Reactions to "A Good Man is Hard to Find"

"A Good Man is Hard to Find" is a very interesting short story.  In this story, chance plays a very big role.  So many things that happened were because of chance, and these chance happenings led to other chance happenings.  For example, there was a chance that Bailey would decide to not go down the road where the house with the secret panel was supposed to be.  When they did go down that road and grandmother remembered that the house was in Tennessee, their was a chance that she wouldn't have freaked out as much and that her cat wouldn't have sprang out of where it was hidden.  When the cat ended up landed on Bailey's shoulder, that was by chance.  This led to the car flipping over, by chance.  If Bailey wasn't as freaked out and if he controlled the car better, that might not have happened.  But, because it did, and because The Misfit happened to be there, he came over, and they eventually all ended up dead.  They definitely didn't mean to die that day, but as chance played out, leading from one thing to the next, they did end up dying.

Throughout the story, the words "a good man" keep popping up.  It seems like the grandmother's definition of a  good man is someone who is nice.  She calls Red Sammy a good man after he says that he let two people charge the gas they bought.  He was being nice to them, but in my opinion it still wasn't the right thing to do.  Also, she continues to tell The Misfit that he is a good man.  Her reason for this is that he comes from nice people.  At this point, however, I don't really think she really believes he is nice.  She is saying this just to get him to not shoot her.

The article, "Every Minute of her Life: Flannery O'Conner has an Epiphany(or Three…Thousand)," really helped me understand this short story better, and I after I read the article I went and reread the short story.  The article explains how when the grandmother was with The Misfit, knowing she would probably die, she turned into a good women.  She was transformed into a better person when in the midst of The Misfit, who she knew was dangerous, had a gun, and would eventually shoot her.  It makes a lot of sense.  Like The Misfit said, she would've been a good woman if someone was threatening to shoot her every minute of her life.  I think he said that because no one really is a good person all the time, but she acted good in his presence.  Overall, the article was very helpful, and this story was very good.  I'm still wondering, however, if there is a meaning in why the kids and their parents didn't seem to care about the grandmother, and why they acted so rude toward her(the kids acted badly toward everyone--especially June Star).

Response After Finishing The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail

This week I finished reading the play The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail.  It was such a good book, and I really enjoyed the ending.  Anyway, as I read this play, I found a few examples of irony in it.  One would be that Sam Staples, a tax collector, tells Henry his taxes must be paid, and then says that he will pay the taxes for him.  I think it’s ironic how his job is to make sure everyone pays their taxes, yet he is willing to let Henry not pay his taxes, and just pay Henry’s taxes for him.  Also, a similar example of irony is shown he was put in jail because he didn’t pay his taxes, but even after they got paid by his Aunt, he didn’t want to leave jail, because it would mean that his taxes were paid, and he didn’t want them to be.  Finally, when Sam told Henry that because his taxes had been paid there was no charge against him and he shouldn’t be in jail, it was very ironic.  This is because Bailey has been waiting in jail for three months without a real charge against him yet(since he hasn’t had a trial yet), and Sam is completely fine with it.  This is why I’m very glad that a promise was made that if Henry left jail, Bailey would get his trial immediately.

Next, the three most important characters in this play would probably be Henry, Waldo, and John.  A present day actor who I think would play Henry well is Daniel Day-Lewis.  I think Henry looks a lot like Abraham Lincoln, and Day-Lewis looked a lot like him too when he played Lincoln in a movie.  Also, Henry is a thoughtful, somewhat serious person.  Judging by his acting in Lincoln, Day-Lewis is very good at playing this type of person.  As for Waldo, I believe that Russell Crowe would do a good job being him.  This is because he’s an actor who usually plays an important role in a serious movie.  Most of his characters are smart and serious, and he never does comedies.  Waldo seems very serious, and is a wise person who is good with words, so I think it would work well for Crowe to play him.  Finally, John, Henry’s brother, is another important character.  John seems to share similar views with Henry, just less extreme views.  Also, John is funny, and seems like a fun person to be with who really cared about Henry.  This one was harder, but if I had to pick an actor to play John, I think it would be Robert Downey Jr.  This is because like John, Robert seems like a funny, easy to get along with kind of person.

