cathedral

“Cathedral”

By:

Raymond Carver

In this short story, the author is not looking forward to a visit by a blind friend of his wife. He has preconceived notions about how blind people act, and he does not want one in his house. His wife and Robert, the blind man had been friends since she was a young girl. They had kept in contact by sending each other tapes about what was going on in their lives. The author doesn’t understand the friendship her wife and Robert have had. As the story begins the Robert’s wife has just died. The author has no empathy for the man, but strangely does for his dead wife because she had to live with a blind husband. The author feels somewhat left out as his wife and Robert visit. Later, Robert and the author smoke dope together and visit. Robert has an amazing ability to connect with other people and he does with the author showing him what it is like to be blind, strangely opening the author’s eyes.

lady with the pet dog 2

“The Lady with the Pet Dog”

By:

Joyce Carol Oates

I didn’t like this version quite as much as Chekhov’s. I am not totally sure why. Oates’ work seems so dark. This story had much more character development especially with Anna, but I didn’t like her as much as I did in Chekhov’s story. I got impatient with her and the feelings she had about herself. This story revealed much more about Anna’s husband. I felt sympathy for him throughout the story. I liked the lesson Dmitry learned in the first story about love more than I did what Anna learned about her self in Oate’s story.

Lady with the pet dog

“The Lady with the Pet Dog”

By

Anton Chekhov

Even though this story was written well over 200 years ago, the theme is the same as many books today. The story seems timeless. I liked this story much better than “Araby”. Even with Dmitry’s dislike of his wife and his feeling of superiority towards women in the beginning, I felt empathy for him and Anna.
There was an honesty of feelings between Anna and Dmitry even while they were engaged in an affair with each other. At the end of the story Dmitry understands true love when he looks at himself in the mirror and sees how old and grey he had become, and he marvels that even when Anna sees him as a man, growing older, she still loves him.

“Araby” by James Joyce

“Araby” is a story of a young boy who is just discovering a world outside of the house he lives in with his aunt and uncle and the playtime he has with his friend Mangan. Joyce’s story is full of descriptive language (“The space of sky above us was the color of ever-changing violet and towards it the lamps of the street lifted their feeble lanterns”) and metaphors (“The other houses of the street, conscious of decent lives within them gazed at one another with brown imperturbable faces”). The author has a first crush on his friend Mangan’s sister. She knows nothing about the crush, but he imagines and thinks about her constantly. When he finally talks to her, she tells him about a splendid bazaar called Araby. She tells him she can’t go, and he promises to get her a souvenir. He does go, but gets there very late when the bazaar is closing. He sees nothing splendid about the bazaar, especially when a young girl reluctantly asks him if he needs help, when it is obvious she would rather be flirting with the boys she is near. He leaves disillusioned with the bazaar, his crush and his life.

Despite the abundance of descriptive language in this story, it never really pulled me in. It seemed like an accurate portrayal of the times, but it was pretty dark and depressing.

archetype women

I googled and my first picture that came up was venus. Aphrodite Archetype

notes for Feb 24

Do blogs on Brothers Karamazov

cathedral-not aware gifted January 6 (12th night) revelation that something else is going on in the world

Fininide(pulses)-in millions, but limited. "killing time," answer art, song gives you the highest moment of your time.

Prefer Joyce's version better because it is the same language

"gazing into the darkness....eyes burned with anguish and anger", similar to Oedipus

yellow brown represent deterioration, violet is spiritual

Archetype good vs evil

negative female-earth mother, devouring, temptress

positive female-platonic ideal sophia

notes for Feb 22

Blogs are more important than quizzes, Part 2 of the Brothers Karamazov should be finished.

Similarities between Don Quixote and Demitry, and Hamlet and Ivan.

Mr. Sexton loves Russian Literature the best.

In the BK women who have faith-posed a tough question how to pacify a woman who is grieving over her dead son. Further in the book the monk tells her to go to her husband because the child is looking down at them and how hurt he'd be if he saw a broken family.

3 and 7 are big literature numbers

One professor stated that women can not handle The Brothers Karamazov

Alyosha even has violence in him, would want the general to die because he let his dogs kill the child before the mother.

book confronts issues people do not want to face.

read Araby 547, Lady with the pet dog 437 449, cathedral 465

epiphany- sudden realization, flash of initiation recollection

Have you ever tried to tell a blind person what it's like to see?

"pay attention" Henry James, be someone who nothing is lost on

Similes

Similes

There were many intriguing similes in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” Two that stood out were:

“His khaki trousers reached just to his hip bones and his stomach hung over them like a sack of meal swaying under his shirt.”

