zaaaBlogging the Literary Life - Period 9 - AP College English

Blogging

Okay, it's the last day that counts for blogging, and we've read two chapters of a book that we've already overanalyzed in class and overblogged about. I can't think of anything new to say about the writing style, I have no idea what the significance of the character's names are, and I still don't understand why (or even when) Faulkner switches point-of-view. For this reason, I've decided not to do what alot of people usually do and repeat something our teacher said in class in a slightly different way and put a question mark at the end. Instead, and I don't know if  I'll get credit for blogging this week, but I'm going to ask a question irrelevant to the book, but one that I've been thinking about since blogging began:

Has blogging actually been helpful to anyone, and if so in what circumstance?  I know some people use it to try and get help on their papers, but do you usually get helpful advice?

This isn't a loaded question, I actually want to know how it can help me instead of annoy me for the next semester. If you never read anyone else's post, don't care about the blog itself, and never follow up on comments to your own posts, say it. We could used a good discussion about this.

Small Things

I never really thought about the title of the novel in as much detail as I did just now. The motif of "small things" is always present in the book, and it's interesting how characters shape their lives around them. For example, Velutha lives a happier life than most would in his situation because he only pays attention to the small things in life--hence his nickname--and is never hindered by the big things like how he's not supposed to be with Ammu or the children, or that his status as an Untouchable dooms him to an unsatisfactory life. There are always literally small things present in scenes with Velutha, such as bugs, that the author pays attention to because of his presence as the God of Small Things. This is in contrast to characters such as Baby Kochamma and Pillai who only seem to look for the big things such as family structure in life.

The Twins' Closeness at the End

I really loved how the author used the scene between the twins to take the motif of love laws one step further. By setting up Amu and Velutha's relationship that is immoral to the traditional Indian society for many reasons the reader just has to take a short step to experience the twins' encounter. While it may shock people from the society we come from it is no more wrong than Amu and Velutha's relationship. Both are demonized by their society but just becasue we can easily see through one with our western eyes and not the other does not mean that the other is "wrong." The only reason we in our society today have a problem with incest is that it has a tendancy to reinforce genes. Sometimes this is a good thing, such as in animals bred for a specific trait. However, it also will create a reinforcement of bad genes that in animals we cull. Religion and society come together to tell us that these relationships are "wrong." To me it really doesn't matter. The truth is that random people have just as much chance of having damaged children as family members who have children with each other. The oucome is what matters. If the people having the sex do not have children or if they have been geneticly tested so that nothing bad will result I don't see the problem. I reject the idea that incest as "morally" wrong. If it can not be shown to cause evil in the world I do not understand how a rational human being can be horrified by simple sex.

Well, seeing as my technological abilities are less-than-stellar and I somehow can't get onto the big blog, I'll have to settle for this one for one more week.

One of the things that really interests me about the book and about India is the caste systems.  I find it so heartbreaking to hear about these poor Untouchables whose only crime was being born to another Untouchable.  Furthermore, there is no way to escape their rank.  I think the system would be better if it wasn't so strict, and if one caste wasn't necessarily so much more powerful than another.  In other words, that caste is more of an ethnicity, so to speak, than a class.  It already is somewhat like your sub-ethnicity in India, because each caste has distinctive features and surnames because of inbreeding. 

Castes should also be able to move up through hard work.  This is especially prevalent in the case of Velutha, who is extremely talented and could have been a successful engineer if not for the fact that he is an Untouchable.  Now, he is stuck fixing machinery for a pickle factory getting paid much less than he deserves. 

What do you think?  Is it even possible to change a tradition as old as history?  If so, how do we even begin to go about doing that?

explicating poetry...

