SaraRemaley

Wild Card!

I love the fall semester! I don't know about the rest of you, but I would rather poke myself in the eye repeatedly than have to go through the fall semester. I too, am not the only one who feels this way, some of my other co-griffins feel the same, only to a slightly lesser degree. There are so many contributing factors that make it so hard to get into the swing of things, and when we finally do, BAM, the semester is over. It must be the fact the summer is over, homework is starting after that nice long break, and the holidays are just around the corner and here. End of summer + Homework + Holidays = STRESS! Don't get me wrong, I love a good math equation ever now and then, but there is absolutely nothing to love about this one! Well, now that I have vented, I feel a little better. So, on that note, happy fall semester everyone! Stay optimistic!

The Devil's Dictionary/The Devil's Advocate

I loved reading the Devil's Dictionary! You know it doesn't get any juicier than when the introduction to reading something tells you to proceed at your own risk because the material consists of racist, sexist, nationalist and offensive information. The title Devil's Dictionary was said to be used because there were so many other works being published at the time that were seen as "cynical", which was used in the original title or the writing. I like the latter title better because I think that it portrays Ambrose Bierce's conveying message throughout his work. I personally believe that Bierce was trying to play devil's advocate, not only for personal amusement, but to get people to think, to really really think. Playing the devil's advocate entails someone stating an opposing viewpoint, even though they know it is wrong or controversial, to get people to argue against it, to be appalled by it, and to get them to counter-argue it knowing what is right. I believe this was Bierce's intention, I do not believe that he was being a sexist pig, a racist bigot or an anarchist. He may have been doing it for a bit of fun, but I do believe for the most part, he was trying to get people to realize how the world was with all the wrongs in it, and this was his way to start to get poeple to try to do something right. However, he may not have expected people to start movements, but to get them to change their personal views and morals.
This is how I viewed reading the Devil's Dictionary, let me know what you all think of my interpretation!

Cover Entry

For the second half of the semester, I have choosen to do entries on everything that I have enjoyed the most. All of my selections appealed to me and I have the most interest in. The first one I chose to do was John Henry. I enjoy folklore and hearing stories that are tall tales. The second one I chose to do was about the Creation of the Whites Another one I chose to write on was The Devil's Dictionary. This really cracked me up when I read it! It was definitely a jaw dropper! I had to comment on this one because of all of the controversy it caused during class and all of the arguments that were brought about by discussing it. The other one I chose to do was "The Girl from the Golden West".

The Creation of the Whites

Out of all of the Native American Literature that we have read, I enjoyed The Creation of the Whites the most. I did a random web search on the title of this short story, and reallys started to think about it. The Native American culture is so different from ours. It is clear that the story was revolved around Genesis, but they put a different spin on it. The Native Americans use their own experiences and cultural background and integrate it into the story. The story refers to the people as "yellow skinned" and "red skinned", obviously the way that they refered to people of different races. I love how the story explains how the different races were placed into the environmental settings that we all know they came from, the Native Americans were people who lived off of the land and the Whites were the more priveledged when it came to technology and progression. The Native Americans, or the red skinned people were sent to the west, and the Whites, or yellow skinned people, were placed on the east. The explanation of how the cultures eventually will have to merge together and call upon one another is explained through this short story. I just think that it is really cool that each culture can develop their own ideas of how they came about and tell a story so different, yet so similar based on their personal beliefs.

John Henry

In a class discussion, a question was brought up whether it was more important that John Henry won or was it more that he died? I believe that it was way more important that he won the race against man vs. machine. It shows heroism amongst human achievement and drive. The story is not about a man dying or the sadness that it brought about, it was about courage and determination that he put forth to even put himself to the test. Obviously he was admired by the men that worked with him, otherwise he wouldn't have become an American legend, the story wouldn't have been passed on. In the Construction Crew Version of the ballad, the crew that he worked with claimed him to be "the best in th'lan'". Clearly they idolized him otherwise they would have not put so much faith into him to win. In the end, they mourned the death of John Henry, but they do not look at him as failing because he died. When I was finished reading the story, I did not think of John Henry being dead, but as him being immortalized as a hero.

