Thursday, October 27, 2011

Allen Ginsberg- Howl

I.
It just gave a whole bunch of scenarios of feelings of people who this writer has met. So in my notes I tried to summarize and this is what I wrote; Sad, mad, maybe he was homeless? Naked, starving, black people. There were hippies and along with that all these types of people smoked a lot of their days away. I'm guessing that is what he meant by "smoked up super natural darkness above the city tops." It said that they hallucinate which make their eyes "cool" looking and most of people were either expelled from school for doing crazy things. I feel like they are really talk about a homeless people that only try and do drugs and alcohol  instead of getting their lives together. It seems like all these different types of people that he has met are all in New York because he mentioned a few different cities there.
     He said that he also met people that have been lonely, smart, people who have just chilled, protesters, people who never got to reach their dreams, broken hearted people and fade outs. Also people who have committed suicide, burned alive, and that have been given the wrong medicines and then have died.
     Then they speak of a man named Carl who is not safe either? I'm not sure what this means, is someone after him? I was really confused and not sure what they were talking about with all these different emotions and life changing events that people have been through.
II.
     Moloch? I don't understand what this means but he said it so many times and in front of almost every line. Then it goes into talking about how there are sad boys and men that are at war or that have been in the war. Is Moloch a government or a type of army? America maybe?
III.
     Carl Solomon who is in Rockland, we find out that he is a murdered, etc., all the people that we have heard about, it was all the same man. And personally I think he needs help and I'm sure everyone else thinks that as well.

Harrison Bergeron

     This story took place in the future where everything was made equal, even their intelligence. They talked about H-G man, I'm not exactly sure what this is but they took Harrison away who was the son of George and Hazel. George is the father of Harrison and was considered very smart. So smart that the H-G man put a little radio in his ear I believe so that when he started thinking too much it was buzz and make him forget everything that he was thinking about, and Hazel, the mother was an average woman. The two of them were sitting watching the ballerinas on TV, but they were not just any ballerinas, they had bags over their heads so that you couldn't tell if they were above average with their beauty or not. I don't really understand why they were trying to make everything equal because no matter what you do, it is wrong to impair someone just because they were born like that. Hazel said that she wished she was Diana Moon Glampers and that if she was she would make the only noise that happened on Sunday was chimes in honor of religion. I feel like a bell would be more in honor of religion but I guess it depends on what they believed in, George said that he would be Handicapper General. I do not know who Diana nor Handicapper General is, maybe the people in charge of making everyone try and seem equal.
     Harrison, their son was said to be abnormal and was put into jail because of this. How can you just put someone in jail because they are not like most people? This is so wrong. Now as the story goes on I find out that George has a 47 lb. bag on iron balls tied to his next from the H-G men and that if he tried to take the balls out for each ball he would have to go to prison for 2 years and pay 2 thousand dollars. His wife told him to take someone out and that no one would ind out but George said that that would be cheating society and that if he started then other people would and that the government would go back to how it used to be. To me it seems like maybe the government might have been better before. Who wants to be the same to everyone else and if you are then the government makes to do things to make you less of a person.
     As the two of them were watching the TV, the news channel came on and the man could not talk because he didn't seem very smart. So then one of the ballerinas came on with the bag still on her head and started to say, "Harrison, age 14 has escaped from prison and that he was a very smart boy, very athletic,7 feet tall, and extremely dangerous." I think that he was put in jail because he seemed better than everyone else even though he wasn't trying to be. If not then I'm still confused of why their society is like this, it seems kind of backwards to me.
     The H-G men made Harrison wear a red ball on his nose, shave his eyebrows and put black caps on his teeth. He snuck out and ended up where all the ballerinas were and he ripped off the red nose along with everything else and told the people that he was the emperor and that they must listen. I wonder people were scared of him if they knew he looked like everyone else when he took the nose any everything else off. So Harrison said to the first girl that stood up would be his and finally one stood up. He then took the bag off her head and she turned out to be beautiful. They all eventually stood up and started dancing which was also against the law but they already broke every other law. But the George and Hazel came in and shot them all and they died. 
     It breaks my heart because I feel like they just did that because the news told them too and they could not remember that Harrison was actually their son.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

