Matthew Vandervort

The Invisible Man

2005-04-24T19:53:00.000-07:00

I feel very deeply that the issues touched upon in this novel are very much still current views. Also, just as the narrator searches for his "identity" with his friends, with the college he attends and in the brotherhood. It seems funny that our generation does the same thing. It's not easy making a transition from high school into college ... sometimes you don't know a single person in the new town/school you're at. It's very hard to find exactly where you belong and what "identity" to assume. However, I admire the courage the narrator shows throughout this novel.

Ethnic issues discussed in the novel are definately still around. However, it seems as if there are still a lot of ignorant people out there that still look down upon difference races and such. It's pretty sad that we still all just can't get along. It seems that after 9/11 racial profiling has stepped up in the United States. Of course the people of the U.S are going to be angry and judgemental to people that look muslim/middle eastern. The homosexuals of the United States are also under heavy discrimination. I just think we as people need to work through these issues of race, it's really no big deal. Just because another human being was born in a different country and looks a little bit different than you. If we can overlook the issue of race, I think our country will flourish once again.

The House of Spirits

2005-03-28T19:39:00.000-08:00

Ideology and The House of Spirits play a crucial role with each other. Before I had read through the Toolbox, I had an extremely hard time understanding what the world/and concept "ideology" really meant. Ideology can be defined as "the study of ideas."

Esteban Treuba's views on his life and the world around him differ very much from the regular person. Esteban is very judgemental -- discriminates heavily against different classes in society. Looks down upon the peasants, however, I belive he's too quick to forget where he came from. Esteban seems like a very intelligent and noble man to the reader, however, when you look deeper into the character Allende was trying to bring out, you see a corrupt and hateful man. Esteban also doesn't want people in his village to get "access" to the outside world. He allows for no new ideas to be brought into the village.

Overall, I'm glad that I've found out exactly what it means to understand ideology. It was a tougher concept at first, but now I can actually apply it to the reading and gain some new information from it.

Question for Duplesis

2005-03-14T14:52:00.000-08:00

The first question I'd ask it'd be why does she use the format that she uses. It's very interesting to me, and seems to go against the grain of the usual poetry scheme. The second question I'd ask is if she sat down and planned out just exactly what she wrote and if she used some sort of time scheudle to keep herself on task. As a newbie writer I've come to know how hard it is to sit down and write without a plan. Those are just a few of the many questions I'd ask Rachael.

Antigone

2005-03-01T14:44:00.000-08:00

Antigone is a very dedicated and loving sister -- after all she is willing to sacrifice her own life and well being to give her brother a proper funeral. Antigone's sister, Ismene, is against the whole idea and wants Antigone to have no part in messing with the law. Ismene fully understands that if Antigone is caught she will be put to death by Kreon. This is simply because her brother was a trader and disowned their country.

Antigone goes ahead with her plan and sprinkles dust over her brothers body. King Kreon catches wind of this and Antigone is sentenced to death. This causes some drama because Kreon's son Harmon, is Antigone's fiance. A lot of family drama equals a good read. Anyways, Antigone eventually hangs herself, ending the story.

Over all I liked it, however I was unclear in some parts about certain characters. I'd definately recommend this read to anyone.

The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez

2005-02-19T20:42:00.000-08:00

The story was good ... at times, however I felt that I was drifting off at times. This story just didn't "do it for me." It lacked something, I just can't put my finger on it. However, I'm just happy to be done with it. Too many variations for my liking.

The variations however annoying were kind of interesting. It was neat to see that stories that are passed down sometimes get twisted and tangled. In some variations you'd see a whole different town names, different bounty prices for Cortez, and the Mexican vs. American scenes. These had all been "changed" in the variations.

We played a game called "telephone" in class a day before we had begun reading this story. Dr. Sherwood told someone a "secret" and the object was for that secret to be passed around the room person by person. You could only whisper it to the person next to you so no one else hears it. After it went around the room the final "secret" was completely different than what was first told. This shows you how mixed up things can get as they are passed down. Maybe this whole Cortez story has been misheard. Who knows ... ?

Overall it was a DECENT story, wouldn't read it again for fun that's for sure.

