My BLOG

The Invisible Man

2005-04-24T20:04:00.000-07:00

This book to me seemed to be a compare and contrast between the hardships of being African in the 1950s and the advantages of being from the white society. The novel shows issues and points of view that I, as a white female growing up in this age would never have thought about or considered. The narator is also the main character. He is a black man in his twenties. The novel goes through the man's life from his college years to his first job, his hardships, and his family life. Although at times the book seemed to drag on I did feel that it had good meanings and taught lessons, such as prejudices that africans have been fighting for years. I found it annoying when the narator would get on soap boxes about certain issues, like how he did not want to be a sterotypical southerner.
The novel made good points and definatly opened my eyes to the delemas the Africans faced in the 1950s. It opened my eyes a little more and made me feel fortunate to be living in the time I am now.

The House of The Spirits

2005-04-06T15:38:00.000-07:00

This novel was my favorite one we have read all year. The way the story has these twists from begining to end truly kept my attention. The foreshadowing of the story makes you so curious to what is going to happen that a reader could possibly read this entire book in one sitting. It honestly, for me, was one of those books that I just could not put down.

The story is about generations of a family. It takes you from Clara, to her daughter Blanca, to her daughter Alba, and in the end to Alba's expected child. The novel ties in the obsticles each woman has to overcome. Through the story you realize that many of the situations each woman faces are similar. Clara who never fell in love married because she was supposed to. Although she was content with this, she regretted never having love for a man. Her daughter falls in love but is forced to marry another who comes from the same class as her. She is forbidden to see her lover, although she still does. Blanca has a love child with her secret flame. Her child is named Alba. Alba too falls inlove. Her love is politically forbidden. When she tries to overcome the obsticales keeping her from her love as her mother had, she finds herself in a near death situation.

The novel has so many different plots going on, everyone is bound to enjoy it. There are love stories, violent polictical battles, science and medicine, and mystical powers. I could not put the book down and thought the way the author wrote the book was amazing.

The House of The Spirits-Ideaology

2005-04-06T15:29:00.000-07:00

This book had characters from one extreme to another. Nobody, even promised lovers, seemed to mesh. To me Clara truly stuck out in her "eccentrecities" as the novel chooses to call them. Clara is a strong woman, but she has so many quirks to her that it is hard to grasp her true nature. Through the book I would sometimes wonder if she has a slight bit of autisim or something wrong with her on that line. The way she communicated with spirits and has these mysterious powers, like predicting earthquakes seemed a bit odd to me. I also wondered if the way she treated her husband was showing strong independance, or a bit of slowness in how her thoughts were processed.

The one part in the story really seemed abnormal. I did not understand her way of dealing with the situation of her husband beating her. Estaban beats Clara until her teeth are literally knocked out. She obviously would be angry and scared. Like a normal person she leaves him and goes back to the house in the city. The odd part was she never objected to him coming back and living there with her. Then, on top of that she never brings up the matter or threatens him in anyway. She just decides to not talk to him for the rest of her life......I just found her character's ideas and personality weird to the extent that I just wonder if she was all there.

Antigone

2005-04-06T15:18:00.000-07:00

Antigone is a legendary tragedy. The story was written by Sophlicles ages ago but it's impact on the world of literature has kept it recycled through generations and generations. The play has been performed in every style, from modern to the original versions. The tragedy is about a woman who risks her life to stand up for her beliefs. I enjoyed this tragedy, well up until the end when the tragedy part comes in..... I found it interesting that even though it had been written some time ago, that the subjects, issues, and morals that play out all can be recognized by society today. The version of Antigone we read was a slight moderation from the original. This one turned the wars and feuds into a more modern setting, World War 2. Although it was an interesting way to take the play, I prefer original versions and would have enjoyed it a little more if the author would have stuck to ancient battles as was done in the original.

Gregorio Cortez

2005-02-23T17:30:00.000-08:00

I am a big fan of folk tales and legends. I found Gregorio Cortez to be one of the better ones I have read recently. Legends, to me, always seem to have so much energy. My favorite kind are the ones that start out as songs, like Beowolf. The character in this particular legend, Gregorio Cortez, had such a great persona about him. The fun part about Cortez is that he was a real person. I do not know how much of the story I believe to be true. I am not sure if he actually rode a single horse the whole way across the country or that he could truly speak to animals; however I believe the whole part of him shooting a sherrif and having to flee was true. Cortez was truly a heroic individual. Although I do not agree with all of the actions he took in the story, you can tell by many of the actions he is truly gentle and caring. Cortez had a deep love for his family. Obviously, he gave his life for the sake of theirs. My favorite parts in this legend, like many, were the exagerated and stretched truths. Exagerations truly made this story. With out a few white lies, Gregorio Cortez could easily be bland and not have the popularity it has achieved today. A different thing about legends I like as well is that fact that there is not one set author. The legend is made up of many different people's perspective on it. Because of that the reader is always hit with curve balls throughout reading. As a reader, you never really know what to expect from legends like you do with other books.

