Week 1

Week 1:  The Old Man and The Sea
by: Ernest Hemingway
Genre:  Parable, Tragedy
-Dylan Hatzenbuhler

    In the book The Old Man and The Sea, their are two main characters an old man named Santiago and a little boy named Manolin.  They both truly care about each other, but everyone doubts the old mans skills.  This story sets in a small fishing village by Havana, Cuba, setting in the late 1940's.
   In the beginning of the story this old man takes the little boy out fishing for the first time, when he was younger.  Manolin loved going fishing ever sense.  Santiago doesn't have a lot of money, nor does anyone else in this village.  But the man loves to fish, but he may not have the greatest luck.
  The boat Santiago uses is a old, wooden paddle boat with a ratty old sail that looked like newspapers sewed together. When taking out the child to the ocean; the man discovers he has hit a wall of bad luck with Manolin.  So the parents of the child send him onto a different boat to fish on. 
 I don't like how everyone makes fun of this man because he cant catch a marlin if his life depends on him.  He's got a heart of gold and never puts himself  down, and even believes in one day he will catch that big one he's been waiting for.  When reading this book I've learned that you don't need every thing you want to make yourself  happy.  The old man uses his fishing to make himself forget about what everyone says about him.
  
   Now that the Santiago fishes by himself he misses talking to the boy, instead of singing and yelling at the ocean about the fish he may have caught. He's now feeling lonely through out the story when fishing in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.  When fishing through out the story he doesn't get frustrated for not catching a fish but instead keeps trying and his luck comes back when he finally gets a tuna fish.  That wasn't the type of fish he wanted so he was going to use it for bait, but got hungry while going home one night.

  The main reason why I like this book is that the old man is never selfish and gives up his food and coffee to the boy every morning before going out to catch some food. The boy thinks the man should take it over him, but doesn't want to upset him.  The man never shows that he needs any help to get his things done.  Even though the boy doesn't go with Santiago; he still goes and helps him set up his sail and other things on the boat.

• Given the depth of Santiago--most people will not have the opportunity to catch a fish like that.  The marlin he catches is so big, that the other fisherman were surprised to see a fish this big with him.  And couldn't wait for the story  he had to tell them. 

  At the end of the book Santiago is reunited with Manolin. Manolin want to learn all the techniques and lessons the old man has.  And to live on with what he knew about the ocean and wildlife. Even though he might be died Manolin will carry on his dreams and family traditions. 

1984 By: Hannah Tibke

For my blog post today I will be writing about 1984 by George Orwell. It starts by telling the readers how horrible of a day it is.  It is cold and windy and the character Winston is in a hurry to get inside.  I knew it was another world when the electricity was unreliable and there was such thing as hate week.  I think Winston would’ve gone far, if he was educated properly.  You can tell by how he talks and thinks that he was raised in this awful world. I find it interesting that the Thought Police can see the people through there T.V.’s. You can tell it’s a different world just by this small passage “In the far distance a helicopter skimmed down between roofs, hovered for an instance like a blue-bottle, and darted away again with a curving flight.  It was the Police Patrol, snooping into peoples windows.  The patrols did not matter, however.  Only the Thought Police mattered.”  I love this excerpt because it shows how truly twisted this world is, and what Winston lives through every day.  I feel that Winston is a rebel. He does not know it yet, but he is.  He bought a book for two dollars and fifty cents.  He has a spot in his house that is perfectly unseen by his T.V. if he does not move.  Winston is terrified but finds it worth it to look at this book.  It is empty.  So instead of reading it, he writes out all that goes on in his life.

Another interesting thing about Winston is what happens during hate week.  They all gather around a screen and watch a rage filled video put out by their government.  The first thing I thought while reading through this scene is that these people are all insanely brainwashed.  It’s actually kind of ridiculous. Here is a piece that shows how horrible the Hate is ”The next moment a hideous, grinding screech, as if some monstrous machine running without oil, burst from the big telescreen at the end of the room.  It was a noise that set one’s teeth on edge and bristled the hair at the back of one’s neck.  The Hate had started.”  Just by reading this you can feel the fear and hate in the room.  These people realize this, but still follow the movie, unfaltering.  There mantra is war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.  This all makes me think, what kind of place is this?  Will Winston be the one to start a war against this government?  Winston is terrified by the supposed “renegades” I have yet to find out if they are the real thing.  However, Winston is totally perplexed by them and can’t take his eyes off them.  So is this a sign?  I foresee that Winston will become a renegade and will fight against his government.   Well that is my guess any ways.  So I have come to the end of my first blog it seems. The End.

Week #1 East of Eden by John Steinbeck

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

The book really caught my eye for the one purpose that it is huge. I mean huge by saying it is 601 pages long. Not only that but the print is small also, but I like a challenge, so challenge accepted.

