"Speaking of Courage" speaks of courage in that Norman Bowker thinks that he could not do the brave thing.I remember when we first started to read this book we took a survey that asked if doing the brave thing is the hard thing. As Norman Bowker circled around the lake reminiscing on his sh*t story he thought about how the rain never stopped and the fields continued to fill up. He talked about how the cold worked into your bones, and how sometimes the bravest thing was to sit through the night anf feel the cold in your bones. Courage was not always a matter of yes or no. Sometimes it came in degrees; sometimes you were very brave up to a point and then beyond that point you were not so brave. Norman said that sometimes, like the night in the sh*t field, the difference between courage and cowardice was something small and stupid. That night in the sh*t field when Kiowa died norman thought that he had been braver than he ever thought possible, but that he had not been so brave as he wanted to be.
At the very beginning of the book they talk about everything the soldiers have to carry physically and emotionally. One of the things they carry was courage. Jimmy carried courage because he knew that Martha didn't love him. All the soldiers carry courage in that they hide their fears, being afraid of what the war provides. They continue to do what they have to. Another incident where courage vs cowardice appears in the story is in the chapter On The Rainy River. This is the chapter in which Tim O'Brien the narrator tells the story of when he was first drafted into the war. he tells of his experience on the rainy river having to chose between crossing the border and going to Canada or staying and becoming a soldier. According to him the courageous thing to do was leave, go to Canada never look back and just be embarrased my his community etc. But he chose to go to war and that was the cowardice thing.
To me throughout the story O'Brien's portrayal of what courageous is varies. it depends on the person and the situation. In the case of Norman Bowker he thought that he did the brave thing by trying to save kiowa. But in the case of Tim himself he thought that courageous thing to do was the hard thing for him. So i guess Tim thinks that courage is the hard decision.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Memoir
The first blog I chose to read was by a girl named Milena, age 17 in Virginia. It was on the first page of memoirs on the scholastic website and the title was so interesting. After reading several other ones I had to chose the very first one I read " Coughing and Strawberry Jam". I think that it had more good elements of a memoir then of storytelling but overall I think it was an good example of a memoir.
The elements of a memoir are storytelling and reflection. Storytelling in that it should read like a fictional story and reflection as in not only telling what actually happened but also your opinions and emotions then and now. A good memoir focuses on a distinct period of time with a specific subject in 1st person narration.
The storytelling elements are to have a plot, that consists of a conflict, to have a setting, character development, such as actions, and narrator descriptions, to have voice and tone, and style "show don't tell".
The first time I read Coughing and Strawberry Jam it was a fun story and I really enjoyed it. When I went back to read it as a writer I noticed all the little things that made it a good memoir and just a good story in general. First off it tells a story and Milena is reflecting on it. As I said before when you first read it , it reads like a fictional story , a good story. Then she gives her opinion and how she feels saying that she was self-conscious and embarrassed that they had sided with the man that made them feel like crap every other day of their lives. She focuses on a period in her life when her grandmother got sick and it brought them closer together by realizing that how her father was treating her grandmother was wrong. For the most part she also uses the storytelling elements. She has a plot with a conflict of man vs man. Her dad kind of influences the rest of the family that their grandmother is a very annoying, nagging lady and that when she has a really bad cough that it really is nothing. Her setting is in her house, but she does mention something about their church. She talks about how her greandmother has come to live with them and how her dad didn't allow her to sit next to them in church. What I think she does the best is character development and narrator descriptions. She gives a sense of who her family is, her dad, her mom, her sister, and her grandmother. She tells us how dad would roll his eyes when her grandmother would cough and how she would too, and how her mother and her would blow kisses to her grandmother because she couldn't sit by them at church. She also says how she would say love you but not I love you, and how before she would play cards on her grandmother's bed and listen to her stories.
I think the Melina did a great job with this memoir because her memoir contained all the key elements of a memoir and of storytelling. She made it vey fun and interesting also. Sure made me wnat to read it!
The elements of a memoir are storytelling and reflection. Storytelling in that it should read like a fictional story and reflection as in not only telling what actually happened but also your opinions and emotions then and now. A good memoir focuses on a distinct period of time with a specific subject in 1st person narration.
The storytelling elements are to have a plot, that consists of a conflict, to have a setting, character development, such as actions, and narrator descriptions, to have voice and tone, and style "show don't tell".
