You're Ugly, Too

"'I'm going out of my mind,' said Zoё to her younger sister, Evan, in Manhattan."  (pg. 353)


I used this quote because I thought it described Zoё perfectly.  She is a very odd individual who is eccentric, insecure, selfish, and sarcastic.  She randomly tells jokes that aren't really funny to most people, but she finds them hilarious.  Zoё has a very bad taste in men as the past three men having been very boring.  Someone in my small group today talked about how she is dying slowly internally.  I thought this was a pretty accurate description because she acts like it and seems really awkward.  When she feels uncomfortable, she uses humor as a defense mechanism.  The title is something I don't understand.  I know it comes from one of her jokes, but I don't find it funny at all.  If someone asks for a second opinion, why would you say that they are ugly?

The Drunkard

"I found if I stood on tiptoe I could just reach Father's glass, and the idea occurred to me that it would be interesting to know what the contents were like.  He had his back to it and wouldn't notice.  I took down the glass and sipped cautiously."  (pg. 347)

This short story was very interesting.  Humor was definitely found in the story when the drunk child was yelling at the neighbors because they were laughing at him.  I think there are undertones of pathos in the story because the father wants people to feel sorry for him.  He was the one who had to take the drunk child home and have all the neighbors laugh at him.  I saw the father as selfish though because he only cared about his own reputation.  I also feel like pathos for the child is felt because his father is an alcoholic who doesn't pay attention to him.  One irony in the story is that the father gets angry at the child for becoming drunk when really it is his fault for not watching his drink. The four perspectives of the boy's drunkenness are the people at the bar, his father, the neighbors, and his mother.  The people at the bar didn't care about the boy; they just wanted him out of the bar because he wasn't supposed to be there.  His father just wanted to get him home.  The neighbors found it funny, and the mother thought it was the father's fault.  A main point of this story was to show that the boy actually helped the father realize that he drank too much, and he should stop before the habit carries over to his kids.

Popular Mechanics

"In this manner, the issue was decided."  (pg. 345, handout)

What is this issue, and how was it decided?  I believe the issue was who was going to take the baby.  It was decided because the baby died so neither of them would get to keep it.  I don't understand the title of the story.  What does popular mechanics have to do with anything?  Personally, I like the title of "Mine" better because it fits the story well as they are decided who is keeping the baby.  I know that the couple is splitting up, but I can't figure out why.  The setting is important  because it establishes the tone in the beginning.  The snow melting into dirty water, cars slushing on the street nearby, and the darkness all create a depressing mood and tone.

The Lottery

"'Next thing you know, they'll be wanting to go back to living in caves, nobody work any more, live that way for a while.... There's always been a lottery.'" (pg. 268)

This short story has a point of view of third person objective.  The narrator does not really describe the characters' emotions, he or she just tells the story.  This lottery is very strange because it is a way to determine who is going to be a sacrifice  The title threw me off because I was thinking that it would be about someone winning money or a certain prize.  The original box has the significant meaning symbolizing the tradition of the people of this society.  Traditionally, the people of the society did this to as a way to see who would be made a sacrifice to the sun god so he would grow the corn..  Now, the people just do it because it is a pattern.  Participating in Mass is something that seems to have a close relationship to this.  Catholics go to Mass every Sunday, but how many of them actually know what they are doing and saying and why?  We seem to be like robots and just do and say as we are told without thinking through the true meaning of it.

Miss Brill

"But when she put the lid on she thought she heard something crying."  (pg. 186)
To be honest, I didn't understand this poem very well.  I got that she was an avid people-watcher.  She liked it so much that every Sunday she would sit and watch everyone come to this main gathering place in the park.  Miss Brill came to a realization in this short story that her life is like a play.  She is part of the audience who goes to watch the play, and the people at the gathering place are the performers and actors.  This old woman loves Sundays because of this opportunity to come and people-watch .  This Sunday was especially important because it involved many more people than last Sunday and "the Season" had begun.  I'm assuming this "Season" is Christmas, but I really have no idea.  The last part I didn't understand because I don't know the significance of the fur.  Apparently, it must have been very special to her otherwise she wouldn't had the crying at the end.

Once Upon A Time

"I couldn't find a position in which my mind would let go of my body - release me to sleep again.  So I began to tell myself a story; a bedtime story."

First of all, why would someone tell this story to themselves when trying to go to bed?  It is kind of depressing, or at least I think it was.  Did the child end up dying or just severely hurt?  Moving on to the questions, I think the child really has no blame in this because it was never mentioned that the parents told the kid not to go near the wire.  I think there is a little bit of irony in the sign that says, "YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED."  The people on the outside have been warned, but not the people on the inside.  The sounds at the beginning are the creaking which she thinks is a burglar in her house and a voice.  The most significant cause for fear out of these two would definitely be the burglar in her house because recently she had someone in her neighborhood killed in broad daylight.  Another thing I noticed was all the security that the family put up around their house.  They had bars on their windows and doors and a huge wall with coiled wire on the top.  This reminds me of a jail, and how ironic it is that they are the ones inside the jail-like house when the people on the outside should really be the ones in jail.

A Worn Path

"She wore a dark striped dress reaching down to her shoe tops, and an equally long apron of bleached sugar sacks, with a full pocket: all neat and tidy, but every time she took a step she might have fallen over her shoelaces, which dragged from her unlaced shoes."  (pg. 223)

This quote is an example of indirect characterization because the author is telling the reader how Phoenix dresses.  Authors often use this type of characterization instead of directly telling us what the character is like.

"A Worn Path" is a short story involving this "old Negro woman" name Phoenix who is determined to get to town.  This town is pretty far away as she ran into a couple of strangers along the way.  Once she got to this little town, she completely forgot what she came for.  Then, she remembered that she came to get some medicine for her sick grandson.  In one of the questions, it asks the author if the grandson is really dead.  Personally, I have no idea why someone would ask the author this because I didn't see any clues to make me think that the grandson is dead.  The author avoided the question which makes me think that it is left up to an individual's perception.

Eveline

"It was hard work - a hard life - but now that she was about to leave it she did not find it a wholly undesirable life." (pg. 220)

Throughout this short story, Eveline, the main character, is trying to decide whether she should stay in the situation she's in right now or move on to a new life with a man.  I don't think she ever fully knew which she wanted, but she ended up choosing the life she has now.  Eveline wanted to leave because she wanted to be treated with respect and did not want to play the traditional role of housekeeper.  She also wanted her own money that she did not have to borrow from her father, and she wanted a break from the hard work and life mentioned in the above quote.  On the flip side, she also enjoys this hard life because it's the only life she has ever known.  Her father strongly disapproves of the relationship that Eveline is in because he seems to think that Frank is just like all the other sailors.  Frank is described as being "kind, manly, and open-hearted," "fond of music" and sings, and is a sailor.  I believe that Eveline had not really made up her mind on what choice she wanted to make as the boat was leaving.  She had a feeling and decided to go with it, leaving the man she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with traveling on his own.

Everyday Use 2

"Maggie smiled; maybe at the sunglasses.  But a real smile, not scared."  (pg. 181)

Throughout this short story, there were three main characterizations made.  Maggie is the little sister who stands in the corners, kind of to herself.  She seems innocent like a child and really just sees life as it is.  Mama is seen as someone who sticks up for Maggie in the story because Maggie won't stick up for herself.  The reader and Mama could tell that Maggie wanted the quilts when they were arguing, but she wasn't speaking up.  She was letting Dee run all over her, and she was going to let her take the quilts until Mama stepped in.  Dee is a character who is very arrogant and ungrateful.  She tries to get everything her way.  I really did not like Dee's character because she was a brat who would not take no for an answer, even when the quilts weren't hers to begin with.

Bartleby the Scrivener

"I would prefer not to."

This was Bartleby's signature phrase in this short story.  Throughout this story, Bartleby is an interesting character.  When his boss asks him to do something, he would always just say, "I would prefer not to."  He is a very hard worker, but he likes to do what he wants and doesn't like other people telling him what to do.  This didn't work very well in a job situation, as he was eventually fired.  This didn't stop Bartleby as he was continually seen in the office even after he was fired.  I thought this was really weird until I kept reading.  Apparently, Bartleby lived there.  After his old company left the office, a new company moved in and called the cops on him.  He was sent to jail, and his stubborn personality stopped him from accepting food from other people.  Bartleby ended up dying, and it was his fault because he didn't want to eat in jail.

Hunters in the Snow

"His knuckles were hairy.  He wore a heavy wedding band and on his right pinky another gold ring with a flat face and an 'F'  in what looked like diamonds."  (pg. 189)

This is an example of indirect characterization because the author is explaining what Frank looks like.  Indirect characterization often times goes into more detail than direct characterization, but it forces the reader to come up with a conclusion on their own.  This short story involved three men going on a hunt.  After Kenny was shot by Tub, they were forced to leave and try to make it to a hospital.  Several times on their journey, they had to stop because it was so cold.  When they stopped, they left Kenny in the back of the truck and went inside.  I thought this was really strange because I don't know why they would leave him out there all by himself, especially after he had been shot.  At one stop, Tub took his time to eat four orders of pancakes with Kenny outside the entire time.  The ending was a shocker to me because I thought they would make it to a hospital.  Apparently, they didn't make it so I'm guessing Kenny died.

