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The Seventh Son

In American Studies class i am reading a novel called "The Seventh Son".It is about a young boy by the name of Alvin Jr growing up. One of the questions that we were asked is What is more important on the frontier – the individual or the community? My response to this is that the community is more important than the individual.

During this novel, the people in the town basically depend on each other. For example, when they went to get the millstone. The all contributed to moving the logs down so the millstone could just roll down without being stopped.

Another example is when Alvin Jr stopped the millstone from rolling down with his leg. He knew that it would be painful but he did it anyways just to help out his family memebers. He messed up his leg, breaking bones. He sacrificed his well being for a millstone. He is demonstrating that his family is more important than his well being.

In conclusion that is why i think community is more important than the idividual itself.

 

 

superstitious

In the novel The Seventh Son, the devil is described to a young man named Alvin.  The describer states that the devil looks like "the horns of a bull, claws of a bear, hooves of a goat, and has the roar of a ravening lion."  The young man replies to this saying "An you call us superstitious."  From this conversation between two characters, i wonder if ones self can believe in a religion and at the same time, not believe it is indeed superstitious... 

Within the novel itself, a family called the Millers, see themselves as a superstitious family, The local Reverend "thrower", also see's it this way.  As a reader, in some sense i see the Reverend himself as a superstitous person.  He tries his best to force a religion onto a young man, who is uncapable of understanding the figure "god".  Is this how he should spread such a godly religion? i think not.  Along with that note, he wishes to kill the young man because the thinks he is the devil.  Being a man of god, could he take gods power into his "own" hands to kill one of "gods creations"?

In some sense i belive that the image of god we ourselfs have created is somewhat superstitious, no human on earth has ever seen this "God" but we still believe he is there.  Other cultures have many gods..doesnt it seem unnessesary to have multiple gods that withhold the same powers? could it not be possible that one "god" created us all, and not the the power of multiple "gods"?  For that matter, wouldnt having "A" god be superstitious enough? i believe that this "god" might just be a figure of the human imagination, and at the same time just a figure of history, not actually a person.

Coming Of Age

Alvin experienced coming of age in the novel. One example would be when he made the roached go into his sister's room and were able to control them to do whatever he wanted them to do. "Sure enough, a few of the roaches started skittering under Alvin's door, and then more and more of them, and finally the whole troop went off in a single great cavalry charge under the door, through the wall, their bodies shiny and glowing in the candlelight, guided by their eternal insatiable hunger, fearless because Al had told them there wasn't nothing to fear."(pg 58) Alvin realized that he hold control over the roaches at this point and he was going to use them to his advantage to get back at his sister. Coming of age is similar to other kids because as you get older you realize that you have to take more responsibility and learn to be independent. Kids cant rely on their parents all the time they have to do things on their own.

Seventh Son - A Fariytale?

In the book The Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card, There are a lot of realistic and fairytale - like situations.  For example, in chapter 7, Alvin Jr. tells the cockroaches that here is food and safety in his sisters room and they listen to him and go in there, and they get let down and squished. He also sees a shining man that comes into his room and gives him a vision of the cockroaches, scurrying around and going into his sisters room, and getting let down. All of that most likely wouldn't happen in the real world. It sounds more like a dream or a made up story. On the other hand, there are some very real and normal things, like the everyday struggles and how Alvin Jr. walked down on his parents fighting. that is a normal thing that would happen in peoples lives. The fairytale aspects of the book Seventh Son are what make it so intrriguing and interesting.

Seventh Son...So Far

 Seventh Son by Alvin Miller is the book, tht we should all know by know, that we are all reading in class. i would liek to first start by stating, WHAT THE HELL IS WITH THIS BOOK?! no liek really, when i first started reading it and hearing about tht damned chicken and it wanting nips outts Peggy, i was like "Aight, I Aint Never Going." truly it's such a wierd book and i dont know what is wrong with Alvin Miller. No disrespect, but i think the whole concept of making this a fantasy book was a lilttle bit off.

But then i really thought about it.  How would fantasy tie in with the Colonial Times?  then it popped into my head.  As the settlers moved West, they could only fantasize would the land would be like since it was such a new frontier to them.  thats what the book has started off with.  Alvin Senior and his family heading west towards new land so that they could become prosperous and hopefully become rich. 

Alvin played around with this idea and i thought it was a good one, in an allegorical sense.  But what i have yet to understand is the purpose of having the Seventh son and having people have magic abilities anyway.  If you can, someone please explain to me or write your own opinions.  thank you =0

Movie vs. Play

The play 'The Crucible' is a lot different than the movie version of it. In the play, a lot of the intense dramadic scenes (ex: the last scene when John Proctor is sentenced to death) take place inside while in the movie, they're outside. Being outside makes it less intense in my mind, just because it's visual, and there a lot of other things going on outside that might distract the viewer. Also it's more open and seems less suspenseful. When you're inside for a scene that, it feels more trapped like you can't get out of the situation, and it makes the viewer more intrigued.

Betty:The Victim of Witchcraft.

    In the play crucible, there is definitely one character that is very interesting compared to the other characters in the play write. Her name is Betty and she is 10 years old. She was caught in the forest with a slave and assumed she was under the witch craft of this particular slave. She was then in a "sick" position where she couldn't really move or even eat.