Blood Wedding

2005-02-09T20:32:00.000-08:00

"I'd like it if you were a woman. Then you wouldn't be going out to the arroyo now and we'd both be embroidering flounces and little woolly dogs." (p. 35 paragraph 5)

I find this quote fairly amusing. This is the mother speaking to the bridegroom in regards to him being a woman instead of the big hulky man he is in the present. She is moaning and groaning because he asked for a knife so he could go to the vineyard. She doesn't like that because her husband and her first son had been killed in knife fights. She doesn't want the bridegroom to have this kind of fate. But ohhh ... the irony.

At the wedding of the bride and the bridegroom it is Leonardo whom interupts the whole deal. See, Leonardo was once ingaged to the bride but things went sour and the broke ties. He had been secretly visiting her on his horse watching outside her house. After the wedding, the bride says she is tired and heads off to bed. Leonardo and the bride secretly run off with each other on Leonardo's horse.

The play ends in a very dramatic fight scene. The bridegroom and Leonardo have it out once and for all. In the end, both men kill each other leaving the bride all alone. Maybe that's not sure a bad thing afterall?

In general I liked the play a lot. It was interesting/intriguing and it had a lot of irony which I enjoyed. If I had to recommend it I would.

The Awakening

2005-01-29T13:10:00.000-08:00

Well to be honest with you all, I absolutely hated this book. I thought it was dry, I thought it wasn't very developed and I thought it was too short. I would have liked the book more if there were more details about what exactly was going through Edna's head through the entire thing. However, this book did make me think a lot.

In the beginning it seemed as if Edna was very confused as she didn't know exactly what it was that she wanted. It appeared as if she was confused with her life and tried to find exactly what she wanted/needed throughout the entire book. Edna married her husband not out of love but for money. Also, Edna didn't care for her children as most mothers do. She seemed "disconnected" from them, not the motherly figure that I would have expected.

Edna also had a struggle in finding true love. Like I had said earlier, she married for money and not for love, which in my opinion is a horrible idea -- not that it wouldn't be nice, it's just not right to marry someone without being "in love" with them. But alas, she meets Robert, "the supposed man of her dreams." However, she decides that she wants to be alone. She then goes on to kill herself, drowning in the ocean. I think the symbolism the other is trying to make here is a sort of "cleansing" that the ocean brings.

Overall, I disliked the book, I mean it wasn't all that great. It made me think too hard, but what can you do?

"The Yellow Wallpaper"

2005-01-22T19:52:00.000-08:00

Who else feels weird and demented after reading this, this ... I don't even know what to call it. I'm just so frusterated with this reading, it just doesn't make sense. I found myself getting bored and zoning out into space, however, I snapped myself out of it after I discovered I was touching the wallpaper in front of me.

What I'm getting from this, is that the woman who is writing this (Gilman) is really writing about herself. I don't think this is a work of fiction, I actually believe it's a look into the mental stability of Gilman herself. Throughout the readings it seems as the woman who is helplessly locked in her attic doesn't quite "grasp" what's happening to her. Could she be considered a prisioner? I think so.

Her husband who shall remain nameless, has many restraints placed on her throughout the story. However, I don't think she wants to believe this notion. Strange? I think so. Although maybe it's not all her fault that she slips deeper into her weird/and strange behaviors. Her bed is nailed to the floor, and her windows have bars over them. Then mysterically as she peers into the wallpaper she sees a woman. The woman is also imprisioned by bars, how likely. I felt that her husband and the wallpaper and the mysterious woman all were connected in some sort of manner.

Overall, the reading was decent. I mean I felt weird and strange after reading it -- now my wallpaper is talking to me and looking at me. :shrugs: Who knows.

Big Ole' Douglass, The Narrative

2005-01-20T19:32:00.000-08:00

It's very interesting to me, that this man, a slave, taught himself how to read and write; and now we're reading his book. You can't help but admire this man and his courage. Now let's be real here, it wasn't an easy task for him to teach himself how to read and write. He recieved a lot of harsh criticism for trying to do so, but he continued onward. Farther into his book he talks about living in the city and making friends with poor white boys, who would eventually be the ones helping to teach him. He would play little tricks on the children, just to try and learn new words.

Unfortunately, it wasn't all this easy for Douglass. In Chapter 7, he goes on to talk about how hard his life really is. "I often found myself regretting my own exsistance, and wishing myself dead ... " however, he kept persuing his dream of freedom no matter how great the cost.

I personally loved this narrative. It showed us the struggle between his inner conflicts and his utmost burning desires. I loved it and would recommend this to any reader, avid or not. Overall, I'd have to give him an "A" for effort.