Journal #12 Antigone

I think Anouilh bombards his audience with the contrast of ugly vs pretty to show how a persons beliefs of themselves are based off of others. Antigone is always told that she is pretty but she never agrees, but her sister is very pretty. This contrast could show how Antigone is true and does what she believes is right but her sister who is pretty is just a puppet that goes with the flow and does what others expect her to do. Antigone and her father shared the same ugliness and this relates to how they both know that something is wrong and don't stop until they get answers and only then they become beautiful. With this tension we are able to see what characters      share the same ideals and beliefs.

Journal #11 Antigone

In the beginning the Chorus was like any other narrator part they were very to the point and never took the side of any of the characters. The Chorus also never showed any emotion when it came to opinions about the characters they were very unbiased. Later in the story we seen the Chorus changed from no emotion and took on a very sorrow filled persona. The Chorus describes the main ideas of  a tragedy and with its description brings a very depressed mood. "There isn't any hope, You're trapped. The whole sky has fallen in on you." this is very different from the normal narrator we seen in the beginning of the book.

Journal #10 Antigone

1. Oedipus died
2. Polynices fights with Eteocles and they both die
3. Creon takes over
4. Eteocles is buried honorable and Polynices isn't
5. Haemon dances with Ismene then proposed to Antigone
6. Antigone dresses in Ismene's clothes and makeup she goes to Haemon and they fight
7. Antigone asks Ismene to help her bury their brother

Most of these events are described by the chorus which gives an unbiased view. I think this is more effective allowing people to understand what had happened without taking sides. If Antigone had been the one telling the events they would have been from her point of view which is opposed to Creon. I think the way Anouilh presented the events was good because it allowed us to create our own views without being clouded by the characters opinions.

Blood Wedding Journal #8

Between acts the set is changed based on where they are at. The setting shows a lot a bout a persons status and even about the person. The sets colors and things that stick out in the set maybe hints to what the people who own the place are like and what they can afford. When Leonardo's house is described they say its pink and has copper objects with everyday flowers. This shows that he is probably middle class because his things are not gold or silver but they aren't scrap metal either. The flowers are also nothing that suggest any wealth they are described as everyday flowers which shows that they are ordinary.

Blood Wedding Journal #7

The children showed up so much in the second act to represent how innocent they are. When a child is younger all they want to do is be older so they can get married and live their dream life, they don't realize all responsibilities of being older and how much harder it is. This is shown when the bride is faced with the conflict of marriage but all the children are thinking about is the joy and happiness that is expected during a wedding.

Blood Wedding Journal #6

The character who seems to be the worst off is the bride during the days before she is set to be married. She is very moody and seems to just be there because she has to and never wants to involve herself in the plans of her wedding.  When her fiance comes over she is very distant and just stands in the corner never saying anything. The bride is in love with Leonardo still and this is what causes her to be miserable, because she is getting married she starts to realize that she can never be with Leonardo and that's why she seems so distant. She cant marry Leonardo because he is already married with a baby and another on the way and she is committed to be married.

Blood Wedding Journal #5

One major archetype is the traditional wedding of this time. This would consist of one man and one woman who would marry and they would stay married until the end. In the play a marriage is about to start, but it fails before it even begins. I think Lorca rejects this archetype and to do that he shows how one family is split up by two long lovers and their desire for love from each other and how it overcomes the love that they have for their spouse.

Blood Wedding #4

The first symbol is the knife and weapons used to kill. This is present both at the beginning and at the end of the play. I think it shows up mostly from the mothers perspective because it was something that changed her life very drastically and had a huge impact. It is also used to foreshadow what will happen in the end of the book. It is so significant because it is a tool that can be used to destroy someones life in only a few seconds. It develops the character of the mother and how she is so protective and passionate over any harm to her family.

The second symbol that is very present is the agriculture and idea of growing things. They talk about the son buying the vineyard and that is where he gains his wealth from. They also relate a persons life to that of a flower and when they are healthy and happy they are alive and well, but when they aren't so well off they are covered in weeds and turned to dust. The mother relates her husband to a carnation and how he smelled like them. I think this develops the idea that a persons life can be taken away just as easy as a flowers and how fragile they really are.

