Ordinary People: Part 2

We started back up with "Ordinary People" with a phone call for his mother. When she started laughing on the phone, Conrad has a flashback of a time when his brother was living and his mother laughing. This was a sign that told the audience that Conrad’s mother scarcely laughs anymore, especially at home. For the first time, on this portion of the movie, we see the father having a flashback. He remembers a time when Conrad and Buck were arguing over a sweater. Then it skips to when Conrad, in a body suit, was being put into the ambulance. The father then starts to see the same psychiatrist as Conrad. He tells Dr. Burger that Conrad and his mother were too much alike and they didn’t connect. This is true for many people that are a lot alike, because they end up competing for the same attention.

Conrad quit the swim team and it was about a month before his parents knew. His mother found out through someone else. This scene was very dramatic and a lot that was kept in surfaces. The mother did not visit Conrad for the four months he was in the hospital. She was going to Spain and Portugal, this also shows her selfishness. Also a line that went unfinished by the mother shows that she believes that Conrad was the reasoning of Buck’s death. The husband reveals that the mother doesn’t show affection to Conrad but really loved her first born; I wonder if it was like this when he was still alive. The father asks if she would go see Dr. Burger and she dislikes the idea.

When Conrad takes the girl out from school on a date she asks him did trying to kill himself hurt. Conrad said it was like falling into a hole that keeps getting bigger and you eventually become the hole and its no longer scary. This was a very deep line that I really didn’t understand. I don't know what method Conrad used to try to kill himself, so his comparison to a hole is completely random. It was wierd way to put it, but probably the best and only way he knew how to explain it. Much more is surfacing in this movie and I can’t wait to get the entire story out so I can have a better understanding.

Ordinary People: Part 1

Robert Radford directed the movie "Ordinary People". The movie started off really confusing with the dream of a choir singing awakening Conrad, the main character. Conrad has nightmares because something very traumatic has happened in his life. His older brother, Buck died and Conrad tried to kill himself. Its seems that these events have disrupted his entire family. Conrad is very distant, nervous, and in the beginning of the movie he is sweating a lot. I was really confused and wondered what was wrong with him.

Conrad’s relationship with his parents is nonexistent. His father tries to console him and they can talk, but it is clear that relationship is hesitant and forced. His mother on the other hand shows no sympathy for Conrad. They agree on nothing and she always seems to fight against anything anyone else says. She comes across as being selfish. But like everyone in this traumatic movie her emotions are much deeper than what the viewer see, I just wish I knew the entire story and maybe that way the way she acts would be more understandable.

Conrad, who is on the swim team, doesn’t enjoy anymore. This shows through his performance. His brother died in a boating accident. I wonder if it was Conrad’s fault in some way. The girl, Karen that Conrad meets at the restaurant was pretty weird. He met her in the hospital and she was very talkative. I think he met with her because he say missed the hospital. Karen repeats herself, but doesn’t even realize it. Conrad begins seeing psychiatrist, Dr. Burger. I think this is really needed because it is obvious that he is not happy or himself. He needs to talk about his feelings, because he doesn’t get them at home. I want to know more; right now I still have questions running through my mind.

I Stand Here Ironing

“I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen was very hard to understand at first. I was thinking who is talking? And what are they talking about? It seems like the mother has given up on her daughter. She states, “You think because I am her mother I have a key, or that in some way you could use my key.” I was still wondering who she was talking to at this point and even more importantly what had her daughter done to be spoken about like this. The way the mother speaks also suggests a time period that has passed, 1953.

The mother was only nineteen when she had her 1st and most beautiful child at birth, as she said, the father “could no longer endure sharing want with us.” She seemed to take this hard and probably had an everlasting headache because of work and a crying baby, Emily. The mother got a job at night to be with her daughter during the day; Emily went to stay with her father. Her struggle mother didn’t have the money to pay for her fare back and when she returned she barely recognized her. I think it was interesting how the daughter at such a young age tried to avoid going to daycare but was never up front about it.

The mother doesn’t smile enough as Emily, and as a result Emily doesn’t really smile, there is no emotional connection. When Emily fell sick, the mother was convinced to send her away. It is never made clear what Emily has, just that she had a fever, barely ate, and was becoming very skinny. The place she was sent to stay was no better because she was still loosing weight. I thought it was sad because Emily was only seven years old at the time. When she returns home, only after gaining seven pounds, she has a hard time returning love to anybody. She was taken away from a love environment for so long that she probably forgot, she said, when she was away, “They don’t like you to love anybody here.”

I think that this is a story of a young girl who longs for the attention of here mother and a mother who does not understand her daughter; but tries her hardest. Emily was different than her siblings, who had blonde, curly hair and dimples. The ending is very well put, Emily was depressed, her mother young, distracted.

Sonny's Blues

“Sonny’s Blues” was written by James Baldwin. For some reason in the beginning of the story I thought the narrator was a woman. But as I continued to read I learned that the narrator was a man. The language in which they talked made it obvious that this was from a different time period. They used terms like “get hung” when talking about Sonny’s addiction and said other terms backwards like “school high.” The relationship between Sonny and his brother is very typical of many sibling relationships. They got along, fought, loved, and cared for one another. I particularly enjoyed this story more than “Rappaccini’s Daughter.”