Everyday Use

"When I looked at her like that something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to the soles of my feet."  (pg. 181)

This is an example of an epiphany because the character experiences a light bulb moment in which she notices how much the quilts mean to Maggie.  When Dee/Wangero questioned Maggie, Maggie had pretended that she didn't really care about the quilts.  The truth is that Maggie very much so cared for the quotes, and this epiphany allowed the narrator to see how much she appreciated them.  This whole short story was about three sisters who bickered about something or another.  Right after dinner, Wangero went straight to the narrator's bed to get some quilts that were made by their grandmother.  Wangero and the narrator fought about who should get to keep them, and eventually, Wangero got mad and left.  What I don't understand is why she wanted the quilts so bad.  If she was just going to hang up the quilts for decoration, then what the point of having them?  The whole short story was a little odd to me.

A Rose for Emily

"The man himself lay in the bed."  (pg. 289)

Who is the man in her bed, and why is he there?  Did she kill him?  Did the hair on the pillow next to him represent that he cheated on her?  The stench in the story obviously accounts for the dead body, so I'm assuming she killed him.  She did not want anyone in her house and wanted people to stay away.  Why did Emily buy the arsenic?  Is that how she killed the man?  Or is that how she killed herself?  As you can see, I have many lingering questions about this short story, and I don't really understand the point of it.

Interpreter of Maladies

"Mr. Kapasi was forty-six years old, with receding hair that had gone completely silver, but his butterscotch complexion and his unlined brow, which he treated in spare moments to dabs of lotus-oil balm, made it easy to imagine what he must have looked like at an earlier age."  (pg. 148)

This quote is an example of indirect characterization because the narrator is explaining how the character looks.  Mr. Kapasi is a tour guide and an interpreter.  On this particular tour, he is guiding a family who really doesn't seem like a family to me.  Mr. and Mrs. Das have a similar relationship as Mr. Kapasi and his wife have.  They seem to have little in common and like to bicker.  When I read this, I knew some relationship would form out of this.  During the long tour, Mrs. Das and Mr. Kapasi seemed to be hitting it off.  They each liked each other, but they were both married.  Mr. Kapasi ended up hurting Mrs. Das' feelings, and the relationship seemed to end.  When Mrs. Das lost the address, I believe that it showed Mr. Kapasi that in times of trouble the seemingly distant family can be very close, and he can't break that up.  I think that his outlook on life has changed by being shown that family is important even though it can sometimes be overlooked because of selfishness.

How I Met My Husband 2

"He said he missed me.... I went out with him for two years and he asked me to marry him, and we were engaged a year more while I got my things together, and then we did marry."  (pg. 146)

Now that I've talked about the structure in the last blog, I want to talk about my feelings of the short story in this blog.  First off, this is not like any love story I have ever read.  I was fully expecting the letter to come and Chris and her to get back together, but the mailman?  Who would have thought?  The entire time that she was sitting by the mailbox just chilling and waiting for the letter, he was just waiting for the right time to ask her.  I'm sure the mailman thought that she was there to greet him everyday because she like him, but man, was he wrong.  One thing I noticed was that Carmichael, the mailman, liked her for her personality.  Chris, the pilot, only liked her for her looks, but she felt more comfortable with him because he may have been her first love.

Moving on to the questions, I believe that Edie is a sympathetic character because she makes the reader feel her emotions through her role of the narrator.  Her status as the "hired girl" made me feel sorry for her because she is treated inhumanely in her role.

How I Met Your Mother... I Mean My Husband

"He always tells the children the story of how I went after him by sitting by the mailbox every day, and naturally I laugh and let him, because I like for people to think what pleases them and makes them happy."  (pg. 146)

The plot structure of this story was similar to many mysterious stories.  I believe the climax was at the end of the short story with the narrator marrying the mailman.  This was also where my expectations as a reader were overturned.  The entire story lead up to this event even though this was not what was expected.  A case of situational irony occurs at this point because when I read it, I kept thinking that she was going to get back with Chris, the pilot.  The story generated much suspense by explaining how she sat by the mailbox and waited to receive a letter from the pilot.  It seemed as though she was waiting forever, and finally, she states that she knew Chris was not going to send her the letter so she stopped going.  The funny part about this was that after she stopped going, the mailman called her because he missed seeing her wait at the mailbox.  He thought she was waiting for him every day when really she was waiting for a letter from Chris like he promised.

Edward

Surprise, surprise, this poem also has a villanelle pattern.  The lines can be expressed as A, B, A (repeated), C, D, E, D (repeated), F.  I feel that this is a very awkward repetition pattern.  In the poem, Edward starts out lying to his mom when she asks him questions.  Then, he says that he killed his father.  The mother asks what punishment or "penance" he will give himself, and he said get on a boat and go far away.  When he does this, he will leave his wife, kids, and mother behind with nothing.  I think this is rude and selfish as he said they will have to beg for want they want.  At the end of the poem, Edward curses his mother because of the advice she gave him.  First of all, when did she give him any advice?  All I thought she was doing was asking questions.  I think Edward is a king because the mother says, "And what will ye do with your towers and your hall."  The towers and hall belong to him.

Lonely Hearts

Again, this poem also expresses the villanelle pattern.  It is broken up into tercets and ends with a quatrain.  The villanelle structure was a good fit because ads are short excerpts just like the tercets in the poem.  I liked this poem mainly because I could understand it but also because of the structure.  Each of the tercets represent an ad in the Personals section of the newspaper where some people look for companionship.  The first tercet describes a male who's searching for a female who likes to travel.  Second, the next tercet references someone who wants anther person who enjoys "music, Shakespeare, and the sun."  Third, the following tercet involves a person who wants an artsy and young bisexual woman.  Fourth, the next tercet describes a Jewish lady with a son who's looking for a "successful, straight, and solvent" person.  Lastly, the fifth tercet describes a librarian who needs a "slim non-smoker" who's under 21.  All of these ads want something different.

Death, be not proud

The pattern of this poem is closely related to the English and Italian sonnet models.  Each quatrain is a sentence, and the poem is divided into three stanzas with a two-line concluding sentence.  If I were to guess which one it is closer to, then I would guess the English model because that model makes the big point at the end.  I believe the speaker of this poem is a man of assured faith with firm conviction that death is not to be feared.  He seems to be pretty confident in his reasoning and not trying to convince himself that death is nothing to be afraid of.  The second to last line states "one short sleep passed, we wake eternally."  Is this a reference to heaven?  We sleep for a short time then end up in heaven.

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

This structure is called a villanelle with a complex repetition and rhyming pattern.  Every stanza except the last one has three lines.  The poem ends with a stanza of four lines.

This poem was weird, and I had no idea what it was talking about.  I will give it my best shot anyway.  The "good night" referred to in the poem represents death.  "Wise men" in the poem symbolize that not even the smartest people can know when they will die.  Only God knows when each person will die.  "Good men" and "wild men" also have an important meaning but I do not know what that is just yet.  "Grave men" are the people who either have died or are getting ready to die.

Elegy for My Father, Who Is Not Dead

This poem has a unique structure as it has a random break in the middle of the poem.  This break could be just a misprint, but it also could mean a major shift in the poem.  The second part is more like an elegy because it talks about the father in a way such that he is getting ready to die.  He states that his father is ready for death because he sees it as a new journey and an opportunity to "see fresh worlds."  He expects to see his son again and welcome him like one would think would happen in heaven.  On the other hand, the speaker is definitely not ready for death unlike his father.  He explains that he could not drop everything and say goodbye to everyone.  Since the father is not dead, I think the son is writing this to elegize his father who is fighting in a war.  He talks about how "one day I'll lift the telephone and be told my father's dead."  The father sees immortality as something that exists because we just continue living traveling through different worlds.  The son sees immortality as irrational because once we die here on earth, life stops.

Hazel Tells LaVerne

I liked this poem because of its structure.  Although the poem used no punctuation, I felt like it was easy to read because the way it was set up.  It is separated into clauses and clearly shows the emphasis on certain phrases by breaking it up this way.  Throughout the poem, slang was also used as phrases like "tryin ta," "talkin bout," and "ya" all appear.  Also, the idea is introduced that if a princess kisses a frog, it will turn into a prince.  I feel like this is used in many storylines that involves princesses.  One example off the top of my head is in Shrek as Fiona's father turns into a frog because the spell was reversed or something.  An odd thing about this poem is that the princess actually does not allow the spell to come true.  She does not kiss the frog and just flushes down the frog without questions.

Getting Out

I liked this poem because I could understand the meaning, or so I think.  Two people were married, but now they are divorced.  They had "matching eyes and hair" which I think is a common stereotype that some couples have.  They have "kept to separate sides of the map" which I interpreted to mean that they were on opposite sides of a country.  The couple writes yearly letters to each other which tell the other how "happy" they are.  I think they would rather be with each other, but they cannot because they disagree too much.  Even on the day of their divorce, they amazed the lawyer by crying because they really did not want to go through with it.  This couple both contributed to the pain that ended their marriage, but neither of them truly wanted it to end.

