Self-Flagellation

In Persepolis there is a part where it shows how part of their religious acts is to hit themselves.  Oddly enough I had never heard of a religion doing this, and then I wondered why they did it.  An article from BBC News had defined it as: Flagellation is the beating or whipping of the skin, most often on the back, and often drawing blood, as a bodily penance to show remorse for sin.  I then asked the beloved M-Dubs, and he said it was also to replicate and feel what Christ had gone through, not only for remorse.

So I was wondering why it is so popular in Iran/many other countries in the middle east and so not popular towards the western hemisphere.  I came upon an article called Why do some Catholics self-flagellate? from BBC News.com.  What surprised me the most when I read it was that it said "It was a widespread practice in some parts of the Catholic ministry up to the 1960s but is uncommon today."  The majority of the Catholic population is located in the West, so why had I never even heard of it?  The rest of the article goes on talking about Pope John Paul II and how he may have done this act of remorse too.  It was pretty interesting to read about here is the link...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8375174.stm

 

Golden Train-- Justin Nozuka

Justin Nozuka is probably my favorite musician, and I was listening to one of his songs called Golden Train and it reminded me of Jane and Rochester's story.  Below are the lyrics and the song so you can listen to it also.  In gold I have the part that connects to Jane Eyre.

Don't you wake up yet
Give me some time to watch you asleep
Oh angel of mine
And I
I will be fine
As long as your near me
(Both are happier together; Jane thinks of Rochester when she is away from him.)
Oh angel of mine

But tomorrow if a Golden Train came to take you away
(Golden Train Resembling Jane's ethical decision she made to leave Rochester)
Would you go or would you stay?  
(Also Jane continually questioning her self to leave or stay at Thornfield)                              
Tomorrow if a Golden Train came to take you away      
Would you go or would you stay?

Here in this cozy room just me and you
(The room with the fireplace where Jane and Rochester were alone a lot together)
Oh cuddling and kissing making sweet love shooting star wishing and watch the sun come up
And then we'll sleep all day
Meet in our dreams and live life our way
(Meet in our dreams like the calling Jane heard from Rochester.)
(Live life our way, meaning not caring about the social class.) 
Drop it all off and we'll fly away 
Dip through the stars and wake up slowly

But tomorrow if a Golden Train came to take you away
Would you go or would you stay?
Tomorrow if a Golden Train came to take you away
Would you go or would you stay?

One thing I know fore sure                                                   
Is my love for you is deeper then any root or stone mamma told me
(Deeper than any root reminded me of the lightning struck tree that symbolized their love and Rochester himself)
So don't walk the streets alone (x2)
(Don't walk the streets alone, meaning that women should be married in the late 1800's)                                                                                                                                
I said
Tomorrow if a Golden Train came to take you away
Would you go or would you stay?
Tomorrow if a Golden Train came to take you away
Would you go or would you stay?

Heey hey
Ooh, oh
Would you go or would you stay?

But tomorrow if a Golden Train came to take you away
Would you go or would you stay?
Tomorrow if a Golden Train came to take you away
Would you go or would you staay.. with me

Big Bertha

So Bertha is a character that I question a lot.  I wonder if she is just a character to spice up the book or if there is a larger meaning to her that Charlotte Bronte wanted preach.  I read a little more about it online from other people's opinions and a lot of what I read said that she is a symbol for wives in the Victorian time era or women in general.  One opinion I read had said that she represented women, because women back then weren't looked at as workers they were looked at as precious objects that shouldn't be able to do anything.  I can definitely see this, because Bertha is locked up in the attic and not allowed to come out.  Another opinion that I read was this:

"For Charlotte Brontë, Bertha seems to become a strange kind of alter ego. Bertha is rejected by the man who was supposed to love her; Charlotte never married and fell in love with an unattainable man. Bertha is kept prisoner in a lonely house on the English moors; Charlotte traveled a little, but spent most of her life shut up in her father’s house in Yorkshire, away from any big-city culture. Bertha is only able to show her powers to the world in what seem like insane, destructive ways; women novelists were common but their works were often considered ridiculous and their abilities inferior to those of men. The parallels are too strong to ignore, and perhaps Bertha does double-duty, both representing the restrictions that Charlotte felt and becoming Charlotte’s wish-fulfillment of breaking through those restrictions to inspire fear and awe."  ---http://www.shmoop.com/jane-eyre/bertha-mason.html

I find this strangely coincidental...

Another thing that I wondered about was when Bertha came into Jane's room and tore apart her wedding veil.  A lot of people had suggested that this was a warning to Jane about Rochester; the liberty that Jane would lose if she married him.

