Journal#12- Antigone

Journal #12: Anouilh bombards his audience with conflicting ideas, phrases, images..choose a set of concepts: yes vs no, ugly vs pretty, truth vs lies, illusions vs reality, dull vs color...discuss how and why Anouilh creates the tension between the contrasting ideas.

Anouilh creates the contrasting idea of ugly vs. pretty with the use of child life elements such as imagery. There are a lot of references to children and youthful things. This creates a sense of beauty and innocence whereas the ugly contrasting part is created through Antigone repeating that she is ugly. These two contrast because although people tell her she is beautiful, she believes that she is ugly. Antigone thinks that Ismene is the one that is much more beautiful than her and I feel like she is jealous of her. I also think that it lowers her sense of power and how she feels about herself. Because she feels bad about herself she lowers herself and seems to be a weaker person than Ismene although they are both pretty. It creates tension between the contrasting ideas because both are in disagreement and lowers the power of somebody. 

Journal #11- Antigone

How has the role of the chorus changed?  What type of tone does the author use with the chorus and what words help to support your analysis?  How does the chorus comment on the tragic elements of the play?


The role of the chorus has changed because in the beginning they were the ones that set up the scene for us and gave background info as to what was happening or what will happen. They provided foreshadowing and situational irony throughout the play. Then in this reading their part was mainly talking about the tragedy of Antigone and why she represents the true identity of a tragedy. It also takes on a less casual tone and expresses the definition of a tragedy in a more serious manner. For example on page 23 the Chorus says "unbreathable silence" while talking the beginning of the play. This makes the tone become more serious and intense. Another thing that changed was the intensity of each of the parts. The tone adds to this change, because of the use of different words that changes the intensity.The chorus comments on the tragic elements of the play by referring specifically to Antigone and what makes her a good example of a tragedy.

Journal #10- Antigone

Address how Anouilh explains the previous days events?  How does Anouilh's structure affect the reader's interpretation of characters, motivations, or events?


Events in the 48 hours prior to Nurse catching Antigone sneaking in the house. 

• Antigone is seen thinking of death.
• Haemon is talking to Ismene which is the King's son.
• He and Antigone are engaged to be married.
• At the ball Haemon danced with Ismene because she was wearing a new evening frock. Antigone didn't go into much shock.
• Being King changed Creon. His wife is Eurydice and is seen knitting. 
• The Messenger later on will announce that Haemon is dead.
• Oedipus was the father of Antigone and Ismene. He has two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, that would share the throne once he died. There was a civil war when the older brother Eteocles refused to step down from the throne. The two brothers fought and killed one another in single combat just outside the city walls. Now Creon is King.
• Because Creon sided with Eteocles he buried him in honor whereas Polynices was left to rot. Any person that attempts to give him a religious burial will be put to death.

Address how Anouilh explains the previous days events?  How does Anouilh's structure affect the reader's interpretation of characters, motivations, or events?

I think that Anouilh expresses the previous day events in a casual tone and explains it rather quickly. Anouilh just states the facts as background information to show us what will happen. It is used in chronological order. Since it  begins what will happen in the end in the beginning it messes with the chronology. As we read it helps us identify the characters' motives for doing things if we know the ending in the beginning. It also introduces the characters and helps identify what the character represent and their actions. It affects the events in the play because we know now what is expected of the characters and it adds situational irony to the play. 

Topic Sentence

Bridegroom

Bridegroom is very obedient towards his mother and therefore doesn't exert an opinion at all. He fears that if he doesn't follow his fate or destiny she is the one he will have to face.

Journal #9

Create a list of themes that Lorca creates in the play.


Fate/Destiny

This theme is mostly developed through the characters of Bridegroom, Bride, and the Mother. Staying true to what is pre-destined for the characters' lives is important to follow through. The Bride doesn't follow what is to be her fate but instead she decides that marrying Leonardo is her own destiny. By the Bride running off with Leonardo it changes the fate of Bridegroom. I believe that the Mother's life is interrupted with this theme of fate/destiny. She weeps over the death of her son and husband that affects her fate.

