Do Not Go Gentle

This short story completely surprised me.  The story starts out with a man and his wife in an intensive care unit for babies.  Their son is in a coma and has been for a while.  The man explains how his wife and he are struggling to cope with what is happening just like many of the other families that are at the facility.

One day he decides that he will go out and buy a few toys for his son.  He wonders down the street and comes upon a store called "Toys in Babeland".  It seems like it would be a nice children's toy store, but when he walks in he discovers it is anything but that.  It is actually a sex toy shop.  He is caught off guard, but decides to browse their selection anyway.  He sees videos and dolls and other items as he's walking around, but when he turns around a corner he sees something he has never seen before, chocolate thunder. Chocolate thunder turns out to be a 15" vibrator.  For some reason he is amazed by this and decides to buy it.  He brings it back to the hospital.  He starts to wave it over the babies in hopes that it might do something.  He welds it like a wand.  His wife eventually takes a liking to this toy, but not the way you might think.  She puts faith into it.  She plays her drum with it and actually thinks that it has powers.  The story ends on a happy note because their son eventually recovers.

A vibrator is not what I was expecting the father to bring back to the hospital.  If I was another parent there I would probably be upset with him and would likely force him to leave.  I think it would be very disrespectful to have that in a room with sick children and to use it like he was.  He does say however that many of the other parents laughed.  So I guess it is possible that given the stress they were under it was good to add some humor to break up the sadness.

I think the main point Sherman Alexie wants to make is that people can put faith into anything.  People give objects value and worth.  Nothing inherently has value, except for maybe food and water.  Everything else in life takes on different values to different people.  Just because I may not believe in the powers of a vibrator doesn't mean someone else can't.

A Tree, a Rock, a Cloud

I thought this short story was a little creepy.  I don't consider it normal for someone to tell a stranger that they love them, especially when an older man tells a young boy that.

The old man who is drinking at the bar is an interesting guy.  He seems to have been many places and seen many things.  Most of his traveling was done trying to find his wife who apparently ran off with another man.  I thought is was really weird that a 30 year old woman would marry a 57 year old man after only knowing him three days.  They could not have had a strong relationship.  It's really not too surprising that she ran away.

The old man says he loves her, but there has to come a time where the love fades.  If she loved him too then she would have stayed.  I don't know why he wastes his time looking for her year after year.

During his search the man says that he has developed a science for loving.  He explains that he could love a ray of sunlight or a bird that is flying around.  I assume this is why the tells the boy that he loves him at the beginning of the story.  If I was the boy I would not stick around to find out what the man had to say.  I would get out of there as fast as I could.  I don't understand why Leo doesn't help the boy either.  There are several times when the boy looks over to Leo for help, but Leo just shrugs it off.  Leo doesn't seem like a nice person.

I'm really not too sure of what the main idea of the story is.  Made it's that everything can be loved.

Harrison Bergeron

This short story fell in the science fiction realm.  The general idea behind the story is what society would be like if everyone was equal.  In the story everyone isn't necessarily born equal, but instead is handicapped so that they are not more capable or prettier than the next person.  The person who controls this is set on making sure that nobody has any advantage over anybody else.  So if a person was smarter they would put a set of headphones on them that would make it hard for them to think.  If a person was athletic they would weigh them down so they could not perform as well.

In the story a young man has been taken to jail.  His parents are aware that he is in jail, but do not feel sad.  When they see him get shot on TV they do not feel any emotions either and quickly forget what has happened.  It is quite sad.

There is another event in the story that illustrates why this type of society would not be good.  The mother and father are watching a performance and the dancers that are performing keep messing up.  It does not seem to be enjoyable.

I don't think this type of society would be good at all.  Besides the fact that it suppresses people's emotions and feelings, it also limits people thoughts.  There would be no progression of society.  No new technology.  Part of what makes the world so good is that everyone is different.

After Chapter of Deliverance

The chapter of Deliverance entitled "After" basically serves to show the audience how the men have changed after they return home.  Before they get home they must talk to the authorities.  The police just want to know what their story is and how Drew drowned.  Ed, Bobby, and Lewis and rehearsed a story so that the authorities would not expect foul play.  They seem to execute their story to perfection.  The police believe them, all except for one that is.  One of the lower ranking officers comes up to Ed and asks what he did with his brother-in-laws body.  He implies that Ed killed him.  Officer Queen explains that his sister's husband went out in the woods a few days ago and has not returned home.  Queen believes that Ed, Bobby, and Lewis were the only people that could have come in contact with his brother-in-law.  The head officer does not buy the story though and the men seem to narrowly escape.  It was a close call though.

When the men arrive home all of their lives change in one way or another.  Drew's family is obviously shocked and saddened.  I'm sure it will be hard for them to move on.  His wife keeps saying that the trip was "useless."

Ed describes Lewis as "He is a human being, and a good one."  He also says "He has changed, too, but not in obvious ways.  He can die now; he knows that dying is better than immortality."  The events that Lewis went through must have really affected him.  It seems like he is a much more subdued guy now and is less willing to take risks.  I'm almost positive that he will never take a trip like that again.

Bobby doesn't seem to change for the good.  He was pretty much happy with his life the way it was before the trip.  After the trip he ends up quitting his job and attempts to start a restaurant.  That fails and he moves to Hawaii.  It is apparent that his life will never be the same.  It will tough for him to live with the fact that he has been raped.

Ed has also changed a lot and for the good.  Ed says that he now sees his wife in a different light.  He went out with the model a few times, but realized that it was wrong and that his wife was the only person he wanted to be with.  Apparently their relationship is much stronger than it was before.  It seems like his "sliding" mentality is gone.  He says he enjoys work more and that Thad and him are getting along better.

It's interesting to reflect back on the novel and ask yourself if the trip was worth it.  There are three dead guys, and three guys with pretty serious injuries.  It was definitely not worth it for Drew.  He did not deserve to die like that.  I don't think the two dead attackers really matter either.  It is pretty much their fault.  The actions they took were extremely wrong.  The trip was also harmful to Bobby.  It seems like it really affected him and he may not ever be able to fully recover.  I think it worked out good for Lewis.  His wild way of living seems to have disappeared.  Maybe he will settle down and spend more time with his family.  The trip was also beneficial for Ed.  It got him out of his rut and changed his relationship with his wife for the better.

Conclusion of September 16th

I don't know if I have ever experienced a chapter as action packed as this one was.  There was page after page of action, it seemed like it would never stop.  The basic story line is that Ed shoots a man who he thinks is the second attacker.  After releasing the arrow the recoil of the bow knocks Ed out of the tree.  On his fall down his last arrow positions itself between his side and the ground and when Ed hits the ground the arrow pierces Ed's side.  This injury really affects Ed.  He is hardly able to move and must cut the arrow out.  After somewhat recovering from the arrow injury Ed must immediately decide what to do with the body.  He examines it and sees that this man has all of his teeth.  Ed thinks to himself that he might have shot the wrong person.  However, he cannot think about that right now.  He must focus on disposing of the body.  He decides to lower the body off the edge of the cliff with his rope.  After he has done that he takes hold of the rope and slides down himself.  The rope breaks when he nears the bottom and the corpse and he fall into the water.  Bobby helps Ed out and then helps Ed sink the body.  Now that the three men are united once again they proceed down the river.  They come across a large and fierce set of rapids that almost throws them out of the boat, but they make it through.  On the other side of the rapids they find Drew's body.  Ed examines it and is unsure if he was shot or if he hit his head on a rock and drowned.  Ed also decides that they will tell the authorities that that last set of rapids is where everything went wrong.  Just a few miles after the last rapids is a farm where the three men are finally able to get off the river.

Just like I said in a previous posting, I had the feeling that Ed would need to shoot at something later on.  This time he was successful.  I think the main reason he succeed was because he had to shoot the man or the man would have shot him.  It was kill or be killed.  Luckily Ed was able to hold his nerves together enough to keep the arrow steady during the release.

Ed getting impaled by his own arrow didn't really surprise me.  Every other character had had something bad happen to them, so it only made since that Ed need to get hurt too.

As I mentioned earlier, when Ed looks over the attacker's body he notices that he has all his teeth.  Ed was almost positive that the attacker at the scene was missing some teeth.  At first he is a little worried about this, but he realizes that he can't do anything about it now.  I agree with him.  What is done is done.  If he would have sat there and thought about it, he would have just gotten himself in more trouble.

After Bobby pulls Ed out of the water Ed goes off on Bobby.  He yells at him for not leaving on time and numerous other things.  Ed is upset that Bobby did not follow the directions.  If Ed had not killed the attacker then Bobby and Lewis would have probably been shot and Ed's efforts would have been in vein.  It kind of works out for Ed though.  If Bobby would have left on time he would not have been there to help Ed out of the water and Ed would have had to find another way off of the river.

Ed seems very interested in looking over Drew's body.  He really wants to know how he died.  I think the main reason he wants to know is because if Drew was not shot, then Ed's murder is not really justified.  However, if the attacker did shoot Drew, then Ed will a little bit better about what he did.

