1. What does this story signify?
Mansfield's The Garden Party explains the meaning of life to different people. It begins with her and her family whose biggest concern is getting the marquee set up and having everything ready for the dinner party. The story then switches to another family down the road. This family has just lost a father and husband. Their biggest concern is just getting through a loss.
2. How does it signify?
Through the story the main character, Laura, seems to be confused on how to deal with certain situations. In the beginning, she can barely speak to the working men because of how nervous she is. After meeting them she is astounded at how kind they are. She brings this up to different members of the family throughout the story. When the garden party is about to begin, Laura finds out that a man just down the road has died. She is hit so hard by sadness she immediately decides the party cannot go on. Of course there cannot be a party when the family down the road is mourning for a lost loved one. She then again has her mind changed after talking with her mother and then seeing how beautiful she looks in the hat she plans to wear. Laura has now gone from material things being of most importance to true feelings and then back to materialism. Towards the end of the story she must go back and visit the family down the road to take them a meal. While there, she seems a man asleep. She says to herself that this man isn't worried about where a marquee will go, how the flowers will look, and what hat he will wear, in fact she apologizes for even wearing a hat. Laura sees how content this man is and realizes that all the things she has been worried about all day will never bring her happiness. Even after her very successful dinner party, she cannot stop bringing up how marvelous her visit to neighbors house was, the house with no marquee, flowers, hats, or dozens of people.
I was a little off from what the last student stated. I saw the difference in the rich family and poor family, but didn't catch on the the flight aspect until she introduced it. In future "cases," I think I need to look closer at the words used to describe actions. This seems to be the way the last student came up with her main idea and details to support it.
Comparing Laura to Persephone brings a completely new depth to the story, even deeper than the 3rd writer's response. Just as the author has repeated over and over, that means that this work is not an original, it reflects another earlier work. Also, instead of simply social classes being revealed, life and death are now in the picture and seem to reflect Persephone's story almost exactly, but with the work of the writer it is nearly hidden.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Assigment VI
One Story
An archetype is the original patter or model from which all things of the same kind are copied or are based. Fairytales tend to all follow the same outline. There's always a lady who has had a rough life searching for something more, love, a man searching for his true love, and some sort of enemy whose purpose is to keep this love from falling into place. A familiar example of this is Cinderella. Cinderella is the lady who has been a maid all of her life. The man, Prince Charming, has a ball arranged in order for him to meet new women. The enemy, or in this case enemies, are Cinderella's evil step sisters and step mother who are constantly keeping her locked up and out of Prince Charming's search for his lost love.
...And Rarely Just an Illness
I Am Legend shows a characters death in a novel that represents much more than a loss. In I Am Legend, Robert Neville is the last survivor of a disease that swept through the city of Los Angeles. He and his dog, Sam, live together as he works on finding a cure. The infected survivors, or vampires, still live in this area, but can only come out at night due to the sunlight. When Sam gets bitten by a vampire, it is clear to Robert that she will soon become one too. He sits with her on her last night to give her a shot that will put her to sleep. Sam represented sanity in Robert. She was his only other non-infected companion, and his only friend. After her death, Robert loses it. He begins acting crazy like the vampires and even attempts to kill himself. And even after he finds two other survivors, he never fully connects with them but keeps to himself, as if he now fears anything he gets close to will be taken away too soon. This death reflects a few of the principles. First, its origin is mysterious. If the death had a known cause and cure, then Robert's sense of losing himself would be completely taken from the death scene. Second, the death proved to be more than just a lose of one characters life, but of another characters whole sense of being.
An archetype is the original patter or model from which all things of the same kind are copied or are based. Fairytales tend to all follow the same outline. There's always a lady who has had a rough life searching for something more, love, a man searching for his true love, and some sort of enemy whose purpose is to keep this love from falling into place. A familiar example of this is Cinderella. Cinderella is the lady who has been a maid all of her life. The man, Prince Charming, has a ball arranged in order for him to meet new women. The enemy, or in this case enemies, are Cinderella's evil step sisters and step mother who are constantly keeping her locked up and out of Prince Charming's search for his lost love.
