Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Salem Play
Today during class we went to the school production of Salem. Our school plays have not always been very good, by a long shot, so I did not have any high hopes for this play to be any different. I am glad to say that I really enjoyed this play, it was very different from any of the other ones I have seen, It was a little odd (because of the puppets), it was also well acted out and made me laugh out loud a few times. The way plays are written, there is always the next line that picks up directly after someone else completes there's. That way it keeps continuously going and makes it a little fast paces. They actors in the play did a good job at doing this, they came in at just the right times and everything flowed together very well, the way it is supposed to. In a written play, there is always a small incerpt every so often describing the setting or just a recap of everything that is going on. You also say where this played into the show we watched. Any time the scene changed, it was announced to the audience. This play was certainly a comedy, it was light-hearted, funny/humorous, and had a lighter tone to it.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Writing Essays
I just want to say, this class is a lot harder that I thought it was going to be. It has challenged me more than I have been challenged in any of my classes in high school. I did not take AP English last year though, so maybe that contributes to my feeling of being less prepared. Being challenged is not a bad thing, it is making me go out of my way to actually work really hard for the grades that I get, and trust me, I'm working hard. I always considered English to be an easy class, the easy A, and that is what it has always been for me in the past. What I wanted to focus on though is writing. I don't recall ever having to write a well written paper/essay, in any correct format or set up, or have been taught about claims and how to properly write a theme. How did I ever get by? Well I sadly have never had to do any of that in previous classes, contributing to my challenges in this class. With all of the essays that we have been asked to write recently, I have gone from thinking I was a perfectly good writer, to a very scatter brained writer. I am fine with that, challenge accepted.
New Independent Reading
I have trouble finding books that I really enjoy reading, but once I find a book, I really like it, and it seems to stick with me. I have read mostly books that I did not care much for in this class so far, so I really wanted to choose a book this time that I would actually enjoy. I asked around with my classmates to see what they have read and how they liked certain books. Any time I have someone telling me that a book they read was entirely twisted and crazy, then I am interested immediately. That is my kind of book. So, clearly when I heard about the book "A Clockwork Orange", I was sold, I bought it on my Kindle right them. I am only one chapter into the book and I already love it. The main characters in this book are the definition of crazy and twisted and the book started right off the bat with action. This book is not all awesome though, I was shocked to find such a large amount of odd words that I had never seen before. Words like "rassoodocks" meaning 'mind', "mesto" meaning 'place', "storry" meaning 'smooth; fast', "moloko" meaning 'milk laced with alcohol', "horrorshow" meaning 'well or good', "deng" meaning 'money', "crasting" meaning 'stealing things'. Well, you get the point, and that isn't even a handful of them. So I am, for the first time, needing to look up many of the words that I come across. Making this a more difficult book to read, as well as making me take my time with it and pay attention to the small things. I have high hopes for this book. I also here that there is a movie, and a rather crazy movie at that.
Friday, October 12, 2012
The God of Small Things
The book I read for my independent reading was The God of Small Things. This is unlike any book that I have read before, but I am not sure if that is a good thing or not. Although the story was good, there were many things that I did not like about this book.
The first being that I found it slightly confusing at times, the author did not have much consistency in a lot of her writing. I really did not like how the time frames were constantly changing. If it had some kind of organization to the way that they changed and skipped, it wouldn't be so bad. But that was not the case. It would jump to years in the past with no warning, and it would take a bit of reading to catch onto where exactly I am in terms of chronological order. This was the cause of most of my confusion with the story. It had just a lot of what I feel, is unnecessary skipping around.
Also, I have learned to pay attention to pay attention to the format and organization of the writing. I was trying to do that with this book. There were many instances where there would be a word or a phrase isolated from the rest of the context, usually emphasizing importance, or tie into some deeper meaning, or have something behind it. She would do this often, and I would be unable to figure out why, and for what meaning, if any, so I often felt as if I was missing some deeper meaning/message. I was actually unable to find any deeper meaning within the entire novel itself, if there was meant to be one, it was completely lost to me.
