English 121 Aaron Victoria

Antigone

2005-04-21T21:00:00.000-07:00

When reading Sophocles' Antigone, I found it interesting to replace the characters with personified emotions. As I thought through this, I came to the conclusion that ,early in the story, Antigone would resemble emotional thought while Ismene would represent logical thought. When looking at their conversations in this light it seems to fit. The statements made by Antigone resemble thought fueled by fear. It is Ismene , who may come off as scared, who used logic without emotion to come up with rational ideas. Although they might be cowardly, they are logical. To go further, later in the story, keeping personified emotions in mind, the roles of Antigone and Ismene are reversed. When Ismene enters the argumnt towards the end of the story and offers her life as well, Antigone refuses to agree. Atthis point Ismene now resembles emotional thought while Antigone resembles logical thought. Because of this I have concluded that sometimes a man clouded by emotion can use logic to solve his problems and sometimes a man's logic can be ruined by uncontrolled emotion.

The House of the Spirits

2005-04-20T13:49:00.000-07:00

While reading Allende's House of the Spirits the concepts of ideology exisited within my thoughts through the books entirety. The reason forthis was not only because it is all we talked about in class and the idea was cemented into my head, but more importnatly because the ideology of Esteban Trueba was extremely influencial on the outcome of certain situations in the story. Whether or not the strict "work hard everyday" mentality that Esteban had was created due to his past or because of the times is argumentative. I would have to argue that this stern ideology was created by Esteban throughout his years of having nothing and having to work long days to achieve ayn monetary success. After his hard work had paid off the whole idea escalated to that of an extreme conservative. As Esteban's family grew and more ideas were out in the air, his ideology began to be challenged. There were more open minded individuals living in their house than there were of Esteban's type. When this situation occured Esteban became sort of a shut in from his family. Towards the end of the story, he came off as a grumpy old man who complains about everything that cannot be changed.
The concept of ideology does not only exist within Esteban though. There are conflictinng ideology in Blanca's son Jaime. Although Jaime and Esteban never truely had it out, there ideologies have very different perspectives. Jaime would give anything that he could and go without to make someone elses day just a little bit better. He would do anything to make the world a better place and this idea clashes with that of Esteban. The ideals of Esteban include busting your ass and sacraficing pleasure to gain that extra dollar. To Esteban, work is everything. It is obvious how much different this idea is to that of Jaime's to who, as I stated earlier, would be willing to sacrafice wealth and luxery to for true happiness.
As a person, I can relate to the ideology of Jaime better than any other of the characters in the book. I never understood the constant obsession with working all day every day so that they can make money. Everybody is extremely obsessed with judging people on a monetary level when that is not what life is all about. What is the point of working seventy hours a week just so that one can say that they are in the upper class. Is money worth anything if you cannot find the time to spend it? I know that families have to make ends meet, but our ends in todays world are way above what is truely needed to survive in the long run. As long as I have food, shelter, and clothing for my family I am in no need for anything else. True I may want things, but I do not need them. I would rather sacrafice my excess income that is not needed to survive for those who are desperate need for a little extra cash. It is here that the ideas of Jaime and myself cross paths.

The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez

2005-02-22T19:24:00.000-08:00

The fact that this story has been told by many different people with many different variations reveals that the importance of the story lies within the meaning. The names and places of a story can be altered without losing the true meaning of the story. When you ask yourself why this happens to a story, the answer lies in the atmoshere in which it is told. A story, such as the Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, is usaually told from one older person to a younger person as a way of teaching them some sort of morals or nationalism. When passing the story down from generation to generation it is important to use facts that relate to the audience. When telling a story of nationalism the audience wants to hear about someone that they can relate with.
Also, in the time period that "The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez" takes place is shortly before the outbreak of the Mexican revolution. During this peroid lawlessness ran rampant throughout the land and the people needed figures to look up to for inspiration. This is true because they could not find inspiration within the political systems due to corruption and exploitation. Also, Mexicans were not very fond of Americans since the loss of Texas and the western coast of California to the United States. I feel that these events that were happening in Mexico during the creation of the ballad play a large part in the feelings of righteousness in unlawfullness.