The first time I read Coughing and Strawberry Jam it was a fun story and I really enjoyed it. When I went back to read it as a writer I noticed all the little things that made it a good memoir and just a good story in general. First off it tells a story and Milena is reflecting on it. As I said before when you first read it , it reads like a fictional story , a good story. Then she gives her opinion and how she feels saying that she was self-conscious and embarrassed that they had sided with the man that made them feel like crap every other day of their lives. She focuses on a period in her life when her grandmother got sick and it brought them closer together by realizing that how her father was treating her grandmother was wrong. For the most part she also uses the storytelling elements. She has a plot with a conflict of man vs man. Her dad kind of influences the rest of the family that their grandmother is a very annoying, nagging lady and that when she has a really bad cough that it really is nothing. Her setting is in her house, but she does mention something about their church. She talks about how her greandmother has come to live with them and how her dad didn't allow her to sit next to them in church. What I think she does the best is character development and narrator descriptions. She gives a sense of who her family is, her dad, her mom, her sister, and her grandmother. She tells us how dad would roll his eyes when her grandmother would cough and how she would too, and how her mother and her would blow kisses to her grandmother because she couldn't sit by them at church. She also says how she would say love you but not I love you, and how before she would play cards on her grandmother's bed and listen to her stories.
I think the Melina did a great job with this memoir because her memoir contained all the key elements of a memoir and of storytelling. She made it vey fun and interesting also. Sure made me wnat to read it!
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Vietnam War
On March 12, 1947 in an address to Congress President Truman declared that the foreign policy of the United States be to assist any country whose stability was threatened by communism.It was his initial intention for $400 million to assist Greece and Turkey. This became known as the Truman Doctrine. America fought in the Vietnam War to hold the line against Communism. As part of the Truman Doctrine the United States paid for the war the French fought against Communist Vietnam. And by the 1950's became involved in the war. By the late 1950's the United States came up with a theory to justify their involvement in the war. Known as the Domino Theory. This theory said that id South Vietnam fell to the communist, Laos, then Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, India, and Pakistan would fall also like "dominos". The Pacific Islands and even Austria could be at risk. In 1954 when the French were defeated Vietnam split into two, the North was Communist and the South was Capitalist. The capitalist south recieved billions of dollars from the U.S in support of their non- communist society, and as a result many vietnamese buddhists from the communist north protested against American involvement by self- immolation. The opposition to America's involvement in the war began in 1964 but grew stronger. The U.S was polarized between those who supported the continued involvement in the war and those who wanted peace. Opposition events ranged from peaceful nonviolent demonstrations to radical displays of violence.
Sources Cited:
http://www.learnhistory.org.uk/vietnam/reasons.htm
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1780.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_the_U.S._involvement_in_the_Vietnam_War
Sources Cited:
http://www.learnhistory.org.uk/vietnam/reasons.htm
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1780.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_the_U.S._involvement_in_the_Vietnam_War
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Let America be America Again
Let America be America again was written in 1938 by Langston Hughes on the American dream.
Hughes is saying that there are many people that come to America with hopes and dreams and get let down. The poem depicts two different perspectives of America, being the rich and the poor. The rich get richer while the poor get poorer. There is a difference between their economic disparity and there is not equal opportunities. He references to the white poor man and the negro slave and how America has become a Dog eat Dog world where the mighty crush the weak. He says we have this America where there are people in power that deprive others of their opportunities. He says " There's never been equality for him, Nor freedom in this homeland of the free. He hopes for an America that is free. He wants a patriotic America without false promises. He wants what America's idea of the dream is equality, liberty, and land of the free.The poem is in an angry and resentful tone, but there is also a sense of hopefullness. Throughout the poem people are unhappy with what America has brought them but they still dream, wish, and hope for more. I think Hughes is criticizing how the American Dream did not exist for the some people in the American society such as minorities due to race, religion, and status. He criticizes that the hope for equality and freedom has yet to be achieved, and how it will be extremely hard to achieve. Fitzgerald criticizes the American Dream in that it is slowly fading away and becoming out of reach of the common citizen. Similar to Langston Hughes, they are both showing how the American Dream being full of economic stability, freedom, and equal opportunities may becoming an unachievable hope to the working class and other minorities. And that America has this potential that it needs to be and that it can be but might not be. I agree with these criticisms, because in the modern world the dream is slipping away. And although it is true that everyone's american dream is different it is primarily based upon the same things, but everyone can't get everything and the American Dream is probably something we can still get if we work towards it ,but otherwise I think it's a pretty far-fetched dream/hope where America cannot live up to it's potential.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Gatsby's Narration
I wanted to re write the scene starting on page 84 and going through 86. this is the scene where Daisy is coming over to Nick's house for tea unaware that Gatsby would be there.
