Even though many people might disagree with me, I loved Beloved. It was so full of important messages that would take more than a simple essay to explain it all.
As far as courage is concerned, I personally think that Denver is the one who shows the most courage for doing what's right. She has never left the comforts of her own home, but in the story, she breaks through the barriers of her sad home to help another. She breaks through the social barriers to ask for help. This is true courage. Denver knows what's right and she takes all risks to help herself and Sethe.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Sunday, January 31, 2010
The Stranger to Courage
The next book we have just finished reading was called The Stranger by Albert Camus. As weird as this book was, it was the opposite of my big question.
In the novel, Maursalt goes to jail for killing an Arab. And before that, his mother passed away, but he didn't really feel any remorse. So, in a sense, Maursalt was just a non-sensitive character. His character was almost the opposite of my question. He did wrong while everyone else was right. He felt no remorse for his mother and her death, and he killed someone. To me, Maursalt is not a very strong and courageous person. So, in a way, he was the opposite of my question.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
The Metamorphosis of Courage
Hello again! And Happy New Year! I hope this year is going well for everyone so far!
So far this semester we have already read Kafka's famed novella, The Metamorphosis. I really enjoyed this book even though many times it was quite confusing and weird. Even the first sentence described the main character, Gregor, as a giant bug. Quite the shocker. The plot then goes further into the reaction of his family and the events that occur while Gregor is still a bug.
But through all this chaos, I found that my big question works really well. Grete, Gregor's sister, really displays the type of courage it takes to do something right when everyone else is doing something wrong. When everyone else is very mean and unsympathetic towards Gregor, Grete is very kind to him. She brings him food and drink. She doesn't ignore him like everyone else does. She treats him like a human; she treats him like her brother.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
The Portrait of the Big Question
Once again, we have read yet another book called The Portrait of the Artist As A Young Man. Personally, the book didn't grab my attention and I didn't like it very much. But it did deal with my big question.
In the book, the character of Stephen goes through many trials and tribulations in order for him to find his soul. He goes through many lessons and goes against the social norm to find his soul. Going against what is expected takes a lot of bravery and Stephen was doing what he believed was right. He wanted to discover who he really was and that meant being unique and individual.
He believed it was the right thing to do to be individual while everyone else was being conformed and without minds. Stephen had to have a lot of bravery to do what was right when everyone else was not in order to find his soul.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Top 'O the Morning To Ya!
Hello again! It's Caitlin :)
Yet again, in class we have finished another book, well play actually: The Playboy of the Western World. Now being Irish and everything, I absolutely loved it, especially since I got to use my Irish accent while reading aloud most of the time.
But I found that there is a tiny bit of connection between this play and my Big Question. The character of Christy has "killed" his father at least 2 times throughout the play. In this small village in Ireland where the setting of the play takes place, everybody either worships and admires Christy like the villagers, or wants to take advantage of him, like the Widow Quinn and Shaun. But the one character that does anything remotely "right" in this play is none other than Old Mahon, Christy's da.
When Old Mahon comes back, it would seem that he should kill Christy for "killing" him. But he doesn't. He ends up forgiving Christy and taking care of him. He ended up doing the right thing even though everyone around thought that it was the wrong thing to do.
And finally, here's something to put you in the Irish mood. It always brightens my day :)
Saturday, October 17, 2009
King Lear Connection
In class, we just finished reading King Lear by William Shakespeare. I love anything by Shakespeare! He is so wonderful.
In relation to my Big Question, I looked at the character Cordelia, Lear's youngest daughter. While her evil sisters, Goneril and Regan brown nose to their father to gain his land, only to exile Lear and take literally everything from him, Cordelia does not suck-up to her father. She only states her honest and pure love for her father. But Lear does not thinks she does not love him, and therefore she is exiled.
But it took a lot of courage to stand alone in saying that she truly loved her father, while her sisters lied. She did the right thing while others did wrong.
Here is a song from Othello by Shakespeare that I think relates to King Lear in many ways. I hope you enjoy it! It's called "Willow, Willow".
http://www.shakesongs.com/player/player.htm
And here's a little cartoon for your enjoyment. Of course, it's much funnier if you've already read the play :)
http://www.cartoonstock.com/lowres/jsi0016l.jpg
In relation to my Big Question, I looked at the character Cordelia, Lear's youngest daughter. While her evil sisters, Goneril and Regan brown nose to their father to gain his land, only to exile Lear and take literally everything from him, Cordelia does not suck-up to her father. She only states her honest and pure love for her father. But Lear does not thinks she does not love him, and therefore she is exiled.
But it took a lot of courage to stand alone in saying that she truly loved her father, while her sisters lied. She did the right thing while others did wrong.
Here is a song from Othello by Shakespeare that I think relates to King Lear in many ways. I hope you enjoy it! It's called "Willow, Willow".
http://www.shakesongs.com/player/player.htm
And here's a little cartoon for your enjoyment. Of course, it's much funnier if you've already read the play :)
http://www.cartoonstock.com/lowres/jsi0016l.jpg
Now on to the nitty- gritty stuff! (I apologize for the length of my posts. I promise they won't all be this long!)
