IOP Journal #5

Yesterday I finished both of my papers that I needed to fill out so today I only have couple things left to do. First I just finished up my PowerPoint and made sure that I had all of the spelling and the quotes right. Then I wrote my flashcards today and now I am going to practice, practice, practice!!! I know a lot of what I am talking about and I have basically memorized it, but unfortunately I am not the best at making speeches in front of groups of people. I usually forget a lot of things and I use a lot of likes and umms. So I hope that I can practice enough so that I won't do that in front of everyone. I also want to try to work on looking at everybody in the crowd. Usually I just look at nothing or I look at one of my friends the entire time so in this case it would be Kaitlyn. But I am going to try look at more people this time. I also have some problems with rocking and doing a lot of things while I am talking. I took Public Speaking and I was recorded and Oh my gosh! I moved around so much! I hope that tomorrow I can get over my nerves and just say my presentation. I just really hope I don't forget anything either because that would not be good. Well I guess for the rest of the night I am just going to practice and make sure that my PowerPoint is perfect! I was going to rent the movie and watch it just to refresh my memory on the book, but I never really got around to it. I think I remember the book pretty well even though we read it awhile ago. Well I think I am going to get back to practicing now...

IOP Journal #4

Well I basically have my thesis down now and I think that it is:
Through the actions of Logan Killicks, Jodie Starks and Tea Cake, Zora Neale Hurston shows that one should expect nothing from a woman and that letting her be herself will make her happy.

I think that I need to revise it a little bit cause the last part sounds a little weird. I did my presentation outline today and have all my quotes now that I am using and I think that basically all of them are good for explaining and getting my Thesis proved. I think that for the most part I have found all of my information and have most of my analysis complete. I put in in order, but I might change it up a little bit. Now I just have to do my final analysis paper and then finish up my powerpoint and make it look pretty. I feel like I don't really think that I have enough slides so I'm going to add another slide for mmy thesis.

I also looked more today on my quotes about Jodie Starks. I say that he really wanted to control her and he basically had an obsession with being the dominating figure in the relationship. He probably wanted to show the town that he is really powerful. He wanted Janie to do nothing and all that he wanted her to do was to be the mayor's wife and not to be herself. Se was basically just there for show and thats all he wanted her for. The symbol of the hair that I have in one of my quotes show his controlling nature and shows how he has taken away her freedom. Well I thought I was pretty productive today and I basically just have to practice my speech now.

IOP Journal #3

Today I wrote my analysis paper, but I couldn't really figure out what I was supposed to write for the use of language part. I have to work on it tomorrow too. I really didn't do that much today but I also looked up some more information on Zora Neale Hurston. I wanted to try and see if there was any more information about her and feminism. I couldn't find that much. I wanted to find if there was anything in her life that effected her and made her to be a feminist. I also tried to finish up my PowerPoint. I found some more quotes for each guy as well. I found some on Logan Killicks that talk about stuff that he made Janie. He made her do some farm work so I think that that could tie into that he expected her to do a lot and expected her to take care of him which Janie did not like. I also found some on Jodie and how he made her keep her hair up and tried to control her. Then I found some more on Tea Cake and one of them talks about how Janie changed her clothes and I thought that was a good way to show how she was happier with Tea Cake and how he expects nothing of her at all. I also found a quote where Tea Cake says that Janie has the Keys to the Kingdom and I think that that will work well because it shows that he lets her do what she wants and all he wants her to be is a good wife. Well that's really all i did for today... I hope i can be more productive tomorrow.

IOP Journal #2

I started my Powerpoint today and also I analyzed my quotes. It was actually really hard for me to extend what I was saying about my quotes. I knew what I was going to say and analyze but I couldn't make it longer and I need to figure out what I am going to do. I also looked up more about feminism and about Zora Neale Hurston and her connection to feminism. I learned that she was in a really male dominated place in the harlem renesance. It must have been hard for her to express her feelings for that so I think that she did it through her books and expressed her opinions through that and I think that she subtly does it in her book their eyes were watching god. I also looked at Logan Killicks and found that he is kind of controlling and just expects Janie to do the typical women things and jobs. But he also expected her to do a lot of man things as well like farming. For Jodie I kinda of figured out that he was very controlling and also expected Janie to do a lot of womenly things. This isn't how Zora Neale Hurston wanted women to be treated and she shows this through those two men. I think that she uses Tea Cake as an example of how a women should be treated and she's happy when she is with him so he is a good example.

