English Class

"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"

2007-05-06T20:44:00.000-07:00

The movie “Fear and loathing in Las Vegas” was a very interesting movie. I was very excited when I learned we would be watching this movie in class since it was always one of those movies I was intrigued about. I have seen it once before a long time ago and I didn’t think much of it. Now that we have discussed the theme in greater detail I have a greater grasp of what is going on. It is easy to caught up in the enjoyment of watching two guys get totally smashed and easy to miss the actual message to movie is portraying.

"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." This quote is easily sums up the movie of “Fear and loathing in Las Vegas” and majority of our society. The main characters take numerous drugs and act like idiots while visiting Las Vegas. Right away you know that these men and trying to escape the reality of being an adult with responsibilities, jobs, and the stress of being financially stable. Like many in America, they use narcotics to escape the real world. The problem with drugs is that they will eventually wear off leaving you back were you started but in worse shape. The idea of being a beast is the act of being totally intoxicated and acting out of control. When in this state you are unaware of your surroundings and the effects you may cause to it. Like many, the main characters in this movie did relieve their pain for the moment but ultimately made the pain even worse.

The Importance of being Earnest

2007-04-17T18:46:00.001-07:00

I really enjoyed reading the play “The Importance of Being Earnest”. It was an easy read and the humor was easy to pick up. I thought the characters were really funny and each added a bit of entertainment to the play. This play was very simple and a little twisted but kept me interested. I hope in the end that Jack (Earnest) took a second thought before considering marrying Gwen, his cousin.

Oscar Wilde wrote and extremely hilarious play called “The Importance of being Earnest.” This play deals with characters struggles with identity and romances. The play has many snappy epigrams, which are often paradoxical statements and deal with social issues of the time. Such issues of art, gender, and class were the source of these epigrams. Each character in the play used their own bit of witty type humor throughout the story and at no point was this humor a distraction from the plot. I believe the wit of the character allows the audience to get a better idea of the characters personality. Epigrams are great source for humor and have a unique feature of being separated from the narrative of the play

The Taming of the Shrew

2007-04-09T10:26:00.000-07:00

I never actually read the “The Taming of the Shrew”, but I can see a very similar resemblance to the movie “10 things I hate about you.” The movie was pretty good and now that I have seen that before I can totally understand what is going on here even better. The story is very funny. It is often hard to tell at first, but after looking back and thinking about it you can’t help but laugh. I can totally picture Katherine as this really attractive mean bitch. It is neat to see how Petruccio comes in and wins her over.

Although the story is filled with many situations where characters find themselves in a comical romantic conflict, I would have to say that the conflict in the introduction is the funniest. The lord has tricked Christopher Sly into thinking he is the lord and has been suffering from memory loss as a result of a madness from which he has had for fifteen years. They introduce Sly to Bartholomew who is posing as his wife. Bartholomew is a man and is the page to the real lord. He has dressed up as a woman and is pretending to be Sly’s wife. Sly is excited to find out that he has a wife that has been by his side for fifteen years and wants nothing else then to be alone with her. “Tis much. Servants, leave me and her alone. Madam, undress you and come now to bed.” This is hilarious because Sly doesn’t know that his wife is actually a man and Bartholomew is for sure freaking out. Bartholomew recovers and tells Sly it would be better to wait.

The Lottery

2007-03-20T20:46:00.000-07:00

This was a very strange short story. I remember a long time ago once I was flipping through the television channels and coming across this movie. It was at this exact moment when the woman was being stoned for no apparent reason. What I found so bizarre was how the village people acted during the stoning. They were joyful for one, not being picked and because it seemed they enjoyed throwing the stones at the woman. It seemed even more wild that the children were involved as well. I wish the story would of gotten into there reasoning for this crazy lottery.

The short story, “The Lottery”, is a bizarre climatic tale of a traditional village practice. The entire story keeps you in suspense about what will be the result of the lottery. The narrator discusses the details of the ceremonies of this village’s tradition but not the reasons for it. He keeps the reader intrigued and curious to find out how the lottery will conclude. The story takes a twist with a dramatic ending of a woman “winning” the lottery and being stoned by her fellow villagers. It seems bizarre that the villagers are so nonchalant about the activities that are about to happen. They seem to be socializing and having a good time, while waiting for the lottery to start. In the beginning of the story when the boys are collecting stones that are round and smooth and gathering them into piles in preparation for the lottery, was an early hint of the outcome.
The lesson that the author is trying to instill in the reader is that sometimes just because something is considered a tradition, it does not mean that it is morally the right thing to do. Traditions can change over time and evolve as people grow. The villagers were trapped in the old way of thinking. They did not consider what they were doing was wrong. I think the lesson here is that an individual can stand up for what they believe in, even if it is against society’s social norms.