Dover Beach

The setting of "Dover Beach" plays an important role in the context of the poem.  It is placed outdoors on a beach near France and England.  There is a "calm sea," and "the tide is full" which must mean it is night.  A "night-wind" is blowing causing me to believe that this setting will not stay for long.  I think a storm is about to occur and shift the scenery from being peaceful to chaotic.  The poem ends mentioning that "ignorant armies clash by night."  "Armies" signify the waves as they clash against each other like they do in a storm.  The person whom is he addressing is his lover because he says "Ah, love, let us be true" in line 29.

Crossing the Bar

Crossing the Bar talks about an aspect of death, and the way he might want to die.  Question 4 asks what "that which drew from out the boundless deep" refers to.  I think it refers to the tide that goes out onto the beach only to go right back into the ocean.  The "boundless deep" must then signify the ocean as the ocean is one thing of which the tide comes back.  Towards the end of the poem, "Pilot" is capitalized because it refers to God, the pilot of all events and creator of the world.  The setting must be at night because there is high tide and the sunset and evening star.  "Crossing the bar" must mean passing from life onto death as the poem states that the speaker wants to see God once he has "crossed the bar."  The one thing I don't understand is how the speaker wants to die.  Does he want to float away in the ocean, or does he just want a peaceful death?

My mistress' eyes

The several tones of this poem are very interesting.  It starts out with having a tone of disappointment with his mistress.  He compares how his girl's eyes are "nothing like the sun."  "Coral is far more red than her lips' red."  "In some perfumes is there more delight then in the breath that from my mistress reeks."  "Music hath a far more pleasing sound" than his lover's voice.  These are all examples of how he is basically pointing out all of her flaws.  Then, he shifts the tone in the last two lines to how glorious and rare she is.  The poem ends with "I think my love as rare as any she belied with false compare."  I think it is ironic that he does this as he kind of contradicts himself in the same poem.  By doing this, Shakespeare has a great deal of effect on the poem and its meaning.  He wanted to show how the flaws of his "mistress" do not even compare to the rarity that she possesses.

next to of course god america i

Ask (or suggest) and you shall receive...

Well, I do not really know what to say about this poem.  The form and pattern of the poem was basically a whole bunch of words smashed into different lines.  The majority of the poem was in quotation marks, but the last two sentences were not in quotations.  I'm guessing that someone was giving a speech or something, and that's why there are quotation marks?  This poem also reminded me of the song "My Country Tis of Thee."  They have many common words, and I found myself stop reading in the middle of it and humming the tune.  As for analysis, I understood that the "heroic happy dead" did not stop to think about what they did, but I do not know what that means.  I really could not follow this poem because I felt that too many words were crammed together without punctuation.

APO 96225

This was definitely my favorite poem of the unit because it was told like a story.  Irony is a big part of the poem as dramatic irony takes place when we know what went on in the Vietnam War, but the people in the U.S. really had no idea.  A mother begs her son to tell them what is going on, but the son is trying to block his parents from the depressing side of the war.  The mother continues to beg, and the son tells her that he killed a man and dropped napalm on women and children.  She was horrified, and the father told the son to not write depressing letters.  I find this quite hysterical because the parents were asking for the truth.  When they finally received the truth, it was horrible, and they did not want to know anymore.  The poem really shows how clueless the people in the U.S. were about the war in Vietnam, and all they really wanted was answers.  In reality, the people just wanted to hear positive things happening in Vietnam instead of negative.

Sorting Laundry

"Folding clothes, I think of folding you into my life."

This is a metaphor representing how when the speaker folds clothes, the different clothes remind her of the person she is talking to in different ways.  For example, the patterned towels reminded her of them buying the towels on sale and saving them for the beach.  Another example is the bed sheets and pillowcases holding all of their dreams.  I think that while the poem is taking place, the girl is folding laundry and her husband is at work.  In line 43, the poem brings up the idea of someone leaving her when it says "if you were to leave me."  It also continues by saying "a mountain of unsorted wash could not fill the empty side of the bed."  She expresses how important he is in her life, and how she does not know what she would do if she lost him.  Overall, I liked this poem because I could follow most of it.

Batter my heart, three-personed God

This poem was very religious, I thought, as it talked about the Trinity.  In the poem, the author used different words as metaphors to stand for each part of the Trinity.  "Knock" and "break" refer to the Son, or Jesus, because those are two physical actions that humans do and Jesus was human.  "Breathe" and "blow" refer to God the Father because he breathed life into each human and makes the wind blow.  "Shine" and "burn" definitely refer to the Holy Spirit because it burns in our hearts and shines through us to other people.  I also thought that the speaker was asking God to guide him or her through life.  In the second quatrain, the speaker compares himself or herself to a soldier as he or she talks about defending and someone being captivated.  I thought the use of first person in this poem was interesting too because the reader can relate to the speaker.

Barbie Doll

"Her good nature wore out like a fan belt."

This quote is an example of a simile.  I had to look up what a fan belt was, and the dictionary defined it as a part of the engine that turns the fan for drawing cool air through the radiator.   I'm guessing the author used this comparison to show that her good nature wore out quickly, and it was done for good.  The rest of the poem describes a barbie doll at some points and an actual human at others.  The author used the phrases "healthy, tested intelligent" and "abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity" to represent the human-like characteristics.  The poem also demonstrates a person going through puberty as her classmates made fun of her for her fat nose and thick legs.  She was told by others just to ignore the bullying, but she could not take it anymore.  "Her good nature" and going along with everything was done because she was tired of being bullied.  "Barbie Doll" ends with an example of irony because everyone says she looks pretty in the casket when she was made fun of in her life for not being pretty.

Toads

"I don't say, one bodies the other
One's spiritual truth;
But I do say it's hard to lose either,
When you have both."

This poem is broken up into quatrains.  If I'm being completely honest, I would have to say that I really did not get this poem at all.  The above excerpt went too deep for me, and I did not follow it.  I think it's pretty important though because the poem ends with this quote.  I thought that the speaker was poor and trying to explain that it is O.K.  The bills are being paid, and a fire is in a bucket like the homeless may do.  The children have no shoes, and everyone is skinny but not starving.  He will never be able to get the fame, girl, and the money, and he has accepted that.

February

"February" is an interesting poem to say the least.  It talks about the month February, where watching hockey and trying to stay warm by the fire are the main things to do.  Then, the poem switches over to describe a cat's instinct to jump on their owner's face and check if they are alive.  I did not know cats did this, and if I was a cat owner, I would be freaked out if it randomly jumped on my head.  Next, it explains how we should eat our young like sharks do.  That is disgusting, and I will never do that, just throwing that out there.  The speaker communicates that February is a month of despair, but I do not see February that way at all.  When I think about the month, I think of Valentine's Day and one of the last chances to get a two-hour delay.  It does not snow as often in March as it does in February so one has to make the most of it in February.

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

The pattern of this poem really stuck out to me when I was reading it.  In every other stanza, the last words of the first and third line rhymed and the second and fourth lines rhymed a different way.  I liked how this poem was set up because I think the poem flows better when it rhymes.  This poem was also split up into quatrains as each quatrain was a stanza.  I think the poem is talking about a person dying because of the following lines:
"And whisper to their souls to go,
While some of their sad friends do say,
The breath goes now, and some say, no."
I think this definitely points out that the soul wants to leave the body, people did not want the person to die, and the person is breathing their last.  The rest of the poem does not discuss the fact of death though.  It might be discussing the life that the person had.  Then, the poem ends with someone traveling in a circle.  This could mean that their soul started with God, and it came back up to God in heaven.

The Joy of Cooking

I think the central theme of this poem is that everyone has characteristics that make them different.  The author picked the sister's tongue to represent that she talked too much because that's the part of her body that moves the most.  Her tongue is "best with horseradish" which I interpreted it to mean that she cusses often.  The speaker's brother is represented by a heart.  This is not any old heart though; it's small, firm, dry, and muscular. I interpreted these as the brother is malign, ungenerous, and selfish.  Normally people say that others have hard hearts meaning that they are cruel and mean.  The brother's heart "barely feeds two" which means the heart is not as big as other people's hearts who "serve six."  I think the speaker is trying to tell the reader that these two aspects of his siblings annoy the speaker the most.

Dream Deferred

This poem was my favorite of this unit because it was short, simple, and to the point.  Hughes demonstrates the use of five similes and one metaphor in "Dream Deferred."  The first simile is "dry up like a raisin in the sun."  I personally liked this image because I know what a raisin looks like and can imagine it being dried up.  The poem also mentions that the dream could "fester like a sore," "stink like rotten meat," be like a "syrupy sweet," or "sag like a heavy load."  These images are all easy to comprehend, and he uses examples that almost everyone could relate to.  The diction exerted also makes the images more realistic.  Fester and sag are two words that stuck out in my mind when I read the poem.  I believe the main purpose of the poem was to make the reader think about what really happens to those dreams that are not achieved and tell the reader some possibilities.

