Jessica

Things Fall Apart

2005-04-24T18:13:00.000-07:00

This story was very interesting but had a hard time following it. Okonkwo was the main character in this book and his main goal is to be opposite from his father. His father, Unoka, was a failure in life-he was very poor and he never wanted to be like that. Okonkwo was known in the city-he had defeated Amalinze The Cat in wrestling. He becomes powerful and confident. By the end of the book- he had succeeded in becoming wealthy and very powerful. His eldest son, Nwoye was just like Unoka-failure. Nwoye marries 3 different wives and has many children with different fathers. The irony in this book is that what Okonkwo really wants in life ends up causing him destruction in the end.

Invisible Man

2005-04-20T17:57:00.000-07:00

This book is very relatable to many people as in they can see the reality in it, from IM's eyes to the white man's eyes. Invisible Man is probably the best one we've read in this class that is still concerned with the reality of the world today. Although racism isn't as prevalent today as it was back then. It seems as if each story we read got closer to today's time period. IM is a strong willed man who seemed to never do anything right. Even if it was the right thing to do, according to everyone else he was stupid. I felt bad for him at times, actually throughout the whole story. His intentions were always good until something went wrong and the blame was put on him. He didn't fight the blame, he just took it as it was going to be. I think he figured why fight it? It wouldn't get him anywhere. When he was expelled for school, I felt bad for him because he was denied jobs so many times. There were some that accepted him, but treated him badly. For example, with the job at the paint factory, he couldn't learn and kept messing up because he was black. Everything was blamed because of his color and he was always having racial comments thrown at him.
He finally got accepted with the "brotherhood" but it ended up being a scam, which wasn't anything new to him because he had been scammed and cheated his whole life. Racism is a huge part in this book, through the eyes of a black man. Racism is an issue in today's society as well. I think that racism will always be an issue. Sometimes people don't even consider themselves racist when they really are- its like denial or something.

House of the Spirts Idealogy

2005-03-29T20:54:00.000-08:00

I think there are many forms of Idealogy throughout this book. The form of idealogy that very clear to me is Blanca and Pedro's love for each other. They are from two seperate classes and it is unheard of at this time for them to be together. Blanca whispers in Pedro's ear " When I grow up, i'm going to marry you and we're going to live here in Tres Marias." Pedro knows his place in the world already, he knows that he can never marry her because she is too high class for him and her family does not accept him. Blanca shows a sense of false reality to the way the world is around her. Pedro is much more a child than her, but he already knows. She is naive to the fact that she can't marry Pedro. It might be that she is too young to understand that she can't mix classes. In Tres Marias, there is Esteban and his family, who is the high class, and everyone else, who is the low class. It was just not accepted back then for a high class person to marry a lower class person, and for some reason Blanca thinks they can overcome that. Or she might not even realize it exists, but she does sneak around loving him so she might know it exists, or maybe she just think her family doesn't like him, not because he is lower class. But Blanca fails to see it can never happen.

House of the Spirits 3 -5

2005-03-27T11:34:00.000-08:00

I found it odd that Esteban came to marry Clara and that Clara hadn't spoken in 9 years but she speaks to announce that she is going to marry Esteban-but then they might have had some type of connection because when Rosa had died and Esteban had come to the Del Valle's house- Clara had confided in Esteban only and no one else. She would only get close to him. (end of chap 1 page 34) The book usually tells us of Clara's dreams and it stated she wasn't marrying for love but for her destiny so she must have dreamt it or had a vision of her and Esteban and knew it was going to happen but they never really told us what she had seen. So marrying Esteban was her destiny, and going to Tres Marias was her mission in life(pg 105).
I thought Clara's parents would be more noticed throughout the book because at the beginning the story was surrounded around them, so I was shocked when they had died so soon. Clara knew that was going to happen also. I think Clara goes in and out of consious states often and that is important because it is usually after something dramatic happens that really affects her will take her into nowhere land, then something brings her back. When she had the twins, Nicolas and Jaime, she began to forget peoples names, I think she sent them away because they were savage and reminded her of Esteban and Blanca was very close to her and Clara paid a lot of attention to Blanca. She knew of Esteban's past with raping girls because she could tell by peoples reactions to him, and she never even asked him about it. I don't know why she puts up with the stuff he does. But then again, he doesn't really seem to bother her, when he has his fits, she just ignores him. She doesn't pay much attention to him and she doesn't seem scared of him.
Ferula and Clara are close and intimate and Esteban hates it, so he finally kicks Ferula out and she ends up dying and Esteban feels quilty, just like she had always made him feel quilty when he was a child, so he puts the blame back on her. He couldn't stand feeling like he was the one to blame. I think he is a JERK. I feel bad for Blanca and Pedro because they really love each other and they have to hide it, but that might be whats making their relationship so good, is that it is a challenge.
After the earthquake, everything in Tres Marias was ruined and Esteban was too. He had to stay in bed and I was surprized that Clara stayed to pamper him. I would have thought she would take it as an advantage to have time away from him.