Bobby says on page 219 "There's no end to it."  This is entirely true.  Bobby, Lewis, and Ed will never forget what happened on the river.  They will have to live with the events for the rest of their lives.  Even if they get the authorities to believe their story they are not really free of their guilt.  They will always have to live with what they did.

Deliverance p.139-183

After the previous events I was not surprised when Drew was shot on the river.  It made sense that he would be the first one to die.  Ed can not possibly die until the end because he is the narrator.  Bobby has already been through a lot and is hurt physically and emotionally so it makes a better story to keep him alive.  Lewis was not killed because if he would have died the other guys would lose their hope.  They would be lost without his guidance.

I found it a little shocking that Ed was so eager and willing to take on Lewis responsibilities and position.  Due to his broken leg Lewis told Ed to basically take charge of the situation and to lead the three of them to safety.  Before the trip Ed was not the kind of man to just take charge of a situation.  He preferred to sit back and just follow along.  In the situation he is in now he can not continue that same trend of behavior because if he does he will die.  He knows this and takes charge.

He plans out the groups next moves based on what he thinks the attacker will do.  When he talks to Bobby about the plans it is obvious that Bobby has no clue what is going on.  If it was up to Bobby the whole group would die.

Ed decides to leave Bobby and Lewis on the bank while he climbs the wall of the gorge to try and hunt down their attacker.  After an intense climb up the wall Ed finally makes it to solid level ground.  From there he must find a good location to stake out and wait for the attacker.  If he picks the wrong location either he could die or his friends could die.  I'm pretty sure that he will get a shot on the attacker just like I concluded from the earlier readings.

This new Ed is completely different from the Ed at the beginning of the story.  I'm not really shocked though.  I think most people have something inside of them that changes when they are put into extreme situations.  You never really know how you would react to a situation until you're in.  Ed is the same way.  It is basically fight or die.  He doesn't want to die so he must fight his way out of the woods.

The way James Dickey sets up the novel is very smart.  The long drawn out build up to the action and then the concise thrilling moments mimic that of a river.  The calm part of the rivers is the same as the character development and build up.  Then out of no where comes the action, just like a set of rapids on a river.  The action is quick and short lived just like rapids also.

When I was reading these pages I had a hard time believing that it could be true.  The first part that is hard to believe is that Ed could hang onto the bow and arrows while being tossed around in the river.  It is also remarkable that they didn't break while the canoe, paddles, and Lewis' leg did.  I also found it hard to believe that Ed could make it up such a daunting rock face.  The way Dickey describes it makes it sound nearly impossible.  Ed admitted that he wasn't in the best of shape, yet he is makes it up.  This feat is even harder to believe because 1.) Ed has been up for an extremely long time 2.) He has been canoeing all day which must take a lot of strength and 3.) He has not had anything to eat or drink.

Pages 89-139 Deliverance

Man, these pages were pretty intense.  The plot really starts to unfold during this section of the novel.  It all starts with a thick looming fog.  Ed wakes up before the other men and decides to go hunting.  He remarks that he could just go a little ways up the hill, sit and wait, and then return.  That's what he would have done before the trip.  That would be just enough to make the other guys think he actually tried.  Instead of doing nothing, however, he decides to actually make an attempt to shoot something.  He walks around for a while and finally spots a deer about 15 meters away.  He remarks how he has had plenty of practice shooting stationary targets at this range before.  Shooting a live animal in the wild is a different story though.  He lines up his shot and releases the arrow.  He misses high.  He says that he just barley lifted his front hand when he released the arrow.  I think this event will foreshadow something that happens later in the novel.  I  believe the author wanted to make it seem like Ed wasn't a good shot to build suspense.  There will probably come a time later in the novel when Ed needs to make a big shot and I think he'll do it.

The major event that occurs during these pages is the rape of Bobby.  Ed and Bobby had stopped to take a break when two men walk out of the woods.  One is carrying a gun.  It seems that Ed knows from the beginning that they are up to no good, and I agree.  I had a feeling that something bad was going to happen.  I really did not expect rape to be that event though.  I don't see how Bobby is going to be able to recover from this event and continue down the river.

To get out of the situation Lewis had to shoot one of the men.  Then the four guys contemplate what to do with the body.  Drew things they should keep it and turn it in to the authorities.  Lewis thinks they should get rid of it.  I have to agree with Lewis on this issue.  I don't think they have much of a shot of convincing the authorities that it was not murder if they turn in the body.  Even the best case scenario would not be good for their reputations.

42-89 Deliverance

As I read these pages I kept asking myself "why"?  Why are these men taking this canoeing trip?  I have yet to hear a good reason.  Ed himself admits several times that he doesn't want to go, and I don't blame him.  There are many, many signs that point to something going wrong.  For one Lewis is not a capable guide.  Even though he has more experience than any of the other guys, combined, he is still an amateur.  He may think he knows what to do, but deep down he doesn't.  He tells the story about him breaking his ankle twice.  Each time Ed just sits there and listens.  It should throw up a red flag that tells him to stop.  Lewis is also notorious for making dangerous decisions.  It is part of his personality.  He likes to do crazy things.  It doesn't seem like any of the other guys are into the same activities.

Another red flag would be when the locals say that they would not try to canoe down the river.  If I asked a local about something that I was about to do, and they said don't do it you better believe I would turn around and go home.  It doesn't make sense to take that risk.  Lewis goes ahead with the plan though.  It's almost as if he has something to prove to someone.

I also thought it was bad Lewis takes the wrong road going to the river.  He acted so confidently when he made the turn, but he eventually learned that he made the wrong choice.  If he makes a decision like that on the river it could cost the men their lives.

A good example of Lewis inexperience occurs when he gets turned around on the river.  He and his partner struggle to get their canoe pointed the right way.  He has boasted the whole time that he knows what he's doing, when in fact he doesn't.

It seems like there is foreshadowing on every page.  I'm ready to find out what is going to happen to these guys.

Beginning of Deliverance

Although I've only read 41 pages of this book I think I am really going to enjoy it.  One of the first things I noticed was how descriptive the author is.  He makes a point to describe everything in great detail, the reader can pretty much picture the words playing out in their head.

The beginning of the novel is really just devoted to character development.  The audience is introduced to four main character, Ed (narrator), Lewis, Bobby, and Drew.  Bobby and Drew seem to be kind of secondary characters.  They aren't discussed as much as Ed and Lewis.  We are told that Bobby is a social person that seems to have his life together, at least on the outside.  Drew is a family man who seems satisfied with his life.  The author makes a point to explain two times when both of the men got very angry.  I wonder if this is foreshadowing because it seemed out of place.

Ed is the narrator and because of that the audience learns quite a bit about him.  Ed is a complacent guy.  He is the vice president of a graphic design company, but does not like his job.  He has no motivation to reach his full potential and freely admits he could do better.  He has an "anti-friction" towards life.  He likes to find things that are easy to do and then stick with them.  He does not seem like a guy who could handle being pushed to his limits.

Ed's best friend is Lewis.  Lewis seems like a cool guy.  He is very adventurous and is always trying new things.  Ed says that "He had everything that life could give, and he couldn't make it work".  Lewis never seems satisfied.  He is constantly exploring new hobbies to keep himself busy.

All four men embark on a canoeing trip.  Lewis is the most experienced outdoorsman, but even he doesn't have much experience.  I don't understand why the rest of the guys would follow him.

I'm assuming something bad is going to happen to these guys otherwise there would not be much of a story.  I just wonder what exactly it is.

Sure Thing by David Ives

I thought this was a very strange one act play.  Maybe reading it doesn't do it justice, but I really did not enjoy reading this.  The repetition was strange.  When it was acted out in class I thought it was pretty good.  I guess it's one of those plays that needs to be acted out instead of read.

The main idea behind this one act play is that it explains the actions between two people meeting for the first time in a cafe.  There is a bell that goes off whenever the conversation has become stale, or has wandered to something too personal or abstract.  So in a sense the bell acts as a "redo" button.  (If only we had one in real life)

The guy, Bill, in the play approaches the female, Betty, in a cafe.  He asks her if the seat beside her is taken and she says it is.  The bell rings.  He continues his quest, but in a different manner.  The bell rings a few more times.  Eventually he says the right things and sits down.  This shows how hard it is to initially begin a conversation with someone completely new.  It also shows how hesitant Betty is, she keeps coming up with excuses.

After he sits down they make small talk and the bell goes off occasionally.  I thought it was funny when she tells him that she just came to read.  I mean how would you respond to that?  All you can really do is just stop talking to her and leave her alone.  Of corse the bell went off after that.  I thought it was also funny when she is talking about the book she is reading and Bill says the the author of the novel in such a confident manner, but is wrong.

One important message of the play is about timing.  Bill explains that "You have to hit these things at the right moment or it's no good."  I think that is mainly referring to relationships and meeting people, but also to other times in life.

There is a strange moment when Betty completely loses it and goes off about how she knows what Bill really wants and that she isn't falling for it.  Betty has a long monologue where she describes what seems to be a true story she was involved in.  She apparently met a guy and he got her to come home with him. All he really wanted was to have sex with her and after they finished he pretty much didn't care for her.  This is the sort of personal information that is too personal for a first meeting and the bell rings after she finishes tell her story.

