Journal #12 Antigone

Ugly vs. Beauty


"Yes I am ugly! Father was ugly too. But Father became beautiful. And do you know when? At the very end." - Antigone pg. 43

Anouilh creates tension between the idea of what beauty is and what being ugly is when he describes the character's personalities. Not their actual physical appearance. For example in the quote above Antigone is talking to Creon about her father. Creon is telling Antigone the truth about her brothers and Antigone basically says that the only way she can be happy is at the end of her life. But the important part of this tension that Anouilh creates is it's applicability to the situation of the world during this time period. I saw this as Anouilh appealing to the Germans and basically saying that the ends justify the means. Antigone talks about how Oedipus became beautiful once he was at the end of his life and he could no longer doubt killing his father and sleeping with his mother. Likewise I think that the Nazis could use the same argument to justify their treatment of the Jews. Basically the German people or Nazis would become beautiful once they exterminated the Jews despite how horrific of an act it would be. That's probably a bit of a stretch so I guess a better application would be Germany winning the war would make the beautiful. Even though it would cost lives Germany needed more living room and to gain back what it had lost in World War One. Again the ends would justify the means, and beauty comes from the end, ugliness from the means. Oedipus became king but he had to kill his father and marry his mother to do it. So all in all I think that Anouilh created this tension in the play to appeal to German readers as well as French readers.

Journal #11 Antigone

The role of the chorus has changed quite significantly from last night's reading. The first that stood out to me what that the chorus was actually addressing the reader (or viewer) by saying "you". I don't recall that occurring in last night's reading to it is interesting to me that Anouilh would have the chorus begin to address the audience at this time. It made the chorus more personal so it felt like I had to look at my own experiences with what the play is discussing, whereas before I occasionally made connections to my own life. Also the chorus changed in that it wasn't discussing events that occurred during the play rather it was talking about what makes a tragedy a tragedy, kind of like what we have been doing in class, so it was nice to take a step back from the play and see Anouilh's opinion of tragedy. The chorus takes somewhat of an authoritative tone towards the reader, it didn't really as questions, more so told it like it is. It specifically tells you what tragedy is, and what tragedy is not, so it adds to the overall power of the chorus because when it becomes a reliable source in the beginning it will likely remain a reliable source throughout the rest of the play, so the reader/viewer can trust the chorus. Unless the reader/viewer has trouble with authority, in which case he or she may not like the chorus for the rest of the play. The chorus comments on tragic elements of the play by dictating what is tragedy and what is not tragedy.

Journal #10 Antigone

List of Events
Antigone sits by herself and thinks about how she is going to die, although she would rather live. She is also thinking about rising up against King Creon alone.
Ismene is chatting with a guy and smiling, because she isn't going to die
Haemon is the guy talking to Ismene, even though he is engaged to Antigone. Haemon went to a dance and Ismene is beautiful so he danced with her for awhile, and then after the dance he found Antigone alone and he proposed to her. She said yes and this was a death sentence for Haemon
Creon is sitting on the throne thinking. Earlier when his brother-in-law Oedipus was king he would spend his time in antique shops. Then Oedipus and his sons died so Creon became king and when he goes to sleep he wonders if it is worth the trouble.
Eurydice is Creon's wife, she doesn't do anything but knit, then she goes into her room and dies
The Messenger has a premonition that Haemon will die and eventually it comes true so he stays silent
The Guard have wives and children and are troubles by the same things that trouble everyone. They would arrest the King if they were ordered to.
When Oedipus died it was agreed that his two sons would alternate ruling the throne annually. The older brother refused to give up the throne, so a civil war ensued. 6 foreign princes defeated at 7 gates, the brothers killed each other. So Creon became king. Creon ordered a ceremony for the older brother Eteocles and ordered that the younger brother Polynices be left to rot. Anyone who tried to change that would be put to death.


Reflection
Anouilh's structure and diction is very calm and soothing, almost casual. When I read it in my head it sounds almost as if Anouilh is sitting by a fire just telling a story. This changes my interpretation of characters, motivations, and events in several ways. For the characters is makes them appear to be more human than other plays that we have read. Mostly because they seemed relaxed like I would be on any given day, I don't imagine them stressed and running around trying to solve problems which would be hard for me to connect to because day to day I am usually not stressed or running around. As for the motivations of the characters it makes their motivations again seem more human to me. By keeping them casual they no longer are characters in a play that I know will end poorly rather they are people that are facing real life problems. Real life meaning for that time period, I don't think we have to worry about the problems Antigone is facing anymore, but either way it makes their motivations more real. The events seem to be more real as well. Instead of being something the author made up to make the plot interesting, Anouilh's casualness leads me to believe that these events actually occurred in this story. Not like I think that they actually happened but it's more believable in this story than some of the events that occur in other stories when the author is not casual.

Topic Sentence

In Blood Wedding, written by Federico Garcia Lorca, Bride's desire for control in her life ultimately leads to her suicide in which she takes total control of her life by ending it, this need for control is a result of the arranged marriage.

Journal #9

List of themes Lorca creates in the Blood Wedding

Nature and how it contrasts the characters
Nature plays a huge role in the Blood Wedding specifically the moon, and this interested me a lot because to me nature is something that is almost entirely out of our control so to see the characters trying to control each makes for an interesting story. The moon especially to me is just intriguing that I just want to sit and think about it more and more why Lorca chose it. And also why a woman is supposed to play it

Gender roles and their significance to the events that occur
Kind of going off of that last theme with nature is why the moon is supposed to be played by a woman. I guess thats one thing that I ignored previously which is who is playing the roles. Lorca could be sending a message with who gets casted. But anyways the theme part I think that Lorca is criticizing roles set by society in general not just the role women have and why as a result people die. Like it's the death of societal roles in some way

Age and it's effect on the character and the events
One of the interesting things to me was the use of vineyards and grapes to connect families, and from my understanding of wine the older the better, so I think that it is almost as if Lorca is trying to show that the elderly people in the play are better. Although some of the older characters do a lot of manipulating. So I don't really know where that is going but I think for sure the vineyards play into a theme of age and it's significance to the characters

