Actions speak louder than words

The scene after the dance with Yolland and Marie was my favorite one of the whole play. It was so interesting because Yolland speaks English and Marie cannot speak English. I think it shows how important language is but demonstrates that language goes deeper than mere words. The essence of what is being spoken and the moment they share is more important than the actual words. They are not able to understand what comes out of the other's mouth but they know how they feel- Yolland says, "Don't Stop- I know what you are saying" (67). He obviously cannot understand the literal words but they are able to read each other because of their actions. They are sharing this moment and expressing how they feel all the while the other one can not understand a word-- it is a powerful scene.

Omishto's Power

I enjoyed the end of the book. I think this is where Omishto's real power comes out- she develops as a character since Ama is gone and she does not want to stay with her real mother. You can see her power most blatently when she deals with the sheriff on page 205 saying, "and I look at him without my eyes wavering or lowering." Another place you can see it is on page 209 when Herm comes, "He steps back and I see him grow smaller than I thought he could, heavy in the stomach, his back weak." Omishto grows into her own person and lives her own life, not the life of someone else as she had been, as she says. Omishto has the power to decide what to do with her life now: "I grow like the roots and stems of plants, as if I am coming up out of the ground to the light after the dark season." She is growing into who she wants to be- she goes back to the old ways and lives with the old people. Omishto is a mysterious girl and in that she has power over others. She has power because she knows exactly what happened, but she is the ONLY one, she has power because no one is able to tell her what to do- they can not make her go back to school and in a sense they could not make her go to the hospital, and now she has the power to do what she wants.

power

I found it interesting how at the end of the reading for today Omishto grabbed her things and walked out on her mother. It was not surprising considering the relationship she has with her mother and family but I do not think she really thought this through. Where is she going to stay? What is she going to eat? She does not have anywhere to go; Ama is not at home. She does not have an "outside mother" at this point. Omishto is like many teenagers though who leave when something does not go their way- so it will be interesting to see how long it takes her to return home.

Pretty/ beautiful

Today in class when we were talking about "pretty" I found this passage on page 19 that really grabbed my attention: "Today is a day Ama is beautiful, but a person has to look for it. If she was a flower, she'd be one of those hard-living ones that hang on the earth for dear life and have tiny blooms a person can barely see, but they are there." I think Ama is a beautiful person not on the outside but on the inside. One may not be able to see it just by looking at her but it penetrates from her- it is infectious. She is beautiful for reasons that lie deep within her: her fearlessness and courage. These are words Omishto uses to describe her and they help to shape the beautiful person she sees. She is not a perfect flower that grows tall and strong but she carries herself this way anyways. She acted like she was a flower with full blooms that everyone adored-- the confidence she had in herself allowed her to look past superficial looks and know that she was royalty because she felt like royalty.

Cold Heart

"I used to think that just a change in venue would banish forever from my life the things I most despised. But that was not to be so. As each day infolded before me, I could see the sameness in everything; I could see the present take shape-the shape of my past" (Kincaid, 90). This passage really stuck out while I was reading for class. I think this passage by itself summarizes her experience with the new place. She came to America as a way to get away from her past. She was not happy before and thought this change would allow her to forget. What she has come to realize is that she is experiencing many of the same things she did back home. She is reminded how much she hates Sundays, she sees Mariah and Lewis' marriage start to fall apart, and she sees him doing things her father did. This passages demonstrates that just by leaving a place does not erase her past as she thought would happen. As much as she wants to forget her past she is still tied to it. I think she needs to face her past and not try to run away from it. The grass always seems greener on the other side, until you get there. Her trip to America is much different than she expected and that is because she expected to find a perfect life here. But no one is perfect and though it may appear that way on the outside, it most likely is not true on the inside.

Lucy

The daffodils in Lucy show the different views that two people can have. Mariah loves daffodils, they are her favorite flower and a reminder of Spring. Lucy, on the other hand, hates them. They remind her of a poem she had to recite many years ago about this flower she had never seen. On page 29 Lucy says, "I did not know what these flowers were, and so it was a mystery to me why I wanted to kill them." Even though she did not know what these flowers were they reminded her of her past and hated them from first glance. Mariah knows about her poem and hatred of daffodils but wants her to find them lovely. The different opinions of Mariah and Lucy stem from their very different pasts: "...where she saw beautiful flowers I saw sorrow and bitterness. The same thing could cause us to shed tears, but those tears would not taste the same." I think this is an important line in the first part of this novel. It shows their two different perspectives on life. It is so true how something can cause very different reactions by two people. The place one comes from has this impact and shapes the experiences we have. Can anyone think of a time when this happened to them? Had a different reaction to the same thing?