The Short Happy Life

This story was about a hunter named Mr. Hunter, and a couple; Mr. and Mrs. Macomber who have been married for eleven years. These the two man kept talking about a lion and at first I thought it was a keyword for something else but it defiantly was not. Mr. Macomber was about 35 years old and most people saw him as a coward but I do not know why they thought this.
Mr. Wilson, the white hunter was very good at what he did. If someone were to ask him how the safari went, he would reply with, "Oh, I'm still drinking their whisky." I assume that this means that it went well for him and he caught whatever it was that he was hunting. It said that he would hunt almost anything and that one this safari they were going to look for lions and buffalo. As the two men were talking about this, Mrs. Macomber came over and said that she wanted to go with and Mr. Macomber didn't want this because he was actually scared to kill his first lion and was kind of unsure what to do. But Mr. White told him that this is normal and that the lions first 3 roars usually scare a man, but after that he is okay.
     That next morning they were on their way and when they found the lion they waited and Mr. Macomber tried to shot it. He did, but he hit it in the ribs so Mr. Wilson had to help him out and shot him also to make sure he died. I guess the face of Mr. Wilson knowing how to kill an animal turned Mrs. Macomber on that she actually leaned forward and kissed him. But her husband had not said anything to her because he didn't know what to think. Later on when they were supposed to be sleep, Macomber woke up to find that his wife was not in the bed next to him and he waited up for two hours before she finally returned. When she got back all she kept saying was that she was outside to get some air and that she didn't want to talk because she was tired. But Macomber knew that she was lying and called her a bitch as she came back at him and called him a coward. Personally I think that she slept with Mr. Wilson even though said had told her husband that she wouldn't do anything like that. Anyways, the wife continues to be rude to her husband even thought she has no right to be because he had done nothing wrong, she is the one cheating on her husband.
     The next morning it seemed really weird to me how the husband didn't come right out and say something to Mr. Wilson but he kept his mouth shut. After breakfest they left to go look for buffalo and soon as they got there they saw three big ones. Macomber started shooting they and as he was his wife, from the car shot him in the back and killed him. I'm not sure why the wife would want to do this, she could have just left them. But Mr. White seemed really happy about it but then also really controlling right away with her. Maybe it was his plan all along.