'The Girl from the Golden West"

The Girl of the Golden West

When I looked into David Belasco's "The Girl of the Golden West", I saw that it had been regarded as a melodrama. So, when seeing this, I decided to look a little bit more into this.
Melodrama's were introduced and were a typical form of theatre in the ninteenth century. Melodrama is a term that comes from "music drama" where music was used to create and increase already existing emotions for people. Music was also used to signify characters throughout the play. Good and evil are two themes that are expressed throughout the plot and also typical of melodramas. A melodrama posesses a structure of conflict, complication, and then resolution.
Other typical characteristics of a melodrama were that the story line possessed a villian, a hero, who had to overcome overwhelming and seemingly impossible odds, and a damsel in distress. There does, however, always seem to be a happy ending. Because this play "The Girl of the Golden West" takes place during the Gold Rush era, these character personalities go along perfectly. During this time, there were bandits, the good guy, the girl everyone's after, saloons, chases, gambling and drinking. All of these things added up, can heighten our interest because of the pure drama behind it all. It is said that melodrama is one of the most popular forms of playwrite to heighten our emotions.
1. How does the story start out that causes a sense of drama?
2.Can you think of any ways examples throughout the story that your emotions were peaked?
3.Who in the story played the villian? The hero? and the Damsel in distress?
4. Did the overall story line follow the structure of having conflict, compliccation and then resolution?

The Raven

If any of you know, I am a Poe fan, however, I have never really gotten into The Raven. It's not because I don't like the poem, it was always basically because I didn't really understand it. I never took the time to disect it and try to understand it. I did like reading it just because of the rhyme and rhythm that it has. Actually, when we were assigned to read it, my boyfriend and I were at the park and I made him listen to me read it aloud. He then proceeded to say that it sounded awesome, but then asked me what it meant. "I dunno!" was my response. I have a general idea, but I actualy had to research it to truly get myself to understand it.
I like how Poe uses the raven as a character that the narrator cannot get responses from. He is supposed to be left wondering and pondering. It wouldn't make sense if Poe used a human instead of a raven because a human could answer the questions.
It is true that we torture ourselves about things in life that we can derive no explanation from. It's comparable to losing a loved one,just like the narrator did, we want to know why it happened and have a constant feeling of emptiness, but there is no physical way that we can have all of our questions answered. Nothing will make us feel better, but regardless, we always jump to conclusions about the slightest inclination of some knowledge of an answer or solution to our problem.

My Progression in the Scarlet Letter

Well, now that we are done reading the Scarlet Letter, and I have only blogged one initial response, I'd like to expand a bit.
Originally, I disliked the novel. It seemed bland, dry and tedious. I can honestly say that I biased myself because I didn't like the style in which the book was written. However, once we started the in-class discussions, my opinions changed dramatically. This was no longer just a book I had to read, this was a book that I wanted to read.
I soon became intrigued with Pearl and the role she played throughout the novel. As someone said in class, she seemed to be the ultimate symbol of truth. She was also, no matter what, the symbol of an evil doing, for she was what came from her mothers wrong doing. I found this great website which gives a detailed analysis of the Scarlet Letter. One thing that intrigued me was the first chapter and what the symbolism of the rose-bush meant. Hawthorn remarks in the first chapter that the rose-bush serves to "symbolize some sweet moral blossom". This is seen to represent Hesters sin as a passion, and since Pearl came from her passionate sin, maybe she is the symbol for morality.
I also found it incredibly interesting that Hester kind of transforms Pearl into a walking resemblence of the scarlet letter she wears. She makes her clothing so elaborate and beautiful, just the way she had made the A she herself wears. People only see Pearl as the sin of adultry, and not as a little girl. The symbolism that Hawthorne uses is amazing.
I didn't realize it until I read this analysis (linked above), that Hawthorne carried on his theme of the rose-bush throughout the story by making refrences to it in different chapters. In chapter 8, Wilson calls Pearl a red rose, and when she is asked about whom she was made from, "she said that she had not been made at all, but had been plucked by her mother off the bush of wild roses, that grew by the prison-door."
These are just some of the things I learned and that caught my attention. I can now say that I am a fan of this novel!

I love Bartleby the Scrivener

After reading Melville's Bartleby, I fell in love with this short story. Since we've been assigned to read it, which was some time ago, I have found myself reading it just for my own enjoyment. I find this story absolutely ridiculously funny. I can't get enogh from it. I did a little bit of research into some of the small details of the story and here is what I found...

To begin, the initial humor starts in the narrorator, or the lawyer. He uses the phrase "the nature of his avocations" clearly talking about his career. I then proceeded to look up the word avocation to see what it meant and it more or less meant a hobby, second to your vocation, meaning job http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=avocations. Was the narrorator implying that he was not serious about his job? The second thing that caught my eye implementing humor was that he compared himself and praised John Jacob Astor. Astor was a man who was corrupt in his efforts to earn himself money by smuggling drugs and buying foreclosed homes during a great time of stuggle in the nation.