An hour later the front door opened nervously, and dressed in a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-colored tie I hurried in. :
" Is everything all right?" I asked wanting not a single thing to be wrong.
" The grass looks fine, if that's what you mean." Nick replied
" What grass?" I inquired blankly. " Oh, the grass in the yard." I looked out the window but didn't really look at it.
"Looks very good," I said vaguely. "One of the papers said they thought the rain would stop about four. I think it was The Journal. Have you got everything you need in the shape of -- of tea?". I needed everything to be taken care of so I wouldn't have to worry about anything. Nick took me into the pantry, where I looked a litte reproachfully at the Finn. Together we scrutinized the twelve lemon cakes from the delicatessen shop.
"Will they do?" he asked.
"Of course, of course! They're fine!" Not trying to worry too much about the cake and I added hollowly, " old sport."
At about half-past three the rain died down into a damp mist. I looked through a copy of Clay's Economics with no intention on really understanding the material trying to find a way to past the time. Finally without certainty I got up and informed Nick that I was going home.
" Why's that?" he asked
I didn't think she was coming. " I can't wait all day"
" Don't be silly; it's just two minutes to four."
I sat down in a miserable state and simultaneously there was the sound of a motor turning into the lane. We both jumped up and Nick went into the yard.
The car door opened anand I knew that Daisy had arrived for tea. I left the living room and exited through the back door. I wanted to come over to Nick's house as in my original plan not already be there. I reappeared at Nick's front door with a light dignified knock anxiously awaiting to see her. When he opened the door I turned pale as death, my hands in my coat pocket, I was extremely nervous. I had waited for this day so long and it was finally here. I turned sharply into the hall and disappeared into the living room where Daisy was politely seated with such beautiful appearance that my words cannot express.
An hour later the front door opened nervously, and dressed in a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-colored tie I hurried in. :
" Is everything all right?" I asked wanting not a single thing to be wrong.
" The grass looks fine, if that's what you mean." Nick replied
" What grass?" I inquired blankly. " Oh, the grass in the yard." I looked out the window but didn't really look at it.
"Looks very good," I said vaguely. "One of the papers said they thought the rain would stop about four. I think it was The Journal. Have you got everything you need in the shape of -- of tea?". I needed everything to be taken care of so I wouldn't have to worry about anything. Nick took me into the pantry, where I looked a litte reproachfully at the Finn. Together we scrutinized the twelve lemon cakes from the delicatessen shop.
"Will they do?" he asked.
"Of course, of course! They're fine!" Not trying to worry too much about the cake and I added hollowly, " old sport."
At about half-past three the rain died down into a damp mist. I looked through a copy of Clay's Economics with no intention on really understanding the material trying to find a way to past the time. Finally without certainty I got up and informed Nick that I was going home.
" Why's that?" he asked
I didn't think she was coming. " I can't wait all day"
" Don't be silly; it's just two minutes to four."
I sat down in a miserable state and simultaneously there was the sound of a motor turning into the lane. We both jumped up and Nick went into the yard.
The car door opened anand I knew that Daisy had arrived for tea. I left the living room and exited through the back door. I wanted to come over to Nick's house as in my original plan not already be there. I reappeared at Nick's front door with a light dignified knock anxiously awaiting to see her. When he opened the door I turned pale as death, my hands in my coat pocket, I was extremely nervous. I had waited for this day so long and it was finally here. I turned sharply into the hall and disappeared into the living room where Daisy was politely seated with such beautiful appearance that my words cannot express.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
The American Dream
I don't know if this counts but i found a nice little article in a newspaper by Judy Loy from Pennsylvania state college. She gets her information from from the New York Times, the Economist, and CNN as well as the Los Angeles Times and many other census and polls. When I read her article I liked it a lot because of the way she interprets " the American Dream" and how she defines what the American Dream is.
In her article she talks about what the american dream is. The American Dream defined by the Economist is the dream of economic opportunity and upward mobility in a 2006 article. But she defines it as if you work hard, you'll get ahead. In the Los angeles Times it is described as the ongoing belief that the next generation will be better off than the one before. In the same Los Angeles Times article there is a poll that shows only about half of Americans still believe in the American Dream, adding to her question and the title of her article " Is The American Dream Dead or just taking a Nap".