The Wasteland

I.
     It starts out talking about how the seasons change and what each of them do for the people in the mountains. It says something about Hofgarten, but I don't understand what this means. Marie, the girl talks about sledding with her cousin and in the winter she goes down south. They speak in another language, maybe Russian or something but I am defiantly not familiar with it. It also says something about a "red rock" and a "Hyacinth girl" and that is what they call Marie but again, I have no idea about what they are talking about because of the language barrier. When Marie got back from the garden she was looking at someone and she couldn't tell if she felt alive or dead.
      Madame Sosostris was said to be the sickest woman in Europe (now I understand of why I didn't understand what has been going on). The lady of the rocks name is Belladonna meanwhile Marie is looking around seeing people walking around a ring and says to someone that if they see Mrs. Equitone that she will bring her her "horoscope" herself. Again I am not sure where she is, it sounds like too much is going on and maybe they are out at the towns fair and Mrs. Equitone is in trouble. They proceed to talk about death and how it may be upon many. And someone yelled out if the corpse that they planted in the ground began to sprout yet. I think that is referring to hiding a body in the garden that Marie was in earlier so that no one would find it but then why would you yell it out loud in front of a group of people?
II.
     This part talks about the different smells that were going around where she was standing and I believe what she was imagining when she was smelling these things. There was also a conversation between two people and one of them was asking the other of what they were thinking because they other person cannot tell. And at this point I do not who which person is who because there were no names so I guess this could still be Marie talking. Where ever they are, there are dead peoples left over bones around them and this makes me feel a little uneasy.
   They proceed to talk about this and then the name Albert is brought up, which it new to me. But Albert is on his way home from the army in which he has been there for four years. Before he had left he gave one of the woman money to go and get new teeth since she had none and she was only 31 and looks horrible. Im pretty sure that Albert loves this woman and thats why he was willing to giver her money to try and make herself look half decent. But this woman doesn't seem to love him back. It says that he wants kids  but then she doesn't and she doesn't want a family and a husband that there are kids. And her friend doesn't understand why they can't be married and just not have kids. This is perfectly normal in todays world and I personally get this because what is wrong with having a husband and being happily married and not having to have children. She also kept yelling " hurry up its time" but I'm not sure why I think maybe its because Albert may be almost home.
III.
     Mrs. Porter and her daughter were washing their feet in soda water, but wouldn't that make your feet even more sticky? And this they had a dinner and when it was coming to an end she was tired and bored when Albert (I think), tried to kiss her and she wanted nothing to do with it. But after the fact she felt confused because she did not know if she loved him or not.
 I think their names are Elizabeth and leicester. And he promised her a new start but she made no comment, so in my eyes she is done with him.
IV and V
     I think they were talking about the captin and how handsome and tall he is. Then "He who lives is dead now, we who were living are now dying." I'm guessing this could mean all good things come to an end. It goes on about how there is water and rocks but they aren't close to each other and you can't have both. This could also mean you can't have the best of both worlds. They ask who is the tired person that is with her because he only sees two in his eyes.

Prufrock

     This poem sounded like they were going to a beach when they said "And sawdust restaurants with oyster shells," and they are also talking about hotels and going to visit somewhere so I am guessing it's the beach. During the poem it always said a few times that all the woman there were talking about Michelanglo. This to me could very well be the man telling the story and if it is not maybe it's just the towns hunk as I would like to call it where all the moms and ladies talk about.
     It says that its the month of October and it sounds like they are just laying around relaxing but thats just what it seems like to me. Also it kept saying that "there's time", I guess it is trying to say that there is time in life for all the other things that they want to be able to do in their life time and not to be stressed out. It seems like its basically just stating how every minute something could change and on line 40 is saying how people will begin  to notice that his hair is thinning and that his arms and legs are thinning/getting skinnier.
     He seems so sad and lonely that he is getting old. A question that I have is what is his name? Is it Lazarus? Because he keeps asking if it would be worth the while?" Maybe he was waiting for his loved love to come back to him. But then I got confused again at the end because it says ." This seems like maybe they are living their dreams and don't want anyone to disturb them.

Heritage

 She starts off by naming different things in Africa and trying to see what it means to her. She wants to just lay there outside all day long and do nothing but listen to the birds sing. She says something about "Juggernauts"? I really don't no what this is or what it means.
     It goes on and its really confusing but I think it said that she was bleeding because she is talking about dark blood within and somber flesh and skin. Which does not seem to pleasant. When she says, "Africa? A book one thumbs", does this mean that if someone were to read it that they would really like it? And also "circling though the night, her cats", is this referring to her sneaking around at night or does she just have a cat that circles around outside at night? I also think that she might be in love and that maybe he had broke her heart because later it states that she can not sleep ever and when they repeat, "One countries removed from the scenes his fathers loved, spice grove, cinnamon tree, what is Africa to me?" Is Africa the man that she loved? I feel like he hurt her so bad that she doesn't no what to do with herself anymore hence why at the end she says that she believes in Jesus but she also believes in dark gods too.