A few more funny moments are when Betty says she is gay so Bill will lose interest in her.  Also when Bill is describing his college and political affiliation.  He has to change his political affiliation four times till he finally comes to one that suits Betty.

The play ends with a story book ending.  They finally find topics that they completely agree on and everything seems like it's going to work out between them.  I thought the was a little off.  If the play is about the struggles of meeting someone then it doesn't really make sense for everything to be peachy at the end.  Most people don't hit it off when they first meet.  I thought the ending was a little hard to believe.

Conclusion of A Raisin in the Sun

Just as I had feared, the insurance money that Walter was in charge of leaves his possession during the end of the play.  Walter was going to go into business with one of his supposedly good friends, Willy, but Willy ends up taking his money and disappearing.  I felt bad for Walter, but he had to know that people don't all of a sudden get rich.  He should have been a little smarter about how he invested his money.

This leaves the family with a hard decision.  Do they continue the move to their new house where they will need to all work to pay the bills or do they stay in their run down apartment and continue the same style of living they've had for decades?  Mama leaves this decision up to Walter.  At first Walter wants to take the offer that the White people in the neighborhood gave to them.  They said that they would buy the house from them at a substantial increase from what they paid.  Walter feels like this would be a good deal for the family.  Mama however thinks that taking the money would be a slap in the face.  She takes their offer as a sign that they are not welcome in the neighborhood and an attack against her pride.  She goes on and on about how she and her husband grew up and that they would never sacrifice their pride.  Eventually Walter  decides to move into the house.

Although I understand why he made the decision I'm not sure I agree with him.  Granted I'm not in his shoes, but if I had just squandered $6,500 and had the opportunity to get some of it back I think I would get it back.  The money could really help the family out.  I think Mama would have been extremely upset though.  I can understand how it would be a little degrading, but why do they need to prove anything to those White people?  In this case it seems like money is worth more than their pride.  Making the decision to move in makes Walter more like his dad.  This makes Mama very happy because all along she has been wanting Walter to step up and act like his dad.

Moving into the house satisfies Mama's dream.  She will finally be able to plant her garden that she has always wanted.  At the same time moving into the house destroys Beneatha and Walter's dream.  Now that the money is gone Beneatha will more than likely not be able to go to medical school.  She will have to find some other way to get money or she will probably fall into the same routine as the rest of her family, which is sad.  Walter's dream disappears because he will almost certainly not have that kind of money to invest again.  I hope if he does choose to invest money in the future he will be a little bit smarter about it.

I really enjoyed this play overall.  I thought there were some good messages throughout the play that added a lot of depth to it.  I would have liked to have a little more information about what happens to the family though.  The ending does not have many details.

Act 1 Scene 2-Act 2 Scene 2 A Raisin in the Sun

These scenes really build on the previous ones.  The main events that occur include Bennie's relationship with her boyfriend and Asagai, Ruth becoming pregnant, and the insurance check coming in.

The audience is already aware that Beneatha has a boyfriend, but the status of their relationship is not really known until these pages.  Before we are told that information however a new man is introduced, his name is Asagai and he is a student visiting from Africa.  Asagai has recently returned from visiting his family and he brought Beneatha a present.  She opens it to find a traditional piece of African clothing that used to be his sisters.  Beneatha loves it.  Asagai must have really known what Bennie would like as a present.  The main reason he comes over to her house however is to discuss their relationship.  Before he left he wanted to become her boyfriend, but Bennie thought that the timing was not right.  Now that he is back he wants to continue his quest.

The problem with this is that she is already seeing a guy named George.  George is very different from Asagai.  Asagai is more in touch with Bennie's feelings and really understands her.  George's family has a lot of money, but does not give Bennie what she desires.  Beneatha and George get in an argument when he comes to pick her up for a date.  They are going to the theater and Beneatha has decided to wear the clothing that Asagai brought her.  She has also cut her hair very short and has not straightened it or anything.  George does not like this at all.  He seems to be very worried about what other people will think about him if they see him with her.  He makes her change.  I found it interesting that Beneatha cut her hair mainly to because of comments Asagai made even though she knew George would not approve.  I think this shows that she really doesn't care about her relationship with George.  It will be interesting to see how the two relationships progress.  I can't see Beneatha and George staying together much longer if they don't change.

A baby is the topic of the next important event.  There had been foreshadowing earlier in the play that led me to believe that Ruth and Walter might be having a baby.  This in fact turns out to be the case.  The audience learns that Ruth is two months pregnant, but she has already put a down payment on an abortion.  She doesn't say why she has done that, but it must be because she feels like they can not care for another child.  They can barley afford and care for the one they have now.  Mama is very against the abortion and makes herself known.  She challenges Walter to step up and be a man like his father.  She wants him to put his foot down, be strong, and tell Ruth that she will not get an abortion and that they will find a way to provide for the new child.  Mama wanting Walter to be like his father is a major issue in the play.  She always compares him to his father, but Walter doesn't take compare to his father, at least not yet.  They both have different characteristics.

I think the biggest event that occurs is the arrival of the insurance check.  All along this has been on all of the characters lives.  They all of plans on what it will do for them or how it will help their family.  Mama takes the money and ends up spending $3,500 on a down payment for a house.  The rest she gives to Walter.  She tells Walter that it is his time to step up and be a man.  He needs to take charge of the family.  She orders him to take the rest of the money and use it for what he thinks will benefit the family the most.  The only condition is that he must save $3,000 for Beneatha's school.

Buying a house is important for Mama because it has always been her dream.  I think she also decides to buy it because she hopes it will stop Ruth from having an abortion.  Now that they have more space in their new home the baby will not be in the way.  The only problem with the new house is that it is in a white neighborhood.  Recently their have been bombings of blacks' house in white neighborhood.  The whole family is a little scared about what the reaction will be.

Act 2 scene 2 ends with Walter taking to Travis about what the money will do for their family.  He makes up an elaborate story.  I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen.  People don't get rich over night like Walter thinks is possible.  I hope I'm wrong, but the way things are going it doesn't look good.

A Raisin in the Sun Act 1 Scene 1

When I first started reading this play I wasn't sure if I would be able to relate to an African American family in the 1950's.  However once I got a few pages into the play I understood that it didn't really matter that the family was African American.  Their struggle to obtain their own "American dream" can be understood by people of all nationalities, genders, and religions.

In the first scene of the first act the audience learns about three of the characters dreams.  Mama or Lena's dream is to own a house.  This is a typical part of most people's dreams.  A house is important because it's something you own.  You can personalize it anyway you wish.  It would be especially good for her family because they would have more room and would not have to share a bathroom with other families.  Mama would really like to have a garden and having a piece land would allow her to grow the plants that she has been dreaming about.  In the meantime Mama keeps a plant in a pot on the ledge of their only window.  The plant is struggling to make it even though Mama keeps a close eye on it.  I think this is a reference to the dreams of her family.  They all posses their own dreams, but as each day passes it becomes harder to keep them alive.

Beneatha's dream is to become a doctor.  Not only is this ambitious because of her race, but also because she is a woman.  It doesn't make it easier that nobody in her family really believes in her.  She has to have a strong will because there is no way she could make it with her family telling her to give up all the time.  She is different from the rest of her family because she is the only one who has been to college.  Unlike the rest of her family she is interested in learning about the world and what makes it work.

Walter, Beneatha's brother, has his own dream.  His dream, which he got from one of his friends, is to open a liquor store.  Walter is convinced that opening the store will make him lots of money.  Deep down Walter wants to provide for his family like the man of the house should.  Walter hopes that Mama will give him part of the check to invest in the store.

I think their dreams are all relevant to the society the story is set it.  Some parts of them even transcend time and are relevant today.  I believe that people will always want to provide for their family.  It is human nature to want your family to have everything they want and need.

I also believe however that the "American Dream" changes.  The quintessential two story house on an acre of land with a white picket fence and a car in the driveway does not really apply to today's society.  This is at least the case for me.  I think because I've grown up with a nice house, multiple cars, and plenty of food and clothes that my dream is much different.  In a sense my standards are set higher.  Instead of just any house I would prefer a 3,000 square foot house on 20 acres out in the country.  This kind of goes back to the way that parents want to give their kids more than they had growing up.  If the trend continues then the the American Dream will continue to change.

End of Persepolis 118-153

The end of the novel is pretty sad.  There are quite a few events that negatively effect Satrapi's life.  The first important event was the death of one of her uncles.  He died from his third heart attack, but he could have been transferred to a foreign hospital where he could have received the treatment he need.  The reason he was not transferred was because he did not have the proper passport.  When Satrapi's mother went to try and get the passport she noticed that the man granting permission was her former widow washer.  She tried to ignore the fact that he used to wash her windows, but he recognizes her and delays the passport.  The uncle dies the day that the passport arrives.