Control

I thought the Bride and Mother portray some sort of control over someone that has a significant role in the play. They usually exert a forceful type of control too. The mother has control over Bridegroom's destiny and the Bride has control over the maid and a little bit of Leonardo. I found it interesting how Bride shows more control over Leonardo than Bridegroom with whom she is going to get married with. The Bridegroom becomes a weaker person with less opinions because of his mother's control over him.

Children


Children are present through the whole play.This could represent rebirth and the symbol of blood. The parents are the ones that are always forcing to bear children. This could lead to how the parents kind of want to live their life through them and therefore make their destiny.

Journal #8

How does the set change between acts and what effect does the set have on the atmosphere? 

The set changes to the outside world and forests in this act. They are looking for Bride and Leonardo in the forests while many random characters start appearing for example the wood cutters, beggar woman, and the moon. This makes the scene more intense and creates a different dark tone that hasn't been seen before in the play. It suddenly goes from a happy setting to a depressing rather quickly. This also plays with the time motif and how things seem to be moving quickly. It also shows the earth and landscape motif that has been mentioned before but now at the end it is relevant to the plot. This helps us make conclusions as to what Lorca is trying to say. This motif is developed with the blood motif as well. 

Tragedy #7

There are a variety of youth in the second act. Why? How does Lorca use the youth to affect the themes of the play?


I believe why there are so many youth in the second act is because of the wedding. During the wedding, Bride and Bridegroom are going into this marriage blindly and are forced to see things in a different way because of their parents. When the youth are brought up it shows a different view on things and how innocent they are of everything. It shows how they once were and how ignorant they are from everything. Bride tells the young girls what they will face once they are getting married. This shows a kind of warning for the younger ones to watch out for when they are older. When Bride said this to the younger girls she said it with a sense of hope to show how she desires not to be stuck in her mess which is getting married. Lorca shows this especially when the kids are singing because it brings a youthful feeling to the play. 

Tragedy #6

Which characters appear to be miserable int he play and why?  When and how do the characters express their misery? What do the characters desire and what stops them from going after what each desires? 

What I noticed from the reading this night was that Bride is very miserable. Throughout the play I think mother and Bridegroom are also miserable. During the 2.1 Bride didn't want to get married and was very confused on what she wanted to do. I think her conflict with who she truly loves was getting in her way. "There are dark clouds- an ill wind inside me. Who hasn't felt that?". I think that through this quote it shows how miserable bride is to be getting married even though she is happy. I think that bride expresses most of her misery when she is around her maid, because she doesn't express her  anger around Bridegroom nor father. Lorca does this through the syntax. He changes the syntax and also the word choice in order to show her two different feelings. I think bride desires to be with Leonardo because in the end she ends up escaping with him, and this could possibly be why she doesn't really want to marry Bridegroom because she is still in love with Leonardo. I think what keeps bride from escaping with Leonardo is that they are both married and that they don't want to make themselves look bad.

Tragedy #5

Journal #5 Examine how Lorca characterize the archetypes of the play.  Does Lorca embrace or reject the archetype?  What is the effect of the characterization? 

Lorca uses the idea of old-fashioned marriage among the upper class that parents of both of the bride and groom should be in agreement if they should marry as an archetype. In Blood Wedding during these scenes the father and mother meet to come to an agreement and plan the wedding. This is an old-fashioned type of ideal that Lorca shows throughout this scene. I think Lorca rejects this archetype because in the end the couple ends up never getting married. Bride escapes with another man and they never showed that they truly loved each other. Also he would reject this idea because he was embarrassed of being part of the upper class and this is seen as an upper class tradition. The effect of this characterization is that it shows a distant relationship between all of the characters(which is also shown through the motif of distance). 

Journal #4- Blood Wedding

Choose any two symbols that emerged in this scene and discuss their significance.  While you are certainly welcome to connect that significance to the entire text, I want you to focus on the details of how they are used in these first 12 pages.  Look at the stylistic choices surrounding their use and build up to a discussion on the role they play or will play in developing theme/character/setting/tension...