Journal #8 Blood Wedding

Literally the atmosphere becomes murky in act 3 when compared to act 2. In act 3 scene 1 the atmosphere is described as murky. As a reader this makes me think that the plot is supposed to get more confusing, or the characters are about to become more confused. Or I am about to get confused. That's what murky makes me think of, gets me set up for confusion. Anyways the part that I found was interesting between act 2 and act 3 was that both being at night. I think that it is very significant that they both begin at night or a couple of reasons. The first is that night is usually when people sleep, I don't know of many nocturnal people, and sleep is a biological need to perform well, so the fact that Lorca is depriving these characters of sleep may lead to the confusion. Who knows, maybe the bride wouldn't have run off if she had a good nights sleep. Maybe Leonardo and the Bridegroom wouldn't have killed each other if they had had a good night's sleep. This makes me wonder if maybe Lorca has sleeping problems. Maybe he had insomnia and spent countless nights just staring at the moon and it haunted him. So he wrote a book in which the moon is an actual character, reflecting his own life. I guess on large scale the changes in the set change the way I see the play, but what they really do is make me think about Lorca's own life. And through thinking about Lorca's life I think about the atmosphere of the play. So it's kind of the long way to it. Anyways overall I think that the set changes make everything more confusing because the atmosphere is "murky" and I would love to see it performed live.

Journal #7 Blood Wedding

Lorca adds a lot of youth to the second act and I think that it serves several purposes to add youth. The first being from a business perspective. By adding youth, the youth of the population will feel more of a connection and then will be more likely to buy it. It's a smart idea to add youth to the play because he more copies he sells the more money he makes, and who wouldn't want more money? Another reason why I think Lorca added youth is because he is dealing with some topics that seem kind of cliche in some ways, but Lorca writes them in a different manner. So the youth is just kind of a subtle reminder to the reader that Lorca is dealing with old topics in a young and fresh way. Otherwise without the addition of the youth the reader might just think that people falling in love and then dying or committing suicide is boring because there is a million books about people that fall in love and then die. Basically I think Lorca added youth to remind people that he wasn't being cliche. The overall impact that the addition of youth has on my reading and interpretation of the play is it makes me make more connections to the play than I normally would. When I was little and I read books with older characters I really felt like I had no connection to them and some of the meaning was lost. But now that I am older I feel like there is more of a possibility of the characters being more like me. Especially when I read Shakespeare, most of the characters like Romeo and Juliet were young, around my age. So I think Lorca added youth so that younger people can feel more of a connection and get more involved to come to conclusions.

Journal #6 Blood Wedding

The character that seems to be the most miserable is Leonardo. However I would like to clarify that this doesn't mean he has experienced the most misery, it just means that he is the most miserable. For instance I think that the Bride is going through more misery than Leonardo, but Leonardo lets his misery affect him more than the Bride lets her misery affect her. Leonardo openly expresses his misery to the other characters when he says "Two oxen and a tumbledown hut are almost nothing. That's what hurts." (pg. 46) his pain is understandable though, not being able to marry the person you love because of social status would be a pretty lame situation to be in. Does he need to act out in such a way though? I don't think so. I think his misery should be channelled into doing something effective and worthwhile for society rather than just wallowing in self pity. That is why I think Leonardo is the most miserable character. Like I said earlier though, that doesn't mean he is experiencing the most misery. I think that the Bride is experiencing the most misery. When she says "And it draws me under, and I know I'm drowning, but I follow" it shows to me that she is experiencing a deep pain and yet she is continuing on with her life and trying to move past it. I have more respect for the Bride because she is at least trying to make a positive out of a negative whereas Leonardo is just being a square. Having said that though I do respect Leonardo for trying so hard, because if the world didn't have any Leonardos we wouldn't have very many hard workers. If it was a world full of Brides we might not progress as far as we should. What stops the characters from pursuing what would end their misery is societal limitations. It is not appropriate for a man to go after an engage woman. I have no idea why Lorca would do this, honestly I am pretty sure it is because he read a news article with this story in it so he wrote a play.

Journal #5 Blood Wedding

It seemed to me that the Wife and the Mother-in-law were characterized a lot by the dialogue the use and how poetic is sounded. I found this interesting for several reasons. First of all I thought that it was very stereotypical to make the lady characters more poetic because that is as stereotype that exists in America today. However I am not sure that it existed in Lorca was writing this, so it is entirely possible that during his time women were thought of as not being able to write well. If this is true then Lorca would be critiquing the society he was living in. If this is not true then Lorca would simply be emphasizing what the culture already believes. I don't know enough of Spanish culture to make a guess. This effects my opinion of the women of the book because they seem more educated when they talk in a poetic style. It feels to my that when someone speaks with a sense of poetry that they not only know what they want to say but they manipulate it in a way to convince other people. So in a sense I distrust them a bit, but at the same time I trust them more than I would a different character. The thing I noticed is that they seem very caring and concerned about the well being of the Boy like I think would be stereotypical of a mother. Unfortunately I do not know enough about Lorca's home life to know if he had an effective mother or not. So I think this is what he thinks of as a good mother and whether or not it reflects his life or is a critique of bad parents I do not know. Overall though it makes me trust the character more because it makes me think of my mother and that makes me feel a stronger connection to the character.

Journal #4 Blood Wedding

The symbol of black clothing

When the neighbor walks into the house to talk with mother and she is described as "dressed in black with a shawl wrapped around her head" (pg. 6) When the pair talk they discuss how the neighbor's son's hands had been cut off by the "machine" and I think Lorca specifically chose to have the women dressed in black to reflect her emotions about her son's incidents. I find this interesting because I thought someone said in class that white was worn for sadder occasions and black was for happier occasions (I am not entirely sure) but this would be an example of when black clothing was worn at a sad occasion. Also the mother had just been discussing her husbands death with the bridegroom when the woman entered so I think that black clothing shows up as a symbol of misfortune from the beginning of the play whether or not it is supposed to be a happy color in spanish culture.

The symbol of grapes

Grapes come up early in the first scene when the bridegroom asks for a knife to cut some grapes. From there the mother goes into some sort of mental break down about how knives kill things. Later on however the bridegroom talks about how he saved up enough money to buy his lady friend a vineyard. I thought that it was interesting how the grapes are used to put the mother in a position to recall the memories of her late husband but then they come up again to give her a vision of her son's new family and how the family name will continue. I am not sure how important family names were during this time, but it seems like in the first scene the grapes are the connection between the family name dying with the death of the husband and the beginning of the new life with the bridegroom and his family.

