1. How is the book reading going? What parts of the book have been easy or difficult for you as a reader? Why? (please reflect)
I finished the book at some point over the weekend, and I must say that I liked it overall. The ending was very good and seemed to draw it to a close perfectly. I found it difficult to read the book near the ending. I can't really explain why... It just sort of felt a bit heavy. It might have been the fact that her mother and father practically resented her for not believing in Christ, or maybe it was how she wanted to drive but just couldn't manage to go through with the test. I sort of started to feel the narrator's feelings, and I guess that's the effect of non-fiction. While I did see it as fiction most of the time because of how it was written, it felt different from a normal novel in the respect that it made me feel more for the character than I do in most novels.
2. Pick a character in the memoir that you find yourself liking. What is the role of this character? Why does the author include this character in the plot, setting, or story?
I found myself really liking Alison. In the memoir she plays the part of the protagonist, and it includes her because the book is about her. It would be rather boring to read a memoir without a main person in it. I liked her because she came off as a rather strong character. As opposed to crying when her older brother died, she started to tie herself to the Before-People that never knew Roy so that she wouldn't have to go through the pain of being pitied. She was very firm about her beliefs and her nature, and she wasn't ashamed to admit that she didn't believe in God or that she was a lesbian (well, she wasn't scared to admit that towards the end).
3. Pick a character to contrast with #2 above. Pick a character that you do not like and explain what is bothering you. How would you do it if you were the author?
A character I really disliked was Mother. She was so negative and she was practically insane. She refused to accept the fact that her daughter didn't believe in God or the fact that Alison wished she had died with Roy in the car accident. She was an opposing force to Alison the entire time and I couldn't stand her. When she started to bring the books on dealing with grief home from the library, I was wondering what she was doing. While she made it so that it seemed that she was trying to help her family get over the grief of their son dying, it just made it worse by digging up the painful memories. I doubt that I'd make the character so horrible if I was the writer, because I don't have the heart to write such a terrible antagonist... or the writing ability.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Name All The Animals 2
1. Examine how the author describes characters or people. How does she make them "real", "approachable", or use CHARACTERIZATION to allow the reader to sympathize or empathize with the character? Pick one character and examine him/her.
The writer takes characters and she slowly develops them, but in doing so she manages to make them very vivid in their personalities and descriptions. With Alison, she started off about how she was really close to her brother, and she continued to play off of that emotion so that we'd feel sympathy for her when her brother died. Then she made the character become a person who wanted to be around people who didn't always pity her and worry about her, which I find to be a very good way to develop a character. Characters that just feed off of other people's pity are not interesting at all. In fact, they're the type you'd like to kill if you could. But the author decided not to make Alison into someone like this and made her seem stronger by having her want to be around those who either hadn't known her brother (Terry) or those who knew, but didn't mention it (Mary Elizabeth). Also, the writer contrasts Alison with her father, who is seen as a sort of depressed character who can't get over his son's death. It's a nice contrast to make it so that the daughter seems to be a stronger character than the father is.
The writer takes characters and she slowly develops them, but in doing so she manages to make them very vivid in their personalities and descriptions. With Alison, she started off about how she was really close to her brother, and she continued to play off of that emotion so that we'd feel sympathy for her when her brother died. Then she made the character become a person who wanted to be around people who didn't always pity her and worry about her, which I find to be a very good way to develop a character. Characters that just feed off of other people's pity are not interesting at all. In fact, they're the type you'd like to kill if you could. But the author decided not to make Alison into someone like this and made her seem stronger by having her want to be around those who either hadn't known her brother (Terry) or those who knew, but didn't mention it (Mary Elizabeth). Also, the writer contrasts Alison with her father, who is seen as a sort of depressed character who can't get over his son's death. It's a nice contrast to make it so that the daughter seems to be a stronger character than the father is.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Name All The Animals
The book so far is relatively decent. I didn't like the beginning, where all it was was grief and sadness and talking about the death of the protagonist's brother, and that doesn't really interest me. I can't read about people crying and crying and crying some more, so that's why I really disliked the beginning chapters. However, I read a little bit ahead and got to around page 39, where I feel it has steadily picked up from the whole death thing. During the chapter with Paul, it was good to see a hint that there wouldn't be all this sad stuff. I predict that in the future of the novel there will be some sort of relationship going between Paul and Alison. If there is no relationship, I fear that the entire book will be flashbacks about Roy's death and Alison's father crying. But I don't want it to become all romantic. A little romance would be fine, but too much would be terrible. Hopefully the book gets better.
