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First off I have to say that I loved the opening with the Tupperware party, I just like it is so common. Something people would actually be doing haha.

Oedipa’s character is really very interesting, especially with her nightmares causing her to have trouble sleeping. And going to see a therapist who prescribes her tranquilizers to sleep yet she refuses to take them. But what is even more interesting is that upon an episode she calls him in the middle of the night and then when the nightmare is brought up Mr. Hilarious asks her not to describe it. Then goes on about some new pill being made and wanting he to be apart if it when she is already unwilling to take what she is given.

Also when she is at the lot and faced with that younger boy who wanted to be a musician thinking that all she wanted from him was…ya know. And she grabbed the TV antennas as a way to defend herself from him. Then upon him realizing that wasn’t what she wanted he backed off which helped her to calm down. Oedipa gives off this vibe that she has to be ready at any moment to take down anyone who might try to hurt her.

Then later on when she meets Metzger she feels that he is too gorgeous to be an actual man, that he must be an actor. Oedipa’s character is extremely paranoid, and very frantic. While sharing a glass of wine with Metzger he tells her that as a child he was an actor and randomly one of his pieces of work pops up and they watch it together and Metzger even sings along. For a moment Oedipa thinks that Metzger was in cahoots with the guy at the cable company putting this is show on specifically for that moment.

Although as they drink more Oedipa becomes less, well her current self, and becomes more relaxed with Metzger. Obviously drinking does her some good.

I just really like Oedipa’s character and all of the changes in emotion that we witness as they story goes on and how she reacts to situations based on her circumstances and what we know about her as a character.

Discussion Blog

How did I prepare for this assignment compared to others?

Well let me tell you there was a little less procrastination, although not too much.

I was mostly thinking about trying to look studious, like I drink black coffee (ew) and get lost deep in thought, and use quotes from the great writers in hopes of sounding interesting.

Well, I hate to break it to everyone but black coffee is disgusting. The other two still apply to me…totally kidding.

How did I do this in all seriousness? Well, I read the story several times. Picked out the questions that I actually wanted to answer, picked ones that I thought my “mind” could best represent. Does that make any sense? Then I busted out my yellow post-it notes. I wrote down which question that sticky note section answered, as well as page numbers and small notes in case I needed a jump start into the conversation. Although when I was actually involved in the discussion I found myself spitting out all of my notes, honestly I don’t even know if I was actually talking. I was pretty much spitting out facts.

At one point I did look up other’s views on what the Misfit said about “she would have been a good woman if there had been someone there to shoot her everyday of her life”? (Probably not word for word) although, I am sure we all got the point.

I was reading some people’s views on that topic and I was dying. Some of the answers were so pathetic. What was even worse was reading the comments from the self-deemed intellectuals, and knowing that what they were saying was SO wrong that I was almost sure they had never read the material! One person said this “The misfit was sad with himself for shooting her because she was such a good woman and he wasn’t.” Oh my gosh!

Three things I learned?

1. I am way better at English then I am at Pre calculus

2. That it is okay to talk, someone will tell you to shut up when you have said enough, or nothing relevant.

3. Also those others in my discussion group had some excellent points and I wished I had thought of some of the things that they had said.

Altogether I found the exercise to be a success and I liked hearing everyone’s opinions. It really opened my mind up to so many different things that I hadn’t thought about. I also loved the idea of be O’Connor delving into so many topics just within a short story. Especially concerning the religion. Great use of ideas.

5

Decided to talk about Question 5 from our discussion for the blog for tonight:

 In the very beginning of the story when she reads aloud from the Journal about the Misfit “ I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn’t answer to my conscience if I did (1304)

When the family stops for lunch at Red Sammy’s BBQ, we get a small insight into what a good man is when we hear Sammy talk about the following “Two fellers come in here last week driving a chrysler. It was a old beat up car but it was a good one and these boys looked alright to me. Said they worked at the mill you know I let them fellers charge the gas they bought? Now why did I do that?” (1307) Talking about how the times have changed and how you can’t trust a soul anymore.

