Gaspard

1. Gaspard By: Trevor Kehrer, Samantha Ko, Anastacia Menemenlis, Brian Min

2. Quote • “The joker rapped it with his own, took a nimble spring upward, and came down in a fantastic dancing attitude, with one of his stained shoes jerked off his foot into his hand, and held out. A joker of an extremely, not to say wolfishly practical character, he looked, under those circumstances.” (Book 5, Chapter 5, Page 23). • Despite only appearing in the book a few times, Gaspard is shown from the beginning to posess a violent streak with how he wrote “BLOOD” and is described as having a “wolfishly practical character”. • Nonetheless, Gaspard is energetic and, at least in this scene, cheerful. He probably would have served as a positive father figure around the home.

3. Function • Gaspard serves to humanize the violent revolutionaries in the eyes of the reader. The loss of a child and subsequent assassination creates a human face for readers to sympathize with concerning the neglected poor and the more extreme amongst them. • He is also a martyr considering how his execution rapidly escalates the activity on the Marquis lands.

4. Metaphor: Match • Match heads contain some phosphorous compound and are often explosive. • Matches only last a short period of time but can cause a forest fire under the right circumstances. • Matches cannot light without some sort of initial force or friction acting upon them.

5. Allusion: John Brown • John Brown is known for the Harper’s Ferry raid in which his group raided a military arsenal in order to try to incite an armed slave rebellion during the pre-Civil War era. • John Brown is believed by many to have been mentally unstable considering his family’s mental history. Gaspard’s wild nature, while not indicative of insanity, is certainly unusual. • The raid, while ill fated, heightened North-South tensions prior to the war.

6. Song: From Shadows From shadows We'll descend upon the world Take back what you stole From shadows We'll reclaim our destiny Set our future free And we'll rise And we'll rise Above the darkness and the shame Above the torture and the pain Above the ridicule and hate Above the binding of our fate Born with no life Into subjugation Treated like a worthless animal Stripped of all rights Just a lesser being Crushed by cruel ruthless Human rule • “From Shadows” is a song about a group of humanoid revolutionaries about to commence a war in protest of discrimination from other humans. • Similarly, Gaspard, who represents the “common man,” feels the need to reclaim not only his rights and but also his humanity and dignity from the oppressive upper class. • “Born with no life into subjugation” describes the denial of human dignity that he feels • “Stripped of all rights” and “crushed by ruthless human rule” describes the denial of security for these human rights and how the system is supported by those in the upper class of society • Gaspard forwards the movement to “rise above the darkness and the shame/ above the torture and the pain” in daily life through his assassination and the following revolution.