Knife- I think that the knife is mainly used by the mother and when she does talk about it, she feels passionate about what she is saying. There is tension built because of what the knife brought upon their family. Also it is not just the knife but other dangerous weapons as well such as a pistol and a shotgun. The mother is very exaggerated when she talks about the knife. She also says that the wound cannot be taken back and how a small item killed a big man. It creates the theme that 

Blood- Even though blood is only mentioned once I see that it is starting to develop a theme that is bigger throughout the rest of the book. When ever his mother mentions it, she usually uses it in a family context referring to family related problems. She talks about blood in a way that can be carried and is mobile even though your blood is predetermined and you have no control over it. I believe that this symbol creates the theme of fate/destiny and how your blood is predetermined like your fate.

Tragedy #3

Journal #3: Consider which characters are at fault for the events that are unfolding and why? Is there a character without blame?  Why or why not? Is there a character who should carry more of the blame?  Do any of the characters take responsibility? 
I think Gregers is responsible for all of the events that are unfolding because he is the main instigator. When he insists on entering their home he does it willingly, because he knows that he is going to "open Hjalmar's eyes". the whole story ends when he finally accomplishes this. He has lonely conversations with each of he characters except Gina. When he has these conversations he always asks questions and plants little seeds in order to tell them the truth. Gregers has put the truth into Hjalmar's life and has ruined it doing so. Also, Gregers is the one that told Hedvig what she needs to do so Hjalmar can forgive her.
I think Hjalmar and Hedvig are the ones without the blame because they are the ones that seem to be affected with the truth coming out. Hedvig is faced with death because of the truth Gregers put upon their family. And Hjalmar loses everything that is important to him and therefore these two only face what is being put upon them by the real character that hold the blame, Gregers.
I think Gregers should carry more of the blame because he is the motivation to all of the tension that is created in the house. He also is the one that motivates Hedvig to kill the wild duck. Everything seemed bliss before Gregers came in.

Tragedy #2

How does Ibsen use the motif of decay, disease, illness, etc and to what effect?  Use at least three quotes in the defense of you claim. 
I think Ibsen uses the motif of decay, illness, and disease to show the deterioration of humanity and what we are becoming. Relling says " All right, I'll tell you, Mrs.Ekdal. He's suffering from an acute case of moralistic fever"(178). He is talking about Gregers and how he doesn't have any morals and therefore he can't find a true meaning and purpose in his life. He uses the moralistic disease to show that is lacking a quality of humanity and instead is becoming sick because of this. Hjalmar says while talking to Gregers "Gina didn't stay long here in the house; there was so much confusion- your mother's sickness and all"(125). I feel like the sickness that she had was the same perception that she passed down to Gregers which is now why he is "sick". It shows the deterioration of humanity because Gregers was given this perception that was a "sickness" that does not allow him to see his purpose in life. Also Hedvig's blindness is considered a sickness " Oh, you can well imagine, we haven't the heart to tell her. She suspects nothing. She's carefree, gay, and singing like a tiny bird, she's fluttering into life's eternal night" (148).Hedvig's sickness shows the deterioration of humanity because who she is changes because of her disadvantage and people treat her differently. Like Gregers she is giving this "disease" through a parent and it shows how their morals are being corrupted and are becoming different because of their adopted perception.

The Wild Duck #1

Option 2: Examine how characters perceive themselves or others.  Who has false conceptions of him/herself?  Who has misconceptions of others?  Who recognizes the facades created by other characters?  Does the character embrace the facade, ignore it, or confront it?
I believe that Gregers has misconceptions of himself. Mostly because he questions his purpose in life and what he has to live for. He sees Hjalmar as a man that has found his purpose in life and knows what he has to life towards. I feel that Gregers now realizes that he does not have any true purpose in life and therefore seeks to questions what he is doing with his life and turns to Hjalmar to do this. Gregers wants to have a definite purpose but instead he has many instead. He says that he wants to be a clever dog, but then at the same time he says he wants to open Hjalmar's eyes. Gregers seems to have a misconception on who he is as an individual.