Antigone

2005-03-14T12:08:00.000-08:00

Antigone is a strong willed woman who does what she thinks is right for her own satisfaction, regardless of punishment. She is punished by the king because she respectfully buries him in peace when he was ordered to be killed and not buried, but left for the animals to eat him. Antigone didn't do this to get people on her side, but because she felt it was right for her brother to be buried respectfully, but in the end, she had changed everything.
Antigone gets the elders on her side and the king ends up asking the elders to be faithful to him if he lets Antigone go free instead of demanding their faithfullness like he had done any time else. The king wasn't just the power, he was above the power and above all, but by the end, he wasn't anything and people realized how evil he was.

Rachel DuPlessis Question

2005-03-13T19:36:00.000-08:00

If I were to meet Rachel Blau DuPlessis I would probably ask her some background questions about what she thought of to write some of these or where she got the idea to write the poem "Whirr Shrill Crickets", for example. I just wondered if she traveled somewhere or thinks of a certain something when she was writing this poem. This poem is obviously gives you an outside feeling, like your somewhere pretty on the earth or something. It talks about the sky, waves, ocean, birds, flowers, grass, and colors. I was just wondering if she was somewhere and everything was just so beautiful and she remembered it so well, she decided to make a poem of it. Or if maybe she just closed her eyes and that is what came to mind. We learned in class that the role of the author can sometimes change your perspective on the piece of writing, but I don't think that is the case here with the "whirr shrill crickets" poem, but I'd like to ask her where she got that scene from.

Gregio Cortez

2005-03-01T21:12:00.000-08:00

I actually really enjoyed reading Gregio Cortez because it was exciting because he was on the run. He was an interesting character too. I liked how they made it out to be or the legend he was. When I found out that there were different scenes of the same scene and that the legend had got exaggerated, it took away the exitement somewhat. But I can see all the Mexican children growing up to this story because it just seems so "mexican." I don't know what I really mean by that but thats just what I was thinking....Anyway, I think whoever reads this story can tell that it was written in a different time period than today and back then it probably the most excitement people had in that community where he lived. Today, things would have been very different and the police would not have been timid of Cortez. But that is what made the story that much better- is that every one trying to catch him was scared of him themselves. Overall, I think it was an okay story but like I said above, I think the fact that there are different versions takes away some of the excitement but then again, thats just what happens over time to many stories.

"Blood Wedding"

2005-02-16T16:20:00.000-08:00

I don't really know if I like this reading or if I don't. I liked it when I was reading it but when I watched the play, I changed my mind. I made up images in my mind while reading it and then when I saw the skit, it wasn't how I saw it in my mind. I didn't like how they would dance and make gestures that apparently meant words in the skit. I was confused in the end because the mother so afraid of losing her son, and she did and it was mostly the brides fault and then she didn't even kill her? I thought she would have, or maybe she did, I dont know! This reading was very symbolic with all the colors and I think that made it more interesting. It reminded me of something Shakespear would write, and his work is usually confusing, but this was wasn't.