Theme for English B and Harlem

     Theme for English B was about a colored boy having to write a paper about whatever came to his mind. It told us exactly how he got to where he was writing it and then he began to write about things that he likes and things that he likes to do. He told us that he feels his age(22), and that the color of his skin doesn't reflect on the activities he likes. He also talks about how him and his teacher are apart of each other because they are both from America and that the color of their skin does not matter either. They may not want to be apart of each others lives sometimes but neither of them can do anything about it.
     In Harlem it talks about what it would be like to postpone your dreams, but my opinion is that how do you postpone your dreams. You dream when you are asleep and you have no control over them and can not stop them once they start because you can't necessarily wake yourself up from it. So this kind of confused me.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Huck Religious Viewst

     A few things that we had talked about that were pretty significant to the story were when Huck killed the spider and then had to turn around three times and then tied a piece of hair up so the witches would not come around. He obviously has suppositions, but as we talked in class it doesn't really fit into a certain group. He is also questioned about if he is cizilized or not because he is so young, but it turns out to me that he actually is because he has gone and done more things than most and he is still pretty young.  Now with the main characters in this novel they all have different traits. Jim is very superstistish, he has been exposed to Christianity even thought he is a salve and he is Solomon. Where as Tom is very religious and goes to church and does not really believe in things like witches or magic. And Huck is a little bit of both, maybe that's why he is not sure who's side to be on and takes care and shows concern to Jim even though he is a runaway salve.
     Another topic is on page 123 where two woman argue over who's child is theirs. They take care of this by saying that they are going to split the child and see really who's child it is. But in reality who would actually do that. Yes the real mother would end up showing more concern but if the other lady is crazy enough she might show even more concern and whoever is holding they child might believe them. This is where they need government and a law system to actually get dna and find the real mother that way.
    Back to the three main characters, Huck is kind of at war with himself based on society and its kind of a secret that he is smart as for Tom, he is just out for adventure and trying to be a hero as everyone knows that he is book smart.  But after it all Huck decides that he is "going West", which means he is going for what he believes and going to a place where he does not know anyone and it could lead to death but out there, there is no slavery and that is what he believes in.

Huck ch.1-4

     In chapters one through four, Huck runs away from Douglas, a lady that has basically took custody of Huck and takes care of him like it is her own son. But Huck didn't want to be there one day because he wanted to go out and do his own thing and being the kind of person he is he left the house and went looking for an adventure. But once he came back things went back to normal and Dougless reassured him that he is wanted in her house.
     Later on Tom comes along and the two of them make their first trip out into the woods where they meet Jim; what they think was a runaway slave. And as this is all going on Huck and his group of friends make a club as I would call it and they named themselves The band of robbers.
     Tom seems to me like he is an instigator to Huck because since Huck thinks that Tom is smart, and I'm not saying that he isn't, but Huck listens to everything that he says and its not all true or logical. Huck shows that he wants to be smart and know things by saying that he likes going to school and he has already been taught by Dougless how to write. But in my eyes if he was smart then he would realize that Tom is not the brightest color in the crayon box.
     Another thing that I was kind of confused with was about religion. Huck says that he does not believe in God but yet he goes to Sunday school. I'm not sure if he does believe in God and just does not like to tell people because it might not seem cool to him or if he only goes to Sunday school because Dougless makes him and he listens to what she says.

Thoreau - September 19th

     This story was similar to Emerson and Franklin, but basically he did not hate government all together he just wanted a better one for the country. There was a liberal government which mean that the least amount of government was there as possible and that was not what should have been going on because the only thing that was out there to protect the people were the natural laws.
     He was so against the government that he didn't even want to pay his taxes and sure enough he didn't because the money that came from people paying taxes was going to things that he did not agree with such as slavey being legal. His punishment for doing this was having to spend the night in jail but he didn't care. Now like I said how he did not pay his taxes because he did not like where the money was going to would not fly like that today. Then if you didn't want to pay the taxes you "might"or it seems like it wouldn't happen all the time, but you might have to spend the night in jail. Where as today if you were not to pay your taxes you might get put in jail for a long time or have to pay a fine. I'm not exactly sure because my mom currently does mine and I don't know the rules of what happens if you pay late or not pay at all.
    This showed me that again people back then did not actually stand up and show how they feel and break the laws to stand for what they believe in. Nowadays that seems to be the only thing people do. There are always some sort of protest or something along those lines because people do not agree with what certain law is going on. I am somewhat shy, but when I truly believe in something I try to speak my mine whereas my mother is always speaking her mind no matter what could happen to her, and I kind of wish I was like that.