Another bad event that takes place is when Iraq beings to attack Satrapi's city with long range missiles.  Even though her family has been aware of the war it has not really directly affected them.  This all changes with the missiles.  One day Marjane is away from her house when she hears that there has been a missile attack.  She rushes home to find that the missiles had hit her street, but had luckily missed her house.  She finally sees her mom and has never been as grateful to see her.

Without a doubt the biggest event in the novel is when Marjane's parents tell her that they are sending her away.  Her parents say that it's best for her, but Satrapi would rather stay with her parents.  Even though her parents say they will eventually move where she is going, she knows deep down they never will.  This upsets her.

Reading this novel was a new experience for me.  I'm glad I finally read a graphic novel, but I don't think they're for me.  I didn't like the lack of detail.  In most novels all of the important information is discussed on the pages.  In this graphic novel a lot of the detail was hidden in the pictures or required further research.

I also don't really understand why Marjane Satrapi wrote this novel.  She says she does it to basically shed light on the misconceptions that people have of the citizens of Iran.  The book was published in 2003 so it I figure she is referring mainly to the events of September 11th, 2001.  If this is the case I don't see how a novel about events that happened almost 30 years prior have much relevance.  It was hard for me to read about a child's thoughts about a particular event and believe them.  I think most people would agree that nine year olds do not really understand everything that happens in the world around them, and I think that is the case with this novel.  Marjane is highly influenced by her parents who happen to be very politically active.  In all situation there are two sides to every story and I think this is one time where it would be helpful to know how the other side felt.  I got tired of only hearing about what Marjane thought about everything.

Persepolis Pages 80-117

I thought the exercise in class today was pretty helpful.  Looking at the pictures more throughly and analytically helped me to find deeper meanings in the pictures.  Before this point I had pretty much just viewed the pictures and had not thought very deeply about their importance.  I enjoyed having to discover the meaning in the pictures today.  I really connected to the importance of only using black and white.  It made a lot of sense to me.  I also liked the idea of using the big pictures (whole page) to convey very important events in the author's life.

One of the reoccurring ideas in these pages is how the narrator is forced to grow up fast.  The revolution and the resulting war combined with her parents all force Marjane to grow up faster than a normal child her age.  Her parents have an effect on this because of how involved they are with the revolution and keeping up with the happens of the war.  Marjane sees them doing all of this and figures that she should do the same.  Satrapi knows a lot of the current events for a child her age.  One idea that confirms her growing up happens when one of Marjane mother's friends come to stay with them for a week.  She has two young boys that are about seven years old.  Even though there is only a two or three year gap between the boys and Marjane, Marjane acts much older.  The boys are surprised to find that she doesn't have any toys to play with.  In response to that she says "I'm all grown up.  I have books."

Besides being mature for her age she is also very compassionate.  She cares a lot for certain people including her parents, her uncle, and her parents friends.  She is always willing to help out the people who come to her house.  She makes them tea and takes care of their children.  She is especially compassionate towards people who have died fighting for the revolutionaries, such as her uncle.  Because she feels so strongly about the cause the revolutionaries are fighting for she understands the sacrifices they are making.

Persepolis Pages 40-79

After reading these pages I'm a little confused as to what the point of the book is.  The first set of pages were about how the narrator dealt with the social and political changes in her country as she was growing up.  I guess I thought that there would be more of a plot in this novel.  I've come to the conclusion however that this novel will just explain the Islamic Revolution in Iran from the view point of this young child.  I guess I don't really understand why the author choose to write this book, at least not yet.

The revolution really intensifies during these pages.  In the previous set of pages there were minor changes such as the veil.  Those changes weren't really followed because nobody was enforcing them.  That all changes though.

Marjane explains that the Shah eventually gives into the protesters and gives up his office.  At first he attempted to just appoint another leader and kind of take a back seat.  This plan didn't work because he couldn't find anybody that he deemed acceptable.  Because of this he is forced to leave and a new party steps into lead the country.  This new party is not quite what the protesters were hoping for.  It's strange because the protesters definitely dislike the Shah and want him gone, but they haven't really thought about who is going to replace them.  The new political party really plays up nationalism and religion.  They believe that the one unifying force in the country is their Islamic religion.  They set laws into place that include a strict dress code and no revolutionaries.  The protesters did not want laws that were that extreme. It's kind of ironic that they got rid of one ruling party just to have another ruling party take over that they are unhappy with.

Like the other protesters Marjane's parents are unhappy with the new political rulers.  Since Marjane is so young and looks up to her parents these new rulers have a big impact on her also.  The biggest effect on her is the veil.  She is now forced to wear one or risk being attacked.  One day her mother was in the streets and was not wearing the proper dress code.  A group of men came up to her and said that she should be raped and tossed in the trash for not conforming to the dress code.  This really upsets her and likewise upsets Marjane.  She does not understand why they must dress like that.

As I read further into this novel it became evident that Marjane's family believes in religion, but does not practice it.  Marjane starts off the book with many religious references such as saying she "was born with religion" and that she wanted to be a prophet.  She never really tells her parents about her feelings though.  Maybe she thinks they will not want her to get that involved with religion.

Another important outcome of the new ruling leaders is that school is stopped for two years.  This is apparently done so that the books can be rewritten.  It also has the effect of separating "thinkers" such as the people who would attend the universities.  These are the people who are most likely to oppose the new government.  The fact that they can't meet or that it is harder to meet in large numbers means that it is harder to form a strong group to revolt against the new power.

Marjane learns a lot about revolutionaries during these chapters also.  Her parents kind of explain to her why these people do what they do.  She also learns about one of her uncles who has been in prison for his actions against the government.  Anoosh really teaches Marjane a lot in the short time he stays with her and her family.  He tells her all sorts of stories that she really enjoys.  Eventually he leaves and is recaptured and is executed.  Marjane takes this very hard.  In one set of graphics she is shown talking to God and telling him that she doesn't want him in her life anymore because of what has happened to Anoosh.  This continues the long and changing relationship she has with God throughout the novel.

The last important event that happens as a result of the new government is the United States Embassy is taken over by the protesters.  This has a big impact on Marjane because this means that she can not get a visa to leave the country.  Some of her friends has left before the take over and had moved to the United States.  One of her friends was a boy she liked and she really wants to move to the United States so she can be with him again.  However the takeover prevents this possibly and makes her sad.

Pages 1-39 of Persepolis

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi is the first graphic novel I have ever read.  It really caught me off guard because I didn't know what to expect.  I was very surprised to learn that there are very few words compared to a regular novel.  At first I thought this might mean that it would just be a simple, quick read, but I think that is wrong.  The pictures add a whole new element to the understanding of the novel.  Like the saying goes a picture can say a thousand words.  I'm sure that throughout the novel the pictures will serve an important role.

The novel is narrated by a nine or ten year old girl that was born and lives in Iran.  The beginning of the novel covers a couple of topics including wearing veils and the Islamic Revolution in Iran.  The revolution is the event that really sets the novel in motion.  It causes the narrator and the rest of the female population to have to wear veils in public and it is also the event that the narrator's parents are heavily involved in.  The fact that the story is told from a first person point of view means that we only see one side of the story. I think it is important to remember that when the narrator talks about the revolution there is another group of people who feel completely differently than she does.

Having to wear a veil is a big deal for the narrator.  She is not accustomed to wearing one and feels like it is something that she doesn't want to do.  Along with wearing the veil comes segregation in school.  The narrator is probably more upset by this because she likes to interact with all kinds of people.  The mother's view on the veils is much different that the narrator's cosmic viewpoint.  The mother is adamant about not wearing a veil because of the ideas behind the action.  When the veil comes back into her life she has visions of a pervious ruling regime.  This regime was one that she did not like.  She feels so strongly about this issue that she protests day after day.

Protesting a big part of the parent's lives as well as the narrator's life.  The parents protest almost everyday.  They hope that eventually they will get the changes they desire.  The narrator views protesting as a good thing to do,but she does not really understand what is involved with it.

The narrator gets confused sometimes because she is learning one thing in school, but then at home she learns the opposite.  For example she was taught in school that God elected the king, but when she told her parents this they sat her down and told her the truth.

I think it will be interesting to see how the story unfolds and to see if it gets any clearer.  I had a little trouble following the story because of the scarcity of words and the numerous tangents the narrator goes off on.

Cathedral by Raymond Carver

"Cathedral" by Raymond Carver is a really good short story that deals with preconceived notions and how they are often times very inaccurate.  There are three characters in this story: a wife, her husband, and a blind man named Robert.  Before the wife had met her current husband she had worked part time for Robert, mainly readying to him and doing some organization.  Eventually she quit that job and moved away and married her husband.  Ten years have gone by since she quit and during that time Robert and the wife sent each other tapes to keep each other up to date on the life of the other one.  Robert's wife has recently passed away and he is coming to stay with the husband and wife.

Before Robert arrives the wife starts to tell her husband about Robert.  The husband grabs an alcoholic drink and listens.  After she has explained her relationship with Robert, her husband tells her what he knows and thinks about blind people.  He says "my idea of blindness came from the movies...the blind moved slowly and never laughed."  The reader can already tell that the husband is a shallow man who doesn't seem to know much about the world.  He also seems kind of scared of them.  He says "a blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to."