So, after reading this play, an important question to consider is whether or not Thoreau ended up being successful in his protests against the war.  I would say yes, even though his tax ended up being paid by Henry’s aunt.  I’m saying yes to this question because Henry still proved his point that he personally will not pay taxes to support a war he didn’t believe in.  This showed he was dedicated to what he believed in and was willing to stand up for his beliefs.  Yes, Henry may not have influenced people to end the Mexican War by doing what he did, but he didn’t give up on his protests, so he was still successful.

Quote From The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail--How it Reflects Transcendental Thought

"Our own school, John.  No buildings.  Break out of the classroom prison.  All we need is the sky!"  This quote from Henry David Thoreau in The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail really reflects Transcendental thought.  A big thing that Transcendentalists believed in was the concept of seeking nature and action.  They believed that the best way to learn was to go outside and get experiences of your own.  In this quote, when Henry is talking about John and him having a school of their own, he says, "All we need is the sky!"  This reflects the Transcendental thought of going outside and getting real experiences.  Also, Transcendentalists really believed that formal education got into the way of real learning.  They didn't think that sitting around in a classroom with textbooks and a curriculum telling the teachers exactly what to teach and the students exactly what they needed to learn was a good way for a school to work.  In this quote the typical school classroom is called a prison, which I think fits perfectly with Transcendentalism.  When reading the quote, it is easy to tell that Thoreau was very excited about having his own school where he could dismiss formal education and go out into the world to truly teach his students.  I really like this quote, and I agree with the Transcendental thought that people learn better when they are outside of a classroom and are getting their own experiences.

The Odyssey and The Most Dangerous Game

After reading both The Dangerous Game and The Odyssey, I see many similarities and differences between them.

First, both books use this formula: desire plus danger equals drama. In both stories, the characters have a desire for something.  When someone has a desire for something, it becomes their goal to reach it.  When they are trying to reach it, if some danger steps in the way, you get drama.  The story starts to get more intense, and there is unknown whether or not the character will achieve their goal despite the dangers they face, or if the dangers will be too much for them.  In The Odyssey, the main character Ulysses has the desire to reach Ithaca, his home.  When he tries to get home, there's a lot of danger that gets in the way.  He has to go past six-headed monsters, find a way to get out of a cyclops’ cave, and deal with the raging waters that Neptune creates for him.  This creates the drama of whether or not he will get home, or if one of the dangers that he faces will kill him or permanently prevent him from getting back to Ithaca in some other way.  In The Most Dangerous Game, Rainsford’s desire is to get away from the general who is trying to hunt him, and win the game so that he can leave Ship-Trap Island.  He is obviously faced with danger.  The danger is that the general, who is an amazing hunter, is hunting him, and is trying to shoot and kill him.  Also, he has a pack of dogs with him in some parts of the story, and they’re trying to kill Rainsford also.  These two aspects of the story create drama together.  There is the drama of whether or not Rainsford will make it off of the island alive, or if he won’t survive the dangers he is faced with, and will die.

These two books can be compared in many other ways also. One way is that The Odyssey and The Most Dangerous Game both have external conflicts.  In The Odyssey, Ulysses’ conflict is between himself and other characters.  The characters against him include Neptune, the suitors, and many others.  In The Most Dangerous Game, the conflict is between Rainsford and the general, which is a character vs character conflict.  As for the complications of the story, The Odyssey has many complications.  Along Ulysses’ journey, he is faced with complications that keep him from returning to Ithaca.  One complication would be Polyphemus, the cyclops.  He wanted to eat Ulysses and his men, and keep them from getting out of his cave.  Another complication Ulysses faced was getting away from Calypso, who had been detaining him.  In The Most Dangerous Game, there is one complication, which is that the general and his dogs are trying to kill Rainsford, and Rainsford has to stay alive for three days.  Finally, while there are no flashbacks in The Most Dangerous Game, there is one in The Odyssey.  When Ulysses tells his journey to the Phaeacian king, it is sort of flashback.  The first part of The Odyssey that mentions Ulysses is when Ulysses is on the island of Calypso.  After this, he reaches the Phaeacians.  When he tells king Alcinous about his journey, it goes back in time, well before he reaches the island of Calypso.  It is a flashback to all of the complications of his journey that went on before he got to Calypso.

