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In Amusements I found that Alexie used a “trickster” sensibility in the story as he explained how Victor and Sadie felt bad for Joe because he was acting like the stereotype they are given and hate, but in the same story they mock him like everyone else by putting him on the roller coaster and laughing at him too.  While they mock the stereotype it’s almost as if they are mocking the image of themselves that other white people have given them.

In the end of the novel when Chief smothers McMurphy I viewed it more as a sacrifice benefiting the men rather than an act of mercy.  I think that Chief knew that if the other men had to continue watching McMurphy be made an example of by nurse Ratched that it would just be torture on them and ultimately where down the pride they had started to establish.  I think if what Chief was doing was out of mercy he would have stopped when McMurphy started to struggle because he would have felt too bad to finish it seeing as it was an act of mercy.  Deep down Chief must have understood that because of what McMurphy stood for to the other men he would have consciously agreed that it needed to be done.

            In class we debated over the topic of, “In the decision to administer shock therapy, unless he admits he was wrong is reasonable therapy for the time.”  On one hand I feel that at the time the novel took place that it was possible they viewed the EST as a therapy rather than a punishment and it’s possible that they didn’t realize all of the effects were so damaging on a patient.  On the other I see that in this instance whether they realized how dangerous the therapy was or not they were still choosing to use it as a punishment rather than a therapy.  In my opinion, I see this as the nurses over stepping their boundaries and misusing the control that they had over the situation.  It was an abuse of their authority.

Something I found interesting was the comparison between McMurphy’s character in the novel and the way his character was presented in the movie clips we saw.  Through reading the book I imagined him as a big bulky biker guy.  Although Jack Nicolson was presented kind of rough around the edges and a little crazier than most, he wasn’t quite as large and intense as the character I has imagined from the book.  Nurse Ratched was also presented differently in the movie compared to what I had imagined her to be like through the book.  She was also more of a toned down version of what I felt the story described her as.  I expected her to be larger and much less attractive than she was in the movie.  I think it’s interesting how the casting director interpreted these characters differently following the same novel we read. 

One of the important underlying themes that I focused in on a lot throughout reading Lorca’s Blood Wedding was that of loyalty.  Early on in the reading the mother talks to her son about how in her life it was an unwritten rule that she was only meant to look at one man and no other… other than her husband she looked at the wall.  I think that it speaks of her very traditional values and opinion of the relationship between a man and a woman.  I think that the fact that she holds loyalty as one of her highest standards plays into how she changes her opinions on violence.  Early in the play she expresses how much she dislikes the idea of her son carrying a knife since it’s a weapon and, in her mind, it will only lead to bloodshed.  Her opinion quickly changes when her son’s relationship with his new wife is challenged along with his wife’s loyalty to him.  The mother goes from discouraging him carrying a weapon to practically pushing him out the door with one.  This displays how important the idea of loyalty is to his mother.

The one major factor to this novel that disturbs me is the constant abuse that lies throughout the book.  Sexual & physical abuse is still issues even today but it’s surprising how the book approaches them.  For example, take Estaban’s “sexual appetite” which is somehow almost rationalized by the author by counteracting it with Rosa’s death and the constant tension between him and Clara.  Although these other factors help to humanize Estabans character, the bottom line is that the man rapes little girls and has a sex addiction.  I was upset to read further on into the novel that his estranged grandson Estaban Garcia has not only inherited Estaban’s name but also his “sexual appetite”; he too tries to rape a child, Alba.  

The physical abuse in this book is a small example of how Clara is more modernized than the peasants at Tres Marias.  Early on in the novel the peasants talk with Clara and through this conversation she learns that it’s not only uncommon for the peasant woman to be beat by their husbands but it’s an acceptable punishment for the wives disobeying or angering their husbands.  As we read further into House of Spirits there are a couple instances where Estaban raises his hand to Clara and their daughter Blanca.  The first time he turns his rage on them they leave the next morning and move back to the city.  When Estaban hits Clara the second time, she stop speaking to him altogether and it lasts for a good while.  This demonstrates her unacceptance of such physical abuse.  Although she stays married to husband, she is still standing up for herself and attempting to prove a point with him.  Since the novel shows her, the wife, in more control of the relationship than Estaban, the husband, it’s a much more modernized approach to a marriage than the peasants whose wives are more like servants to their husbands. 

 Clara appears to be a woman the represents the changing of times for women.  Her character is a very strong role model throughout the novel for her children and grandchild and it’s a respectable and intriguing quality in her character. 

As the novel progresses it’s interesting to see Clara realize and address the issue of Blanca and Pedro.  She points out to her husband that it isn’t fair to be so against the idea of the two being in love when he himself had once been in a similar situation.  After Estaban reacts violently and beats both his daughter and hits Clara, its interesting to me that Clara and Blanca leave him.  It displays that because of their social standings at the time it was acceptable for them to do so; whereas the peasants had pointed out to Clara earlier on in the novel that such a thing was expected from their husbands and instead of leaving they accepted it. For me this is a further example of both woman’s rights and social class gaps that existed at the time that Clara wrote her journals.

Although this novel has many fictional and magical qualities, it also has many underlying elements of real social issues that exist even today.  Social class is an issue that is addressed in throughout the novel.  In the beginning of House of Spirits Estaban is to marry Rosa, but the reason that they don’t right away is because he is not financially equipped for it.  So he works in the mines in order to make money and achieve a high enough financial standing in order to marry Rosa.  Since she dies before he is able to do so, he spends his money on rebuilding the Tres Marias estate, thus achieving a higher social standing.