Katy's Blog

Modernizing the Invisible Man

2005-04-19T20:00:00.000-07:00

The book, The Invisible Man, is an interesting book that deals a lot with racial issues. There are still racial issues today but if we were to make a movie out of this book today we would need to choose a topic that is more prevelant today. A good way to modernize this book would be to make the main character in the book, the Invisible Man, a person from the Middle East, such as an Arab or a Muslim. Because of 7/11, many people today look at Arabs and Muslims as terrorists and there is certainly hostility towards these people. People may not want to realize that this is racism and they hold a certain predjudice against these people but that is exactly what it is. It was really hard for the Invisible Man to fit in and find a group that he could really be himself and in the brotherhood, he went with the intent of treating everyone as equals but that is just the group looked like it was doing. There was a certain set of rules that had to be followed and it seemed like they were trying to make everyone the same person. They should have been trying to see their differences and not look at them as a bad thing but explore the differences and use them to their advantage. For this book to be modernized, I think that a Muslim or Aram so immigrate to the U.S. and we should just follow all of the struggles that this person goes through to try to be a U.S. citizen.

The House of Spirits and Ideology

2005-03-29T19:03:00.000-08:00

In chapter 7, The Brothers, when Nicolas found out that Amanda was pregnant he was speechless. ". . . he had assumed that she had sufficient experience to avoid making him a father at twenty-one and herself an unwed mother at twenty-five." This makes me wonder if he thought that she could just think in her mind "don't let me get pregnant, don't let me get pregnant," and that was all there was to it. It is amazing to me that they did not know that it takes more than the power of the mind to not get pregnant. Did they not have condoms? Shouldn't it be up to him to not go poking around if he doesn't want a child? He just blamed everything on Amanda when it clearly takes two to do the deed. He took no responsibility for what happened. If a woman gets pregnant before she is married or has sex a lot she is looked at as a whore or a slut, but a guy gets some kind of bonus points for adding another mark to the list. It seems like that view is starting to change a little in our society and that view isn't being held as much anymore but it was obvious that it was true at the time that this book takes place. Esteban has many "bastard" children but no one ever knew it except the women that were raped and even if people did know about it, it was accepted and wasn't really seen as a scandal. When Blanca got pregnant it was a scandal because it was out of wedlock and to someone that wasn't in her own class but it was out of love. That wasn't enough for people then and it is a shame.

The House of the Spirits

2005-03-25T23:00:00.000-08:00

I really liked this book. It was different than what you would expect to read in a literature class. I always like to read about relationships, conflicts, and the unnatural and there was plenty of each in this book. The theory concept, Ideology, played a major role in this book, particularly with Senator Trueba. His ideas and beliefs were so narrow-minded and I don't know if there is a way that you can change that. There is a strict view about class and how they shouldn't intermingle and they certainly shouldn't love someone from a lower class. I'm not even sure love was a concept in Senator Trueba's mind. He was too rapped up in his political campaign to care too much about his family's happiness; he just wanted them to behave in a way that would make him look better. Even though class may still be an issue today it definitely isn't a very very large one and not one that people give much thought to anymore. I think that there will always be some belief or view, such as gays and lesbians, that will cause a lot of controversy. I also think that people today are a bit more open-minded and accept different things with more ease than people did at the time that this book was written.

Duplessis

2005-03-02T18:59:00.000-08:00

If I were to ask Rachel Duplessis a question about her writting, I would ask her if she gets nervous wondering what people will think of her work and if any of her works made her more nervous than others.

Antigone

2005-02-26T18:38:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I really liked the character Antigone because she has a strong bond with her family and she would risk her life just to give her brother a decent burial. I'm really close to my family and would do anything to protect them so I feel as though I can relate to the bond that Antigone has with her family. I cannot, however, say the same for Ismene. I cannot believe that she would not help her sister with the burial of their brother. Yet, in the end she does try to help but it is already a little too late for that. If she couldn't bring herself to help her sister in the beginning she shouldn't have tried in the end because it didn't help and it just made Ismene look like she wanted the attention that her sister was recieving. The Theory Toolbox discusses culture and I believe that that concept really comes into play in the particular play. The value and belief system in Greece in that time period is going to be completely different that what we believe in Western Pennsylvania in 2005. We can read the play and try to consider their beliefs but I don't think that we will ever fully comprehend what it was like to live in those times and in those places. If someone were to read this play in Greece around the time period that it was written about then they would understand this play and agree with what happened to Polyneikes and think that Antigone was wrong for trying to give her brother a decent burial. I, on the other hand, reading this play do not agree with what they did to Polyneikes and I do agree with what Antigone did to help him. I completely respect what she did and I also envy her courage to risk her life to give her dead brother a decent burial. Sometimes we have to look a little deeper to try and understand different time periods and different cultures.

