ceremony

Summary- the first thing we see when opening Ceremony are the three poems. Mostly about the Spider Woman and how she created the world and tells stories. The book actually starts with us learning about Tayo is sick. through several flash backs we learn things like he has been in a mental ward for some time and is now returning to his home. Also that his father figure Josiah is now dead and so is his cousin, who was like a brother to him, Rocky. We do not know the cause of his sickness just that he feels responsible for the drought that has hit his land. He believes this because he was holding onto Rocky by a sheet and the rain almost killed them all so he prayed for the rain to go away and now he believes that it has. Tayo’s grandma believe that the white man medicine will not help him and that he needs traditional ways to be cured so she brings a medicine man to try and heal him. It is here that we find out that many others who came back from the war are also having problems. We find out through many flash backs that Tayo’s mother slept with a white man and that Tayo is half white. he was taken in by his aunt who had a son about the same age, Rocky. She always wanted the best for Rocky and sort of looked down on Tayo because he was half white. Rocky has kind of strayed from the traditional ways at this point, but his mother doesn’t seem to mind all that much because she wants Rocky to be the best. When Rocky and Tayo sign up for the army tayo tells his aunt that he will look after Rocky and wont let him die. But he did. Tayo leaves the reservation with a friend named Harley when he flashs back to a moment were he almost killed another man, Emo. Emo talks about how Tayo thinks he is better than them because he is white and alway talks about how many white women he has slept with. He also thinks that the white people have taken everything from them and so they should sleep with their white women. Tayo leaves the bar for a moment and when he returns Harley is gone and walks all the way back to Harley’s barn where he sleeps for the night. At this point Robert, Tayo’s uncle takes im to see a different medicine man who might be able to help. The medicine man tells him he has to complete a ceremony and Tayo realizes this is the kind of treatment the white doctors did not want for him. Tayo confesses to him that he thinks Emo might be right in saying the whites have taken everything from the Indians. But he says that whites are mistaken they cannot own land and whites are a plague released by the witches. The medicine man, Betonie and his helper Shush and Tayo go to a mountain to spend the night, there Betonie performs the ceremony on Tayo. Tayo thinks it is starting to work and wants to pay Batonie but he refuses the money. Tayo starts to walk home but is picked up by Harley and some friends who have been drinking they all stop at a bar and Tayo falls asleep. He is awoken by Harley and Leroy fighting and he drives them back and on the way becomes sick again. He realizes that he needs to become in touch with his people again. Some how Tayo is at a woman’s house and she invites him in for supper. Tayo had followed the stars Betonie had told him about to this place. He spends the night and she makes him breakfast in the morning while he feeds his horses. He goes off in search of Josiah’s cattle from his dreams following Betonie’s instructions. He tries brings them home to follow through with Josiah’s plans but some patrol men notice him. They m=plan to take him in but get distracted by a mountain lion. On his way back he meets a man that is not Laguna but knows their ways and he talks and walks with him back to the woman’s house. Tayo gets the cattle back to the ranch and realizes that the bad dreams were due to his sense of loss after the war. He meets back up with the woman at the ranch with the cattle. They spend the summer together up there while she is collecting plants. Robert tells Tayo about Emo and how he is spreading rumors Tayo is crazy. Robert suggests he goes back home but Tayo does not. He talks about destruction and how his ceremony will help prevent that. She tells him that the police and Emo are coming for him and that he should hide. Emo tries to get Tayo to come out by beating his friends and Tayo almost kills him but comes to his senses. Tayo and the old medicine man perform the ceremony to rid the word of evil. Harley and Leroy are found dead and that Emo has killed pinkie. The book ends with a poem about how the witch is dead... for now.

R and G are dead

Summary- Nothing really spectacular happens they are summoned to help hamlet and in the beginning they keep getting heads when they flip a coin. they run into a roaming group of actors on the way and have  a weird encounter. Suddenly they are at Hamlets castle talking to the king and queen about hamlet. they try to talk to him but they really get nowhere. In the end they find Hamlet once he has killed Palonius but they don't actually help. Then they get sent with Hamlet to England and then find some of the actors inside a barrel. They have instructions to tell the king of England to kill Hamlet but Hamlet finds out and switches the letter with a different one that tells him to kill Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. After that they are attacked by pirates and Hamlet escapes. Then they end up dead in the same spot as the actors were.

Characters-
Ros.- Care free light, light hearted.always getting his name confused. He is a friend of Hamlet and trying to figure out whats wrong with him.
Guild.- meaner always yelling at Ros. He is a friend of Hamlet's too and helping Ros. figure out whats wrong with Hamlet.
Player- God figure. Always seems to know more then he is letting on. He likes to please others.
Hamlet- acting strange because of his fathers reappearance. They were asked to help him by the king and queen.

Symbols-
Coin- I thought that the coin might symbolize that everything is predetermined throughout the play. Kind of that they are trapped in the play.

