to live and in the end he ends up happy. By making Mersault do universally hated things like murder and still end up happy at the end of the book, Camus argues that things people believe to be true like meaning to life and morality are only illusions. And the fact that me and most other people don’t like Mersault’s actions only supports this point. Because life has no objective purpose, the protests of characters in the book and our protests to Mersault are meaningless. Mersault still lived a life that fulfilled him and made him happy.

Reading The Stranger helped me live a more carefree and enjoyable life. Instead of focusing on the things that people say lead to a good life, I started thinking about what I want to do in my life. By thinking about life without focusing on what other people believe, I was able to learn things about myself and live a more free life. I realized that I would rather live a life that makes me happy instead of living in a way that people traditionally consider successful.

Similarly, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen helped to reinforce and build on ideas I learned in The Stranger. In Pride and Prejudice, most characters care about status and use marriage as a way to gain power. However, just like in The Stranger, Elizabeth goes against societal norms and marries based on who she actually likes. And just like Camus, Austen chooses to make Elizabeth happy at the end of the book to show that her way of living is a positive way to live.

Pride and Prejudice solidified the thoughts I had after reading The Stranger by showing me the harm that following norms can cause through characters like Lydia. I learned that in order to be happy I need to make decisions based on my own opinions and not the opinions of others. By following my own intuition, I might make decisions that I regret but it will lead to a life that I want to live based on my own ideas.

How Raise the Red Lantern Traps Songlian

By Henry K

On March 11, 2025

In Film, TV

At the beggining of the movie, Songlian believes that women will be forced to be objects and have no choice. Songlian says “Let me be a concubine. Isn’t that a woman’s fate?” Her mother has been pressuring her into marriage and she feels like she needs to marry a rich man in order to live as a woman. And once Songlian arrives at the manor, these views are solidified by the servant not letting her help with the laundry and the other servants upholding traditions.

Once Songlian gets to the master’s house, it never shows the outside world. Every camera angle depicts the characters as being confined in the house and any shot that shows the entire area blurs anything outside of the house. by only showing the house, the camera shows that the manor is the only thing that matters to the mistresses and traps them into superficial conflict with each other. Songlian is forced into family traditions which trap her in a routine that manipulates her into fighting with the other mistresses. By seperating the movie into seasons the movie depicts the endless cycle of living in the house. Visuals like blowing out the lanterns and sounds like the foot massage are repeated in order to highlight how the mistresses are trapped by the cycle.

Finally, in the end of the movie Songlian realizes that she is a human being and she has power. Witnessing Meishan’s death mentally frees Songlian and she realizes how evil the system that she is stuck in is. When Songlian gets revenge for Meishan’s death, she is bathed in the red light that trapped her for the entire movie but she is no longer obeying the system. Songlian returns to her university uniform because she realizes that she is an educated human. However, despite being mentally freed, Songlian is still trapped. Songlian has nowhere to go and can only go mad and wander back and forth. While the credits play, Songlian is trapped in a frame within a frame by buildings around her and she is surrounded by the red lanterns that trapped her before. Songlian is no longer adhering to tradition but she is replaced by another mistress and the system continues to work while she wanders aimlessly.

Satire of Jobs in Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared

By Henry K

On February 27, 2025

In Comedy/Satire, TV

Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared is a TV show where three character, Yellow Guy, Red Guy, and Duck; learn about educational topics from different characters. The show is presented like a kids show but takes dark and disturbing turns in order to satirize the topics that the characters are learning about. In the first episode, the three main characters learn about jobs from a talking briefcase before being dropped into a factory producing bits and parts.

Yellow Guy goes to a conveyor belt, makes a part, and is told “good job teammate” by one of the workers. This is then contrasted with Duck failing to make a part and his work being grinded into dust. After his work is destroyed, Duck says “hey, my thing that I did.” The show parodies how jobs treat their workers by rewarding Yellow Guy for successfully making a part and then destroying the thing that Duck made. Duck is proud of what he made but it is destroyed because it’s not what the company wants. Duck’s work being destroyed shows how companies don’t care about people and only value employees based on their worth to the company.