Blood Wedding

2005-02-10T17:04:00.000-08:00

I feel this play was horrible. It seemed to get better reviews from peers and critics but I felt it was very unoriginal and cliche'. The begining caught my eye and it started out pretty good. The begining with the paranoid mother begging her son to stay away from knives was very dramatic. I was looking forward to the rest of the play after this. After the first scene, the play went downhill. The middle act set up the play to be happy. The woman was in love with her soon to be husband, the families were agreeing, and everyone was excited. Then, out of nowhere the play seemed to stop making its own script! From the middle of the second scene and forward I could swear this was a Spanish version of Romeo and Juliet. Even certain lines such as "If they seperate us, it will be because Im dead" seem to come straight out of the Shakespeare tragedy. The play had potential but because I have read Romeo and Juliet, I knew the ending exactly as it would happen. I feel that the writer copied and revised a classic and this tragedy , to me, has little original talent and lacks a breathtaking plot.

The Awakening

2005-02-01T15:47:00.000-08:00

I absolutly loved this book. I found it genius how the author forshadowed the entire book with metaphors of the ocean. For the time period it was written in this novel defenitaly pushed all the literary buttons. I love when I can read a book written that long ago and the story plot can still be looked at in a present time. I fell in love with each character. The way the author portrayed the main character, Edna, was amazing. I truly felt attached to Edna. Anytime in the book she was confused, I wanted to read more as if to help her figure out what she needed to. Everytime Edna became frusterated with another individual in the book I could feel her anger overpowering my own feelings. Each character had such a realistic personality for the time. I especially liked how the author focussed on controversial issues of the time. Not many authors had the guts to write as she did. I was truly impressed by the tone of the book. From the writing I felt as if the author had something to say and she did not care what people thought about it. She had a point that she wanted to get across and she did. This to me is truly a piece of literature. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. When I read this book i found many hidden meaning inbetween the words of the novel. Knowing these little secrets made me feel like a part of the book. I feel as if it is one of those novels you can read 100 times and you will always pick up something new in it. The only part of the book I did not really like was how in every chapter the author would throw in a little French. This would confuse me. I do not know the language so the dialogue would throw me off. Other than that this is an excellent book that I will probably read again on my own time.

The Yellow Wallpaper

2005-01-27T14:16:00.000-08:00

To be honest, I did not really understand or like this story much. T he author should have been more clear as to what she was getting at when writing the story. I personally had the wrong mind setting for half of the narrative. I thought the author was writing of women's supression in society. The tone of the story leads you to believe that the woman is being jailed in by her own controlling egotistical husband in her own house. The way she writes leads the reader to believe that the woman is upset because she is forbidden to do things that she loves, such as write. Then in the middle of the story, the tone changes as you as a reader find out the truth...
TheYellow Wallpaper is a story of a woman who is slowly going insane. Her husband, who you are lead to think is bad, is actually trying to help her. Although his treatments are bizarre, they are done in order to try to bring his wife back to narmalcy. As she writes she comes apart. In the begining you do not understand because she is still writing somewhat normal, hence the hate the reader produces for her husband. By the middle of the story though, the woman's thoughts and ideas are just a bunch of words on paper. She begins to not make any sense by not finishing thoughts and skipping around in what she is trying to get across. The ending of the story is as dissappoining as the rest of it. You never know what happens to the woman. Did she go crazy? Did she get better? Did she die? So now I thought I figured this narrative out. The author wanted to write about a woman going insane. I was wrong again!
When reading the author's comments in class we found out the true reason for the story. The author herself had gone through a form of insanity. The treatments she was given were similar to those in the book. She wanted to write a narrative to object to the treatments and open the eyes of the doctors in the fields at that time. Considering that her narrative was published and got her point across, I guess the story did have some point. I for one, would never reccomend this narrative to read for enjoyment. I felt I gained more from the author's comments than I did the actual story.

Frederick Douglas

2005-01-25T13:49:00.000-08:00

This narrative story goes over the truths and terrors of slavery. I thought the story was very descriptive and informative. The way Douglas uses words to manipulate the thoughts of the reader is genius. He describes the abuse of the slaves in a way that it makes the reader feel the pain. As he described the whip lashes I honestly felt as if I was the slave being beat. For an author to be able to tell his personal experiences in a story like this is truly remarkable. This is a piece of literature that I feel everyone should read just to become educated on the truths and details of slavery.
Douglas grabs his readers in right off the bat by telling of his horrible childhood. He uses issues that touch the lives of all humans. He begins by telling of how he never knew his mother or his own birthday. Douglas was forbidden to learn how to read or write as well. When these issues are brought to ones attention he/she begins to feel pity for this unfortunate being. Douglas soon switches your perspective on him though. He tells you of how he overcomes these times and leaves you seeing him as more of a hero than an unfortunate slave. By the end of the story, the reader feels anger and hatred for the white slave holders. Douglas though, is seen as an American icon that leaves hope for others like him in his situation.