I think Gina has misconceptions of others because she always seems to be hiding something and therefore interprets things in a negative way. She is trying to hide the truth from others and she thinks they're always on top of her. When in fact they meant another thing. This idea of not meaning what you meant is what Gina interprets as a person's misconception.


I think Relling does embrace Greger's facade and does recognize it. He shows this by questioning him at times and making it hard for Gregers to answer. He questions Greger's purpose in life and brings back memories that Relling has of him. He believes that Greger's facade he is putting on is that he may seem confident on the outside but is morally deteriorated and can't find his purpose in life. He acknowledges that Gregers isn't who he is and warns everyone else on his observations. 

1984 #3

Motif- Throughout 1984 there is a motif of endlessness prevalent throughout each section and is shown in many different ways. In the beginning it is shown through the opening and closing of doors, drawers, etc. Also when Orwell uses "to and fro" indicated the motif of endlessness. "There is no difference between night and day in this place. I do not see how one can calculate time."(231). In the last third of the book Orwell uses the motif of endlessness through not knowing what time it is. Through not being able to keep track of the time of day it creates a sense of endlessness. Through this motif I think Orwell is saying that once one succumbs to a totalitarian type of control and get rid of the past, there is no way of knowing because we have giving into the their version of the truth and everything is suddenly unknown and it becomes endless.

Setting- I think that the confinement of many of the places that Winston goes to reveals a theme throughout the book. Wherever Winston goes it is always in a room or in a confined setting. " A bench, or shelf, just wide enough to sit on ran around the wall, broken only by the door and, at the end opposite the door, a lavatory pan with no wooden seat. " (225). When Winston is brought to the Ministry of Love he still encounters the confinement of the room that he is forced to live in. The confinement symbolizes the extent to which the Party has over you and wants to keep you ignorant by only giving you a limited amount of space.

Language- There is a change in syntax once they convince Winston that the truth lies within the Party. " Winston shrank back upon his bed. Whatever he said, the swift answer crushed him like a bludgeon." (206). He gives up hope since they have forced him to accept their truth and not his. The syntax has changed from a lot of detailed and hopeful text to a more simple and lifeless text which gives the effect of giving up hope.

Cultural Influences- "And it was probable that people changed somewhat after twenty years in a forced-labor camp." (228). During this era the concentration camps and the purges were forced labor camps that many people had to endure and like in this book they would have "somewhat [have] changed after twenty years in a forced-labor camp.

1984 #2

Motif-The motif of censorship and being mindless of what is going on in one's society is starting to take a different turn in the second third of the novel. In the first part of the novel it is obvious that most citizens are mindlessly living their lives under the censorship that is all around them. In the second third of the book, Winston meets Julia and they start to hope that a conspiracy exists and their ideas start to go away from what is  accepted in their society. "When once you were in the grip of the Party, what you felt or did not feel, what you did or refrained from doing ,made literally no difference. Whatever happened you vanished, and neither you nor  your actions were ever heard of again"(165). Under all of the censorship, the citizens are molded into what the Party wants them to believe and after that there is no escaping. Orwell is trying to say that the only thing that we may have control over in this life is our own mind. If nothing is left after that, then you are not yourself and are living a mindless life. As long as you don't let the Party influence in any ways in order to control your mind, you will always know the truth. The truth is the only thing that we can hold onto and the only way that this can be achieved is to have control of our own mind. Once the Party fills your mind with lies then you are "vanished", which can represent your identity and who you are being taken away.