Blessed House

I enjoyed reading Lahiri's story. Twinkle's character kept my attention. What I found to be interesting was Sanjeev and Twinkles very different personalities. Sanjeev is more reserved and worried about what others will think and Twinkle is open and curious. This strong contrast made the story interesting because you never knew what would happen between them. I think this difference in personality led Sanjeev to feel displaced. I especially saw this during this housewarming party. Twinkle told the guests about her treasure hunts and they all wanted to join. Sanjeev was left out because he did not like the statues and posters Twinkle found; they irritated him. This feeling of displacement stemmed from the fact that he was much different than Twinkle and, because of that, he was irritated by her. Page 157 says, "Most of all he hated it because he knew Twinkle loved it." Even though he liked one of the treasures he kept himself from liking it just because Twinkle liked it. This line sums up their relationship, because of their different views on life and personalities irritation arose. This contrast and irritation led to a feeling of displacement for Sanjeev.

O

Before we started watching O I thought it was going to be an interpretation of Othello similar to the ones we looked at last week in class and on YouTube. I was happy that it is much more modern; I actually really enjoyed it. I like how this interpretation puts the play in a context that is familiar to us as students- I think that is definitely a reason why I like it so much. Having read the play ahead of time it was fun to make the connections and see the similarities it has with what we read. Watching this film has given me a better picture already of what happened in Othello even though it is a little different.
I thought it was helpful that the names were similar in both the play and the film- it helped me to follow the story line right from the beginning. I paid close attention to the color of the handkerchief (scarf in the movie) and the sheets because we spent alot of time in class talking about the symbolism of those things. I was surprised that the sheets were not completely white nor was the "handkerchief" at all like I imagined- i guess this is where interpretation comes into play. The sheets of Desi's bed were white but they had flowers or some kind of pattern on them. The handkerchief was more of a mauve than white. I thought this was interesting because this was a difference from the play.
I liked how they portrayed Iago in a similar light in the play and in the movie but did so in much different ways and contexts. Whereas we were able to get into the head of Iago through his asides in the play we were able to get into Hugo's head and know what he was thinking based on his facial expressions. I still feel annoyed of Hugo in the film because I can not stand what he is doing to Odin and Desi. He uses Michael Cassio and Roger. He is portrayed as sneaky and it is hard to trust him.

While looking at movie reviews I saw the tagline for the movie which is: "Everything comes full circle." I thought this fitting as it also said Trust. Seduction. Betrayal. Trust and betrayal are opposites and throughout the course of the movie we go from trust as Hugo and Odin are teammates on the same basketball team to betrayal as Hugo uses others to hurt Odin and Desi and ultimately lead to the demise of many. We are turned a full circle as we sit and watch what happens- it is hard to believe the amount of harm Hugo is going to cause. I see the title as fitting with this tagline, or this tagline as fitting with the title of the film. The title (the letter O) is a complete circle which I think has an underlying meaning and is not just for Odin-like Othello. Instead of representing the main character it represents the complete cirlce, three-sixty, that happens throughout the film.

Othello

After seeing two clips of Othello, the one in class and the one from youtube, I was able to see how different one play is able to be performed. As we talked about in class, producers may interpret the play in very different ways when compared to other producers. I think this is interesting and I like that they are all able to be similar but very different at the same time. It makes it enjoyable to watch the same play multiple times . I do not think I will get bored of watching this movie and other versions because of the differences in interpretation. It is fun to look out for and see the diffrenences in characters and costume.

I liked the newer version we watched in class on Tuesday more than the clip that was on youtube. Othello showed much more emotion and Desdemona did not see so staged. To me it seemed a little more real.

I found it very interesting that so many people were wearing white and many of them had blood on their shirts. This is something we talked about in class because it was an important detail and both clips utilized this symbolism. One thing I noticed from the film in class on Tuesday was that even though everyone on the bed was dead Iago was the only one who visibly showed blood. This may be represent that Desdemona, although accused of being with Iago, had not. There was not blood on the sheets but only on Iago for what he did. Desdemona was killed in a way that did not draw blood, which is another thing I noticed from watching the film. She was innocent which is demonstrated by no blood from her being on the sheets.

Iago

I thought it was very interesting when we were talking about Iago in class on Tuesday. His view about reputation, which we see when he is talking to Cassio(2.3.243), directly correlates with who he is as a character: what we see is not what we get. From the perspective of the other characters this is definitely true. Othello may believe that Iago is trying to help and watch out for him when in reality he is deceiving him. The way he appears on the outside does not match what he is thinking on the inside. We, the audience, are able to see his motives and his motives stem from trickery. Because we know his intentions and see the corresponding way he treats others without them knowing makes me suspicious of him. He does not seem like a good man at all. He stealthily plants thoughts and images into Othello’s head about Desdemona not being faithful. I know from experience that once something is in your head it can really skew your judgment. Little things will catch your attention and mislead you into making false assumptions. This is what Iago is purposefully doing without trying to look like a bad guy. He also uses Cassio to make Othello even more suspicious of Desdemona. But then he tells Othello that Cassio is a worthy friend (3.3.240). Iago as a character is hypocritical and is not to be trusted. It is frustrating to watch Iago trick others without them noticing when we know what he intends to do.

