Father and Son

Fences by August Wilson- Act 1, Scene 4

A theme that sticks out to me in this scene as well as earlier in the play is the tension between Cory and Troy. On the bottom of pg. 49 Troy mentions how upset he is with Cory. This leads to a discussion with Lyons and Bono about his (Troy's) relationship with his own father as well as the lack of relationship Bono had with his father. 

Lyon's defends Cory's behavior when he says to his father, "Cory just growing up. He just busting at the seams trying to fill your shoes." (50). Troy does not agree with this statement as he does not approve of Cory disobeying him. 

The scene ends with Troy talking to Cory about him telling the football coach that his son can no longer play on the team anymore. Troy defends his actions by implying that his son deserved it when he says, "I ain't done nothing to you. You done it to yourself." (57). He explains that Cory made a mistake, "I'm gonna tell you what your mistake was. See... you swung at the ball and didn't hit it. That's strike one. See you in the batter's box now. You swung and you missed. That's strike one. Don't you strike out." (58). 

How does what Troy did (telling the football coach that Cory cannot play football) fall into the theme of dreams deferred? 

Death, that strange being

Their Eyes Were Watching God, Chapters 7-9

In my opinion, the most powerful passage in these three chapters was the one on page 84 where death is personified.

"So Janie began to think of Death. Death, that strange being with the huge square toes who lived way in the west. The great one who lived in the straight house like a platform without sides to it, and without a roof. What need has Death for a cover, and what winds can blow against him? ..." (Hurston 84)

It is at that moment in the novel that Janie realizes that Jody is dying. It seems that she doesn't know how she should react to his death. In some ways, she is shocked, but she is also "sad and afraid too." But what she really wants to do, is go in there and have a "good talk" with him. Even though Jody is dying, Janie is still extremely hurt because of the way he treated her. She has to talk herself into visiting him, and telling him how she feels.

Black Boy- Chapters 10 and 11

Chapter 10

In Chapter 10, Richard struggles to support himself finacially, as it is y hard for him to find a good paying job becuase of his race. The jobs that he enjoys and feels comfortable working at because they are accepting of African Americans, such as the job at the hotel, do not pay very well. As shown not only in this chapter, but throughout earlier chapters in his autobiography, as well, Richard takes it very personally when he is treated differently because he is black. At one of his jobs, working at the theatre, Richard acts out of character, and comes up with a way to make more money by doing something illegal.

Do you think that Richard makes duplicates of the tickets solely to make extra money? Or do you think that there is an additional reason to why he does this?

Chapter 11

Mrs. Moss and Richard view people very differently. Richard is afraid to trust people, and Mrs. Moss, upon first meeting Richard, wants him to marry her daughter. Richard cannot understand how someone he just met could trust him so easily, as this is not something he is able to do.

A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings

What is significant about the villagers fascination with the spider-maiden?

In "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings," by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the villagers are obsessed with things that are out of the ordinary. At the beginning of the story it seems as if their fascination with old man with wings in because of the fact that he might be an angel, and therefore would mean that he cure the sick and do other wonderful things for them. A large portion of the story is focused on the villagers trying to figure out if the old man is in fact an angel. They treat him like a circus animal as Pelayo and Elisenda charge admission for people to come see him, and the villagers flock to their house and throw food at him and burn him with a branding iron. It is significant to the story that the villagers are also interested with the spider-maiden because it reveals that they are not fascinated by the old man for the sole purpose that he might be an angel, but they curious about almost anything that is different.

Things Fall Apart- Chapter 1

How is Okonkwo different from his father? How does Unoka’s character affect Okonkwo?

Okonkwo is successful and well-respected in the villages. He came to fame at a young age when he beat the great wrestler, Amalinze the Cat, but he is also a hard-worker. Okonkwo is a respected farmer, and he dislikes anyone who is lazy. It appears that he is embarrassed by his father because he Unoka was always asking people for money and he was known for being in debt. He feels that because of this, his father brought shame to their family, and, therefore, he does not want to be anything like his father. His need to not have the same legacy of his father is the force that drives him to work hard and to be successful.

