Overall Thoughts.....

During the last ten weeks I have discovered that I have a love, hate relationship with literature.  I have also discovered that if I ever have to take a Lit class again I would never do it online. I also discovered that I know very little about many aspects of literature and how to analyze poems.  I have a very hard time with them. Who knew there were so many types??  And stressed and non stressed syllables..

In the future I would like to spend more time on this topic to further my knowledge but I would like to do it on my terms.  At many times through this course I felt rushed and pushed along. 

Short Stories, Poems or Plays

I have discovered through this course that I do not like reading poetry...I would much rather read short stories.  And plays I almost always want to see not read.

I like short stories because they are easier for me to grasp.  I don't have to dissect them and figure out what meaning there is in a poem sideways or three sentences long.

My favorite short stories are ones that are easily relateable and understand.  I do like trying to pull out the meaning and others classmates perspectives.

Fences

Although I'm not fond of reading plays, I do think Fences was a good play to read.  It was easy to follow and sometimes I was reading so fast that I would forget which character was saying what line.  Fences was easy to imagine in your head and have an idea of what the setting and theme was. 

On page 1055 where Troy and Cory are arguing about him playing baseball...I wish I could see the frustration in Cory's face...when he says "Just cause you didn't have a chance! You just scared I'm gonna be better than you, that's all"

It was also easy for me to relate to Rose and her effort to keep her family together as much as possible.  For her patience with Troy and his drinking, adultery and anger. 

Chapter 23 Reading A Play

Although I found the information in this chapter helpful I still prefer to see a play rather then read one.  I like to see the facial expression on the characters faces and to be able to visually see the props and stage.  I do agree with the chapter that the play is literature before becoming alive in a theatre. And if might prove to be helpful to read the play to get a better understanding.  But I also like a play to come to life for me and have me at close attention.  The best play I have ever been to was a production of The Diary of Anne Frank....my best friend was Anne and it was amazing....I still can remember her scream 15 years later when they were discovered above the store.  

Lit Chat Cirle-Group E

I really enjoyed our Lit Chat Circle this week.  We had three poems to go over....
~The One Girl at the Boys Party
~Daddy
~Daystar

I found it interesting that each of us in the group were women and all the poems were written by women.  They also represented in my mind life stages of women.  Or the trial and tribulations we can go through.

I really liked Daystar because as a mother of two young boys I want my own "palace" and would take one anywhere!!

In the poem “Daddy”, by Path, there are many accusations against Nazi influence and her revolting persona against her father’s path, a political worship of Hitler.  The poem is gruesome at times. It is helpful to know that her father died at 8 and her mother was a Jew.. So she could have been torn about her race....

In The One Girl at the Boys Party I get the feeling that the narrator is protecting this little girl.  However we aren't sure who it is....most would assume its her mother but I'm not sure.  She is growing up and discovering herself but using mathematics to give her confidence.

Harlem [Dream Deffered]

This poem has lots of simile in it...

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore— (shriveling up like a raisin)
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?  (compares the dream to food)

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

The them  of the poem to me seems to be frustration. And its not hard to believe that with the Era it was written in. 
It makes me wonder what his dreams were??

Facing It

The poem Facing It by Yusef Komunyakaa is very emotional to me. Having been to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial twice myself, I can easily picture the setting and the emotion around it.  I like the poems free verse and the easy understanding of the poems words.  I can also relate to the man's heartache and trying to decide what he sees now and what he saw then.....Having a very close friend who spent two tours in Iraq/Afghanistan I know how challenging it can be to face your feelings.  My friend has a hard time "facing it" some days and sometimes wanders back into the memories of bad times.

Let me not to the marriage of true minds-Shakespeare

This poem was difficult for me for its "language" which I think makes it a great poem...there really isn't to much imagery of symbols but the language is very intense. It talks about love and how its suppose to outlast all and be strong. Its is never shaken Shakespeare rights.... 
But bears it out even to the edge of doom. Perhaps till death??  I do have a hard time understanding Shakespeare's writing and really have to get background information before I can fully understand...

My Life had stood-a Loaded Gun

This poem by Emily Dickinson stood out to me. It was short and full of misplaced(or purposely placed) dashes and two lonely comma's.  This poem seemed to be full of rage and anger and Dickinson wasn't afraid to display it. I think it deals with feminism and how maybe she has to suppress her feelings.  However I think it the speaker's purpose, power, and control are destructive and bring the her joy and satisfaction, until, perhaps, the last stanza. The last stanza is difficult, and perhaps indicates some confusion in Dickinson's thinking.

The Unknown Citizen

I thought this poem was interesting.  To me it reminds me of a "perfect citizen" and maybe that's why its called Unknown citizen since there really isnt a perfect man.  The poem tells of a man with little problems and all the right happenings.  It goes through different parts of the government almost.  Like the Bureau of Statistics, Union reports, Public Opinion, and Eugenist....perhaps this poem is about a theme of patriotism I'm not sure but it reminded me of a time long ago in our country...

Lit Circle--Greasy Lake

I really enjoyed are Lit Circle...are reading was titled "Greasy Lake" by T. Goraghessan Boyle.

The story follows three young men, which they describe theirselves as typical "badass" boys with no rules.....they described themselves as "dangerous characters" when really they were just typical teenagers looking for fun...