The Panther

This was another one of the poems that I enjoyed from this section because I could understand almost all of it.  The poem is literally explaining a "panther" that is held as a prisoner behind bars, like at a zoo.  It "paces in cramped circles, over and over" because there is nothing else to do.  I think that the image of the panther was used instead of a lion because a panther is warlike and a lion is too powerful for this imagery.  The "powerful soft strides" hint that the animal cannot be too powerful, but it must be seen as strong in some way.

I really think that this poem has nothing to do with a panther but with a prisoner on death row.  The person is held behind bars and then put into shackles.  The prisoner appears calm and strong during all of this, but inside he or she is weak.  At the end, the prisoner gets the injection, and it rushes through the person's body.  It stops his or her heart, and the prisoner dies.

Convergence of the Twain

Originally, I read did not read the subtitle, but I still thought that it referenced the Titanic.  I really liked this poem because I could relate it to something that I've heard of before.  The boat was solitary in the sea with constant waves, and a sea-worm was crawling up the boat.  The "sea-worm" symbolizes the water going higher and higher as the boat is sinking.  This poem also points out that the ship was popular in the areas of "stature, grace, and hue."  This means that the ship was seen as a treasure until it sank and now has no value at the bottom of the ocean.

"Alien they seemed to be:
No Mortal Eye could see
The intimate welding of their later history"

I think this part of poem describes how no one could have seen it coming and that it was so unpredictable.  The boat was growing ever so popular until the time grew closer and closer to when it would end.  The tragic end "jars two hemispheres" and changed the world so every boat after would not have the same culmination.

I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain

"And then a Plank of Reason, broke,
And I dropped down, and down -
And hit a World, at every plunge,
And finished knowing - then -"

First of all, the poem is broken up into quatrains.  I believe the author did this because it makes the poem flow better.  She also rhymed every other line of the quatrain which also contributes to the purpose the author chose to write like this.  This poem is funeral-like in the beginning with "mourners to and fro," "all were seated," and a Service "beating" like a drum.  Then, it goes into discussing the afterlife.  The person hears Heaven bells, but then it's silent and solitary.  Next, I believe it discusses either going to Hell or there being no afterlife after all.  It describes that "a Plank of Reason broke," someone is "dropped down," and hitting a "World at every plunge."  The poem ends by saying that the person "finished knowing."  I think that means that the person is completely done living whether that be in Hell or just gone forever.

The Widow's Lament in Springtime

"...with the cold fire that closes round me this year."

The above quote is an example of an oxymoron because cold and fire do not go together as fire is a source of heat.  The poet combined these words to make this phrase have a negative or depressing connotation.  In the poem, the widow is walking around her yard, being constantly reminded of her dead husband with the yellow and red flowers on the branches of the trees.  I think that there is also some symbolism for the type of settings described.  The yard represents her entire life.  The meadows symbolize the joys of her life. The heavy woods demonstrate her times of trouble, and the marsh might represent death.  The white flowered trees off in the distance represent heaven or her eternal joy when she can finally see her husband again.  Overall, I liked this poem because I could understand it a little better than the last one.

Spring by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Although the meaning of this poem is not clear to me, I did manage to find a couple literary techniques being used.

"Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing."

The first technique I saw was the example of the anthropomorphism.  Something (I don't know what) is rinsing and wringing another object.  Then, the next line has an example of a simile.  An ear is "strik[ing] like lightning" just to hear someone sing.  I believe this could possibly be referring to someone waiting, wanting, and listening for a bird to sing since it is Spring.  When I think of Spring, I often think of wildlife like trees and animals coming back to life and making everything pleasant again.  Birds chirping, trees glowing a shade of green, flowers blooming, and wildlife scurrying are some things that come to my mind about Spring.  Towards the end of the poem, Hopkins references Christ, Lord, and the Garden of Eden.  It makes me think that the poetic might be religious and trying to add some aspect of it into his poetry.

Perrine Poetry

While Perrine brings up some good points in his article, I don't agree with everything that he says.  When he initially stated that there were correct and incorrect ways to interpret poetry, I completely disagreed because I believe that everyone has their own opinion about how the poetry could be interpreted.  Then, he gave the example of the thief, and it made me kind of want to agree with him.  I guess some interpretations could be more valid than others, but I think that no one's interpretation is definitely wrong.  Later in the article, Perrine uses the example of the poem by Emily Dickinson to further his point.  I, like others he mentioned in his article, thought that it represented a field of flowers.  Perrine said it represented a sunset and that he was right because his theory satisfied more of the details.  I don't agree with him because I feel that the field of flowers describes the poem just as well as a sunset.

I was also really interested when Perrine discussed the poems by Whitman and Melville.  I thought both of them were talking about an army, but apparently I was wrong.  Perrine stated that Melville's poem was about the stars, and now that he said that, I can really see where he's coming from.  Words like beaming, bright, stream, gleam, twinkling, and shining can all refer to stars and help him justify his interpretation.  Towards the end of the article, Perrine suggests the concepts of symbols.  Once again, he stressed that not all interpretations can be valid but possibly more than one could be.  He also states that symbols can help us figure out what some poetry means as poets often use symbols in their poems to stand for something bigger than the one word they wrote down.  Finally, we must make the best interpretation that we can make that satisfies all of the details and doesn't make too many assumptions.

Chapter 23 - The End of Summer Work

"'I keep thinking about this river somewhere, with the water moving really fast.  And these two people in the water, trying to hold onto each other, holding on as hard as they can, but in the end it's just too much.  The current's too strong.  They've got to let go, drift apart.  That's how I think it is with us.  It's a shame, Kath, because we've loved each other all our lives.  But in the end, we can't stay together forever."  (pg. 282)

This extended metaphor describes life in general.  Although we may want to, we can't live forever.  At some point in time, it is inevitable that we will die and be put in God's hands to decide our future.  Kathy's life has been one whirlwind of drama, and I think that's what made Kathy who she is.  Kathy didn't die at the end of the book like the main character in the last book, but she's entering into a new phase in her life.  I didn't like the ending of the book because she talked about a fantasy world which was really by trees and fields on the side of the road.  I don't understand why the book was ended this way.  Maybe to show the reader that her life continues on, or maybe it was to show that her life doesn't matter to other people anyway so she might as well pretend the world was something different.  I like Brave New World better because it kept me entertained throughout.  This novel was just a series of flashbacks and one person telling her life story.

Chapter 22 - An Answer Long Awaited

"'We took away your art because we thought it would reveal your souls.  Or to put it more finely, we did it to prove you had souls at all.... Most importantly, we demonstrated to the world that if students were reared in humane, cultivated environments, it was possible for them to grow to be as sensitive and intelligent as any ordinary human being.'"  (pgs. 260-261)

It all makes sense now.  The purpose of Hailsham was to isolate the students from the outside world and prove that they could be like any human being.  I think that Hailsham did a great job at that, and Tommy and Kathy are great examples of this.  I believe the above quote is the theme of the book.  The whole book describe Kathy's life and her experiences all to find out that her life was part of studies to show that clones made for medical reasons like her can behave just like any normal human being.  It was then told that the main reason that Hailsham and places like it were shut down because the regular people were afraid of what the clones could and would eventually do.  I think that this theory was a pretty good observation, and it probably would have happened if the isolation schools continued.  Tommy and Kathy also found out that the deferral rumor was not true, and there's no way to escape the donations.  They just have to live their lives until their someone needs part of their body, and they have to give it to the person in need.  Kathy found out that the reason Madame was crying after seeing her dance to "Never Let Me Go" was that Madame saw Kathy holding the old world, where there were no people specifically for donations, and pleading and telling it to never let her go.  Although this was the longest chapter in the book (yes I did count the pages of every chapter), this was my favorite because the reader finally gets to figure everything out.

Chapters 20 and 21 - Meeting With Madame

"'You speak to them.  It's you they've come to speak to speak to.'
'I suppose it is.'
The figure in the wheelchair was frail and contorted, and it was the voice more than anything that helped me recognize her.
'Miss Emily,' Tommy said, quite softly."  (pg. 255)

These two chapters have probably been the most interesting at least for me anyway.  Chapter Twenty talked about Kathy and Tommy's relationship growing closer and closer.  They finally decided that they would go talk to Madame and ask for a deferral, or at least try like Ruth wanted them to.  Then, Chapter Twenty-One rolled around to where they finally went to talk to Madame.  I was kind of surprised that they actually went to do this.  I guess Ruth had both had a pretty big impact on them because they had to have alot of courage to face their fears of this lady.  When they got there, her house was all dark and scary.  I think it relates to her personality a little because Madame is a dark and mysterious lady.  Then, all of a sudden Kathy realizes that someone is watching them in the darkness and out pops the figure they are talking about in the quote.  Tommy and Kathy both figure out that the figure is Miss Emily, and even more curiosity travels into the reader's mind.