When reading the first pages it starts out describing a valley, no dialogue what so ever, and I’m a person who likes dialogue. When reading it, though, it took me by surprise, I mean, I love dialogue and starting out with description isn’t really my thing. But the way Steinbeck uses his description, he literally paints the image into your head, the words he uses flows into your brain and sticks there to create a masterpiece. I especially love it when he describes the flowers in the valley, the Salinas Valley in northern California to be exact. He goes a little something like this…  “Then there were harebells, tiny lanterns, cream white and almost sinful looking, and these were so rare and magical that a child, finding one, felt singled out and special all day long.

The author then goes on to talk about 2 families that hate each other, though brief on telling us who the families are, he somehow doesn’t yet tell what the conflict that drove the families apart was.. which to me is actually kind of frustrating. I want to know what happened! You can just leave me hanging!! But I guess that’s how he keeps us reading and enjoying the book.      

Next, he goes into great detail about the Trask family and their misfortunes and happenings.  And by misfortunes, I mean a couple of big misfortunes. For example, the father of the family is sent to war, and in his first battle he gets shot in the leg and has to have most of his leg cut off, so then he had to carve a “new leg” from the stump of a tree. At this time, Cirus (the father) has a young son and a wacky wife who is seriously wacked in the head ( I was seriously weirded out by her). He returns home to his son and wife and everything is happy, until his wife thinks that God told her to commit suicide by drowning herself in the lake. When I saw that I was kinda glad that character was gone because I did not want to read any more of her wacked out theories about God and religion.

This whole book so far is pretty interesting, more characters and being introduced and yet I have yet to see how they are all intertwined I am actually really curious and willing to go on deeper into the book and find out if there are any more twists and turns lie ahead in the book.  Right now there are only really three main characters the author is focusing on, and I want to know how they intertwine it is driving me nuts!!! Hopefully I will find out very very soon… hopefully……

Catcher in the Rye: Week 1

                I am reading “The Catcher in the Rye”, a novel by J.D. Salinger. The book starts off with this teenage kid named Holden Caulfield, talking about how he’s had a fine life and his family and everything. After that he starts talking about the school he recently attended called “Pencey Prep”. He tells the reader about the school a bit and what he didn’t like about it. That, to me, is the whole intro where he gives a little bit of his story and an idea of the situation he is in.

                Now I have read up to a part where he is talking to this old man who seemed to be a teacher from the old school. By now I have gotten a good idea of his personality, he is slightly negative with a hint of pessimism in the way he explains and talks about things. I can tell by the way he talks that he can see some of the illusions in life and doesn’t like how a lot of things are but he keeps it to himself.  For example, he always talks about words or phrases he hates and gets off the story he is talking about just to tell the reader how much he hates something. In this part where he is with the old man, Mr. Spencer, he hears Mr. Spencer say “I had the privilege of meeting your mother and dad when they had their little chat with Dr. Thurmer some weeks ago. They’re grand people”. After Old Spencer says that, Holden starts talking about how he hates the word “grand”.  Which is pretty funny to me right now but I can see his negativity in things getting old and annoying later in the book.

I can also see at the part of the book I am reading, that he didn’t really care for the exam paper he had to write for Mr. Spencer about Egyptians. Mr. Spencer told him to go get it and read it out loud to him. He was saying the whole time how he knew it was a trap, or in his words “a dirty trick”, right when Mr. Spencer brought up the paper and how it made him really mad. Mr. Spencer pointed out how he wrote a couple decent paragraphs then was done with the paper. This really made Mr. Spencer mad but Holden didn’t seem to care too much because he wasn’t interested in what Mr. Spencer was teaching. This probably explains why he failed all his other classes too, because he didn’t care enough to try and pass.

In the essay Holden wrote a note to Mr. Spencer saying “I’m sorry that is all I know about Egyptians. I didn’t find them very interesting… It is alright with me if you flunk me though as I am flunking everything else except English anyways”. In this part he showed how he didn’t want to make the teacher feel bad about flunking him but he didn’t even care if he was flunked. I’m not sure why he hasn’t started caring about school and why he spends time with this teacher if he doesn’t like school, it doesn’t make a lot of sense yet but it probably will as I keep reading.

The Hobbit: The start, week one

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. When starting the Hobbit the very first page explains what a Hobbit is. A Hobbit is a little people, kind of like a dwarf but smaller. It goes on to say how a Hobbit acts, behaves, and is inclined to look. Next it tells where a Hobbit lives, The Shire. This is where the story of Bilbo Baggins starts.