Girl, Interrupted

When we watched Girl, Interrupted on Monday evening it was the first time I had seen it. I enjoyed the movie but as I was driving home I just thought about how sad and depressing it was. Something I found to be interesting about the movie is that Suzanna obviously believes she belongs at Claymoore. She went there without much force and when her boyfriend came she did not want to leave with him. Something was keeping her there. She said she had friends there, but no one would want to stay there to be with these people. She knew she needed help with what she was going through. As much as I want to believe that she was not crazy I have to think that she was. When she left she appeared better and happy and not crazy, but maybe she still was? Maybe we could not see it on the outside but maybe just like Daisy she seemed better but in reality was not. I think by seeing her situation through her perspective were are limited in what we know. We can only know what she wants us to know and see others as she does. This movie was very interesting-especially watching it at this point in the semester. I think it fit in well.

The Yellow Wallpaper

The introduction to this short story mentions how it has been read on several levels. I read through each of the levels and, because of the topics we have been talking about in class, one grabbed my attention. The story has been read "as a metaphoric protest against the restriction women felt in a society that denied them full expression." I found it interesting that the rest cure was mainly prescribed to women. After reading the short story and the articles that were posted, I believe this bed rest was a way to restrict women. They were not allowed to work, or write, or see family members; they were isolated from society. The fact that they were forbidden to write and had to do it in secrecy, if at all, demonstrates the intellectual inequality that women of the time had to face. Being confined to bed all day, everyday drove these women into a worse state than before the "treatment". They had nothing to stimulate them, which is why the yellow wallpaper was so amusing in the story. It was all she could do, the only thing to entertain and stimulate her mind. At the beginning of the story she mentions how she does not like the yellow wallpaper and by the end she stays awake at night to watch the woman behind the pattern and at the conclusion of the story she believes she has escaped from behind the wallpaper. I think this progression is symbolic of her desecent into insanity.
After reading the article about why Gilman wrote this and that it was to help others I drew a paralell between the stripping of the wallpaper and trying to free other women and Gilman's attempt to help other women through publishing this short story. I found it interesting that the doctor who was famous for perscribing this treatment changed his ways after he read the story.

Poverty vs. Wealth

Something that I found interesting was the in-class free write. We were asked to reflect on a sentence on page 24: "...and what effect poverty has on the mind; and what effect wealth has on the mind." I found it hard to write about this sentence when asked to do so but, I had highlighted it as I was reading. I thought it would be important but couldn't figure out the meaning behind it. As I was thinking about it in class, all I could come up with was that it was somehow related to being locked in versus being locked out. I'm not exactly sure what made me think of this but I wrote that being locked in symbolized wealth while being locked out symbolized poverty. While the poverty side seemed easy to relate to Woolf I found it harder to make a connection with the wealthy side. Poverty, Woolf would say, had negative effects on the mind for women because it did not allow them the resources to think clearly and without interruptions. The poverty of women prevented them from having a room of their own. They were seen as caretakers so they were constantly being interrupted by one of their many children. I think being on the other extreme(wealth) could also be bad but was not sure how to connect that to Woolf. Any ideas? Is it just that because men had money they thought of themselves as superior and, therefore, thought it acceptable to keep women in a submissive role? This could have negative effects on their mind as this way of thinking could take over their life. What other ways would this effect the mind?

writing metaphor

A group of friends from all over the country want to take a long trip somewhere all together. When they decide this they have to answer a few questions. They need to figure out where to start- at whose house should they meet? Where are they going to go? How are they going to get there- what mode of transportation will best suit their needs? There are many things they must think through before they are able to embark on the journey. Writing is taking a long roadtrip. In order to start the journey it is imperative to have some kind of plan. But, at the same time, know that these plans may change. As you begin the trip you may realize you would rather go somewhere else. A totally new destination and way of getting there may arise- go with it and see how satisfied you are. No matter where you decide to go, the time it takes to reach your destination depends on who is driving. If I was the one driving, our trip would take a long time. I usually drive the speed limit but occasionally I speed up. Often times I drive for a long time and realize I do not know where I am going. When this happens it is necessary to pull over and walk around to strecth. When I get lost/do not know where I am headed I have to backtrack a bit until I find somewhere I am more familiar with or stop and ask for directions. Along the trip things may go wrong. The road may have pot holes that make your trip bumpy. It will not be as smooth as you had hoped, you may get a flat tire but that can be fixed. It may take the whole group of friends or one person. But, all the planning and time you put into it will pay off- you will have the time of your life. Hopefully you will be happy with the end- product and end somewhere like this.
I think the biggest problem for me is choosing the destination- getting started. What are some good ways to get started? Do people find it beneficial to make an outline?