Tragedy Journal #12

Ugly vs. Beautiful
In the play there is this idea of ugly versus beauty and the conflict is used to illustrate the ideas that make a tragedy with the tragic heroes. The audience first sees how Antigone is this tragic hero because while Ismene appears to be outwardly beautiful, more beautiful than Antigone, Haemon picks her to love. In the reading tonight Antigone mentions on page 36 that that her "arms are covered with welts... But I am a queen" (36). The idea of something ugly like welts on her body creates ugly images, but she finishes by calling herself a queen, a woman who has the connotations of being beautiful. She is showing that it is what she does for her brother that makes her beautiful and not ugly. She also says that her "father was ugly too" (43) and from reading Oedipus the king it has been previously established that he was the tragic hero, and in that there is a level of beauty and respect. She is identifying herself like her father and saying that she wants to be considered beautiful for being selfless and knowing what the outcome of trying to bury her brother would be, but doing it anyways. In contrast, Creon finds her willingness to do this very ugly. For example when he says, "If you could here how ugly you are" he wants her not to think like a tragic hero because it undermines him. Antigone's conflict with her either being considered beautiful or ugly is the epitome of the tragedy; she may only be beautiful once all hope and other possibilities are gone, but even then, it is debatable that there is no beauty because both sides are valid.

Tragedy Journal #11

In the beginning the chorus acted as a device to forewarn the audience of the tragic events to come, as well as to inform the audience of what has happened previously with the characters before Antigone. The chorus did not really side with Antigone or Creon, but gave reasons to see how both can be right in their stance. However, in tonight's reading, the chorus did not talk about what is to come but talked more about a tragedy versus a melodrama. I feel that Anouilh used the chorus to show his personal stance on plays and how they should be portrayed. The talked about what makes something tragic and how in a melodrama the father wouldn't have died if he came five minutes earlier, or when he says, "the honest young man might have been brought to the police five minutes earlier" (24) Anouilh is pointing out the inherent flaws to melodramas because the sad aspects could have been prevented. But, in a tragedy there is this inevitable horrible outcome, "Nothing is in doubt and everyone's destiny is known" (24). This idea that everything is known helps to go along with the prophecies that were with Oedipus and in Greek life. He may have also used the chorus to foreshadow what is to come because when the chorus says, "argument is gratuitous: it's kingly" (24) this is showing that there are bad things to come simply because Creon is the king and he has to punish Antigone for disobeying his orders. I feel that Anouilh manipulated the chorus to reiterate that this is a tragedy, as well as to shed criticism on melodramas.

Tragedy Journal #10

Events:

• Play opens with the chorus setting the scene as well as giving an overview of what is to come in the play.
• chorus introduces Antigone as well as Ismene and Haemon. Explains that Ismene is beautiful and Haemon acted like he was interested in her, but really he was not because he ended up asking Antigone to marry him. His proposal was a surprise to everyone except Antigone. Then Chorus informs the audience that they will not actually get married.
• Next Creon is addressed. Chorus mentions that Oedipus has since died, as well as his son and now Creon is the leader and he does not really like it.
• Etocles and Polynices kill each other and Creon says that Polynices will not have a burial.
• Antigone sneaks out to see Haemon, they get into a fight
• she comes home and gets caught by Nurse

Reflection:

Anouilh starts the play by having the Chorus inform the audience of what has happened previously as well as what is to come. The Chorus does this in a very nonchalant fashion and even gives away entire plot  pieces such as the eventual death of Antigone, not leaving much to surprise the audience with, but leaving them prepared for the cathartic experience to come. The structure at the beginning leads to audience into a sort of muddled state of understanding the story. The way that the chorus describes certain characters leads the audience to have preconceived notions  for the characters that have not yet appeared. For example, with comparing Ismene and Antigone, and saying that people do not know why Antigone was picked there is a sort of siding with Antigone because of her lack of care from the rest of the characters. I feel that the play is set up to be seen through Antigone's eyes and feel compassion and empathy for her. I feel that after explaining the death of her brother and how she wanted him to be buried but the king did not, the motivation for sneaking out and betraying tge kig seems justified. 