Overall, I found that Melville's great depths of description set most of the humor for me personally. The way that he describes each character is such great detail gives us just enough information about them that in the sequential scenes, the story line becomes funny because of their actions. For example: Turkey says "gentleness is effects of beer- Nippers and I dined together today. You see how gentle I am, sir. Shall I go black his eyes?" In this sentence, he is referring to black Bartleby's eyes. This is funny. Throughout the story, Nippers and Turkey act accordingly to what time of day it is. If it is the morning, Nippers has fuel behind his fire and is very edgy, and for Turkey, he is calm in the morning. In the evening, Turkey is feisty because he is usually drunk and Nippers is calm.

I love Bartleby the Scrivener

Cover Entry

Here are the entries for all of my favorite blogs that I have done thus far throughout the semester. First is for The Cask of Amontillado. Here is another...I Love Bartleby the Scrivener This just so happens to be my favorite piece of literature that we read so far. Another entry is for The Scarlet Letter. This was my first initial blog on this novel, when my opinion of the book was not yet as developed. I had a very closed mind when I wrote this blog. Here is my most recent entry for what I called My Progression in the Scarlet Letter. Another entry that I have is for Poe's The Raven in which I discussed my lack of understanding of the poem.

The Cask of Amontillado (my part 2)

Poe has always been one of my favorite authors. His short stories, however, can have a lot of background information that does not explain itself throughout the text. So, sometimes to have a better understanding, a bit of research must be done. I find it helpful to myself even.

After doing my oral presentation, I was asked a question about the "Masons" that were mentioned in the story. Given the context of the story, it seemed easy to conclude that the "Masons" were some sort of secret society, or even just a society. I had somehow neglected to pick up on this. I skimmed over it not thinking that it had any significant revelance in itself. So, after my interest was peeked and doing some research, I found that the Masons were members of a fraternal organization that had secret rites and signs. Leading to a few lines in the story before when Fortunato gives a grotesque movement, he is actually giving Montressor a secret sign that the Mason's used. This is why he doubts that Montressor is not a Mason.

I also, upon doing some more in depth research rather than just words I didn't understand, found that there was a lot of psychology used in this story. Montressor uses reverse psychology in order to fool Fortunato a number of times. An example of this being when Montressor asks Fortunato to come and taste his Amontillado, but then insists that he is too sick to go down into the vaults. This is only adding fuel to the fire to get Fortunato to insist on going down. He also uses it when he mentions Luchesi, another wine expert, as if he were going to ask him instead of Fortunato because of Fortunato's poor health. Fortunato clearly has a competetion between himself and Luchesi otherwise he would not have lashed back so badly by saying "And as for Luchesi, he cannot distinguish Sherry from Amontillado". Apparently, this would have been a pretty harsh insult between two wine expert.

Let me know if you guys have any other comments or want to know anything else about this story. I found a great link for this story that has connotations on the side that help you read it more critically... check it out. http://www.ivcc.edu/rambo/poe1.htm

The Cask of Amontillado

I choose to do The Cask of Amontillado by Poe basically because it is my favorite Poe short story. You can find a copy of the story at...http://www.literature.org/authors/poe-edgar-allan/amontillado.html.
I love the deception that Montressor plays upon Fortunato. It is genius how Poe plans out the story line so intricately. He goes as far as to name Fortunato this because he is said to be less "fortunate" in the story.

The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter, something it seems I should have read in high school but did not. I have very mixed emotions about this book. On one hand, I find it very dull and lifeless, only beccause there seems to be no energy or enthusiam behind the writing. I understand it was written in a time when the vernacular was a lot different than it is now, but this to me is just BORING!!! On the flip side of things, I like the plot of the story, a woman who is facing up to her "wrong doings" and going on with her life regardless of the hardships she will have to face until her end of time. Hester Prynne seems to be a little bit "out there" in the way she acts and thinks. The relationship that she has with Pearl is an extremely akward one and I can never tell if she truly loves her child. Anywho, hit me up with some comments and let me know what you people think so far about the book. Cross my fingers it gets better as the chapters go on!

Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street

Bartleby, was to me, portrayed as a rather humorous character. Was he just being a jerk or was something really wrong with him? I understand that he died in the end and Melville tried to offer some sort of explanation, but I just didn't understand the signifigance of it. Maybe I just needed to read it a little more indepth. On another note, I enjoyed all of the redundance of the story. Constantly hearing about how GingerNut had to have his cakes everyday and how Nippers was consumed by his temper after the noon hour struck.