Thankful for a Classmate

             I am thankful for Sohrob, he makes the class better. I think that Sohrob always adds a little extra to the class whether it be in his various changing voices or his enthusiastic way of answering questions. English in itself is one of my favorite classes but with Sohrob it is that much better because of his wonderful personality. In writing this blog there was a few people I had to chose between to write about but certain things just put Sohrob over the top. And I hope he reads this so that he can see how much I appreciate his presence in the class and how much I am thankful for him. Everytime we are having a discussion in class Sohrob never hesitates to raise his hand and provide a very intelligent sometimes somewhat eccentric but none the less useful answer. Sometimes his answers give a clearer understanding to something that at first wasn't quite clear to me and in doing so he also provides additional information that one day will come in hand. And then he also amuses me while in the class together when he speaks in a different tone of voice. I can recall once when we were reviewing this excerpt in our text books and he was asked to speak like a preacher and I thought it was hilarious because he did it so excitedly and realisticly. At the end of the day I am thankful for my entire American Literature class but especially Sohrob because to me he is just always so anxious and enthusiastic in participating in class and that makes me exciting to continue the rest of the year with him in my class. Happy Thanksgiving! :)

Cormac McCarthy

The theme I chose to focus on was how he closely relates The Road to his own personal experiences with his son. And trying to express how he protects his son and this idea of what a father son relationship should be like. In a wall street journal interview McCarthy talks about how his son was the co-author because some of the conversations that the boy and the man had in the book are exact conversations that he and his son had. In another part of the interview they ask him why the father and son never say " I love you" if this is supposed to be a love story between the two. And he responded that he thought it wasn't neccesary because it wouldn't add anything to the story, but I thought it was a way to indirectly say that actions speak louder than words and if the book is supposed to show how a father would do anything for his son in any circumstance which it does then there is no need for "I love you". And then also he choses not to give the man and boy names. Before discussion and research I thought that was mainly because the  past has been erased and it is gone now and with that goes your name. I also thought that it represented who you were and gave you an identity and now there is no need because all but a few humans are remaining and no one needs to be able to know who someone else is. But know I know that is somewhat because he wants the father and son to represent him and his son or for that fact any other father and son. McCarthy says that his work is often driven by pain because if you don't have something in the back of your head driving you nuts you might not do anything. So along with the relationships in his personal life McCarthy also displays a sense of dark, violent, and painful periods throughout his books and movies. In No Country for Old Men there is violence, depravity and mayhem as in All the Pretty Horses and Blood Meridian and The Road. But overall I think that Cormac McCarthy tends to make his novels personal and always somehow come back to his interpretation of the west or death or religion etc.

Letter to Charles Bukowski

Dear Charles,            After I read your poem Dinosauria, We so many thoughts were in my head of the world we live in today and if we will ever become the idea of the this or if we already have become it. You wrote this poem in the 1970s and it is an accurate representation of the modern world. Are you psychic? Or is it just a reasonable assumption based on occurences in 1970? Regardless of what it may be I think the outcome you described will eventually surface and that is the scary part. Through your poem we see everything that we happen to our world in the future. But the question is what is the future? How close is it? And most of all is it the END of the world? In your poem one thing that really struck me was when you said Dante's Inferno will be made to look like a children's playground. Dante's Inferno referencing to Hell. I thought that to be a strong line because your saying that the world will eventually come to be so bad that Hell, something that we think of as being a horrible place that most don't won't to go to, becomes something desirable, enjoyable and something to look forward to. And then you said the fingers reach for the throat the gun the knife the bomb..........the fingers reach for the bottle the pill the powder. In today's world so many people look to violence and abuse to solve and cope with the problems. And in your poem when this is occuring all these realistic events of wanting to kill and reference to wanting to take drugs also occur. Lastly I think a strong part to your poem is that you continue to repeat "this" or born into "this", which for me adds to the intensity of the poem in the fact that it shows readers that "this" is serious and cannot be taken lightly. Your prediction or assumption of what the world will become is accurate because of the actions of human beings. The way we are headed in our world today with people having the mindset that the world can fix itself or that eventually it all will not pile up is the wrong mindset because it will and I think that everything you described in  your poem can happen and is possible. The only way it can be fixed is with the help of the entire human population, which is highly unlikely, starting now before it is too late or else they won't be another chapter. THIS will be the end.