“He was busy catching fleas on himself and biting each one carefully between his teeth as if it were a delicacy.”

Both of these descriptions conjured images of disgust in my mind when I read them. This must be the concept of "grotesque" that Mr. Sexton was talking about. When I first read the story, these small details did not immediately jump out at me. Instead, the story had a way portraying a dark, gray theme throughout. I suppose that this dark theme was in part due to the descriptive details such as the similes all combined into the story. Overall, all of these details had a major impact on how I viewed the story. The first simile is very vivid and actually disgusting. When I read it, I can't help but picture a man and the image of his stomach swaying back and forth. Likewise, the second simile also brings up images of dirty things. One usually pictures a delicacy as something unique and great; a food that is delicious. But after reading this simile, I can picture the monkey picking fleas and eating them carefully. I'm a very visual person, so so I can't help but picture a close-up view of the monkey's teeth biting the fleas. Overall, can see why Flannery O'Connor's writing is described as grotesque. It contains many odd and dark elements, yet is clearly effective at portraying that gloomy mood.

“A Good Man Is Hard To Find”

“A Good Man Is Hard To Find”

This story was unsettling and intense. It certainly made me think twice about driving down a deserted country road. One of the reasons this story was so spooky is that scenario was very believable. I have read this story before and I’ve always remembered it. The author was great at setting the scene and drawing the reader in. There was tons of foreshadowing in this story as well. The reader always knows something bad is going to happen. None of the characters in the story are likeable, and the reader doesn’t get emotionally involved with them. Examples of foreshadowing include the mention of the misfit at the beginning, when the grandmother is all dressed up just in case she might die on the edge of the road, when they see the cemetery with the six graves, and when the misfit’s car is compared to a hearse. Reading the story made me believe that there must be many other people in the world like the misfit that we just pass by them every day not thinking twice about them.

Icarus Painting

Icarus Painting

This painting doesn’t seem to represent the story of Icarus very well. I would have expected a painting of this story to show two winged figures of Icarus and his father flying between the sun and the sea as Icarus’ wings were melting. This painting was a landscape where everyone and everything is doing their own thing. There was a man plowing and another looking at the sky. There were ships in the harbor and farm animals grazing. There was a small figure who looked like he was diving or swimming in the sea. No one seemed upset or alarmed at the sight of someone losing their life as they plunged into the sea. It reminded me of when I have been upset at something and have thought that it is strange that as my life is falling apart, the world goes on, and no one seems to notice.

stories

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2010

stories

We talked about the brothers Karamoz and everyone complained how boring it
is. He told us how the attention span of the average human is 70 seconds the
length of a commercial.

We talked about stories and their morals

In order to have a story you have to have a conflict, without a moral there

is no story. It is the experience not the teaching of the lesson that makes it a good and lasting story.

.“Lot’s wife” is a truly gruesome story from the bible about how God sent some angels to Lot’s house. The men of the town came to Lot’s house and insisted that Lot bring the angels out so that the men of the town could rape them. Lot is upset with the crowd for wanting to rape the angels and offers the crowd his virgin daughters if they would leave the angels alone. The angels blind the crowd. Lot and his family leave the city, but his wife makes the mistake of looking over her shoulder as she leaves and is turned into a piller of salt. The daughters both seduce their father so that his blood line does not end. The both have sons from that incestuous relationship with their father.

Daedalus and Icarus

In the Story of Daedalus and Icarus, Daedalus was an inventor and he and his son were imprisoned in Crete which he hated. He built a set of wings for himself and his son to fly out. He had a premonition that his son would not make it. He cautioned him not

to fly too close to the sea or too close to the sun because he had used wax to hold the wings together. Of course Icarus, being like all kids everywhere did not listen to his father, flew too close to the sun. The sun melted the wax in his wings and Icarus fell into the sea. In the second part of the story Daedalus’s sister sent her clever son to be an apprentice with his uncle, Daedalus. Daedalus was jealous of the talent that Perdix had and arranged an accident to kill Perdix. Minerva saved Perdix and turned him into a ground loving bird.

Another very old and violent with a tale.

