Plain Jane has had a pretty rough life. She had no parents, no money, and hardly any happiness. She had to deal with her evil aunt and cousins, being judged for being a governess, and her low self esteem. She comes across Mr. Rochester, who is still less than kind to her. Finally, she comes to terms with Mr. Rochester and they fall in love. I feel like she became very happy for the first time in her life. Then it comes out that he is already married to crazy lady Bertha. Poor Jane.
If I were Jane, I would stay with Rochester. He was just too ashamed to tell Jane that he was already married. He obviously didn't love Bertha, he loved Jane. He didn't really do anything wrong towards Jane, and so if I were her, I would still stay with him.
I liked the book for the most part. Sometimes it got quite slow, but other times it was very interesting. I really liked Jane as a character and I was glad that the book was written in first person so that I knew exactly what she was thinking. I did not like how Adele spoke in French. I know that she evidently didn't say anything important, but it was still distracting. I wish that the book was a bit shorter for the most part.
I guess this is a good book to be taught. It is one of the most famous pieces of literature, and this is a literature class. It was a perfect demonstration of motifs as well. However, it was quite long. It was hard to get caught up if you were behind. I also wish that it had more of an interesting plot. I got bored after a while because she would just be talking to Mrs. Fairfax for like 10 pages. I would pick a shorter book.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Rochester=Holden
In Chapter 14, Jane and Rochester had an indepth conversation. Rochester tells Jane that she is "not pretty any more than I am handsome." Then he calls her dumb. Jane just kind brushes it off like it's no big deal, even though it was kind of rude. Rochester then tells Jane that he is superior to her, and that his thoughts are "cankering as a rusty nail." Rochester envies Jane's "peace of mind", "clean conscience", and "unpolluted memory". Rochester is 20 years older than Jane and has indeed experienced more. This part of the story may explain why Rochester hasn't been the warmest guy.
My theory to why he is acting this way is because of Adele's mother. He tells Jane about Celine, who abandoned her daughter, Adele. Rochester doesn't want Adele to be an orphan so he takes her in, come to find out that there is possibility that Adele is his daughter. He is mean to Jane because he is jealous of her innocence. I feel like Rochester wishes he could just be young forever. Holden thought the same way.
My theory to why he is acting this way is because of Adele's mother. He tells Jane about Celine, who abandoned her daughter, Adele. Rochester doesn't want Adele to be an orphan so he takes her in, come to find out that there is possibility that Adele is his daughter. He is mean to Jane because he is jealous of her innocence. I feel like Rochester wishes he could just be young forever. Holden thought the same way.
Inspiration for Other Classics
Jane Eyre was written in 1847. It is one of the most famous pieces of literature in history. As you read you may pick up on some similarities to other stories. Was this coincidence or were they inspired by this story.
When Jane is a little orphan girl, she lives with her aunt and cousins, her "evil" aunt and cousins. Cinderella similarily is an orphan who lives with her stepmom and stepsisters, "evil" stepmom and stepsisters.
As Jane grows older, she gets a job as a governess. At first she hates Adele's father (or so they say), but then she grows to fall in love with him, even though he is planning on marrying Blanche Ingram. In the Sound of Music, Maria gets a job as a governess, and really doesn't like the Captain very much. As time goes on, Maria and the Captain fall in love, even though he was planning on marrying the baroness.
These stories have a lot of similarities with eachother. Often authors derive their ideas from other stories and archetypes.
When Jane is a little orphan girl, she lives with her aunt and cousins, her "evil" aunt and cousins. Cinderella similarily is an orphan who lives with her stepmom and stepsisters, "evil" stepmom and stepsisters.
As Jane grows older, she gets a job as a governess. At first she hates Adele's father (or so they say), but then she grows to fall in love with him, even though he is planning on marrying Blanche Ingram. In the Sound of Music, Maria gets a job as a governess, and really doesn't like the Captain very much. As time goes on, Maria and the Captain fall in love, even though he was planning on marrying the baroness.
These stories have a lot of similarities with eachother. Often authors derive their ideas from other stories and archetypes.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Dumbledore and Holden are gay?... didn't see that coming.