A Day in the Life of Lola Stewart

September 30th started out like every other Wednesday for Lola. She was asleep in her bed when her ridiculously loud alarm went of at 5:45 AM. Lola had to be at tennis practice in fifteen minutes, but she was extremely tired from going to bed so late because she was studying for her tests. Also, Lola isn't really a morning person either, so she wasn't super eager to get up and ignored the beeping of the obnoxious alarm. Suddenly, her older sister Genevieve came running across the hall into Lola's room because the ongoing sound of the alarm was irritating her. Genevieve turned off her sister’s alarm clock and looked at the time, it was 5:50 AM at this point. “Lola!” Genevieve yelled, “How did you not hear that?” Lola was still in bed and half-asleep. “What are you talking about?” she said, “…Oh no I have to be at tennis at 6:00 AM!” Lola jumped out of her bed and grabbed her tennis bag that she packed the night before.

Fifteen-year-old Lola, a freshman, went to go wake up her mother so she could drive her to school. They went in the car and Lola made it to tennis practice by 6:05 AM. Her tennis coach was not very happy about this. In fact, she was so upset with Lola’s tardiness that she made Lola pick up all of the tennis balls that were on the floor after morning practice.

After tennis practice, Lola went to the locker room and got ready for school. She studied her vocabulary flashcards on the way to class because she had a quiz first block. Her review paid off because she got 100%! Before second block Lola stopped by Genevieve’s locker because on Wednesday’s Genevieve doesn’t come to school until 8:40 AM because she is a senior and has a first block free, and usually brings her sister breakfast. Lola happily took her bagel and coffee and walked to her locker to grab her books for her next class—Spanish. Lola was excited for Spanish class because she was doing a presentation! After her presentation her teacher told her “Muy bien, Lola!” and Lola met up with her friends, Brittany and Eloise, in the quad so they could walk down to the cafeteria for lunch. For the last fifteen minutes of lunch, Lola went to the library to review for her history test that was next block. After she took her history test, she went had drama class. She loves acting and looks forward to this class everyday!

After school, Eloise went home with Lola to hang out for an hour, and after she left Lola did her homework. She ate dinner with her family and told them all about her day, and how she vaguely remembers Genevieve coming into her room early this morning to tell her that to her, “perfect happiness is waking up naturally and on time without the horrible sound of alarm clocks.” After dinner and finishing the rest of her homework, Lola got ready for bed, read the October issue of Vogue, and fell asleep dreaming of fall fashion.

Spiderman vs. Venom!

Once I was able to look past the silly Elmer Fudd, Jersey Shore hybrid accent, I was able to see that the poem, “Maybe Dats Your Pwoblem Too,” by Jim Hall, actually contains a very powerful message. Maybe everybody is just like Spiderman. Everyone has something that is distinguishable about them that they wish that they could change, but like Spiderman’s flame-resistant costume, they just cannot fully get rid of it. Everybody’s “Spiderman costume” is different. Some people are insecure about the way they look, embarrassed by their parents, have a disability that may or may not be obvious, or have personality traits that they do not like. Whatever it may be, we all have ourselves that we do not feel comfortable with, and anyone who claims that they don’t have something about themselves that they wish that they could change is probably deceiving themselves.

Sometimes people are able to change, but people still see that person for what they were and not completely for what they have become. When something is a part of you for so long, you cannot completely separate yourself from it. In a sense, Spiderman can replace his clothes and take on a new role, but he only has so many options for what he can do with his signature costume. Since he cannot fully destroy it because it is flame-resistant, he can take it off, fold it up, and put it in storage. Spiderman will always be a major part of who he was; people will always remember him as being Spiderman no matter what new role he chooses.

I used to be quite shy, until one day I decided that just was not who I was anymore. While change does not happen overnight, as it is a process, people do not immediately recognize it. I found it frustrating that even though I was not the same person I was, say, five years ago, my “Spiderman suit” still stayed the same. Yes, there were many people who recognized that I was no longer painfully shy, but many people just assumed that a description of me would be that of the shy person that I once was.

In a way, we are all just like Spiderman. Everyone has built up an image for himself or herself that is like his or her “Spiderman suit.” Without our own personal “suits” on, we still carry that image. It is up to each individual person to choose how much of themselves they wish to change, as well as which part of their image they want to keep. Spiderman may not want to lose all the traits what make him Spiderman, even though he wants a change of pace. It is also very difficult to try to completely change ourselves. Like Spiderman, we just cannot “quit” being who we are. We can change pieces of identity, but we cannot ever fully get rid of it because of our past. In addition, why should we have to lose are identity in order to change ourselves, when we can keep being who we were, just a newer, more up-to-date version (519)?