The Wild Duck Journal #3

The Characters who hold the most blame are Gina and Werle. They are the two who began building this mess and should be responsible for all the lies they told. If it wasn't for them hiding the truth from their families there would have been the unraveling of the lies that led to Hedvig's death. The character who is without blame is Hedvig she was just an innocent girl who was just going along and then she was thrown into the lies that her mother told. Then the only father she knew ended up leaving, for a young girl it would be a traumatic experience especially when you have no idea of what caused it. I think that Gina should have more blame than she takes. Everyone is concentrated on the fact that the Werles started and uncovered the lies, but Gina should be blamed just as much. The only ones that take responsibility is Hjalmar and that isn't until he calms down from being upset. Werle also takes the responsibility of giving Hedvig a good life even though it isn't upfront he provides her with a family and makes sure that family has a stable income.

The Wild Duck Journal #2

Ibsen uses the motif of decay, disease, and illness to show that people may not be sick with a real illness, but actually be sick because they aren't fully aware of the lies that are being woven around them. Gregers hints throughout the beginning of the book that Hjalmar is blind to some of these things that are occurring. "You've got an insidious disease in your system"(Ibsen170) With this Gregers is suggesting that Hjalmar is blind to the lies. Gregers is also always asking Hjalmar why he thinks Werle was being so nice to him. "Tell me - when you became engaged - was it them my father got you to - I mean."(Ibsen125). This is when is always hinting about the big secret of the story and plants the seed that later grows into the truth coming out. Hjalmar is always blind to the fact that Gregers is trying ti destroy his life he refers to him as a friend. "That's why he needs a friend's watchful eye." (Ibsen177).  This even has the reference of the eye and that Hjalmar's eyes might not be as clear as he thinks.

The Wild Duck Journal #1

         The character who has the most false conceptions about others is Hjalmar. He was blind to all the secrets that were made around his family. He was even blind to the fact that his own wife had lied to him about their child. He was unable to see that the way he was set up with Gina was very unusual and how everything fell into place so easily. I think that he is a kind hearted man who doesn't expect people so close to him to lie about things so major. He was also unaware about all the aid that his family received from old mad Werle. This was given to them so that the former mistress and the her child would be setup for life. Hjalmar didn't pay any attention to this until Greggers came along and planted the seed that would eventually grow and destroy the Ekdal family. When Hjamlar finally finds out about all of the secrets everyone has he looses it and becomes a very different person than we had known him to be. He couldn't stand the sight of Hedvig which was complete opposite of the way he acted earlier in the play. We also see that before the play ends Hjamar returns to his family and tries to reason with what had happened but by that time it was to late and the damage had been done Hedvig killed herself. Then Hjalmar realizes that he had made the wrong reactions and returns to the old understanding kind Hjalmar we met at the beginning of the play.  

Dystopian Journal #1

The motifs of the dystopian novels help to show what the people in the society connect with or what they value or maybe even what they aren't aloud to have but keep in secret anyways. It shows something of value and importance that determine the outcome of the book. The setting helps us to understand what the people of the dystopia are living in and how they are controlled and what they are aloud to do and what they can't do. This is important because it gives us the idea of why they feel the way they do about the government and its control. The language of a dystopia helps show how monitored the people of the society are and how much they are aloud to think on their own and what they are aloud to say about their society.

Journal #4

In the end of the book Meursault comes to realize that he isn't afraid to die because it makes no differences once he dies the world will keep on going. Even if he wasn't going to die then, he would eventually die that's just the way life is. He realized that there was no real reason for him to live no one to love him they were all gone and that made no difference to him. I don't think Camus wanted us to  come to this conclusion. I think he wanted us to think of all the events that happen in our lifetime and appreciate them because someday we will be on our deathbeds recalling our lives and we should be using that time to have fond memories not ones that will question us till death because we don't know why we live.

Journal #3

I think that Camus divided the novel into two parts to show how Meursault went from an normal man who was someone that went with the flow and never took a care to what others thought of him and how he felt towards others. In the second half Meursault began to think about why he was doing things and that made it easier to connect with him because we could see his view and not the view of others around him.