IOP Journal #1

So today looked up information on Zora Neale Hurston and I found out that she is basically a feminist so that views in well to my presentation. I learned a lot that could be useful in my presentation. Next I looked up different quotes that could tie into what I was trying to say. I wanted to look up quotes from the three men in her life and what they expected of her when she was married to each one of them. I found some quotes for each and I learned that they are all different in the way that they treated her but Logan Killicks and Jodie Starks were similar. I think that Zora Neale Hurston was almost trying to show how a woman should be treated at that time and I think that she did do that because she had feminist ties. I think that she showed Logan and Jodie as being the wrong way to treat a woman and she showed it in different ways in them. I think she had Tea Cake there to show how a woman is happy when a husband has the right expectations for her and gives her the right amount of Independence. I think that I am going to analyze each guy and to help show that Hurston wanted to show how to treat a woman. I haven't decided yet weather I am going to do a power point yet or a poster but I'm kind of leaning more toward doing a power point.

Blood Wedding journal #3

Setting: This includes cultural as well as geographical and historical setting. What effect does does the setting have have on story, character, theme.



The setting of the play is very important in the story. Lorca lived between 1898 and 1936 so the play was written in that time period and also took place in Spain in the country in Andalusia. Andalusia is also called "Tragic Spirit" which is a good place to have a story considering that it is a tragedy. It is also known for being tied to the past so that probably effects the way that the characters act and react to things in the play. They lived in the country in a small town and it seems that everyone knows everyone business and it takes a long time to get places like the brides house which was for hours away. Since they lived this long ago, they probably had different morals then we do now. It is still really bad if a woman runs off with a different man but back then it was probably awful and because of that thinking, people did more drastic things because it was almost unheard of to do that.

Since the setting is in the country, land is a valuable thing to the farmers in that area. The father of the bride was happy that his daughter was marrying the bride groom but I think that his reason was more that the bridegroom had just bought some vineyards that were on good land. They mention a lot that the area that they live in is dry and so having that good of land is probably rare so that is why he was so keen on his daughter marrying the bridegroom.

Blood Wedding Journal #2

Techniques

I believe that Lorca uses foreshadowing in the book about who killed the father and the brother of the bride groom. Right now we don't really know who did but we have been given subtle hints about who it might have been. In the beginning of the play, the mother is talking to the neighbor and the neighbor starts talking about Leonardo and the mother replies in disgust. "and hearing Felix, is like having my mouth fill up with slime" (Lorca 16). We obviously see that she has something against Leonardo and there is something wrong between her and their family. We also notice that she is mad at someone for something and we know that whoever killed her husband and son used a knife and she hold a grudge against them. "The knife! The knife! Damn all of them! and the monster who invented them!" ( Lorca 6). This shows that she is angry at the people that killed them.

We start to notice that it was maybe Leonardo that killed the husband and son through the use of the metaphor "Why do you look at me like that? There's a dagger in each eye!" (Lorca 57). The wife is saying this to Leonardo. He has daggers in his eyes which are knives which connects to the knives that the mother is talking about. This is subtly showing us as the readers that maybe it was Leonardo that killed the husband and the son and that he has a fiery temper and we are going to see that as the play goes on.