Important Quotes- "A man talking sense to himself is no madder then a man talking Nonsense not to himself."

Setting- Nowhere, Hamlets castle, a boat.

Author- Tom Stoppard

THeme- Everything is predetermind. They are trapped in this play and can't break free of that. Tom Stoppard is kind of making them go around in circles throughout the play.

prompt revision

1973. An effective literary work does not merely stop or cease; it concludes. In the view of some critics, a work that does not provide the pleasure of significant closure has terminated with an artistic fault. A satisfactory ending is not, however, always conclusive in every sense; significant closure may require the reader to abide with or adjust to ambiguity and uncertainty. In an essay, discuss the ending of a novel or play of acknowledged literary merit. Explain precisely how and why the ending appropriately or inappropriately concludes the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.

In the end of the play the Death Of a Salesman the main character, Willy, dies supposedly having killed himself. This I think inappropriately concludes the play. After a long fight with his youngest son Biff they made up and then suddenly he is dead. The book was about Willy and his relationship with his family and just as him and his son had started to get along he killed himself. He had ust gone through a tough fight with Biff then at the end Biff finally tries to tell him that he can’t be what Willy wants and we see that Willy is staring to understand him but then he decides it would be a good idea to go kill himself.
The end of the play is a scene at his funeral in which nobody has come to except his family. This was also anticlimactic because throughout the whole play Willy is talking about how much he is liked and his connection and friends. Also about how important it is for Biff to be welled liked in life. Then nobody shows up signaling the reader to the fact that he was not well liked at all and making us realize that is why he was unable to make any money.

response to course material...

We have read hamlet. And well that was fun. It was hard to annotate but fun the read and I enjoyed rereading the book. But not annotating. I was just thinking about what else we did this time and really don't think we did anything else because hamlet was so hard. And long. And boring. 

We also had our final which was a lot more fun then i thought it would be. Since it wasn't just a repeat of the terms test. I actually enjoyed taking a scene from Hamlet and breaking it down and analyzing how it can be interpreted differently. We also had to act and to my surprise a lot of people could. I was also surprised that I could tell all of the differences in the scene that other people presented. And it was interesting to see how other people interpreted the scenes.

Still on Hamlet, kind of. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead I was gone during most of the reading but I have been catching up. Its a really funny book. really exploiting the limits of a play. Especially the part where he screams fire and says that he's just showing the limits of free speech.

Hamlet

Plot-
Hamlets Father died and visits him as a ghost. He tells Hamlet that he was poisoned by the new king his brother who has stolen the crown and the queen. Hamlet in a rage of anger sets a plan to kill the king. He acts crazy as he plots to kill the king. he sets up a play where the truth is revealed about what the king really did to get the crown. This makes his mother very up set and she asks to see Hamlet and while they are talking Hamlet kills a Polonius thinking it is the king. The son Laertes of Polonius becomes very up set on hearing that his father is dead and swears revenge on who ever killed him. the king lays out a plan to kill Hamlet through Laertes' anger. Laertes challenges Hamlet to a duel while the king plants a poison in Hamlets drink. The queen drinks from the poisoned cup and dies while Hamlet finds out that he has been poisoned by Laertes' sword and Laertes has also been poisoned by his own sword. Hamlet is so up set at his mothers death he stabs the king with the poisoned sword and forces him to drink from the poisoned cup. And in the end they all die. Then Fortinbras becomes king.


Characters-
Hamlet- son of old hamlet nephew to the knew king claudius. Wants revenge on hearing that the king killed his father for his mother and his crown. In love with Ophelia but cant marry her because she is below him. Kills polonius which is Laertes father which sparks the duel.

Ghost- Ghost of old hamlet tells Hamlet that the king has poisoned his father and to take revenge on him.

Claudius- knew king, and as far as the ghost has said is the murderer of old Hamlet and stole the queen and the crown.

Gertrude- was married to old Hamlet now married to the claudius and mother of  Hamlet
Ophelia- Sister of Laertes. In love with Hamlet but cant marry him. Goes crazy and is suspected to have had sex with Hamlet.

Horatio- Hamlets best friend and faithful servent. It is though that Hamlet and Horatio have a secret love but I don't know if I believe that.

Laertes- son of Polonius brother to Ophelia. When he hears about his fathers death wants to kill the man who did it. Kills Hamlet and is killed by his own stupidity.


Symbols-
The Skull- symbolized that death is inevitable and how all things come to it.


Setting- Denmark, Medieval period.

close reading

http://sundial.csun.edu/2012/11/p-day-arguments-for-who-should-win-the-election-tonight/

This Article is about how the US still needs Obama. the author uses many different techniques to make the reader take their side.
They use a lot of Imagery telling us to relax about Obama winning. They say that the "Obama administration should crack open a few beers and relax – this is no contest." giving us the image of relaxation and letting us feel that he will win.
They list a lot of details on why they think Obama should be president like the recession, how his foreign policies and military cuts will help, and also his position on health care.
The most used technique i believe would be the diction. They are really for Obama and are trying to get you to have the same opinion by boosting him up.