Eventually Robert arrives.  He is able to carry his own bag and even make it up the stairs with little help which surprises the husband.  The three characters have a few more drinks while talking about different things.  The conversation is focused between the wife and Robert.  This seems to aggravate the husband.

After talking for a while they sit down and have dinner.  Robert is able to cut his own food and feed himself.  Once again they partake in more drinking.  After stuffing themselves they retire to the living room once again.  It is not long before the wife goes upstairs to change and make up Robert's bed.  While she is gone Robert and the husband make small talk, but that eventually stops.  The husband does not really know how to act without his wife there.  She is the connection between Robert and the husband.  The husband resorts to something is very familiar with, marijuana.  The reader is told that he smokes every night.  He offers some to Robert who politely agrees and takes a few hits.  The wife comes in while this is going on a smokes a little too.

This is the big turning point in the story.  Up to this point the husband has been jealous, shallow, mean, and sometimes rude.  It's almost as if the alcohol and marijuana allow the husband to put down walls inside himself that contain what he knows.  He is able to listen to and understand Robert better throughout the rest of the story.

While watching TV a show about cathedrals comes on and they begin to watch and listen.  Robert asks the husband if he believes in anything and he says he does not.  Just a little while later Robert wants the husband to describe the cathedral to him.  The husband has a very hard time performing this task.  He is only able to describe the outside of the building.  It's as if he can not see the inside and doesn't know what exists there.  This is also the exact way the husband lives his life.  He is just concerned with what he can see.  He takes no time to discover new things or look further than the surface.  One example is his wife's poetry.  She writes a few poems per years about big events in her life, but the husband can not understand them.

The cathedral reference is important because it is associated with "faith".  Robert teaches the husband to have faith in the world.  Not necessarily spiritual faith, but faith in people, his wife, relationships, etc.  The husband started out the story as a man who just cared about what he could see.  He had a miserable life.  He didn't like his job and all he seemed to live for was coming home to smoke marijuana.  Robert's visit has show the husband that there is more to life.  He needs to explore deeper than the surface and he will be amazed at what he finds.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Like many of T.S. Eliot's other works, this poem is pretty difficult to comprehend.  There are deep meanings within the poem that are not easily understood from just one reading.  It takes multiple readings to really understand what he is saying.

The poem comes from the mind of Prufrock as if he is talking to someone else.  The audience is not sure who he is talking to though.  The first stanza talks about a bad part of town with "half-deserted streets", "one-night cheap hotels", and restaurants with "sawdust".  All of these clue the audience into the fact that Prufrock probably doesn't come from the nicest part of town.  He isn't high class.

As the poem continues the audience learns that he is going to some sort of dinner party or social function.  He describes the women who will be there by saying "In the room the woman come and go talking of Michelangelo."  He repeats this several times so it must be important.  He is saying that the women at the function are pretty high class.

A few stanza's down Prufrock says "There will be time, there will be time to prepare a face to meet the faces that you will meet."  Prufrock means that he will need to put on an alter ego or put up a front in order to attend the party.  His current attitude and actions will not be sufficient at the party.  They will know that he is not "one of them".

We learn that Prufrock is conscious of his appearance as the poem continues.  He says "With a bald spot in the middle of my hair" and "They will say: But how his arms and legs are thin."  This shows some of Prufrock's imperfections and also shows how he is worried about how he looks.  He knows that if they study him too long they will figure out that he isn't what he seems.  "For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse."

Prufrock has a hard time coming to terms with himself.  On top of not liking his appearance he the kind of person who keeps to himself, not that that's bad.  He says "I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across the floors of the silent sea."  This gives the picture of some little sea creature who lives far away at the bottom of the sea alone.  Maybe Prufrock is depressed as well.  He says "I am not Price Hamlet, nor was meant to be."  I take this to mean that he isn't really concerned about being the one in charge.  He is fine to be in the background.  This goes right along with wanting to be on the bottom of the ocean.

During the rest of the poem he contemplates going and talking to a girl at the function that he likes.  He decides not to however.  He doesn't want to have to put on a disguise just to talk to her.  He wants someone to love him for who he really is.  He seems to be scared of rejection.

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

This story by Joyce Carol Oates is one of the creepiest stories I have ever read.  The general idea of this short story is that the main character Connie is contemplating making the jump from pure to impure.  By pure I mean being a virgin and unpure would be losing her virginity.

Connie is described as a 15 year old female.  She is very pretty and knows it.  "She knew she was pretty and that was everything."  Like most girls her age she likes to hang out with her friends and mingle with the opposite sex.  Up until this point Connie has been a good girl and has not went "all the way."  Connie has two sides to her, her "home" side and her "away" side.  She acts different at home than she does with her friends.  She tries to act more respectable at home around her mother because she is constantly on Connie about something.  Away from her house Connie kind of let's loose, but not in necessarily a bad way.

The basic story line is that she tells her parents that she is going to the movies with a friend.  Instead of attending the movie they go across the street to a restaurant where all the older kids hang out.  She meets a guy and they leave to go somewhere else.  While crossing the street she sees another guy in a gold car who signals to her.  She pays him no attention, but looks back a few seconds later and he is still staring at her and says "Gonna get you, baby."  Then there is a jump in the story.  Connie has decided not to go to a bar-b-que with her family and instead decides to stay home, wash her hair, and get some sun.  Then the story really unfolds.  The first time I read the story I thought that it was real and it was super creepy to the point it was almost unbelievable.  Then I went back through the story and found an important part I skipped over.  The important sentences I forgot are "The asbestos "ranch house" that was now three years old startled her---it looked small.  She shook her head as if to get awake."  These sentences explain to the audience that what is coming next is a dream.  Once I figured that out I could understand the rest of the story a little better.

The rest of the story deals with the guy in the gold car coming to Connie's house.  He tries to persuade her into taking a "ride" with him.  He basically just wants to have sex with her.  They have an extremely long dialogue.  The whole time Connie stands behind a screen door.  Eventually Connie notices the guy seems to to wearing a wig, has make up on, and has stuffed his boots to make him look taller.  She also sees that he is much older than her, possibly 30, despite the fact that he tells her that he is only 18.

Another reason the audience can tell that the story is not reality is because the house only has a screen door.  Almost every house has at least a wooden door for protection in today's world.  Despite the fact that it is just a screen door, Connie seems to take refuge behind it.  It's as if she thinks it will hold this man back, that he won't be able to break it down.  It could also signify the line between being a virgin and not.  This is true because when she is inside the house she is in her parents world.  A world where Connie acts more reserved and she wouldn't think about having sex.  Once she leaves the house through the screen door at the end of the story she has made the decision to have sex.  After she has stepped outside the house she sees "land behind him and on all sides of him, so much land that Connie had never seen before and did not recognize except to know that she was going to it."  I take this to mean that Connie's world changes after she has sex.  She sees everything in a different light.  It is an important action in her life just like it is for everyone else in the world.  People always seem to act at least a little differently after they have sex the first time.

Arnold could represent a bad date or maybe a date that she might go on in the future if she keeps up her behavior of sneaking off to be with guys.  She might eventually be forced to make the same decision.  This dream could also all be made up from things Connie has previously thought about.  She could be acting out this scenario in her dream using people and ideas she had already thought about before.

There are a couple of more reasons that point to the story being a dream.  The first is because Connie doesn't recognize her own her.  Another reason is that Arnold seems to know way too much about Connie.  Even for a stalker the amount of information he knows is a little hard to believe.  He knows what her family is wearing and even what they are doing at that moment in time at the bar-b-que.  It is also strange that when he makes an "x" in the air it stays in the air "almost visible."

Anne Sexton's Snow White and Cinderella

Anne Sexton's renditions of the classics "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "Cinderella" follow the story line of the original Grimm Brother's stories, but contain a little more reality.  Instead of being true fairy tales, they tend to be more believable tales about more normal girls(if that's possible).

In "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" she starts out by comparing the virgin Snow White to a doll.  She describes her with the following features:  "legs made of Limoges", "lips like Vin Du Rhone", and "china-blue doll eyes".  Then she explains how she only keeps her eyes "open" to the good in the world and "shuts" them to the bad or unmoral.  She does not use open and close literally, instead she means that Snow White is aware of only the good, pure things in life.  For an example of the "bad" Sexton says "the thrust of the unicorn".  This is definitely a sexual reference.  It is most obvious because of word choice of thrust.

After that introduction Sexton describes Snow White's stepmom and explains how she is basically obsessed with her mirror.  She is so entranced with the mirror because she is extremely concerned with looks and beauty.  When the mirror tells her one day that Snow White is prettier, she orders Snow White to die.

Snow White luckily escapes and wonders off into the woods.  When it finally comes time for the seven dwarfs to meet Snow White they do so in a way that seems creepy and weird.  Sexton paints the picture of Snow White sleeping on the ground and the dwarfs circling her several times.  The dwarfs refer to her as "it" like she is an object instead of a person to them.