"Bernice Bobs Her Hair"

2007-03-14T11:14:00.000-07:00

I found the story to be actually pretty entertaining. It was one of our better reads of the short stories so far. I felt a little queer after reading it and I hate even admitting that I enjoyed it. I think that several girl movies have been made after this story. You can defiantly see that times have changed a lot since the 20’s. The story was kind of long but it was hard to put down.

The short story “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” is a very entertaining story about a selfish girl named Marjorie and her cousin Bernice who comes to visit. Within the story a lot about a person’s identity can be learned. An identity of a person is something that cannot be changed. Bernice is quite different than Marjorie. She is a small town girl who has an old fashion style. Marjorie is more hip in style and hangs out with the more popular crowd. In hopes to fit in with Marjorie and make a better impression on her friends Bernice takes her advice to change her image. Marjorie’s recommendations pay off and Bernice is making a new impression with the boys. During the process of arousing the gentlemen Bernice manages to win the affection of Warren. Warren was a boy who adored Marjorie and she wouldn’t give him the time of day. In the end Marjorie was a little jealous of her creation. She calls out Bernice on one of her bluffs that helped gain her newfound success. By doing so Marjorie ruined Bernice and in the process stole back Warren. Bernice finishes the story by getting revenge on Marjorie for having to bob her hair. Bernice cuts the pigtails off Marjorie’s head and throws them on Warren’s porch on her way to the train station. At this moment it is realized that Bernice never changed and her identity was never lost. She was still the same person with the same morals that she arrived with.

The Yellow Wallpaper

2007-03-07T11:38:00.000-08:00

“The Yellow Wallpaper” is quite interesting. From what I could make out from this story the lady was being kept in the attic because she was mentally unstable. I didn’t really enjoy it but for some reason I couldn’t put it down. The one thing I do know is that the lady was insane. I felt like I was going crazy while reading it.

The short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a first person narrative from the perspective of a woman who believes she is staying in a house while her other home is being renovated. She is living in the attic in which she describes as unpleasant, rundown and covered with yellow wallpaper. The bed she slept in was nailed to the floor and there were bars covering the windows. As the story evolves the character reveals that she is mentally insane. You follow that woman’s transformation by her experiences with the wallpaper. She is immediately disturbed by the wallpaper. Her thoughts are consumed with trying to untangle the pattern of the intricate paper. She spends several days staring at the paper before finally locating what she believes to be the figure of a woman struggling to break free from the bars in the pattern. As the story continues the woman appears to be falling deeper into insanity. She starts to believe that like the figure, she too is trapped by the wallpaper. The narrator’s transformation occurs when she finally tears down the wallpaper. By tearing it down she feels that she has broken out of the prison in which she was being held. Emerging from the wallpaper symbolizes the woman gaining her own identity which appears to be totally insane.

Blog 2

2007-02-21T12:32:00.000-08:00

John Donne’s “Woman’s Constancy” is a poem about ones troubles in a relationship. He seems to have a lot of aggression toward the way women conduct themselves in a marriage. I think Donne was once involved with a woman who really didn’t love him and was only in the relationship for convenience. I didn’t particularly care for the poem but I feel it was easy to interpret Donne’s message.

It seems as though John Donne is venting about a relationship he had with a woman. He is complaining about her indecisiveness in love and her lack of interest with him. Donne is using this poem to lash out toward marriages between a man and a woman. He is discussing how woman are the ones usually responsible for the break ups. Women are always changing their minds and lying. Women are usually in the relationships for all the wrong reasons, which usually lead to failure. Donne is angry because this behavior is accepted and allowed to occur. If the roles were switched and the man was to behave in this manner it would no be socially accepted. This poem isn’t one that you respond to but a poem in which you are supposed to agree or disagree. This is Donne’s opinion on relationships and he possibly just came out of a bad one. Donne used this poem to vent his anger.

Blog 1 - "Dream Deferred"

2007-02-12T17:16:00.000-08:00

The poem "Dream Deferred" is about what happens to ones dreams if they are put off and not attempted. I believe that this poem is meant to send a message about what could happen if you put off until tomorrow what you can accomplish today. I have a goal to some day become a great teacher, but unless I put forth the effort and work, this goal will just dry up and never develop into its true potential.
The last line of Hughes's "Dream Deferred" implies that one's dream is achieved. The word "explode" is used to describe a dream taking off. It is not meant in the sense of destruction, but rather the dream accelerating into action. When a dream that has been put off finally explodes, it is no longer a burden or an unreachable feat. It becomes a reality.
Hughes sees the consequences of a dream deferred in several different ways. Dreams that are put off can often fade away and never be accomplished. They can sit in the back of your mind everyday and consume your thoughts. Dreams that are postponed can become more of a burden then a desire. Hughes believes that even with all the negative consequences of dreams deferrred, that the dream can still be accomplished.