Blog Post 22 - Blog Party

Stephenie Meyer has become the newest hottest best-selling author since the debut of her vampire storyline in the Twilight Saga. Personally I would have never picked up the books if it was not for the hype that it was given by my friends at work. After the first book, the entire office staff was hooked! But how do authors like Stephenie Meyer, J.K. Rowling and Charles Dickens get so popular? Why do kids and adults get so obsessed with these particular sequels? Is there any comparison at all? What do you think?

According to the New York Times, “Ms. Meyer’s contribution to the vampire chronicles, the trick that transformed her into a best-selling brand, has been to stanch this sanguineous emission, turning a hot human flow into something less threatening and morally sticky”(Dargis). Basically, Meyers has been able to provide some new blood to an old topic, sorry for the pun. I have included some reviews written on the movie adaptation. I would have to agree with the last person’s statement. I enjoyed the books, but the filming is terrible, but that’s not going to keep me from watching the second movie, which opened in theatres November 20th!

• the director makes the movie but not this one – ny4pep , Virginia Beach, VA

• The Worst Movie I've Seen This Year – Charles J , San Fransicso

• Ah young love with a twist that goes sour – M. Jan , Ottawa

• Good book, Awful movie – CAgurl33 , Carmel

Then you have headlines such as this, “Preteen girls -- and their grown-up moms -- are sinking their teeth into Stephenie Meyer's gothic "Twilight" books by the millions. Move over, J.K. Rowling”(Miller). The report at salon.com by publisher Laura Miller states, “No wonder the media has heralded Twilight as the next Harry Potter and Meyer as the second coming of J.K. The similarities, however, are largely commercial. It's hard to see how Twilight could ever approach Harry Potter as a cultural phenomenon for one simple reason: the series' fan base is almost exclusively female”(Miller). I would have to agree with her statement that yes the majority of Meyer’s readers are female but I do know of some male highschoolers who have read the books and watched the movie. As far as I could tell they were just as excited for the new book and the new movie to come out as I was.  They each had their favorite character and are passionate about who should be the female character's love interest. It has been a great experience being able to converse with them on this particular literary writer.

As for J.K. Rowling, she has proved her success in every aspect of the literary world and in Hollywood. I would have to say that my kids would probably agree!  They have been Harry Potter fanatics since the beginning but they are also great fans of the Twilight series.  Perhaps this is due to their age.  Harry Potter was starting to hit big when they were about 8 and now that they are teenagers Stephenie Meyer has been at the top of their list.

Everywhere you look there is Harry Potter and Twilight merchandise; games, clothing, posters, etc.  Their websites are incredible, I have to say that the Harry Potter website is the funnest and most interactive.  With young people being so technically inclined and computer savy this is also a great marketing tool for these authors.  Movies, music and merchandise have definitely brought in the bucks and has helped these two authors grow as a business as well as their popularity.

Dicken’s is someone I can honestly say that I know very little about, sad as that may be, he is a well-known literary figure. You can ask anyone if they know the name Charles Dickens and they will know who you are referring to. I think that this is mainly due to the commercialization of his stories. Cartoons have been made based on his writings which is probably the best way to introduce a historic writer to youngsters. That is most likely where I first learned of Charles Dickens. The other way is obviously in school. English and reading classes have always taught us the history of literary giants such as Dickens and Shakespeare.

"Dickens's genius, his obsession with work, his life-long love affair with his public, and his deep humanity all helped to make him a literary phenomenon. Because his works appealed to people of all conditions, and because he could take advantage of new technological developments, he reached, from the publication of the Pickwick Papers on, an audience of unprecedented size —an audience which he was able to influence emotionally to an extent never equalled" (Cody).

Will writers such as Stephenie Meyer and J.K. Rowling become as infamous as Charles Dickens? Only time will tell. Personally, I don’t foresee Meyer’s current fame to last, unless she can continue to write bestselling novels. J.K. Rowling on the other hand I think will be remembered for years to come.  She may still not reach the greatness of Charles Dickens but really, how can you even compare?