After Snow White wakes up the dwarfs allow her to stay with them.  They give her one rule and one rule only, do not open the door while they are at work.  They know that her stepmother is out to get her.  The first time Snow White foolishly opens the door her stepmother is disguised so that Snow White does not notice her.  She ends up selling her some lacing for her corset and laces it so tight that she dies.  When the dwarfs come home they undo the lacing and she comes back to life.  The same series of events happens another day when her stepmother sells her a comb.  Both of these scenarios show that like her stepmother Snow White is also concerned with her looks.

The last time her stepmother comes in contact with Snow White she sells her a poison apple.  Snow White eats it and falls into a deep sleep.  She stays like this for a very long time.  The dwarfs put her in a glass case and place her on a mountain.  One day a prince comes by and can not leave her side.  He is amazed by her beauty.  He ends up taking her back to his castle, but on the way he drops her and the apple is dislodged and she comes to life.  Then they live happily ever after.

A few things are strange about these events.  The first is that the dwarfs put her in a glass case.  The only reason someone would do this was so that they would stare at the person and kind of worship them.  It seems like the dwarfs and the prince for that matter are only fascinated by Snow White's appearance.  There is no talk of any of her other qualities.  Also at the end of the poem Sexton states that Snow White "sometimes referring to her mirror".  This explains that in the end Snow White isn't much different that her stepmother.

The Cinderella poem is similar in that the prince once again seems to only be concerned with her looks and basically forces himself on her.  About half way through the poem Sexton is talking about how Cinderella has been going to the prince's castle for a few days and has spent lots of time with him, but has always returned home at night.  The prince seems to want more out of the relationship so one night he breaks into Cinderella's house with an axe, but she is no where to be found.  The next night he puts wax on the steps which makes one of Cinderella's shoes fall off.  The prince takes the shoe and goes around the town looking for the owner.  He eventually finds Cinderella and they live happily ever after.

I thought it was strange that the prince would break down the door to her house.  Most females would have nothing to do with a man who would do something like that.  It is also strange that he puts the wax down to "trap" her.  It's as if he doesn't really care if she wants him or not, he is going to get her one way or another.  I thought it was also weird that he has to rely on a shoe to find Cinderella.  As the story explains both of her step sisters fit into the shoe(after some foot surgery) so it would be possible for multiple women to fit into the same shoe.  It is only when a bird tells the prince to look at their bleeding feet that he notices that they are the wrong women.  This shows the prince is superficial and is really only worried about looks.

Scenes 7-11 of A Streetcar Named Desire

The ending scenes of A Streetcar Named Desire provide a lot of insight into the life of Blanche which helps the audience understand why she acts the way she does.

The audience learns that Stanley has been investigating Blanche's past and has found out a lot of dirty details that she hasn't told anyone before.  According to Stanley Blanche slept with many men in Laurel and she even went as far as to sleep with one of her 17 year old students.  This act was what cost her her job, which is understandable.  Once Stanley learns all of the details about her past he feels obligated to tell his friend Mitch and Stella.  Stella reaction is disbelief.  She can't believe that Blanche would engage in those kind of activities.  Mitch is very upset when he learns about Blanche.  He was thinking about possibly marrying her, but now that he knows the truth he says she is "too unclean."  That doesn't stop him from trying to have sex with her though.  It seems like he feels she owes him at least that.

Stanley's actions prove to hit Blanche very hard, but I believe that the actions she took earlier in her life led to her demise more.  In my opinion marrying that boy at such a young age was her biggest mistake.  Even though times were different back then, 16 is still such a young age to get married.  People at that age don't even know who they are themselves, let along what they are looking for in a long term relationship.  The boy killing himself proves to continually haunt Blanche.  She has flashbacks of the nights events quite frequently.  It's as if she can't move on from being 16.  This might explain why she seems to have an affinity for young boys such as her ex-husband and the paper boy.  She probably feels like that is the right kind of man for her and they also make her feel good about her herself.  She is always worried about her age so if she is able to attract a young man it proves to herself that in a way she still has "it".

The reason Stanley is important in Blanche's life is because he pushes her over the edge.  He is constantly rude to her and belittles her all the time.  He didn't have to dig into her personal life, but he did anyway.  He didn't stop there though, he even told Blanche's boyfriend about her past.  By exposing her past Stanley takes away a lot of her credibility.  The meanest and most horrible thing Stanley does to Blanche is rape her.  That was completely uncalled for.  It is even worse that he did it while his wife was in labor.  When Blanche tells Stella about it she doesn't believe her.  She says that she can't continue to live with Stanley and believe Blanche.  She must choose one or the other and she decides to stay with Stanley.  Stanley has now taken away the most important person in Blanche's life.

The play ends with Blanche being taken to a mental institution.  The audience never finds out how her life unfolds after that.

Scenes 4-6 of A Streetcar Named Desire

The most important events in these scenes are the long conversation between Stella and Blanche and Blanche going on a date with Mitch.

Scene four beings with Blanche checking on her sister after she was hit by Stanley the night before.  She is shocked to see that she is at her house.  Blanche figured she'd still be recovering at the neighbors.  Stella and Blanche start talking about what happened and Blanche lets Stella know how she feels about the situation.  Blanche explains how she thinks it was wrong and how the two of them were raised to not accept that treatment.  Stella responds by saying it's fine.  She says "he didn't know what he was doing...he was as good as a lamb when I came back and he's really very, very ashamed of himself" (p.63).  I view this as as Stella making excuses for Stanley.  Most women would not accept that kind of treatment, so it is strange that Stella seems to just shrug off what seems to be fairly normal abuse by Stanley.

The audience gets a better idea of what is holding Stella and Stanley together when Stella tells Blanche "there are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark---that sort of make everything else seem---unimportant" (p.70).  She is basically saying that the sex is so good it makes everything ok.  It seems pretty shallow that that is the only thing holding their relationship together.  However now that they are having a baby, which is the end result of their activities in bed, they have something else to hold them together.

At the end of their conversation, in scene four, Blanche really unleashes and lets Stella know how she really feels about Stanley.  Neither one of them know, but Stanley is in the other room and overhears everything Blanche says.  Blanches tells Stella that Stanley is not a human, that he never evolved like everyone else.  She begs Stella to move on.  She makes quite a few references to animals including "acts like an animal...eats like one, moves like one", "apes gather", "grunting like him", "gnawing and hulking", and "party of apes" (p.72).  Her monologue is pretty harsh, but surprisingly Stanley does not confront her about it.  He calmly walks in and acts like nothing has happened.

One small event that adds to the theme of Blanche being very conscious of her age happens in chapter five.  A young man comes to collect money for the paper and Blanche starts to talk to him.  She makes advances at him and is pretty suggestive.  She eventually kisses him once and tells him to leave.  These actions by Blanche seems to prove to herself that she still has "it" and that maybe there is still someone out there that could love her.

The last event that is important in these scenes occurs in scene six.  The whole scene is devoted to Blanche and Mitch.  The two of them go on a date and seem to have a good time.  As the night draws on they eventually make it back to Stella's house and they enter.  They have the place to themselves and start to talk.  Blanche plays hard to get even though she knows what Mitch really wants.  After some awkward moments Blanche turns the conversation to herself and talks about a boy she used to love.  She goes on and on until she finally starts to cry.  Mitch comforts her and says "You need somebody.  And I need somebody, too.  Could it be---you and me Blanche?" (p.96)  This is where the scene ends, but it leave the audience guessing.  Perhaps Blanche and Mitch will continue their relationship.

Scenes 1-3 of A Streetcar Named Desire

The opening scenes of "A Streetcar Named Desire", like any opening scenes, serve to give the audience a general idea of at least a few of the characters and the location.  In the first three scenes of this play the audience learns that the play is set in Louisiana and more specifically New Orleans.  Six characters interact in the first three scenes, but only three of them really make an impact on what happens.  They are Stanley and Stella Kowalski, and Blanche DuBois.

Stella and Blanche are sisters who used to have a close relationship, but after Stella moved to New Orleans they drifted apart.  Blanche comes to visit Stella in the first scene.  Blanche is shocked to find out where Stella lives.  In the letters they have sent to each other Stella made the apartment seem elegant, but in Blanche's opinion it is anything but.  Both sisters grew up on a nice plantation with probably a decent amount of money so it is shocking for Blanche to see how Stella really lives.

The second and third scenes quickly set up a contrast of personalities.  On one side is Blanche and on the other is Stanley and Stella falls in the middle.  Stanley is portrayed as a man's man, but not in any way a Southern gentleman, which is what Stella and Blanche grew up accustomed to.  In the first scene Stanley yells out to Stella and then throws "meat" at her.  Despite being a sexual reference it also foreshadows how he treats Stella.

Blanche shows up to New Orleans in a white fluffy dress with lots of pearls and other jewelry.  The reference to white is important because it signifies her purity or in other words how innocent she is to the type of city she is visiting.  Blanche is worried about the way Stanley treats Stella.  She thinks Stella deserves better.

Blanche and Stanley don't really like each other.  Blanche views Stanley as an abusive an abusive husband and Stanley thinks Blanch is annoying.  Blanche is even referred to as a "moth."