I am having a lot of trouble explicating poetry. I know that it is similar to a literary analysis in some ways, but I am having trouble putting my understandings into the general paper form. I am unsure how to start off an explication, although I have read all of the examples in Sound and Sense. I am a little unsure what to put into my explication, and I feel awkward quoting lines from poems. I felt that my general understanding would develop throughout the poetry course, but unfortunately it has not. The in class poetry explication was particularly hard for me, especially since I was having trouble with the previous assignment we were given. I felt that since I was having trouble explicating my poem, to have only 50 mins in class to explicate another poem in class was basically impossible for me. It is not that I don't have a definite understanding of the poem, because everyone has different interpretations of them. I just do not know how to start them. Are there any suggestions for the future??

The Pitcher

With the world series going on, I thought a poem about baseball would be appropriate  “The Pitcher” appears in chapter 15 of Sound and Sense.  The chapter is titled Evaluating Poetry.  I would categorize the poem as rhetorical poetry—uses a high-flown language and is somewhat over elegant, as well as didactic—it’s purpose is to communicate or teach what a pitcher’s goal is.  Lines 1 and 2 of the poem talk about the pitchers aim:

His art is eccentricity, his aim

How not to hit the mark he seems to aim at,

The pitchers goal is not so much to throw or aim for the catcher, but to hit the corners of the plate or even sometimes throw it in a the dirt to be affective.  Lines 3 and 4 talks of what the pitcher wants to avoid:

His passion how to avoid the obvious,

His technique how to vary the avoidance.

The obviously wants to avoid having runs scored, so he has to “vary the avoidance” or scatter the hits throughout his innings pitched.  Lines 5 and 6 talk about the batters response to the pitcher:

The others throw to be comprehended.  He

Throws to be a moment misunderstood.

The pitcher’s goal is to fool the batter.  To be comprehended would result in the batters success.  However, to be misunderstood, for example throw a pitch the batter is not expecting would make the pitcher successful.  As a pitcher myself, I find this poem easy to interpret, but for those who don’t know much about baseball, having read the poem would you know exactly what the author was talking about?

in the inner city

in the inner city

in the inner city
or
like we call it
home
we think a lot about uptown
and the silent nights
and the houses straight as
dead men
and the pastel lights
and we hang on to our no place
happy to be alive
and in the inner city
or
like we call it
home

by Lucille Clifton

This poem is essentially about the last line. Home. Clifton is stressing the idea that home is where you make it. She starts and ends with the same lines "in the inner city or like we call it home." The writer starts out by saying just "in the inner city." Isolating the phrase lets the reader bring up all of their precinceived notions about the inner city as poor, dirty, cramped, and ugly. All of these thoughts are swirling through your head, and then she hits you with the word home. The reader is forced to combine all of the positive comforting connotations of home with those of the inner city. The author then gives her perspectve of the nicer parts of the city, with "houses straight as dead men." The author views the nice part of town as dead and lifeless, while the inner city is home to her. The repititions of "home" at the end drives home the point that home is a matter of perspective.

Explicating Poems

For the poetry explication assignment, I read "After Apple Picking," by Robert Frost, and I thought that I had a clear understanding of the poem.  When we discussed the poem in class, however, I got a different interpretation than the other people.  The idea that they had was that the poem's theme was about death.  I can see the obvious theme of death in the poem, but the theme I thought of is a little more broad.  From  a modern perspective, I thought that the poem was about the control nature has over man, or just even the helplessness of man in general.  I think that fate plays a powerful role in the poem, showing that man's destiny is already chosen and he is helpless to change it.  Regardless the theme, the poem has a dark connotation, which is in line with the modernist style of the poem.  I just want to make sure that my idea isn't completely wrong, so, any suggestions?

My Mistress' Eyes

This Shakespeare sonnet, one of my favorites, consists of a man speaking of his mistress, though the particular way in which he describes her is quite unorthodox:

For example, he says "My mistresses' eyes are nothing like the sun;/Coral is far more red than her lips' red;/If snow be white, then why her breats are dun;/If hairs be wired, black wires grow on her hear."