There are still many other comparisons that can be made between these two stories. Overall, I think both stories are good ones, but I enjoyed reading The Most Dangerous Game a lot more. It was much more interesting to me.

Final Reactions to The Odyssey

This week I finished reading The Odyssey.  I found the ending really interesting.  Now that I am done reading it, I can say that even though it wasn’t my favorite, it definitely wasn’t as bad as I thought it was.

First, this week I read about Ulysses finally taking revenge on the suitors, and reuniting with his wife and father.  I was really glad when he killed Antinous first, out of all the suitors, because Antinous was such a cruel and evil person.  It was interesting how the second worst suitor, Eurymachus, tried to blame all of the suitors’ evils on Antinous so that Ulysses wouldn’t kill the rest of them.  Eurymachus would not own up to all of his own evil deeds.  I think that when the women were killed, it seemed like they were killed a crueler way, even though the things they did weren’t as bad compared to the suitors.  Then, when Ulysses finally revealed himself to his wife, I was so glad, because throughout the whole book, all Penelope ever did was mourn the loss of her husband.  The very end of the book, however, didn’t seem very good to me.  It ended with Minerva making peace between the families of the dead suitors, and Ulysses.  But, only one sentence was used to say this, and it seemed like it ended too soon.  It didn’t fully wrap up the story.

I’ve noticed many things while reading this epic poem.  One is that repetition is used throughout the story.  It gets annoying when you’re reading it, but it makes sense that it’s there because the story used to be told out loud, and had to be memorized.  The line that probably gets repeated the most is “rosy-fingered dawn.”  Another line is “tell me, and tell me true.”  Also, throughout the book, the men(in many cases) seem to treat the women badly.  One example would be Telemachus, who says many things to his mother that come off as really rude.  One time, when Penelope was telling Eurymachus that the stranger(Ulysses) should be able to string the bow that all the suitors were trying to string, Telemachus told his mother that no one but him has any say in if someone gets the bow or not, and she should busy herself inside.  He said that the bow was a man’s matter, which seemed really rude.  Also, I noticed that the climax of this story is near the end.  The majority of the book is action that sets the story up for when Ulysses returns and kills all of the suitors.

The reading this week was very interesting.  Overall, the story came to a good end.  

Reactions to The Odyssey: Books V-XII

After reading books V-XII in The Odyssey, I feel like the story is a lot more exciting and has a lot more action.  There were, however, quite a few confusing parts to this chunk of reading.  Also, there were a lot of interesting things I found out about this week.

The fifth book was all about how Ulysses was being detained by Calypso, on the island where she lived.  Mercury was told to force Calypso to let Ulysses go, which she did, and he ended up on the island where the Phaecians lived.  Books VI-VIII was all about his encounter with the Phaecians.  He meets their king and queen, and is treated very kindly.  While they are entertaining Ulysses, however, Euryalus offends him greatly, and Ulysses gets the most angry I have ever seen him in the story so far.  Later, King Alcinous asks to here his story, who he is and why he got so sad when hearing the bard sing of the return of the Acheans from Troy.  In books IX-XII, Odysseus tells of his journey, and everything he encountered up until coming to Calypso.  This part of the reading is a flashback in a way.

One thing that I found confusing was that Ulysses talks about how Jove was trying to destroy his ships and didn't want him coming home.  He usually talks about Neptune doing this, but why would Jove also do this?  Jove had even said earlier that he thinks highly of Ulysses and that it was time for him to come home.  Also, it was confusing how rosy-fingered dawn is referred to as a real goddess when Calypso was talking about goddesses that were in love with mortals.  Before then I thought that rosy-fingered dawn was just a more interesting way to say that it was morning.  Another confusing part was how Elpenor died of a broken neck, which really doesn't make any sense.  I didn't think people died of broken necks.