                                     Works Cited
Cody, David. Associate Professor of English, Hartwick College http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/dickens/dickensbio4.html

Dargis, Manhohla. November 2008. New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/movies/21twil.html?xml:namespace

Meyer, Stephenie. Official Website. November 2009. http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/

Miller, Laura. Salon. July 2008. http://www.salon.com/books/review/2008/07/30/Twilight/index.html#story_full_a861345952e065612a90d2f

Rowling, J.K.  Official Website.  November 2009.  http://www.jkrowling.com/

Blog Post 21 Freestyle

Well, we are nearing the end of our journey!  Made it through my first Literature course and I have to say that I have enjoyed it very much.  Not bad for dropping out of highschool and if I remember correctly the farthest I ever got in English was reading Romeo and Juliet.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading Shakespeare's Othello.  I hope everyone enjoyed the pictures I posted from the Globe Theatre in London.  Someday I will go back and actually watch a play, perhaps it will be Othello that would be WAY COOL!

I have to say kuddos to everyone in this class.  I have really enjoyed reading and participating in the discussion questions. 

I had a bump in the road in my personal life, I am now in California.  Thank you Professor Knowles for being so kind and understanding, you definitely relieved some stress for me.

Blog Post 20 - Quote-Response

I have to say, after viewing the different versions of Othello on  U-tube, I believe that the 1950's version was much more realistic to me.  I didn't like the other versions, they seemed to fake.  The older version was much more realistic in perhaps how I interpreted the play.  My favorite quote from scene III is, "But jealous for they're jealous.  It is a monster begot upon itself, born on itself (Shakespeare 156, 157).  It was cruel for Iago to plant such a seed of jealousy onto Othello.  Emilia, who was quoted above, is the only person able to see exactly what had taken place. She was the only person able to clearly make decisions without the emotional attachment that was involved in this Shakespearean play.

Blog Entry 19- Freestyle

I have to share with everyone the pictures I took at the Globe Theatre in London.  It was awesome.  The stage, the columns made of marble, the thatch roof; all of which take you back in time.  Standing there I could imagine a play being brought to life.  Peasants standing in the rain in order to get the best view.  Aristocrats viewing from the balconies.  Such a memory that I will always have! 

Globe Theatre, London England

This is the ceiling which is covered in a mural with angels.

Marble columns!  The balcony in the background is where the rich and famous sit.  I believe it was the Clinton's who have been there.

Yes, this is me actually touching the stage!

Blog Post 18 - Quote-Response

Othello by William Shakespeare, edited by David Bevington

I have never read Othello, so this is a new experience for me.  Once I got past the initial act, I was able to read it with less difficulty.  Written in 1604, the English language was much different then it is today.  Basically, what I surmised in the first act was that there was a counsel meeting in order for Desdemona to marry Othello, a black man of poor background.  Desdemona was born to a wealthy family, in order for her to be with a man from a different social class she was to give up all rights to her families wealth.  The fact that he is black has also got to be of great concern considering this was in the 1600's.  Brabantio, Desdemona's father and senator, needed to know if Othello had manipulated his daughter into being in love. 

            That thou hast practiced on her with foul charms, abused her
            delicate youth with drugs and minerals  that weaken motion. 
            I'll have't disputed on; tis probable and palpable to thinking.
            (Shakespeare 947).

Blessings were given by the Duke to Brabantio so Othello and Desdemona could be together, "Your son-in-law is far more fair than black" (Shakespeare 957). 