Smith -August 31st

     This was about a father who had 3 wives and he was also the Prince of his tribe and his sons tribe name was Broteer. Back then men thought that it was okay to have more than one wife along with having as many children as he wanted with all of them. I'm sure that men do this today because they are trapped in how they are greater than anyone else and can do whatever they would like but I do not agree with this.
     Broteer mother had taken him to a rich farmer about 140 miles away from where their tribe was so that he could get away and maybe have a better life than what was in line for him back at the tribe. But not many months later his father had finally found out where he was and had sent out a horse for him to bring his son back to the tribe where his father wanted complete control over him. But where this tribe was located the army was supposed to come and attack on his village and kill all the people unless they had money that they could give the army. The village luckily came up with the money and his father had talked the army out of hurting them. Not many hours later that entire family fled the village for safety.

Cartwright - September 2nd

Peter Cartwright was said to be one among the oldest Methodist preachers in the mountains. As him and his church traveled he wrote everything down of what was going on in his life along with different events that were taking place. Now theres a quote in his writing where he say that many of them could not conjugate a verb or parse a sentence, and murdered the kings english almost every lick. I think that this means that since they couldn't speak properly or read and the King could, the people would make fun of everything that sounded wrong to them. But in my eyes if this is what it was, how do they have the right to do that because they aren't even certain.
      Peter Cartwright was born in Virginia and his father was a soldier in the war when they had moved to Kentucky which was a new country. Not just a different state like it is today and most the state was filled with indians that were out of control and many people who had tried to move there at this time were killed by them. After this took place all the men gathered together to try and protect the families as best they could and there were about 100 of these men which was not that many considering that there were about 200 families. At the bottom of page to it says, " Many hard and bloody battles were fought, and thousands were killed on both sides; and rightly was named the "land of the blood". But then over time the Indians were finally taken over and the families and the people had some peace.
     Shortly after Peter's family was visited by a man name Jacob Lurton who was a preacher and Peter's father was not all that religious at this point but shortly after they ended up building a church called Ebenezer.  Soon after the church was built Peter became what seems to me, a little reckless. It says that he stated playing cards, dancing, rode races( I'm not sure what this means) and gambling that his father had said only a few things for him to stop but nothing big enough for him to completely stop. As for his mother was praying for him and she knew that he would never listen to her since he was not really listening to his father.
     When Peter was about 16 he was at a wedding where there was a lot of drinking and dancing, everything that his mother wanted him not to do and after he had got home that night and felt bad about everything that he had done he had walked into his house and started feeling extremely weird. Peter had gone blind and he thought that at the moment he was going to die and started asking God for forgiveness. His mother started praying and saying that his was God's punishment for doing all of the things that she had told him not to as his father was just nervous that he was going to lose his only son, so he made him stay home and take care of himself.
     The town had had many people from all over come to meetings at the church before and it was happening again but this time Peter felt the power of God at this one. He had felt like he heard, "Thy sins are all forgiven thee." He then began to believe in God and his ways as he felt like he was then in heaven. Then in 1801 he had joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. The story says the there was a new exercise called "jerking" and at this time I had no idea what they were talking about but when we discussed it in class it turns out to be when the people are yelling with joy and they jump up and down.
     Later on slavery became a huge topic and I believe it said that the Christians and Christian ministers had there testimony against slavery and they wanted to be no part of it because it was evil as stated on page 11. I could be wrong of who actually thought this though. Most people who were against slavery did what everyone else did and did not say a word about it.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Anti-Federalist Papers -Sept. 7