Outer Beauty Vs. Inner Beauty

In Jane Eyre there are ideas repeated over and over again.  One of them is outer beauty, and the importance it played on people in the 1840's.  So in class we discussed if it is as important to be beautiful on the outside in today's society then it was back then.  I had brought up how "super" models tend to have a flaw about them, that not only makes them different, but also beautiful.  For example, recently I have noticed that a lot of models I see in adds for big designers have a gap in there teeth.  The need to look flawless in the modeling business, I feel, isn't as important as it used to be.

But obviously there is still the want of needing to be perfect.  I think everybody has heard of Heidi Pratt.  Supposedly she had around 10 plastic surgeries, and if you have seen the before and after pictures it's pretty obvious that the tabloids weren't lying on this story.  Below is a video for a Covergirl makeup commercial.  Now I'm not sure if this is just advertising for the makeup company, or if this is still the idea of the people in our society.

What do you guys think?  Are we getting away from the idea of "outer beauty is everything" or is it getting worse??

Reflections on Jane Eyre

1. Honestly if I would be in love with a man to the extent that Jane loves Rochester, I don't think I would be able to leave.  The stubbornness of Jane astounds me, because Rochester tells Jane the story about his wife and it's not his fault.  I feel like if it was a different situation like if 1) he wasn't tricked into marrying her and 2) the wife is some hyena like creature... so how could he continue a marriage like that.  I can see where Jane could be mad at Rochester, because he didn't tell her he was married.  But would Jane have even considered him them?????  Who knows...

2. I really want to finish the book and I have enjoyed reading Jane Eyre.  I like the old english style of writing and even though Charlotte Bronte uses a ton of detail in her writing and with that she includes a ton of motifs as well.  I like how the motifs aren't easily known, you really have to think about it critically in order to get more out of the text.

3.  I think that this book should be taught in college lit. cause it's totally opposite from Catcher in the Rye.  Mr. Kunkle said that in college we are going to have to learn to read all types of text and I think Jane Eyre in particular is a challenging one with different themes.  I also think that it corresponds with the theme of the class of "coming of age" well too. 

Black Vs. White

In Jane Eyre we pointed out how she only mentions three colors repeatedly through the book.  Black, white, and red are mentioned so much that there has to be a more thoughtful meaning to them.  One thing I have noticed is that whenever she is describing something as "white" she usually is uncomfortable in the scene, or something is bad.  For example, when Mr. R has guests staying at the house Jane mentions all of the women in white that end up being very unpleasant towards her (like Miss Ingram and others...).  Also when she goes back to see her dying Aunt Reed she describes many things as being white. 

Now the things she describes as being black she is usually in a comfortable position and I would say the word "nice" is a good word to put with that color.  The women at the party that arn't harsh towards her she descibes in a black dresses.  When she goes back to see her Aunt Reed she describes Georgeiana's dress as being black.  This could be maybe because she is in a familiar place, where she isn't scared being in that home anymore.  However, to refute this she descibes the whole house using the color white so I don't know then about that hypothesis...  Also when she descibes Mr. R's eyes and I think Mrs. Fairfax's eyes too as being black.  These are people she likes, and she mentions when she is drawing a picture of Mr. R that the eyes are the most important part of the entire portrait.

I also find it odd that she uses the colors in the oppsite ways most authors do.  When using a word like white, they usually are describing something as pure, clean, luminesce, bright, holly, angle(esque)...  And I feel like she uses those words for the color black.

American Teen

In class we watched a documentary of four teenagers going through high school in Indiana.  At first I thought it was going to be dumb, not really realistic I guess.  However as the movie went on I could totally relate McFarland to the high school.  There is definetly the social group aspect.  There were also a lot of awkward moments (that were hilarious), and I think that made the movie relatable too, because high school can be very awkward at times.  All of the drama I thought was a little over the top, but high school drama can be over the top too.  I liked how each high schooler had a specific problem that they were going through, and all of them were different.   The popular girl went through the pressure of getting into Notre Dame like the rest of her family, and that can be so stressful.  The band geek was going through, I would say a self-esteem problem, especially after he figured out his girlfriend was cheating on him.  There was a girl that wasn't really in one of the social groups and she was going through self-iussues and also trying to figure out how she was going to be successful in the future.  The basketball star was going through the pressures of getting recruited, which I could relate to a ton.  His story kind of hit home to me, because there is so much pressure in sports alone, and then when you have to preform knowing that someone is watching...whewwphh it's a lot to go through.  So far I like the documentary.

Free Blog

13 Ways to Look at a Blackbird:

This poem is one of those poems where you just keep looking at it and you still don't know what to think about it.  I guess reading between the lines (or not looking at it literally) really helps to understand the poem.  At first I thought I thought that the poem maybe had something to do with war, but I couldn't really back it up.  Then someone in the class thought it was like the circle of life and she explained it and if you re-read it with that in mind it does kind of make sense.  I really liked how it was broken down into 13 stanzas, I thought that was really effective to make the reader think about eachone as its self.