There were so many interesting parts to these books.  First, it was interesting to me how mad Ulysses got when Euryalus called him unskilled in sports.  Ulysses was so angry, so he threw a huge disc farther than any of he Phaecians had ever thrown one, and told the men of his athletic abilities.  He was trying to prove his skill in sports, but it seemed that he had gotten too mad about it.  Also, it was interesting to read about Ulysses' encounter with the king of the winds, and how his men didn't trust him enough, and opened up the sack that held in all of the bad winds.  They thought he might have treasures in there that he was keeping all to himself.  It seems like they would trust him more.  Also, I loved hearing about the Cyclops.  It was hilarious when Ulysses told Polyphemus his name was Noman, and then when the other cyclops asked him if any man was trying to kill him, Polyphemus shouted, "Noman is killing me by fraud, Noman is killing me by force!"  Ulysses was so clever when he came up with that name so that none of the Cyclops would think anyone was doing anything to the Polyphemus.  It made me so angry when Ulysses told the Cyclops his real name, because it was a huge mistake, and started the hate that Neptune had for Ulysses.  Also, it was interesting and surprising that Ulysess and his crew stayed on the island where Circe lived for a whole year!  That seems like a long time to me.  Finally, it was very weird and creepy when Ulysses was surrounded by the ghosts in Hades, and they are all trying to get to the blood.

This weeks reading was very lengthy and hard to finish, but also very exciting.  The active reading is getting easier, and I'm continuing to enjoy the story of Ulysses.

Reactions to Books II-IV of the Odyssey and Heroes in Art

When reading books II-IV in The Odyssey, I found that I enjoyed it a lot more than the first book.  The second book seemed to be all about Telemachus denouncing the suitors and telling the people of Ithaca about his journey, the suitors arguing with him, and he and Minerva preparing to leave.  It was interesting to hear what the suitors had to say about how Telemachus' mother was tormenting them and was the one at fault.  I found it surprising how rude and cruel Eurymachus was to Halitherses the prophet, saying that it was a pity that he wasn't dead.  I especially enjoyed the third and fourth books, and I found it very interesting to hear what Nestor and Menelaus had to say to Telemachus.  One thing that confused me was that when Nestor was telling Telemachus about how Aegisthus and Agamemnon's wife had succeeded in killing Agamemnon, Nestor called Aegisthus "false Aegisthus."  I don't know what that was supposed to mean.  When Telemachus came to Lacedaemon and spoke with Menelaus, Menelaus also talked to him about Aegisthus and Agamemnon, which really helped me to understand this particular story a lot better.  I think it was important that it helped explain the story because Homer has continued to use this story to compare it to the tale of Ulysses.  Next, when I read about the plans that the suitors were making to kill Telemachus, it made me feel very angry at the suitors.  I don't see how these people can be so evil.  I was also annoyed at Noemon, who was the one who let the suitors know about Telemachus being gone, even though he didn't mean to.  Noemon sort of wrecked Telemachus' plans by doing what he did, and he worried Penelope.  As I read on, I was very glad to hear that Penelope was comforted by Minerva.  So far, I am liking this story a lot more than I thought I would, and I am interested to read on.

After looking at the pictures of heroes in art, I realized that even though the four pictures represented very different types of heroes, they were all still heroes.  I also realized that they all shared some of the same qualities.  The picture of fire fighters showed that these that men were very brave.  Fire fighters save people from fires, so they have to be extremely courageous and persevering.  They also seem to be pretty confident in what they do.  Soldiers, another one of the pictures, are heroes as well.  The American soldiers in the photo fought for our freedom, and had to be strong, brave, and confident in what they were doing.  These soldiers would've also had to persevere, and probably had to encourage men at times to continue to fight.  The photo of batman was a more obvious picture of a hero because when I think of heroes, immediately I think of made up superheroes, like superman and batman.  Batman is very strong and brave, which are both characteristics of a hero.  Finally, the last picture showed a statue of Hercules with a lion.  Hercules was a hero because he was strong and brave, and killed the Nemean lion.  He was confident, and ran straight towards the lion, with the belief he could kill it, and he was able to.  All of these different heroes fought to help others in some way.  Even though the word "hero" might not be the first word that comes to mind when seeing some of these pictures, all of the people in the pictures are heroes.