Meanwhile, Red Guy answers a phone and is told that he is upper management despite having no qualifications. While the other characters eat lunch from a vending machine, Red Guy is given a salmon with diamonds. The hyperbole of Red Guy getting a salmon with real diamonds shows how much unnecessary wealth higher ups in companies have. And, when Red Guy asks if you can eat diamonds, his assistant says that they’ll get something else and throws the food on the floor. The show employs situational irony by subverting what the audience thinks will happen with the food in order to further the idea that higher ups have more wealth than they need. While the other characters can only afford lunch from a vending machine, Red Guy gets extravagant food which is thrown away if he doesn’t like it.

Then, Duck watches a video which parodies training videos used by companies. In the video, it says “health and safety is important to us in our own special way.” Instead of claiming that the company will prevent accidents from happening like the audience expects, the video says that “at some point, we will have an accident. And that’s a promise. Because we feel that only a freak accident helps us appreciate all the times we’re not being burned in a grease fire or mangled in a piece of machinery.” In the video, situational irony is used to show that companies don’t actually care about their employees safety.

And after working at the factory, the briefcase comes back and throws the characters a coin which stabs Duck’s eye. Again, situational irony is used to show that after doing all their work, the thing that is meant to be a reward only hurts them.

Norms In “King Lear” Vs. “The Stranger”

By Henry K

On February 4, 2025

In King Lear

As I read King Lear, I couldn’t help but make connections to a previous book we read, The Stranger. In The Stranger, Meursault rejects traditional social norms and decides to live life how he wants. Similarly, in King Lear many characters challenge or reject norms. For example, Edmund was called a “bastard” by society but decided to fight against this in order to gain power. And in the beginning of the book, Cordelia tells the truth to her father and the king instead of what he wants to hear. At first, it seemed to me that The Stranger and King Lear had similar messages about the illusion of social norms.

However, there’s a major difference between the two books. In The Stranger, Meursault completely ignores tradition and does what he wants to do. But in King Lear, many characters understand social norms and instead of ignoring them, characters use them to their advantage. Edmund uses his status as a “bastard” and Gloucester’s son so that no one suspects him when he tricks Gloucester. Edmund says “Whose nature is so far from doing harms/That he suspects none; on whose foolish honesty/My practices ride easy” (I.ii.188-190). Edmund knows that his father and his brother trust him so he uses that trust in order to trick them. Edmund is Gloucester’s son and Edgar’s brother so neither of them have any reason to think that their own family would betray them. And because Edmund is a “bastard,” people underestimate him.

Also, the use of disguises throughout the play furthers this idea. After Edgar flees, he disguises himself as a mad beggar. He says “‘Edgar’ I nothing am” (II.iv.21). Edgar shifts from his identity as a high class son into a lowly beggar just through a disguise. And the rest of the play, none of the characters recognize that he is Edgar. Even when his own father sees him, Gloucester believes that he is just a beggar. Uses of disguises like these illustrate how characters use traditional norms in order to benefit themselves. Throughout the play, characters don’t just reject or fight norms. They shift between them and use them to their advantage.

“Terra” by Geordie Greep

By Henry K

On December 5, 2024

In Music, Music Poetry, Poetry

“Terra” by Geordie Greep is part of his new album, The New Sound. Many of the songs in the album follow men who are full of themselves and desperate for attention. And “Terra” continues this idea, being from the perspective of a man who went through suffering and wants to be seen and remembered. The main theme of the song is about how people who go through struggles want to be remembered. Even if the pain that someone goes through isn’t that bad compared to other people, they will exaggerate their suffering to beg for attention. The song begins by introducing the narrator’s metaphorical museum by saying

At this point, I’ll have to tell you what it is

It’s the museum of human suffering

The museum is a metaphor for how the narrator wants to be seen. Museums are filled with things that people want to look at and admire. By putting his suffering in a museum, the narrator is claiming that it’s so important that it needs to be seen by everyone. The metaphor is extended throughout the entire song to emphasize the narrator’s desire for attention. After introducing the museum, the narrator talks about the other suffering in the museum