Blanche's suspensions come true when Stanley hits Stella after having a little too much to drink.  The bad part of the situation is that Stella isn't really upset.  After crying for a few minutes she seems to shrug it off.  It seems like she is used to being abused by Stanley, something Blanche does not understand.

Response to "I Go Back to May 1937"

The poem "I Go Back to May 1937" by Sharon Olds is a reflection of how the speaker views her parents in their younger days now that she is older.  The overall theme is that despite the troubles her parents have had, some of which probably effected her, she would not changed any of them.

The speakers first describes her parents at their separate colleges as they are "about to graduate."  It seems as if he parents didn't go to the same college and lived pretty far away from each other.  The speaker describes the arch that her dad is standing under as "ochre sandstone arch, the red tiles glinting like bent plates of blood."  The ochre sandstone makes me think of a western state.  One part of this description that caught my attention was the description of the tiles.  She describes the color as blood, which in my opinion is a strange object to compare a tile too.  There are many other objects that are red in color that carry a more positive connotation.  Maybe she is foreshadowing something that will happen later in her parents life.

She describes her mom as carrying "a few light books."  The first thing that I thought was that it's not normal for people to have books at graduation.  Maybe this could mean she isn't ready for the real world.  She goes on to say "they are kids...dumb...innocent."  This adds to the idea that they don't know what they are getting into.

The second half of the poem describes how her parents are wrong for each other.  The speaker says "she's the wrong woman...he's the wrong man."  Then she explains that they both do things that they would have never though they would do and eventually they wish they could just die.  Then she goes on to describe her parents after they have met each other.  She describes her mom as "hungry pretty face" and her dad as "arrogant handsome face."  The description of her mom could mean that she has a desire to succeed or maybe she is not satisfied with the relationship she is in.

Perhaps the most important words of the poem come after the second description of her parents.  She says "I want to live."  It's a very simple sentence, but caries a powerful meaning, especially to the speaker.  It serves as a contrast to the lives of her parents.  For most of the poem the speaker has told about how unhappy and sad her parents lives have become and even goes as far as to say they wish they could die.  Her statement that her life is important to her despite what she has been put through by her parents hints that it might not be as bad as she has made it out to be.  The grass may not be greener on the other side so to speak.

Response to "A Different Road"

"A Different Road" by Elizabeth Strout is a short story that attempts to explain how being held at gun point altered Olive and Henry Kitteridge's relationship.  The story starts out with Olive going to the store to buy some fabric and follows her all the way home.  During her travels their are numerous flashbacks to an important night in their New England town.  The night starts out when the Kitteridges go to eat with another couple.  On the way home Olive starts to feel bad and must stop at the hospital to use the bathroom.  Even though it is just an upset stomach, the nurse insists that Olive stay and get checked out.  Then out of nowhere two masked gunmen enter the hospital and take everyone hostage in the bathroom.  While being held hostage Olive and Henry make harsh comments to each other that eventually lead to a strain in their relationship.

People in town notice that the Kitteridges aren't quite as friendly as they used to be before the hostage situation.  They attribute this to the general situation they were in.  Little do they know that the real reason for the change in Olive and Henry's attitude is the words that were said to each other that night.

The insults are started after Olive tells the nurse to quite saying her Hail Marys.  She really is just trying to help Henry because she knows how he was raised and how much she believes he dislikes to hear Hail Marys.  Instead of thanking Olive he tells her to shut up.  This infuriates Olive and the insults start to fly.  There are two main insults.

The first is when Olive says that their son, Christopher, left because he knew that Henry would not accept his Jewish wife.  Henry however blames Olive and says that Christopher left because Olive was too overbearing and took over his life.  This insult is hurtful to both of them because they both love Christopher and hated to see him leave.  Instead of thinking about logical reasons, they resort to blaming each other for their son leaving.

The other insult deals with Henry's mom.  Olive says that Henry isn't really to blame for his actions because of how he was raised by his mother.  She goes on to say that his mother basically thought she was perfect and could do no wrong.  No matter how strong a relationship is, talking about the other persons family is always a sensitive subject.  Henry gets really irritated when Olive mentions his mother.

The audience knows that Olive and Henry are an older couple, perhaps in their 60's, who have probably been married for a long time.  It is strange that they would resort to insulting each other like they do and especially in front of other people.  This might hint that their relationship isn't very strong or even that there are even more problems.

Olive is portrayed as a feisty women, but deep down she seems insecure and unstable.  It is strange that Henry defending the nurse would get her worked up as much as it did.  She must be upset about other areas of her life.  One area is probably Christopher.  When she is talking to a friend of her's about her daughter, Karen, she seems delighted to hear that Karen has been having an affair and that Karen's children dislike their grandmother (Olive's friend).  Olive takes pleasure in hearing this because she dreamed of having grandkids of her own.  She had already planned what she would do with them.  Now that Christopher is gone, her dreams are also gone.

Another big issue that creates problems between Olive and Henry is the fact that Olive seems to be attached to one of the gunmen.  The connection starts while they are still held hostage when Olive comments that she bought her son a ski mask very similar to the one that the gunman is wearing.  From that point on Olive sort of takes the young man under her wing.  She constantly dreams about the young man and what he is doing in prison.  She even wants to make him a smock to wear.  This issue might be the hardest for Henry to deal with.  He must think that she is crazy for wanting to keep in contact with someone who had almost taken their lives.

Chapters 10-13 of No Country for Old Men

This novel did not end like I suspected it would.  I thought that eventually Ed Tom Bell would catch up to Chigurh and possibly kill him.  That would make sense considering how these types of books tend to go, but that was not the case.  The final chapters basically talk about Bell's decision to retire and why he feels that way.

I think the primary motivation for Bell to retire was the fact that he could not uphold his duty to protect the citizens of his county.  Having the unsolved murders on his record was too much for him to handle.  Bell pretty much took the job to make up for leaving his men behind to die.  Not being able to solve the murders eats away at Bell to the point where he has no other choice.

Bell might also be worried about the increasing dangers associated with his job.  He mentions quite a few times throughout the novel that the job is getting more dangerous and that it isn't what it used to be.  He gives specific examples of how people have been killed on the job.  He doesn't think that he would be willing or capable to give his life for the job.  The fact that Chigurh can not be found and that he has killed so many people, including Carla Jean, who had no direct contact with the murders, probably scares Bell.  He might think that Chigurh might try to kill him one day.

I thought it was strange that there is not really a conclusion to Chigurh's character.  The audience is never told what happens to him.  I suppose it is somewhat fitting considering the man that Chigurh is.  He seems like the type of person who could just disappear.

Chapter 9 of No Country for Old Men

There isn't a whole lot that happens in this chapter plot wise, but the audience does learn more about Chigurh and Bell.  The three main events in this chapter are Chigurh killing Carla Jean, Ed Tom Bell's conversation with his uncle, and Chigurh getting into a car accident.

The first event that happens is Chigurh killing Carla Jean.  Somehow Chigurh tracks down where she is living and is waiting inside her bedroom when she comes back from her mother's funeral.  Carla Jean isn't really shocked to see him because she knew that it would always be a possibility from the moment Llewelyn took the money.  It seems as if Chigurh is set on killing her, but wants to torture her mentally.  Instead of getting right to the point, they have a long conversation about fate and promises.  Chigurh feels like it was meant for him to be there and that he promised to kill Carla Jean so he must do it.  I thought it was strange however that the coin flip is brought back into the novel.  Chigurh flips a coin and tells Carla Jean to call it.  She refuses, but eventually makes a call which is not the right one.  Apparently Chigurh takes this to mean that her death is justified and that he is just the one who has to do it.

While reading about the coin flip I wondered to myself what would have happened if Carla Jean had called it right?  Would Chigurh have let her live?  After thinking about it I came to the conclusion that he would have killed her either way.  It was stated earlier in the novel that nobody that knew what Chigurh looked like was still alive.  I believe he wanted to keep it that way.

This coin toss senario is different from the one at the gas station.  As we know the attendant at the gas station correctly called the coin and was spared.  Chirguh didn't go into the store with the intention of kill the man.  He just randomly happened to stop at that particular gas station and that man was the one working.  It could have easily been someone else.  This differs with Carla Jean's situation because Chigurh was trying to find her.  He wanted to find and kill her.  There was nothing random about him finding her.

The second event is the conversation between Moss and his uncle.  They talk about their family history, Moss' actions during the war, and about luck.  While talking about war, Moss reveals how he earned, or in his opinion did not earn, the bronze star.  Moss' squad was held up in house when a mortar round hit it and tore it apart.  Many of his fellow soldiers died.  Moss however was alive.  He knew that the enemies would come looking for survivors so he found a .30 caliber machine gun and killed some of the enemies who tried to approach.  As night fell Moss thought that the enemies would start throwing grenades and there was no way he could defend against that.  Moss decided to save his life and leave as fast as he could.

Moss explains this to his uncle who is supportive of Moss.  Llewelyn said that he always thinks about it. What I got from that story was that Moss because a sheriff in order to try and make up for leaving his men behind in battle.  Moss probably feels that if he can keep others safe then he will feel better about his previous actions.

