Bananafish

This was a slightly difficult piece to follow.    This girl, Muriel and her husband, Seymour took a vacation upon his return from a war.  From the way her mother talks, it seems Seymour is having some mental problems.  Muriel seems to be not as worried as her mother is, but she probably should be.  Connecting with Muriel made me feel less concerned too; parents seem to always overreact so I felt Seymour's problem probably wasn't as bad as Mother was making it.   Sybil Carpenter is a young girl because she gets jealous that Sharon Lipschutz sits at the piano with him.  So Sybil gets jealous and tells him to push her off next time, she has a crush on Mr. Seymore, and she makes up a saying about him " See More Glass"It's like when I was little, I had crushes on my brothers friends and they were always so nice to me and I didn't want to leave their sides even though my brother would get annoyed with me.  During the beach scene, I can really see the magnitude of Seymours mental state.  He connects with this child very well, and acts like a child himself.  The conversation gets very scattered like children's often do; Little black Sambo, to liking wax & olives, back to Sharon, then to Bananfish.   What is with the feet?  He kissed the girls foot, then freaked out on the woman for looking at his feet?  After he snaps at the lady, he arrives in his room.  He gets the gun, and shoots himself.   WOW.  Again with the sudden twist!  Just like in " A Good Man Is Hard To Find"  I wasn't expecting him to just kill himself. 

this picture is more humorous than this story :(

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

I picked this poem because It was the easiest to translate.  I have studied " The Road Less Traveled" but I don't remember much about the analyzing of it.  This poem rhymed, which I liked.  It also painted a clear picture.  I find myself staring out the window at the snow.  It's simply beautiful to watch, from inside.  I feel this horseman, was struck by the beautiful snow falling in the woods, that he just had to stop and admire it.  His horse needs to calm down and enjoy it too; for he was confused at why they were stopping.  I also loved the end whole ending stanza.  The woods were lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep,And miles to go before I sleep.   I just find it so enchanting.  I am not sure if there is a deeper meaning to this, but i just thoroughly enjoyed it after reading that horror story, A Good Man Is Hard To Find.

A Good Man Is Hard To Find

WOW.  What a horrendous story.  I am still shook up, and I cried a little.  I was thinking this would be about a women finding the perfect man, to which could not have been more wrong.  I enjoyed how I could visualize every word and make this story into a movie in my mind.  Also, that is the part that made me cry, because I was picturing everything in my mind.  The essay Words explained everything well.  I was attached to the grandmother, because when I see grandmother; I think of my own.  Also in this story were delightful children, carefree and living the way kids should.  My first thought when they got into a wreck was, oh my goodness Grandma is going to die and her son was secretly taking her to Tennessee like she desired.  Once those men came along, I thought; here is where they meet A Good Man!  WRONG.  So it turned out to be the misfit, and so in my dreamland I pictured him turning into a hero and that would let us realize that good men are hard to find because we are looking in the wrong places! WRONG.  He was a dirty, criminalized murderer!  He sounded mentally insane.  While Grandmother was talking to him about Jesus and God, I got more attached because my grandma is very religious.  When her son was shot; she yelled " Baily Boy " and that broke my heart.  That would be terrible to have to be there when your children die, that is not how it's suppose to be!  At this point, I was so angry!  I wanted the children to run away and get help and save the day. WRONG.  Then they took the mother and children. All I could think about was the little baby, dying.  And through it all the grandmother, so stuck in her old fashioned days of gentlemen and Jesus, kept talking and trying to give this man good advice.  All she got in return was a ticket to Heaven.  I didn't quite understand the last lines about  " she would have been a good women, if it had been someone to shoot her every minute of her life"   Then he says " its no real pleasure in life"  like he doesn't get pleasure from killing people? He gets something out of it! He just killed a whole family.  Such an awfully sad story.