Blog Entry 17 - Quote Response on Trifles

This short play is about a woman who presumably lived in an abusive relationship, was stripped of her identity and self-esteem and killed her husband in his sleep.  Trifles by Susan Glaspell begins by the authorities looking into the death of John Wright.  John was a man that kept to himself and was rarely seen in town or at social gatherings.  The townspeople had thought of him as a good man, but also as a strange man.  Mrs. Hale describes him to Mrs. Peters, "Like a raw wind that gets to the bone" (Glaspell 845).  There was something about John that made Mrs. Hale uncomfortable whenever he was around.  At the time she probably never thought that he was cruel to his wife. 
When a visitor, Hale, had stopped by the Wright's farm house one morning Mrs. Wright was found in the kitchen.  Hale, describes seeing that "she was rockin' back and forth.  She had her apron in her hand and was kind of -pleating it." (Glaspell 839).  Hale thought that something was terribly wrong the way that Mrs. Wright was behaving and she refused to let him speak with John.  She told Hale, "'Cause he's dead" (Glaspell 839), and in saying those words she showed no emotion. 
Having been in an abusive relationship, it was easy for me to see that Mrs. Wright could have been the one to kill her husband.  Mrs. Hale had described Mrs. Wright as, "She didn't even belong to the Ladies Aid.  I suppose she felt she couldn't do her part, and then you don't enjoy things when you feel shabby" (Glaspell 842).  This is an example of a woman that had been stripped of her self-esteem and identity and closed herself off to any outside relationships. 
The scene at the farmhouse also portrays a depressed woman.  The kitchen is described at the beginning of the play as "a gloomy kitchen" with "unwashed pans under the sink"(Glaspell 837).  Such disarray shows signs of her despair.

Blog Entry 15 - Freestyle

I hate how the story ended, I wanted it to continue.  Did Marjane ever see her parents again?  The story was never exact in saying why her parents had finally decided to have Marjane leave the country.  Yes, they stated it was because of her safety.  Marjane was very outspoken in her beliefs.  Did they think that she would have been sought out and killed for her openness?  Definitely a possibility considering the turmoil within the country.

Blog Entry 14 - Quote-Response

It's amazing to me the government views that are portrayed in schools.  "God did not choose the King.  He did so! It's written on the first page of our schoolbook" (Satrapi 19).  Here, Marjane is telling her father what she has learned through school.  Her father insists that she finally know the truth, as he sees it.  If he had not been concerned with his daughter he would not have told her.  I think that it is important to know what our children are learning in school.  If we do not concern ourselves with our children education we will never know what they are being taught and if it is something that we believe in personally.  This was a good chance for Marjane to know her families history.

Blog Entry 13 - Quote-Response

I have found that when I really like a poem, I love figuring out the meaning of it or how I can relate it to myself.

Neutral Tones by Thomas Hardy

A symbol is a visible object that is suggestive of more meaning.  With that said, when I read Neutral Tones I think of the pond and the leaves being compared to life, "And a pond with grayish leaves" (16).  Really this lines doesn't have any meaning just standing on it's own.  You have to find the hidden meaning.

This poem begins by remembering a specific time that a love ended.  They meet again and are reminded of that day.  You can feel a tension between them where words are hard to find.  The pond to me, meant their circle of a life they once shared.  The grayish leaves refer to the memories the two shared.  Their circle is scattered all around by these memories and over time have turned gray.  They are not as colorful and vivid or hurt by them anymore because of the time that has lapsed.

Blog Entry 12 - Poem Paraphrase

Michael Drayton's
Since there's no help,
Come let us kiss and part

This poem is an example of an Italian sonnet.  The first eight lines state that a love has ended.  The last six lines, he is dying; which will finally end his suffering from the affects of the love which he lost.

            Since there's no help, come let us kiss and part;
            Nay, I have done, you get no more of me,
            And I am glad, yea, glad, with all my heart
            That thus so cleanly I myself can free;

            Now at the last gasp of Love's latest breath,
            When, his pulse failing, Passion speechless lies,
            When Faith is kneeling by his bed of death,
            And Innocence is closing up his eyes,

As I first began to read this poem, it was my understanding that they ended on mutual terms.  Later, I find myself wondering if it truly was mutual.  Perhaps, he has regretted the decision he made to free himself from this love.