Chapter 19 - Ruth's Death

"It was one of those little islands of lucidity donors sometimes get to in the midst of their ghastly battles, and she looked at me, just for that moment, and although she didn't speak, I knew what her look meant.  So I said to her, 'It's okay, I'm going to do it, Ruth.  I'm going to become Tommy's carer as soon as I can....'  What occurs to me now is that she probably knew all along, even before I did, that I'd become Tommy's carer, and that we'd "give it a try," just as she'd told us to in the car that day."  (pg. 236)

This quote is when Ruth is on her deathbed, and Kathy is sitting right next to her.  They had that special moment together right before she died.  This chapter was very long, but it encompassed alot.  Ruth revealed to Tommy and Kathy that she deliberately kept them apart and was truly sorry for it.  I think Ruth realized that the main reason for this trip was for her to tell them that.  She also told them that they need to go to Madame and see if they can get a deferral to be together.  They need "give it a try."  Ruth had to have alot of courage to say this, and she gained many respect points from me for doing this.  I don't know if I would be able to tell someone something as big as this.  Ruth then pushed Kathy to at least become Tommy's carer.  I think this was a good request because Tommy and Kathy need each other.  Kathy was saying that she was lonely as a carer, and this would be a perfect opportunity for friendship.

Chapter 18 - Life As a Carer

"I thought about Hailsham closing, and how it was like someone coming along with a pair of shears and snipping the balloon strings just where they entwined above the man's fist.  Once that happened, there'd be no real sense in which those balloons belonged with each other any more."  (pg. 213)

The technique used in this quote is a metaphor.  The author relates the closing of the school to cutting the strings of a fist full of balloons and having them fly away.  After they leave the hand, it doesn't matter who they belonged to because now they are free.  This is exactly how Kathy feels right now.  When they close Hailsham, she will have no place to call home or a place to go back and visit.  Closing the school makes her upset, but she can't do anything about it.  Also in this chapter, Kathy runs into Laura, and Laura talks her into becoming Ruth's carer.  Kathy decides to be Ruth's carer, and Ruth wants Kathy to take her and Tommy to the boat.  Kathy agrees to take them.  I don't know if this is a good idea or not.  Hopefully, the three of them can catch up and not have any problems, but something could go bad.

Chapters 16 and 17 - Growing Apart and Goodbyes

"My first instinct was to deny it, then just to laugh.  But there was a real authority about the way Ruth had spoken, and the three of us knew each other well enough to know there had to be something behind her words.  So in the end I stayed silent, while my mind searched back frantically, and with a cold horror, settled on the night up in my room with our mugs of tea."  (pg. 194)

This is an example of stream of consciousness.  Authors use this to demonstrate the conflicting feelings that some of the characters might have and how the characters come to some conclusions.  Kathy was deciding what to say or do after Ruth told him that they had been making fun of his drawings.  She decided to let it happen, which in a way is good but bad at the same time.

These two chapters were about Kathy growing away from Ruth and Tommy.  I think it was partly Kathy's fault for not telling each of them the whole truth.  If she told Ruth about the tape Tommy bought her and Tommy her feelings about the drawings, she could have avoided the problems.  When they found out about each thing, it was like the events were unstitching their friendship.  Chapter Seventeen ended with Kathy telling the reader that she made her decision to become a carer.  She said her goodbyes, and now she is off.  I'm wondering if she made the right decision by doing this.  I think that Kathy should have made some attempts to repair the friendships, but it's too late now.  She's off!

Chapter 15 - Kathy and Tommy

"'What thing, Tommy?  What thing Miss Emily let drop?'"  (pg. 175)

I think the second quoted sentence is an example of an anastrophe.  The words seem out of order or weirdly worded.  Writers use this technique to catch the readers' attention and make them reread it.

The above quote is also an example of anaphora.  Writers use this technique to reiterate a point.

In this chapter, Kathy and Tommy's friendship seemed to grow more closely together.  They had their own hour to themselves where they could do whatever they wanted, and they went out in search for a copy of the Judy Bridgewater tape that Kathy lost back at Hailsham.  Tommy felt bad about the tape being lost in the first place and bought her a new one.  The tape is another example of symbolism.  I think the Judy Bridgewater tape symbolizes her childhood and everything surrounding it.  They also talked about Tommy's opinion on the rumor of the Hailsham students in love and his theory on what Madame does with the artwork.  I don't really agree with his theory.  I believe that the rumor is false and there is no way that one can have three years to spend with their "lover."

Chapters 13 and 14 - Not Ruth's Possible

"'That's what we came from.  We all know it, so why don't we say it?  A woman like that?  Come on.  Yeah, right, Tommy.  A bit of fun.'"  (pg. 166)

I believe that the above sentence in red is an example of parallelism, but I'm not sure.  Authors use parallelism in books to emphasize something.  Ruth is mad because her hopes were let down.

In Chapter Thirteen, the group arrived at the town and decided to have lunch.  While they were there, Rodney and Chrissie asked the kids if they knew the person at Hailsham to talk to if you were in love and needed time together before becoming a carer.  Ruth acted like she knew exactly what they were talking about, but Tommy flatly told them that he didn't know.  After I read this chapter, I agreed with Kathy that this was the reason that the veterans brought them there, not for Ruth's "possible."  I was surprised in Chapter Fourteen when I was wrong.  They found the woman who somewhat looked like her "possible," but after following her, they realized it wasn't who they thought it was after all.  The chapter ended with Ruth going off with Rodney and Chrissie, and Tommy staying with Kathy.  I was really surprised at this too.  I think Tommy was afraid, like Kathy, that they might get in trouble so he stayed back with her.

Chapter 12 - Possibles

"The basic idea behind the possibles theory was simple, and didn't provoke much dispute.  It went something like this.  Since each of us was copied at some point from a normal person, there must be, for each of us, somewhere out there, a model getting on with his or her life."  (pg. 139)

Aha!  Finally, the moment in the book has come that I have been waiting for!  Kathy and all of her friends are clones, each made for their original.  This is what makes them "different" from normal people.  I have heard of the possibility of this happening in the future, but I hope it doesn't.  In Chapter Twelve, we were told that the kids' dream is to see their "possible" because it may tell them what their futures are.  Rodney and Chrissie told Ruth that they saw her "possible" while they were in town, and she works in an office.  Kathy believes that they are just kidding with Ruth because she talks about working in an office being her dream job all the time.  I personally agree with Kathy, but I could be proven wrong.  At the end of the chapter, Rodney, Chrissie, Ruth, Tommy, and Kathy set off to find Ruth's "possible" again.

Chapter 10 Again - A Blog Post Out of Order...

"As soon as I said this I realised I'd made a mistake; that until I'd mentioned these two, I'd had Ruth in a corner, but now she was out.  It was like when you make a move in chess and just as you take your finger off the piece, you see the mistake you've made, and there's this panic because you don't know yet the scale of disaster you've left yourself open to."  (pg. 124)

This analogy is a great example of how Ishiguro can make the reader create a feeling in them as they are reading the book.  The author really makes you remember the feeling of a regret of a mistake you have made in your life.  His diction also contributes to the idea of regret by using words like panic, scale, and disaster.  

The quote is from the description of the argument I talked about a few posts ago.  Kathy had just mentioned to Ruth that she was copying off of the veterans in their way of goodbye.  She set Ruth up, and Ruth was furious.  I think it was kind of rude of Kathy to bring it up out of nowhere.  On the other hand, I do think that it was necessary for Ruth to be put in her place.  Since, at this point, I have read a little far ahead, I think it was a good thing that this happened because it helped them both in the long-run.  

P.S. Sorry for this post being out of order; I forgot I had this highlighted in my book.

Chapter 11 - No More Collection for Ruth

"'My plan was I'd find a really good wooden box for it all once I got to the Cottages.  But when we got there, I could see none of the veterans had collections.  It was only us, it wasn't normal.  We must all have realised it, I wasn't the only one, but we didn't really talk about it, did we?  So I didn't go looking for a new box.'"  (pg. 131)

This quote has an example of a rhetorical question in it.  Ruth is talking to Kathy and asks her this question, but isn't really expecting an answer.  She continues talking because she already knows the answer.

The beginning of this chapter talks about how Ruth is growing up and becoming more mature.  She got rid of her collection because she thought none of the older kids had one.  Later, she told Kathy how she regretted her decision in giving it to Keffers.  I can imagine what Ruth's feeling right now.  Everyone has at least one time in their life where they wish they could go back and fix it like Ruth wants to right now.  This chapter also has Kathy being caught looking at some inappropriate magazines by Tommy, but something seems strange to him.

Chapters 9 and 10 - A New Place, Old Friends?