Retort to Oedipus

Predestination.  Today in the Christian religion, we to have pre-destination;  God knows what we will do and what is going to happen to us in the end.  It's already decided, the things we do on earth can't change that.  But if we go around living like, "oh well, i can't change my destiny so I'll go kill someone" you will end up in hell.  So we must live for the Lord to receive his forgiveness and end up in heaven.   Oedipus thought he could beat his predestination of the Gods.  He was cursed from birth to kill his father and lay with his mother.  Even though he tried to escape his fate, it landed him smack dab in the middle.  I have pity for this man, he really did nothing wrong, but he could have not killed the man on that road.  He does have anger problems, and maybe if he could tame that, he wouldn't have killed that man.  But, he still would have went home and married his mom.  It's just a lose, lose situation for him.  That's what a tragedy is!  Someone has to "lose" so we can learn from it.  If he somehow got off the hook, and the plague lifted and the town was saved!; we learn nothing.  

Oedipus

This city, Thebes, seems to be in a bit of sticky situation like stillborns, a plague.  The priest says the city is dying!  And they have turned to King Oedipus for guidance.  His people called upon him to save them, so i know a heroic journey is about to take place.  After their king was murdered, the city turned chaotic.  Now Oedipus must bring the murder to justice to save his city, and to save himself.  I love the line;  " we will see our triumph--- or our fall. " ( cue dramatic music )   I really enjoyed the part where the prophet and Oedipus are bickering about the prophet telling him who the murderer is.  The prophet says "so, you mock my blindness?  Let me tell you this.  You with your precious eyes, you are blind to the corruption of your life,"  My favorite line for sure!  Oedipus has no idea what he did and who he killed at this point, so he is clueless to why the prophet just won't explain himself.  And then I love how the prophet asks him- I thought you were good with riddles, when Oedipus tells him to quit with the riddles.  Too funny.  Usually when someone doesn't want you to know something they freak out and try to steer you in a different direction; like Jocasta does after hearing the story of Oedipus' beginnings.  I knew something was up when she got very hostile.  Jocasta being Oedipus' mother and lover- sick!  This tragedy is very well written, sometimes I don't understand how people can right this well, unless it's based off of real life.  Oedipus really takes the news hard by gouging his own eyes out with Jocasta's broaches, poor guy.  Anything terrible that could happen to one man has certainly happened to Oedipus. He killed his dad and slept with his mom and is the brother and father of his children.  There are so many ironies in this story when it comes to site.  But not till the end would you connect those to Oedipus.

Aristotle's Teachings

I have had to read, and re read this selection of literature to understand it.  The components of a tragedy are as follows;  what can be seen (spectacle),  the melody and language, how the piece flows together and is arranged. Tragedy is the mocking of people and emotions and the actor must have the qualities that match the character and thought.  The plot is where this imitation takes place.  The plot is all the events combined.  So all in all there are 6 parts; Plot, Character, Language, Thought , Spectacle and Melody.  I hope I understood these parts right,  I wish this was written in my kind of English.  I like how explained the language and melody as the media.   You can find all of these elements every great literature, they are the staples of basic literature. This learners guide to a tragedy, should be read by every teacher who teaches a literature class.  It explains everything thoroughly.  Since it was written in the greatest time of literature, it is of course going to be the most legitimate explanation.  Maybe this entry didn't put it the most basically but Aristotle was a true man of old school literature writing.  The Shakespeare writing is the most classic, lovely way to write anything, even teaching the parts of a tragedy.

Retort to Gilgamesh

As we discussed in class;  I learned that Gilg wasn't immortal, he was just couldn't be defeated by man. 
We also talked about this heroism, or lake there of.  I know a hero as defined was a personal who sets out for a greater cause than himself.  Gilgamesh was very selfish, and it took the death of his brother to break him from his selfishness.  So he is a hero in that sense, that he showed human emotion and changed as a human.  But he is not because he never really did anything worth while, or to help anyone.  His actions killed his brother, so that's not very heroic to me.  All in all, I enjoyed the Gilgamesh story, it had a bit of everything I like in a movie.  Lust, sex, death, drama and hot men.