So this question of whether the American Dream is no longer a reality is something we face today. Due to the Census Bureau we learn that over the last decade the median household income has dropped 7%. Meaning that there is the same number of households that make more than the median as those who make less. Although the main issue affecting the mindset is inequality of income.
A 2011 study by The Pew Charitable Trusts reveals that 1/3 of americans raised in middle class ( defined by income) fall out of middle class as adults primarily due to marital status, education, and drug use. She believes and concludes that in order for americans to acheive the American Dream and the next generation to succeed and or at least maintain middle class we have to set our children up to succeed. They can only succeed if we provide the next generation with a good educational foundation and opportunities for higher education, we have to teach them the dangers of drugs, and set up positive relationships. And to her this is the only way to save and maintain the American Dream. She believes that the dream isn't dead its just damaged.
I wrote about her article because I agreed with a lot of it. Specifically when she explains what needs to be done to keep the dream alive starting with the youth. I believe that because of our economic despairity we have lost hope in this idea of the American Dream, but I also believe that much like she said, if we prepare generations to come the American Dream can survive.
Relating it to Gatsby is the hard part. I think that the American Dream as described in this article relates to Gatby indirectly because although the book was set in a time period much different than today there was still this idea of what the american dream was. Which primarily was built of off money, because from money comes good education, and better opportunities. Gatsby because he inherited money but said that he lost it all and that it took him three years to be able to buy his amazing house. Through hard work he got ahead and is able to live a lavious, happy lifestyle according to this article. That's how this idea of what the American Dream is relates to Gatsby but I don't think that may be Gatsby's idea of the American Dream.
In her article she talks about what the american dream is. The American Dream defined by the Economist is the dream of economic opportunity and upward mobility in a 2006 article. But she defines it as if you work hard, you'll get ahead. In the Los angeles Times it is described as the ongoing belief that the next generation will be better off than the one before. In the same Los Angeles Times article there is a poll that shows only about half of Americans still believe in the American Dream, adding to her question and the title of her article " Is The American Dream Dead or just taking a Nap".
So this question of whether the American Dream is no longer a reality is something we face today. Due to the Census Bureau we learn that over the last decade the median household income has dropped 7%. Meaning that there is the same number of households that make more than the median as those who make less. Although the main issue affecting the mindset is inequality of income.
A 2011 study by The Pew Charitable Trusts reveals that 1/3 of americans raised in middle class ( defined by income) fall out of middle class as adults primarily due to marital status, education, and drug use. She believes and concludes that in order for americans to acheive the American Dream and the next generation to succeed and or at least maintain middle class we have to set our children up to succeed. They can only succeed if we provide the next generation with a good educational foundation and opportunities for higher education, we have to teach them the dangers of drugs, and set up positive relationships. And to her this is the only way to save and maintain the American Dream. She believes that the dream isn't dead its just damaged.
I wrote about her article because I agreed with a lot of it. Specifically when she explains what needs to be done to keep the dream alive starting with the youth. I believe that because of our economic despairity we have lost hope in this idea of the American Dream, but I also believe that much like she said, if we prepare generations to come the American Dream can survive.
Relating it to Gatsby is the hard part. I think that the American Dream as described in this article relates to Gatby indirectly because although the book was set in a time period much different than today there was still this idea of what the american dream was. Which primarily was built of off money, because from money comes good education, and better opportunities. Gatsby because he inherited money but said that he lost it all and that it took him three years to be able to buy his amazing house. Through hard work he got ahead and is able to live a lavious, happy lifestyle according to this article. That's how this idea of what the American Dream is relates to Gatsby but I don't think that may be Gatsby's idea of the American Dream.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Music Review
So I decided to do Beyonce's new album 4. I've always liked Beyonce because she can actually sing, and in today's world there are new artists coming out everyday. Most of these artists can only sing with the help of our new technology. But although I've love Beyonce regardless I think that this is one of her best albums yet. So let's get started on this review.
BEYONCE: 4
If we don't all already know Beyonce is pregnant. Wow big deal!!! LOL and I think that's what her ultimate goal was in making this album. In that she wants to portray this idea of family and love and happiness, something some people can relate to and others want to relate to, but in reality something we all need. Throughout her album she keeps this uniformity of the theme of love, most often referring to her and her husband Jay-Z and now their child on the way. A lot of her songs are up-tempo and melodic. She has done a lot of videos to this album which I also like, and I think these are her most energetic, care free videos. My favorite one happens to be countdown because it's a very enthusiastic song and also incorporates their child on the way in her lyrics. It's one of her best albums yet. And because this album embraces her child it increases the rave reviews about it.
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