 Chapter 1: An Unexpected Party

The beginning of the story starts off in a Hobbit hole in a place called The Shire. The Shire is a piece of land in between the River Brandywine and the Far Downs. A Hobbit hole is a hole made in the side of a hill. This is where the main character, Bilbo Baggins, lives. As he is sitting in the front of his house he greets Gandalf the wizard and wishes him a good day. The conversation goes on until Bilbo invites Gandalf to tea the next day. The next day just as Bilbo is about to sit down for dinner there is a knock at the door and when he answers it there is a dwarf standing there. Bilbo invites him in for tea, but before he can serve it there is another knock at the door. Soon more dwarves come into his house and he is overwhelmed with there company. Eventually Gandalf does show up, with some more dwarves, and Bilbo is at his wits end. That is where I am at the moment.

So far I think the book is really entertaining, mostly because of Gandalf and his plans and how he words things. I kind of wish there was less third person view, but I think I will get used to it later on. I don’t think I will ever remember the names of the dwarves, they all sound really similar. I like all of the detail that Tolkien puts into the story, there is even a couple of maps in the beginning so that you can track where they are going. It also makes the story seem just a little more real.  

week one - The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway is about a man named Robert Cohn. He was a boxing champion but he disliked boxing. Cohn was taught how to box by a man named Spider Kelly. Kelly overmatched him and got his nose permanently flattened. Kelly knows Cohn’s standards and should have never out him in that match. Cohn went to military school where he prepared for Princeton; he was very good at football. He got married to the first girl that was nice to him; they had three children and were married for five years. Cohn thought about leaving his wife but couldn’t do it because he had thought it would be too cruel. When he made up his mind to leave her she had left him for a miniature-painter. Neither of them should have given divorce a thought because of the kids, it would make a big impact on their lives.

            Cohn had then met a woman by the name of Frances who he was sure he loved. He had been an editor for a magazine but it became too expensive so he had to give it up. When Frances realized the magazine was not going to rise she decided she might as well get what there was while it was available. She is practically using Cohn for his money and she doesn’t show that she actually loves Cohn. She urged him to go to Europe and write. They went to Europe and stayed for three years. Cohn had written a novel while in Europe. That winter he went to America and a fairly good publisher accepted it.

Cohn had two friends, Braddocks and Jake. Cohn had talked to Jake about moving to South America. “Listen, Robert, going to another country doesn’t make any difference. I’ve tried all that. You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another. There’s nothing to that,” Jake told Cohn. Jake should have told Cohn that it was a good idea to go to South America because Cohn could explore the world and see what’s out there. Maybe Cohn could have been an editor for a newspaper or a magazine in South America. Maybe he could have even written another novel.

Jake had met a woman named Georgette on the terrace of Napolitain. They were in the Tuileries and she cuddled and against Jake, so he put his arm around her. She looked up at him and touched him with one hand but he pushed it away. He shouldn’t have because she may have thought she did something wrong but she was trying to be friendly, but maybe a little too friendly. They then left to go to a restaurant. Jake and Georgette were at the restaurant for a while before Jake ran into his friends, Cohn, Frances, Mr. and Mrs. Braddocks. Jake brought Georgette into the room full of people and Braddocks and the men at his table stood up. Jake introduced his fiancée, Georgette to everyone at the table. Everyone must have taken it as a shock because Jake didn’t tell anyone about her until now.  

week1, The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway starts out describing a charcter named Robert Cohn. Cohn is from a rich jewish family from New York. He is shy and was a middleweight boxing champion in college. After divorcing his first wife he moves to california where he meets a girl named Frances who talks him into moving to paris.

While in Paris he has a friend named Jake barnes who is the narrator of the story. Jake, Cohn, and other friends go out dancing at a club where Cohn meets Brett Ashley. He asks he to dance but declines and goes with jake instead. I was confused whether or not Brett and Jake were dating because it seemed like they were but then hy did robert Cohn ask her to dance.

Another part that confused me was in chapter six when Harvey Stone started to insult Robert Cohn. Did the two always hate each other or is Harvey just being mean? After that Frances talks to Jake without Cohn there saying that Robert won't marry her nd she doesn't think anyone will.

Up to chapter 6, this book is horrible. So far basically nothing has happened. While its a easy book to read, it almost impossible to read without losing interest. Hopfully, the story picks up in th next couple chapters because so far there has been no plot

"The Great Gatsby" Tom is not a good man

The Great Gatsby

To start of the book is kind of slow and put me to sleep. I tried to stay awake but it’s a chore to read at times. As I kept reading things sort of started to move along, explaining the setting of West Egg where the main character Nick Carraway lives. People who live in West Egg recently got rich and don’t unlike those of the East Egg. Nick’s neighbor, Jay Gatsby, sounds like a cool guy he throws huge parties every week and has a huge mansion. Nick is not like most of West Egg, he went to yale like a lot of East Egg people did and even goes to dinner with a friend who lives in East Egg which makes me wonder why he would choose to live in West egg.