Blood Wedding Journal #1

Letters the characters might have written

Dear Son,

I miss you so much. I do not know why you have to be married. I know that your fiance must be a good person and a good girl, but I won't be able to take it. I am very glad that you also bought the vineyard! You are going to be so far away. It took us 4 hours to get there when you went to go ask for her hand in marriage. But if you do have to end up marrying her you know that I want plenty of grandchildren. I want both boys and especially girls so that I can embroider and make lace for them. But remember I want you to keep our house until I die and then you can sell it and but more land next to your your father in laws land. I hope that she will be good enough for you and know what it is like to be married. I think that she will be good though. She has very pretty eyes. I am glad that she will be twenty two as well just like your older brother...if he were still alive! I hate knives and I hate the person who invented them! I want to kill the person that invented them! I don't want you to go out either and have the same thing happen to you. I wish you actually had been a girl so I would not have to worry as much. I still am weary about your bride. I have just figured out from the neighbor that she was to be married to Leonardo Felix and her cousin married him instead! I hate the name Felix. It makes me want to kill something!! I need to control myself though. I will not kill. Well just remember that I love you.
Love,
Your Mother

The Wild Duck Journal #4

"Not rounding off, but opening out." Comment upon the way the writers deal with the ending in relation to the whole. In your answer you should refer to two or three of the works you have studied.

I noticed that in the two plays that we have read so far there has been death or suicide at the end of each one. In Oedipus, Jocasta kills herself and in The Wild Duck, Hedvig kills herself. In Oedipus, There is a lot of deceit and secrets kept. Jocasta is really Oedipus' mother and he actually killed his own father who he figured out is Laius. I believe that because of this lie and deceit and Oedipus' ignorance, Sophocles tries to deal with the ending by having Jocasta kill herself which is a way to make the story more tragic. Jocasta cannot deal with the fact that she lied to and married her son so a way to fix it is to kill herself. I think that Sophocles might have done this to show that you need a good family relationship and then nothing will go wrong then.

In The Wild Duck, There is also deceit and lies. Werle is the reason for Edkal's downfall. Also Hedvig may not actually be Hjalmer' daughter which means that Gina has lied to him.Hedvig cannot deal with the fact that her dad is shunning her now so she kills herself to. Ibsen, believe, dealt with the whole ordeal by killing Hedvig and i think that he did that to make the family feel guilt for not having a good relationship with each other and having secrets and deceit.

Tracking family relationships

I noticed that there are family relationships in both Oedipus and in The Wild Duck. I noticed that usually these relationships are strained and it causes a lot of tragic things to happen in the two stories. In Oedipus, Oedipus blames his wife's brother Creon for wanting to take Oedipus' place as the king of Thebes. This creates tension between them throughout the book and makes Oedipus not trust Creon at all. We also know that their family is strained when Oedipus finds out that Jocasta is really his mother and that he killed his father who is actually Laius and that he has been lied to. This has a bad effect on Oedipus and causes him to do awful things like gauging his eyes out. Throughout this book there are bad family relationships and I think that they are trying to say that a family needs a good relationship to function properly and to be happy

In the Wild Duck, there is also tensions in and between families. Gregers' father Werle is the caused the downfall of there old friends Hjalmer's father Old Edkal. This obviously creates tension between the families and the wild duck is a metaphor for the two families relationship. Also there are problems in their own family. Gina had an affair with Werle which means that Hedvig might not be Hjamler's daughter. This causes him to reject Hedvig which makes her commit suicide. So ultimately their bad family relationship causes someone to die.

The Wild Duck Journal #3

Stylistic Techniques

Of course one of the most prominent literary techniques in the story is the metaphor of the Wild Duck. When I think of the wild duck I think that it represents two people in the play. First I think that it represents old Edkel. He used to be on top but then was shot down by the hunter who is like Werle. Werle betrayed Edkal so it is like he shot him down to the bottom which is like the wild duck being shot down by him as well. I also think that the wild duck represents Hedvig. She is a happy girl and unaware that she is going to lose her sight and that she might not even be Hjalmar's daughter. She is like the duck and then she is also like it when she gets shot down by all the bad things that are going on in her life.

I also think that Ibsen uses a good amount of imagery in his play. This isn't in the dialogue but in the visual actions that are in the parenthesis. This helps the reader to better understand what is going on in the story and to know exactly what the character is feeling at that time. It says things like Hedvig is "close to tears" or that Gina "regards him with chill defiance". This imagery is really important in the story even though it may not be in the actual dialogue. When on stage we see this visually, but in the story it helps a reader to get the play a lot better.

