mskelly

Sherman Alexi and Jimi Hendrix

mskelly — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 23:41:32 +0000

I think that these two have a lot in common about the way that they express themselves. They both take what they know and then change it to express the way that they feel about it. Jimi Hendrex takes the Star Spangled Banner and really changes it and makes it unique to him. I don’t believe that he was completely anti-America, however I do think that he was proud that he lived in America but did not believe in the war that they were fighting in. I think that playing the Star Spangled Banner the way that he did was just an expression on this. Sherman Alexi seems to be pretty proud of his heratige because he is Native American and he writes about Native Americans, but he doesn’t write about them in the way that most people think that they act instead he exposes them for who they really are. So he is taking what he knows and what he is proud of but telling what they are doing wrong. I think that he doesn’t really agree with what the Native Americans are doing with their lives and that is why he is writing about it. So they both are most likely proud of who they are and where they come from but they just do not always agree with the things that their culture or country does and they feel they need to express their feeling about this whether its in the form of a song or through story telling.

Trickster

mskelly — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 16:46:23 +0000

In the story Amusement I think that is a trickster or two. Victor and Sadie put Dirty Joe on the roller coaster because he is drunk and they think it would be funny. They have no real reason for doing this to him. It is not like they hate him or anything; they do it simply for amuement, they think it’s funny. Tricksters do things like this because they will get a good laugh out of it. Tricksters also do things that are dangerous and get them or others into trouble. Victor and Sadie were most definately troublemakers at the fair, but they did not actually get into trouble instead they got Dirty Joe into trouble. Also it was really dangerous to put Dirty Joe on the roller coaster when he was drunk he could have fallen out and gotten hurt. Victor and Sadie simply did not care who they hurt they just wanted to have a good laugh at someone elses expense.

I also believe that the mouse who ran up Victor’s aunt’s pants was a trickster. The mouse did cause trouble by making his aunt so mad at her husband and son that she went out of the house and went into the creek and was “swimming” even though she cannot really swim. She realizes that things in her life need to change because she does so much for everyone else in her life and no one does anything for her. She doesn’t listen to her husband and son when they tell her to get out of the water because she wants them to know that she will not be giving into them any more. She also tells them that they can cook for themselves, since she always cooks for them. In this way the mouse was also a helpful trickster because it helped the aunt stand up for herself and realize that she needed her change her life so she could be happier.

Was he crazy??

mskelly — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 23:18:45 +0000

McMurphy checks into the mental hospital mainly to escape his sentence to work an a farm for six months. At first he seems just to act a little crazy so that when he is first evaluated they will say that he has a mental disorder and needs to stay and get treatment. However, as the novel progresses it seems to me that McMurphy may actually be crazy. He acts a little stange most of the time but that seems to be normal for him. Then he sneaks women and beer into the hospital, which is normal for a person held in captivity, but he falls asleep and loses his chance to escape. If he really wanted to leave he wouldn’t have fallen asleep, maybe he was realizing that he needed to stay and continue treatment. He also smashes his hand through the nurses station glass not once but twice. once i can understand because he wants to rebel against nurse Ratched but twice is just taking it too far and he seems to be a little mental disturbed when he does this. Then the final blow out is when he attacks nurse Ratched and tries to kill her. Mentally sane people do not try to kill unless they are defending them selves. I think that just by being in the mental institution McMurphy actually becomes insane. He cannot handle being defeated all the time by the nurse and the fact that she has complete control over him and the others. He is also around crazy people all day every day which could make any person go insane. Also he receives shock therapy and a labotomy which is not good for a person mentally or physically. He would not have encountered these things in the outside world and maybe if he was never in the mental hospital he wouldn’t have become crazy or maybe he would have. I do believe that he was almost normal when he was first admitted but the hospital and what happened in the ward made him turn into a crazy person.

Lorca

mskelly — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 01:47:10 +0000

Blood Wedding is about a marriage that is not about love but it is not totally without any feelings. The son has to ask his mother for permission to marry his bride. He wants his mother to approve of his marriage even though the mother is worried about the bride and how she might be she reluctantly approves of her son’s marriage. The play gives the idea that marriage is about how much money a person has and whether or not they will be good enough to provide for the family. The bride must be able to bake bread, speak softly, and sew. The husband should be rich and be able to work and earn money and food for his family. In the play the bride does not marry Leonardo most likely because he is not rich enough for her. She marries the bridegroom mainly because he is rich and has vineyards and will make a good husband. Most people today marry because they are in love but in this story love doesn’t really have anything to do with marriage. I think that the fact that the bride is not in love really bothers her and that she may really love Leonardo, which is why she runs away in the end.

