Thoughts of Jane Eyre

Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags (Chapter 12).


Quotation above taken from chapter 12 of Jane Eyre, shows the reader Jane's beliefs on female independence through her thoughts. Jane desires to see more of the world and have more interaction with its people. While she appreciates her simple life at Thornfield, she regrets that she does not have the means to travel, and she expresses her thought by addressing lower and upper class women. Through this novel we see that Jane posses the desire to gain independence and freedom from the suppressing society that she lives in. In the quote she says "women feel just as men feel" in this part we get the sense that Jane beliefs that men and women should posses equal rights, "making puddings and knitting stockings", this part shows that Jane beliefs that women should not just stay confined to household chores. We as a reader see her proving her statement when she works as a teacher and learns to survive on her on. From reading Jane Eyre, I gained an understanding of women's point of view in England during that time, I believe that Jane has powerful characteristics that allowed her to survive in the male-dominated society and rise above others to achieve her true love.
                                                         - Semarn K

For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls

      My table group did our project on the play "For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls," and it so far is one of my favorite assignments from this class. Primarily, my liking of this project pertains to how funny I thought the play actually was. I was not expecting the play to be as crude as it was at parts but I mostly enjoyed the innuendoes that are not as easily spotted. For example, I found the line, "If some sailor misses his boat, that's no reason you have to put him up in your room, You're too big-hearted, son," especially funny (especially because I had to explain it to Tori.) 
     I liked the project itself because it made me look deeper into what the play meant and forced me to try to understand the main themes the dramatist was trying to convey. I agreed with the idea that society can create images of what people should be, in this case, the idea of the perfect "southern belle" or "functional family," and this became apparent with Amanda not being happy with her life and not always being able to compose herself in a perfect, lady-like fashion when frustrated. I think the play also touched on the idea that no family is perfect and it is unhealthy for society when families try to portray themselves that way. Although the Wingvalley family was a particularly over-dramatic family, it was so that the audience would understand the idea through rude comedy. 
     From a technical aspect, I appreciated the project because it allowed me to become familiar with new forms of internet composition, such as GoogleDocs, which I enjoy because I like to seize as many opportunities as I can to become more tech-savvy because I think it is a useful skill to have. I thought the media was easy to use and I am glad I can add it into my arsenal of computer knowledge. 
     My only complaint would be the short amount of time we got to work on the project, because I wanted to make a video of us acting out part of the play because it would have been funny, but no day in the week worked for all of us. Other than that, I greatly enjoyed the project.




-Bobby R.

drama

Our class shared some thoughts on drama and I wanted to share some points I learned from this class experience.

- comedy lies between satire and romance
- two kinds of comedies are scornful comedy and romantic comedy
- these expose human folly
- comedy and tragedy are both examples of drama
- force and melodrama are oversimplified extremes
- tragedy is a plot that involves a chain of the protagonist to fall into a state of misery
- realistic drama is based off of how believable the play is delivered
- nonrealistic and realistic describe dramatic presentation
Necessary Nonrealistic Conventions:
- audience must believe a room with 30 or less sides actualy has four
- characters with different nationalities all speak the language of the audience
- the actors all face the audience
- plays strive for differing degrees of realism
- drama has 3 additional aspects that serve to add another dimension to the work.
- dramas utilize real life people and the quality of the play relies havily on their performance.

-Angela H

Group Project Response

The project that I completed within my table group helped me to learn a lot about leadership. I had to help organize our team and keep them on track so that we would not get so easily distracdted. The project at first was a challenge to me because Ihad no idea how to incorporate our voices onto the the slide show. However, after one hour of trial and error, I was able to find a way to attach the sound files to the various quotes. Although our team did get distracted alot, we were eventually able to complerte the project and do a good job on it.

We chose the play because we enjoyed the humor, and wanted to present it to the class using our own sense of humor incorporated within the powerpoint to explain our point of view. I was apprehensive at first about the results of our powerpoint, but after reading some of the comments of my peers, and the viewing their reactions as they went through the powerpoint I felt confident in our groups effort.

Overall, I enjoyed the project a lot because not only was I able to learn about how to incorporate a sound file on a text, but Iwas also able to connect with my team members on a deeper level. W were able to communicate better with each other at the end of the day, and we all had a good time together.

                                                                                                                  - Jehan T.

Frankenstein Reading Response

While reading Frankenstein, I found myself unexpectedly relating to it. I believe that the characters of Frankenstein and the creature paralleled one another, revealing the idea of Shelley that everyone has a monster within them. My thoughts so easily form into poetry;  this was one of my poems that I came up with as a reading response.

My blood runs thick
black
emotionless
for those whose souls I've wronged
angry thoughts harbored
in an unstable mind
searching for the right words
or time
or place
or space
to spew this venom
so thick
so strong
threatening
behind cringed teeth
so much hurt
so many insecurities
masked by pride
the size of Mars
relentless and hot
yet cold with regrets
unleashing this hideous Monster
I've so often called myself

- Talor T 

Frankenstein

           The pursuit of knowledge is the main theme found in the novel Frankenstein, as Victor attempts to learn beyond accepted human limits and access the secret of life. Similarly, Robert Walton attempts to go beyond previous human explorations by hoping to reach the North Pole. This desire for unknown knowledge, proves dangerous, as Victor’s act of creation eventually results in the destruction of everyone dear to him, and Walton finds himself perilously trapped between sheets of ice. Victor’s own monster leads to his death, and having learned from Victor’s example how destructive new knowledge can be Walton withdrew himself from the explorations. Knowledge is good but too much knowledge can lead to destruction, and we see this through Walton and Victor in Frankenstein. Shelly, lead me to think about how in our world we have created so many inventions due to knowledge, and how they are helpful. However, the other side is that they just reduce human effort, and lead humans to become more and more dependent on machines to function their life's.  By reading Frankenstein, I began to think more about the concept of knowledge and how too much of knowledge can be dangerous.

-Semarn K

"The World is Too Much With Us"

The last poem  that we have read in class is titled "The World is Too Much With Us" and that is what I chose to discuss in this entry's blog.
This poem is a Petrarchan sonnet that explains the materialistic world that we indulge our selves into today. It laments the loss of nature in the modern society as it states how we receive all that nature has to offer us, but then turn around and give our hearts away.  In his poem, Wordsworth implements the usage of metaphors and states that "We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!" meaning that due to our selfishness and greed, we have given away our hearts, something so precious and clean, a blessing granted to humankind.  We are not very appreciative of the benefits of life and take our blessings for granted.  In another line, Wordsworth states that "getting and spending, we lay waste our powers" meaning that we waste our time and knowledge that we were given, due to our mentality of "getting and spending".  As humans we have a purpose, but we separate ourselves from "God created" nature which results in us separating ourselves from God, therefore wasting our powers. The juxtaposition of several words such as "late and soon" and "getting and spending" displays the contradiction of materialism.  It is a destructive and corrupt blessing that may seem to bring pleasure but in reality, feeds mankind's worst quality, greed.  The overall message of the poem is that people forget to appreciate the beauty of nature because of their quest for materialistic possessions. Every aspect of life today pushes us further and further away from our true nature as human beings and closer towards a state of corrupt living.