...And Rarely Just an Illness
I Am Legend shows a characters death in a novel that represents much more than a loss. In I Am Legend, Robert Neville is the last survivor of a disease that swept through the city of Los Angeles. He and his dog, Sam, live together as he works on finding a cure. The infected survivors, or vampires, still live in this area, but can only come out at night due to the sunlight. When Sam gets bitten by a vampire, it is clear to Robert that she will soon become one too. He sits with her on her last night to give her a shot that will put her to sleep. Sam represented sanity in Robert. She was his only other non-infected companion, and his only friend. After her death, Robert loses it. He begins acting crazy like the vampires and even attempts to kill himself. And even after he finds two other survivors, he never fully connects with them but keeps to himself, as if he now fears anything he gets close to will be taken away too soon. This death reflects a few of the principles. First, its origin is mysterious. If the death had a known cause and cure, then Robert's sense of losing himself would be completely taken from the death scene. Second, the death proved to be more than just a lose of one characters life, but of another characters whole sense of being.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Book List
1. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (1915), 76 pages. This book was suggested to me by my brother. Knowing I'm not a big reader, he said, "It's really short you can finish it within a week." Of course that fact appealed to me, but also the storyline behind the book. I've struggled in reaching the deeper meanings of books, and while reading a summary of this book, the deeper meaning was given. Although this may spoil the search for the deeper meaning for some, it will definitely be a good book to start off the year by helping me get back into the routine of deeper reading.
2. Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott (1884), 78 pages. This book was suggested to me by my dad. Like me, reading is not his first choice. Also, like me, math and science are his strong subjects. He explained to me that Flatland is a book about different dimensional worlds. The geometry aspect immediately appealed to me. After reading reviews I was also interested in the controversial ideas of politics and the view of women, the military, the upper class in the 1800s and how these ideas can be connected and turned into a story through a sort of mathematics.
3. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (1951), 288 pages. I hear this book discussed so often I feel like it's a book that any well-read person has read. I looked up a summary on Amazon and was completely captivated by the storyline. The reviewer explained that this book, in short, is about a boy who is trying to preserve innocence in his society. I love children and the imagination and ambition and fearlessness that radiates from them constantly. I envy those traits in fact. Although this book is lengthier than the previous books I chose, I feel I can handle a variety of lengths of books. Also, from the reviews this book is apparently not the easiest read, but I think attempting to read a "hard" book of one of my interest is better than jumping into a deep read whose storyline is not interesting to me at all.
4. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813), 416 pages. This is another famous novel I've always heard about but never read. I really enjoy love stories and too often read much too low of difficulty love stories, so I thought Pride and Prejudice would be somewhat of a love story to help introduce me to a more difficult, substantial read. Pride and Prejudice is also a longer and bit more challenging read that I am used to, but will be a good start.
5. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (2003), 400 pages. This book was suggested to me by my sister. She knows about my love for the typical teenage girl books, mostly by Sarah Dessen, and challenged me to read a book that would expand my knowledge of the world, but also see how closely related other countries are to ours. I read a few reviews and found myself interested to see what the two main characters go through and the difference in their opposite lives. The Kite Runner was also described as easy to follow and not too tedious which will be a good break from some higher level reads I have considered reading.
6. 1984 by George Orwell (1948), 368 pages. This book was suggested to me by Ms. Huff. I am very interested in utopia/dystopia novels. Also, I really enjoyed another novel written by Orwell, Animal Farm. I enjoy the extreme descriptions of how people viewed our society to be because of rapid advances in technology and education and in some ways, how accurate they are. I look forward to reading another dystopian novel and comparing it with the previous book by Orwell that I've read and also other novels of the same genre I've read.
7. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1719), 290 pages. This book was suggested to me by my dad, however after reading the first few pages showed to be a very challenging read with the diction. If in fact I become very ambitious at some point this year and decide to really challenge myself, I would love to read this novel in order to be inspired and challenged to truly follow my dreams, not the dreams others have chosen for me.
8. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1880-first novel where part I and part II were the same book), 464 pages. This book was suggested to me by my aunts. They said they remembered reading this book over and over when they were younger and loved especially when my grandmom would read it to them. Not only am I interested in the story, I am also excited to be able to discuss it with them while reading it and once I am finished. Although this book is longer than previous ones I have chosen, the short times it takes me to read smaller books will allow longer time to read the lengthier ones.
9. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (1987), 160 pages. This novel is another that I'm just familar with the title. After reading a few reviews though, I am very interested. I am a huge fan of broadway, and the storyline seemed to be one I could get hooked to instantly. Some of the reviews given were by junior high students, so the reading level should be an easier one, but hopefully the big idea of the story will be much more in depth.
10. Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl (1959), 168 pages. This book was suggested to me by my brother. We were discussing my areas of interests in reading and I mentioned that I was very interested in the Holocaust. He immediately suggested and encouraged me to read this book because of the different outlook this man had on the concetration camps at that time. He was a Jewish doctor, a man who had everything, yet still saw hope even in the concentration camp. I look forward to reading this book and learning even more about the Holocaust.
2. Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott (1884), 78 pages. This book was suggested to me by my dad. Like me, reading is not his first choice. Also, like me, math and science are his strong subjects. He explained to me that Flatland is a book about different dimensional worlds. The geometry aspect immediately appealed to me. After reading reviews I was also interested in the controversial ideas of politics and the view of women, the military, the upper class in the 1800s and how these ideas can be connected and turned into a story through a sort of mathematics.
3. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (1951), 288 pages. I hear this book discussed so often I feel like it's a book that any well-read person has read. I looked up a summary on Amazon and was completely captivated by the storyline. The reviewer explained that this book, in short, is about a boy who is trying to preserve innocence in his society. I love children and the imagination and ambition and fearlessness that radiates from them constantly. I envy those traits in fact. Although this book is lengthier than the previous books I chose, I feel I can handle a variety of lengths of books. Also, from the reviews this book is apparently not the easiest read, but I think attempting to read a "hard" book of one of my interest is better than jumping into a deep read whose storyline is not interesting to me at all.
4. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813), 416 pages. This is another famous novel I've always heard about but never read. I really enjoy love stories and too often read much too low of difficulty love stories, so I thought Pride and Prejudice would be somewhat of a love story to help introduce me to a more difficult, substantial read. Pride and Prejudice is also a longer and bit more challenging read that I am used to, but will be a good start.
5. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (2003), 400 pages. This book was suggested to me by my sister. She knows about my love for the typical teenage girl books, mostly by Sarah Dessen, and challenged me to read a book that would expand my knowledge of the world, but also see how closely related other countries are to ours. I read a few reviews and found myself interested to see what the two main characters go through and the difference in their opposite lives. The Kite Runner was also described as easy to follow and not too tedious which will be a good break from some higher level reads I have considered reading.
6. 1984 by George Orwell (1948), 368 pages. This book was suggested to me by Ms. Huff. I am very interested in utopia/dystopia novels. Also, I really enjoyed another novel written by Orwell, Animal Farm. I enjoy the extreme descriptions of how people viewed our society to be because of rapid advances in technology and education and in some ways, how accurate they are. I look forward to reading another dystopian novel and comparing it with the previous book by Orwell that I've read and also other novels of the same genre I've read.
7. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1719), 290 pages. This book was suggested to me by my dad, however after reading the first few pages showed to be a very challenging read with the diction. If in fact I become very ambitious at some point this year and decide to really challenge myself, I would love to read this novel in order to be inspired and challenged to truly follow my dreams, not the dreams others have chosen for me.
8. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1880-first novel where part I and part II were the same book), 464 pages. This book was suggested to me by my aunts. They said they remembered reading this book over and over when they were younger and loved especially when my grandmom would read it to them. Not only am I interested in the story, I am also excited to be able to discuss it with them while reading it and once I am finished. Although this book is longer than previous ones I have chosen, the short times it takes me to read smaller books will allow longer time to read the lengthier ones.
9. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (1987), 160 pages. This novel is another that I'm just familar with the title. After reading a few reviews though, I am very interested. I am a huge fan of broadway, and the storyline seemed to be one I could get hooked to instantly. Some of the reviews given were by junior high students, so the reading level should be an easier one, but hopefully the big idea of the story will be much more in depth.
10. Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl (1959), 168 pages. This book was suggested to me by my brother. We were discussing my areas of interests in reading and I mentioned that I was very interested in the Holocaust. He immediately suggested and encouraged me to read this book because of the different outlook this man had on the concetration camps at that time. He was a Jewish doctor, a man who had everything, yet still saw hope even in the concentration camp. I look forward to reading this book and learning even more about the Holocaust.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Assignment V
Sex scenes are often used in order to insinuate that couples do engage in that activity. However, a scene described in To Kill A Mockingbird is used for the exact opposite assumption.
Tom Robinson has been accused of raping Mayella Ewell. Being of a different race in these tough times, he is immediately decided guilty by the town. During the trial, Tom, Mayella, and each witness gives their side of the story. Tom explains that he was just helping Mayella like he had many times before. Mayella starts by saying Tom came in to help her, but ended up taking advantage of her. Mr. Ewell then says that while working outside, he heard his daughter scream. He quickly ran inside to find his daughter being "taken advantage of" by Tom. Although the description in the book goes a bit more in detail, no specific details of the actual rape are spoken of, however, specific details of what Tom was doing to help Mayella are mentioned; also, details of previous times he had given Mayella a hand in fixing something.