The poem continues in this manner, frankly telling of the lack of beauty in his mistress.  However, I have many theories on the reasoning behind this harsh-seeming evaluation.  The first is that I don't think he is being harsh, I think he's simply making fun of traditional love poems.  His mistress isn't like the moon, with lips as red as the rose, but she's beautiful in her own way.  His way of describing her is emphasizing the fact that she is ordinary, but he still loves her.

The other theory is that perhaps his mistress is black, which would explain references to dark skin and "black wires" of hair.

However, I think the main point of this poem is that his love is not a goddess, and he would be daft in saying she was, but he loves her for her ordinariness. 

Any thoughts?

The Giving Tree

So I'm assuming that you all have read or at least heard of "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein. It's my personal favorite.

Once there was a giving tree who loved a little boy.
And everyday the boy would come to play
Swinging from the branches, sleeping in the shade
Laughing all the summer’s hours away.
And so they love,
Oh, the tree was happy.
Oh, the tree was glad.

But soon the boy grew older and one day he came and said,
"Can you give me some money, tree, to buy something I’ve found?"
"I have no money," said the tree, "Just apples, twigs and leaves."
"But you can take my apples, boy, and sell them in the town."
And so he did and
Oh, the tree was happy.
Oh, the tree was glad.

But soon again the boy came back and he said to the tree,
"I’m now a man and I must have a house that’s all my home."
"I can’t give you a house" he said, "The forest is my house."
"But you may cut my branches off and build yourself a home"
And so he did.
Oh, the tree was happy.
Oh, the tree was glad.

And time went by and the boy came back with sadness in his eyes.
"My life has turned so cold," he says, "and I need sunny days."
"I’ve nothing but my trunk," he says, "But you can cut it down
And build yourself a boat and sail away."
And so he did and
Oh, the tree was happy.
Oh, the tree was glad.

And after years the boy came back, both of them were old.
"I really cannot help you if you ask for another gift."
"I’m nothing but an old stump now. I’m sorry but I’ve nothing more to give"
"I do not need very much now, just a quiet place to rest,"
The boy, he whispered, with a weary smile.
"Well", said the tree, "An old stump is still good for that."
"Come, boy", he said, "Sit down, sit down and rest a while."
And so he did and
Oh, the trees was happy.

This poem is by far my favorite for two reasons- 1.) it's a loving story that everyone can enjoy and 2.) it taught me to share and be thankful for what I have. As funny as that may sound, it's true. The boy in this poem always wanted more than what he had. Luckily, the tree satisfied his desires. However, in the end, the boy is left with a tiny stump for rest. Although it works well enough for what he wants it is not nearly as great as an entire tree. I figure, take what you have and be thankful for it.  Don't just ask for what you need and use people. Be grateful that people are available to you. Don't take anyone for granted. Unlike that tree stump, they may not exist so long.
Oh, the tree was glad.

Poem analysis

This is an Emily dickinson poem that I memorized for my Johns Hopkins English class this summer. I memorized it, even though it was twice the required length, because it stuck with me even though it makes a point I don't necessarily agree with it.

For Each ecstatic Instant

by Emily Dickinson

For each ecstatic instant
We must an anguish pay
In keen and quivering ratio
To the ecstasy.

For each beloved hour
Sharp pittances of years,
Bitter contested farthings
And coffers heaped with tears

This poem is mostly a grim look on karma. The odd thing about the poem is the idea behind karma is that it is balanced, and this poem seems to be focus on the bad aspects of life that balance out the happiness. I think that this is Dickinson's way of saying that we get into good situations and bad situations, but the bad ones are more memorable and important.

Childhood Memories

I was thinking about what poems to choose and how to choose them, when I remembered a celebration I used to go to every year with my dad. One of his very best friends was married to a woman from Scotland and every year we would go to their house with all her scottish friends and relatives and us, of course, and eat haggis and read poems by Robbie Burns. This was Robbie Burns night, and in honor of the haggis I found this poem.
Address To A Haggis
by Robert Burns.