At dinner with his old classmate he meets a lady named Jordan Baker and they hit it off. Tom ,who Nick went to dinner with has a wife Daisy but also has a lover in some ghetto part of town as well as an apartment to keep the affair secret. This made me mad, why would he need to have an affair especially with some woman from the ghetto who makes fun of his wife. I mean he even breaks her nose. I don’t know if I really like Tom, he seems cocky, stuck up, and isn’t a very nice guy.

I like Nick because he seems level headed, he isn’t stuck up like Tom . his dad taught him good qualities that he referred to in the beginning of the book and I’m happy he did. Gatsby is kind of cool in my mind no one really knows where he came from but everyone knows who he is. He’s almost like a rockstar of some sort. He is also a North Dakota boy which is also a nice plus. I almost find it a little odd that F. Scott picked North Dakota as  the place where Gatsby’s childhood took place, but I like him more just because he did. It makes sense that Gatsby became successful though, because North Dakotans do have excellent work ethic and drive.

So far I don’t hate the book but im not sure if I like it yet either. It’s well written don’t get me wrong but some things about the story bother me. It’s not always my favorite thing to pick up and read but it’s not terrible I guess. I just really dislike how some of the characters behave and why they behave how they do. I’ll be excited when it’s done and I hope I like it more cause inside I think I want to like it but at parts the book makes it hard to. I’m happy the book isn’t very long as well, I don’t know if I could handle it if it was like a 400 page book. I hope it ends well and the way it’s going makes me a little nervous.

 

Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. Montag is introduced in the story as a man who is a firefighter. Although, he isn’t the normal firefighter we have in today’s society. In this futuristic city montag is one of many firefighters whose job is to actually start fires. In this city, books are not important. All reading material is confiscated and burned by the firefighters. Very few people question the practice of the firefighters burning the literature. Of the few people that do question them, they are met with harsh discipline and the punishment and even death. Montag goes on changing journey that ends him up in the middle of overthrowing the firefighters and his home life. His wife becomes depressed with the thought of her husband destroying all the literature and she tries to commit suicide by taking pills. He also encounters a young girl by the name of Clarisse who tells him he needs to open his mind to the possibilities of reading.
Not too long after his wife tries to kill herself he learns of Clarisse’s terrible death and becomes paranoid that the other firefighters and high officials are after him for suspected crimes of reading books. he finally decides that he wants to learn about the books, so he goes to his secret stash of books that he has taken from his own fires and hidden in a vent. He soon is discovered by a few of his wife’s friends and is turned into his fire chief. The chief takes the books from Montag and forces /Montag to run ffrom the city with all the other firefighters hot on his trail. This leads him to a number of places where he finds himself as well as what he wants to do with the rest of his life.
this book is very interesting for someone who likes science fiction. it has futuristic cities with lots of action and it also has suspence for the reader. the book is a smaller read with only around 175 pages. it has easy to read text. in a personal opinion this book was great. the story line with Montag and the place he lives is also great. it takes the personal opinion of the reader and twists it with the plot of the book. the book has great imagery and it reels you in as it goes. twords the end of the book the story falls flat a little bit because most of the book involves thrill and suspense with all of Montags friends dying and all the people trying to get to Montag but in the end of the book it involves just having Montag travel to different houses and picking up a few books along the way. it doesnt have the same charm and action as the first half of the book. i would recomend this book to anyone who wants a quick, thrilling, and great read.



Blog #1 The Sun Also Rises

I am reading The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. There are two main characters so far in this story, Robert and Jake. First is Robert Cohn, which this story is mainly about his life.  Roberts family was a very wealthy family in New York, in fact they were one of the wealthiest Jewish families there. Robert attended Princeton University and while he was there he often got picked on because he is Jewish. Because of this he threw himself into boxing. He was very good. His trainer, Spider Kelly, thought he was so good that he wanted to take him on himself. This did not turn out very good for Robert though. Kelly won the battle and permanently flattened Roberts nose. At one point in time Cohn was also the middleweight champion in Princeton. Soon after he graduated from college he got  married to a woman who was basically his rebound because of his other girlfriend in college since that one didn't work out so well. From that they had three children. Cohn inherited fifty thousand dollars from his parents. Things did't go so well for them and after five years he had his mind set that he was going to leave his wife, she left him before he got that chance. Robert also lost nearly all his money he had and was pretty much broke. After the break up he packed his things and moved to California to become a writer. Once he was there awhile he met another girl named Frances. Soon later she convinced him to take her to Paris and live there for awhile. Jake and Robert meet and they go out to eat. Robert talks about how he wants to go to South America with him.

This is where his friend Jake comes in, Jake is one of Roberts good friends. This story is also all taken from Jake's point of view. Which means that Jake is the narrator. So far in the story I don't know much about Jake yet because he likes to talk about other people instead of himself.