"'So that's what's upsetting poor little Kathy.  Ruth isn't paying enough attention to her.  Ruth's got big new friends and bay sister isn't getting played with so often... You're upset because I've managed to move on, make new friends.  Some of the veterans hardly remember your name, and who can blame them?  You never talk to anyone unless they're Hailsham.  But you can't expect me to hold your hand the whole time.'"  (pg. 124)

The quote is just an excerpt of the verbal argument and external conflict that happened between Ruth and Kathy in these chapters.  The kids have now moved on to the Cottages, which I feel like is really similar to college life.  Kathy is tired of Ruth trying to copy everything that the older kids are doing in order to get attention or seem more cool than the rest of them.  Ruth is offended and counters back by saying that she can't make new friends.  I think it is inevitable that all best friends will fight sometime, and I'm pretty surprised it has gone this long.  I feel like Ruth and Kathy don't really have the personalities to be best friends, but they manage to do it somehow.  I am going to predict that this relationship is going to end soon, or at least it should  in my opinion.  As they grow older, the less likely Kathy is going to put up with Ruth it seems.  When they were younger, Kathy tried to not hurt Ruth, like the pencil case incident, but now I feel like Kathy is getting to be more mature and doesn't want to put up with some of her best friend's drama.

Chapter 8 - Sex

"Then I realised, in the same instant, that this was the source of the odd noise, and that what I'd taken for dark shiny paper on the table had also, not long before, been pages of neat handwriting."  (pg. 91)

This excerpt is an example of vernacular.  At first, I thought that it was weird that Ishiguro was spelling many words wrong, but then it was pointed out to me that this was written in England.  I guess some of their English can be a little different than ours, and they spell some words differently.

Chapter Eight was an interesting chapter to say the least.  It explained how the students knew that sex was wrong, but they wanted to do it anyway.  There was one example of a couple students who got caught in the act by a guardian, and he said that they knew they weren't to do it.  This act of rebellion can relate to our society today.  Some kids nowadays do drugs, drink, and have sex even though they know they're not supposed to.  I believe, since they are told that they can't, they want to do it even more and decide to do it.  The chapter ended with Kathy finally building up herself to have sex with Harry.

Chapter 7 - Nobody's, Just Donators

"We still didn't discuss the donations and all that went with them; we still found the whole area awkward enough."  (pg. 84)

This quote is an example of an anaphora.  Anaphoras are mostly used to reinforce an idea by repeating a couple words in a row.  This example just explains why they didn't talk about the donations.

"Your lives are set out for you.  You'll become adults, then before you're old, before you're even middle-aged, you'll start to donate your vital organs.  That's what each of you was created to do.  You're not like the actors you watch on your videos, you're not even like me.  You were brought into this world for a purpose, and your futures, all of them, have been decided."   (pg. 81)

I think this is a really important quote in the book.  It finally reveals what is different about these students and what their purpose is.  Each of them is an organ donor for when someone needs an organ that is vital to body functions.  I personally think this is morally very wrong.  People should not be created for this purpose.  This idea is degrading to humanity.  Recently, I have heard that people, in the future, might clone themselves or their pets for extra body parts in case their own aren't functioning.  Although I can see the benefit in this, I still believe that this degrades our personal morals of humanity as a whole.

Chapters 5 and 6 Again - Symbols and Foreshadowing?

"What made the tape so special for me was this one particular song: track number three, 'Never Let Me Go....' Well, the thing was, I didn't listen properly to the words; I just waited for that bit that went: 'Baby, baby, never let me go...' And what I'd imagine was a woman who'd been told she couldn't have babies, who'd really really wanted them all her life.  Then there's that sort of miracle and she has a baby, and she holds this baby very close to her and walks around singing: 'Baby, never let me go...'"  (pg. 70)

I think this quote might be demonstrating some foreshadowing.  We, the readers, just learned that Kathy and the other children cannot have babies.  Kathy didn't know at the time that she couldn't have babies, yet she still imagined, what I believe, will be her life.  She can't have babies, but by some miracle she does.  At least, this is what I hope happens.

Another literary term in effect in these chapters is symbol.  The cassette tape is a prized possession of Kathy's that is obviously pretty special if the book is named after it.  I believe that the tape symbolizes her idea that someday she might have kids and how happy she would be.  Another thing it symbolizes is her own uniqueness and secret that no one else knows.  The new cassette, Twenty Classic Dance Tunes, is also a symbol of how much Ruth appreciates Kathy as a friend and the kindness she has shown to her.

Chapters 5 and 6 - Different

"We certainly knew - though not in any deep sense - that we were different from our guardians, and also from the normal people outside; we perhaps even knew that a long way down the line there were donations waiting for us.  But we didn't really know what that meant."  (pg. 69)

It is all starting to make sense a little bit.  These children are different than the normal humans in some way.  This quote really struck me as interesting because I thought something about these children were weird, and it made me think that they might be like the children in Brave New World.  There has been no mention of any family or anything outside of this school that they are attending.  At first, I thought it was some sort of boarding school, but I'm having different views on it now.  Later in Chapter Six, the answer is finally said, "By then, of course, we all knew something I hadn't known back then, which was that none of us could have babies."  Now, my questions are why can't they have babies?  What kind of school is this?  What is the big difference between them and the rest of the human population?  Why aren't they allowed to know these things?  Hopefully, these questions get answered in the next few chapters.

Chapter 4 - Meeting Ruth

"She wasn't especially tall, but something about the way she carried herself, always very straight with her head right up, made you think she was.  She wore her silvery hair tied back... she talked to you in her quiet, deliberate voice."  (pg. 39)

This is an example of indirect characterization.  Authors use this type of characterization when there's more to say than she is tall or she is quiet.  I think this type of characterization is helpful to readers because it does go into more detail.  The reader now knows what Miss Emily acts and dresses and what she somewhat looks like.

Chapter 4 talked about how Kathy met Ruth.  Ruth had come up to her and asked her if she wanted to ride her horses.  Kathy agreed, found out her horses were imaginary, and rode them anyway.  I think she initially thought Ruth was weird and didn't really want to be her friend, but she was nice to her anyway.  Also, in this chapter, Miss Lucy was talked about and the question was asked about what happens to their artwork.  I think the kids are feeling proud that adults think that their artwork is so good, but sad that they are taking it away to an unknown place.

Chapter 3 - More Talk With Tommy

"The first time you glimpse yourself through the eyes of a person like that, it's a cold moment.  It's like walking past a mirror you've walked past every day of your life, and suddenly it shows you something else, something troubling and strange."  (pg. 36)

This quote is an example of an aphorism.  Although it isn't that brief, it clearly shows something that the author has learned in life.  I think the author did this to sort of summarize the chapter by pointing out a life lesson that everyone needs to learn.

This chapter of the book has some interesting progression in why Tommy's attitude changed.  Miss Lucy did have a conversation, but it wasn't just about him.  Tommy said she was angry about something.  I, as well as Kathy, wondered why she was angry.  Then, the topic drifted over to talk about Madame who is very strange.  The students believe she is afraid of them, but I don't see why she would.  The author says she is "probably quite still young," and the only people that I know that are afraid of kids are older.  Something about that is just not right.  Maybe she just doesn't like kids so she tries to avoid them, who knows.

Chapter 2 - Maturity

"...the lunch queue was one of the better places to have a private talk.... Quiet places were often the worst, because there was always someone likely to be passing within earshot."  (pg. 22)

This quote serves as an example of irony.  One would think that going to a more quiet place would be better to have a conversation, but she's saying that the loud lunchroom is actually better.  I, for one, do not go think to go to loud places to have a conversation with someone, but she seems to have a pattern that she follows so people don't notice she is talking to Tommy.

In this chapter, Tommy matures a little and stops throwing his tantrums.  We, the readers, learn that he started being bullied because drew a picture of an elephant in the grass that looked like a much younger kid drew it, and the teacher applauded him for it.  The other kids thought that he was getting too much attention, and he really didn't deserve it.  Towards the end of the chapter, the narrator questions Tommy about why he changed.  Tommy replied saying that he talked with Miss Lucy, and she told him that he didn't have to be creative if he chose not to.  The narrator did not believe that that is what changed him, but they decided to meet after lunch in a private spot.  I somewhat agree with Kathy because I don't think that changed him that much.  I believe he just matured a little bit.

Here We Go Again - Chapter 1

"I don't think anyone heard me, because they were all laughing at Laura - the big clown of the group - mimicking one after the other expressions that appeared on Tommy's face as he ran, waved, called, tackled."  (pg. 8)

This is an example of direct characterization because the author straight out tells us who Laura is.  I believe authors do this just so they don't have to go through and formally describe every aspect of the character.  If they did this, they might get off topic and get away from what they really want to say.

Starting this book, I feel bad for Tommy because it seems that everyone always picks on him.  The kids don't pick them for the football teams just so they can watch him throw a tantrum.  The part that I don't get is why is Tommy the one getting picked on if he's so good at it?  Is it the narrator's misconception, or do the guys just like making the boy mad?  All of this may be unimportant as the narrator seems to be having a flashback too.  She explained how she loved her school and appreciated it, but then starts talking one afternoon she remembers.  Is the story going to continue from where this chapter left off or continue with different flashbacks of the same memory of her school?  I guess we'll find out...

THE END!

