the rez

Everyone has their own reservation. An area or a point in our lives where we feel most isolated and separated from the rest of the world. You don’t feel happiness or importance. You want to give up. But the only way out of the rez is to accept it. In “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian” Arnold is miserable living in the reservation. There comes a time that he feels that there is no way out, and will probably end up drunk and insignificant like a lot of the people on the reservation. Fortunately, his time at Reardan opened his eyes to reality. Arnold finally learned to accept the fact that he is poor and that he is Indian. He learned to accept that the people on the rez are his family and what makes him stronger. The only way to get out of the constant feeling of isolation and alienation, is to accept the differences that you have and use them to grow and learn. That is the only way to truly escape the limitations of the rez.

Native Son

Although in his speech, Max reiterated a lot of ideas that were said earlier, I believe it was a powerful ending that sets a final tone for the book.  Max mentions the Dalton's being blind to the world that Bigger lives in, the world that caused him to kill their daughter. While readers are familiar with the concept of being "blind" from Bigger, we aren't very familiar with Bigger himself being blind, which Max adds in his speech. Bigger is so uncomfortable living in his own skin that he forgets that while he is human, white people are human too. As Max is leaving Bigger even asks him to "tell Jan hello" the first time he has called a white person by their first name. Jan becomes a symbol of humanity for Bigger during his final days.
Max also brings up a very important fact that stood out as the book went on. All of Bigger's life was built up to that moment in the courtroom. Living a life full of hate and no power made Bigger hungry for control, but he just did not know how to manage it. Max understood the reasons Bigger liked the rush he received from killing, and he understood a lot of other things about black people that weren't even thought of at the time. But in the end, I feel that Max still looked at Bigger as symbol and though he came close, could not see Bigger completely.

green lights, yellow cars, and church steeples

Green lights, yellow cars, and church steeples. These being some of the symbols found among Fitzgerald's many themes and descriptive twists The Great Gatsby. The most important symbol of the book to me is Daisy's green light. The light not only represented Gatsby's love an desire for Daisy, but also his future and his dreams with her. We first see Gatsby when Nick glances at him on his way back home one night from the Buchanan's and in that moment, Nick observes Gatsby reaching out for the green light. This simple gesture painted a whole new image in my head that the green light/Daisy is what Gatsby wanted all along. But soon enough that green light faded once Gatsby developed a new relationship with Daisy. He stopped longing for her and the idea of being together stopped being a dream because she was in the palm of his hand.

Another important symbol of the book is the color yellow. Yellow represents the idea of death and failure. Not to be mixed with the color gold, which is also an important, in which it represents the color of wealth throughout the novel. Yellow is seen as the color of cars, eyes, dresses, and even music are all connected with dying. First off we have Gatsby's car, which as as yellow as yellow can get. That car is what kills Myrtle Wilson. While that car was busy killing Myrtle, Dr. Eckleburg's yellow eyes pierced down at the death scene which happens to be in The Valley of Ashes. As you can see F.S. Fitz, takes his colors very seriously.
The Great Gatsby is a wonderful book of possibility and mystery that can only be revealed over time.

Jaine

When I think of Jaine, it is hard for me to look past her numerous failing relationships. She is constantly fighting the feeling of loneliness even though that is always where she ends up. Throughout the story, as she keeps getting disappointed by people in her life, she starts to realize she needs to find out who she is, before she lets someone else determine that for her. When Jaine first meets Jody, she feels like he shares the same motives with her in terms of following their dreams. Jaine feels such comfort with Jody, because it is such a contrast from her previous relationship with Logan Killicks. Jody manages to persuade Jaine in believing he has her best interest at heart, only to find out that was all a lie. Jaine is never in control, and after being in a negative relationship for a  twenty years, she loses her voice. I notice that she stops trying to argue or even stand up to Jody as he constantly knocks her down out of pure jealously that his wife looks not a day over twenty. But as Jody lay on his death bed, waiting for his time to come, it was as if Jaine broke free and found her voice again. She wants to make sure that her husband understands who she is, even though her doing so ends up killing him. After being alone for a while, Jaine finds peace with herself. With this time alone, I think she realizes that she is capable of taking control of her own life. Which means that in the future, Jaine will start to think twice about jumping into relationships, even with Tea Cake.

Thankful for My Classmates

Honestly, I am thankful for everyone in my class, because your intelligence and humor wakes me up every day in the morning. But I really want to thank: Rivka, Sarah, Ayanna, and Alex.

Thank you Rivka, for providing the most thought provoking opinions ever! I love when you raise your hand because I know something great is going to come out of your mouth haha. Even if you disagree with what we are talking about in our discussions, you always have a great  reason why. Sometimes you make me want to disagree just to say exactly what you said.

Thank you Sarah, for always having my back. We have three classes together so I can always count on you for help. I am also sorry for bothering you so late in the night to ask about assignments. But thanks for always responding, and never getting mad...I think. 

Thank you Ayanna, for being such a good friend. You were the first person I saw when I walked in, the first day of school, and I am so glad I did.  When we first started I will admit, I was a little nervous because there were barley any familiar faces, but it always put a smile on my face when I saw you. It is crazy that I have known you for nine years now, and I hope we will have many more years in the future. 

Thank you Alex, for translating the literature the way you do. You seem to always find the hidden message beneath everything we read, and I find it fascinating. After you explain how you feel, I can never read the story again the same way! Also I want to thank you for your prodigious vocabulary. I learn from you everyday. 

A Principle We Should Keep

We as humans, live by principles every day in order to keep the world running smoothly. Being good guys are how we are taught as children. You see, I believe every person has a different connotation of principle and how they go about life and experience is what controls this. But, a principle we should keep is justice. Every person should be treated fairly no matter what the circumstance is. Even though history has shown we have had major problems with equality in the past, it is still human nature to be caring. It is not hard to see that people are constantly fighting for rights, even to this day.  

                In “The Road” the man and his son are the good guys. They are not going to resort to cannibalism or rape. Another thing that sticks out to me as I continue to read this book is how they stop and talk to everyone. Regardless of the situation, the father always negotiates the outcome instead of immediately killing or leaving. While reading the story, it warmed my heart to see them take the old man under their wings, even if it was only for a little while. They could have left that man to die of starvation, but because of the principle of justice, it was the right thing to do. 

             

Hemingway

We all know and recognize Hemingway for his outstanding works of literature that still live on to inspire writers and shape lives to this day. While reading his stories we learn to escape and become one with the landscape he strategically paints with his words. But it is what’s behind those painted words that makes me wonder who Hemingway really is.

Themes, symbols, and characters. All some things we readers expect differently when reading a Hemingway classic. While most of his stories are centered around his experiences, such as war and love, those themes cannot be all Hemingway went through as a man of many challenges.  In fact, while reading some of his short stories the idea of suicide seems to come up a couple of times. We see this in “Indian Camp” and “A Clean Well-Lighted Place”. Even though both of those stories have themes that seem to be more important, I still see suicide to hold many connections through Hemingway’s stories and his life.

When watching the documentary on Ernest Hemingway in class I could finally see why suicide was a part of his stories; ending your own life had run in his family. Due to “hemochromatosis” a disease that caused his father and two of his siblings to very tragically commit suicide, Ernest was surrounded by pain and turmoil almost all of his life. Now that I knew a little more about Hemingway’s undercover themes and symbols it made me think of all the others I hadn't even thought about. I guess I’ll never really know what’s behind those painted words after all.