I really feel like there is a lack of consistency with this book that was hard for me to overlook. Her tone seems to change throughout the story, the point of view changes often, also, she refers to Rahel and Estha as "we", then will change later on, referring to them as "they".
Maybe this book is actually some really complicated book, requiring someone of much more knowledge of analysis than me to figure out. Maybe everything I have pointed out actually does have a meaning to it, but I am just completely unaware of it. But all in all, I am just unsure of how I feel about the book. I don't hate it, and I don't love it.
The first being that I found it slightly confusing at times, the author did not have much consistency in a lot of her writing. I really did not like how the time frames were constantly changing. If it had some kind of organization to the way that they changed and skipped, it wouldn't be so bad. But that was not the case. It would jump to years in the past with no warning, and it would take a bit of reading to catch onto where exactly I am in terms of chronological order. This was the cause of most of my confusion with the story. It had just a lot of what I feel, is unnecessary skipping around.
Also, I have learned to pay attention to pay attention to the format and organization of the writing. I was trying to do that with this book. There were many instances where there would be a word or a phrase isolated from the rest of the context, usually emphasizing importance, or tie into some deeper meaning, or have something behind it. She would do this often, and I would be unable to figure out why, and for what meaning, if any, so I often felt as if I was missing some deeper meaning/message. I was actually unable to find any deeper meaning within the entire novel itself, if there was meant to be one, it was completely lost to me.
I really feel like there is a lack of consistency with this book that was hard for me to overlook. Her tone seems to change throughout the story, the point of view changes often, also, she refers to Rahel and Estha as "we", then will change later on, referring to them as "they".
Maybe this book is actually some really complicated book, requiring someone of much more knowledge of analysis than me to figure out. Maybe everything I have pointed out actually does have a meaning to it, but I am just completely unaware of it. But all in all, I am just unsure of how I feel about the book. I don't hate it, and I don't love it.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Spoiler Alert (A Good Man is Hard To Find)
I read this story one time through, and I knew better based on the past short stories we have reviewed in class that this story was not as simple and straight forward as it seems on the surface. I decided I would try to break it down before class, to see if I am even close to what it is supposed to mean. So I read it again.... and again. Finally I was able to point out some interesting ties and connections that I had not even thought twice about the first time I read it. I was unable to find any deeper meaning or twist to the story itself, that would make it mean anything different, but I was able to find a lot of connections and symbolism that I found pretty interesting. I'm sure that they will all tie together some how when we discuss it in class, but my mind doesn't think as abstract as some of the connections we come up with in class.
The first thing I noticed was the part that said "They passed a large cotton field with five or six graves fenced in the middle of it, like a small island". I was able to pull out two different significance's within this quote alone. The first being the six graves. Six graves, six family members (Bailey, his wife, his mother, and the three kids). To me, this is just plain and simple, it is an allusion that they are all going to end up dying. I also found that the fact that the author compares the graves placement as being 'like a small island', to have importance. This may connect to how they end up later on in the story, The six family members are all trapped (or stranded), and surrounded on all sides by the Misfit's men , similar to being stranded on an island; surrounded on all sides by water. It seems like a stretch... but then again, so do all of the connections we make in class.
Before I go any further, I found there to be religious connections within this story. It was a lot of digging, and making connections that clicked with me, I may be completely wrong here, but the majority of this story broke down, to my interpretation, to have religious connections.
This quote right here is what first led me to the thought of there being religious ties/morals within the story: "The grandmother recalled the times when there were no paved roads and thirty miles a day's journey. the dirt road was hilly and there were sudden washes in it and sharp curves on dangerous embankments. All at once they would be on a hill, looking down over the blue tops of trees for miles around, then the next minute, they would be in a red depression with the dust-coated trees looking down on them." To me, this is ultimately an allusion to their journey toward death. For one, it talks about the road being hilly, with lots of curves. Often when you are on the right pat (in life), it is religiously referred to as the straight and narrow path; which will lead you to heaven. The path to Hell is said to be long, strenuous, curvy, and hard to overcome. Which basically sums up the long, unpaved road that they are traveling on. This to me is what alludes to their travel to death, and more specifically, Hell. It also refers to the road going up at first, being high up, and looking down on the 'blue tops of trees' (blue is often associated with the sky; Heaven), but then they end up down lower in the ground in a 'red depression' (red is often associated with fire; Hell). This just further backs up my thought on what this quote could mean.