Holden is everyone's favorite pessimist. Throughout the entire book, he is constantly complaining about something. The only thing he likes is kids. Why does he have such aggression? It could be because of his brother dying. It could also be because he is a closet homosexual and he can't come to terms with it.
Holden often mentioned himself as "confused." What was he so confused about though? Also, he described Stradlater, Ackley, and Spencer's bodies a little too vividly. Notice he never really described any of the girls' bodies. He read into Carl Luce and Mr. Antolini as "flits", even though they may have not been. He complained about not being able to "get sexy with a girl" and he did not even have sex with Sunny when he so clearly had the chance to.
Some closet homosexuals that are unhappy with the fact tend to be homophobic. Holden was afraid to sleep sometimes because he was afraid to wake up and be gay. These feelings can fuel up and make them hate on everything, expecially other homosexuals. There was a couple theories of Hitler being a closet gay, since he sent all homosexuals to concentration camps.
If J.D. Salinger did intend for Holden to be gay, he did a better job at expressing it than J.K. Rowling did. In 2006 J.K. Rowling randomly mentions that Dumbledore has been gay all these years. The thing is there really is not much proof for this. He mentions once about his relationship with his "friend" Grindelwald. He also ties his beard with a little ribbon, which kind of makes him look like he's going to Hogwart's senior prom.
Holden often mentioned himself as "confused." What was he so confused about though? Also, he described Stradlater, Ackley, and Spencer's bodies a little too vividly. Notice he never really described any of the girls' bodies. He read into Carl Luce and Mr. Antolini as "flits", even though they may have not been. He complained about not being able to "get sexy with a girl" and he did not even have sex with Sunny when he so clearly had the chance to.
Some closet homosexuals that are unhappy with the fact tend to be homophobic. Holden was afraid to sleep sometimes because he was afraid to wake up and be gay. These feelings can fuel up and make them hate on everything, expecially other homosexuals. There was a couple theories of Hitler being a closet gay, since he sent all homosexuals to concentration camps.
If J.D. Salinger did intend for Holden to be gay, he did a better job at expressing it than J.K. Rowling did. In 2006 J.K. Rowling randomly mentions that Dumbledore has been gay all these years. The thing is there really is not much proof for this. He mentions once about his relationship with his "friend" Grindelwald. He also ties his beard with a little ribbon, which kind of makes him look like he's going to Hogwart's senior prom.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Bloggin' on Holden
"I wrote about my brother Allie's baseball mitt. He's dead now. You'd have liked him. He was terrifically intelligent. He was the nicest and he never got mad at anybody. People with red hair are supposed to get mad easily, but Allie never did, and he had very red hair. He watched me play golf behind a fence. That's the kind of red hair he had."
I chose this scene because I feel like Allie was the only thing in Holden's life that made him happy. It seems like he doesn't really like his parents much, and he thinks that D.B. is a prostitute. The way he talks about Allie makes it seem like they were best friend. Throughout this whole part, he didn't say one swear word. This I think was a sign of being genuine. It definately got the readers attention.
He wrote about his brother's baseball glove for Stradlater's composition. When Stradlater reads this, he gets furious, and Holden just kind of brushes it off. Salinger is trying to make the reader feel sorry for him. Stradlater calls it a "goddam baseball glove" and tells Holden that he always gets things "backasswards." Holden just told us about something that meant a lot to him, and Stradlater was a total a-hole about it.
I chose this scene because I feel like Allie was the only thing in Holden's life that made him happy. It seems like he doesn't really like his parents much, and he thinks that D.B. is a prostitute. The way he talks about Allie makes it seem like they were best friend. Throughout this whole part, he didn't say one swear word. This I think was a sign of being genuine. It definately got the readers attention.