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy of a grace
As lang's my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o' need,
While thro' your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An' cut ye up wi' ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!

Then, horn for horn, they strech an' strive:
Deil tak the hindmost! on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve,
Are bent like drums;
Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
'Bethankit!' hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi' perfect sconner,
Looks down wi' sneering, scornfu' view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As feckless as a wither'd rash,
His spindle shank, a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit;
Thro' bluidy flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread.
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll make it whissle;
An' legs, an' arms, an' heads will sned,
Like taps o' thrissle.

Ye Pow'rs wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o 'fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies;
But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer,
Gie her a Haggis!
This poem is fun and offers a variety of Scottish culture in the language, the context and the rythm. It explains the glory of the haggis, but no one ever knows quite what it is. If there are any other poems that spark people's interest or remind them of something I would love to hear them.

My Son, My Executioner

So I was looking through Sound and Sense and for some reason chose to read the poem My Son, My Executioner on page 367.

My son, my executioner,
I take you in my arms,
Quiet and small and just astir,
And whom my body warms.

Sweet death, small son, our instrument
Of immortality,
Your cries and hungers document
Our bodily decay.

We twenty-five and twenty-two,
Who seemed to live forever,
Observe enduring life in you
And start to die together.

I think this poem is very interesting in a lot of ways. In some ways it kind of seems like the parents resent the child for making them feel older, and in other ways it kind of seems like they are trying to live through their son. I think this kind of represents how a lot of new parents feel about their children, and also another aspect of life that is extremely depressing. The term "bodily decay" (8) is a disturbing one. It seems interesting that it would be used in this poem about parents and their son. I really liked this poem though because I feel like a lot of poems describe parenthood as this amazing experience and I liked that this poem was kind of out of the ordinary.

Poetry

I like analyzing poetry because everyone has such different views on the same material.  Like in the poem "Those Winter Sundays" some people thought it was just a cold relationship between a father and son, and others thought it might be an abusive relationship.  Words like "blueblack" can be interpreted in different ways.  If you're going with the distant father-son relationship, it can further symbolize the coldness between them.  If you think of it as an abusive relationship, then blueblack could be like a bruise.  You never really know exactly what the author had in mind when he/she was writing the poem, but its good that everyone sees poetry differently and finds meanings that they can relate to.

We Real Cool

I was flipping through Sound and Sense and saw a poem that was really the first poem outside of Shell Silverstein I had ever heard. I do believe I was in fifth grade or so and had no idea what the poem really meant, but looking at it now I find it an interesting and simple poem. The poem is “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks (188).

We real cool. We

Skip school. We

Lurk late. We

Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We

Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We

Die Soon

One of the questions under the poem in Sound and Sense said that some teachers were being criticized for having their students read this poem stating it is immoral. This was due to a misunderstanding of the poem. In this poem Gwendolyn Brooks is critiquing “we” and what that group thinks is “cool”, not endorsing the behavior (1). Brook emphasized “we” and the end of each line to exemplify the power of peer pressure. She is saying that sometimes the sense of community a person gets from a group, to feel cool, leads to negative behavior. Gwendolyn Brooks is criticizing these people, saying if they continue in their sinful behavior they will “Die soon”, or meet a negative end regardless (8).

No Exit

I decided to go see No Exit last night just because I thought it'd be a good way to get extra credit and it was supposed to be pretty good. I ended up really liking it and hope that more people went to see it this afternoon! It was a play that actually made you think really hard to understand it, which was interesting. Like Mr. Heidkamp said, it showed existentialism well. The three characters are captured in hell together, each being the torture of the other two, and are trying to stand each other and sort out thier mislead lives. None of them were really happy in life and help each other figure themselves out. It was really interesting and Dan did an amazing job directing it. Did anyone else see it? And like it?

Are these books, or am I just reading to deeply into it?

