As dictionary.com would define it, a melodrama is a play or film, which is characterized by exaggerated emotions, stereotypical characters, and interpersonal conflicts. David Belasco's Girl of the Golden West is exactly this. Even when on first reads its title, it sends off a vibe of this incredible story which isn't just of the West, but of the Golden West. Belasco emphasizes "the girl" as the main character who even tho is named, Minnie, is most always referred to as "the girl". This gives her a sense of mystery as though no one can really know who she really is inside. All the men want her and Belasco shows their exaggerated emotions through their desperate attempts to marry and get with the girl. Of course, Rance is the most exaggerated of these men.
This story immediatly caught my attention since it was a romance, which i love! :) I got caught up in the story and I could feel myself rooting for Johnson, the bad guy. Do you think that Belasco's intentions were for the reader to want the girl to fall in love and run away with the bad guy, Johnson, or to finally give in to the persistant and "good guy" Rance?
This was a really good play to read and I think it would be interesting to see the play and see if they differ? I think the play would be more real and dramatic than just reading it, although it's interesting to read it yourself and have your own mini play in your head because you may interpret it a totally diferent way than someone else.
These blogs are a compilation of the literary texts I have read the second half of the semester. Each blog represents what I thought or felt about the text. This time I didn't wait till the last minute to do it all so they are more spread out and in depth. I have included all the entry's which i feel show my best works.
Not so "devilish" dictionary, is my brief analysis of why Bierce wrote this selection. It also links to Paul's sight which offeres a different perspective.
Huck's battle between society and himself, this is a blog entry which was also my in class presentation on Huck's battle in the book. It sparked many comments so check them out!
Native American Readings, is my interpretation of the readings in comparison of how the Native Americans viewed the White man. I also linked to both Amanda and Linda's blogs.
A Happy Ending afterall, this is another blog entry about Huck Finn, but talks about the endings and the possible mother figure relationship of Huck and Jim. Plenty of comments with new opinions!
Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit, a short assessment of the stories and their relation to Huck Finn. Has a good link to Tiffany's Blog.
John Henry or Henry John?, an interesting perspective and analysis on the legend of John Henry.
Why the color yellow?, this is probably my favorite blog entry about the Yellow Wall Paper which includes some outside sources and lots of discussion!
Edwin Arlington Robinson, analysis of two poems which I enjoyed by this author. Includes a link to Mindy's blog!
The Girl of the Golden West, a brief recap of David Belasco's melodrama and what I thought!
All I want for Christmas..., this is my "wild card" blog which is a short entry on what I want for Christmas!
I blogged several comments on other students' sites which relate to my blogs. These "xenoblogs", are found on 2 of Lindas blogs, and one on Melissa's
Well as usual I didn't really have anything interesting to write about for my "wild card" entry, so with the upcomming season, why not talk about Christmas! :)
Anyways, I can't believe that this semester will be over in 3 short weeks! YAY! This has definatly been a rough semester so I am glad it is comming to an end, then Christmas is only a week after we get out so I am going to have some major last minute shopping to do! Especially since im quite broke ( due to buying a new 2004 yellow cavalier this summer hehe) I will be waiting upon my itsy bitsy work study paycheck.
Of course there are lots of things i want for Christmas, but on a more serious note, all i really want is for my grandma to be able to have a good Christmas. Within the past year my grandma has gone down hill bigtime due to old age, shes 89. It's so hard to see her suffereing, she can't do much of anything on her own, which means my mom is down her house every day taking care of her. Luckily she came home from the hospital today so she will get to be home for Thanksgiving. Hopefully God will let her have a wonderful Christmas with our family!
Now that I made the mood so blue, ... It's time to talk about my christmas list! :) I want the new Tim McGraw and Poverty Neck Hillbillies CD's, a digital camera, leather jacket, and of course clothes :)
I'm definatly looking forward to Christmas break and spending a whole month with my boyfriend :)
Richard Corey
This was the first poem which i read by Edwin Arlington Robinson. This poem really touched me and made me think. Richard Corey, was the perfect man to everyone. He was happy, nice, rich ( what could be better some ask?), and very smart. Everyone envied him, yet , he committed suicide. So often we think that our lives are so bad and that other people dont have a problem in the world and live a "perfect life." I really don't think anyone has a perfect life. Everyone has problems; some people show their pain and ager, while others hold it inside till its too much and they feel they need to end their lives. This article about a college student talks about someone who never showed any signs of committing suicide. Its a sad thing to think that these people couldnt just talk to someone instead of ending their life.
The Mill
This story also dealt with suicide, some think so anyways. I think if you simply read the poem and don't look into then it appears the miller and his wife both committed suicide. If you look further and deeper to try to analyze the poem, it can be twisted and may seem as though the millers wife was making this up in her head. I personally do think they committed suicide. when the miller says, " there are no millers any more" he's giving a clue that he will no longer exist. and the miller's wife must have known this was comming because she, " sick with a fear that had no form" went to look for him.