He wrote about his brother's baseball glove for Stradlater's composition. When Stradlater reads this, he gets furious, and Holden just kind of brushes it off. Salinger is trying to make the reader feel sorry for him. Stradlater calls it a "goddam baseball glove" and tells Holden that he always gets things "backasswards." Holden just told us about something that meant a lot to him, and Stradlater was a total a-hole about it.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Rolemodels in Childhood
Sisters are supposed to be best friends I guess. That's what they always say at least. This was not my case though. They spent most of their time just laughing at me because I was so much younger than them. They were in college when I was in seventh grade, which is the year I had to leave my home town and move to a whole new place: McFarland. I had absolutely no one: expecially not a sister that could be my friend. For about three years, I felt lost in McFarland. I was too ashamed to be myself, and I hardly knew anyone that shared the same interests as me. I went year after year, being this person that I truly wasn't. I used to dress a certain way each year to try and make someone think I was cool. I failed though. Until one year I met this girl, two grades ahead of me: and she was everything I wanted to be. She was artistic, pretty, amazing singing, amazing on stage, and incredibly intelligent. It wasn't long until we became best friends. Sadly, only about a year and half later after we met, she went to college. Now I talk to her about three times a month. It's really sad how things changed so fast like that. But I'm still thankful that I got to meet her. She helped me find out who I really was. That is when children take their step into adulthood. When they figure out who they are and how they want people to think of them. Some people find out on their own, but other people get by with a little help from their friends.
Visions Of Childhood
Each of the stories depicted childhood and adolescence in an interesting way. They showed that children are able to learn from their parents, whether it's acting like them or opposite. Most of the stories had the theme of growing up to fast. In Sutton Pie Safe, the father plays an active role in his son's life, and tries to teach him that no money value can pay for the idea of family. Every Little Hurricane, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? and For Esme all have the common idea of growing up too fast because of your family life. Bottlecaps was simply a short reflection on what the average child would do, which would be having collections.
A movie that depicts childhood in an interesting way is Little Miss Sunshine. It is a story about a dysfunctional family who drives to New Mexico in a broken down VW bus in order for 8 year old Olive to perform in the "Little Miss Sunshine" beauty pageant. Olive is a pleasantly plump girl who wears large glasses and has a very interesting sense of style. All of the rest of the little girls who perform in the pageant are tiny, airbrushed, and have perfect hair and teeth. Olive definately stands out. Her older brother is very against her doing this pageant because he thinks that it is very corrupt. Olive's mom tells him that this is what she loves and that she should be able to express herself, no matter what it is. Olive performs a very risque rendition of "Superfreak." The pageant officials try to get her off the stage, but the family supports Olive by getting up and dancing ridiculously with her.
Although this doesn't directly relate to any of the stories we read, I think it's parallel with the concepts the stories were getting at. Olive wants to be a pageant girl and be pretty. She's trying to grow up too fast. It also gets at the idea of family. Her father is going bankrupt, her uncle just tried to commit suicide, her brother won't speak, her grandpa snorts heroine, and her mom fails to keep them all happy. Despite all of their problems, they teach Olive to do what she loves, and forget what anyone else thinks.
A movie that depicts childhood in an interesting way is Little Miss Sunshine. It is a story about a dysfunctional family who drives to New Mexico in a broken down VW bus in order for 8 year old Olive to perform in the "Little Miss Sunshine" beauty pageant. Olive is a pleasantly plump girl who wears large glasses and has a very interesting sense of style. All of the rest of the little girls who perform in the pageant are tiny, airbrushed, and have perfect hair and teeth. Olive definately stands out. Her older brother is very against her doing this pageant because he thinks that it is very corrupt. Olive's mom tells him that this is what she loves and that she should be able to express herself, no matter what it is. Olive performs a very risque rendition of "Superfreak." The pageant officials try to get her off the stage, but the family supports Olive by getting up and dancing ridiculously with her.
Although this doesn't directly relate to any of the stories we read, I think it's parallel with the concepts the stories were getting at. Olive wants to be a pageant girl and be pretty. She's trying to grow up too fast. It also gets at the idea of family. Her father is going bankrupt, her uncle just tried to commit suicide, her brother won't speak, her grandpa snorts heroine, and her mom fails to keep them all happy. Despite all of their problems, they teach Olive to do what she loves, and forget what anyone else thinks.
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