Wild Duck #3

I think that the prompt is mostly referring to the suicide of Hedvig, so on that note I think that no one is to blame except for Hedvig herself. The reason that I say this is because I recently watched the movie World's Greatest Dad, and I learned that suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Literally if Hedvig had chosen to shoot the duck instead of herself she would realize that Hjalmar still loved her. It is Hedvig's fault that she chose to shoot herself. It may have been that her young age clouded her judgement or maybe her poor eye sight however in the end it would not be fair to blame others for the choices she made. Blaming her actions on Hjalmar would likely destroy him and cause him to become a drunk. Blaming Gregers would accomplish nothing because he feels that he did the right thing. It was Hedvig's choice to select a permanent solution to a temporary problem. In the end no character has any blame for what Hedvig did besides herself. No character should carry the blame more than another. It would be foolish to blame someone else for Hedvig's choices

Wild Duck #2

The motif of decay develops over the length of the play and shows up in several different ways. The first being positive, while at the dinner party the guests discuss what makes a good wine, and the year is important to telling if the wine is good or not.

Hjalmar Is there a difference between the years?
The Fat Guest: Oh that's rich!

Overtime the wine is decaying which adds to the flavor, and depending on the year determines the greatness of the wine. So in the beginning of the novel the motif of decay is attached to wealth, class, superiority to lower classes. Hjalmar doesn't know the difference between the years in the wine he drinks and the other guests make fun of him for his ignorance. Just a little bit later the bald guest comments on Hjalmar's ignorance.

The Bald Guest Tokay wines are like photographs Mr. Ekdal...

I think that Ibsen chooses to mentions photographs right after the wine to make the connection to Hjalmar not only being ignorant to the ages of wines but also to reality. Wine in this example serves a symbol for Hjalmar's ignorance, much like his photographs do. Eventually throughout the novel Hjalmar's ignorance decays though until he finally learns the truth.

The motif of decay occurs in Act 3 again accompanied by photographs ignorance of Hjalmar. When Hjalmar is talking to Hedvig about his decaying strength and he expresses his wishes for Hedvig to not use the brush because of her decaying eyes he says the stage directions become very interesting.

Hjalmar But don't ruin your eyes! Hear me? I won't take the blame; you can take the blame yourself--you hear me?
Hedvig (at work retouching) Yes, yes, sure I will.

The interesting thing is that right when Hjalmar mentions Hedvig going blind Ibsen writes in that Hedvig begins retouching. As Hedvig's eye sight decays, more and more retouching is done to photos, which seems to me like Hjalmar and Hedvig are almost retouching reality for them and choosing to be ignorant to certain aspects of their lives. For example Hedvig going blind and Old Werle going blind.

Another form of decay that become important later in the novel is the decay of memory

Gina No. Good Lord, I'd almost forgotten that old affair

Gina claims that her memory of the affair she had with Old Werle is fading, however I think that she is lying. I think what she means to say is that she wants to forget the affair and that it meant nothing to her, however this message is not conveyed to Hjalmar, which causes him to get incredibly angry. The decay of memory shows the death of ignorance in the story. What was almost forgotten becomes known and with that knowledge comes the end of decay

Wild Duck- Option 1

Ibsen creates many boundaries in The Wild Duck. I think the most important boundary that he creates is the stage. While I am reading this I like to imagine it actually being acted out on the stage, and I think that many boundaries arise as a result of the stage. For example in the beginning of Act 3 Ibsen describes Hjalmar as sitting at the table retouching photos. Ibsen limited the creativity of the reader by writing this in. However it is interesting that Ibsen makes Hjalmar retouch photos at this point in the play. Just as Hjalmar decides to become his own man, and become independent, he retouches photos. I think Ibsen is showing through photography how Hjalmar  thinks he can change the past and become independent when in reality not very much changes. The important thing to note is that Ibsen set the boundary of Hjalmar retouching photos for a reason at this point. How the actor actually acts this scene out though is something to consider. Hjalmar could be smiling while he is retouching photos. He could be frowning. Depending on either of those the entire meaning of what Hjalmar says later is changed. By making this a play for the stage Ibsen has granted a huge amount of freedom and made many boundaries disappear unlike other books. In the same passage in the beginning of Act 3 Ibsen writes that there are many photos on the table with Hjalmar. This could be representing all of the memories that Hjalmar would have to fix in order to truly become independent. Again though the importance of this is how few boundaries Ibsen has set on the actor. The actor playing Hjalmar could have basically any facial expression, any body posture, and all would change the meaning of the text. It is interesting how little boundaries Ibsen puts on the character of Hjalmar when one considers this text as a play as well.

We #3

Motifs- "It's strange-- there seems to be a blank white page inside my head." The motif of paper became extremely interesting to me at this point in the book because D-503 saying that he has a blank page in his head connects to several other places in the book. The one that really stand out to me was when D-503 previously talked about chemistry and he made the comparison that something was like the filter paper that chemists use. The idea that his mind is no longer like a filter paper, catching what is not wanted in the solution, is almost like D-503 is clearing his mind before his meeting with the Benefactor. He later goes on to talk about how all of the lines in his life were cut, and lines being what is perfect and representative of the one state, he is showing his disconnection to the one state while still fearing it. The one state controls him regardless of whether or not he supports them. This shapes my understanding of the society because it becomes more powerful than I previously thought. Later in the passage the Benefactor talks to D-503 about when Jesus was crucified, and this made me think about the whole idea of previous people being ancient and inferior, and it's just incredibly interesting how the Benefactor is able to use it to convince D-503. The motif of things being ancient across the novel have shaped my understanding of the society because it shows how the people of the one state view themselves, and especially the benefactor himself. Little is known of that character for a really long time, so when Zamyatin uses the motif of ancient civilization it characterizes the Benefactor a lot more than other motifs would.