Over the summer, our big assignment was to choose a novel from a list of literary works. The novel I chose was Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, and I absolutely loved it! I cried all the way through the book, and then watched the movie and promptly cried again. It was so beautiful in every aspect from exciting plot, to intriguing characters, to eloquent language.
But not only was this a fantastic book, I found that it related to my Big Question. For instance, in the book, the character of Inman is fighting in the Civil War on the Confederate's side. He has been fighting and killing men left and right, while his true love, Ada, struggles to take care of her deceased father's farm and keep her faith strong. After Inman is injured from a shot to the neck, he can't take it anymore. He can't kill another man, or listen to others dying around him. So he desperately does the one thing that he thinks is right; he runs away. He starts running to his home on Cold Mountain and his love waiting for him.
Now, in those times, if you ran away from fighting, you were considered a deserter and a traitor. So men from the army, or law enforcements would track you down and shoot you, if they ever caught you. So Inman is running for his life, while running into all kinds of obstacles. I think many people would agree with me when I say that I think Inman did the right thing. Regardless of what anybody thinks, war is wrong, and killing another human being is even worse, in my opinion. It took Inman a lot of courage to run away, especially when everyone around him was either killing or dying. It took a ton of courage to turn the other way, away from the killing. Now, some might say that that was the cowardly thing to do instead of being brave and facing the danger, but I personally think he was more righteous and victorious to run away. Inman showed incredible courage to do what was right when everyone around him was doing wrong. If only we all had that courage; to go against the crowd, to turn the other cheek, to realize what is victorious and right.
Just recently this semester, we read Oedipus by Sophocles. Now, this book was a little hard to find a connection to my Big Question, but here it goes.
When Oedipus basically kills his father, marries his mother, and has children/sisters and brothers, he is doing the wrong thing. Except, he has no idea he is doing the wrong thing because he is ignorant of the fact that the woman he is married to, is indeed his mother. Twisted, right? Ew...In the end of the book, FINALLY Tyricius tells Oedipus his story and then Oedipus gouges out his eyes, his mom/wife kills herself, Oedipus exiles himself, and it's all really gross and bloody and horrifying...but you get the idea.
Anyway, relating back to my question; Tyricius is the only one who stands up to Oedipus and tells him his story. It probably took him a lot of courage to tell Oedipus about his past, and ultimately destroy his future. Of course, nobody else really knew, or didn't care to look further into it by putting together the pieces. But regardless, it was still Tyricius who stood alone in confronting Oedipus.
Over the summer, our big assignment was to choose a novel from a list of literary works. The novel I chose was Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, and I absolutely loved it! I cried all the way through the book, and then watched the movie and promptly cried again. It was so beautiful in every aspect from exciting plot, to intriguing characters, to eloquent language.
But not only was this a fantastic book, I found that it related to my Big Question. For instance, in the book, the character of Inman is fighting in the Civil War on the Confederate's side. He has been fighting and killing men left and right, while his true love, Ada, struggles to take care of her deceased father's farm and keep her faith strong. After Inman is injured from a shot to the neck, he can't take it anymore. He can't kill another man, or listen to others dying around him. So he desperately does the one thing that he thinks is right; he runs away. He starts running to his home on Cold Mountain and his love waiting for him.
Now, in those times, if you ran away from fighting, you were considered a deserter and a traitor. So men from the army, or law enforcements would track you down and shoot you, if they ever caught you. So Inman is running for his life, while running into all kinds of obstacles. I think many people would agree with me when I say that I think Inman did the right thing. Regardless of what anybody thinks, war is wrong, and killing another human being is even worse, in my opinion. It took Inman a lot of courage to run away, especially when everyone around him was either killing or dying. It took a ton of courage to turn the other way, away from the killing. Now, some might say that that was the cowardly thing to do instead of being brave and facing the danger, but I personally think he was more righteous and victorious to run away. Inman showed incredible courage to do what was right when everyone around him was doing wrong. If only we all had that courage; to go against the crowd, to turn the other cheek, to realize what is victorious and right.
Just recently this semester, we read Oedipus by Sophocles. Now, this book was a little hard to find a connection to my Big Question, but here it goes.
When Oedipus basically kills his father, marries his mother, and has children/sisters and brothers, he is doing the wrong thing. Except, he has no idea he is doing the wrong thing because he is ignorant of the fact that the woman he is married to, is indeed his mother. Twisted, right? Ew...In the end of the book, FINALLY Tyricius tells Oedipus his story and then Oedipus gouges out his eyes, his mom/wife kills herself, Oedipus exiles himself, and it's all really gross and bloody and horrifying...but you get the idea.
Anyway, relating back to my question; Tyricius is the only one who stands up to Oedipus and tells him his story. It probably took him a lot of courage to tell Oedipus about his past, and ultimately destroy his future. Of course, nobody else really knew, or didn't care to look further into it by putting together the pieces. But regardless, it was still Tyricius who stood alone in confronting Oedipus.
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