Topic Sentence

In Blood Wedding by Frederico Garcia Lorca, Neighbor's evident grief over the death of her son impacts her relationship with Mother, and in turn Neighbor is able to be viewed as a foil to Mother, rather than a confidant.

Tragedy Journal #9

• destiny is predetermined

I think this is a theme because there are always children in the scenes, and the groom and bride are treated like children in the play by their parents, in addition to personally believing they are young. I think Lorca uses the youth to show that at that time in history people followed a specific path and it was very hard to change that path, like going from poor to rich. He uses the business deal feel of the wedding to symbolize the lives of the children being predetermined and their eventual deaths to show the repercussions of not following along with natural progression of life.

• unattainable desires bring about the downfall of humans

Lorca illustrates this theme best through the bride running away with Leonardo, and the mother who does not go against societal norms or challenge the gender roles even though she may secretly desire more.

• misery is destructive

The bride shows this theme clearly because she did not want to marry the groom, although she went on with the show until the last minute which lead to both of their deaths. She was incredibly destructive because of her misery and brought about the downfall of many families due to the deaths. The mother is also constantly miserable and therefore makes her own life horrible as well as those around her. Because of her long lasting grudges on the Felix's and the bride she is unable to fully enjoy her life and look past the murders of her family members.

• Unhappiness can lead to a need for control

This theme is shown through the mother because she is so unhappy with her life that she must control every aspect of it as well as those around her to make up for her unhappy manner. The bride, like the mother, is unhappy with her situation and she feels that in order to cope with her unhappiness she must become controlling. When she talks with the maid she acts very controlling and harsh as the mother does so as not to let on her true feelings about the marriage. The controlling front both characters put on act as a defense mechanism for their true sorrow

Tragedy Journal #8

How does the set change between acts and what effect does the set have on the atmosphere? 
Between the acts in Blood Wedding, and even the scenes within the acts the set changes progressively from rather cheerful to eerie. In Act 1 scene 1, the room is yellow and that is all that Lorca notes for the setting. For most, yellow can be identified as a rather cheerful with little negative connotations. The purpose of a yellow room is that in the beginning of his play is he is just setting the stage, presenting the idea of a wedding. The yellow would lead a person to believe that the wedding would go as planned, inclining towards a happy ending. However, the audience soon finds out that a happy wedding is not the story of this play. From act 1 scene 3, to act 2 scene 3, the story takes place in various parts of the brides cave home. A cave home itself sounds moderately dark in comparison to a yellow room, and just as the atmosphere gets darker so does the plot. The darkening of the atmosphere helps in deepening the dark mood Lorca intended to create with the plot line. Next the play takes place in a forest, and that is where the two men die and is probably one of the darker scenes in the play. The atmosphere of a play can impact how deeply an audience feels in the same way that the cinematography of movies today helps in extending the mood created by the men creating the movie.

Tragedy Journal #7

Q: When and how does Lorca break the fourth wall (google the term)?  What is the affect of reminding the reader that the events on the stage are not real? 


I think that the fourth wall is broken when Lorca has the characters break out into song or poems. I feel that this breaks the fourth wall because this doesn't happen in real life so to speak. The fact that this spontaneous singing does not happen in real life, adds emphasis to Lorca being a surrealist, and defying the realist movement. The idea of having song outbreaks is still present today, like in the hit TV show Glee.This way of breaking the fourth wall reminds the audience that what they are reading or watching is not real, or meant to be intended as real and people have always liked escapism. So, Lorca breaks the fourth wall in order to defy realism inn theater as well as to provide a sense of entertainment to his audience. 

Tragedy Journal #6

Which characters appear to be miserable int he play and why?  When and how do the characters express their misery? What do the characters desire and what stops them from going after what each desires? 