The Wild Duck Journal #2

Compare how writers in your study have explored the themes of judgement and punishment, disguise and deceit, or love and frendship, and with what effect.



In The Wild Duck, I think that there isn't exactly love and friendship, but the opposite of that. There is no love shown. It seems that Gregers does not like or respect his father Werle and it is shown when he moved out because he does not have a good relationship with him at all. The body language and the facial expressions like "with a cold smile" and "without looking at him" from Gregers also suggest that he does not have any love for his father. Also ot seems that Hjalamer does not have a lot of love for his daughter Hedvig. He makes her do his work for him even though it will hurt her eyesight. It is the same in Oedipus. In the play Jocasta gives away Oedipus when he is born. She alsotells the Shepherd to to kill Oedipus. This shows that she has no love for her own son. Instead of trying to change fate, she excepts it and selfishly trys to deal with it.

There is also disguise and deceit in The Wild Duck and Oedipus. In the Wild Duck, There is deceit because it was thought that Ekdal brought upon his own downfall, but it was Werle. It is the same with Oedipus, He does not know who his parents are and he thinks that Polybus is really his father but Jocasta is decieving him. She is actually his mother and Laius is his father. This shows deceit and disguise in the play.

The Wild Duck Journal #1

"Visual action can be as important as stage speech." How far do you agree with this claim. In your answer you should refer to 2 or 3 plays you have studied.

I agree with the claim that visual action is just as important as speech. To be able to fully understand what is going on you need to be able to picture it in your head and the text that explains what they are doing. In Oedipus, the text for that is needed to be able to figure out what is going on. In Oedipus, it says "Oedipus strains to see a figure coming from the distance. Attended by palace guards, an old shepherd enters slowly, reluctant to approach the king" (Sophocles). It is good that they show us what the characters were visually doing. In this we know that something is wrong and that there is something that he does not want to say to the king because the shepherd is hesitant about seeing the king. This gives us insight before the shepherd starts to talk that there is something wrong.

In The Wild Duck, The various visual actions help us as readers to understand what some of the characters in the books are thinking through there body language. Before Gregers is about to talk in one scene it first saying that he is "trembling" This helps us to think of how he is feeling even before he talks. In another part it says that Gregers "Looked at Werle coldly". This helps us to know what Gregers thinks about Werle before he talks. All around I think that visual actions are very important and gives us as readers insight into the characters by knowing what their body language is and their facial expressions.

Taxonomy question #2

Was Oedipus' fate inevitable or could there have been some other way to change it?

Taxonomy question #1

Do you agree that Jocasta was right in giving up Oedipus? Do you think that she was being a good person for doing that or bad?

Oedipus Journal #4

Themes and ideas

Sight and blindness is an important motif in Oedipus. Eyes and sight in the book are symbols of knowing things and blindness is like ignorance. In the book, the image of sight comes up in the beginning when with Tiresis the blind profit. "Blind, lost in the night, endless night that nursed you"(425-426). Oedipus thinks that he knows everything because he is the king and he believes that Tiresis knows nothing and is ignorant so that is why he is depicted as blind but really it is Oedipus who is blind. At the end of the story when the prophecy comes true then the motif of blindness comes back. "Too long you looked on the ones tou never should have seen, blind to the ones you longed to see, to know!" (1407-1408). After Oedipus realizes that it has come true he realizes that he does not know everything, then he gouges his eyes out as a symbol that he is not worthy and is ignorant.

Death also seems like it is a motif in the play. In the beginning of the play the people of Thebes are dying. "Death. so many deaths, numberless deaths on deaths, no end-" (203-204). The plague has caused a lot of death in the city. Death is representing Oedipus' ignorance also. Because he will not accept that he is the reason for the plague, people keep dying. Jocasta's death is also reflecting the ignorance of Oedipus. She does not want him to look into his past but hew does not care and does it anyway which causes her death.

