Blog 6 The Scarlet Ibis

Another example of a superstition in the story is "if you step on  a crack, you break your mother's back." It is false because I have stepped on cracks before and my mother has never had a broken back.. that I know of. The superstitions helped develop the plot by showing what kind of family they were. I believe in knocking on wood to avoid jinxing anything.

Blog 5 The Man Who Was Almost a Man

1. The narrator is Dave. The story is being told in third person. The dialect is very uneducated.

2. At first she denies it, but then he tells her it only costs two dollars and she agrees to let the family's father possess it. He asked her by convincing her it is a worthy investment by costing only two dollars from "Joe at the sto."

3. Dave begins crying and tells the truth. The crowd laughs.

4. The train represents the change from boyhood to manhood in Dave's eyes.

5. Dave is just very ignorant. He does not possess common sense. This particular society will better off without people like Dave because all he does is bring harm and complaints. The people should be thankful that they do not have to put up wit him anymore.

Blog 4: Lamb to the Slaughter

The ending of this story was not judicially fair. Mrs. Maloney, though I feel bad for her heartbreak, did not have the right to take her husband's life and get away with it.

In today's society, police officers would probably be suspicious if a suspect served them meat right after the husband has gone missing... So, she would probably not have gotten away with the crime. Also, technology has improved so much that almost no criminals go uncharged. It would be way too easy to catch her.

Blog 3 GAC and Cage Reading

In chapters 34-40, many things happened that could have easily instigated the end of Riva's life. The aggressive Nazis were constantly beating her and the other prisoners. Two sisters were caught stealing potato skins from the kitchen. Apparently, they floundered and were caught. Their names were Shane and Faige. All of the girls in the barrack were summoned to watch their punishment. Shane had to beat her own sister. The witnessed could perceive that she had "lost her mind."

Blog 2 Holocaust Dictionary

I was surprised I did not hear of the "Axis" before. I was not shocked when I knew what the "Final Solution" was. The Axis is an alliance between Germany, Italy, Japan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, and Slovakia. They were all agreeing with the Nazis. I did not know all of these country were for the Holocaust. It was surprising. The Final Solution was Hitler's theory to kill all the Jews in order to create a full Aryan population. I know the Final Solution was too horrible to even fathom. There is not even a word equal to the experiences that must have been endured.

Blog 1 Part I Reflection

In Part 1, the part that stood out the most was when the Grubers turned on Riva's family in a split second. They became Volksdeutsche and felt they had duty to fulfill as being partially German. The Grubers had been part of their family ever since Riva's mom was born. Once Hitler came around, they betrayed them. That is so hard to imagine. There are people I've known all my life that I consider family. To think they could turn on me that fast is unbearable to fathom.

Blog 16 News Report on Chapter Four

It is 1939, Lodz, Poland.

Yesterday, we Nazis had to round up a quota of Jews to send to camps. They were only men; we got too many so we just shot the rest in stead of setting them free. They were just Jews though. For fun, we herded everyone in town- the men, women, and children! They were constantly made to run then walk but never stop. It was very amusing. Officer Kutz had to deal with some dumb teenager that refused to acknowledge him. Ungrateful Jew... People were saying, "He is a deaf-mute!"

Also, a good friend of mine pushed down a woman that was about to give birth to another infant Jew. Luckily, she landed right on her stomach. The humor of the situation was only increased when a man tried to help her and one of the SS smacked him on the head with a butt of his gun. "Bam!" Right into two halves. It was almost like art. We took all the captured men and separated them from the children and women. Had it been up to us, they would have all been taken away!

Blog 15 Holocaust Topics and The Cage

a. The Jewish Holocaust took place from 1933 - 1945. It was a brutal genocide of mostly Jews. Adolf Hitler commanded the German Nazis and they killed or arrested basically anyone that was not an Aryan.

b. The Nazi party was a group of strongly anti-semitic Germans. Hitler created and ruled this group.

c. Ruth Minsky Sender was a Holocaust survivor. She is the author of The Cage.

d. Auschwitz, Mittelsteine, and Grafenort were concentration camps. Auschwitz is one of the worst remembered camps. So many innocent lives were taken and the SS army controlled whether or not peopel lived or died.

e. The Cage is a personal memoir by Ruth Minsky Sender. She wrote about her life and included true events as well as true people.

Blog 14 Tots Final Entry

The first time Kate and Petruchio met, Petruchio took her aside and basically told her they were going to be married. He called her beautiful and many other compliments of which had no truth about them. She was infuriated that she could no fend for herself and refuse to marry him. He told Baptista the wedding date was the upcoming Sunday. After they were married, Petruchio tried to control everything in her life. He did not allow her to buy clothes she liked, sleep, or eat.

This is similar to the popular relationship between Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Though Jolie was not known for being a "shrew," and Pitt is not know for being selfish and only into money, there was a great similarity between this couple and Shakespeare's main characters from this play. Jolie was known for her crazy outbursts and antics, but after she starred in Mr. and Mrs. Smith with Pitt, she changed her ways and began to be a responsible adult. Together, they have had (and adopted) many children and raised them with the best intentions. Had it not been for meeting Pitt, Jolie may still have been the irresponsibly reckless young actress she once was.

