grandma

Bastard Out of Carolina

2006-05-03T09:59:00.000-04:00

The ending of the book was quite interesting and since I had already seen the movie my curiosity was to see if the book was the same as the movie. The ending is the same. It still amazes me that Anney could leave Bone and go off with Glen. Part of me wonders if she felt ashamed of what she allowed to happen to Bone and the other part of me thinks something else. The one scene that really got me in this section of the book was on page 284 where Glen and Bone were arguing again. It actually started on page 282. Glen beat Bone severely and than raped her again. What Glen said made me sick "You little cunt. I should have done this a long time ago. You've always wanted it. Don't tell me you don't" (p. 285). Glen continues to rape Bone and beat her as he was continuing to rape her. This is the worst apart of the book even though we did see many other scenes similar to this. This scene made me want to go through the book and seriously hurt Glen. Like I said in class, I would not be like Anney and continue to let this happen to my child. The first time would have been the last time it would have happened and he would have known I meant business. I would never go back to man who could do such a thing. Unfortunately, I believe that even though Anney said she loves Bone, I think she loves Glen more and does not want to be alone. Anney has been left before by men and wants to be seen as a good wife not a tramp.

"Bastard Out Of Carolina"

2006-04-25T18:45:00.000-04:00

As I was reading the section of this book for our homework assignment one particular section leaped out at me. In chapter one it talks about how Bone's mother kept going down to the court house from time to time trying to get Bone's birth certificate changed from a bastard child to legitimate child but it never worked. The section on pages 15 - 16 also stood out because of the court house burning down with all the records in it so now no one could prove Bone was not legitimate. If I am not mistaken I think there were scenes from this in a movie I had seen before and I am thinking it might have been in the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes". Can anyone tell me if I am right or was it in another movie? I am glad this book was picked for us to read because I feel so far it is am interesting book just from the first 6 chapters alone.

Revelation

2006-04-21T07:58:00.000-04:00

Mrs. Turpin starts out as an incredibly shallow person. She looks at everyone's appearance in order to judge them. "Without appearing to , Mrs. Turpin always noticed people's feet. The well dressed lady had on red and grey suede shoes to match her dress. Mrs. Turpin had on her good patent leather pumps. The ugly girl had on Girl Scout shoes and heavy socks. The old woman had on tennis shoes and the white trashy mother had on what appeared to be bedroom slippers, black straw with gold braid threaded through them-exactly what you would have expected her to have on" (p. 820). In the Bible in states "Judge not yest yea be judged." This is to me a very important statement for us to live by. We do not like to be judged by others and we are told that we should not judge others. I think Flannery O'Connor brings this out well at the end when she has Mrs. Turpin realize that all people are equal in God's eyes.

Questions

2006-04-15T12:40:00.000-04:00

I only have two questions. I was wondering what was Amber's favorite part about the Gone With The Wind Movie and for Lisa's group what was the most important part of what you learned about Southern music?

2006-04-05T21:08:00.000-04:00

I had some trouble getting on the net tonight for the lasthalf hour so if this post gets on this time it will be late. I found that the whole story was interesting in the "A Good Man is Hard to Find" but the scene where they grandmother had a terrible feeling something was going to happen when they were driving down the dirt road just before the car rolled over was interesting because it happened to me once but not on a dirt road ( p. 124). My accident was on dry pavement but another car pushed me so hard I ended up in a ditch and still do not know why I did not roll over. Can anyone relate to anything else in this story or the other on " The Displaced Person"?

A Street Car Named Desire film

2006-03-29T20:45:00.000-05:00

The film today was similar to the play itself. In the play Blanche wants everything to be dark because she doesn't want anyone to see her face clearly. The entire film is down in darkness. I find that to be interesting but at times it makes it hard to see what is going on. Maybe that's the whole idea though. Darkness usually means mystery which is something that Blanche as a character seems to want to convey. Blanche's character comes off as this Southern Belle type woman who you don't know whether she's telling the truth or not throughout the entire film. The one thing that struck me different about the film compared to the play is, I thought in the play Stella ran to her apartment to find Blanche waiting there but didn't the film show Blanche coming to her, Stella, in the bowling alley? Does anyone remember that or did I see it wrong?