Victims of drought and famine, fetuses abondoned

All waiting here to be admired

And at the centre, set to expire

My punctured, bleeding heart of desire

The narrator juxtaposes his suffering with the extreme suffering of others. The narrator did go through hard things, but not compared to the other people in the museum. By putting himself in the center of the museum, he is exaggerating his suffering. The narrator is so full of himself that he thinks that what he went through is more important and deserves more attention than victims of drought and famine. The narrator even compares his suffering to Jesus saying

We have splayed across the foyer, inordinately bled

The carcass of our saviour who rose from the dead

By alluding to Jesus, Geordie Greep emphasizes how over the top the narrator is being about his suffering. Jesus famously went through tons of terrible things and the narrator in the song is saying that his suffering is even more important. Also, by choosing such a well known example of suffering, it highlights how the narrator wants be seen and known by people. After begging to be remembered, the narrator talks about his suffering saying

Like a talented pestilence, she unzips the air

The song is never clear on who the “she” is in the song, but the song references the narrator’s heart and desire so she is probably someone that he loved and broke up with him. The air is personified to show that the narrator keeps remembering her. The narrator was so obsessed with her that she seems to appear out of the air. The suffering that he felt from the break up keeps coming back to him.

“Terra” shows the dangers of getting too caught up on hardships. Despite how over the top the narrator is expressing his suffering, his pain is real and affecting him. However, instead of trying to move past it, he believes that it’s so terrible that everyone should notice and feel sorry for him. The narrator cries for attention through his “museum” instead of trying to find a healthy way to get through it.

The Strength of Memory and Moving On

By Henry K

On November 23, 2024

In Beloved, Toni Morrison

In Beloved by Toni Morrison, when Beloved first shows up at 124 she’s weak and can barely even keep her eyes open. “Everything hurt but her lungs most of all. Sopping wet and breathing shallow she spent those hours trying to negotiate the weight of her eyelids” (60). However, as the book goes on Beloved seems to get more and more powerful. In the next chapter, Paul D claims that he saw Beloved pick up a rocking chair single-handed. And just two chapters later, Paul D sees Beloved glowing. “Beloved was shining and Paul D didn’t like it” (76). By the end of the book before disappearing, Beloved can completely control Sethe. “Beloved didn’t move; said, ‘do it,’ and Sethe complied” (284).

And as Beloved’s strength grows, she gets meaner and meaner. When Beloved first arrives, she’s thankful for Sethe and Denver’s help. “She smiled then and Denver’s heart stopped bouncing and sat down” (66). But as the book goes on, signs of what Beloved will become start to become apparent. When Beloved is glowing, Paul D suspects something is off about Beloved saying “Women did what strawberry plants did before they shot out their thin vines” (76). And by the end of the book, Beloved is demanding and the townspeople refer to her as “the devil-child.”

Beloved’s Power throughout the novel is a result of the stories told by Sethe. Beloved is obsessed by Sethe’s past and “it became a way to feed her” (69). Beloved is Sethe’s baby who she killed when Schoolteacher came to take her children. And when Beloved comes back from the dead, so do Sethe’s traumatic memories. Beloved represents all of the memories that Sethe tries to forget and kill. At first, Sethe says that telling stories of her past to Beloved feels good. But Beloved gets more and more demanding as memories that Sethe tried to move past come back to her. In the end, Sethe realizes that she needs to get away from Beloved to reconnect with her community and move forward. “Sethe is running away from her, running, and she feels the emptiness in the hand Sethe has been holding. Now she is running into the faces of the people out there, joining them and leaving Beloved behind” (309).

Exit West and the Futility of Resisting Change

By Henry K

On October 27, 2024

In Exit West, Migration

Througout the story Exit West by Mohsin Hamid, the author creates short side stories detached from Saeed and Nadia’s story about other people’s lives. One of these stories follows an old women living in a house that she has lived in her whole life. Her children tried to convince her to sell the house but she refused, instead choosing to cling to her memories of the past. Despite the fact that she never moved, the neighborhood she lives in changed around her. People bought and sold houses leading to many different people moving in, the town got busier with more people, and everyone seemed to be more at home than the old woman.