Reactions to the First Book of The Odyssey

When reading "Book I" in The Odyssey, there were some things I found interesting, some things confusing, and some surprising.  One of the things that I found most interesting about what I read was when Jove said that "there is no more capable man on earth, nor more liberal in his offerings to the immortal gods that live in heaven," when talking about Ulysses.  I didn't know Ulysses was thought so highly of by the gods, especially Jove, the king of the gods.  Also, I found it very interesting that Telemachus knew that Mentes was actually Minerva.  I'm not sure how he would figure that out so soon.  Another thing I found interesting was how Neptune decided to torment Ulysses and stop him from coming home because of the fact that Ulysses blinded his son.  I am not sure why Neptune didn't just kill him if he was that angry at him.  Some parts of what I read were confusing, including the part where Telemachus sets a seat away from the suitors, so he can talk to Mentes without the suitors annoying her, and so "he might ask her more freely about his father."  I'm not sure why it says that he wanted to be able to ask her questions about his father when he didn't know why she was there yet, or even that it was Minerva he was talking to.  Another confusing part was when it said Minerva "flew away like a bird" right after talking to Telemachus.  It wouldn't make sense for her to do this if she was disguised as a man, and didn't want her identity revealed to everyone.  One more thing that confused me was the part where Telemachus says that "Ulysses is dead."  It might be that he is so tired of wondering when and if his father will come back that he has resorted to assuming he is dead, but what threw me off is that he says "now that Ulysses is dead," while talking to the suitors.  As for what I found surprising, one thing would be when Telemachus says that his mother "tells me I am son to Ulysses" like he doesn't believe it.  Also, it wasn't just interesting, but also surprising to me how Telemachus knew that Mentes was Minerva.  Even though he doesn't actually say anything about it, and it only says that "in his heart he knew it had been the goddess," I thought that that would be something he figured out after awhile.

When I read this book, I read it actively.  I'm glad I did, because doing so really helped me to better understand the material.  By highlighting words and phrases that I didn't get, and making notes on things, I better understood what was going on, and it helped me to think more about the text.  Also, when I highlighted main ideas and important parts, it made referring back to parts of the text a lot easier, because the main parts of each paragraph were a lot easier to find.  So far, I am enjoying this story, and I can't wait to see how it progresses.

Two Writing Techniques Used in "Don't Blame Fat"

When reading the article "Don't Blame Fat," I noticed a variety of writing techniques that the author used.  One of them was logos.  Logos is a persuasive technique that has to do with reason and evidence.  This article used factual evidence to support the statement that eating too much fat is not the reason for bad health, particularly heart health.  One example of the evidence used by the author was when they stated that when Americans were told to cut fat out of their diets, it didn't work, and the nutritional experiment was a failure.  After they tell the reader this, they back it up by saying that Americans have gotten even more sick.  1 in 10 Americans had Type 2 diabetes 32 years after the experiment.  Also, the author refers to many studies, doctors, and groups to provide evidence, such as Dr. Ancel Keys, who was one of the first major influences on America to eat less fat.  In my current writing piece, I can use logos to help persuade my readers to adopt my definition of the word "quality."  By putting in quotes and giving plenty of good examples, I can add more logos to my writing.  In my writing in general, I can also do this, when it's appropriate, and even try to find statistics.

A second technique that the author of "Don't Blame Fat" uses is ethos.  Ethos, another persuasive technique, is the credibility of a writer. Ethos has to do with the trustworthiness and morals of a writer.  The author used ethos by writing in a way that didn't sound pompous or like they were a know-it-all.  The author has an honest voice, and backs up any claims made.  The author explains things to readers in a respectful way.  For instance, in the beginning, instead of saying that Americans were dumb for thinking that by avoiding fat they would be healthy, the author said that Americans were just "doing what they were told."  They also seem to be very knowledgeable in this subject, and therefore, use ethos effectively.  In both my current writing and my writing in general, I can use ethos by making sure I stay respectful to my readers and don't sound arrogant.  I can sound credible by using evidence and being straight-forward.

The Moral of the Story "Use"

The story "Use" was a very interesting story with an important moral.  The moral that I took away from this story was that a person's looks, abilities, and what's on the surface is not what makes them a better person than someone else.  The author, Alice Walker, persuades me to adopt this moral multiple times throughout the story.