So why is this poor, seemingly innocent family headed to hell? Well, based on a few details, these are not the best of people. For instance: "The grandmother said she should have done well to marry Mr. Teagarden because he was a gentleman and... a very wealthy man" This to me, is the authors way of showing us that the grandmother isn't some nice, sweet, innocent lady. But rather, she values money, and material things over wholesome things, family, and relationships. Later on we get the same vibe for June Star "'No I certainly wouldn't' June Star said 'I wouldn't live in a broken-down place like this for a million bucks!'" June Star also values material wealth most.
"The Misfit pointed the toe of his shoe into the ground and made a little hole and then covered it up again" Here is another allusion to death, this sounds a whole lot like a burial, digging a hole in the ground, and then covering it back up.
I am not done yet, and I found a lot more interesting things, for instance, I think that the Misfit (despite how his character may come off) represents God/Jesus, and the grandmother is like the Adversary. I'd love to explain but this is getting long and it is 11:59 so I am out of time. Maybe you can try and figure it out for yourself ")
The first thing I noticed was the part that said "They passed a large cotton field with five or six graves fenced in the middle of it, like a small island". I was able to pull out two different significance's within this quote alone. The first being the six graves. Six graves, six family members (Bailey, his wife, his mother, and the three kids). To me, this is just plain and simple, it is an allusion that they are all going to end up dying. I also found that the fact that the author compares the graves placement as being 'like a small island', to have importance. This may connect to how they end up later on in the story, The six family members are all trapped (or stranded), and surrounded on all sides by the Misfit's men , similar to being stranded on an island; surrounded on all sides by water. It seems like a stretch... but then again, so do all of the connections we make in class.
Before I go any further, I found there to be religious connections within this story. It was a lot of digging, and making connections that clicked with me, I may be completely wrong here, but the majority of this story broke down, to my interpretation, to have religious connections.
This quote right here is what first led me to the thought of there being religious ties/morals within the story: "The grandmother recalled the times when there were no paved roads and thirty miles a day's journey. the dirt road was hilly and there were sudden washes in it and sharp curves on dangerous embankments. All at once they would be on a hill, looking down over the blue tops of trees for miles around, then the next minute, they would be in a red depression with the dust-coated trees looking down on them." To me, this is ultimately an allusion to their journey toward death. For one, it talks about the road being hilly, with lots of curves. Often when you are on the right pat (in life), it is religiously referred to as the straight and narrow path; which will lead you to heaven. The path to Hell is said to be long, strenuous, curvy, and hard to overcome. Which basically sums up the long, unpaved road that they are traveling on. This to me is what alludes to their travel to death, and more specifically, Hell. It also refers to the road going up at first, being high up, and looking down on the 'blue tops of trees' (blue is often associated with the sky; Heaven), but then they end up down lower in the ground in a 'red depression' (red is often associated with fire; Hell). This just further backs up my thought on what this quote could mean.
So why is this poor, seemingly innocent family headed to hell? Well, based on a few details, these are not the best of people. For instance: "The grandmother said she should have done well to marry Mr. Teagarden because he was a gentleman and... a very wealthy man" This to me, is the authors way of showing us that the grandmother isn't some nice, sweet, innocent lady. But rather, she values money, and material things over wholesome things, family, and relationships. Later on we get the same vibe for June Star "'No I certainly wouldn't' June Star said 'I wouldn't live in a broken-down place like this for a million bucks!'" June Star also values material wealth most.
"The Misfit pointed the toe of his shoe into the ground and made a little hole and then covered it up again" Here is another allusion to death, this sounds a whole lot like a burial, digging a hole in the ground, and then covering it back up.
I am not done yet, and I found a lot more interesting things, for instance, I think that the Misfit (despite how his character may come off) represents God/Jesus, and the grandmother is like the Adversary. I'd love to explain but this is getting long and it is 11:59 so I am out of time. Maybe you can try and figure it out for yourself ")
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