This section of the book is a response to traditional people trying to prevent change from happening. Hamid argues that change is going to happen whether you like it or not and trying to resist this change is pointless. In the story it says that the woman’s house is worth a fortune and she doesn’t need all the space. She could sell it like her kids suggested to make money and live a better life but she is too caught up in the memories of her childhood. But even as the old woman stays in the same house she’s lived since she was kid, her street changes around her and “it seemed to her that she took had migrated” (209).

The last line of the chapter, “we are all migrants through time,” illustrates Hamid’s point perfectly. Some people desperately try to keep tradition by staying in the same place with the same house. People fight against immigration because they’re worried about their way of life changing. But this effort is futile because no matter how much you try to stay the same, everyone else will change around you.

The Stranger and the Sun

By Henry K

On October 6, 2024

In Albert Camus, Stranger

Throughout the course of The Stranger, the Sun and temperature is emphasized at different points throughout the story. During Maman’s funeral, the sun is “bearing down” and the heat is “inhuman and oppressive” (15). And the heat of the sun is mentioned again when Meursalt is about to shoot the Arab. Meursalt even thinks that “the sun was the same as it had been the day I’d buried Maman” (58). And finally, during Meursalt’s trial the heat is mentioned again. He observes that “it was getting hotter, and I could see people in the courtroom fanning themeselves with newspapers” (86).

All three of these moments are very important to the development in the story. Maman’s funeral is an event that’s referenced many times throughout the book and is important to Meursalt’s character development. Meursalt shooting the Arab is a pivotal moment in the book that leads to his imprisonment and sets up the entire second half of the book. And the trial is anther hugely important event that leads to Meursalt being executed. Meursalt is a character that doesn’t experience emotions very often, but during these moments, Meursalt is forced to confront his feelings because of the seriousness of the events. I believe that Meursalt notices the stifling heat in these moments because they force him into a situation where he’s not sure how to react and he feels trapped.

Because of this I find it interesting that right before Meursalt’s execution, instead of feeling heat, he says that “smells of night, earth, and salt air were cooling my temples” (122). His execution is one of the most important events in the book which makes it confusing that instead of emphasizing the sun, like Camus normally does in moments like these, he mentions the cool night. But unlike the other moments when the sun is mentioned, Meursalt knows exactly what he’s thinking and feels free. Meursalt no longer feels a stifling heat because he fully understands his belief about life and it sets him free.

Fear of the Unkown and the Elephant

By Henry K

On September 26, 2024

In Short Stories

When the elephant disappears in “The Elephant Vanishes” by Huruki Murakami, the entire town is confused on how it could have happened. The elephant was was kept in a high security prison with seemingly no way out. The enclosure was surrounded by a huge fence, iron bars, and the elephant was chained down by a heavy steel cuff. And even if the elephant could get out, there was no sign of it escaping.

Naturally, the town began to speculate on how it could have happened. The town newspaper made articles theorizing on how the elephant escaped and people acrossed town discussed what happened to the elephant. However, throughout all of this buzz around the elephant, no one except the main character suggests that the elephant just vanished into thin air.

Instead, the town uses elaborate plans to try to find the elephant. The town has “hunters carrying large-bore rifles loaded with tranquillizer darts, Self-Defense Force troops, policemen, and firemen combing every square inch of the woods and hills in the immediate area as helicopters hovered overhead” (317). This seems extreme just for an old elephant but it’s not actually about finding and getting back the elephant. Really, People just want a rational explanation, and rather than accepting that the elephant proofed out of existence, they do everything in their power to unover an explanation.

I believe that people never claimed that the elephant simply disappeared, not because they didn’t think it was possible, but because they were terrified that something so absurd could even happen. The over the top reactions to the elephant going missing aren’t because people are scared of the elephant itself. Rather, it’s because they’re scared of the possibility that something so irrational could happen as a massive elephant vanishing without a trace.

Story Power

Blogging the Lit Life

Author: Henry K

Lessons I Learned from “The Stranger” and “Pride and Prejudice”

How Raise the Red Lantern Traps Songlian

Satire of Jobs in Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared

Norms In “King Lear” Vs. “The Stranger”

“Terra” by Geordie Greep

The Strength of Memory and Moving On

Exit West and the Futility of Resisting Change

The Stranger and the Sun

Fear of the Unkown and the Elephant

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives

Other Class Blogs