Monday, April 11, 2011
The Bell Jar and Sylvia Plath's Poems
The Bell Jar:
Well, I don't really know exactly what to make of this so far. While I've read about 50 pages of it, I really don't find it to be all that entrancing. It seems a little dry to me and I just can't seem to enjoy a book about someone who is working for a magazine. It might be the fact that I don't really like the protagonist and her idea of, "Oh, I have to work today so my boss is evil. I wanted to go and lie down in the grass in Central Park but to think i have responsibilities. Oh shoot." Also, I really hate how she wanted to abandon her friend and act like she had nothing to do with her after Doreen met Lenny. All in all, the character seems to be a terrible person who seems to be begging for people to pity her. I would not recommend this book, unless it gets better later on.
Poems:
The Colossus, Death & Co., Doomsday, Owl, Nightshift.
It was a labor to read these poems. They all deal with death and sadness and darkness and that sort of stuff, and I just can't read poems like this unless they're by Poe. Doomsday annoyed me because it repeated lines, and I really don't enjoy reading a poem that is just the same liens, over and over again. Death and Co. was just... bad. I really didn't like that one. While the last line worked, the rest of the poem just didn't really click for me. I think if she were to re-write this poem using the same last line but a completely different way to get to that last line, it would be so much better (and yes, I know she would have to be resurrected to re-write that). The Colossus seemed to ramble. It was just sort of a really aggravating poem. The last group of lines seemed to be rather pointless and cryptic. It was hard to decipher them, and I still don't know exactly what she was trying to say. Nightshift was actually rather enjoyable. It was about the concept of fear in a dark area, all by yourself. I feel that it managed to convey the feeling of fear rather well, and the idea that when you hear a noise you just assume that it's some monster or mass murderer. Owl had rather good imagery. It gave the picture of midnight rather clear, and it made me imagine a town such as London at night time.
Well, I don't really know exactly what to make of this so far. While I've read about 50 pages of it, I really don't find it to be all that entrancing. It seems a little dry to me and I just can't seem to enjoy a book about someone who is working for a magazine. It might be the fact that I don't really like the protagonist and her idea of, "Oh, I have to work today so my boss is evil. I wanted to go and lie down in the grass in Central Park but to think i have responsibilities. Oh shoot." Also, I really hate how she wanted to abandon her friend and act like she had nothing to do with her after Doreen met Lenny. All in all, the character seems to be a terrible person who seems to be begging for people to pity her. I would not recommend this book, unless it gets better later on.
Poems:
The Colossus, Death & Co., Doomsday, Owl, Nightshift.
It was a labor to read these poems. They all deal with death and sadness and darkness and that sort of stuff, and I just can't read poems like this unless they're by Poe. Doomsday annoyed me because it repeated lines, and I really don't enjoy reading a poem that is just the same liens, over and over again. Death and Co. was just... bad. I really didn't like that one. While the last line worked, the rest of the poem just didn't really click for me. I think if she were to re-write this poem using the same last line but a completely different way to get to that last line, it would be so much better (and yes, I know she would have to be resurrected to re-write that). The Colossus seemed to ramble. It was just sort of a really aggravating poem. The last group of lines seemed to be rather pointless and cryptic. It was hard to decipher them, and I still don't know exactly what she was trying to say. Nightshift was actually rather enjoyable. It was about the concept of fear in a dark area, all by yourself. I feel that it managed to convey the feeling of fear rather well, and the idea that when you hear a noise you just assume that it's some monster or mass murderer. Owl had rather good imagery. It gave the picture of midnight rather clear, and it made me imagine a town such as London at night time.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Amazing Piano Cover
Well, I found this video about a week ago and I loved it. I normally love the original version, but this piano version really does it justice. This has not only managed to make me want to listen to this almost every single second of the day, but it has also motivated me to go home and spend a while attempting to play this song by ear on the cello. While I will most likely fail, at least I can try and have fun in doing so.
