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The Loves of Antigone: Love and its Many Forms
Table of Contents
Page 3 – Simon Birch Summary
Connection to Antigone
Page 5 – A Dream within a Dream by Edgar Allen Poe
Connection to Antigone
Page 7 – Love is all that Matters by Eric Carmen
Connection to Antigone
Page 9 – Assorted Quotations
Connections to Antigone
Page 11 – Hideaway by Dean Koontz
Connection to Antigone
Page 13 – Laura, Laura by Merrick Lefton
Connection to Antigone
Page 15 – Bibliography
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Simon Birch
Simon Birch is a 12-year old dwarf, and a devote believer that he is sent
by God to do something special. Obviously, he feels like an outcast in the small
town of Graveston, Maine. With this quality, he finds a soul mate in another kid
in town, Joe. Joe also feels as though he is outside the crowd, mostly because
his mom will not release the real identity of his father. The two are instantly
attracted to each other with a sort of brotherly love.
Through a simple twist of fate and an ill-placed baseball, Joe’s mother is
killed, thus destroying the possibility of ascertaining the true identity of his father
the easy way. Joe sets out to find his father, and Simon embarks on his own
adventure, to find his purpose in life. Unfortunately for Simon, he would find out.
While riding the bus to school, it crashes into the local lake. Simon is the
first to surface. Seeing that his size would enable him to enter the submersed
bus and rescue others, he dives back into the depths to save his classmates. As
soon as he rescues the last person, Joe fishes Simon out of the water, only to
watch him die.
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A Dream within a Dream
By Edgar Allen Poe
Take this kiss upon thy brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow—
You are not wrong, to deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand—
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep—while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?
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“A Dream within a Dream” Connection
Edgar Allen Poe expresses the sorrow of love lost in this melancholy
example of poetry, much like Antigone. Many times in the play, relationships
break up or dissolve.
First off, the death of Antigone destroys love between her and many
others that loved her. Ismene, her sister, was left alone and most likely to suffer
a horrible fate. Ismene displayed her love through actions taken at the beginning
of the piece, like trying to talk Antigone out of trying to bury their brother
Polynieces. Antigone, through finally forgetting about her sister helping, in a
way, shows how she would grieve is her sister Ismene would die.
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“Love is All That Matters”
By Eric Carmen
Lost in a dance
Waiting for the chance
All I really needed was to love you
Night after night
Searchin' for the light
You saved me
You gave me something I could feel
Loneliness is ended
Love has set me free
Love is all that matters
Faithful and forever
Keepin' us together
Love is all we need
Prisoner of illusion
Sentence is suspended
Loneliness is ended
Love has set me free
Dreams from the past
Comin' true at last
Never noticed how my life was
changing
Now I can see
All that love can be
You saved me
You gave me
Something that was real
Love is all that matters
Faithful and forever
Keepin' us together
Love is all we need
Prisoner of illusion
Sentence is suspended
Loneliness is ended
Love has set me free
Love is all that matters
Faithful and forever
Keepin' us together
Love is all we need
Prisoner of illusion
Sentence is suspended
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“Love is all that Matters” Connection
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Quotations
I was a disgrace to the family, of course. They weren't very happy. It was a long
struggle. But now they see that repression is not good: A person will do what he
or she wants to do, eventually.
--Ang Lee
Some family trees bear an enormous crop of nuts.
--Wayne H.
Having a family is like having a bowling alley installed in your brain
--Martin Mull
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Quotation Connections
Imagine Ang’s father as Creon. His father disapproved of Ang and his
decisions. While his father didn’t kill Ang, Creon loathed Antigone’s decision to
be honorable to her brother, by arguing with her and finally locking her up in a
stone cave. He finally realizes that, Creon, king of Thebes, is wrong.
If Wayne thinks he has a weird family, look at Oedipus’s bloodline! Born
out of incest and murder, he spawned a cursed bunch of nutcases. There’s the
wallflower Ismene, the bravado-filled Antigone, and the crazed egocentric Uncle
Creon, and they all wind up killing each other.
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Hideaway
By Dean Koontz
He was clinically dead after the accident, but was miraculously revived by
modern science. How Hatch Harrison and his wife, Lindsey, approach each day
with a new appreciation of life...shadowed by his glimpse of death. Something
has come back from the other side, a terrible presence that links Hatch's mind to
a dangerous psychotic.
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Hideaway Connections
Love is an undercurrent theme throughout all of Hideaway, and obviously
isn’t very noticeable. With the love of God and love of Death and every kind of
love between, love is everywhere in this story.
First off, the
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Laura, Laura
By Merrick Lefton
Laura, Laura is the story of a spinster girl who falls for a local boy named
Harry. They are infatuated with each other and marriage was in the air.
Unfortunately for Laura, word got down to her that he wouldn’t be able to
accompany her to church. Laura was disappointed, but awaited eagerly for the
next time that they would see each other.
Harry was spending time with another women in his car when police
assumed he was a robber causing a chain of thefts in the area. Rounds from
their guns were shot in the car. Harry was pronounced dead two days later.
Laura spent the rest of her life not knowing love and finally passed away.
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Bibliography
Koontz, Dean. Hideaway. Berkley Publishing Group
April 1995
Poe, Edgar Allen. “Dream Within a Dream.” http://stellarone.com/poems/a_dream_within_a_dream__edgar_allan_poe.htm n.p
Carmen, Eric. Lyrics from “Love is All That Matters.” http://www.ericcarmen.com
Austin, Bill. Quotations from Ang Lee and Wayne H. from Family Quotes
http://home.att.net/~quotations/family.html
Johnson, Mark Steven. “Simon Birch” Hollywood Pictures
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