I found it quite ironic how he was going to leave his wife and then she decides to leave him first. As much as that probably sucked, they were probably both happy because of it. I would have just been very pissed off if that was me and I would have lost nearly fifty thousand dollars. I'm not really too into this book, I haven't read quite a whole lot yet but so far I'm not very interested in it. There just seems to not be a whole lot going on yet, if it doesn't start to pick up pretty soon I'm just going to choose a different book that will hopefully be a little more interesting. I do have a couple questions about this book though. First of all, I want to know how much money Robert has left from the fifty thousand dollars. Second, how long will Robert and Frances last together? And third, how is Roberts writing carrier going?

Week 1- Holden Caulfield: A Complex Character

I have already finished reading The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, which honestly surprises me. It only took me a week to finish a 277 page book. I believe that was the fastest I’ve ever read a book that long. I think that’s because not only is the book entertaining and well-written, but its language is very prevalent to teenagers. The main character, Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old boy from a wealthy family, tells his story, speaking to the reader the same way he normally would to any character in the story. I read the book so quickly because he doesn’t use a giant vocabulary, and I didn’t have to look up any words to understand what was going on. Even though I like to learn new words and be challenged when I read, I liked that Holden just told his story straight and to the point without any metaphoric or confusing language; I found it refreshing, and his character became more realistic. His simple, yet descriptive language also added to his characterization. Salinger’s characterization of Holden portrays him as a wealthy, lazy, pessimistic boy. Yet, somehow, through Holden’s thoughts and opinions, I found him misunderstood, lost, and caring. In fact, he reminded me of many young men my age whose actions I don’t understand, but I would like to. For example, I kept thinking of one of my friends who doesn’t act like anything bothers him or that he cares about anything, but I know that deep down, he truly does. Because Salinger mainly focusses on Holden’s characterization for entertainment, some may consider the plot quite slow and boring. In fact, the entire book’s storyline can be described rather quickly. Holden drops out of another expensive school because of bad grades, so he leaves for Christmas break a few days early without telling anyone. He then roams around New York aimlessly for a few days staying up all night and probably not making the smartest decisions. Even though the plot is simple, I never thought the book was boring because I was trying to "figure out" Holden the entire book. I tried to put myself in his shoes to see why he made the decisions he did. Another way Salinger characterizes Holden is how he is always giving his opinion on everything, even if it's not his place to do so. For example, he frequently says, "It just depressed me," to things that aren't even that depressing. He even says that when he meets two nuns in a diner because he feels bad that they can't wear nice clothes or makeup, and they have to live in a convent. I actually thought that part was rather funny because Holden said that he liked the nuns, and he offered them a cigarette, which they refused, of course. That was probably one of my favorite parts of the story, actually, because it showed a more compassionate side of Holden. A part of the story that upset me was that throughout the entire book, Holden kept talking about how he was going to call this nice girl named Jane that he grew up with to see how she was. However, every time he was about to call her, he'd say, "... but then I decided not to. I mean, you have to be in the mood for that kind of thing." Then, as it got to the end of the story, he still hadn't called her, and I thought maybe that would be the ending, but it wasn't. He never even ended up talking to her. I was mad because she sounded like she would be a good influence on him, and he truly cared about her. However, that was the only part of the book I didnt like. Even though the plot wasn't too complex, I enjoyed getting to know Holden and trying to understand his motives. By the end of the book, I wished he was a real person so I could meet him. His interesting characterization and simple use of language is how I managed to read the book in just a week. I hope I like my next book, The Great Gatsby, just as much.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The book is very weird at the beginning it was very tough trying to get into it. There was a quote on the first page that got my attention it was “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all the people this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”

                My family’s not very wealthy.  We never got a lot my mom and dad divorced when I was about 6 my parents are both still in my life. We were very happy family no matter what but the nice things weren’t there. My grandparents were a big part of our lives at that time. I have 2 older brothers and 2 younger sisters. We went to a privet school over in Bismarck called Saint Mary’s.  My grandparent paid for that so we moved over to Mandan.  There we found a good home we got a dog and lived happily.

                There was another saying that the author said that got my eye I found this one kind of funny. On page 3 it says “The practical thing was to find rooms on the city, but it was a warm season, and I had just left a country of wide lawns and friendly trees…”  That made me think about when my brother left for college up in Minot everything that he was thing. How difficult it was on my mother how I got my license faster because I had to get my sisters from school. How everything changes at that moment for my entire family.

                I didn’t get very far in this book because it’s hard to get into. For me this book is slow I don’t think I’m going to get in to this one right now. So many people were entering at one time that I got lost. So I think that I am going to stop reading this and start up with 1984 I believe  it was called. 