The narrator, like characters in many other stories we’ve read, is not named. I think I that the narrator life is pretty normal beside the fact that he has lost so many people; first his father, then mother, then daughter, and the one person his mother told him to look after used and became addicted to drugs. The narrator spent a lifetime trying to protect Sonny, but tried to come across as being nonchalant to others. In the beginning when he was in character with the other man I could sense him being tense and deeply caring about the situation. I think that it’s kind of sad but one must realize that one can’t be helped unless they are willing to help themselves also.

“Sonny’s Blues” can be classified as a dramatic story because of how much each person changed throughout the story and how they felt. While Sonny was the person with the addiction his brother also needed to grow. By the end of the story Sonny and his brother grew, which make them both dynamic characters. I think that whether or not Sonny’s brother liked his idea of having a career in music he should’ve supported him. Maybe if Sonny would have had a better support system he would have turned to music instead of heroin early in life. But this trial changed everyone’s life for the better and Sonny, unlike many heroin addicts, recovered and changed his outlook on life.

Rappaccini’s Daughter

"Rappaccini’s Daughter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is definitely not one of my favorite stories. The language for example was very confusing and hard to understand. This story is an allegory and I feel like the he was trying too hard to imitate not only the story of the beginning in Genesis but also the language. I don’t feel like it was the best method,. Although the method made me concentrate the extremely confusing nature of the text caused me to loose my train of thought and concentration and I found myself not even comprehending most of the story. I think that this was an overall good story but it was a challenging reading it. I know that it is only going to get harder, so I stuck with and came out with some general understanding. Even though I wasn’t very verbal in class the discussion cleared a lot of my confusion, so it did indeed help.

I had to question much of what I read. In the beginning when Giovanni was looking out of the window it is mentioned that he was at such a distance that everything was minute. But his detailed descriptions suggested otherwise. He described everything to a tee, as much as seeing a very small insect. From the distance he was at this would have been nearly impossible. I think he has an extravagant imagination or very good sight because much of what he described were characteristics of the other characters. I think it was also very interesting how he was referred to as both Giovanni and Gausconti. Why would both names be used? What was Hawthorne trying to suggest? Did Giovanni/Gausconti have two personalities? I’m still confused on this part. Giovanni, to me, comes across as a stalker. And poor naïve Beatrice is unaware that she is a part of her father’s experiment.

The relationship between Giovanni and Baglioni is very uneasy. Giovanno listens to Baglioni for information. Baglioni, on the other hand, uses Giovanni and is jealous of Rappaccini. Hawthorne uses the theme of allegory to an advantage and also twists the story. It is the story of the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. But the characters are switched. Adam being the female, Beatrice and Eve being the male, Giovanni. For Giovanni is given the poison 1st offers it to Beatrice. The roles are switched in the original Garden of Eden story. This twist caused the reader to think. While using the idea he did not every use every component and mimic it in the story exactly.

The ending was very unpredictable. They did not die in each other’s arm, all romantically. The twist again makes me wonder why this story wasn’t ended about a page in a half early when Giovanni speaks of the kiss of hatred. It would have been almost the perfect ending and would have allowed the mind room to just wander. It would have been the tragic but romantic death of Romeo and Juliet.

Bone Black

If I said that any of the other short stories we’ve read were my favorite, I lied. This by far was the best story I’ve read this semester. I loved the poetic flow of "Bone Black." The name itself was very symbolic showing that the author, Bell Hooks, put much thought into this story. To me "Bone Black" is symbolic of the color of bruises that the mother endured in the story. The way in which the narrator switched point of views throughout the story was different but it worked. Something else that was different was that quotation marks were not used when someone said something, a capital letter was just put in the middle a sentence.

This story is like real life and I’m sure many can relate to it. The jealous husband comes home mad because he suspects his wife has been cheating on him. I think that this displays low self-esteem in the man, especially when the situation is not true and he has simply jumped to conclusions. What was interesting to me is that the children never heard their parents fuss or fight before. They plainly heard him complain and prove himself to his wife when he thought he could do a better job at something. Hooks pulls the reader so deeply into this story that I could feel the sincerity of the daughter. I completely understood how she felt and her reasoning was genuine. I know how it feels to not want to see someone on his or her deathbed, even though it may appear disrespectful. But, honestly, "What kind of last memory is that to have of a loved one." I think one should remember the good times they’ve had with person.

In chapter 51, it evidently shows how the witnessing of the girls’ mother being beaten has influenced her now. She no longer has respect for her mother because of how she let her husband beat on her and did not take a stand. She was also oblivious to the feelings and concern that her daughter had for her. When the daughter says, "I do not have a mother" it is a monumental moment. It shows the love and hate of their relationship, and their feeling con no longer be controlled and kept in. The dream at the end of the story is beautifully written out. But the outcome is horrible, but oh so true. Men are let free everyday after beating on their wives. It showed how manipulative a person can be, and how one must look deeper than the outside appearance, after all looks can be deceiving.

Essay 1: Posible Topic

I was kind of confused about the initial way we're supposed to go about doing Essay 1. At first I thought we were supposed to write a story. Now that I have a better understanding I think I want my essay to be about how the underdog or less experienced person can teach a lesson. My main focus will be the story Cathedral. I really understand how a blind man can teach a perfectly seeing person how to actually "see" the world. You never really understand anything until you see it from someone else's pointof view. I am completely convinced that a blind person could teach people who can see a lot because they have lived their life understanding the world on a different and deeper level.