Garcia Lorca's Blood Wedding

2005-02-22T19:06:00.000-08:00

Understanding Lorca's roots and the priorities of a Spaniard in the early 1900's is extremely important when reading "Blood Wedding". For the Spaniards self pride and reputation meant the most to them. For the story to end with two men fighting for the one that they love is not an odd outcome. The important thing to realize is the motives behind each man. For the bridesgroom, the motive behind his actions are that of self pride and reputation while the motives behind Leonardo's actions are driven by pure love. He is standing up for what he is dedicated to and feels is right. Even though he has decieved his wife and taken the wife of another man, what exists between Leonardo and the bride is pure.
Lorca used personification throughout the story that plays an important part in making sense of the secene in the woods. Until reviewing the book for my blog I did not realize that the begger woman personfied death. Now that I understand that she resembles death, her comments to the bridesgroom make more sense. Throughout the story I enjoyed Lorca's use of personification as well as foreshadowing.

Kate Chopin-The Awakening

2005-02-07T04:53:00.000-08:00

Throughout this story Kate Chopin gives off a sense that happiness on the outside is not always what it means to be truly happy. I support this statement with the idea that Edna and her friends always converse about their lives but never really get too deep into detail. As soon as they get behind closed doors they seem to reveal their true relationship emotions. For Edna this emotional numbness creates unhappiness with her situation and provides her with the need to become free; not exactly from her marriage, but from the whole lifestyle which she lives in. She seems to look down on the other wives in the town because they are not able to release themselves from the everyday act that they put on. I feel that she feels bad for these people not because they cannot get themselves to commit to freedom, but because they cannot see the problem. The other wives are just oblivious (I used ignorant in class, but I feel that oblivious fits better) to what is happening around them and to the dronic lives that they are participating in. Whether or not this blindness is intentional we do not know as a reader.
This idea of judging your happiness by comparing what you have on the outside and not what you have on the inside is a common problem with the lifestyle lived today. Too many people are worried about putting on a good show in public that they forget to do it behind closed doors. They are stuck to a force that they cannot release themselves from, and like I stated earlier it is not intentional. This idea does not only go for relationships but for the way that we list our priorities and make decisions in our everyday lives. I feel that if Kate Chopin had writtent this book in todays market it would be taken in the same light.

The Yellow Wallpaper

2005-01-26T05:22:00.000-08:00

After the class discussions involving the power of authority and Gilman's story, "The Yellow Wallpaper", I feel that authority lacks power for this story. I say this because while discussing Gilman's story the class had come up with four or five different interpretations of the ultimate goal of Gilman's story. These different interpretations were defended strongly by their supporters and allowed the reader to open his/her mind to some abstract thoughts and ideas. After all the discussion was over and Gilman's true purpose was exposed, the motive behind the story turned out to be the interpretation that was least supported. Although Gilman's true purpose behind her story is extremely important in clearing up any misinterpretation of her writings, the power of authority is minimal for this account. I say this because without Gilman's statement the reader would be able to come up with an interpretation that relied solely on the fact that who ever wrote the story was a female. Whether or not the true purpose of the writing was to fight for the rights of woman or to fight for the exposure of malpractice among doctors the true writer of the story holds no general feeling persuasion.

The Narration of The Life by Frederick Douglass

2005-01-26T05:12:00.000-08:00

This narrative by Frederick Douglass is an important read in many aspects. First off, it is important to the times because it is the first document revealing the treatment of slaves by an actual slave. Also, for Douglass to be able to express his thoughts on paper he had to accomplish something that was highly frowned upon during his time; this was to educate himself. Beyond the surface facts of the narration of his life, it is important to gain a sense of mind set and mood while reading these accounts. While writing, Douglass was able to paint a vivid picture which allows us, as readers, to almost fall into his shoes.
As far as authority goes, I believe that authority has alot of power when dealing with this narration. If this were to be written by a false author the feeling released throughout the accounts would have a false ora about them. Although one would be able to obtain the feelings and create a picture of slave life, there would also be a sense that these feelings are being thrown upon us with an ultimate goal other than knowledge of the true experience.