Week 1: Their Eyes Were Watching God

I am reading the book Their Eyes Were Watching Gob by Zora Neale Hurston. I have read up to chapter 6 and I am FINALLY getting the hang of her improper word use! Sometimes I have to read it over a couple times and even read it out loud to even catch part of what she is trying to say. Janie is the main character and she was raised up by her grandmother “Nanny” who took care of her after he mother had ran off.

The first thing that caught my attention and got me into the story was when Nanny told Janie that she wants her to get married right away the two argued about it and Janie insisted she didn’t know anything about a husband and wasn’t ready however they ended up getting married in Nanny’s parlor to Logan Killicks an older farmer. This right here kills me. I couldn’t imagine having someone I am supposed to spend the rest of my life picked for me! I mean don’t you think you should get to know someone before you marry them or at least love them; she didn’t even love the guy! I guess that’s how it was in this time era.

Nanny had previous been a slave and also had a daughter before she started taking care of Janie. Chapter 2 is the first time she really talks about her daughter. Her daughter was raped by a school teacher at age 17 and started drinking a lot after Janie was born. This shocked me I mean we hear about rape all the time now it seems like or teachers sleeping with their students but I just thought it was because of how corrupt our society is becoming but the fact that this happened back than too really interested me.

After about two months of the marriage Janie explains to nanny and the other woman that she doesn’t love him and she is disappointed because they promised her they were going to love him. The women don’t understand because Logan is treating her like a princess at this point and don’t get why she is fussing about it. However, I agree with Janie the saying “money can’t buy you happiness” is flowing through my mind at this point. Yeah nanny wanted her secured and well off with some rich man but she isn’t happy and wouldn’t as a grandmother best intentions to make her granddaughter happy. That night before nanny went to bed she muttered “Lawd, you know mah heart. Ah done de best ah could do. De rest is left to you” (PAGE 24) and a month she passed away. I totally believe that everyone has a time and purpose. Just like you told us that story about the priest with cancer and how he was almost given another life to serve a purpose as a priest. Freaky stuff! 

At the end of chapter 3 Janie said “she knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman.” This made me want to read on and on and see what was going to happen because I had no idea what she meant by this quote. What she was going to do  now that she became a woman it had me guessing. 

Week 1

I am currently reading the book The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. This book begins by focusing on two characters; Spiros Antonapoulos and John Singer. Both of these men are connected by the fact that they are mute, meaning they don’t talk at all. The first few pages of the novel simply begin to describe the daily life of the two men. Antonapoulos works for his cousin at a fruit store, while John works at a jewelry store as an engraver. At first it seems like the first 10 or 15 pages of the book really have no point at all besides setting up a background story of our characters, but I feel that this might come into play later on in the story. The story picks up and conflict arises when Antonapoulos suddenly becomes ill, he eventually gets over his illness but John can tell that his friend is not quite the same. Antonapoulos suddenly becomes angry, stealing random items and getting into fights nearly every day and getting in trouble with the police multiple times. After a while John finds out that Antonapoulos is going to be taken away to an asylum, he protests but in the end nothing could be done about it. John seems lost after his only friend is taken away, the man goes to work everyday and then home to be alone. It is easy to see that the two men relied on each other and took comfort in the fact that they both were mute and could understand what the other was going through.

This ends the first part of the book. This sudden ending leaves me with many questions, such as why Antonopoulos was taken in the first place and why exactly his character so important for the story if he was just going to be taken away. Next the novel takes a sudden turn and introduces completely new characters, seeming to ignore the first part of this book. Right now I’m not sure why this was done, its as if someone started writing a new book right in the middle of the first one. But I think that it will make sense as the story progresses. Now the story switches to focus on a man named Biff Brannon. Biff owns a small restaurant in town and he spends his time observing the people that come in. The first thing that was easy to notice is that Biff and his wife do not have a very good relationship. They talk back to each other and fight even in the first few words on the page. I wonder why their relationship is this way and if they were ever happy. Biff’s wife, Alice is trying to convince him to do something about the very drunk man who has been practically living in their restaurant for the past week. Biff however thinks the man should stay, finding the stranger fascinating because he is just so weird. To me Biff seems like an interesting character, I want to find out more what he has to do with the whole plot and understand why the author decided to introduce him. I hope to find some connection in these parts of the book instead of just random stories here and there, John seems to me like he will be the main point in the story, someone that will connect everything. But for now I will just have to keep reading and find out. So far I think this book is interesting, not my favorite by any means but at least something that won’t make me fall asleep.