Some people posted before talking about their hesitation when we learned we were studying poetry, I really had no opinion either way but after a week or so of poetry, Mr. Heidkamp I have a little thing to say.  I guess it is alright to just sit and analyze poetry but I think that for all the days we have spent sitting going through the meanings and components of each poem we should also spend some time presenting poetry.  I think that that hearing poetry spoken or reading it aloud can also be as, if not more enjoyable.  It is also more personal to our class to hear what each other writes an presents.  It would  also give an opportunity to see how other classmates perceive experiences that relate to our lives along with the various poems from sound and sense.  If anyone else agrees or has a comment, I'm all ears.

Ozymandias by Percy Shelley

I passed by this poem on page 121 and it looked interesting. There is a contrast between life and death in this poem, in that a statue can have such humanlike features. Thus, there is also a theme of personification. The line, "Those passions read / ... stamped on these lifeless things" (6-7) makes it seem as though they are artificial, or stamped on, like he says. They are artificial, obviously, because they're on a statue, but this is interesting because the way the author states it is in contrast to when he says things like, "Whose frown, / and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command," (4-5) as though the statue was alive. "Round the decay / of that colossal wreck" (12-13) and the rest of the poem from there on make it seem as though this man who had a statue made of him was a powerful ruler who possibly got too corrupt for his own good--he still rules in statue form atop the wrecked city. There is a lot of interesting imagery in this poem, such as, "The lone and level sands stretch far away" (14).

The Forge (62)

Not to sound chauvinistic, but it’s nice to find a poem not about love or death. Though vivid imagery and strong language, Heany recounts working in an iron workshop.

Not to sound chauvinistic, but it’s nice to find a poem not about love or death. Though vivid imagery and strong language, Heany recounts working in an iron workshop.

Not to sound chauvinistic, but it’s nice to find a poem not about love or death. Through vivid imagery and powerful language, Heaney recounts working in an iron workshop.

 

Not to sound chauvinistic, but it’s nice to find a poem not about love or death. Though vivid imagery and strong language, Heaney recounts working in an iron workshop.

The Forge

All I know is a door into the dark.
Outside, old axles and iron hoops rusting;
Inside, the hammered anvil's short-pitched ring,
The unpredictable fantail of sparks
Or hiss when a new shoe toughens in water.
The anvil must be somewhere in the centre,
Horned as a unicorn, at one end square,
Set there immoveable: an altar
Where he expends himself in shape and music.
Sometimes, leather-aproned, hairs in his nose,
He leans out on the jamb, recalls a clatter
Of hoofs where traffic is flashing in rows;
Then grunts and goes in, with a slam and a flick
To beat real iron out, to work the bellows.

Seamus Heaney
(Sound and Sense 62)

From the first line, Heaney’s language is strong and poetic without being convoluted or wishy-washy. The narrator doesn’t just get up early every morning, all he knows is the door into the dark. We also quickly get the impression that the mason is uncomfortable and not very successful. Instead of flying off the shelves, his wares sit out rusting in the rain while he stands in a puddle of water.

To me the theme of the poem is that there is nothing romantic or glorified about labor. 

A Cool Poem

While I really appreciate the complex language used in many poems, I love reading poems that are easier to understand. I like poems that stir up an emotion, and reallly get their message across. While looking through Sound and Sense, I found a poem on page 215 that I really liked called "To a Daughter Leaving Home" by Linda Pastan. It reminded me of the poetry assignment that we have to do, with the right of passage and the metaphor. It compares the daughter growing up and leaving home with her first time riding a bike.

"To a Daughter Leaving Home"

When I taught you
at eight to ride
a bicycle, loping along
beside you
as you wobbled away
on two round wheels
my own mouth rounding
in surprise when you pulled
ahead down the curved
path of the park,
I kept waiting
for the thud
of your crash as I
sprinted to catch up,
while you grew
smaller, more breakable
with distance
pumping, pumping
for your life, screaming
with laughter
the hair flipping
behind you like a
handkerchief waving
goodbye.