I would say that one main character that appears to be miserable in the play is the bride because she does not have the mentality to marry the groom. She is clearly not in love with him, and in love with Leonardo. Even more so, she feels more upset after they both die and she knows she is responsible for their deaths. I feel like Lorca hints at her desires for her to run way with Leonardo when he comes to see her before the wedding and they talk about how she came to his, so why wouldn't her be at hers. I feel that having Leonardo at her wedding makes it even harder for the bride to do something she already did not want to do. Then, at the end of the play once the two of them have died, in the last scene she is clearly a mess when talking to the mother. She feels terrible for having caused all this, and the mother is just coaxing her on, which leads the bride to end her misery and take her own life. I feel that she went forward with the marriage until the last minute because she knew that if she gave into her desires she would be letting down her family and breaking the rules of being  woman that the mother mentions at the beginning of the play. At the end when she kills herself, I think that is her way of taking responsibility for her actions and trying to take disgrace away from her family for following her desires and running away with Leonardo.

Tragedy Journal #5

Journal #5 Examine how Lorca characterize the archetypes of the play.  Does Lorca embrace or reject the archetype?  What is the effect of the characterization? 


I feel that through Lorca giving his characters archetypes for names he is showing both a standard for society as well as mocking societal norms through their generic names. Some of the names he chose were; mother, bridegroom, bride, wife of Leonardo, and father. I feel that one role the names play is to provide emphasis to gender roles by placing men and women as solely a "mother" or "bridegroom" it forces Lorca's characters to take on their roles in society to the point that it defines them. Specially with being a mother, it could be showing the general mother- nervous to marry her son off, wanting the best, irrational fears, but overall embraces societal norms of domesticity. With the mother specifically, I'm not sure as to whether Lorca is criticizing the mother archetype, or embracing it because even after the interactive orals, I do not know how he felt about gender roles of the time. With giving the bride her title I believe it was done to mock society, and add more emphasis to her running away with Leonardo, rather than getting married to one man as the typical bride of the time did. It's interesting that it wouldn't choose to give her an actual name as he did with Leonardo because she's named "Bride" but she never does get married. Though, with both female characters who are almost foils to each other because of their views on loyalty to one man, neither the mother nor the bride end up happy. The mother loses her son in the end, and the bride loses her life. I feel also that in by providing the brides lover, Leonardo, with the only name in the play more attention is drawn to him, the affair, and in turn the archetypes for names. 

Tragedy Journal #4

Journal #4: Choose any two symbols that emerged in this scene and discuss their significance.  While you are certainly welcome to connect that significance to the entire text, I want you to focus on the details of how they are used in these first 12 pages.  Look at the stylistic choices surrounding their use and build up to a discussion on the role they play or will play in developing theme/character/setting/tension...


The first symbol I noticed in the play was knives. I feel that this symbol is significant because it captures part of the plot, by referencing a plot point that happened previously, as well as future plot in the end. The knife in the first scene characterizes the mother of the groom because of the death of her son and husband. Her strong hatred sets the stage for her irrational hatred of things due to the past. She not only hates knives, but also hates the Felix's for killing her family with a knife. Knives are used to cut things, and I found that in the play in the beginning there are a lot of words like "cut" and "slice". Knives cut, but the way in which the Felix's killed her son and husband with a knife, created a division between the families, slicing the community.


The second Symbol I noticed was the flowers and plants. I think that flowers and plants have some connection to death because at the end the bride wears the crown of orange blossoms like Jesus did when he died, and it the beginning flowers are talked about around the context of the death of the mothers son and husband. She says the he smelled like carnations and "two men like two beautiful flowers" (35). I think that flowers are used to set a the  mood for the play because they are this beautiful aspect of nature, although in the play they are associated with eerie things like death. I feel that it was important to use something of beauty to symbolize death because the play revolves around a wedding, which is supposed to be a happy event, although the bride ends up running away and in the end the groom, leonardo, and the bride all die which is not what is expected from a wedding.