Gilgamesh

First off, Hellllo lovely sir.  I can't help but swoon over this God-like man.   I can only help but pick out every perfect man and combine them into one super-hot hunk; Gilgamesh.  So these Gods created Gilgamesh, Did they create everyone?  I like how it explains the sculpting of Enkidu, except he sounds very hairy and like a monster, animal thing.  This is a heroic tale!  I can really see a movie of it in my mind.  Enkidu got tempted, by the lady which is kind of like Eve being tempted by Satan. 
Gild's dreams are pretty strong stuff,  though Enkidu could be his rival, he is meant to be his "brother" and friend.  Seeing Enkidu turn into a man by hunting and becoming civilized looking make me wonder, if he will rise up against Gilgamesh because secretly he is just as good as him. 
I understand that they are now going to slay the Humbaba, but why exactly?  Well, he did kill Humbaba and I enjoy that he tells Ishtar off about her "love" life.  How she used and abused all her past lovers.  But this probably wasn't a great idea, for her father Anu, she demanded the Bull of Heaven to destroy him, and she threatened to reek havoc if she didn't get it.   She got the Bull and took it to Urak to seek revenge! I do enjoy revenge.   This bull is fierce, it snorts and kills a bunch of people! But Gilg made it look too easy, he slew the beast and gave its heart to  Shamash.  And he threw the thigh of the beast in her face! That's pretty funny.   The gods decided since they were too powerful of duo, they would kill one of them; poor Enkidu.  After he passes I like the lines " he began to rage like a lion, like a lioness robbed of her whelps"  Gingamesh is so upset, he believed his crying would bring his brother back to life, I have a feeling I will be the same way if my brother ever dies, how awful.
Now he wants to cross the Ocean to see Utnapishtim who has ever-lasting-life.  Right?  but Gilgamesh wants to die, but he is too God-like to ever die.  How will Utnapishtim grant him death?  Now the story of the flood, which is like Noah's Ark.  Except Noah was asked to invite him family aboard,  but the gods in this story did not want any mortal to survive, and  him family, kin and craftsman were all on the boat which made Enlil very mad!  He sent Utnapishtim & his wife to the mouth of the river.
And now he has to get some undersea plant to restore his lost youth, but I thought Gilgamesh couldn't age, did all the human emotion overcome his godly immortality?   And a serpent is in this story, a sign of evil because he stole his precious plant. Gilgamesh's destiny was not to live forever, it was to be a King, a leader and he fulfilled that.

In The Beginning.

(1-3)Genesis creates a vivid picture of how our earth was created ( depending on your beliefs.)  I found it refreshing to go back to this basic bible story, it makes me appreciate everything created.  For some people, it's hard to believe that any Thing or Being created the earth, but I believe that the highest power did in fact, mold this world, and the heavens.  God is a very giving being, I mean, he gave us everything we have, and he can also take it away in an instant. The garden of Eden, would be my paradise.  But I am glad I was not Eve, for she seemed to have righteously screwed up.  Now, it wasn't entirely her fault,  she was tempted by Satan, and then they were shunned from the lovely garden where they could have had everything!   I love how Genesis gives us an explanation for how everything is;  how everything on earth became, how snakes have no legs, how we feel the need to be clothed, and have emotions.  All from the sin that overcame Adam and Eve.  Then they were banished to live a life that wasn't the perfect life God intended, but a life of struggle and a life of constant redemption.

(6-9) So years and years had past and the sin of Satan greatly took over the entire world.  God was fed up with it all and decided to start over.  I love the integrity of Noah, he was mocked, criticized and made fun of for listening to God.  Well, he was secretly got the last laugh when him and his family were the only ones to  survive on the arc.  The flood completely destroyed the earth and gave Noah and his family a new slate to repopulate.  God swore he would never again vanquish the earth as a whole earth.  I love the part about the rainbow,  its a constant reminder of what horrible thing happened, but it also should remind us to live as God intended or else he can smite the life out of you.