Oedipus Journal #2

Background information helps you to understand what is going on especially when the chorus comes on. Today they do not really have choruses in plays and to be able to understand the play you need to know about the chorus that is made up of about 50 people. They sang a hymn of chant and that helps us to understand why a random chorus comes in and sings. The background information helps to understand whe the characters talk about the Gods. They talk about Dionysus for example "I cry to you -your name and ours are one, Dionysus- come with your face aflame with wine." (238-39). He is the God of wine and they are calling on him to help them. They also call to him to "Burn that god of death". He is the god of life cycles so this would make sense for them to pray to him. We also know that Zeus is basically the biggest and most important god. This helps us to also understand why the characters are always praying to him or using his power as a threat. The information helps us as readers to understand who all of these gods are.

Knowing background on Sophocles also helps us to understand his plays. In the article we read today, it said that he used some of his life experiences in his writings. This can explain a lot. In the story, he yells and has a fight with at Creon who is his family and in real life, Sophocles has a fight with his son, Iophon, who is his own family. This helps a reader to know why Sophocles might choose to put a certain part in his stories. Now we know that he might do it because it happened to him in his life. Background information is very important in helping a reader and is crucial if they want to fully understand the text that they are reading.

Oedipus Journal #1

Reactions to specific situations by characters

Oedipus:

Why would he do this to me. I am his leader of Thebes and I solved the riddle of the sphinx and ascended to the throne! This is ridiculus! That little piece of scum cannot get away with this! One day I will strike him down and he will wish that he was never born. Tiresis is no prophet, he probably cannot even tell me anything about the King Laius's murderer. All he is is blind and nothing else. He cannot do anything! How does he know all of that about me? Does he know my father? What does he mean when he says that that I am my own down fall? This cannot be true. I am trying to save the city. I am feeling all the pain that the people are feeling. It is also not my fate to fall to fall at the hands of Tiresis. He is just a blind prophet. Not even! He is less than that! He is an insane old man that does not deserve to live.

He only speaks in riddles which will help no one to find the murderer. I thought that he would be a help to us. I thought that he would be able to help me save Thebes and kill the murderer like Apollo said. He wants us to avenge the death of Laius Why would he not want to help him? He supposedly has the eyes of Apollo. He should want to help the people of Thebes and I find the killer to help the plague go away. Oh well, I do not need that piece of scum! We will be able to find that awful man who killed Laius. I do not need that fake. He is nothing but a blind man. I am Oedipus! I solved the riddle of the sphinx! I sit on the throne of Thebes and I am the leader of the people. I can do anything! They consider me almost at the status of a God! I do not need that stupid Tiresis!

Oedipus Journal #3

To what extent would you agree that plot should be valued more highly than style in the work. In your answer you should refer to two or three works you have studied.

I agree with the statement that the plot should be more highly valued than style in the the work, but i do believe that the style of book is also very important. In the book, Their Eyes Were Watching God, The plot and the style of Zora Neale Hurston are both important but I believe that the plot is ultimately what makes a person like the book or not. Her dialogue in the story is very important in helping the reader understand the book. "Dat sho is de truth, now" (40). Its southern accent helps to increase the book's authenticity and helps a reader to be able to imagine what is is really like in that time period and understand the culture. She also uses a lot literary techniques which helps a reader to use their senses and understand the text better. I really did like the book, but in the end the plot led me to not like the book as much. I believe that during the book Janie is trying to find a sense of independance and she finds that with Tea Cake, but in the end he dies. That i believe that, although it does not ruin the book, it puts a damper on it.

In Oedipus, I like that the author writes the book as a play and I like that style about him. This effects the way I think about the book but, That is not the reason I like the story so far. I liked the plot and that they need to find the murderer in order to save Thebes. Though when iI read about his fate, it made me not like the story as much. "It is my fat-I must make love with my own mother, shed my fathers blood with my own hands."(1090-1092). This makes me not like the book as much. The fact that he must sleep with his mother is weird and unnescesary to make a good play. Thie plot is what ultimately draws a reader in and keeps them connected to the book. The style is important in helping you understand the text, but a person is going to base their opinion whether they like the book more on the plot than on the style in which it is written.