Setting- "It's strange: the barometric pressure is falling, but there is still no wind, just silence." (pg. 148)

The setting is very important at this point in the novel because the weather is showing how changes are being made and effects are taking place but no major effects have actually occurred. I think that at this point in the novel the weather has become a symbol of the internal struggle that D-503 is going through. Looking back on the novel the weather was nice and perfect, much like how D-503 was content with his life at the point in the novel. However at this point in the novel the barometric pressure is dropping, much like how D-503's feelings are changing, but nothing major has happened to him at this point. This connects to later in the novel because after he has had the operation the barometer goes back to normal, which would reflect his reaffirmed belief in the triumph of reason over emotions. The use of the barometer is significant in shaping my understanding of the society because weather is something that I can connect to in my personal life. Especially having lived in Oregon my whole life when I read about how the weather is changing for D-503 is makes me think of the weather that I have encountered, which is mostly just rain, with a few snowy days and a few sunny days a year, but these connections bring up all of the feelings and then I feel like I understand D-503 and his society better as a result. If Zamyatin had not chosen to use weather in the setting of the novel I would lose that connection and then I would not be able to connect to D-503 in the way that I do. 

Language- "I noticed that she had sharp and very white teeth and that this was beautiful." (pg. 203)

The language becomes especially important in the last entry of the book. Once D-503 has had the operation, his language returns to the way that it was in the beginning of the book, precise and almost mathematical. Which confuses me, because it seems to me that the operation is basically a lobotomy, and I didn't think that people who had received lobotomies were still mathematial. I thought they leaned more on the brain dead side. However assuming that the great operation is different from a lobotomy, the language shapes my understanding of society in the sense that now I understand that there is still beauty without imagination. There was an episode of Star Trek titled, "Is there in truth, no beauty?" well we answers that question. By removing emotions beauty still exists, as shown by D-503. I think that Zamyatin uses this language to show that not while is may seem like a bad idea to lose your imagination, that fear is usually because we think that that means a loss of concepts like beauty. However I would argue that Zamyatin is showing not to fear the loss of imagination because we may lose beauty, rather because losing one's imagination means a loss of control over what beauty is. Overall the language used reflects the values that the society upholds, not what the individual upholds. 

These are the quotes I was talking about in my first journal that I forgot to put in

"Reason, which has been able to make infinity (something so frightening to the Ancients) into a digestible concept, by..." (pg. 54)

"Spring. From beyond the Green Wall, from the wild invisible plains, the wild brings the yellow honey-dust from a flower of some kind" (pg. 5)

"Nighttime. Green, orange, blue; a red "grand" instrument; a dress. as yellow as a lemon." (pg. 30)

We #2

Motifs- "I seem to recall something about a "soul" flashed past and some senseless ancient phrase flew by:
"a tortured soul". (pg. 125) Again the motif and things being "ancient" appears in the second part. However the significance of the above quote is that the soul is ancient. When D-503 uses ancient to describe the house it makes some sense because they are further along in time, but to call the soul ancient implies that they outgrown it in some way, or improved upon it. It is interesting to compare what D-503 finds senseless and what he doesn't. It's senseless to think about feelings, however it is important for everyone to gather to vote for the same person. I think that Zamyatin in this passage is warning against the propaganda of governments, but more specifically that we can't ignore our feelings. Regardless of what society tells us our feelings are our feelings. And we feel it for a reason. D-503 finds these feelings to be senseless at this point and remembers the ancient phrase a tortured soul. I think that Zamyatin uses the motif of ancient at this point in the novel who warn against valuing logic over feelings. The way this shapes my understanding of the society is that it makes me think that it's a lot like planet Vulcan. And D-503 is like Spock. Vulcan makes excellent science officers on a star ship, however they lack the emotion to make necessary decisions, emotions that D-503 is just beginning to feel more and more often.

Setting- "Up above the wall: the sharp black triangles of some kind of bird were cawing [...]" (pg. 105)
The significant part of the setting in the quote above is the wall. Walls generally serve two purposes, to keep things out, and to keeps things in. I think that the ciphers are all convinced that the wall serves the function of keeping things out. Things that could potentially harm them. But I think that the purpose the wall really serves is to keep the ciphers in. If they won the 200 year war, then why limit the amount a space they have? If they are the victors then potentially they could defeat their enemy again and take as much land as they want, however they choose to confine themselves. I think that one possible explanation for this is that they have a jealous leader, who wants to control his citizens and won't let them leave because that would damage his ego. Also I think that wall is significant because they often limit things progress and part of the message that I think Zamyatin is sending is that limiting one's imagination because it doesn't coincide with math or logic is a bad thing. What I don't understand is why they have a wall because if they are such a mathematical society shouldn't they realize that limiting their own space is counterintuitive to expansion? Why build an integral to colonize other worlds but keep themselves limited? This shaped my understanding of their society because it just confuses me.

Language- "R, baring white, African teeth, spattered some word into my face, dived off, and disappeared" (pg. 127) The significance of the above quote is that D-503 uses the word African to describe R's teeth. In the one state I thought that they would control for race so that no one feels inferior to someone as a result. This makes me think that Zamyatin envisioned a world in which the idea of hating someone else because of something as simple as skin color was so absurd that the government wouldn't have to control for it. Also I am surprised that they know what Africa is, and the stereotypes that go along with it because if they live in the "one state" then why would Africa be mentioned in their school? What purpose would that serve to teach the children about history? I mean they could teach about how terrible it might have been to be ancient but then they would have to account that at least 1 person would realize that lack of freedom they have and try to rebel. The language used just perplexes me because I don't understand why there would be different races of people in this society, or why the government would teach about different countries from history. This is significant for the second third of the book because D-503 is developing at a much faster rate, and his language reveals this. The other interesting thing is that Zamyatin has D-503 focus on body parts an awful lot, that's almost always how he identifies people, and if he describes R as a having African lips then Zamyatin is calling attention to R's african roots. This shapes my understanding of the society because it is a lot different than I had previously thought.