Week 1: 1984

                I am reading 1984 by George Orwell. It begins with Winston, the main character, going home to the Victory Mansions. So far I think it is very interesting. I find it odd that the television watches Winston, and everyone else. And that it controls itself. It is brainwashing the whole population! No one knows when they are being watched. They do know why they are being watched, and that is so they do not go against “Big Brother”. I am not quite sure what exactly the Ministries are all about yet. I know there are four ministries: Ministry of Truth, Ministry of Peace, Ministry of Love, and the Ministry of Plenty. Each Ministry has a purpose. The Ministry of Truth concerns itself with news, school, and entertainment. The Ministry of Peace is about war. The Ministry of Love maintains law and order. The Ministry of Plenty is responsible for economic affairs. (page 8)

                Winston is contemplating starting a diary. It is insane, to me, that he cannot start a diary. It is illegal. He will be killed if anyone finds out, he may be killed for even thinking about starting one. But he does decide to go through with it. He starts to write but then stops and starts thinking back to a memory. In his memory it talks about some people. One of them was a dark haired woman; it says that he does not like her. He doesn’t like any woman at all, especially the young and pretty ones. Then he goes off thinking about a man named O’Brien. In the next paragraph it says “he felt deeply drawn to him” I am not sure if he likes woman or men? Later I find out why he hates the dark haired woman, it is because she was young and pretty and sexless. She wore a chastity belt. I do not know why that would make him hate her. Maybe he is sad because she is so much controlled by “Big Brother”.  It starts to tell me about a time when O’Brien and Winston’s eyes met for a brief moment. Winston believed that both their minds had opened up to each other and they shared thoughts. That is weird. How could you figure that out from a second of eye contact?

                From what I understand, the government is called Big Brother and he controls everything. No one can think anything bad about them, or do anything against their rules. They have to much power. There is this group called the Thought Police. They kill people at night for thinking and doing things against Big Brother. And when you die or get killed, they wipe out your whole life, nothing is left behind. No record, nothing. Winston doesn’t remember his family very much. That would be terrible I can’t imagine. He doesn’t know why they died or how. But he thinks they might have sacrificed their lives so he could have the chance of living. If anyone did that for me I would feel as if I needed to fulfill my life by making a difference and taking a stand for what I believe in. To foreshadow, I’m thinking he is going to do so.   

Week 1: O Pioneers! - Living on the prairie

I am currently reading the book O Pioneers! by Willa Cather. 

The setting of the book takes place on the prairie. People from all around the country came to this area in order to get a new start on life. However, the settlers did not know how to farm. I don’t understand how people could come to a new, remote area and not know how to farm or live in that specific area. Since the farmers didn’t know how to take care of the land, their crops failed to grow and produce. This made the families of the area go into extreme debt which caused numerous of families to move back to the cities. 

There are two main families in the story. They are the Bergsons and the Linstrums. The Bergson family has three sons and daughter (Alexandra) and the Linstrum family has a son (Carl). Alexandra and Carl have grown up together and are the best of friends. However, the Linstrum family is moving back to the cities because they cannot tend to their land. “I can’t help feeling scared when I think how I will miss you – more than you will ever know.” Alexandra was very fond of Carl. I believe that if Carl would have stayed on the prairie with Alexandra that they one day would have become married. They would tell each other everything. Whenever they were having a bad day, they knew that the other person would help them feel better. I was extremely sad when I read that the Linstrum family would be going away because I enjoy reading stories when there is young love. Knowing that they could never be together again changed the mood of the story.

The Bergson family also wanted to move after the death of their father. However, before his passing he tells Alexandra that she has to promise to stay and tend to the land. I was confused by these words. Why would he force his family to stay on the prairie when they couldn’t earn money? The family was suffering and straining themselves on a daily basis in order to earn a living. If the family was happier in the city why would he want them to stay? Fortunately, they listened to their father. During the next couple of years, the family decided to buy all of the land that they could. But again this made me think.  Why would the family purchase more land if it was considered “bad land?”

This was the end of the first section of the book. Section two jumps to a time that is 16 years later. At first it was confusing to comprehend because it used a different form of writing and was difficult to understand who everyone was again. The section starts off being very vague. They open with saying the new land was fertile and the crops were thick. Were they thinking of a different land? or Did the land somehow transform itself? Later in the section it went more in depth. The land that the Bergson’s had purchased started to thrive! They could finally grow crops on the once infertile land.

While reading O Pioneers! I find it difficult at times to stay with the story because it moves at such a slow rate. What keeps me interested, however, is wondering if Carl will come back to the prairie to ask Alexandra to marry him. 

Week 1

1984 by George Orwell is about a man named Winston who lives in a word which is under the power of a dictator that only goes by Big Brother. In every house there is a TV monitor that Big Brother can hear and see you with. The reason for this is to make sure that no one is planning to try to over throw the government. If anyone is caught breaking the rules they will be tried and killed, or forced to work in the salt mine.

Winston is in his a little over thirty and to a normal person sounds like he hates everything and everyone. Winston dislikes women because he thinks that they are annoying. This is one of the reasons why he isn’t married. He also dislikes kids. To him they are monsters that have been brain washed into thinking Big Brother is a God.