I really like the imagery of this poem and it brings back memories of my first time learning to ride a bike. The poem never mentions the fact that the daughter is leaving home, only the title gives the poem its true meaning. While reading the poem I felt the emotions that the speaker was going through.The form of this poem is really  interesting, the structure is informal, really one long sentence. I think the structure really gets across the tone of the poem, it is like the internal running commentary of the parent. Overall, I though this was a really touching poem, it also provided inspiration for my right of passage poem.

Do we ruin poems?

After Mr. Heidkamp's speech about poetry I became somewhat excited about the upcoming poetry unit.  However, I have always been quite hesitant when I study poetry because I always seem to miss the deeper meaning or get the totally wrong meaning.

I want to pose the question, is there always a deeper meaning to poems.  Not to be cynical but why can't we just read a poem in class, enjoy the style and the words without analyzing every single word and punctuation.  I think when we look at poems that we lose their true essence because we are to worried about what this word or that word means.  For example, the poem about apple picking is appealing to me because it reminds me of when I picked apples with my family.   Simply, brings back good memories and allows me to feel like I am out there picking apples once again.  NO, we cannot just lay back and do that but look for the deeper meanings.  In any case, how do we know what the real meaning is.  The author could actually just be writing about apple picking and nothing else.  Do we dissect poems to create ideas that are not there and by doing so do we lose the meaning.

My last point, is that poem is an expression and perceived differently by each person.  So why cant we just leave it at that.  Lets go outside and just read some good old poetry without dictionaries.

Poetry Can Be Fun... I Guess

If anyone in this class is like me, poetry isn't exactly their favorite thing. When Mr. Heidkamp told us that our next focus was going to be poetry, I confess, I cringed. I think I used to enjoy reading poems until they were forced on me at school! We've been talking about poetry for about about a week now, we've covered all the bases- how to read it and how to interpret it. We have our poetry analysis due this Friday and today we worked in small groups to carefully dissect the poems we chose. I have to admit, it was kind of interesting listening to all the different ways one poem could be interpreted by several people. The more that I think about it, poetry is interesting. A poem can be almost like a riddle at times, something that you have to solve and interpret in order to find the real meaning beneath the words. How does everyone else feel about our poetry unit? I know in my group today, we got a little off track and we all mentioned some of our favorite childhood poets- does anybody have one and want to share?

I feel kind of inspired, I think I'm going to go grab my old Shell Silverstein books from the attic and give this poetry thing one more try...

Oppression

Sorry, for some reason my post got cut off on the right...I hope this one works.

Yesterday, we had to read through all of the poems, so I was not able to comment on the poem that challenged death.  I really liked how the poet personified death, and it created an entirely new perspective on our mortality, and how we should approach the oncoming conclusion of our lives.  The perspective of this poem reminded me of the song "Oppression," by Ben Harper.  Here is the opening verse to "Oppression:"

Oppression, you pray on us when we sleep
Oppression, you chase after the tired, the poor,the weak
Oppression, I swear you mean only harm
Opression, you reach out with your long arm.
But Oppression, I won't let you near me
Oh Oppression, you will learn to fear me, yes you will

Here, Harper challenges oppression, personifying it into a vulnerable, attackable creature that we should not fear. It is important that we learn how to identify our fears and learn how to cope with them, because when a fear grows too great for us to understand and deal with, we cannot live fulfilling lives. Someone wise once side, "If you live in fear, you are already three parts dead. " I like how these two poems empower us as a society, showing us that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Opening Our Eyes to The Bluest Eyes

This post is referring to the play we saw last week. I personally think it was amazing. Particularly the first opening scene. The different voices and faces all saying the same thing was moving. When they all came in at different parts it was really loud and stood out a lot. Why do you think they particularly got off beat of each other in that opening scene. They started out all speaking the same and then either sped up or slowed down to get the feeling of the piece to change. Why do you think that is and what effect do you think it added to the play and the opening scene in particular?

