Even More Betsey Brown Responses

1. Have you changed your opinion of the book? 
No. I finished it and didn't enjoy it.
2. Has what you predicted happened?
Not entirely. While Jane did break down and leave the family like I thought she would, everything else I predicted didn't happen.
3.  What has occurred in the plot or with the characters that surprised you? 
Somewhat. I was surprised that they started to behave well when they had Carrie helping around the house. On the other hand, I wasn't surprised when Jane came home and got rid of Carrie, or when the kids shifted back to the way they were before Carrie. Jane is just a bad mother that not only can't take care of her children, but she blames it on everyone else.
4. What scene stands out as being the most important scene so far?
Betsey running away was probably the most important scene. It set a couple things in motion, such as Jane leaving and the relationship between Greer and Jane being stressed. It also led to Carrie showing up, but she was gotten rid of by Jane very quickly.
5. What character at the moment seems to have changed the most?
Honestly, none of them. They are all the exact same in the end as when they began. They had changed while Carrie was there, but when she was gone they just stopped. Again, I bring up the point of Jane being unable to run the house. That hasn't changed about Jane. Betsey being a terrible character overall hasn't changed. Greer being his odd character who plays the drums hasn't changed. Sure, they may have started to actually do some work around the house, but I don't think their actual personalities have changed or their thought process.
6. How have events in the plot been complicated?
Jane came back. I saw their being some sort of redemption in the book while she was gone, and maybe the characters would grow out of the phase of, well, terribleness. Sadly, all good things come to an end, and Jane returned, thus ruining the book for me. If the plot had gone along where Jane didn't return, I might have enjoyed the book.
7. What page did you leave off?
I finished it.

Betsey Brown Responses

1. What scene or passage can you best identify with? 
The scene I can best identify with is the one where all the kids are running around while Bernice was there. There was so much yelling and trouble, and it seemed a lot like how my family is. There's always some sort of noise in our house.
2. What character would you most like to spend time with? Why?
I'd like to spend time with Greer. He seems like an interesting person, with his job as a doctor and his quizzes in the morning and his playing drums while leading the kids in a line for a quiz. He seems like an interesting father figure.
3. What scene or character in the book has bothered you? Why?
There are two characters that bother me a lot: Betsey and Vida. Vida is always complaining about something, and Betsey is just a terrible character overall. She caused Bernice to be fired because she told her mother about how Betsey climbed trees, and Betsey didn't like that. And then she went and played it off by acting all kind when she had caused all of the trouble, and her mother just assumed that since Betsey is such a "perfect" girl that she couldn't have done anything. In short, Betsey is manipulative and very annoying.
4. Comment about Shange's use of standard English grammar. Why do you think she purposefully plays with syntax, spelling, and sentence construction?
I really hate the grammar. I don't see why Shange could have conceivably thought that it was a good idea to use grammar that's as bad as the grammar in this book. It irks me to read this book because I keep trying to correct the grammar the best that I can in my head.
5. Predict the ending of the book. What major events will happen to Betsy? To Jane?
I'm guessing that Betsey will probably fall in love. She'll continue to be an absolutely horrible character, and I see no way that her character could be redeemed unless she was completely changed. Jane, on the other hand, will probably finally see Betsey for the manipulative person she is, and will probably go insane.
6. Which characters seem to contrast? Which seem to compare? What does this tell you about how an author uses characters?
The characters that contrast are Vida and Greer. Vida hates just about everything that Greer is, and she seems to make that very evident. The ones that compare are Jane and Regina. Both of them really want to take care of the children, and they are willing to do almost anything for them.

H.G. Wells

H.G. Wells is a rather interesting person. Why? Well, if you've ever read The Time Machine or The Invisible Man or even War Of the Worlds, you would know why. To me, his novels are some of the best science fiction that I've ever read. They have different ways of envisioning future times and things, such as how an invisible man would go about life. While I found The Invisible Man to be rather dull compared to his other works, The Time Machine is most likely his best (at least in my opinion). It was an interesting novel because it gave the opposite of what we perceive to be the world of the future. Instead of all of the large buildings with advanced technology and hover cars, he decided to make it so the world more of downgraded in intellect and advancements. Instead of the perfect utopia, he created a world where the peaceful people on the surface were terrified of those below. Interesting side fact: H.G. Wells was actually the one who created the phrase "time machine."

Other reasons why he's amazing are some quotes by him. His last words were "Go away, I feel fine." The suggestion he gave for his epitaph was "I told you so, you damned fools." How can you argue that he's not great if he's said things like that?

Betsey Brown

Well, let's begin by saying that so far it's rather... odd. The grammar annoys me a lot, and it annoys me with how much they don't say words correctly. I find it hard to read books like this, just because I get rather mad at the fact that the writer decided they wouldn't have characters pronounce correctly. It makes the book troublesome to read, and on some rare occasions it makes it so the reader doesn't know what someone is trying to say. I would somewhat understand it if the story was told from first person point of view, but it would still annoy me. But from third person point of view? So far I predict that I will not enjoy this book nearly as much as the others we've had to read for this class, and I'm doubting that I'll like it at all. Hopefully it's not as bad as  The Poisonwood Bible or A Farewell To Arms or a book by Bukowski.

The Good Thief

I found this book to be rather good. I'm currently trying to get my brother to read this book, along with several others. I constantly tell him that it's because its a book about a child who is missing a hand that is adopted by a group of grave robbers, and where can you go wrong with that?
I liked the characters in the book. My favorite character is Dolly, the giant murderer. When he was described it constantly reminded me of The Somnambulist, from The Somnambulist. Both Dolly and The Somnambulist were men of giant physique, and I enjoyed making comparisons between them. Also, I liked how Dolly supported Ren as much as he did. He only listened to Ren, and nobody else could tell him what to do.
Benjamin was also an interesting character. I always find it interesting when there is a character in a novel that has committed as many crimes as he has and somehow managed to get away with them. His wanted poster had such a long stream of crimes on it that it made him seem like some super villain from a comic book.
The book was very intriguing. There were many plot twists and I found it hard to predict some things, like McGinty being the one who had taken Ren's hand from him, and how Ren was actually his father. The book flowed well and I found it hard to stop reading, so I would often find myself reading a chapter or two extra, then noticing that the clock said it was later than I thought it was, so I would force myself to put down the book so that I could get a good amount of rest.
I liked the title of the book for one reason: the day before I found out from the interview that it was named after something from the bible, my mother had asked me how a thief is good. She is a super Christian, so I was surprised that she didn't understand it. I found it to be very humorous that she didn't know it and I did.