One of the memorable quotes about luck comes from their conversation.  His uncle says "you never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from."  I thought that that statement was pretty true. People seem to complain about certain events in their lives, but really don't think about how much worse it could have been.

The last important event is the car accident Chigurh is involved in.  Chigurh is just driving along when out of nowhere a vehicle hits him.  A split second before the hit Chigurh notices the vehicle and is able to jump to the passenger seat.  Even this does not keep him from being injured.  He still suffers a badly broken arm and several lacerations.  Chigurh comments that he always keeps his seat belt off for moments like that.  This shows me that Chigurh is always planning ahead.  He seems to have an answer for every situation.

Chapters 7 and 8 of No Country for Old Men

In my opinion these chapters where the most shocking so far.  In these chapters Carla Jean calls Ed Tom Bell to let him know where Llewelyn will be.  This tips off the people who are looking for Moss because they have Bell's phone wire tapped.  Moss is mainly busy keeping a hitchhiker company throughout these chapters.  He just saw her on the side of the road and decided to pick her up.  The most shocking event that takes place is the death of Moss.

Carla Jean calling Bell to reveal her husband's location was shocking because in the previous chapters she had been strongly supportive of Moss and acted like she would never give him up.  I think she eventually gave in because she couldn't handle not knowing what was happening with Moss.  She might have thought that if she told Bell where Moss was then he could take him into custody.  Even thought Moss might have to go to prison for a little while at least he would be safe and alive and she would get to see him again.  This plan completely back fires and ends up being the cause of Moss' death.

The fact that Moss picked up a hitchhiker shows to me that he was trying to be helpful.  It reinforces the idea that Moss is more or less a normal person.  Moss might have also picked her up because he wanted someone to talk to.  He had been unable to communicate his feelings to anyone for quite a long time.  I think picking up the hitchhiker made Moss let his guard down a little bit.  He was drinking about talking with her on the outdoor steps at the motel.  He would definitely have not done that in previous chapters.

Moss' death came as a big surprise, at least this early in the novel.  It occurs with over forty pages left.  It was also surprising because it came from nowhere.  The hitchhiker and Moss were talking, then a pause there a paragraph about a Barracuda, another pause and then Police show up and it is revealed that Moss is dead.  There is no real explanation of what happened.  The author might have eliminated Moss this way so that the audience would have unanswered questions and keep reading.  At the same time however it might turn people away from the book in disgust because the "would be hero" is dead.

Rest of Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 of No Country for Old Men

This chapter is definitely an important one for the plot of the novel.  Both Chigurh and Moss were shot in the last chapter.  In this chapter the two of them both get treatment, but in different ways.  Chigurh treats himself, while Moss relies on a hospital.  Even though Moss is undoubtedly worse off than Chigurh I think the ways they handle being hurt reflect how prepared they are.  Moss doesn't really know what he is getting into, while Chigurh acts like he's done it before.

The most important part of this chapter, at least in my eyes, is the introduction of Carson Wells.  Wells is a hired gun basically.  He is hired to find the money and bring it back to its' owner.  Carson tracks down Moss with relative ease.  He explains to Llewelyn exactly who Chigurh is and what Chigurh does to people he meets.

I think Wells is important for a few reasons.  The first is that he connects all of the characters.  He has ties with the mob or cartel, Chigurh, and now Moss.  He is the one person who seems to be in the middle of it all.

Carson is also similar to Chigurh and Moss.  Wells was in the military like Moss and Wells is a killer like Chigurh.  I personally think that Wells was the one person who could have killed Chigurh.  Wells knows Chigurh very well.  He understands that Chigurh does not let people live.  Wells shows how fearless he is during his final encounter with Chigurh.  He doesn't really back down and keeps the pressure on Chigurh.  All of it was for nothing though because he dies just a little while later at the hands of Chigurh.

Another feature that Wells shares with Chigurh is the fact that he believes in fate or predestination or something of the sort.  When Wells finds the bullet hole in the old lady's calendar he knows that it is significant, but I don't think he realizes why.  When he faces Chigurh he then understands that that date was to be the day that he was killed.

Chapters 4 and Part of 5 of No Country for Old Men

I thought these chapters were the most exciting yet.  The basic plot of these chapters is that Moss recovers the money that he hid in the air duct and discovers a transponder.  Moss now understands how he was being tracked so easily.  Llewelyn searches for the transponder and eventually finds it.  Instead of breaking it or discarding it, he chooses to leave it in the room with him.  I thought this was a strange decision.

Early the next morning Moss suddenly wakes up for no apparent reason.  He has a feeling that something is wrong though.  Moss hides under the bed with his shotgun and waits to see what is going to happen.  Chigurh appears in the door and enters the room.  Moss immediately considers shooting him, but holds off. Chigurh goes to investigate the bathroom, but does not go in.  Instead he turns around starts to leave the room.  That's when Moss comes out from under the bed and makes Chigurh surrender his weapon.  Moss eventually leads the two of them outside and starts to run away.  Chigurh takes aim at Moss and hits him a couple of times.  Llewelyn is only able to hit Chigurh in the leg.

The confrontation continues out into town where two other men start to shoot at Moss.  Somehow Moss escapes the gunfire with just a few wounds.  He comes to a bridge.  He throws the briefcase full of money down into some tall grass and continues across.  Moss struggles to survive, but eventually finds someone who will take him to a hospital.

I figured that Moss would eventually have to face somebody who wanted to either harm or kill him.  I guess it makes sense that Chigurh was that person.  The gun fight they take part in was thrilling, but I questioned Moss' actions.

When Chigurh first enters the hotel room I figured that Moss would just shoot him right there, but instead he holds off.  That did not make sense to me.  Moss must know that Chigurh is there to take the money and probably kill him.  Maybe Moss cannot make himself pull the trigger.  Chigurh would have had no clue where Moss was if Moss would have just destroyed the transponder.  One of Moss' previous statements was that he knew he would probably have to kill somebody.  Moss might have intentionally left the transponder in the same room so that he could fight the person on his own terms instead of having them track him down without him knowing about it.

Chigurh's accuracy is unlucky for Moss.  A few pages before their fight started Chigurh had taken aim at a bird, but had missed.  Moss was not as lucky.  He was shot several times, enough to make him feel like passing out.

It seems like Chigurh operates purely on fate.  He must think that he is supposed to be doing what he is doing and that the people had it coming for them anyway.  Moss is different though.  I think Moss is lucky and smart in someways.  You could argue that finding the money was lucky for Moss.  The fact that the intruders failed to shut the blinds all the way and that he wasn't killed by Chigurh is also lucky.  Moss could be considered smart because of actions such as making a sawed off shotgun, hiding the money in the air duct, and knowing not to give in to his temptation to lay down after being shot.  I think a lot of this can be attributed to his time in Vietnam.  He probably learned a lot of valuable skills that he is now putting to good use.

Chapter 2 and 3 of No Country for Old Men

The plot of the novel really starts to pick up in these two chapters.  We are finally given the sheriff's name, Ed Tom Bell.  Bell actually plays more of a roll in these chapters too.  Instead of just sitting around his office or retelling stories of his past, he gets involved in the story.  Himself and one of his deputies go to investigate a car fire and stumble upon the murder scene during their investigation.  They instantly recognize Moss' truck.  Once I found out that they knew it was Moss' truck I wondered how involved they thought he was or if he was even involved.  The deputy said that Moss seemed like a nice guy.  I think it will be interesting to see how seriously they pursue Moss as a suspect.

Moss is busy in these chapters as well.  He has to send his girlfriend away to a relatives house because he figures it is too dangerous for either one of them to stay in their trailer.  Moss then proceeds to rent a motel room.  This room allows Moss to hide the money deep inside of the air duct.  He also uses the room to make modifications to a shotgun he bought.  Moss cuts off a large portion of the barrel and the stock, essentially making it a pistol grip shotgun.  I thought it was strange of Moss to go to the store and buy random items such as pliers and tent poles.  I'm curious to see how he will use those.

Moss' actions could seem a little frightening to some readers.  All of his actions seem pretty well thought out.  This led me to question his motives.  Why didn't he just go away with his girlfriend?  Why risk getting tracked down?  If I were in his shoes I would get out of town as soon as possible.

The audience knows that Llewelyn is a veteran.  Perhaps that explains why he is so calculated about what he is doing.  Most people would not automatically go to the store and buy the materials to make a sawed off shotgun.  There is also a reference to a claymore mine, which he would be very familiar with since he was in the military.  Part of me wonders if he is out looking for a little trouble.

Anton Chigurh isn't as brutal as we've seen before in these chapters.  He shows a different side to him though.  A smart determined side.  Before reading these pages the audience might have thought that Chigurh was just a brutal person and lacked much sense, but some of his actions prove otherwise.

When Anton goes to the crime scene he discovers Moss' truck.  Even though the license plate is gone, Anton is smart enough to take the identification plate from the door.  Chigurh then shows up at Moss' trailer a few pages later.  This must mean that somehow Chigurh was able to use the plate to look up Moss' address.

I think it will be interesting to see if Chigurh finally catches up to Moss and if Moss is ready if he does.