Journal #1 We

Motifs- The motif of "ancient" comes up a lot when the citizen refer back to the past civilizations. The way this shaped my understanding of their society is it made them seem like they thought they were far superior to past civilizations. When we use ancient in today's society we refer to the greeks or romans, not people from 200 years ago. The idea that there society is so much further along that others almost seems to be propaganda put forth by the government to trick it's citizens into think that their society is so much better than others that to try to change it would only be regressive and not progressive. Also the lighting seems to be a motif, whether is day or night, bright or dark, and I think this reflects how the government doesn't control everything and connects to the idea that somethings are out of control. Having said that it's entirely possible that the government finds a way to control it, so may it shows how the government chooses to control some things over others

Setting- In the book they often talk about the weather that is around, for instance if it's spring or if it's windy. This affects my understanding of the society because being allowed to connect to nature must be a huge issue for the people in charge. There must be something about nature that they manipulate it into being a tool to control it's citizens further. Otherwise it seems like nature would only make the citizens more likely to question authority. Maybe that's why math and science are emphasized, because if the citizens look at the wind and think to themselves there is a scientific explanation for this rather than is something controlling the wind they will be less likely to ask the question is something controlling me.

Language- The language used is very descriptive and colorful. This affects my understanding of the society in multiple ways. The first is that it appears that the citizens have more control than they actually do, because they say an awful lot however what they say is fairly controlled. So basically they can say a certain thing but they can say it however they want, so they have a false sense of freedom. Another way it affects my understanding of the society is the way D-503 is very mathematical in his writing, and this makes me think that the society puts an emphasis on education in the maths and sciences. Then connecting that to my life and it makes me wonder why I would learn about math and science in school if it leads to a dystopian society. The other connection I made is that most people say knowledge is power but the characters based on the way they use language makes it seem like they have a lot of knowledge but little to no power.

Journal #5

Personal Philosophy

Name- Jacksonism

Seven Principles
1. Establish a legitimate connection to nature- Last summer I went on a hike in the Eagle Cap wilderness and it showed me how detached I had been from nature, and I think that humans all to often try to detach ourselves from nature and we neglect that we are nature
2. Meaning in life is given by action- I believe that we are here by chance so there is no universal meaning, however that does not mean you cannot give life a meaning and a purpose
3. We can control our reactions- Gandalf once said "All we have to do is decide what to do with the time that is given to us" so regardless of the time we a born in, we should seek to improve it no matter what
4. Live based on evidence- Faith is fine and dandy however one should live based on what they know, and often times when people leave problems up to a superior being and just have faith those problems end poorly.
5. The focus of life shoud be to further the human race- To live a selfish life and slow down the progress of human beings is a waste of a life. People who would rather serves themselves than others need to realize that once they die they will have left nothing positive in this world
6. Exploration is key- When we stop exploring, we stop advancing as a whole. For example the reasons for which we stopped exploring space are absurd. This was a huge detriment to culture as a whole and is like ignoring your own backyard and everything that could be there.
7. Emphasis will be taken off grades. The idea that you determine how intelligent a person is based on a grade is ridiculous. It in no way reflects the overall intelligence of a person, and for that reason should be disregarded.

Journal #4

At the end of the novel Meursault comes to the conclusion that although the priest thought he knew what he was talking about, he knew nothing. He basically rationalizes all the decisions he made throughout his life by saying that none of it mattered because he would eventually die, whether it was in an execution or 20 years later it didn't matter. Meursault comes to the conclusion that searching for the meaning of life is absurd and not worth any of the limited time he had left. I think that Camus does want the reader to come to the same conclusions, however he does not want the reader to use it as a justification for something such as murder like Meursault does. I think this because Camus himself talked about absurdism, and put much of his life into the character of Meursault, so that led me to the conclusion that Camus wouldn't necessarily be critical of Meursault. Having said that though, Camus does give Meursault the death sentence in the end of the novel, so I think that Camus is sending a warning to people about the dangers of taking this absurd belief to an extreme that could be used for potentially harmful purposes. So in the end I think that Camus wants the reader to come to the same conclusion as Meursault, that anyone who claims to have all of the answers is lying and that searching for the meaning of life is absurd, however he does not want the reader to use this is a justification for performing evil actions that harms others.

Journal #3

Why Camus split The Stranger into 2 parts
I think that Camus split his novel into two parts to show how Meursault develops as a result of the murder. In part one Meursault is a dull character that focuses mainly on the material world rather than thinking abstractly about questions such as the meaning of life. For example, "After lunch I was a little bored and I wandered around the apartment." (pg 21) Just a few days after his mother's death and he walks around his apartment bored; rather than thinking and questioning the meaning of life he focuses on the material world and what immediately impacts him. I equate this to his superego being in control of his conscious because he is thinking rational thoughts that society would support, as opposed to the id being in control of his conscious in which case he would be thinking irrational thoughts. In part two Meursault undergoes a radical change in his thinking process with the murder of the Arab and his sentencing to death. He begins to think longer, more complex thoughts, which Camus shows through the change in syntax. With these more complex thoughts comes a more involved and developed Meursault that interacts with the environment in a more abstract way. For example, "I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world." (pg 122). Meursault is in my opinion allowing his id to take over his conscious, and dictate his thoughts which allows his previously oppressed emotions to come out. I think that Camus split the novel into two parts to help the reader identify the murder as the catalyst that changed Meursault from being a person dominated by his superego to a person dominated by his id.

Journal #2

Option 1
I think that the sun is a symbol for the catalyst that sends people over the edge on an emotional level. For example from the text when Raymond hand the gun to Meursault "The sun glinted off Raymond's gun [...]" (pg 56). Although the sun isn't what kills the Arab I think the it set off Meursault and put him into an agitated state so that he did pull the trigger. Even later in the story Meursault says the reason he pulled the trigger was because of the sun. So the sun serves as a symbol for something that is involved with pushing someone over the edge emotionally but doesn't appear as the actual cause. Overall I think the sun develops the theme of how Camus is critical of Meursault because Meursault allows himself to be influenced by petty and insignificant things whereas I think Camus is sending a message the more important matters need to be paid attention too and when they are mistakes are made and lives are lost.

Journal #1

3 Characters

Salamano- Salamano is described as an older man who is neighbors with Meursault and inseparable from his dog for the past 8 years. I think that Salamono at this point in the novel serves as a foil to Meursault. The translator's note talks about how Meursault equates Salamono and his dog's relationship to human with a human's relationship it contrast's Meursault's relationship with his Maman. After he hears Salamono crying after losing his dog it highlights Meursault's lack of emotion in dealing with his mother's death which eventually is one of the main reasons why he becomes sentenced to death. 