     Both the federalist and anti-federalist papers were extremely confusing to me. I had to go back over them both a few times, but what I got from them was once they left power they could never return unless they were forced. Most people back then didn't seem to know if the confederated government would be best for the United States or not and that if the 13 republics should become one or should they stay how they were. Now personality if I was in this time I feel like i would be like most people and not say what I really thought because I would be scared of the consequences and what might happen to me.
     I believe it said that it was the authority to make laws which would then affect the lives , liberty and peoples property of everyone who lived in the United States at the time. These papers also includes all the tax laws and how laws cannot be excited in a republic and if they were there was a pretty big possibility of them then being killed. If this were to be like this today then I believe that most of America would have been killed by now.
     In class we talked about this and it made it only a little more clear to me. We talked about how people thought things would then be peaceful, equal and free in the government and if it was not then the people would hold their peace. I think this means that only a few would stand up for what they thought was right and if other people would think would be right, but if it was wrong then they would either be punished or they would never be allowed to speak their minds again. We also talked about how the United States was then viewed as 13 different states, not just one whole country like we do today. This is really weird to me because if we are all under the same president, how are we not all one country like we are today. I believe that different states can have some different laws and rules that they follow, but not each state have everything of their own and no way in connection with the state next to it. And for the people back in this time for think that it would not work if we were a whole, must have been a little out of their minds. Now these papers talk more about the lower class where as the federalist papers talk more about the upper class. We had said in class that your own self interest would not let someone else try and get the same thing. And I'm guessing that this means that they were selfish and all wanted the same thing in the government but they would let them have it.

Franklin- Aug. 29th

"Age of Reason", what I had got from this was that he was thanking God for all the good he has done for him and he walked 50 miles to Burlington to try to get back to Philadelphia. This was interesting to me because I am from that area and it makes me what to actually learn more about it since I am from there and do not no much about it. Anyways he became friends with Dr. Brown who he had met back in Burlington and told him how he was a printer and how he had missed his boat. But he then had found another that could take him before tuesday. Later in the reading Benjamin had received a letter from Ben Vaughan saying how he should start printing what he wants to because people do agree with him, they just might not have the courage to stand up like him and speak what they think.
     He went to PA so he could try and find a job at a print shop since that is what he loved to do but all in the beginning the print shops could not find any work for him to do, and when he eventually found one he quickly found out that the people working there were not completely "up to date", if you can even call it that since back then there didn't seem like there was much to it. So he started showing them what he knew. I kind of wondered why he did not from the start show that he was smart and capable of doing these kinds of things because if he had he might have got a job when he first started looking and not have had to stay in a different location every week.
     He then started a club to share books. He looked reading because he said that he was a horrible speaker and this was his way to get his point across to people in an easier way. When he did this people started wroting him letters, so many letters and he would respond to them but there came a point where he had got so many it started getting hard to write back to every single person.

Hawthorne

     I had many questions at the time I read this. It started out talking about a boy in the time before the American Revolution. He was a boy on a ferry and I was not sure but I believe he was on his way from Massachusetts who was meeting a man in the new colony, New England. I had a question about who the man wearing, "leather, well-shaped limbs; blue yarn stockings and a hat" was. I think it was the man he was meeting but it also sounded like it could have been him when he had got off the ferry to meet him and was trying to look proper. Then as it went on it sounded to me like the people did not like him very much? And one of the men wanted to put him in jail because they thought that he was a run away and then the boy got scared to be there because all he was looking for was the major so he could earn money and work.
     He ended up meet a lady who had the sweetest voice he had ever heard and was wearing a red dress, but until class the next day I had no idea that the red dress meant that she was a "scarlet." I also learned that he left basically on his own because he didn't want to work under his brothers rule and wanted to create his own life. Back while he was walking through the town when he was looking for the major, he noticed that there was a man tar and feathered . It turned out to be the major and the towns people who were more like a mob had done it because they thought he was working with the British. These townsman used tar and feathered as a punishment because back then the towns didn't necessarily have a court system to give out punishments to people or to help find people not guilty.