"Slowly, very slowly, like two hundred unhurried compass needles, the feet turned towards the right; north, north-east, east, south-east, south, south-south-west; then paused, and, after a few seconds, turned as unhurriedly back towards the left.  South-south-west, south, south-east, east...."  (pg. 259)

What kind of ending is that?  I truly have no idea what this even means.  Did John hang himself?  If he did, why are his feet going in that order?   The wind?  All I know is that John is dead, probably a suicide, because of the press.  All he wanted was to be alone, and he couldn't even get that at an abandoned lighthouse.  I feel his pain, and now he is finally alone.

Hmmm... Although the book kept me somewhat interested throughout, I don't think that I liked it.  I feel that it was unrealistic, and I like to read books that can actually happen.  There were some similarities between it and our society now, which I find very interesting given the fact that it was written in 1932.

Chapter 17 - Religion

"Degrade him from what position?  As a happy, hardworking, goods-consuming citizen he's perfect."  (pg. 236)

The second sentence of the quote is an example of an anastrophe.  Writers use an anastrophe to show emphasis.  In this example, Huxley wanted us to see the descriptions of making one "perfect" before saying that one was "perfect."

In this chapter, John and Mustapha Mond get into the topic of religion.  Mustapha shows John several books including the Bible explaining God and who He is.  John asks Mustapha Mond why he doesn't tell the others about God, and Mustapha tells him that God is old and they don't like old.  God has not changed, but people have.  I feel like this can kind of relate to our society now.  Some people have given up on God for drugs, alcohol, sex, and personal pleasure.  It upsets me that people do this, but I can't do anything about it; it's their life.  John is mad that Mustapha Mond hides God from the society.

John even says, "'But I don't want comfort.  I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness.  I want sin.... Not to mention the right to grow old and ugly and impotent; the right to have syphilis and cancer; the right to have too little to eat; the right to be lousy; the right to live in constant apprehension of what may happen tomorrow; the right to catch typhoid; the right to be tortured by unspeakable pains of every kind.  I claim them all.'"

Chapter 16 - A Talk With Mustapha Mond

"'And all the science propaganda we do at the College...'
'Yes; but what sort of science?' asked Mustapha Mond sarcastically.  'You've had no scientific training, so you can't judge.  I was a pretty good physicist in my time....'"  (pg. 225)

This quote has a rhetorical question in it when Mustapha Mond says "...but what sort of science?"  He doesn't expect an answer and continues on with his explanation.  Mustapha only says it to emphasize that there is no science, and he really doesn't even know what science is.  Helmholtz silently agreed with Mustapha as he had no reason not to believe him.  Mustapha Mond ended up telling the three troublemakers that they would be going to an island.  Bernard erupts with anger and had to be taken out of the room to be put to sleep with soma.  If I were told I was going to be sent to an island, I probably would erupt too.  But somehow, John and Helmholtz stay calm.  They just want to learn more about what Mustapha has to say.

Chapter 15 - Disorderly Conduct

"'But do you like being slaves?' the Savage was saying as they entered the Hospital....'Don't you want to be free and men?  Don't you even understand what manhood and freedom are... I'll teach you; I'll make you be free whether you want to or not.'  And pushing open a window that looked on to the inner court of the Hospital, he began to throw the little pill-boxes of soma tablets in handfuls out into the area."  (pg. 212-213)

I think John had finally had enough of everyone being drugged up.  He wanted to end this cycle of working then taking drugs to make you feel better.  He has been one of the only people who have seen the consequences of this harmful soma, and he doesn't want the others to end up the same way.  I feel that this was very gutsy of him to do, especially since he's never spoken in front of a crowd before.  Because John was throwing the soma out of the window, a riot started, and the police had to come to stop it.  Everyone ended up getting their soma anyway, so I kind of feel that John's outbreak was unnecessary.  Instead, John could have talked directly to the person distributing them or some person of power.  Now, John is a prisoner and dragging Bernard and Helmholtz with him.

Chapter 14 - Death

"'Popé!' she murmured. and closed her eyes.  'Oh, I do so like it, I do...'  She sighed and let herself sink back into the pillows."  (pg. 204)

The quote is an example of an apostrophe.  Popé is dead, and because she has taken so much soma, Linda is dreaming about times with him.  She addresses him like he was in the same room as Linda and John, but he wasn't.  John, as everyone, including me, would, gets angry that his mom is being with someone that he hates instead of him.  He tries to wake her up, but it's no use.

The ending of the chapter disgusts me.  After Linda dies and John becomes sad, the nurse walks over to him and tells him that he's disrupting the children's lesson of coping with death and possibly putting them back a couple months.  If someone told me that after someone I knew died, I probably would have to hit them.  I thought that that was so rude of the nurse, but I do somewhat understand the circumstances.  I know that in that society that children have to cope with death and see it as a good thing, but they shouldn't have a lesson while John is grieving.  The nurse should have had the lesson another time and taken the children out of the room.

Chapter 13 - True Love? Maybe Not...

"There was a moment's silence; then, in a very low voice, 'I love you more than anything in the world,' he said."  (pg. 192)

I was somewhat confused when I read this chapter.  It started with John and Lenina each having an internal conflict whether or not to tell the other that they really like them.  Lenina finally gets the courage to do it, and after she tells him, he tells her that he likes her.  Lenina then goes into a crazed state to try to have relations with John, I think?  John freaks out, calls her a whore, and slaps her.  Lenina, fearful of her life, locks herself in the bathroom.  I think both of these people are messed up in the head and need some help.  Why did John freak out?  Did he want to get married first like they did at his old place, or did Lenina scare him?  I don't know what really happened...

Chapter 12 - New Friends

"'Ai yaa tákwa!' It was only in Zuñi that the Savage could adequately express what he felt about the Arch-Community-Songster.  'Háni!' he added as an afterthought; and then (with what derisive ferocity!): 'Sons éso tse-ná.'  And he spat on the ground, as Popé might have done."  (pg. 173)


This quote shows an example of the vernacular John spoke when he grew up.  The author used this device to show the type of background John had and to show the reader a glimpse of another culture.  John was so angry that he could only speak how angry he was in his native language.  Bernard kept wanting to show John, "the Savage," off to his colleagues, but John was done being treated like an animal in a zoo.  Since John refused to be seen, Bernard's popularity plummeted to where it was before he met John, and everyone hated him.  

There was another allusion in this chapter, but this time it wasn't Shakespeare.  "... the Savage looked at him over the top of his book and then, as the laughter still continued, closed it indignantly, got up, and with the gesture of one who removes his pearl before swine, locked it away in its drawer." (pg. 185)  Pearl before swine is just a way of saying that someone was offered something, and they didn't appreciate it.  (Thank you Mrs. Sander!!)  It's based on the story of Sermon on the Mount when the people did not appreciate Jesus' message.  John was telling the story of Romeo and Juliet to Helmholtz, but Helmholtz was laughing as though he was making fun of it.  Before this event, John and Helmholtz were becoming great friends, and Bernard was very jealous of them.

Chapter 11 - Popularity

"Hug me till you drug me, honey;
Kiss me till I'm in a coma:
Hug me, honey, snuggly, bunny;
Love's as good as soma."  (pg. 166)

The third line in this quote is an example of assonance.  Most writers use assonance to make the poem or writing sound like it flows together.  I personally like reading assonance because it makes the writing seem a little fun to me.  This quote was sung by Lenina after telling Fanny that she truly liked John.

In this chapter, the Director resigns, and Bernard, John, and Lenina become celebrities.  I don't really understand why they became famous.  Maybe everyone disliked the Director, and since they made him resign, they are seen as superstars?  Also, Lenina finally reveals her true feeling about John and how she really likes him.  They see a romantic movie together, but John refused to have relations with her.  I don't know why though.  I thought John really liked Lenina back, but maybe it's against moral code for him or something.

Chapter 10 - Disbelief

"Buzz, buzz! the hive was humming, busily, joyfully."  (pg. 147)

I think this quote can be interpreted two different ways.  First, the hive can be a metaphor for the scientific labs.  Everyone in the labs is hard at work and doing their tasks happily.  Using the hive as a metaphor, the author allows the reader to see how these labs work by suggesting the everyday example of a bee hive.  Second, the hive can be an extended metaphor for their whole society.  Their society seems to have everything figured out, and every person has their own task, just like bees.  Many people know that bees have very organized hives, and they seem to be at work constantly.  Every person and bee has a duty to contribute to the society or hive and make their world a better place.

Chapter 9 again - Another Allusion to Shakespeare

"On the white wonder of dear Juliet's hand, may seize

And steal immortal blessing from her lips,
Who, even in pure and vestal modesty,
Still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin."  (pg. 144)

Surprise, surprise... There's another allusion to Shakespeare!  This time John quotes Romeo in "Romeo and Juliet" while talking to Lenina, who's asleep from taking so much soma.  He professed how beautiful he thought Lenina was and how he wanted to touch her hand but couldn't.  I think the references to Shakespeare show that John didn't have much to read as a kid and just reread the same Shakespeare book over and over again until it was memorized.  Shakespeare puts so much beauty in his work that just saying what he wrote makes one sound special.  John sounds so intelligent and passionate by quoting the fantastic work of Shakespeare.  Sometime later in the book, I think that John might start to show his affection toward Lenina when she's awake.  I don't know how she will take it, but I'm sure it will be interesting.