Emmanuel- Emmanuel is a co-workers of Meursault's. After work they catch a bus together after chasing it down through some obstacles. Emmanuel serves as a foil to highlight Meursault's lack of emotion altogether. Camus specifically put the sentence in explaining that Emmanuel was laughing to hard to breathe and Camus not only has Meursault comment on this but he almost ignores it entirely. This shows Meursault's lack of emotion not only within himself but as well his lack of ability to emphasize. I think that Camus put this in the book to bring the reader's attention to this because it becomes important during the murder scene.

Raymond- Raymond is Meursault's other neighbor who is a warehouse worker that lives off of women. He is short with broad shoulders. I think that Camus put Raymond in the story at this point to show the way Meursault rationalizes his moral decisions. Raymond asks Meursault to write a letter and later on to help him if Arabs attack him so Camus uses Raymond as a tool to put Meursault in positions where he has to justify a moral decision and when he does that the reader begins to understand Meursault better. Also Raymond receives a lengthy physical description when not many other people are including Meursault so I think Camus is calling attention to that point of the importance of a physical description. 

Journal #8

Part 1: I think Hurston settled on the title she did because it has a strong connection throughout the book but actually comes into play near the end. So the whole time reading the book the reader can make connections to it, and then near the end it creates a powerful impact. Also it connects to the cover art of one of the editions (not sure which) but it shows god coming out of the sky and a lake below with a storm brewing and god holding lightning bolts so it further strengthens the theme in the book of power and how to achieve freedom. Which I think is incredibly important because Hurston has a lot of the male characters die who have power over Janie and yet god who has ultimate control and can't die remains in power so the humans watch him with their eyes. It alters my reading of the novel by adding a religious aspect which brings up all of the connotations I have about religion and that affects me entire reading of the book.

Part 2: Hurston could have chosen the title The Animals of the Muck and this would be similar to Hurston's original title because it comes up later and still relates to power in the sense that the animals display different levels of power and foreshadow when power is out of their control and when it isn't. This would have a different effect than the actual title because this title focuses more on nature, so in a way the religious aspect is not as important. This title impacts the importance of nature throughout the novel, so all of Hurston's imagery would become more important, however in a sense if one believes that god created nature then Hurston's original title already does that and more. Also this title would affect how the reader views the novel because it shifts from religion to nature so all of the connotations the come about with nature will now be more relevant than connotations with religion.

Part 3: The title of my paper is "A Boardwalk and Clams". I think this is the strongest possible title because it serves several purposes. This first is that it sets the tone for nature, by mentioning clams nature becomes the focus rather than religion like in Hurston's novel. The opening of the pastiche is all about nature so the reader knows to take it as important because the title is about nature. The second purpose it serves is that clams is another name for money so it sets up the setting of the boardwalk and the money that flows on it so while making nature of importance is also tells about the setting of the story and informs the reader that money will be part of the conflict of the pastiche. Also clams are mentioned more than once both as creatures and money so the title relates throughout the novel to the reader can make connections to it.

Journal #7

7 techniques

1. Foil

"Yes sir boss Jim said without hesitation. The Boss looked to Arnold for a response. Arnold, who was struggling to find his tongue, simply nodded" Garcia

"You'se different from me. Ah can't stand black niggers" Hurston

2. Contrast

"Out of the blue much larger dog swooped in an snagged the largest piece of meat and slowly walked off, uncontested" Garcia

"So he picked out the eyes in the ceremonial way and the feast went on" Hurston

 3. Anthropomorphism

"The dogs finally found a trash can, knocked it over, and carried out a search and rescue mission of any edible scraps that could be found" Garcia

"In the air of the room were flies tumbling and singing, marrying and giving in marriage" Hurston

 4. Imagery

"Each time creeping nearer and nearer to the boardwalk as the night went on" Garcia

"The people all saw her come because it was sundown" Hurston

 5. Dialect

"I want my 2,000 clams by the endah tomorra night, or ya heads will roll gentlemen" Garcia

"S'posin' Ah wuz to run off and leave yuh sometime" Hurston

 6. Personification

"However the tide knew all to well it would never reach as far as it wanted to" Garcia

"Every morning the world flung itself over and exposed the town to the sun” Hurston

 7. Allusion

"The pair strolled into 'Luciano's Butcher Shop' and swiflty let themselves into the back room" Garcia

"Booker T.? He wuz a great big man, wusn't he?" Hurston

Analysis of quotes

3. Anthropomorphism is significant because throughout the novel Hurston uses it on animals such as on flies and on the buzzards. By adding human characteristics to animals it becomes easier for the reader to connect to the situation and be impacted by it. Through this method Hurston can use animals to create an extreme version of human society to contrast and criticize it.

4. Imagery plays an important role in the book because it shows nature as character and uses nature to play into several themes. For example throughout the novel nature takes power away from the characters and plays into the theme of where does power come from, do we give it to ourselves and are we given it. Also nature its universal so its easier for everyone to connect to nature rather the something that.s specific to the south.

7. Allusions play a major role in the novel because it creates a sense of realism within a fictional story. If at times the readers doesn't believe what's happening and thinks it ridiculous, allusions serve as a connection back to reality. Also in the story when they name characters after certain people it creates even more depth and characterizes the person in a way that is difficult to do otherwise.

Journal #6

I decided to do most of my revisions based on flow and how well someone else could read it and make sense of it. Also I made a lot of revision to make more allusions, I renamed a lot of my characters to connect with history as well as renamed certain locations within the story. Hopefully the revisions I made will make the story more interesting and show the techniques that Hurston uses better. I also added some things so that I could write my statement of intent easier. All in all I think the revisions process helped a lot and I look forward to doing it more in class

Journal #5

Pastiche

But Suzanne began to dwell on Sympathy. Sympathy, that yellow-bellied monster that is met too often by those blessed with things out of their control. The powerful monster that can overtake a man like a parasite that cannot be killed. Why does He need a host to survive, what protection does man offer him? He travels the world incognito, as if his identity is more important than what He actually does. He observes the daily lives of people, waiting for the time when He is summoned to spread his terrible guilt. He often times wondered the who, what, when, where, and why of his next victim, it pleased him. She knew that her son would soon be met with these troubles, that her son would soon be invaded by this parasite. She was scared and alone. My dear sweet Henry! Why must the world be so cruel as to create such differences between social classes? She sent his father, Rodger, to warn him, but Henry was playing with toys and wouldn’t pay attention. The teachers at school were good at educating without regard for social class, but they couldn’t help Henry with what he was about to experienceL. He knew all he had to do was to look past material goods and find what’s on the inside of people. He would be alright. The first day of school wouldn’t be that bad he thought. But Rodger remembered his first day of school, and shared this with Suzanne, so they both knew the inequality Henry might face. Even if he hadn’t, she would have found out the next day because all of the other parents mobbed the parking lot of the school to see their children off. People, who under normal circumstances would have never approached Suzanne, judged her. They just sat in their cars and stared. Doubt, that infectious disease, had planted it’s seeds in Suzanne’s mind.