Blog Entry 11 - Quote-Response

I chose the poem, All Day I Hear by James Joyce for its appealing sounds.  This first sound, "The grey winds, the cold winds are blowing" (7), shows a good example of alliteration with the whoosh sound in the w's.  The whooshing sound makes me feel and hear like a cold wind is whirling around me.  The second reason I chose this poem, was for its use with assonance in the long vowel sound in the o's.  Joyce uses 12 long o sounds in the following words, moan, going, forth, alone, monotone, cold, blowing, go, below, flowing, to and fro.   Using the assonance seems to tie this poem together making it flow seamlessly.          

Blog Entry 10 - Song Quote-Response

Ballad of Birmingham
Dudley Randall

The poem is about a child who pleaded with his mother to allow him to go into town and join the others in a a political rally.  Knowing that this could come out disastrous, the mother, employed with her child not to go.  Instead she allowed him to go to church.  The child did not listen.  When the mother smiled for the last time, it was at that moment, the explosion occured and her child was dead.  I think that "the sacred place" was not referring to the actual church, but to heaven. 

                                           The mother smiled to know her child
                                           Was in the sacred place,
                                           But that smile was the last smile
                                           To come upon her face. (Randall 549)


People use the word sacred to mean; holy and blessed.  Not only was this poem referring to a place for religion to be practiced but also for a higher place; heaven.  If you stress the word "the", it provides much more emphasis on the place.
                     

Blog Entry 9 - Haiku

This is my attempt at a Haiku!

Longing Love

Wanting, waiting, yerning for.

That time has past,

Come once more.

Blog Entry 8 - Poem Paraphrase

Anne Stevenson
The Victory

Anne Stevenson's poem, The Victory, is of an unwanted child being brought into life.  The means in which this child was conceived, may have been through sexual abuse. Stevenson is using the description of the child's conception, as a "Scary knot of desire" (14).  To me, this scary knot is describing the unconsenting sexual encounter that conceived this child.  The poet uses the phrase, "Tiny antagonist, gory, blue as a bruise" (5) in order to illustrate the brutal attack.  Choosing the word antagonist ensures that the hated enemy is within the child.  Describing the bruise and the newborn, at the same time, as blue and gory; further explains this monstrous act.  The persona thought, that when she gave birth to her son, she would have won against her attacker.  Instead, the attacker, yet again won.  Perhaps, she was seeing the child as a reminder of her attack and now resents her son for being an actual physical-being of her assailant.    

Blog Entry 7 - Freestyle

I read Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" from our textbook; oh what a journey I took in this short story!  First you are getting the impression that a young woman had just lost her husband and the pain staking effort that it took her sister and her husband's friend to break the news to her.  I related to this story because when I was 16 I was with my mom when we found out that my dad had suffered a fatal heart attack.

                     "She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment,
                     in her sister's arms.  When the storm of grief had spent
                     itself she went away to her room alone."  (Chopin 326).

I remember the sensations and emotions of my father's death so vividly but was never able to convey in words.  This story has put them into words.


While Mrs. Mallard was alone in her bedroom and coming to terms by finally realizing what she had just been told, the story immediately takes a turn.  Chopin's story changed from a deep sadness to a freedom. Then, almost immediately again, that freedom is taken away.  I imagined that her sense of freedom was stemming from an abusive relationship. 

Blog Entry 6 - Quote-Response

After reading Kennedy Chapter 5 on tone and style; I knew right away that in O.Henry's story, "The Gift of the Magi" they were going to give away their most valued items in order to give each other a gift.  (They must have been newlyweds).  "Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride" (O. Henry 166). Della's hair being one and Jim's watch being the other.  True, Della's hair will eventually grow back, even though it will take many, many years.  Jim's watch on the other hand, can never be replaced. 

Blog Entry 5 - Freestyle

Today I cam across a book that I had started reading awhile back.  When I say awhile back, it was a long while back.  Is a year ago a long time?  It is Jane Austen's Emma.  I'm going to have to skim through the first thirteen chapters that I have already read just to dust off the cobwebs in my mind and off the book itself.  I remember more about the trip to the bookstore when I bought it then I do the story.  Not a good thing.

