Let's talk about monsters!

I've talked about the hero perspective of the class and now I wanted to take a minute to talk about the monster aspect. When I first saw this video I was truly entertained; however after being in this class it really made me think. Wouldn't it be nice if all kids thought this way about monsters? This kid seems to have no fear of monsters at all; unfortunately she is oblivious to the language she is using as well, but I progress. I know that when I was a child I was afraid of monsters in the closet, under the bed, down the hall, and in the bathroom. If I only had the confidence of this kid maybe I wouldn't be afraid of the dark now. Yes, it is sad. I am still afraid of the dark. Where do children get the ideas of monsters? Perhaps they get them from movies, books, or scary stories. This child seems to be an exception. Maybe she watched action movies instead of scary movies which shows the bad guy always getting beat up. Maybe this says something about the content of entertainment parents should provide their children with.

WORD COUNT: 195

Southern Pride

Author’s often use real life experience when writing different pieces of literature. Flannery O’Connor, for example, uses her background as a Catholic southerner to influence the plot of her short stories; however, she does not revolve the story around being a Catholic southerner. Instead, she gives the characters these different traits which determine their thoughts and actions simultaneously developing the story. O’Connor’s influence as a southerner is shown in many of her short stories such as “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” “Revelation,” and “Parker’s Back.”

In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” Flannery O’Connor’s southern background is portrayed in the grandmother and can be seen through speech and religious views. For example, the grandmother uses words such as “fellow” where in the north they would have said “guys.” Also, the way she speaks of “niggers” shows that she is truly southern. Near the end religion makes a huge presence as the grandmother talks continuously about Jesus and praying. This is significant because the south is known as the Bible belt and is very religious. These examples and more are what drive the plot in the direction it goes.

Another example of how O’Connor’s southern roots are put into her short stories is seen in Mrs. Turpin from “Revelations.” Her talk of disposition is one example of southern characteristics. A woman’s disposition is important in the south and is held to higher standards than in the north which is why Mrs. Turpin speaks of it so much. In this story, the term “niggers” is thrown around very loosely which is also evidence that this woman is given characteristics of southern roots. Finally, the fact that she lives on a plantation and has “niggers” working for them shows southern upraising. Without Mrs. Turpin’s southern characteristics, some of the events that took place in this short story would not have happened.

Finally, “Parker’s Back” has many references to southern living as well. This story is more from the south than either of the other two. Slang such as “aw”, “lemme”, and “ought” are used in every day conversations throughout the entire story. The reader may also draw the conclusion through witnessing the religious aspect of the story from Parker’s wife. Because she is from the Bible belt in the south, she is religiously devout in her ways.

By portraying her characters as southern, O’Connor allows the reader is not only able to understand them better but understand why the plot goes in the direction it does. In all of her short stories this southern trait plays an important role. This method of characterization is commonly used whether the reader knows the author’s back ground or not.

WORD COUNT: 446

This Weekend

So this weekend and during fall break, I learned more about my ideals for my future. In another class I am working on a group project that involves building a school, administration, mission statement, and everything. This project was kind of hard at first because I was not user what direction to go with; however, with this, I was able to reflect more on my ideals as a future teacher. After some research, I came to the conclusion that I am an existentialist. An existentialist is focused on the children and their main goal is for the students to find out who there are and what they want out of life. I decided this because I do feel that is the teachers job to help kids find their identity. I also believe that due to this goal, students should pick their own curriculum from a wide variety in order to learn more about themselves. Now I don't know what building a model of a school accomplishes, but I did have fun.

WORD COUNT: 171

Peer Reviews

After going through the process of peer review on rough drafts of paper for nine years now, it is easy to come up with an opinion about them. I for one do not like the idea of peer reviews. The majority of the time the teachers are the ones who pair you in groups or with partners. I do not agree with this method of peer review because you may be paired with people you do not know. You may not trust their opinions and you also do not know the quality of their own work. So why would you want someone grading your work and correcting your papers if they cannot do well on their own. Another reason I do not agree with peer reviewing is because of the quality of laziness in some people. While they will answer the questions of the teacher in order to get credit they will not take the time to actually edit your paper. They may mark a few grammar errors but do not change anything nor provide any helpful suggestions, all the while giving you less than an A. If I were to have someone edit my paper it would be someone older and more experienced with writing skills that I know would make revisions and suggestions.