Open Prompt number....

1973. An effective literary work does not merely stop or cease; it concludes. In the view of some critics, a work that does not provide the pleasure of significant closure has terminated with an artistic fault. A satisfactory ending is not, however, always conclusive in every sense; significant closure may require the reader to abide with or adjust to ambiguity and uncertainty. In an essay, discuss the ending of a novel or play of acknowledged literary merit. Explain precisely how and why the ending appropriately or inappropriately concludes the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.

In the end of the play the Death Of a Salesman the main character, Willy, dies supposedly having killed himself. This I think inappropriately concludes the play. After a long fight with his youngest son Biff they made up and then suddenly he is dead. The end of the play is a scene at his funeral in which nobody has come to except his family. This play a huge part because Willy has been going on throughout the whole book about how well liked he is bet then nobody shows up signaling the reader to the fact that he was not well liked at all and making us realize that is why he was unable to make any money.

Death of a Salesman

Plot- 

The Play starts with us seeing Willy come home, we find out that Willy's sons Biff and Happy who are grown men have come home. Willy has high Hopes for his son Biff but throughout the dream we realize that his dreams are not what Biff wants. Willy is downstairs and starts having one of his many flashbacks and is talking to himself so loudly it wakes up the others. At this point Linda Willy's wife explains to her son's that they are having trouble with money. Willy joins the real conversation and starts to fight with Biff. Happy tells his father that Biff plans to see a man named Oliver to get a loan making Willy very happy and ending the fight. Willy goes to see his boss the next morning to see about not having to travel as much anymore because of his age but everything goes wrong for Willy and he ends up getting fired instead. After being fired Willy goes to his neighbors work and asks to borrow money where we find out that he has been borrowing money for a long time. his neighbor offers him a job but Willy is to proud to take it. Biff went to go see Oliver but things didn't go as planned for him either. Oliver wouldn't see him and Biff out of anger ended up stealing his pen. He tells this to Happy as they wait for their dad in a restaurant Happy tries to talk him out of telling their father. But he does tell Willy the truth and Willy tries to deny it's true and fades into another flash back and the boys leave him there at the restaurant by himself, running off with two girls. In Willy's flashback we find out that Biff found out that Willy had cheated on his Linda. When they get home Linda is really up set about what they had done. This evokes a huge fight where Biff finally tells everyone he can't live up to his fathers expectations. Biff starts to cry in his fathers lap and Willy is surprised by his emotions and realizes that Biff really does love him and is not trying to spite him. In the end Willy kills himself by crashing his car. At his funeral nobody is there and Linda wonders why because Willy was always going on about how well liked he was and how it was important to be well like. the play closes with Linda telling him that she finished the house payments and that they are finally free. 

Significant Quotes-

"And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want. ’Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many different people?" 

This is an Important quote because a major importance for Willy is to be well liked even though his thoughts are diluted and he is not much well liked anymore and is not making enough money.

Characters- 

Linda- Mother of Biff and Happy wife to Willy, he thinks Willy is a wonderful man and deserves a better job and better from his son's.

Willy- Father to Biff and Happy and husband of Linda's also is going a little crazy. Has flashbacks about better days when he is up set. Is a salesman and thinks its the best job in the world. Has dreams for Biff of being super successful but also has suicidal thoughts.

Biff- Son of Willy and Linda's thinks he cannot live up to his fathers expectations or just does not want to. Mad at Willy for pushing these dreams on him and also for cheating on his mother.

Happy- Brother of Biff's son to Willy and Linda. Has the same kind of mind as his father in that he will be successful and well liked one day.

Charley- Willy's next door Neighbor and is in a way Willy's foil. He owns a successful company and is giving Willy money and even offers him a job.

Bernard- Charley's son and is a foil to Biff. He is the successful son going off and doing work his father can be proud of.

Ben- Willy's Brother and is the kind of successful rich man Willy wishes he could be. Willy looks up to him and want to go off with him to work and become rich.

Theme-

One theme of this book is 'The American Dream' and how Willy is always pushing his dream onto his son Biff. Willy's impression of the American dream is to be well liked, attractive and to be successful and wealthy. He thinks that hard work will give you success but in a way his obsession with the American dream is what takes it away from him.

Setting-

1940's, in Brooklyn visiting places like Boston or New York.

Symbols-

Seeds- symbolized the failure of Willy to be a good father and a good worker and put food on the table.

Rubber Hose- symbolized his death and his suicidal thoughts and tendencies.

Stockings- Willy's need to be able to provide for his wife and kids. Also that he cheated on Linda.