LeAndraLit

Dorothy Allison

2006-04-28T17:58:00.000-04:00

I really like this book, when I am reading I just want to know what's going to happen next. The flow of this story is different from what I have read before, the story flows nicely from almost a day to day pace. There are times like when they move from apartment to apartment, but for the most part the story is about what is happening from moment to moment.

I don't really know what to think about Bones mother. It really made me mad when she sat outside the door while Glen beat Bone and then tried to comfort her after, what kind of mother does that. Is she really not seeing what's going on or is she trying to pretend it's not happening? Like we said in class, she is very similar to Stella's character. I haven't read the end yet but I hope Bone's mother is stronger than Stella and sees Glen for what he really is and chooses her children over a boy.
Now that I have read the end it makes me even more upset that people like that even have children. I know in a way that leaving Bone behind was Annes' way of doing Bone right, but really she should have sent Glen to jail and worked on restoring the relationship she has so badly ruined between Bone and herself. Anne and Glen deserve eachother. Another thing that bothers me is what about Reese, where is she during all this, obviously she went with them, what is going to happen to her?

Poor Bone, I don't know how children that are abused like that deal with it. I really hoped that she was going to tell her aunt when she asked her about Glen touching her. Her aunt gave her the respect and love that Bone deserved, and for once in a long time Bone felt safe again. It is so sad to see how the Anne is allowing Glen to slowly push Bone out of the house more and more. The aunt was right when she told Anne that Bone is not safe in the house with Glen there. Glen has so much anger and to me it seems that Bone is just someone to take it out on.
I was glad to see in the end she started to let up a little and let people help her, I can't even imagine how a child like that can even begin to start the process of healing after such a traumatic event.

James Dickey - The Heaven of Animals

2006-04-26T14:18:00.000-04:00

I liked the poem The Heaven of Animals, I had to read it a few times, but this is what I got from it -
To me it seems that this poem is what it seems, how Heaven is in the eyes of animals and their animalistic nature. The first passage says it all " If they have lived on plains It is grass rolling under their feet forever", meaning if they lived on the plains that is exactly what is like in Heaven for that animal. It goes on to describe how it is different to each animal, like when it says " For some of these, it could not be the place it is, without blood". Also these animals are described to be at their best, perfect in Heaven," But their claws and teeth grown perfect, more deadly than they can believe". " ... Upon the bright backs of their prey may take years in a sovereign floating of joy", This means that these animals are on top of the world so to speak, they are top rank in Heaven. The animals that are the prey live in no fear because they know what is in store for them when they die.

Revelation

2006-04-19T13:22:00.000-04:00

I liked this story much better than the others. Mrs. Turbin is very much into the appearance of other people. Throughout the whole story she is looking at other people and judging them by their appearance. My favorite scene was when she was looking at peoples feet. She is judging their level in society by the shoes they are wearing - the lady who's shoes matched her outfit was in an upper class, the lady wearing bedroom slippers, black straw with gold threaded through them was white trash, the girl wearing girl scout shoes was at the lower end because she seemed too old to be wearing them, and of course her nice patent leather shoes put her on the higher end. When she is conversing with the pleasant lady, she is doing so because the lady is dressed nicely. The little boy on the couch was immediately white trash to her because he was wearing ratty clothing, dirty, and his nose was running and no one was paying attention to that. Also the way he just sat there "kind of vacent and white trashy" was another observation she had made of him and his trashy white mother. Mrs. Turbin was looking at the ugly girl's face and thinking to herself "I may be fat, but I have always had nice skin". She is justifying being fat by having nice skin. Everything she found faulty about her self, she found something positive to make her still seem better than the others in the room. I was glad that in the end she realized that there is more to life, that it can change in an instant.

Presentations

2006-04-10T14:35:00.000-04:00

I thought all the presentations were great, everyone had such different techniques on how to present. I loved all the painting, they were so colorful and I liked how they told a story. But I agree that I don't understand why any one would break up a set like that. It is really interesting how he painted them, on the brown paper and with tempera paint. The break down of the music was also interesting. I never realized how many different types there were. I really liked how they had the power point as a back drop with the main point, but didn't just read off of to - that is so boring when people do that. The food presentation was so different from ours, They really had some interesting facts that I did not find. The movie presentations were great, I thought that both group[s did a wonderful job pulling themes from them. I didn't know that Driving Miss Daisy was based on a true story, that just makes the movie even better. I loved the scenes that were picked out from The Color Purple, I think that they were definately strong points in the movie.

Flannery O'Connor

2006-04-04T09:00:00.000-04:00

I don't know if I like her or not, her stories were so sad. They remind me of the stories by Poe - their styles are different but the sadness behind them is the same. O'Connor is very descriptive in her writhing, this made it a little hard for me to get in to the stories because I found it distracting. It help me visualize the characters, but took me off track of the story. A Good Man Is Hard to Find was nothing like I expected it to be. The whole story was how a series of events can lead up to the killing of the whole family, but what if one of those events were changed- would the family still be alive. I think the grandmother should have said something the minute she realized she was in the wrong state.

The Displaced Person was even more strange than A Good Man Is Hard to Find. The part that really bothered me was when Mrs. McIntyre didn't say anything and let Mr. Shortly run over Mr. Guizac for their own selfish reasons. I can understand Mrs.Shorley's fear of the displaced people because if all she knew is the images of the holocaust that is a frightening image to have for anything.

I get the point behind the stories - now that we have discussed it in class. I would have never of guessed she was a Christian women at all form these stories. She proves a good point though, some people forget their true religious self until they are faced with something tragic and they need God.