A Street Car Named Desire

2006-03-22T15:01:00.000-05:00

I remember this story but it was a long time ago when I read the play. Reading it again brings back memories. Stella and her sister Blanche are what I consider typical sisters. There are moments that they show affection and tension throughout the first five scenes and expect they show this throughout the entire play. Stella and Blanche are very happy to see each other after a long period of time. You see this in the beginning where Stella comes running to her apartment when she hears Blanche was there. Stella says "Blanche" calling her name with joy (p.634). You also see this in the scene where Blanche finds out that Stella is pregnant and she says "Stella? Stella going to have a baby? I didn't know she was going to have a baby!" She continues to say "Stella, Stella for star! How lovely to have a baby!" (p.645). These scenes show that they have a "typical" sister relationship. "Typical" sisters are happy for of some things in each others lives and they are jealous at time when they wish they have what the other has.

Blanche shows sarcasm toward Stella husband when she says "He acts like an animal" and she continues to say "Stanley Kowalski - survivor of the stone age" (p. 657 - 58). Another scene is on page 654 where Blanche gets mad at Stella for staying around with her husband when he hit her. Stella reaction to that was to make a joke where she said "I was-sort of-thrilled by it." It shocked me to read that Stella saw her husband's hitting as a thrill. I cannot imagine anyone feeling that way. Does anyone else feel the way I do or maybe you do not. I am interested in know your point of view.

"Their Eyes Were Watching God"

2006-03-16T13:58:00.000-05:00

As I was reading the first eight chapters the on theme that stuck out for me were the relationships. The first one of course was with Janie's grandmother. The part about Janie's grandmother wanting to see her married to a safe good man I can relate to. Grandmother says to Janie, when she does not want to marry grandmother's choice, is "So you don't want to marry off decent like,do yuh?" (13). Most women do not want to marry someone elses choice. Grandmother (Nanny) goes on to say "De thought uh you bein' kicked around from pillar tuh post is uh hurtin' thing" is how any parent would feel about their child (15). Isn't it a good thing that Nanny died before her fears came true about Janie's marriage, her second one that is to Joe. On page 71, "She found out that one day when he slapped her face in the kitchen" is the "being kicked around" that Nanny was talking about when she told Janie she did not want that kind of marriage for her. Joe did not feel women were much worth more than chickens or cows. He said "Somebody got to think for women and chillun and chickens and cows" (71). Wouldn't it be an awful life for a women to live like that?

The Old Order

2006-02-28T14:07:00.000-05:00

The Source, The Journey, The Witness, The Circus, The Last Leaf, and The Grave are all texts that are much easier to read than Go Down, Moses. Yes, Porter is the same as Faulkner when it comes to description because she goes on with much detail too. For example, in The Source she writes "with nothing at all to do, her hand folded, her skirts trailing and picking up twigs, turning over little stones, sweeping a faint path behind her, her white bonnet askew over one eye, and absorbed fixed smile on her lips, her eyes missing nothing" (325). Porter also makes mention of I believe Miranda's family on page 343 of The Circus. This reminds me a bit of Faulkner's way of mentioning family in Go Down, Moses. The difference between Porter and Faulkner is that Porter did not mention families in a difficult way. At least with Porter you can tell who is who and what family they belong to.