Chapter 9 - Alliteration and Approval

"There, on a low bed, the sheet flung back, dressed in a pair of pink one-piece zippyjamas, lay Lenina, fast asleep..." (pg. 143)

As the author describes how Lenina looks in the hotel bed, he uses an example of alliteration.  Alliteration is mostly used to writing to grab the reader's attention and focus it on the topic.  This example turns one's attention to the details and adjectives of the clothes Lenina is wearing.  I think alliteration is always fun to read.  Why wouldn't someone want to read "She sells seashells by the seashore"?  It makes reading interesting...

This chapter had some major events happen that could affect the setting of the rest of the book.  While Lenina had been sleeping all day in her bed, Bernard crept away to Santa Fe to get the necessary work done to be able to bring back John and Linda.  If everything works out, Bernard, John, Lenina, and Linda should be going back to New Mexico where three of them are from.  Also, I wonder what the big wigs in Santa Fe thought when Bernard was explaining to them the situation back at the Reserve.  If I was one of them, I probably would not have believed him.

Chapter 8 - "O Brave New World"

"'O brave new world,' he repeated.  'O brave new world that has such people in it.  Let's start at once.'"  (pg.139)

The term "brave new word" finally reveals itself in the book to describe the place where John has been dying to go his whole life.  This "brave new world" is the place where Bernard, Lenina, and Linda had come from: "the Other Place."  He believes that if he goes there, he will finally not be alone or be exiled anymore.  Bernard in his mind knew that this theory was wrong, but he didn't say anything.  Bernard asked him if he would like to go to "the Other Place" and bring Linda along, but he didn't think it through all of the way.  I think that they will have much trouble trying to get them back, but maybe the D.H.C. will help them and everything will be O.K.

The above quote also has an allusion in it.  The line "O brave new world that has such people in it" is from Shakespeare's "The Tempest."  I thought that it was clever that the author did this, and it shows how much the author admired Shakespeare and his literature.

I also like to see the development of the relationship between Bernard and John.  They seem to have similar personalities, and I wonder where the book will take it.

Chapter 7 - Finding the Lost One

"'Hullo.  Good-morrow,' said the stranger, in faultless but peculiar English."  (pg. 116)

This is an example of dialect that one of the Indians had as he was talking to Bernard and Lenina.  The dialect helps the reader determine how that civilization spoke and how different it sounds compared to everyday English that we use.  This is the first case in the novel that I've seen where words are spelled differently on purpose to make the reader understand what the person sounds like.  Just reading this one line brings my mind back to last summer when we had to read "Their Eyes Were Watching God" for AP Lang.  Dey talked lik dis, and it wuz confuzin.  My mind adjusted though, and I really enjoyed that novel.

In this chapter, I found it ironic that, on Bernard and Lenina's first day there, they found who they think is the D.H.C.'s girlfriend, whom he lost many years ago, and her son.  I probably should have seen that coming.  Now, I wonder what Bernard and Lenina will do: will they try to help Linda and her son, or leave them there?

Chapter 6 - Roadtrip!

"'I had the same idea as you,' the Director was saying.  'Wanted to have a look at the savages. Got a permit for New Mexico and went there for my summer holiday.  With the girl I was having at the moment.... I actually dream about it sometimes,' the Director went on in a low voice.  'Dream of being woken up by the peal of thunder and finding her gone; dream of searching and searching for her under the trees.'"  (pg. 96-97)

This long, personal anecdote, made by the Director, explains his reasoning why Bernard should not do what he was planning to do.  He lost his girlfriend because she wondered off why he was taking a nap, and he never found her.  He doesn't want the same thing to happen to Bernard.  The Director also mentioned that he did not approve of Bernard's behavior outside the working hours and threatened him by saying he'll transfer him to Iceland.  Bernard takes it as a compliment of being a rebel, but I think the Director is serious.  Bernard and Lenina decide to leave anyway and go to New Mexico reservation.  Why would anyone want to do that?  I feel like Bernard is trying to get away from civilization, but I don't know why.  He's taking Lenina with him, and she keeps persuading him to take soma.

Chapter 5 - Bernard and His Loneliness... again

"He was as miserably isolated now as he had been when the service began - more isolated by reason of his unreplenished emptiness, his dead satiety.  Separate and unatoned, while the others were being fused into the Greater Being; alone even in Morgana's embrace - much more alone, indeed, more hopelessly himself than he had ever been in his life before.... He was utterly miserable, and perhaps (her shining eyes accused him), perhaps it was his own fault." (pg. 86)

Bernard's stream of consciousness is very dreary and melancholy.  He seems to get more depressed as the book goes on.  This stream of consciousness makes Bernard seem like he has no self-confidence and that he is on the edge of suicide.  His isolation is strange to me because he is not alone in the room of twelve people.  Bernard had just celebrated something religious (I think?) that should have made him feel closer to the spirit (or whatever), but it is doing the exact opposite.

I also want to point out the similarities that this religious service has to the Catholic Mass.  There is a leader who leads the worship, like a priest in a Catholic Mass.  They kept saying "Ford" which I think is like us saying "Lord."  They make the T sign like a cross in the Catholic faith, and they sing hymns like Catholics.  Even though Bernard only goes every other week, I believe that this might be his religious aspect in his life.

Chapter 4 - Bernard Marx

"The mockery made him feel an outsider; and feeling an outsider he behaved like one, which increased the prejudice against him and intensified the contempt and hostility aroused by his physical defects."  (pg. 65)

The above quote is talking about Bernard Marx.  No one talked to him, except to make fun of him, but Lenina Crowne.  She asked him on a date which Bernard never thought would happen.  He went to talk to his friend, Helmholtz Watson to ask of his advice.  Helmholtz had been the opposite of Bernard in that he had all the girls.

The character of being an outsider reminds me of a movie I recently watched that I really enjoyed.  The movie is called "That's What I Am."  It's about a character named Big Red who is bullied for being so tall and having red hair.  Throughout the whole movie, Big Red must overcome the fact that everywhere he goes he is bullied until Andy comes along.  They are paired as buddies for a project and must communicate and be with each other.  Andy starts defending Big Red, and the movie continues.  I don't want to spoil the ending so you can watch it so that's all I'm going to say.

Maybe, Bernard will end up like Big Red and be defended.  Bernard might actually fall in love with someone. Who knows?

Chapter 3 - Adolescents

"Whisk. Whisk - and where was Odysseus, where was Job, where was Jupiter and Gotama and Jesus? Whisk - and those specks of antique dirt called Athens and Rome, Jerusalem, and the Middle Kingdom - all were gone.  Whisk - the place where Italy had been was empty.  Whisk, the cathedrals; whisk, whisk, King Lear and the Thoughts of Pascal.  Whisk, Passion; whisk, Requiem; whisk, Symphony; whisk..." (pg. 35)


This anaphora emphasizes the word Whisk.  What does the word Whisk mean?  Normally, the purpose of an anaphora is to emphasize an effect or reinforce an idea.  Truly, I have no idea what this quotation means nor what most of this chapter was about.  I know at the beginning of the chapter the students saw how the adolescents played together, and they were fascinated.  But, it got more confusing.  There were at least three different conversations towards the end of the chapter that were smashed together, and I could only truly keep one scene straight.  The conversation between Lenina and Fanny talked about whether or not Lenina should be more promiscuous.  It also described Fanny as feeling different and possibly pregnant.  Another scene was the Director with the students where they talked about history.  The students were fascinated by meeting Mond, the Controller.  Hopefully, the book explains itself more clearly in the next chapter...

Chapter 2 - Teaching

"The Nile is the longest river in Africa and the second in the length of all the rivers in the globe.  Although falling short of the length of the Mississippi-Missouri, the Nile is at the head of all rivers as it regards the length of its basin, which extends through 35 degrees of latitude..." (pg. 25)

Chapter Two included some examples of how the lab teaches children through associating objects with sounds and through sleep.  The above quote is what the lab was trying to teach a child in his sleep to see if he could wake up knowing this fact.  Someone asked him when he woke up what the longest river in Africa was, and he didn't know.  He could recite the quote but could not answer the question.  I thought this was very interesting and neat.  I would think that if I had something memorized, I could put two and two together and say that the Nile is the longest river in Africa, but this example says otherwise.  I think this would be a cool experiment to try on someone.  The other method of teaching in the lab involves babies designating certain objects to be good or bad.  The scientists brought the babies into the room and put them next to flowers and books.  As the babies touched the objects, the scientists sounded a shrieking alarm that made the babies cry and be frightened.  They took the babies away and brought them back to the flowers and books later.  At the sight of the two objects, the babies started screaming, and the lesson was over.  I thought this was really cool too to see how smart  babies are and how their minds work.  Just by the sight of the two objects, the babies were filled with horror and will now associate the sight of flowers and books with a shrieking alarm for the rest of their lives.