Tennessee Williams scenes 7-11

2006-03-24T17:46:00.000-05:00

The end was a surprise to me, I didn't expect Blanche to go crazy. To look in to her past I can understand why she would go crazy. I think all she wanted was to be loved and taken care of, but what she got was men taking advantage of her vulnerability. And I think the thing with the 17 year old student had to do with her husband, it seems as though she was trying to get that from him or maybe he reminded her of him. But I definitely think that was related. I can't believe that Stanley raped her while his wife was in the hospital having his son. He seemed to be a somewhat nice guy when he was sober, besides when he beat Stella. He is a very dominating character and he will not have in any other way.
Stanley and Stella are a completely different couple compared to Tea Cake and Janie. With Tea Cake and Janie they had a more equal relationship rather that with Stanley and Stella, Stanley had ALL the power, even with his friends. The one similarity I did see is that both women would do anything for their husbands because they loved them - like when Janie let Tea Cake beat her so he knew he had her. I enjoyed reading about most of their relationship because it was different than what we have been reading, most female characters were "the wife".
I definitely enjoyed this play and it had some very unexpected twists to it.

T. W. Scenes 1-6

2006-03-22T14:09:00.000-05:00

I have read this story before, but it has been so long I don't remember anything from it except I didn't like it then. Although I am enjoying it this time around. I like the women characters in this story. Stella really love Stanley and wants to be with him despite his character flaws. Her sister can't understand that. Blanche seems to be to be self absorbed in the beginning but does show genuine concern for her sister after Stanley shows his bad side. Blanche is a very needy character that constantly needs positive attention to make herself feel better. She tries to appear as a prim and proper lady, but in actuality she is not; she flaunts herself and flirts with everyone. There always seems to be something going on like there is no down time for these people, everything is so dramatic. I love the scene where Blanche is looking for a compliment and Stanley will not give it to her and tells her why, to me that was the frosting on the cake. It really showed her that not everyone has to tell her how great she looks all the time. I agree that it is nice to have a compliment once in a while but she wants them all the time by everyone she comes in contact with. I don't like how Stella tries to feed in to that need, she does it a few times. Once when she is telling Stanley to tell Blanche how pretty she looked in her new dress, and also when Blanche was talking about how she is still the same size she was 10 years ago.

Hurston

2006-03-16T07:20:00.000-05:00

I definitely am enjoying this story a lot more. I like how the story is told in dialogue, for me it makes it easy to follow. It also helps me get in to the story, kind of like I am watching it on TV. I like Janie's character, she seems to be independent and it is nice to read a story, set in that time, that has a strong female character. I really like the beginning when Janie comes home and the people of the town are all talking about her - I think that is so funny. It really gives you the picture of a small town and everyone knows everyone and all their business.
Janie is looking for true love and is not happy that her grandmother forces her to marry Logan. She did it all in love because she wanted her to have a good life, a better life than she had, but actually ends up doing the opposite. As a female in today's society I can not even imagine what it feels like to be forced to marry someone, especially if your not even slightly interested in the person. I was glad to see her do what she wanted and try to find the love she is looking for, even if she never finds it she can't say she never tried.

Porter

2006-03-01T12:56:00.000-05:00

I really liked these stories. The friendship between Nannie and Miss Sophia Jane was a nice change. I was tired of seeing all the negative relationships between races, this was definitely not a usual relationship between a white women and a black women. They really seemed to bond and be best of friends, I really liked the scene when Nannie is sick and Sophia Jane takes care of the babies - to me that really proves true friendship. What would of happened to Nannie's baby if she had not taken over. This scene also help Sophia Jane see what she was missing out on in with bonding her own children. Nursing the babies put Sophia Jane in Nannie's shoes and helped her see why they cared and bonded with the children the way they did.
Miranda was a cute character. I liked the way she was described with her overalls and how she was digging in the dirt not afraid of getting dirty. She was a curious little girl that liked to explore things. The scene when they found the gold ring showed her girlish side, she was thinking about taking a bath, putting on her dress, and just sitting under a tree looking pretty - how girls are supposed to act.

Faulkner

2006-02-22T13:03:00.000-05:00

In the last two chapters I understood things a little better than before. Isaac goes on a trip, and he talks about how the wilderness is shrinking as he gets older. He says that when he was born there was just enough left for him. The book shows how the time is moving on by mentioning the machines on the farm, the train, and now the cars. This also shows how he wilderness is shrinking because you need more room to travel with trains and cars.
The encounter with the women and her baby was interesting. It almost seemed like a friendly visit in the sense that she was telling him about herself and the tone of their talk. It was disappointing that he let the rules of society get in the way of having a relationship with the child just because of what people would think. Although, I thought it was nice he gave the baby the horn.

Pantaloon In Black

2006-02-16T08:59:00.000-05:00

I found this story to be especially difficult to read and understand. The old people wan't so bad, but Pantaloon in Black was difficult for me. From what I get Rider is greiving his wives death and tries to sooth his pain with liquer. In the end because of his actions he gets lynched, as a black man his feelings and emotions were not considered in this decision. It bothered me how casual the ending seemed, like killing an African American was no big deal.
The Old People was a bit better. I understood a little bit better how Isaac fit in to the whole picture. The hunting was bonding for Isaac and Sam Fathers, this was a nice change of events. The scene when I saac shoots his first deer was exciting. I grew up in a family that hunted and I know how excited people can get.

Desiree's Baby

2006-02-07T07:52:00.000-05:00

I really liked this story, it had a great twist at the ending. The fact that Armond assumed that Desiree was the one with the African heritage was cruel and when he found out the truth it was too late. This story had a lot of subtle ideas in it. When Madame Valmonde saw the baby and was asking all those questions, Desiree didn't pick up on it. She was comparing the babys features to the biracial boys in the room Also when all the neighbors from far off were coming just to see the baby for no specific reasons, she still didn't understand why. The description in the end of Desiree, I think, says it all even before we find out about the letter to Armond from his mother.