Setting- A change in setting in the second third of the novel was the natural scene where Julia and Winston escape to meet for a while. They want to go to a place where they won't be seen and therefore go to someplace that has many trees. In this setting, Julia and Winston feel like they have a sense of freedom and they can do as they please. They get comfortable with each other because of the openess of the environment. " He stopped thinking and merely felt. The girl's waist in the bend of his arm was soft and warm. He pulled her round so that they were breast to breast; her body seemed to melt into his"(125). When both are under the surveillance of the Party they would not have the freedom nor the bravery to get close to one another but since there is no sense of confinement they are able to do as they please. "The room was a world, a pocket of the past where extinct animals could walk"(150). When Julia and Winston are under the surveillance of the Party, it is often described as having a sense of confinement and something you can not escape. The room became their world.

Language-  The syntax throughout most of the novel and is very thorough and descriptive. It creates an intense feel as you read through the novel. When Orwell describes the antique shop he uses words that implies that Winston is in amusement of the past and history that was never told. ".. but the interior if the glass itself. There was such depth of it, and yet it was almost as transparent as air. It was as though the surface of the glass had been the arch of the sky."(147). As Orwell describes the glass paperweight, he says it with a sense of hope and awe. Winston is intrigued by the fact that a piece of history can be taken to the present and he appreciates it. But when he talks about the Party he describes it as something very dark and ruined. " He remembered better the rackety, uneasy circumstances of the time: the periodical panics about air raids and the sheltering in Tube stations, the piles of rubble everywhere, the unintelligible proclamations posted at street corners, the gangs of youths in shirts all the same color...." (160-161). Orwell uses words such as "rackety", "piles of rubble", and "uneasy" to show the reader the  

1984 #1

Dystopian Journal #1: How do the motifs, setting, and language contribute to our understanding of the society. Address each area separately and in depth.
Motifs- The biggest motif that I noticed was "censorship". Oceania lives in a censored society; absolutely everything is filtered through the government. The citizens of Oceania are all under surveillance through the telescreen that are scattered through the whole city. They wake up to the telescreens telling them what to do and when. Children go to school to become Spies and grow up believing that there was no past. Thoughtcrime is censorship of the mind and independent thoughts. It is almost impossible to think of an idea against the Party and not get vanished. Also, the Party erased all records of the past. Therefore they create what was the past. All the citizens of Oceania are only supposed to know what the Party wants them to know. "And the Records Department, after all, was itself only a single branch of the Ministry of Truth, whose primary job was not to reconstruct the past but to supply the citizens of Oceanis with newspapers, films, textbooks, telescreen programs, plays, novels-with every coneivable kind of information, instruction, or entertainment, from a statue to a slogan, from a lyric poem to a biological treatise, and from a child's spelling book to a Newspeak dictionary." (43)
Setting- The setting of Oceania is very confined and constrined to what the Party wants you to believe. A lot of the imagery in the book is dark and rotten. The houses are deteriorating and breaking apart because of the bombing. This contributes to our understanding of the novel because it shows how the environment that Oceania is living in is very dark and depressed. It also contributes to the characters and how they feel and the society as whole because it is shows how they are living in a depressed environment.  "Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no color in anything except the posters that were plastered everywhere." (2)
Language- The narrator speaks indifferently of Oceania therefore the tone is very lonely and dark. The language contributes to our understanding of the society by showing who and who isn't in favor of the party. For example Mr.Parson brags about his kids and seems intrigued to be a part of the Party as well as Syme. But Winston is indifferent of Big Brother and Oceania's society at times. At other times he wants to revolt and this is shown through the language and what type of words they use. Winston- " But he did not do so, however, because he knew that it was useless. Whether he wrote DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER, or whether he refrained from writing it, made no difference" (19) Syme- " By 2050- earlier, probably - all real knowledge of Oldspeak will have disappeared. The whole literature of the past will have been destroyed."(53)

Journal #5- The Stranger

Name- Vive ut Vivas

1. Nothing is impossible- As a little girl my parents and family always told me that nothing is impossible and I can do whatever I want to. From joining the circus to finding the cure to cancer. I realized that they were right and that all it takes is self motivation and setting your mind to the task 110%. As long as you have those tools nothing is impossible and nothing can stand in your way. 