    She is the most interesting because she was the only one that was effected from that night. It was more than her there but she was the only one that ended up sick in the situation.Her conflicts were that she and her fellow friends were being accused of being apart of witchcraft.

    This particular conflicts reflects conflicts that every human has to face because in life many people are being accused for things that they are not. And when you feel the need to do so, most of the time your accusations are false.

The Most Important Theme

In the book Their Eyes Were Watching God, there were many of themes going on. Some themes were obvious such as love and ideologies about women, and some of them were there but you had to figure them out like the theme of men in power. I can't say which theme was most important because they all made the story, or Janie's life, what it is. With all the different parent figures and men in her life she never had control of her life which is what love, men in power and ideologies do to a women. They make them incapable to run their own lives at times. But Janie didn't know better so she went along with it till she finally started thinking for herself.

"Eyes Are Watching God"

Janice is the book in trying to find how she can be happy with a man. This book helps women break the objectifying attacks from men. Janice's nanny wants her to find a wealthy man so she can take care of and clean the house, this is the stereotype of a women in that time period. Janice does not want to listen to her nanny and find love but she listens to her nanny and marries Logan a man with land and enough money to get by. Later Janice hates the way she lives because she does not find love in her marriage and she has no freedom around Logan. Later in the book she finds a man names Jody who takes her under his arm with a lot of wealth and a whole town. Janice loves her new life but Jody does not give her the public sphere she desires. Where the chapters Im reading she finds a man who gives her freedom and she feels better then ever. Will Tea Cake always give her what she wants I don't know but I plan on reading further to find out. Janice is a good women who breaks and disowns the stereotype of staying in the private sphere and keeping her voice unheard.

Wizard Dumbledore from Harry Potter books is Gay?

Dumbledore is gay? Was this ever revealed in the books for it to appear this way? Recently this week on Monday Rowling author of the Harry Potter books, was signing her books for young children at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. Rowling read her final novel of the Harry Potter series “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” to a group of young children, afterwards there were questions asked by the kids. One of the kids asked if, “Dumbledore the head of Howgarts school ever loved anyone.” In Rowling response she said that Dumbledore is gay, that he had a love affair with Gellert Grindelwald, Voldemort’s predecessor who appears in the 7^th book. Reading the books this thought never once came across my mind as Dumbledore being gay, I think that Rowling’s didn’t really portray this attribute to the character Dumbledore.

Order vs. Freedom

A reoccurring theme in American history has been the tension between two paradoxical values: collective security (order) and individual freedom. Collective security has two do with giving up individual liberties for the well being of the group. Everyone is seen as suspicious. Everyone is put under surveillance even if they don’t deserve it. The government seems to have the right to interrogate you whenever they want. With individual freedom the government takes a defensive role in by protecting the liberty of each individual, allowing the individual to act as he or she pleases as long as the individual does not infringe with the individual freedom of the others. Arthur Miller claims that “it is still possible for a man to organize his social life without repressions, and the balance has yet to be struck between order and freedom” (Miller 7). Miller was right because I believe that the balance has been struck before, at times. During Puritan, McCarthy and post 9/11 eras the government has been far from striking this balance.

The Crucible

I want to know your input. How do you think the story will end? Will everyone who is accused a witchery be hung. Will the people of Salem join together as a whole and defend these people who are accused?. Will we find out where Abigail Williams is? I think that eventually all of the people accused of witchery will be hung.

From the looks of this story, I think that Danforth and Hawthorne has no sympathy for the people of Salem. I learned that from the quote that he will hang how ever many people it takes who don't obey the law. In my opinion, that shows that he really doesn't care about the lives he take. He only cares about the obeying and following his religion and the government.

I think that Is wrong but that's how society is. The same thing apply to men and women in jail. Some cases are "overruled" because of the judges stupidity or the judge wanting to make an "example" out of a human being. What do you think about the ending of the book and our society?

Crucible

    In the town of Salem, Massachusetts, 1692, jealously runs rampage through the whole community. The novel has so many dynamic characters, all with different motives which creates a good storyline.

    One of those dynamic characters is Reverend Parris, who's love for himself is more than for his family. When the witchcraft hysteria came to Salem, he saw it as a great opportunity to become more popular in the town.

    Reverend John Hale is another character who adds a lot to the plot. When we first meet Hale, he is a big shot and has a good understanding of witchcraft. At first he believes their is spiritual activities happening in Salem, but after talking to John Proctor he starts to question his assumption. But unfortunately by the time he changes sides it's too late for him to do anything about it.

"The Crucible" Character Analysis Reverend Parris

I think that Parris wanted to have the whole community to see him as an idol. This has a link to many celebrity figures in America today. Powerful figures in America like politicians want the people to see them as higher models to look at them with superiority. With the example of Parris' daughter have falling ill after a scene of supposed witchcraft the night before would then ruin his power in the church. With his failing power in the church he then loses the power over the people since mostly everybody in town goes to church and listens to what Parris has to say. I think that the same thing would have to any powerful figure in America. An example of this is if a Senator trying to fight the drug abuse in American then finds out his own son/daughter is abusing drugs. The father/mother would fight in every way to keep this a secret and not let it out to the public because their enemies could ruin her reputation in the fight against drugs. The same concept could be towards Parris his enemies like Putuam could say he is a bad Reverad and a father. Arthur Miller is trying to make a point in Parris' character to many other powerful figures in his time.