The Awakening

2005-01-31T14:33:00.000-08:00

The Awakening, in a sense, reminds me of The Yellow Wallpaper because the main character of both stories struggle for acceptance and block out others from their own thoughts. The Awakening, of course, was quite different in other aspects.
The metaphor of the Awakening applies to the changes that Edna goes through. She "awakens" herself by going against society's norms and doing what pleases her. Her longing for Roberts love, discontentment at home, her unhapiness within herself are some of the changes she's awaken to. She seemed to become careless and broke free. She had a hard time finding herself. It seemed as if everyone disacknowledged the way she felt or things that affected her. For example, when Robert had first announced he was going to Mexico, she had been very upset because she wanted to be with him everyday. Everyone didn't seem to acknowledge that it had upset her and she couldn't understand why people wouldn't know that she'd be upset. No one came over to see if she was "okay with Robert leaving."
I think she loved Robert but she was married to her husband and had an affair with Arobin and it was all too overwhelming to her. Her life seemed to brighten when Robert had returned from Mexico but the lingering thoughts of all she'd handled wrong couldn't escape her conscience. I think that is what soon led to her suicide. I think she had made up her mind that last night that Robert left her because he loved her. ( pg. 112)
I conceived Chopin's meanings behind this story as trying to portray the point that woman led lives of repressed feelings that were hidden behind the men. The husbands had all the control back in the time period this book's setting was in. And when woman, such as Edna, went against the norm and had a mind of her own, she was condemned. And the guilt was so immense, her only answer was death. I think Edna just wanted to be with someone who loved her back. She wanted to feel wanted and important, something her husband didn't give her. Her husband disregarded her and set her aside for material obligations.
It seemed towards the end of the book that Edna had things going for her much more. She knew Robert longed for her and missed her while he was in Mexico. She was living in her new "pigeon house" and she WAS doing her own things and it was quite a shock to me that she killed herself.

The Yellow Wallpaper

2005-01-24T21:23:00.000-08:00

After Reading "The Yellow Wallpaper," I was left with much confusion. I didn't understand what was going on with the woman. I knew she had some type of mental disease and was put away in a house away from her baby and mostly everyone to hopefully get better. This was back in the 19 century and not many people knew a lot about mental diseases. Her husband ignored her accusations and he was a doctor and I think she made herself go crazy even more because of her husband blowing her off and laughing at what she said.
At one point in the story, when she had said the woman was creeping just like she had and she wondered if the woman came out of the wallpaper like she did, it made me think that she was that woman she kept seeing. It made me think she was looking at her own life everyday and referring it to another womans life.
When reading this story, I also thought that the author was the woman in the story because she had been writing the whole time and hiding it from everyone. Why wasn't she aloud to write? If they couldn't figure her out, her writing might help them understand. But I think her husband and Jennie thought it might drive her more mad. I am stuck on the point that she was exlaining herself when she saw that woman. When she said she had a rope at the end but she couldn't jump out the window because of the bars and the woman in the wallpaper would shake the bars. I think the woman in the wallpaper and her, herself had a lot in common.

Frederick Douglass

2005-01-23T15:51:00.000-08:00

After Reading Frederick Douglass's narrative of his life, it showed me that he had a main goal in life and he succeeded in it. His main goal was to prove how important education is in one's life. Under the circumstances he was in, and the obstacles he overcame makes his story more striking than most others. He was living in a world where white's dominated and owned African Americans. He was a slave, good for hard labor and thats all. He was of no use for anything else, in everyone else's eyes, but not his own.
His one mistress, Mrs. Auld attempted to teach him the alphabet until she was scorned not to by her husband. Her husband had said that the slave would then become no good and unmanageable. He had also said "As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy." As to Douglass, it did not discourage him, it meant he must learn. And he did so. Once he had learned to read and write he had, for awhile, regretted it. He was now able to learn more about slavery and how helpless he was. He had then envied his fellow slaves for being stupid because atleast they weren't aware of all that he was. But it had helped him in the long run to escape this horrible life to be free. He thought he was a slave for life and those words troubled him so. Those words also consoled him with the hope that something would happen which would free him. Along the way, he was able to see some hope for freedom. It had started with the delivery guys, who had mentioned something about him being free but he didn't trust them enough so he ignored their mentioning of it and pretended he didn't understand them. But inside, he was thinking hard about it.
He uses this story to give people an inside glimpse to the cruelty the slaves had suffered from southern plantation owners. He speaks a lot of education and freedom and how the two connect. He knew his way to freedom was through education and he also knew the plantation owners knew that too and that is why they would refuse the teaching of slaves which is normally a necessity to everyday people these days. I think the fact that it was shunned for slaves to learn was what drove him to self teaching himself. This is a very powerful narrative and it will show the generations about slavery and its cruelty.