Father and Son

Currently we are reading The Road, a post- apocalyptic story describing a son and father's journey through the disastrous world. Their relationship is one that is not typical of a father and son relationship, because in modern day most fathers are not as gentle, and compassionate as the one in the story. That is the role of the mother supposedly. They believe in tough love and making their sons men . But in the Road the father knows that the child won't be able to live a normal life or for that fact know what a normal life is. The father tries as best as he can to comfort the child and he begans to show motherly like  qualities.

John Proctor Hero or Stooge?

John Proctor is a hero and a stooge but more so a hero. In the courts while his wife Elizabeth is being taken and arrested he is accusing other people because his supposed main goal is to save his wife. But the underlying truth to that is that eventually when his wife claims to be pregnant and saved for a year he doesn't want to drop his charges to the other people. Parris says that his main goal is to overthrow  the court and that may seem true. Towards the end of the story he confesses his sin of lechery on Abigail but  they do not believe him and his wife denies it to save his name so he is in line to be hanged,but only if he confesses will he survive. He choses to go against his religious priciples  and lie to save his life. Eventually after hee has confessed without going againt his friends he tears up his confession saying that only God needs to see his confession and that his name shall remain the same in the town of Salem. So John Proctor will hang and be judged only by himself as a good man because he knows that he is no better than everyone else standing up for their beliefs that are being hanged, and that is why he is a hero more than a stooge because when it mattered he stood up and followed his principles when some other citizens in this town based solely upon theocracy has chosen not to.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

     Sinners in the hands of an angry god is a sermon of Jonathan Edwards that speaks about humans opposing the BIBLE and  supposedly threatening the vengeance of God.In this sermon he basically degrades other people referring to them as being  wicked and associated with the devil, but in all reality he is not following the bible himself. He is essentially the strongest follower of the bible seeing as though he is the reverend. Throughout this sermon he somewhat becomes contradictive and hipocritical because he himself is not being of Christian faith by accusing others of committing a sin.
     The puritans for instance were extremely fearful of God and they felt that if they stepped out of line just once they would go toHELL. Jonathan Edwards knows he can impose fear on them , seeing as though many were iliterate unlike him, a very well educated man with an ultimate belief in God.

Arrivals......There goes the Neighborhood

 Blogs are very difficult for me to write because I debate on if I should jus write what I feel and let it flow or go about it an organized way with paragraphs and paragraphs of information,  but for this particular post I guess I will combine a little bit of both into one.
      When I think of the title arrivals.... there goes the neighborhood I think of society and how they tend to stereotype certain people. So maybe society thinks if someone different( not similar to them) comes along the neighborhood will become worse and do down hill. Personally I don't think I have experienced such stereotypical behavior before so I couldn't tell you how it feels or even relate myself to that type of situation, because for as long as I have known.... I've lived in the same neighborhood.
      Going back to what we've talked about in class over the past few days I think Phillis Wheatley and Christopher Colombus went through similar situations. Phillis having being a slave trying to fit in with "white folk" as they say faced discrimination. She worked in the house closer to her slave master's family, and was taught how to read and write. Well in that time slaves weren't allowed to be educated so Phillis in a sense was above the pack somewhat becoming a white and becoming part of this family. Many whites didn't appreciate or neccessarily like how Phillis Wheatley being black could be so close to whites in society. So her story story comes to mind when we talk about The title.
      As for Christopher Colombus  he relates to the topic because he invaded these native islands and the native people weren't welcoming to his arrival. He in a way insulted their culture and beliefs and the natives didn't respond to that very well, refusing to trade any valuable tools. They weren't familar with his ideas and ways of life and neither was he with theirs so I believe that the natives were basically saying that his arrival to their land was turning the islands wrong and disrupting their ways.