The Bear

2006-02-20T07:58:00.000-05:00

As I keep trying to muddle through the book Go Down, Moses by William Faulkner, I wonder what possessed this man to write the way he does. I feel like he puts too much into this book by describing everything in details which can confuse people and distract me from the actual theme. For example this sentence that states "Even as he looked up he saw the next one, and, moving, the one beyond it; moving, not hurrying, running, but merely keeping pace with them as they appeared before him as though they were being shaped out of thin air just one constant pace short of where he would lose them forever and be lost forever himself, tireless, eager, without doubt or dread, panting a little above the strong rapid little hammer of his heart, emerging suddenly into a little glade and the wilderness coalesced." I wish I could tell you what page this is from but my books pages are different form all of your. There are so many of these types of sentences in the novel that I get confused. It is hard to keep track of the storyline. Why doesn't he just get to the point without all that description? I try not to focus on those long descriptive sentences but I find it very distracting. I am sure there are others who feel the same way.

Pantaloon Black

2006-02-15T20:32:00.000-05:00

Wow, what a chapter this was. Rider was pretty busy don't you think? He went from losing his wife through death to killing Birdsong. I can see where Rider would have went to work after his wife Mannie's death even though I am sure this statement will shock some people. I know we don't all see that as a sign of respect for his wife but sometimes that is how others get through it. I know a man who did the same thing when his father died. I know that isn't the same as Riders wife but it is in a way. He took care of his father for years so they were as close as could be. The difference was that Rider went a bit far with his grief when he killed Birdsong. So I am curious what you all think about this section of the book.

Desiree's Baby

2006-02-06T07:31:00.000-05:00

I read this passage before so I knew what was going to happen in it but I find that Armand Aubigny was a mean human being. Once he realized the color of his son was not white he blamed Desiree for the shame of it all. He never even considered his family could have been the one who had the "black " blood in it. He didn't even consider it when his wife said "Look at my hand; whiter than yours Armand" (304). He made his wife suffer for it so badly she "disappeared among the reeds and willows...and she did not come back again" (304). I wonder what Armand felt when he found the letter from his mom which said. "I thank God for having so arranged our lives that our dear Armand will never know that his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery" (305). The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man passage goes along well with Desiree's Baby. This one was about a young boy who was so light skinned that he did not know he was a child of a slave. I liked this one because he was able to go to a public school and learn. I find it heart breaking when the boy started to notice his appearance after the other children said"Oh, you're a nigger too" (353). Before that he never knew his skin color was different. His mom did a wonderful job trying to protect her son and in the end she said "You're as good as anybody; if anyone calls you a nigger, don't notice them" (354). I feel that made him feel better about himself.

Frederick Douglass

2006-01-29T11:37:00.000-05:00

Last night as I was reading the Frederick Douglass piece, it made me recall a little about what I have read about him before. I am glad we are reading this piece. As we all know and according to our books "Douglass was a premier African American leader of and spokesman for his people" (Andrews, p.169). I feel Douglass was a pretty brave person to have found ways to teach himself how to read and write since it was against the law back then for African Americans to do so. Douglass was first introduced to reading by his second mistress, Mrs. Auld were he says "she very kindly commenced to teach me the A, B, C." (Andrews, p.186). The part I found most impressive was when Douglass found his way for him to continue to learn to read and write without his masters knowledge. He said "This bread I used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who, in return, would give me that more valuable bread of knowledge"(p.189). Douglass took bread from his masters house when he was to go on errands for them and gave the bread to poor white boys who would in turn teach him to read and write.
Frederick Douglass first master, Mr Anthony, was not so kind as his second one was. Matter of fact he was extremely cruel.He actually had to watch his Aunt Hester be beaten for not obeying the master.According to Douglass, his master "commenced to lay on a heavy cowskin and soon the warm, red blood came dripping to the floor" (p. 174). Douglass witnessed many more events in his life with his first master including a shooting of a slave named Demby by Mr. Anthony's overseer Mr. Gore. Demby refused to come out of the water so he was shot and killed in the head.
I cannot imagine going through all the cruel things Frederick Douglass went through before he became free but these are just a few of the things read in the first few chapters of our readings. I am looking forward to finishings the rest of the Douglass chapters in our book.

Setting up Blog

2006-01-19T14:18:00.000-05:00

I am not sure if I set this up right but it seems to be right. I am looking forward to conversing with others on all subjects.