Unsettling America Review
"English Speaking-Persons Will Find Translations"
Well, I liked it. I like how it sort of compares America to the Nazis with the whole idea of, "Well, they had concentration camps. Normally we hate that, but when you compare that to the fact that we caused Nagasaki and Hiroshima, as well as raped the Indians, then..." It was interesting to see a poem like this, mostly because you don't really see it them all that often. People are usually very ignorant as well as arrogant and say that the people that we brought such atrocities upon had it coming, and it was our divine right given to us by God to commit these inhumane crimes. Usually as long as people aren't the ones having something happen to them, they don't really care about it. Like the teacher in the poem, who said how many lives were "saved" by Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I put saved into quotes because when people say we saved lives by dropping the bombs, we actually caused the people in those cities to go through unbearable agony, and then they died. Many people died very painful deaths because of the bombs.
"Always Running"
I liked this poem as well. One reason I liked it is because of the part where he starts to question his emotions about who he wants to kill and if he should actually kill anyone. Recently I wrote a poem where the person questions himself like this, and I've got to say that it was rather entertaining to do. I much prefer reading and writing poems where the person questions things, and ones that deal with the inner mind. I can't really do imagery, and even though reading a poem with images is nice, I like having to think. Also, i like how he was managing to stay strong even during hard times. He's living in a house filled with cockroaches, his wife leaves him, and he has the constant threat of gangs, but he still manages to tough it out.
"Mnemonic"
Well, I liked parts of this poem. I can't say that it interested me much for the most part, but when it did the contrasting ideas of the earth being both flat and round, it managed to grab a hold of me. The contrasting ideas make it seem like this poem is worthwhile to read, even though I didn't enjoy most of it. It really didn't interest me much with reading about an immigrant's sweater that he wore to America. Call me crazy if you want, but reading a story where the bulk is about a sweater doesn't pique my interest.
Well, I liked it. I like how it sort of compares America to the Nazis with the whole idea of, "Well, they had concentration camps. Normally we hate that, but when you compare that to the fact that we caused Nagasaki and Hiroshima, as well as raped the Indians, then..." It was interesting to see a poem like this, mostly because you don't really see it them all that often. People are usually very ignorant as well as arrogant and say that the people that we brought such atrocities upon had it coming, and it was our divine right given to us by God to commit these inhumane crimes. Usually as long as people aren't the ones having something happen to them, they don't really care about it. Like the teacher in the poem, who said how many lives were "saved" by Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I put saved into quotes because when people say we saved lives by dropping the bombs, we actually caused the people in those cities to go through unbearable agony, and then they died. Many people died very painful deaths because of the bombs.
"Always Running"
I liked this poem as well. One reason I liked it is because of the part where he starts to question his emotions about who he wants to kill and if he should actually kill anyone. Recently I wrote a poem where the person questions himself like this, and I've got to say that it was rather entertaining to do. I much prefer reading and writing poems where the person questions things, and ones that deal with the inner mind. I can't really do imagery, and even though reading a poem with images is nice, I like having to think. Also, i like how he was managing to stay strong even during hard times. He's living in a house filled with cockroaches, his wife leaves him, and he has the constant threat of gangs, but he still manages to tough it out.
"Mnemonic"
Well, I liked parts of this poem. I can't say that it interested me much for the most part, but when it did the contrasting ideas of the earth being both flat and round, it managed to grab a hold of me. The contrasting ideas make it seem like this poem is worthwhile to read, even though I didn't enjoy most of it. It really didn't interest me much with reading about an immigrant's sweater that he wore to America. Call me crazy if you want, but reading a story where the bulk is about a sweater doesn't pique my interest.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
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.
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.
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