I find it very interesting that Robinson writes about such real and horrible things such as suicide. As Mindy talked about in her blog presentation, he often used events and tragedies in his own life to create his poems from. In this article about Robison, it suggests that his brother intentionally overdosed on drugs. As we have noted on many occasions about many different literary works, the author usually has some source or real idea from which their writing stems from.
Its funny that while I read The Yellow Wallpaper, I highlited in yellow. Yellow is most often associated with the sun which makes us happy, so why was the narrator so sad and going "crazy" in a room which was covered in yellow wallpaper? I found a website called Color Wheel Pro, which defines what colors mean and how they effect us. I found it interesting where the artical says, "When overused, yellow may have a disturbing effect; it is known that babies cry more in yellow rooms." If it can have a disturbing effect on babies, why would it be a "nursey" as the narrator tells us. Also it says that a dingy yellow represents caution, decay, sickness, and jealousy. The dingy yellow of the wallpaper that the narrator describes represents her decay of her marriage and life, her "sickness", and even her jealousy of men because she cannot escape the boundries of a woman. Another site colors with confidence, claims that yellow can be beneficial for peoples with depression. The website claims yellow ," has a beneficial effect on mental activity, focusing the mind, sharpening thought processes, increasing concentration and improving memory." If yellow , as this sight claims, is suppose to make you happy, then why did the woman not progress and get better, rather she got worses and went crazy.
Do you think that if the color were a different color it would have made any difference?
Did Charlotte Perkins Gilman have a purpose for making the wallpaper yellow? or was it just simple a choice?
On a humurous note, i found one section of the story rather funny and made me think of a persona experience. The narrator begins to talk about this smell of the paper. she says:
" But now I am used to it. The only thing i can think of that it is like is the color of the paper! A yellow smell."
When most people read this they probably think, How can yellow smell? But I laughed because of a story i remembered in high school.
One day me and my friend were in study hall, and our teacher truely was crazy.. every day she would bring a book and sit there with a yellow highliter, basically highliting EVERY sentence. what's the point in that?Well, we found it funny and every day she would do that and we could hear the highliter, we would say " It sounds a little bit yellow today." (guess you had to be there), but it made me think about the narrator when she said it has a "yellow smell."
Was it John Henry or possibly Henry John? Was he real or fictional? Does it matter? John Henry is a legend, a folk-hero, and a "steel driving man." He's one of those men like Paul Bunyan, just his name describes a big, tall, strong, hard-working man. I personally liked this story because whether or not it was real, its fun to at least imagine it. Thats the special thing about folklore, is that we really aren't sure of the exact details of the story like whether JH (John Henry) was from Alabama, or Virginia, or West Virginia. Each time its told it gets more interesting and twisted just a bit, kind of like gossip in today's world. You know how in high school you say something and someone hears it but "tweaks" it and another does the same, till it gets back to you that you did some wild and crazy thing. Even if JH wasn't real, though I think he may have been a real person, he is a hero to everyone who hears songs, reads stories, or sees plays about him.
I compared the Early version of John Henry, Steel Driving Man with the Folk Version of the Ballad. In the early version it focuses mainly on the race between himself and the steam drill, while in the folk version it focuses more on how he is preparing to die while racing and says goodbye to his wife ,Julie Anne (in the early version its Pollie Anne)and talks with his son and mentions his mom. The folk version has many more verses added and is 2 pages longer than the early version. The folk version notes that it was used for workers in the laboring community, "for if there was a slacker in a gang it would stimulate him with its heroic masculine appeal." So these people did view John Henry as a hero and someone to look up to and strive to be like. I think we tend to overanalyze stories today and miss the simplest meanings of the story.
Joel Chandler Harris , captured the character of Brer Foz and Brer Rabbit in his stories of Uncle Remus. As Tiffany presented to our class, the characters and the story would have been much different if they had not had the african american wording. Sure, it was tough to read, but if you sat there and really got into the story you could really imagine a fox and a rabbit in a cartoon talking to each other this way. Paul had suggested in class that it would have been easier to read if it were in "regular" english writing. I slightly agree with this because there are Shakespeer books that have the english written on the side so it is easier to understand. But it would have been all the same if Jim, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, who was african american, talked just the way everyone else did.
Would the story have been the same? Would we have viewed Jim in the same manner? Probably not.
I found an online analysis of The Wonderful Tar Baby Story that asks an interesting question that was also brought up in class. If these two animals represent two races, white and african american, how do we know which is which?
Do you think Harris primarily wrote these stories to make a point about race in society, or did he write them because he found the narration of blacks to be "poetic imagination" and "quaint and homely humor"?