From these scenes, character traits are quickly developed. At this point in the novel, the reader finally realizes that Tom, in fact, did not rape Mayella. Tom is an honest, kind man who was truly trying to be help to a white woman he thought deserved help. Mayella proves to be a fearful daughter, willing to lie in a trial simply to satisfy her father. And Mr. Ewell proves to be a terribly racist man in need of money or simply attention from the public, but most apparent, a liar. Also, respect is quickly gained for Atticus from the reader by realizing he is a wealthy, well-known white man who is defending a poor black man simply because he believes in justice and fair punishment.
Although sex scenes are usually vague in order to avoid awkward and inappropriate descriptions, the avoided description in the trial of To Kill A Mockingbird was to point out previously unclear characteristics of the certain characters.
Tom Robinson has been accused of raping Mayella Ewell. Being of a different race in these tough times, he is immediately decided guilty by the town. During the trial, Tom, Mayella, and each witness gives their side of the story. Tom explains that he was just helping Mayella like he had many times before. Mayella starts by saying Tom came in to help her, but ended up taking advantage of her. Mr. Ewell then says that while working outside, he heard his daughter scream. He quickly ran inside to find his daughter being "taken advantage of" by Tom. Although the description in the book goes a bit more in detail, no specific details of the actual rape are spoken of, however, specific details of what Tom was doing to help Mayella are mentioned; also, details of previous times he had given Mayella a hand in fixing something.
From these scenes, character traits are quickly developed. At this point in the novel, the reader finally realizes that Tom, in fact, did not rape Mayella. Tom is an honest, kind man who was truly trying to be help to a white woman he thought deserved help. Mayella proves to be a fearful daughter, willing to lie in a trial simply to satisfy her father. And Mr. Ewell proves to be a terribly racist man in need of money or simply attention from the public, but most apparent, a liar. Also, respect is quickly gained for Atticus from the reader by realizing he is a wealthy, well-known white man who is defending a poor black man simply because he believes in justice and fair punishment.
Although sex scenes are usually vague in order to avoid awkward and inappropriate descriptions, the avoided description in the trial of To Kill A Mockingbird was to point out previously unclear characteristics of the certain characters.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Assignment IV
In Aldous Huxley's novel, Brave New World, flight symbolizes freedom. Bernard Marx lives in a wanna-be Utopian society where every person has now say in how their life is going to be used. As the novel begins, it is obvious Bernard is different from the typical member of this society. He often questions why no one has a say in their life and what gave the government the authority to decide this for it's people. He also becomes attracted to a women, only one woman, which is looked down upon. In fact, he gets very offended when hearing two guys throw around descriptions of their sexual experiences with her, a common conversation topic. Bernard asks The Director, the leader of this society, if he can visit The Reservation. The Reservation is a very different society outside of this "perfect" one. Bernard flies to The Reservation, but does not fly just to get there. This flight smbolizes Bernard's freedom from the "perfect" society he lives in to a normal society, to us, but uncontrolled society to him. Once he is to The Reservation he is allowed to break free of the status quo he must up hold in his old society and is allowed to question the values, if there are any, of that society. He is also free to decide whether to stay in The Reservation forever or return back to The Director's society.
Assignment III
Foster explains that weather in a work of literature, "is never just weather." It always symbolizes a major theme of the novel. One novel where choice of weather is a device used for symbolism is The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Narnia is under the control of the White Witch which symbolizes Satan. With the help of four children, Narnia is soon to be back under the control of it's true leader, Aslan, who symbolizes Christ. When Edmund first enters Narnia, it is covered in snow and ice, and is also currently under the control of the White Witch. Snow clearly symbolizes the absence of life. Those who have not given their lives to Christ and accept His forgiveness are believed to go to Hell for the rest of eternity. Although Hell is thought to be the opposite of snow and cold, they both symbolize similar attributes. When winter begins arriving, leaves fall off of trees and flowers stop growing. Only a small portion of nature can survive in these conditions. In fact, some mammals completely separate themselves from these conditions by hibernating all winter. The life of nature withers away until the arrival of spring and summer. When Aslan once again gains control, the snow melts away and an image of nature in the spring and the summer becomes apparent. Those who go to Heaven are believed to have eternal life. Just like those souls, the nature of spring and summer reflect abundance of life and the variety of living beings that can survive.
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