Blog 13 Katherina's Soliloquy

Lines 171-173: Kate is saying that arguments should not be solved by fighting. She is ashamed of women that think fighting with their husbands is the best solution.

	"I am ashamed that women are so simple
	To offer war where they should kneel for peace;
	Or seek for rule, supremacy and sway
	When they are bound to serve, love, and obey."

Line 82: Kate realized all her fighting was pointless.

"But now I see our lances are but straws."

Lines 185-188: Kate is telling Bianca and the widow to swallow their pride and do what they can for their husbands. she is more than ready to respect Petruchio.

	"Then vail your stomachs, for it is no boot,
	And place your hands below your husband's foot:
	In token of which duty, if he please,
	My hand is ready, may it do him ease."

In her speach, Katherina never mentions women's rights or her formerly stubborn ways. She has been tamed.

Blog 12 TOTS Act IV

Curtis,

Petruchio was acting that way to teach Katherine a lesson. He is taming the shrew. She is being scared into humble submission by his actions. He is "breaking" her, in a sense. When a horse is bad, they are broken by a professional in order to be controlled. They are usually broken by frightening or hurting them. That is precisely what Petruchio is doing in order to tame Katherine.

Petruchio's change in personality is an act. He is only pretending to be so openly heartless in order to frighten Katherine. She will learn to obey him if he is intimidating. If he was acting calm around her, she would try to take advantage of him; she would not be tamed. He needs to teach her she cannot be a shrew and complain and whine about everything.

Blog 11 TOTS

1. A Blank Verse has no set rhythm or rhyme or pattern. It is in Iambic Pentameter à line length broken into five feet. One foot is 2 syllables. An example is "I'll feeze you in faith."

2. a) "But wait! What time is it?"

b) "You are loevelier and calmer."

c) If you did it when you were supposed to, it would have been done already!"

d) When you 'woo' someone without thinking first, then when you get married it is in vain."

Thou art a jaded, shrill-gorged minimus!

Blog 10 TKAM

How can this trial even be occurring? It is so immoral of the Ewells. Then again, what else is expected from those trashy poor folk? Ugh... How dumb do they think we are?

Her bruises are on her right side of her face; Mr. Ewell is left-handed! Does Tom Robinson have a left hand? No! Wow. This is insane. Anyway, I think the rest of the jurors here are in serious denial. All of Maycomb county is in denial. This is too much to handle!

Blog 9 TKAM

Yes, I would take the case. I would ever be a lawyer in real life because I would defend people for moral reasons rather than the amount of my paycheck. So, I would not make any money. I would feel horrible for making no attempt at saving the life of an innocent man. I am a generally trusting person and it would affect my choices on my clients. My defense would basically be me yelling at the plaintiff for lying and trying very hard to prove all the reasons they would lie.

This is similar to TKAM's situation because Atticus has to defend a black man accused of rape. Worst of all, the "victim" is a white girl. Back then, African Americans had very little rights compared to Caucasians. It is going to be very difficult to defend him.

Blog 8 NYT Article and OMAM

1. They were both took place during recessions.

2. If the US believes we will recover quickly and completely, it will create a psychosomatic case in which the people will not panic and maybe the economy will improve dramatically.

3. In OMAM the money earned goes to a whorehouse. It is similar because when people feel they have nothing to lose, they cannot control what they waste.

Blog 7 OMAM

The boss thinks that George is taking Lennie's money and that's why Lennie is not allowed to talk. So, the boss tries to get Lennie to talk and George says Lennie is shy and they are cousins and Lennie fell off a horse.

Blog 6 Beginning of Mice and Men

Steinbeck probably gave their descriptions first to give a visual to the reader. George is described as a little man and Lennie is rather large to explain that they are polar opposites. George has a large heart even though he is mentally disabled.

Blog 5 Myths

1. The final spite was foreboding. If it was released to the world, everyone would know what was going to happen to them. They would see all their misfortunes ahead of time.

2. Another "ill" in the box was insanity. If Pandora had opened her box and let insanity, with the other "ills" run free, everybody in the world would go completely crazy.

Blog 4 Myths

1. Hera was disappointed because her son was shriveled and ugly. She threw him of Mt Olympus.

2. A playful naiad named Thetis saved Hephaestus.

3. She changed her mind about her son because Hephaestus was killed while making jewelry. Hera saw this jewelry. He became a smith god. 

4. Apollo is the best looking god. Hephaestus was a very ugly god. His mother hardly loved him.

Blog 1 Myths

1. Metis was a titaness. His attraction to her was unusual because she was the daughter of his old enemy.

2. It represents Metis and Zeus conceiving a child.

3. Zeus ate Metis, and then got a head ache. He split his head open and Athene was born.

4. The moral was "do not show hubris."