Later on in this conversation it switches to the wife of Sammy, “Did you hear about the Misfit, that escaped?” said the grandmother. “I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if he didn’t attract this place right here. Two cents… bottom of page (1307)

(1309) bottom perhaps a car will come along. (1310) Grandmother is the one who waves down the car, and is the one who makes it come to their “rescue”. Which I find interesting especially since we all  know that this is the Misfit, and it is rather funny that she is the one who made them go on this trip and then in the end she was the one who brought them right to the feet of the killer. Which was said on page (1304)

(1311) Grandma telling the Misfit that he shouldn’t call himself that because she “knows” He is really a good man at heart. Interesting how those changes from her initial thoughts about him when she has no reason to fear for her life, but when she does suddenly everything she has been saying is irrelevant. So good man, not?
And further on in the reading as she tries to convince Misfit that he is a good man to spare the lives of her family and herself. So if she has to do that what makes a good man? Certainly makes the title far more interesting. Of course it’s hard to find if you are trying to pull it from a man that originally didn’t fit your stereotype.
Obviously when you hear the gun shots and the screams as her family dies, then finally when she is shot and dies the misfit says “She would have been a good woman if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.”  “it’s no real pleasure in life.”-Misfit.

We spent all of this time talking about what a good man is, what is a good woman?

Tales From The Sea

I am terrible when it comes to poetry

 I have a lot of Math homework, and attempting a poem sounded quicker than writing an analysis.

Although, I will probably be proven wrong and I will wish that I had done the analysis. I am hoping for the best.

Tales From The Sea

You are such a deceptive yet seasoned clam
Holding pearls prisoner, created from the sand
Using it as bait to lure in a curious girl, which I am

Although so unaware of the plans I conspire
You feel powerful beneath the ocean floor
Soon it will be me who defeats your empire

“Hello, Hello”, you call, “Let me show you something grand
Dutifully I approach to see what you have to show
Gently you place a shiny pearl into my salty wet hand

“Isn’t it pretty?” spoke the clam, “My creation of the sand?”
Eyes wide, full of utter glee, I hold the crest of the sea
“Silly clam… I will never return what I hold in my hand”

“Wait!” screeches the clam “Please return the ocean’s crest!”
The clam meant to guard it from curious girls like myself
The deceptive clam failed his own ridiculous test

The Clam not as deceptive as he thought he might be
The clam meant to guard it from curious girls
Too bad he lost the crest of the almighty sea
Failed the whole sea to a curious girl like me

I knew a woman

I knew a woman.

Upon my first read all I could think about was Disney princesses.
Then the next thought that came into my mind was from the movie Enchanted.

Giselle: Oh it’s you!

Prince: Yes, it is me. And you are?

Giselle: Giselle

Prince: Oh, Giselle! We shall be married in the morning!

(All of this happening just seconds after meeting.)

The reason my mind wandered to these ideas? Although I am sure the idea of the poem was not based upon my Disney theme. While the woman was being described made her sound very elegant, and when you read the very first line:

“I knew a woman, lovely in her bones,

When small birds sighed, she would sigh back at them;” (1084)

This reminded me of Snow White had this “special” bond with the animals and she could sing a little tune and they would all come crawling out of nooks and crannies to help her clean a very messy house.

Following my outrageous ideas, I began to think of it as a personal idea of a woman. And her movements, the way they were described reminded me of dancing. Like her body in every action that she conducted was in tune with a personal rhythm.

The line “But who can count eternity in days?

These old bones live to learn her wanton ways:

(I measure time by how a body sways).” (1085)

Is this perhaps talking about that one’s age doesn’t really exist as long as the body is lively and full of life?

Am I totally missing the point? Probably.

“She was the sickle; I ,poor ,I, the rake,

Coming behind her for her pretty sake

(But what prodigious mowing we did make).” (1084)

Is the speaker of this poem possibly comparing itself to a rake? Is the rake even an actual rake in this poem?

Mini Blog

I know this a day late, I just completely spaced it! http://nathanaelgracelovesliterature.blogspot.com/


I really enjoyed the quote Nathanael used for her Dream Song Blog “Yes. That’s right. You “rebels” are all only another kind of sheep. Or the same kind of sheep.”

I feel that way all the time looking at other people who are trying to be out of the ordinary, and then you see twenty others dressed exactly the same, doing the very same thing trying to be “rebellious”.

Is it possible to say that no one could ever be completely rebellious? That perhaps it is not ever possible? Since in the end several others will be doing the exact same?

But then again we have to think is one person rebellious and they have just recruited several others to help them build their foundations? Will there ever be an answer?

