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.