House of Spirits

mskelly — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 21:39:19 +0000

I don’t think that the book is really a femenist book. It does have some points where I think that it could be, but overall I don’t think its a femenist novel. Estaban has a power over almost everyone in the novel, except a fwe characters. One of these characters is Clara, she does refuse to give into his power, but she is not completely normal, she lives in her own little bubble world, where she doesn’t really care about anything that doesn’t have to do with her powers. In a way it’s like she just married Estaban to marry someone and maybe to pass her powers on. She doesn’t seem to love him at all and she doesnt really even notice that his power and all things he does to try to make her love him. Clara really has power over Estaban she makes him go so crazy because she doesnt love him and doesnt even pay any attention to him. She controls most of the family memebers; she makes Blanca move back to the city and names the twins. All the children are interested in their mother rather than their father. They way that I see it is that Clara is really in control and she obtians and uses her power differnently than Estaban.

Dealing with Change

mskelly — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 01:53:11 +0000

Throughout the novel there are a lot of changes occuring nad each character deals with them in thier own way. Most people have a lot of trouble dealing with changes, it’s not an easy thing. Clara does not really like any changes but shes realizes that she must accept them and continue to live her life. Estaban on the other hand does not want any changes to be made. I think that maybe he feels like if he just ignores any changes that they will just go away and things will stay the same. Blanca deals with change better than everyone else. I think this has a lot to do with the generations; it seems that older generations have a lot more trouble accepting change, while the younger generations are more willing to accept and agree with changes.

the meeting of Blanca and Pedro Trecero

mskelly — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 16:14:38 +0000

When Blanca and Pedro meet it’s like they have an instant connection. They play and interact as if they have known each other foever. It’s almost as if this predicts how they will be forever. When they are sleeping under the table and it says they will be like this in couple years, it just shows that they have a connection and a love each other that will last forever. This is like a little preview of what they will be life for years to come. Hiding under things is like hiding their relationship from everyone. Whether this can really happen I do not know but for now I believe it in the story. It goes with the themes of the novel and liek what it adds to story.

Author and Authority

mskelly — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 22:06:41 +0000

I didn’t really like the astroid game, I didn’t feel like it had a point. It was just liek words floating around that you shoot. I didn’t even see a relation between the words. This is a perfect example of the author who created it only lets you see and do what they want you to. However, they don’t actually say what the point or object of the game is; maybe i would have enjoyed it more if I knew what the purpouse of it was. I thought that the Lies poem was a better. I think it is something that I can relate more to. Not that I lie all the time but it is more realistic because a lot of people lie and sometimes they dont mean to do it or feel really bad about it. This is a great way for people to get a lie off their mind by adding to the lies. In Lies the author doesn’t really have all the authority. They may arrange the leis but the audience submits the lies and they are a actually a part of this work of literature. I think it all depends on what you are reading as to whether or not the author has authority.

corridos

mskelly — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 16:31:23 +0000

I think that corridos can be compared in some ways to fairy tales. There are so many different versions and they all have generally the same ideas. They are like stories that get passed down through generations and change along the way. When some one hears a story they may interpert the story differently then how is told and that is one way that the story changes. Also when a person retells a story they may forget some parts or leave out a part that they do not think is important. Fairy tales that are told by different people have similarities and differences depending on what the person feels is important and corridos seem to be the same way they change from person to person.

The ’story’ in the novel

mskelly — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 23:22:51 +0000

The story that is written throughout the novel tells of ways that the rain may have been taken away. The stories are about not appreciating what they have and not taking care of it. They took the rain for granted and it was taken away from them. They people were straying away from their beliefs and culture and to be punished their rain was taken away. In order to get the rain back they have to do certain things such as; get old buzzard to purify the land but he won’t do it until he gets tabacco that they have to get from catapiller.
This goes with the book because it’s like saying that a problem cannot be fixed until all the parts are fixed and then if will be complete. Tayo will not be better until he is satisfied with all parts of his life. Maybe Tayo has these problems because he went away from his culture and wasn’t practicing the “right” ways of his culture. Like the ’story’ he must fix everything before he can be completely cured.