"When  I really worry about something, I don't fool around.  I even have to go to the bathroom when  I worry about something.  Only I don't go..."

I chose to right about the scene where Holten is really getting frustrated with the idea that Stradlater and Jane are going on a date.  The reason I picked this scence is because I think we can all realate to Holeten's jealousy.  Everybody has had crushes or past boyfriends/girlfriends and the way Holten explains his feelings is relatable.

The question I have after reading this is why Holten just didn't go say hi to Jane.  He kept saying yes he's going to and then he would almost talk himself out of it.  If he cares about her so much then why didn't he just go talk to her?  Salinger I believe is maybe trying to get at the otherside of Holten.  Because after this scene and Stradlater is back Holten just goes through this rage of anger, so maybe he's getting at the two different sides of people.

    1) 

         In the Sutton Pie Safe childhood is dipicted in a way that isn't shown in the actions of the characters, but more of the dialogue of the character.  I think that the main theme of this story was said in one of the quotes that the father said to the little boy.  In the story the father says first to the Mrs. Hanson that "you ought not try to buy what hasn't been put up for sale."  Or in other words how I took it was you shouldn't want what isn't yours.  When he says a line to the boy he says, "You think about that (as in the snake belt) the next time you want something."  To me this means that you should think about who is going to be affected (the snake in this case) by your decisions/wants. 

        In Every Little Hurricane I think the childhood is dipicted in a very blunt way.  In this case Victor has an awful expierence as a child, and I don't know if you could really call him a child.  He sees things that arn't at all what people would want a child to see.  Also  the fact that his culture is slowly "sickening" with the alcohol and drugs that the native americans are known  to have a sterotype to abuse these things.  Victor didn't have a childhood and I believe that's what this story is getting at.

        Probably the most creepy story I have ever read and about a situation that could happen to anyone is Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been.  This story I feel, is more about adolesence than childhood, but some would argue that adolescence is just another part of childhood, so whatever...  I feel that this story trys to dipict the message of being careful.  Sometimes as children (or teenagers) we can feel invincible and nothing is going to happen to us.  So I think this story reiterates the fact that we have to still at least think about the bad and not ignore it.  Also if there is a creepy guy in your drive way telling you not to call the cops or else... don't believe him call the damn cops and don't think a screen door is going to protect you either.

      Bottle Caps was a short story that honestly I thought was just kind of weird.  I really didn't get much from the story just that younger siblings can be a pain sometimes.  However I'm the youngest child in my family so I guess I can relate more to the weird little brother with the insect graveyard :o

     I really enjoy J.D. Salinger's writing style.  With Love and Squalor I think that childhood was dipicted from the chacracter of Esme.  She was a brilliant teenager with an ego.  Her parents are both dead, and she pretty much looks after her younger brother becasue he doesn't listen to anyone else.  She has what I would call a little crush on Sergeant X.  Just knowing that J.D. Salinger's writing has been known to be kind of "squalor" so maybe they did have an inappropriate relationship, becasue why would she give her father's (whom she obviously adored because she talked about him non-stop) watch to a complete stranger.  Plus why would she then invite a complete stranger to her wedding.  And throughout the story I really didn't see any squalid lines, so maybe we have to think outside the box for the squalor.  I think this story relates to growing up in away that when you grow up you also start new relationships.  Not always "right" in this case if they did have an affair, but relationships that become more serious as you grow up.

2)
      The movie that comes to my mind when I think of childhood is the Sandlot.  It's a movie with a group of young boys that are all friends that get together to play baseball a lot.   In this movie being a kid just means doing what you enjoy to do, and for the boys they all love to play baseball.  Only one of the boys makes it to the majors, but in the end all of them grow up.  At the end of the movie it tells you where all of them are and are currently doing in their lives.  They do lots of goofey things in the movie like the little brother does in Bottle Caps.  And one of them even goes through a major crush (that he ends up marrying) kind of like Esme goes through possibly...  All in all the movie is great because it reminds me of my childhood.  Not really having to worry about much and just doing what you love to do.

Childhood memory

       Some of my most vivid childhood memories were going to tryouts or camps for soccer.  I feel like these events in my life really helped me grow up, because I had to put myself out there and get noticed.  Everything was on me and if I wanted it I had to go get it myself.  I think these were some of the first moments that my mom wasn't able to help me at all, just there to encourage me.  So I think that this realtes well with the part of growing up on having to do things in your life on your own.

Intro

Hello class,             I really like to play sports-- especially soccer.  I also like to read and play music.  Those are just a few of my interests.
           After high school I plan to attend Marquette University.  I know I want to be somewhere in the medical field, but I don't know specifically what yet.
           My favorite book would probably be The Five People You Meet in Heaven or Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom.  My favorite movie would have to be Inception and my favortie musician is Justin Nozuka.

So that's is just a little bit about me.