Groundhogs Day

Assignment on Groundhog Day

Wake up at 6am and record your day

February 2

7:30 Alarm went off. I looked at my clock

7:45 I kicked off my comforter, and climbed down the loft

I rushed to bathroom with towel, hair dryer and shower tote. I brushed my teeth, went to shower, shampooed, conditioned my hair, shaved, and used body wash

8:10 Back in room Roommate is still asleep I tell her the time, look for clothes n deodorant, tried on three shirts, and two pair of pants, threw the rest on the floor

8:26 Finished curling my hair, sprayed it with hair spray, put on makeup including eye shadow, liner, blush and lip gloss

8:30 Grab socks, shoes, pack books for web design class, grab gum, keys, Ipod and phone, put on coat, perfume and go downstairs where I fill water bottle with ice and water

8:40 Eat yogurt and string cheese

8:47 Walk outside and wait for roommate We walk past Pike to art building I talk with mom on phone about Groundhog day She said he saw his shadow

8:55 I sit on the third isle, six chairs in Check clock every five minutes. Very boring lecture on cascading style sheets. Make plans with my partner to meet at seven to work on lab. I’m about to fall asleep.

9:48 Two minutes till I get out, then no class till twelve

9:50 Walk outside with Sam, then lose him after a block. Walk back to sorority

10:05 Go up to my room and watch an episode of bones. Take a short nap.

Went downstairs and eat lunch with sisters and house boys. It’s homemade pizza’s.

11:30 Get ready for my Math class, grab book, notebook, calculator, ipod and purse

11:50 Walk with Lotte and Jamie to next class go in sit where Ican find a seat.

12:25 We are going through old notes and learning new ways to teach kids how to do distribution. Get out gum and offer it around.

12:50 Class is done I have one hour and twenty minutes till next class

1:00 Just sitting in the dining room nothing to do for an hour.

1:50 Get ready for writing class Check to make sure i have all my papers go to computer print off what I was missing. Walk to class listening to “my cowboy”.

2:10-3:25 Listen to professor talk about different cultures, writing center, and projects.

3:40 Get a call from a sister. She wants to go to walMart. Ii go upstairs unpack my bag look for money, grab different shoes, and we walk to her car. Get in drive to walMart look at candy then hair products, make up, go to the movies, go to check out. I bought chocolate and a ruler.

4:50 Head to sally’s to get hair scissors and a comb. We look at all the round brushes and curing irons

5:25 Head back to the house. We go upstairs, she cuts my bangs. Dinner is ready. Eat chicken, pasta, asparagus and garlic bread. Go upstairs type more of the journal. Just waiting for seven so I can get the web lab done. Invited to go bowling in the sub Can’t go, Get a call from lee to go get pizza can’t. Kristen comes up and offers to drive to billings on friday.

5:53 Do homework for Wednesday. watch bones with my sorority sisters

7:30 Clean my room it’s horribly messy

8:00 Play on my computer Facebook, videos, math homework.

9:00 Get ready for bed

This was just an ordinary day. I just wrote what I did. I didn’t write about my feelings, what things looked like, how I felt, what I could smell and what I could see. How I looked at things during the day totally depended on my mood. When I was rushed, I didn’t have time to really enjoy things like breakfast. When I was relaxed at lunch the food tasted better and I had time to really listen to what people were saying. Doing this made me realize what a busy world we live in. Billions of people running around doing their thing, seeing, smelling, and hearing maybe similar things, but all looking at them a little bit different.

Cinderella

Cinderella

I definitely like the Disney version of Cinderella the best. It is the one I grew up on. To me it is the classic. I actually like that it is shorter with less details than the Grim or Chinese version. Every little girl when she hears it or reads it can pretend that she is Cinderella. Her imagination will fill in the details that are missing in this milder and shorter version of the original. There is nothing in it to frighten anyone. i

Since I am a fan of the Disney version, I am positive Cinderella and the prince lived happily ever after.

However, as an alternative ending…

Shortly after the wedding the prince came to realize that although Cinderella was beautiful to look at and she did have those dainty little feet, she also had some weird habits like talking to animals and sitting in the ashes. She had dismissed all of the palace servants and spent her days doing nothing but cleaning and singing. She had very little time for the prince and he started getting annoyed with her. He finally had to check her into a sanitarium when he walked into the castle and found her singing to the rats and trying to turn a pumpkin into a coach. Luckily, Cinderella’s step sisters were right there to console the prince, and they lived happily ever after.

Earliest Memory

Earliest Memory

My earliest memory is when I was about two or three. I was riding in a car going to an amusement park. I was feeling sick. I was on my mom’s lap. She had a silk sweater on and it smelled like mold. I threw up on her. I later found out I was allergic to mold.