Blog Entry 4 - Quote-Response

"Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones; ..." (Jackson 217).  When I first began reading this short story I had no idea what the lottery was truly about.  My first thought was that the village people gathered to dole out their monthly pensions.  I was shocked when the reality of the story was an actual stoning.  In reviewing The Lottery this line seemed important to me because no one knew who would be the person to get stoned.  It could have been anyone of the boys, their mother, anyone in their immediate family; it would have at least been someone they knew.  If I was living in the village, I think I would have taken the first chance to get out of there and head to the village that no longer participated in such a barbaric ritual.

Entry 3: Freestyle

I have always wondered why some people think that romance novels are "just trash" and not worth reading.  I find them quite enjoyable.  Perhaps, I am a true romantic at heart.  I know, I know, the plots are basically the same; boy meets girl, they fall in love, a tragedy tears them apart, but in the end they always find their way back into each others arms.  No surprises, no murders, just romance!  Give me a good romance novel, a cup of hot cocoa, and a warm blanket while it's snowing outside and I am in heaven.

Entry 2: Quote-Response

"When her father died, it got about that the house was all that was left to her; and in a way, people were glad.  At last they could pity Miss Emily.  Being left alone, and a pauper, she had become humanized.  Now she too would know the old thrill and the old despair of a penny more or less."  Faulkner (31)  It struck me that in this story the townspeople did not know what to think of Miss Emily.  She was an icon of sorts; everyone knew of her, though they did not know who she really was, except a topic for the local gossip.  Growing up in a small town in Oregon, I saw this daily while growing up and still see and hear it to this day.  I don't think that it is necessarily a bad thing nor a good thing.  Gossip is just something that happens in our culture and in other cultures as well.

1st Blog

Hi!  Welcome to my blog.  As you explore this site you will learn a few things about me.

I have always enjoyed reading a good book.  Seems though as life has progressed I haven't given myself the opportunities needed to sit down and have quiet time.  I don't really remember learning to read, however I do remember teaching my children to read and write before they were even in preschool.  It has always been very important to me as a mother to have the girls wanting to read.  This has paid off!   

Mostly I seem to enjoy self-help books, don't laugh, my major is psychology.  I enjoy life's trials and tribulations and seeing how other people have coped through various situations.  Music, in my opinion, is an example of just that; someone's journey through life.  A sort of short story.

I remember my dad always reading in the summer;  I think perhaps because it wasn't football season.  He would borrow Louis L'Amour books from both of my grandmothers.  When I was in the 7th or 8th grade I remember a book that he had borrowed from his mother that was tattered.  They had both read this book and were talking about it one day, so I asked if I could read it next.  For the life of me I can not remember the title or the author of this book.  All I remember is that it was about experiences during the Holocaust but it was not Anne Frank.  I read this book over and over, the spine eventually gave out and the book was torn into three parts.

My husband, Bill, has read all of the Robert Jordan books.  He states, "I enjoy escaping from life's reality for awhile and they allow me to unwind".  He is a police officer, so I can see how escaping into a fictional world helps with his job related stress.  Other books that he likes are ones that he can learn from, especially if they are science related.

My 13 year old daughter likes mysteries.  She says, "I enjoy reading mysteries because they are the best for getting totally into the story, they make you have to think more and when you read them you just can't put the book down".  Both of my girls have read all of the Harry Potter books as well as the vampire series by Stephenie Meyer.  Which I have to admit, I listened to the latter on CD and went with a bunch of girlfriends to the premier!

Lately it seems as if I do get the chance to read, boom, I'm out cold!  Coffee is going to be my friend during all of my classes at EOU, as well as my treadmill.  If I can get the book close enough to read the print, not get motion sick or fall flat on my face, I'll be good to go.  So wish me luck!