 He is wants to be and individualist but is scared that Big Brother would find out. Winston lives in an apartment with multiple flights of stairs which he has to climb every day; he climbs a few flights then rests and continues his way up. In his apartment his TV screen is located in a strange spot of the room so that there is a little spot he can sit without someone seeing him. They can still hear him but he likes that he isn’t seen.

One day Winston built up enough courage and broke one of the laws. He bought a book with no words in it, some ink, and a pen. He was going to use this book as a diary. Diaries are against the law because it is a symbol of individualism, and if you are an individualist you are trying to over throw the government. When Winston gets home he goes and sits in the space between the screen where he cannot be seen and stares at the book. He becomes nervous that he will get caught by someone but longs to write down what he is feeling on the paper. He takes a breath and starts to write. He writes about a movie he saw the other night about how women and children were killed by bombs and how people laughed and cheered at the scene. After he wrote that he wrote DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER four times.

I find it insane that people are not a loud to keep diaries. To me a diary is a way to escape from life and write down what I am really feeling without someone getting angry, hurt, or embarrassed. I understand that there are people out there looking to bring Big Brother down but that doesn’t mean people can’t have a diary. If our government ever got that bad I would want to fight back in any way possible so that I could have a little freedom. I am happy that Winston bought that diary and I hope he uses it more. Maybe it will make him a better person.

Week One: The Grapes of Rath

When I first picked up The Grapes of Rath by John Steinbeck I thought I would hate it. I am not a big fan of description, and every other chapter is all description. However, Steinbeck’s description is very enticing; it draws me in and I can start picturing things in my mind. For example, “And as the sharp sun struck day after day, the leaves of young corn became less stiff and erect; they bent in a curve at first, and then, as the central ribs of strength grew weak, each leaf tilted downward.” (page 1)In my mind I could just see the leaves wilting and falling down.
Then, the second chapter starts with the story. It begins with a boy in new clothes of mediocre quality asking for a ride from a truck driver. Once they are driving the boy, Tom, reveals that he was in McAlester, a prison. The truck driver wants to know why, but doesn't want to seem nosy. Right before Tom gets out he basically says,”I killed a guy, got out in four years on good behavior.” What? How can he a) just say that nonchalantly like it’s a totally normal thing and b) how do you get out of prison in four years when you murdered someone?
Once he gets out, he starts walking this dirt road. He runs into a guy named Casy, who used to be a preacher. Judging by his language, he wasn't a very good one, so it’s probably a good thing he decided to stop preaching. He was telling Tom about how after every meeting he would go and “lay in the grass” with a girl. I was completely shocked. Anyone who is religious is supposed to wait until marriage, ESPECIALLY a preacher! Finally the story of Tom murdering someone comes out. Really Tom and another guy got in a fight and the other guy stabbed Tom. Then Tom grabbed a shovel and beat the guy to death. That’s why Tom doesn't think it was bad and also why he only got 7 years, 4 with parole.
Eventually Tom and the preacher get to Tom’s house but its deserted. They spend the night there and then go to Tom’s Uncle John’s house. He finds his family there and they are packing up to move to California. Tom isn't supposed to go to California because he has to stay in state or he will break his parole, but he acts like it’s not a big deal. He says that if he doesn't break a law, he won’t get caught. I just have to remind myself that this isn't a time of house arrest ankle bracelets and credit cards. Today, breaking parole would be a lot harder than it was in the 30’s.
So they are on their way to California in a car that they made into a pickup. In total there are 11 people, a couple mattresses, and boxes of various other things. So they have the boxes on the bottom, covered by the mattresses, then all of the people but 3. I can’t imagine this because the bed of the pickup truck had to be pretty deep, or the people are sitting WAY above the cab of the truck.
So anyway, they are off on this trip and they pull over next to this other car to sleep for the night. Tom’s Grandpa isn't feeling great so they lay him down in the tent of the people who own the other car, the Wilsons. And then Grandpa has a stroke and dies. It was so weird because their wasn't any emotion about it; he just dies. Then they just bury him, and then they just sit around the fire. The only person that seems to even care that he died was his wife.
Then the two families decide they want to travel together, so they split up between the car and the pickup. Everyone is a little worried about Grandma because she is so quiet and doesn't seem to be feeling well. However, the trip is going fine, until the Wilson's car breaks down. They decide that Tom’s brother Al, will drive the truck to a place where the family can spend the night, then come back to where Tom is and they will fix the car.
While Al is driving the family back, Tom and the ex-preacher Casy, start taking the car apart. Steinbeck starts describing all of this engine stuff that sounds reasonable, but is still way past my comprehension level of a car. The last part I have read is where Al comes to pick Tom up to go get the part.