Dreams

Dreams

The dream that still haunts me is about a wolf. As a very small child, my Mom read Little Red Riding Hood to me many times. It was a kind of modern version that my mom liked much better than I did. The one picture I will never forget is after the wolf eats grandma and he is sitting in the rocking chair. He pats his big fat stomach and says, “I’m wicked, so wicked!” Wolf dreams have haunted me to this day. It is always the same. I am walking down the hall and meet a wolf standing up on two legs. He is the wolf from my book. He is holding a lever. He looks at me and pulls the lever and then I would fall into a hole. I would always wake up screaming and have to sleep in my parent’s room because the wolf would be sleeping in my bed.

listening

LISTENING

I was sitting in the dining room. My sisters were around me. Two girls were talking about a party they went to last weekend. It wasn’t a good experience for one of them. I didn’t know that. One sister was on the phone talking to her mom. She was talking about one of her classes, and how she was worried about her grades. Two girls were eating popcorn and laughing about an episode of Big Bang Theory they had just seen. One sister was talking quietly to her boyfriend. I couldn’t hear that conversation at all. Eve, the house mother was asking one sister if her day had gotten any better. I didn’t know she was even having a bad day. I realized by sitting there quietly listening to my friends how much I didn’t know about them, and how much I learned by just listening.

pick-up lines

Most pick-up lines don’t work, but with enough charm and the right words, a guy can usually wine a girl over.

Kiss me if I'm wrong, but don't I know you?

Are you stalking me? Because that would be super."

Do you mind if I stare at you up close instead of from across the room?

Do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk by again?

Hey, I just realized this, but you look alot like my next girlfriend.

I hope you know CPR, because you take my breath away.

SMOOTH TALKER

SMOOTH TALKER

“Smooth Talker” was based on the story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”. As with any movie based on a book or story, there were differences. There was much more detail and conversation in the movie. Connie had a father in the movie which wasn’t mentioned in the book. In the movie, Arnold signs an eight instead of an X in the first sees Connie. Arnold’s car in the movie is just how I pictured it in the book. In the movie, when Connie leaves with Arnold, Ellie stays behind which didn’t happen in the book. At the end of the movie, the only thing Connie lost was her virginity. In the book, the reader doesn’t even know if Connie lives.

I did not like the ending in the movie. There was so much tension when Arnold Friend was standing in the door, and then two minutes later she is dancing with her sister. I thought the movie could have done a better job at the end leaving with a little more suspense like the book did.

lyrics

To me, George Thorogood – “Who Do You Love” lyrics are about loving a dangerous man. Both stories had a dangerous man whose relationship with a girl or girls didn’t end well.

The lyrics of “It’s All over Now Baby Blue” has to do with how quickly things change and how you should grab what you want when you can. This is certainly what both Smitty and Arnold try to do. Maybe it is also what the kids want to do to. It seems sad to me.

“Disillusionment at Ten O’Clock”

“Disillusionment at Ten O’Clock” by Wallace Stevens seems to be about how life is boring, unexciting and full of disillusionment because people do what is easy and ordinary. Very few people take chances and live out their dream. The tie I see to the two preceding stories is that that Connie in “Where Are You Going, Where have you Been?” is looking for something more in her life than what she sees in her mother and sister’s lives. The tie is not as strong to “The Pied Piper of Tucson because those kids are just looking to make their lives less boring. Smitty adds excitement to their lives and they look to him as a kind of leader. They are not looking to live out their dream.

“The Pied Piper of Tucson”

“The Pied Piper of Tucson” by Don Moser is a non-fiction and is about Charles Howard Schmid Jr. and the crimes he committed in the Tucson in the 1960’s. There are similarities between Smitty and Arnold Friend. They were both people I had no sympathy for. I certainly could not identify with either one of them. Arnold Friend might have been as evil as Smitty but his character was not developed in “Where Are You Going, W here have you Been?” The reason Friend was so terrifying had more to do with my imagination. I learned everything about Smitty through the detailed, non-fiction account of his crimes. “The Pied Piper of Tucson was a more hopeless story. It was just sad. Both Arnold Friend and Smitty were slightly older and smarter than the kids they hung out with. In both, kids were drawn towards evil and things they shouldn’t be because what is forbidden is always more desired.

Where Are You Going, Where have you Been?

“Where Are You Going, Where have you Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates was a terrifying read. Connie was an ordinary girl who was thrust into a situation that at the very least was going to get her raped, and might possibly end up getting her murdered. Connie wanted the same things as any girl. She didn’t always listen to her mother. She wanted a boy to think she was irresistible, and was attracted to “forbidden” boys. Joyce Carol Oates was great at setting the scene and getting the reader to identify with Connie. Connie and her friends were a bit too daring at times, flirting wit bad boys and doing things her mom didn’t approve of. This story was written a long time ago but the plot could have been written yesterday. Arnold Friend was a horrifying, believable character. I wanted this story to end happily, but it didn’t . I think that is why I will remember it.