Decisions

1. In the passage on page 84, Hurston provides several links in that passage to contrast the two scenarios easier, so in this passage I made sympathy like a parasite and then near the end of the pastiche used the word infectious in the hope that the link would make the connection easier to make

2. In the passage on page 84, Hurston had the narrator use the dialect of one the characters, I would guess as a tool to reconnect the reader to the characters while in an emotional scene while still having the narrator speak, and in my pastiche I added a smiley face which is part of my dialect so that the reader knows what the character is feeling and they can connect better to the character.

Journal #4

Chapter 7  Page 79

Syntax: The syntax is important especially in the beginning of the passage because most of the sentences are simple. I associate simple sentences with being tired and not really wanting to talk. So I think Hurston made most of the sentences simple to give the impression that the characters are tired not only because of old age, but also of their marriage. Later in the page when Janie is even angrier at Joe her sentences get more complex and I think Hurston did this to show that Janie is still young and has fight left in her.

Word Choice: The diction Hurston uses especially near the end of the page is important. When she writes "Then Joe Starks realized all of the meanings and his vanity bled like a flood," the word "bled" has several connotations. Whenever I think of blood I think of death, so in a way Hurston is showing that while Joe is losing vanity, he is also beginning to lose his life, and that comes up again later when he actually dies. Also bleeding generally has connotations of being bad, however bleeding in some cases is good, for example in the olden days people believed bleeding could cure illnesses and in today's society people give blood to save lives, so in that sense Hurston is showing that this moment is good for Joe and will help him grow as a person

Tone: The tone of the passage I think is dictated mostly by the syntax that Hurston uses. The short choppy sentences as opposed to long, elaborate sentences make the entire scene different. Again the short sentences give the passage a more tired tone, as a well as frustrated. Rather than getting incredibly angry the characters simply disagree with each other and jab at each other. Hurston does this to create a tone that allows the writer to connect with the scene more. Almost everyone can remember a time when they were tired and frustrated and rather than articulating a long and complex refutation they just simply disagree.

Sound Devices: Hurston uses and alliteration when she writes "You big-bellies round here and put out a lot of brag, but 'tain't nothin' to it but yo' big voice." The alliteration of "b" is used because if one looks at the shape of it, it looks like a body with a large stomach, I think Hurston used the b to keep the idea of large stomachs in the reader's mind without them actually realizing it. More specifically the alliterated b applies directly to Joe because Janie says he has a b "big-belly" so Hurston is characterizing Joe by saying he has a large stomach and then impacts it with the alliterated b.

Journal #3

Five quotations
1. "Yeah, Matt, dat mule so skinny till de women is usin' his rib bones fuh uh rub-board, and hangin' things out on his hock-bones tuh dry"(pg 52) Hyperbole

2. "Every morning the world flung itself over and exposed the town to the sun" (pg 51) Imagery and maybe personification?

3. "Nobody had ever thought of street lamps and some of them said it was a useless notions" (pg 44) The street lamp is a symbol (human power over god)

4. "You'se uh stinkin' lie, Sam, yo' feet ain't mates. Y-y-y-you!"(pg 52) Dialogue that aided showing that the character was upset

5. "Five dollars" Joe rolled his cigar in his mouth and rolled his eyes away indifferently. "If dat mule is wuth somethin' to you, Brother Mayor, he's wuth mo' to me" (pg 57) foil

Analysis
3. The third quotation is important to the book because the street lamp acts as a symbol for human's and an individual's power over god. Later in the text Joe gives a speech about how the sun goes up, and down, as a result of the "sun-maker's" actions, which I think is a symbol for God. This process is entirely out of the individuals control and in a larger sense out of human control. The street lamp acts as humans taking that power back from God, seeing as the sun provides light, but now humans don't need to sun to have light. This plays into the recurring struggle with God that the characters in this book have. Especially Janie, so I think it is interesting that Joe is the builder of the street lamp and symbolically defies God while Janie is on her own journey to defy God and take back control. I think Zora Neale Hurston put this in as to contrast the two journeys

5. The fifth quotation is important because the foil shows the difference between Joe and the rest of the people that live in the town. Cigars are generally associated with class, and in this case serves as evidence that Joe is on a different level than the rest of the people. I think Zora Neale Hurston put this in to show that when certain people get some power back from God, they themselves believe that they are more powerful than others. Basically they forget where they came from, their roots. I also think that Hurston put this interaction specifically to show that when people let power go to their head bad things happen, for example Janie enjoys talking with the people in the town and Joe doesn't want her because he thinks they are better than them and then Joe dies.

Journal #2

Rules of dialect (of my own creation)
1. All sentences must end with an exclamation mark followed by either a period or question mark
2. Greetings such as "hello" will become "hullo"
3. Males will include a :) in their sentences to show they are always smiling
4. Females will include a ;) in their sentences to show they are always smiling
5. The first letter of every sentence will not be capitalized
6. The dictionary.com word of the day must be used  (today's is cordate)
7. If a word ends with 2 s's then a t must be added to the end of the word

Dialogue/Narration (based on page 12)
E.j. dela Cruz walked around Bridgeport Village knowing one thing with certainty. Even though this one thing may be nearly impossible, he was going to do it. He was going to get a free entree at Qdoba for kissing someone while paying. E.j. walked into Qdoba, slicked his hair back, and surveyed the area.

"hullo ladies :)!." E.j squealed.

The pitch of his voice was so high, the entire population of the restaurant immediately turned to view the person that had just spoken. When E.j. had been going over this in his head around Bridgeport Village, he had imagined it nothing like this. All he could think about at this point was his past self shaking his head at his present self for squealing in such a way that he might attract a lady.

