IUPENGL121GoodaleSarah

Invisible Man

2005-04-24T19:15:00.000-07:00

This is without a doubt my favorite book of the semester. It deals with our history and I love reading about history for some reason it just intrigues me. The book was also a more realistic type book too. It didn't have like fantasy type things going on, it wasn't predictable, and there weren't really any deaths in it either.

The story is about this guy who has hidden himself from the public and essentially become "Invisible" with still being physically visible. It tells you how he became this way from his graduation from high school all the way until now. He was a very niave boy who didn't really understand when people were making fun of him or using him to their advantage. Once he moves to New York it seems as though he doesn't want to be recognized as being from the South or for being African American. He tries to surround himself with a majority of white people because he idolizes them and wishes that he could be like them, or at least that is what I get from the situations. At some point the narrator stops trying to please the brotherhood and starts trying to do what's right only then does he realize that he would rather die for his own causes then what anyone else tells him to fight for whether it be the Brotherhood or Ras.

House of Spirits

2005-04-21T14:02:00.000-07:00

I was conflicted about The House of Spirits I liked it, but I didn't like it too. I didn't like the way Clara was developed in the story. Just the fact that she apparently had all these abilities and was capable of doing so much was very unrealistic and unbelievable. She also never really had to accept responsibility in her life. There was always someone there to take care of the stuff that she needed to do or complete. Its hard to believe that her children actually had a bond with her because it seems as though she was never really there and was always in a daze. Her sister Rosa also was confusing to its hard to believe the way she looked when she was alive and then when she dies everyone says how she turned into a mermaid until you hear Clara's version which describes her as being a normal human being with two legs.

Besides those two characters the rest of the ones in the book all seemed to take predictable and very believable roles in the book. I thought it was interesting how the later half of the book was actually based on actual events in history that was actually very interesting to me. I liked that part of the book because this part was actually true and you knew that it had actually happened.

Antigone

2005-04-21T12:53:00.000-07:00

Antigone is about a girl Antigone and her family. Antigone betrays her father because she wants her brother buried underground after he is killed in the war, but her father doesn't want him buried. The punishment for breaking her father's will is that she should be killed. The play ends with Antigone killing herself. Once Antigone kills herself her fiance then kills himself. Upon hearing of the deaths of Antigone and her fiance Antigone's mom slits her throat. The king is left by himself, but its a little disturbing that the king doesn't seem to be upset by this and continues on with his work. I thought that this play was good it was better than the Blood Wedding.

Blood Wedding

2005-04-21T11:56:00.000-07:00

When I start reading this play I knew how the story was going to end up almost right away. The play had lots of parts that reminded me of Romeo and Juliet, although not exactly the same story line it is very similar. I guess I didn't like it just because of the fact that it was like Romeo and Juliet and that has been overdone so much. You knew that people were going to die in the end of the play.

The play is about Leonardo and the bride. The bride is about ready to get married when Leonardo decides that he wants her back, although the bride doesn't really love either of the two men she chooses Leonardo as the lesser of the two evils. This of course results in a fight between the groom and Leonardo which inevitably leads to death.

Gregorio Cortez

2005-04-21T00:12:00.000-07:00

Gregorio Cortez is a famous legend told in Mexico. It is about a man who kills the sheriff in defense of his family, which is among the most honorable things a man can do. It talks about how the murder is misunderstood by the other people and that they set out on a manhunt to catch Gregorio Cortez, but he is to good for them.

This story in Mexico along with many others was told by word of mouth through a song. As you can imagine when you spread something through the word of mouth it is almost like whisper down the lane. People hear different things and the story is changed around and different variations of the story are created. The story reminds me of fairy tales that you use to hear when you grew up. It is quite neat to see all the different versions and then choose the one that you like to hear the best.

Yellow Wallpaper

2005-02-02T01:58:00.000-08:00

There are two quotes from this story that I felt basically told my understanding of what happened in the story.
"John is a physician, and perhaps that is the reason I do not get well faster."
"I've got out at last" said I, "in spite of you and Jane. And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!"
When the story starts out with the first entry in her journal it talks about how she is unhealthy mentally and she needs to get better, but through her entry as she writes you can clearly see that there is nothing wrong with her. That she seems to be the contrary quite healthy. She hints in the first quote that maybe her husband is actually trying to make her sick and handicapped, because why else would someone who is married to a physician be slower to recover from an illness then someone who is not.
As her entries continue she slowly begins to develop signs of a mental illness. She starts to contradict herself and later ends up having hallucinations. As these things start happening she talks about how her husband tells her that she is getting better. When it is clear that she is not. It gives me the impression that he is purposely making her sick, so that he can have total control over her. It is clear from the beginning that he is a very controlling man and that he usually gets his way.
By the end it seems as though she has gone completely crazy. She rips the wallpaper off the wall. When she says the second quote abover to her husband, it's as though she is breaking free from her husband's grip. She locks him out of the room, so that he can't get in and she is free to do whatever.

Douglass Narrative

2005-02-02T01:30:00.000-08:00

Douglass's account of slavery in the U.S. is one of the most enthralling accounts of slavery I have ever read. Perhaps because of the fact that it was coming straight from the mouth of someone who had been a slave and experienced slavery first hand. You knew his stories were true because he was the one of the only people that could tell the world what was really going on. He wanted people to be disturbed by what they heard and to realize that slavery was wrong.
Douglass's accounts of the beatings were what touched home to me the most. Just thinking about how these things actually happened and aren't fictional bares so much weight on the conscience. It makes me wish I could have done something to stop it anything.