Cortez

2005-02-20T16:17:00.000-08:00

I like hearing legends so this story wasn't too bad for me. I thought that Cortez's brother was stupid and he was the reason for everything that happened. He is a mexican and he should have known what mexicans are like but he was a man so he went and did it anyway. I know it is just a story or legend or whatever but I really don't think that a whole group of men would be scared of just one man either. I like stories that are a little more believable. The video clip in class was somewhat interesting. I liked watching the different sides to one story. It just makes you wonder, which one was right? Or, where either of them right? I would probably say that neither one of them was the true story because when you tell a story you always try to make yourself look better then you actually were. If it was a true story and I had to pick which story I believe I probably wouldn't have gone with Cortez's story. The Sheriff did shoot his brother but ya never know. The song really didn't thrill me but it was different I suppose. Overall it wasn't that bad of a story.

Blood Wedding

2005-02-11T07:52:00.000-08:00

I really liked this play. I thought that it was fun and interesting and I liked all the hidden meanings and indeterminate parts. It really makes you think and it pulls you into the story line. It actually just made me mad most of the time but a good play wouldn't be good unless it evokes some sort of emotion out of you. I was mad that everything had to go a certain way, you have to marry this person and you aren't allowed to get divorced and it is just all arranged and I hate that. I didn't like how the bride was planning and eventually did marry someone she didn't love especially when she was in love with another married man. So she marries the bridegroom and then runs off with Leonardo, what the hell? That just confused me, why in the world would you marry someone and then run off with another guy the SAME DAY? Give me a break, that was rude and wrong and I think that she should have died and not the bridegroom, he didn't do anything wrong. He should have killed the bride and Leonardo! Anyway, I think that it does make a difference if you were to read this in a different context. Americans today are so open minded and so free that we try our hardest not to go along with the norms and we are locked into a world where you have to do this this way or oh my goodness you're an outcast. If we were to read this in 1930's Spain it would be completely different because they have a different culture and different time periods make a world of difference. Everyone has their own opinions and every culture has their own beliefs that is the way it is.

The Awakening

2005-02-01T11:01:00.000-08:00

I thought that this was a pretty decent book. I really didn't like their way of life though. All of the men went off and did whatever they wanted and were left alone with men that weren't their husbands all day long. The women were closer to the other men that they were hanging out with than their husbands and all the flirting that was going on just doesn't seem right. It didn't seem like the husbands and wives had a relationship at all. The women were supposed to be wonderful mothers but they weren't even the ones that took care of them. They didn't anything with them except to tuck them in to bed. I'm glad that Edna was different and realized that she was her own person and that she shouldn't have to stand there and take orders from her husband and she actually stood up to him and did what she wanted to do rather than what everyone else was telling her to do. I would have liked for Edna and Robert to finally be together because they found love and weren't even allowed to explore it. In turn Edna committs suicide and Robert will be miserable. I love to read but when I do I never really look at all of the symbolism and there is a lot in this book. For example, the ocean and when she finally learned to swim. I see that as the first time she ever did anything on her own and she the ocean was somewhere she could be free and where she could be herself. That was all she wanted: to be herself with Robert.

Yellow Wallpaper

2005-01-25T13:15:00.000-08:00

This is an interesting piece of reading material. Covering some of the subjects that we discussed in class I would say that even if we had evidence saying that she wrote this particular piece for this reason and to make you think something particular it wouldn't really change your thoughts about the story. Most of us were thinking that she is crazy and she wanted us to know what it was like for her because Charlotee Gilman actually went through that and then trying to decide whether it added to the story or it took away from it because it was true. The conclusion we came to was that everyone had a different opinion, everyone had their own thoughts and it would take a lot of persuasion to change those thoughts even it Gilman herself would tell you what the story meant. Thinking that she was talking about 19th century relationships between husbands and wives were a different angle and I liked it. I would say that she did go crazy because her husband controlled her and she wasn't allowed to do anything except sit in a room and look at mucky yellow wallpaper. I would surely go crazy if I had nothing else to do. Of course I would think that is why she went crazy because of the time that I live in. She may have thought that you were supposed to listen to everything that your husband told you to do and may have been trying to warn us women that we aren't supposed to write and go against our husbands because if we do then we are surely going to go crazy. I think that it was interesting to read this and the class discussion helped alot.

Douglass

2005-01-25T13:11:00.000-08:00

Douglass's narrative was a harsh story to read. It gives you a large insight into what it would be like to be a slave. Unfortunately it wasn't something that any one would want to be. I couldn't believe how incredible cruel people can be and how heartless. It just broke my heart. Beating them and whipping them wasn't enough, they kept them illerate and stupid as well. Very few, such as Douglass were able to stand up to their "masters" and actually taught themselves to read. I found it remarkable that he had that kind of courage. It just showed how much better he was than everyone around him. I do have to say that it was smart of the slave holders to keep their slaves dumb. It was wrong but it was smart. Another thing that got me was how much one person could change when they held the power. I don't know how anyone could enjoy beating another human being but I suppose they didn't look at the slaves as human but as property. I'm very glad that things have changed but we still have a far way to go. It was a good story, heartbreaking but good.