Belated The Piano Post

Sorry if the topic of The Piano's relevancy to Heart of Darkness is exhausted, but I couldn't get my typepad to work until now.

I think that the The Piano was in many ways the complete opposite of Heart of Darkness. Both had natives, but The Piano embraced the natives for the most part, while Heart of Darkness in many ways demeans them, like the descriptions of  bulky working Africans who live a simple existence. Both also dealt with desire, but I saw The Piano as a story of resisting temptation, where Heart of Darkness is all about gluttonous greed and taking advantage of others. The only connection I see is between Marlow and the main character of The Piano, as both are explorers who take vows (one of truth, one of silence) in order to protect their own integrity and values.

The Piano

I was wondering what the piano had to do with what we are learning. I missed a few days of class so I'm sure we talked about it then, but I can't make the connection! I know there was a little bit of an imperialism setting at the beginning at all but does it relate to a book we are reading later on?

Naked People

Is it just me or are people in this counry uncomfortable with naked people in a movie? By the class's reaction to a screening of The Piano a person could get the impression that we as American teenagers were unused to naked people in movies. However, the giggling and nervous shifting that went on is strange to me because all of us are used to the hot random sex in the movies we see at the theater. Does the more artful portrayal make it uncomfortable for us? Or could it be the location? But that does not make sense either becasue everyday we see couples fooling around in the hallway. Why should two people in a movie who go a little farther with a bit more skin be so strange for us? To me sex is sex and naked people are just naked people. I do not understand why the sex in The Piano, which is used to further the story and is in no way gratuitus, so awkward for us. I cannot understand our reaction to this movie.

Kurtz's Violence

I chose to prompt #2 for the Heart of Darkness essay.  It asks you to explain how the violence contributes to the meaning of the work.  My most convincing piece of evidence is the attack on Marlow's steamer by the natives on land.  A spear strikes and kills Marlow’s helmsman; “It was a shaft of spear that, either thrown or lunged through the opening, had caught him in the side just below the ribs; the blade had gone out of sight, after making a frightful gash; my shoes were full; a pool of blood lay very still, gleaming dark red under the wheel; his eyes shone with amazing luster"  This description is particularly graphic in order to show the gruesomeness to which Kurtz has become capable of as Marlow later finds out from the Russian that the attack was planned.  This act of violence illustrates Kurtz’s fear of having to relinquish his power and be taken away from the wilderness, away from his station, away from his river, and away from his followers, all which makes him a king in the isolated jungle.  If anyone who is writting on the same subject would like to give me some comments, that would be appreciated, or share ideas on what you think some of the more significant scenes of violence are.

Alisidar's actions

We discussed the actions of Alisdair in class a little but many people did not seem to understand that unpredicitablitlity of his actions.  As I watched the movie his contradicting actions were mostly based of his emotional struggle over loving Ada or accepting her love for George.  His actions go to extremes because he witnessed Ada having intercourse with George and then after unrestrictive her from the house after that sending him a note on a key of a piano.  Any rational person would be strongly conflicted over the action they should take to deal with the situation. When he sees that holding her back will not fix anything he attempts to love her but as he gazes into her sees he understands that she truly only loves George.  This revelation bring him to send her way to relieve himself of the emotional torment once and for all.  That is how I took the events if you have any other Ideas leave some comments.

The Piano-Just an Instrument?

Even though we discussed the piano in class, I still don't quite understand everything that happened.  First of all, I'm not sure what/why George and Ada's husband were even in New Zealand at all.  Was it for farming or did they just want to escape their homes?  The role of the piano is complex.  It could represent Ada's voice, passion, or life.  Ada also never plays what seems to be "upbeat" piano music.  Does she play beautiful, somber music because that's how she feels in the inside?  I also don't get how exactly Ada and George left New Zealand.  One disturbing scene was when Ada was debating whether to live or die.  It was really creepy seeing her under water with her piano like that.