Their night turns chatoic as they mistake a friends car at Greasy Lake and run into an actual "bad" guy.  

During our chat session each of us had different inputs as to what they felt the story meant and how they releated to it....

It was also nice to be able to ask questions, like we werent sure if he actually came across a dead body in the lake or not....

All in all it was nice to have a different pace to talk about the stories....

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

I really liked this book.  I felt Solzhenitsyn did a great job of details and way of telling his story in the era it was published....I did have a hard time telling whether the narrator or Shukhov was thinking.  Like when he talked about the poem the medical person was writing.

The characters had different names so it was easy for me to get confused on who was who. I wrote down a list of characters and their different personalities. That seemed to help me.  The vocab in the book wasnt to hard as I assumed it was to be close with uneducated prisoners??

The unjust suffering and lack of humane dignity in the book mad me sad..to think that this really happened is awful...I believe the book is important to the people of the former Soviet Union to understand what happened....

It would be interesting to know if other prisoners would or did write about their days in the labor camps.  And I cant help but wonder what happened after....did they survive, did they die, did they loose their minds in it all???

A Good Man is Hard to Find

I had to chuckle about this title when I read it, as I too believe perhaps like the grandmother that a good man is hard to find...

The story is odd to me as I struggled with trying to find meaning in such a different story.  It really had no meaning to me when I read it the first time...a family goes on vacation with their crazy grandma and all get killed by a loose psychopath. 

But I tried to figure out how the title ties into it all and realized that the grandmother talks a lot about the men of her past and how they were good.  She talks about the Edgar who brought her a watermelon everyday...she even thinks the owner is a good man for believeing in people.  

When the Misfit come along she perhaps believes that he is good to somehow inside and tries to connect with him...In reality there was no good man in him

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been

This story was complicated to me....I thought it started out fine, I could picture and imagine Connie in my head as I read the story.  She seemed like a normal 15 year old girl worried more about her hair and apperance than picking up her room. And although she may have wanted to seem "grown up" her confrontation with Eddie in the alley makes me believe she is fearful. 

The story made me want to believe that she got raped by Arnold but as I read it again I wasnt so sure.  Oates never states he actually rapes her but by the lines of him stabbing her with again and again with no tenderness, whatever the act is its brutal.

In the end you get the feeling that whatever carefree attitude Connie had as a young teenager is taken away by Arnold...

The Lottery

I will have to admit, I didn't realize what was happening in the story till almost the end.  I reread it a second time and picked up on little details such as the boys picking up rocks and the wives standing almost cautiously behind their husbands.  I felt this story is about humanity and traditions that aren't always needing to be followed.  The title had me going at first and I think even after knowing what was going to happen, subconsciously I didn't want to believe it.  I relate to Mrs.Hutchinson as wanting to be different and going with flow, the way she was late to the lottery and made her way through the crowd.  Even at the end she was protesting for what she thought to be wrong.

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place

While reading A Clean, Well-Lighted Place I couldn't help but think of my many trips to Mexico. I'm not sure why but I could picture the waiters in my head, relating them to some of the waiters we had ourselves while down in Playa del Carmen at our small off the road resort.  I could even picture the streets near the cafe and what the setting may have looked like.  I enjoyed reading this short story and liked Hemingway's use of conversation to tell the story.  The words he used to describe the old man and the tone throughout.  From what the book stated I feel like Hemingway felt in a sense what the old man feels...possibly never finding his way.

Point of View

Except for the "Cathedral" reading, I really enjoyed the rest of the stories. I also learned a few things this week that went along with our quiz. 

I never really paid much attention before to the point of view of a story. I learned from our book that to identify a story's point of view, you describe the role the narrator plays in the events and any limits placed on his or her knowledge of the events. 

I also found unique the types of narrators. 
Participant-writes in first person
Nonparticipant-write in the third person

The list is rather long and can be defined by how much the narrator knows to other narrative points of view......

I also like the books thoughts and elements of setting. It continues to help me actively read.

A & P

This reading was probably the most enjoyable one for me this week. It was the simplest and a quick read.  I like the details the author put into the story.  From describing the box of HiHo crackers to Diet Delight peaches. I will say though that they way he describes the girls in their swimsuits seemed a little odd to me but maybe thats just the protagonist's way of thinking and getting us to relate to the situation.  I do like the ending of the story as everybody likes it when somebody gets to stand up for themselves. Even if its not the best decesion in the long run. 

Solzhenitsyn's Lecture

To be honest after having to read this lecture and reread it several times(I'm talking like five or six) I see why I became an accounting major.   I think of myself as fairly intelligent ,but to understand and comprehend what he was talking about was difficult for me.  I hope that it gets easier or I get better at this in the coming weeks. Or maybe that I will have more time to open my mind up to the possibly of the world of literature????  who knows...

Chapter 29 BL

I liked this chapter and the steps it lays out for active reading.  I truly believe I will need several of the steps to help with this course and the understandings of readings that are yet to come..especially the when I tackle Solzhenitsyn Lecture....
Although I do practice a few of the steps already, I practice them in a different way now with different readings....For this course, I will definitely need to preview, take notes and think more about the reading in general....I may have to think outside the box, which I'm not that great at in a creative literacy way, if that makes any sense:)     

ENG 200

Hey Everybody,
Here is my blog for ENG 200, hope to have a great summer!!