First, Alice describes the two daughters in the story; Dee/Wangero, the older daughter, and Maggie.  Dee/Wangero is prettier, can read better, and is very stylish.  She was ashamed of her mother's house because it was small and ugly to her.  Dee wants nice things in her life like pretty dresses.  Maggie, on the other hand, was burned when their house caught on fire, and has burn scars.  She thinks she is ugly, and when she is around Dee she cowers and acts almost scared.  Maggie isn't very bright and knows it.  In the story, the narrator says that sometimes she dreams of being on a show where a child who has "made it" is surprised by her mother and father coming in from backstage to embrace the child.  She dreams of being on this show with Dee.  So far, you can tell that Dee is the prettier, more successful daughter.

Later, however, when Dee comes home to visit her mother and Maggie, she has changed her name to Wangero and has a man with her.  This is an example of how she is sort of separating herself from her family and her past.  She doesn't really care that much that the name Dee is a big part of her family, and has been in every generation of it as long as anyone can remember.  Also, inside the house, Dee/Wangero marvels at the lovely benches, Grandma Dee's butter dish, and the churn.  She wants to take the churn and dasher with her, but only because they are pretty and interesting.  They have no real meaning to her.  Maggie, however, understands that these things actually mean something, and speaks up to tell Dee/Wangero that the dasher was whittled from Aunt Dee's first husband.

The part of the story that the author uses the most to display this moral is at the end.  Dee tells her mother that she wants to take two quilts, the ones that were pieced by her grandma and quilted by her mother and aunt.  She wants these because she thinks it seems cool and more authentic. Dee/Wangero only wants the quilts to hang them, and they obviously show no real meaning to her.  Before she went to college her mom asked her if she wanted the quilts, and back then she dismissed them because they were old and out of style.  Maggie was promised these quilts, and would put them to use.  Maggie knows how to quilt herself and was taught by her grandma and aunt.  The quilts have a meaning to Maggie.  When Dee/Wangero was begging for the quilts, Maggie said she could have them.  She said that she could remember Grandma Dee without the quilts, showing that she saw the quilts as a way to remember the person who made them.

In the end, the mother realizes that Maggie is the daughter who really cares about her, and that she should receive the quilts no matter what.  What the mother did was the right thing to do, and this is what Alice is trying to teach the readers.  Maggie had better values than Dee/Wangero, and was the better daughter on the inside.  She cared more for her mother, and her family meant more to her.  By the end of this story, Alice Walker has fully persuaded me to adopt the moral that just because someone seems better on the surface, it doesn't mean they're better on the inside.

Comparing and Contrasting "Finding Your Voice" to "The Sound of Your Voice"

After I read both "Finding Your Voice" and "The Sound of Your Voice," two different chapters from two different books, they seemed pretty different.  But, they do have things that are alike about each other also.

One major thing that is similar in them is they're both about finding your voice.  Also, they each say that it's okay to imitate other writers.  "The Sound of Your Voice" says to "Never hesitate to imitate another writer."  In "Finding Your Voice," it says, "It helped me see that it is natural to take on someone else's style, that it's a prop that you use for a while until you give it back."  Also, they both use the term props.  As I said previously, "Finding Your Voice" talked about someone else's voice as a prop you use temporarily.  In "The Sound of Your Voice," however, the writer says that "the tools of grammar" are props that the reader both needs, and even if they might not realize it, wants.  Finally, both writers mention their students, and what their students learn about writing while in class.

While the basic themes of these pieces of writing are the same, they are taught in very different ways.  "Finding Your Voice," for example, uses a lot of metaphors like diving through the ice into the cold water.  This symbolizes not writing just about the good things, but also including the bad, forbidden, and mysterious parts of life.  The writer also says that you need to open up forbidden doors to find your true voice, which has a similar message.  "The Sound of Your Voice," however, talks about voice by using three categories that cheapen the tone of your voice: breeziness, condescension, and clichés.  He uses other writings as examples to give a better picture of what he is trying to say.

It is obvious that these pieces are written very differently.  They do, however, teach the reader a lot about voice, and I found both to be very important and useful.