WORD COUNT: 215

Reality vs. Fantasy

Most literature has a deeper meaning than just entertainment; however, different people may interpret things in different ways. For example, someone may watch a movie and the movie may touch them emotionally because they may be able to relate to it. Others watching the same movie may just view it as entertainment because they have not experienced the same things. A piece of literature or dramatic viewing may also have a different inspirational story behind it according to different peoples view. This is also true for a play I recently saw, A Streetcar Named Desire. While viewing this play one may contrast the difference in one person’s reality and fantasy.

A Streetcar Named Desire may be viewed as an internal fight inside one person about external experiences. The different characters in the play represent different personalities and different desires. The internal problems one person has, perhaps Tennessee Williams, may be externalized in this way by letting the viewers see different personality traits and desires, or characters. This helps the audience view the difference in Tennessee Williams’ reality and fantasy throughout his life.

Some of the characters that portray Williams’ reality are Stanley and Stella. The character of Stanley represents Tennessee Williams’ father. He was a traveler and also abusive to his family as was Stanley in A Streetcar Named Desire. Stella’s character represented the reality of Williams’ mother. She lived in poverty and loved her husband in spite of his bad qualities. This was the reality of Williams’ life that he portrayed through the characters of his play.

The fantasy Tennessee’s family wishes to fulfill is seen in the character of Blanch. This character represents the fantasy of his mother just as Stella represents the reality she experiences. She fantasized about being a southern belle as well as having a perfect life within her family. She smothered her children as Blanch tries to smother Stella by telling her how she should be living. In the play A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanch finds out that a man she is dating is gay. This gay fellow represents Tennessee Williams himself. The audience can tell by observing that this truth is difficult to grasp by the way Blanch neglects to tell people. This event represents how Williams’ mother reacted to his situation due to the fact that she had a separate fantasy for her family that consisted of perfection and being visually appealing.

A Streetcar Named Desire is more than an entertaining piece of art. This story was inspired by the life of Tennessee Williams himself. The characters represent different people in his life and their realities and fantasies. While watching or reading other pieces of literature, try to guess the story behind it whether it was real or a fictional desire.

WORD COUNT: 459

Reflection on my paper

I wanted to take a blog to reflect about A Streetcar Named Desire and how I was going to incorporate it into my paper. I have decided to write about contrasting reality and fiction in this play. In my opinion I believe that this play may be considered one person, perhaps Tennessee Williams himself. The characters within the play could be different characteristic traits with in Williams or anybody. For example, while Stanley may represent anger and sin, Mitchell represents the love for others and family. So with this idea I extended it into reality and fantasy. I believe that while Stella represents reality, Blanch represents fantasy. I believe that everyone in the world has a contrast of reality and fantasy within them. Myself, in reality I am not rich but of average wealth. Sometime I do wish I was better off financially so that I would not have to pay for school or worry about bills. I will extend on this connection more in my paper.

WORD COUNT: 167

Outside Activity 2

This weekend I went to see the play "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams. On my way downtown to view this piece I was beginning to expect less and less because I had never been to Hattiloo Theater and in my opinion it honestly looked like a whole in the wall. However, my opinions changed with the first scene of the play. I really enjoyed myself.

My favorite character was Stanley. Personally I am always drawn to the smart alack that makes me laugh. His character was a simple man in a loving relationship which shows that one does not need the world or anything material to have a wonderful love. His character did have some flaws as well though. His anger was not a good characteristic but it showed that no one is perfect.

I also found the title "A Streetcar Named Desire" interesting as well. In my opinion, the streetcar was a symbol for how much the audience was tossing between desires there was. For example, the story goes from the desires of Stanley, Blanch, and Stella. Blanch desired for the world to notice her. She wanted to be the center of attention. Stella and Stanley both had the desire for each other. Stanley wanted Blanch to leave in order for him and Stella to be happy again. However, he also desires Blanch which is shown in the scene where he rapes her. All of the emotion thrown around from character to character sets the name of the play, "A Streetcar Named Desire."

WORD COUNT: 256

=Harrison=

I really enjoyed the story “Harrison Burgeron” that we read outside of class. It was basically telling how some people think the world should be. So many people now days demand equality and uniformity, but do they really know what they are asking for. If everyone were equal and the same than what would make anybody unique? Everyone has different characteristics, talents, and features so no one can truly be equal. If this were not true than this world would be boring and we would never accomplish anything. For example, if everyone were equal creatively then we would always look at the same art and read the same literature. How boring would that be? The story “Harrison Burgeron” takes this idea to the extreme. In my opinion he is being over dramatic in order to make fun of those who want equality and uniformity. He uses drastic examples to give the readers an idea of what some people in society want.

WORD COUNT: 161