Journal #2 The Stranger

       I think that using the sun as a symbol gives the feeling of laziness and being in a daze. This makes it seem like Meursault is just going along and not planning in going anywhere for any reason. I also think that it shows how a person who is hot and drained by the sun just goes along and in a daze this can be related to Meursault. The sun is also very present when Meursault murders at the beach it could show how the sun causes a person to become irrational and leads him to killing the man. The sun is a symbol used to show how a person can become disoriented and that leads them to doing bad things even when they are calm people.

Journal #1 The Stranger

Salamano and his dog are characters who have a love hate relationship. It seems that the old man and the dog are constantly have fights and are always mad at each other but when the dog goes missing we notice that the old man really does love the dog even though it seems all he did was yell at it. I think these characters are used to show the relationship between Meursault and his mother. It shows that they didn't really get along but still loved each other. His mom is like the dog in the way that Meursalt made all the decisions for her and she never said anything.

Marie is a woman who Meursault has feelings for she is used to show us that Meursault really does have feelings he just doesn't show them in the usual way or at all. She is the contrasting character to Meursault because she shows emotions and talks about what she is thinking with others. She is always showing her emotions unlike the main character.

Raymond is the neighbor of Meursault he is a guy that is kind of shady and has a bad reputation. He befriends the main character and leads him on his path to the "dark side". I think that he is a contrast to Meursault because he always shows his anger and rage unlike Meursault who is always passive and just goes along with what everyone else is doing never giving his true feelings.

Journal #8

1. I think Hurston chose the title she did because she wanted to show that in the big picture of life God is the person who has the power over what happens to us. Even though we make our own decisions we still have to wait for God to make the final decisions. This makes me think of all the things that happened to Janie, she could have had a decision against them but they would have turned out that way anyways because god chose to do that.

2. Another title could have been The Choices Being Made. This title would have shown that all people make choices to change for either good or bad, but it's god's final choice that decides what will happen in a persons life. I think Hurston was trying to get across that God is there all the time and he has a say in everything we do.

3. The title of my Pastiche is "The Red Bandanna" I chose this because in my pastiche my character had to overcome a lot of unfair obstacles and by acting out and going against what the authority wanted he obtained a feeling of peace. The bandanna is a symbol for his pride and he uses it empower himself against what the authority wanted.

Journal #7

1. "When the people sat around the porch and passed around the pictures of their thoughts."(51) This passage uses alliteration, because it helps get the mood across that the people would go to the porch to sit and talk and they would share all their thoughts. It shows how important that time is to the people of the town and that it has a big significance.

2. "Pheoby hurried off with a covered bowl in her hands."(4) This is an example from the book where Hurston uses food as a symbol. This has a big impact because it shows that Pheoby could either be using the food as a way to get Janie to tell her about what happened.

Journal #6

       When I made my revisions I decided to redo most of my plot to make it shorter and simpler. That way I can focus on my techniques instead of the whole story line. I focused on making it smoother and easier to read so that others can focus on whats happening in the story and on the techniques and not trying to get whats going on. I also added more dialogue because it kind of ties the story together better.

Journal #5

       And then Danny started to think of Fear. Fear, the mysterious being with a strong grip that lived in the shadows of every corner. The majestic one who hides in everyones minds. What need does Fear have to show itself? He waits in the absent recesses of the darkest places. Waiting silently and motionless with his hands ready to grasp his next victim. He had been standing there waiting for anyone he can scare. Danny was expecting to find the darkness left behind anytime now. He was uneasy and uncertain about the future. Poor James! We should have never cheated on that test. He ask Laura what was going on when she came out of the office, but she just shrugged and shook her head as she passed by. Those girls were all right with good reasons for goin to the priciples office, but they didn't know a thing about the matters of goin to the principles office for da bad things. He would be allright as soon as the chastising was over. His parents wouldn't be called at all. That was what he thought anyways. But Laura told him different, and he knew the truth. Even if he didn't he would soon find out when his parents pulled him aside and lectured him about the outcomes of being a bad child. He could already see them and their disapproving faces. Just waiting motionless and silent. Thinking about the mysterious being who brought apprehension to everyone it grasped.