Essay Questions

Describe the postmodern technique which Juan Martinez exploits in “Hobbledehoydom".

Martinez writes, “Several hobbledehoys appear in Trollope’s novels, but none as Charlie Brownish as John Eames, who shuffles into The Small House at Allington almost apologetically and falls in love with Lily Dale, a girl as lovely as one would expect, given the name. John gets engaged, by accident, to someone he shouldn’t, falls heavily into debt, drinks too much, but later whips up into shape, discards his disreputable acquaintances, becomes an honorable civil servant.” Alluding to Trollope’s novels is Intertextuality which enables Martinez to expound on the subject of Hobbledehoydom. Studying and describing the characters in Trollope’s novels is significant for Martinez for it enlightens him about the implications of clumsiness. Moreover, the allusion permits to give Trollope credit for increasing his understanding of Hobbledehoydom. For Martinez, reading Trollope’s novels is similar to reading about himself.

Why does Robert desist from “Going down there”? - “Forsaken, The Crew Awaited News From The People Below”

Martinez writes, “Forsaken, the three awaited news. Robert complained, and panicked, and said he was going down there. To which the other two said, Whatever, fine, do what you will. But he was just bluffing, the coward.” Psychoanalytically, the death instinct stops him from going to the bowel. He dreads his extinction because all the individuals who have gone there have not returned. He is not assured about his survival should he proceed.

Why Does Martinez undermine Idealism? - “After The End Of The World: A Capsule Review”

Martinez elucidates, “Enterprise Carolina is a bit too beautiful. One feels uncomfortable with this hyper-eroticized depiction of a teenager…Should we not be stepping away from this queasy mixture of hard-edged grit and cotton-candy idealism?" Idealism hinders people from discerning the dangers and ugliness of the enterprise system. Besides, idealism encourages the glamorization of the enterprise system whose focus is profits. Glamorizing of the enterprise could be detrimental to the environment because it encourages humanity to overlook the destructive activities which are perpetrated by enterprises.