Friday, November 20, 2009

Opposite Personalities

After reading about Pip's visit with Wemmick, I suspected a keen sense of strange behavior on Wemmick's part. At work Wemmick is all about hard work and focus, whereas at home he becomes more loose and sympathetic to his surroundings. That being said, I am not very sure what to make of this. How come people act with two completely opposite personalities depending on the setting they are in and the faces around them? Even though Wemmick comes home from work each day like any other business man would, the world he enters is not what you would suspect; a fantasy filled world. His house supposedly represents a castle with a bridge that is at the entrance of this castle and a flagpole right outside. Wemmick is always talking about his flagpole, and how he pulls it up and down at a certain time each and every day. By him doing this action shows his true pride and love for his home life. He acts with innocence which is not something you appear to see very often. Labor, hard work, and the drive to do so is what makes a grown man a success. The only way to get his mind off of work was to enter his comfortable state of what we call "home". Kids our age can relate to what Wemmick is experiencing, but not for the same reasons that is. Rather than being exposed to the business world, we experience homework and drama. School--a place where you can have fun when necessary, but seriousness is key when you want to succeed and achieve. Once that bell rings at the end of every school day, do you get a sense of relief--all of the pressure and stress has been lifted from your shoulders and you feel the need to just take in your surroundings with a deep steady breath? When you step off the bus and open the door to your home what do you do? Do you go back to the mindset of school, or relax and enjoy your few moments of peace and freedom before the next day creeps up and your fantasy ends and reality hits once again? What you make of your fantasy world is up to you, but for Wemmick it means staying calm and collected while expressing love to his family. Do not judge a book by its cover, because what you see on the outside is definitely not everything. What matters the most is the inside. Wemmick may not look to be an innocent gentleman to the human eye, but his actions express what his mind is really imagining. Wemmick, not only has the love to be successful, be the love for his family as well.

3 comments:

  1. Really wel put. I love how you seamlessly go back and forth from talking about the text, to talking about real life. I guess in some ways we totally need to have a very different personal life from our work life. Your response made me think of how when I go home I do have that sigh of relief, and try to just let the pressures of living fall off my shoulders. But is the life I live at home just fantasy? I disagree. I think I may be more real at homre than here at school. You know, for your response to get me to think so much, is a tell tale sign that your response is really well done. Thanks.

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  2. Emma,
    I really liked how you compared Wemmick to something that actually means something to you. I found really easy to relate to your piece and that was cool. Next time you might want to try to make it into two paragraphs if you want, but I also think it's fine this way.
    -Karen

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  3. Good job Emma!!! I agree with Karen and how she said that she likes the way that you relates something that is important to you with the novel. I really liked this...nice job.

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