Perhaps we are only rebels based upon another person’s definition of what that should be. Perhaps I could be rebellious to one person, while not to another.

So what are you all classified as?

So obviously Gaga did have a brief moment where she was kissing another woman. Our society still finds that uncomfortable since it goes against the “norm”. Although who is to honestly say what the “norm” is? I found what she did with this part both flattering and upsetting. Yes, she did show the world hey two women kissing shouldn’t be an issue, but at the very same time she made it almost seem like a joke. I feel that Gaga doesn’t realize that while she is trying to make a point that it shouldn’t be a big deal, that she is also saying to society that it’s not about actual love, it’s about having fun and giving it a try.

 It also felt like she was making attraction between two women look dirty and raunchy. I mean no one really goes around grabbing one another’s downstairs parts like that( I don’t know if I am allowed to say this…so sorry if anyone is offended). I know she was in a jail and it seemed like she was falling into the classic stereo type of what we “imagine” jail to be like. I’m sure I don’t need to describe. 

When Gaga was wearing the American flag attire, I kind of got the impression that this is supposed to be America, and what people are like, or at least what they have been labeled as by society. By her wearing that I felt like her actions throughout the entire storyline were just little jabs at all of us as people trying to make us more open minded and realize that we are more than what we have been classified as.

Although, I could be very wrong and it is very possible that Gaga just wanted to dance around in caution tape, and make sandwiches with miracle whip. Who’s to say?

     So…I decided to talk about “The Dream Songs”… So before it begins there is always the excerpt describing the story.  The Dream songs “is essentially about an imaginary character (not the poet, not me) named Henry, a white American in early middle age sometimes in blackface, who has suffered an irreversible loss and talks about himself sometimes in the first person, sometimes in the third, sometimes in the second; he has a friend, never named. Who addresses him as Mr. Bones and variants thereof.” (Berryman 1129)

     Berryman is very closely related to Henry, at least in my own opinion. I feel that this was Berryman giving himself a home on paper. Perhaps his way of making himself concrete with all of the things he has already known of himself in his head. I mean Berryman had suffered several losses in his life, his father dying, his friend dying from cancer, being bullied. 

     Things like this can really alter a person’s life and steer them in very odd directions. Someone can be one way for years and then one small thing can happen to them and they can no longer be the person that they had once been. Berryman had endured such an intense loss at such a young age that he cleaved to the pain and darkness that life can provide. 

     I admit I did Google and this was something interesting that I found ““There is a fiendish resemblance,” Berryman has said, “between Henry and me.” Like Berryman, Henry is a poet, teacher, heavy drinker, and incessant needer whose father shot himself when his son was twelve years old. ( http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/27542549?uid=3739648&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=56000401343)

 

     One line that I really liked was “Where did it all go wrong? There ought to be a law against Henry. –Mr. Bones: there is.” (Berryman 1130) I feel like Berryman is giving us personal insight. All of his thoughts and feelings warped, out of control. What does he deserve as a human being? What is natural to want, what is natural at all? You see Henry restricting himself, a law, and then with the reply “there is”, of course there is because Henry has placed it on himself, he created it. 

     When I read that Berryman committed suicide, I felt like he had betrayed himself and Henry. Berryman had killed himself just like his father had. This single act from his father had consumed his life and now he recreated it. 

     Ah! Too many thoughts! Sorry if that was too deep for anyone. It wasn’t meant to be. Mainly my mind racing with all of these reasons why? 

http://nathanaelgracelovesliterature.blogspot.com/

Okay, so maybe I totally missed it, but there was an extra credit reading aloud thing? So you did one of your own personal readings? And if I am not totally off topic, what did you write about? How did you come to decide that you wanted to read about that? And finally, where you freaking out?
So when you mention other readings being cleaner this time then last time, what would you say made for a better atmosphere? And did it make you feel more comfortable with less “pornographic” readings? Obviously. Hahaha.
Did you find other readers to be more experienced than others? Was there one particular reader that you liked the best out of all of the ones that you heard?
I wish I would have listened better so I could have gone, I doubt I would have read because I am a huge chicken. I can perform any character in a play, but putting me on stage reading a poem is a totally different story. Probably because I wouldn’t have my character identity to hide behind.
That’s neat that you experienced that, hopefully you do continue to do readings!