2. Faith-Whether it is faith in yourself or in God, one must have faith in order to be happy. You must h ave faith in yourself to do whatever you want to achieve and never give up on that faith. Faith in God has always been important in my whole family, and they have thankfully given me these gifts. I believe that once you put your life in God's hands you must have faith that everything would be perfect. 

3.Always do things right- My mother has always told me that whenever you do something do it right. I adopted this idea and it has turned out that everything you do is being judged. Therefore you must always do everything right even the smallest of things so everything can turn out well. This turns in to a habit and you will become successful. 

4. We are all human- Every single person on this earth does not have any more rights or less rights than we do; we all have equal rights. Therefore we must treat each other with respect and we are all equal even though all of us are different. Everyone has the right to life and happiness and must be protected. No one should be treated with more kindness and respect, all should be treated the same.

5. Have courage- You must have courage to go out and accomplish the things you want to accomplish. Have courage to take on the tasks that no one else has done. It is part of life to experience new things and one needs courage to do things that has never been done before and take it one level farther than before. Have courage to challenge yourself and do something that you know you might not succeed. It is part of learning and become a stronger person.

6. Fail and learn- Failing is learning and only useful if you take away from the experience. If you don't fail you can't learn and learn from your mistakes; therefore you are a weaker person without failing. From experiences that I have learned from made me a smarter and stronger person. Failing and learning from failure is important to becoming a better person.

7. Hope- Hope is the only way we can actually have meaning to our life. What makes life worth living is hoping in something better and that way there is something worth living. Hope brings us joy and something will come out of it. If there is no hope then life has no meaning. I learned that if you are in a tough situation that the only thing you can do is hope that things will get better and work towards having a better life. I believe that hope makes us kinder and stronger people. From hope comes happiness. 

Journal #4- The Stranger

In the end Meursault realizes his whole life was pointless and that nothing has meaning to it. Since everyone is going to die nothing is worth living for. He would rather die than live in the moment. He comes to the realization that life has no meaning to it since we all come to die at one point in our lives. He accepts the fact that his fate was death and the same with everyone else and therefore there is no point in living if in the end it is death. I think Camus doesn't have a strong belief in this conclusion but I think he does accept what Meursault comes to realize in the end that we all die so life is pointless.

Journal#3- The Stranger

I think Camus separates his novel into two parts because it shows Meursault in two different situations and how  he reacts in both of them. It also shows how Meursault changes as a character from the first part to the second part.
In the first part the syntax is short and choppy characterizing Meursault because it is simple like him. "I caught the two o'clock bus. It was very hot. I ate at the restaurant, at Celeste's, as usual". The choppy and simple syntax in part 1 creates the character of Meursault in part 1 as a boring and simple person.
In part 2 the syntax is different. It is lengthier and more complex creating the Meursault in the second part as a more thought provoking character. " Because at the thought that one fine morning I would find myself a free man standing a cordon of police- o the outside, as it were-at the thought of being the spectator who comes to watch and then can go and throw up afterwards, a wave of poisoned joy rose in my throat". In this second part the complex syntax is used to create a more complex thinker that is Meursault. He is more hopeful in the second part and thinking about getting out of jail. Instead in part 1 he had nothing to hope for until the second part when his freedom was taken away.
A similarity I saw between the two parts was the contrast between lights and darks that remains as a motif. Also the sky and nature still remain a motif. The sense of loneliness in the book remains the same as well.

Journal #2- The Stranger

Option2-
The first person point of view allows the reader to follow along with every single thought of the main character Meursault. I noticed that the narrator, Meursault goes off on a lot of tangents while thinking and notices the slightest detail of things. I think Camus didn't use third person omniscient because he wanted to show Meursault's thought and feelings and by using first person he is able to do that. I think Camus's purpose with this choice is that it gives a sense of loneliness because every single narration is his thoughts and the things he does. Also we get to know Meursault better throught this point of view because it is in first person. It helps develop the theme of being a stranger in society.