E.j.'s face looked like he had just found out that he really wasn't Fillipino and was, in fact, only Chinese. The possibility that this was true drained E.j. of most of his confidence, because without his Fillipino heritage and culture, he would lose most of his identity. All of the women in the room suddenly understood  what was going on with the person that had just walked in. E.j. was aware of this and with the wink of an eye; he was back on his game. He knew his identity was not lost and he would use it to his advantage.

"sooo ladies, has anyone had cordate adobo before :)?."

"what is adobo?. Sounds like a Fillipino dish that was heavily influenced by Spanish culture =)!."

A woman in a bright red coat had spoken, and E.j. knew who he would ask right away. E.j. didn't want to admit that adobo comes from Spanish cuisine, even though he knew in his heart that Spain was vastly superior to the Philippines. His mind jumbled by this, he could only think of one thing to say to her next.

"will you kisst me so I can get free food :)!."

"no, not in a million years =)!."

The End.

Journal #1

From the first chapter I perceived Janie as a relaxed, but at the same time tired, woman. Janie recognizes this and his able to laugh about it which led me to think of her as more of a wise person than her peers. "'Ah'm tryin' to soak some uh de tiredness and de dirt outa mah feet.' She laughed a little" (pg. 4) This shows to me that Janie is using her feet to represent her body and in a larger sense her soul. She gives the impression later in the first chapter of having a lack of care towards the gossip going around town about her. In reference to the gossip "'Tain't worth the trouble to me. You can tell 'em what Ah say if you wants to" .This to me indicated that Janie had matured past her peers which would suggest that she had encountered something on her journey that caused her to mature further.

From the first chapter I perceived the narrator as a philosophical person that would rather contemplate ideas than give examples that are actually happening in the novel, those examples are filled in by Janie. For example the narrator states "The people all saw her come because it was sundown. The sun was gone, but he had left his footprints in the sky." (pg 1) Without any real explanation of who "he" is and what he did I felt as though I was reading a hypothetical situation that was supposed to prepare me for the events to come rather than actually moving the plot forward. As well the narrator used diction that gave a calming and relaxing mood to the text, "Words walking without masters; walking altogether like harmony in a song" (pg. 2) This simile to music brought in all the feelings of what music it to me, and because of that I was instantly relaxed because that's what music does to me. Especially smooth jazz.

Post #4

1. "Nights dark beyond darkness, and the days more gray each one than what had gone before. Like the onset of some cold glaucoma dimming away the world" (McCarthy, The Road)

2. "He held the boy's hand as they stumbled through the woods" (McCarthy, The Road)

3. "New Rule: Don't pretend Twinkies are healthy now, just because you can get the 100 calorie size. Here's the miracle: It's smaller. Here's how to make your own at home: Cut an old Twinkie in half. Here's how to make it healthy: Throw both halves in the garbage and eat a carrot." (Maher, The New New Rules)

4. "Sorry. For what? For being friends? 'I was there, too, you know,' said Ender" (Card, Ender's Game)

5. "We" is this type of genre

Answer Key
a. Narrator
b. Fiction
c. Simile
d. Satire
e. Dialogue

Post #3 Chronology

Chronology is basically the order in which events occur based on the time when they occurred. Authors tell stories in varying forms of chronological order to emphasize certain events over others. An example of chronology from the summer reading would be how "We" is told in chronological order of events so the reader can see the transformation of D-503 as a character better than if the events were not told in chronological order. An example of a movie that is told not in chronological order is "Memento". It is not told in chronological order to allow the viewer to experience what the character experiences with the inability to form short term memories.

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Post #2 Flashback

Flashback: A flashback occurs when the author tells a story that happened previous to the beginning of the current story. Flashbacks add information about characters and add to the depth of the character and tension of the plot. Flash backs are important because with out them knowledge of the character in the story is limited to just what happens in the story and their entire past is lost. Flash backs give reasons as to why characters make certain decisions.



Lost had about a million flashbacks (and eventually flash forwards and flash-sideways) throughout the series giving the characters great depth.

Post #1

1. The book that I enjoyed the most reading over the summer was "The Stranger" for several reasons. The first being that I was able to relate to the character and some of his opinions. Meursault spends a lot of time in the book just thinking about people and I found that very interesting. I also enjoyed the book a lot because Meursault spends a lot of time analyzing his environment and at the time I was reading it I was hiking in the Eagle Cap wilderness so while Meursault was having trouble feeling emotions towards his environment I was experiencing nature in a way that I never had before. These contrasts made me have a more emotional connection to the story being told as well as because I was hiking I didn't have any electronics so I had a lot of time to think about the story. Overall it was my favorite book from the summer because it allowed for me to think about more than just the literal interpretation and I was able to connect it with what I was experiencing.
2. The book that I enjoyed the least was "Their Eyes Were Watching God" mainly because I didn't feel a connection to the story and the way some of the characters talked irked me. I was able to make some connections to the story, but on a deep emotional level I was unable to, and this made me dislike the story because I didn't care what happened to the characters. When Janie faced hard times with her husbands I felt a lack of emotion that made it more like reading for an assignment rather than reading because I truly enjoyed the story. The reason that really made me dislike the book though was the grammar that some of the characters used while talking. Normally I don't mind poor grammar and misspellings because I know I do it all the time, but the way they talk just made me annoyed to the point where I didn't want to connect with the characters, which also lead to me not caring about what happened to them. Besides that I thought that Tea Cake's fate was very interesting and I thought that that part of the story was very creative and interesting to read.

3. If I were to write an essay on "We" my focus would be on the word choice by Yevgeny Zamyatin in the novel. More specifically, the author often uses words that draw emotion out in a society where emotions don't play a major role. And the author's word choice reflects well what is going on in the story, for example when D-503 begins to feel more and more emotions his vocabulary serves as a good contrast to what he is feeling and what he felt previously. As well as the real world application of ideas in the "We" such as the operation in the end can be related the movies such as "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" in which memory deletion is readily available to the general public and if the government wanted to abuse the power they could and people wouldn't be able to realize it because they could delete the memory of it. This is especially scary because as the human brain is studied more and more and especially the more memory is studied the greater the possibility of ideas such as these becoming a reality.