Tragedy Journal #3

 I feel that there are a hand full of characters at fault for Hedvig's death, those being, Gina, Greggers, Hjalmar, and ultimately Hedvig. Gina is to blame because she is the one that brought Hedvig into this world. She is the one that, fueled the facade, at any point in time Gina could have told Hjalmar that she was already pregnant before they met, but she hadn't. I understand that in that time it is unheard of for a woman to have an illegitimate child, and be honest about it, but had she have been honest none of this would have happened, in fact her and Hjalmar may not have even married. I feel that Greggers takes a lot of responsibility as well because he is the character who metaphorically speaking, opens a pandora's box when he comes into town. Had Greggers have not intervened it is possible that the Ekdals could have continued their lives happily without any acknowledgement of the truth. Greggers also tells Hedvig how to kill the wild duck, which is how she actually kills herself, but he also calls her the wild duck so he is confusing her in her vulnerable state. Hjalmar is the next character to take responsibility for Hedvig's death because of his reaction. Hedvig is only thirteen years old and she is unable to fully grasp what is going on. Because of Hjalmars reaction Hedvig thought he hated her. However, I do feel that it is unfair to blame Hjalmar all that harshly for his reaction because I feel that if a person found of what he did, they have every right to explode. Lastly is Hedvig because she was the one who killed herself, I feel that she shouldn't have but she didn't know what else to do because she felt that her father hated her. In the end Greggers feels responsible I think because he thought she killed the wild duck, and when he sees she shot herself he doesn't understand it, so I don't think he foresaw she would do that, however he never blatantly admits his guilt or that he feels responsible.

Tragedy Journal #2

Topic: motif of decay, disease, illness.
I believe that Ibsen uses the motif of decay and illness to portray how secrets and lies can bring about ones downfall. Metaphorically speaking, secrets can eat people up inside, and often times, if the secret is big enough, lies and secrets can make a person physically sick. What comes from knowing secrets that are not your own, or finding out the truth after a long period of time can be destructive. Greggers for example, tells his father "You have soured my whole life. Oh, I'm not just thinking of what happened to my mother. But it's you I have to thank for the fact that I'm continually haunted by a guilty conscience" (209). Greggers shows that knowing about Gina and his father made his life "soured", and even impacted his conscience. Greggers feels that it is his obligation to solve this illness of the hurtful lies that soured his life which leads to his father telling him that his "conscience is queasy" (210). No one in the novel really understands where Greggers is coming from, but his is motivated in part to tell the truth because he whole-heartedly believes in it, but he also is driven to find the cure to the sickness of the lies and deceit that ruined his life. His mother probably knew before she died that she was being cheated on, or so it is alluded to in the play, and her suspicions most likely rubbed off on her son. Werle having affairs on Greggers dying mother had a reasonably negative impact on his life, therefore it is no wonder why he feels that others should have to bare the burden of this secret, or help him dissolve it. Other characters like Relling view Greggers as simple just being ill. This belief leads Relling to say, "He's suffering from a surfeit of self-righteousness" (212). At this point him, Gina, and Hedvig quickly establish that Greggers need fort he truth makes him ill, therefore rationalizing that the truth is unneeded and, and deciding that their lives are better without the truth. It is easier to deny things if they are found to be flawed, so by calling Greggers ill, it makes what he is trying to preach to them not seem like a necessity. However, shortly after Greggers reveals the truth to Hjalmar and everything then gets worse.

Tragedy Journal #1

Option 2:


I think it's clear in the play that Hjalmar is debatably the most mislead character. He has misconceptions of the most basic things such as his wife and daughter. The fact that he has this immense misconceptions and is eventually hindered by the truth the audience sympathizes with Hjalmars naivety. Hjalmar did not know that Werle was actually the one that got Gina pregnant, therefore making Hedvig Werle's own biological daugther. On top of that, it seems that most other characters have caught on or know about this secret, the most important being Gina. Gina clearly knows that Hedvig is not Hjalmars, why they have the photography job, and even get money from the Werles, although she may not let on that she knows these truths. The fact that she fools Hjalmar every day shows how she helps in creating this facade happy family for her and Hjalmar when she possibly may not even love him. This facade Gina and Werle have created leads to Greggers confronting the lies at hind and in turn revealing the truth to Hjalmar. Greggers is a character that believes he sees everyone and everything as they are simply because he believes in the evident power of the truth. Although Greggers may be able to reveal entities about other characters, he is truthfully very mislead about himself. Greggers sees himself in a very richeous light that the other characters and audience do not view him in. This contrast in how Greggers sees himself and how others view him fuels the conflict of the play, and even motivates Greggers- proving that he needs to reveal the truth to help others.

We Journal #3

Motifs: Colors: I have changed my mind again! Colors ARE a motif, but only select colors, however it goes beyond pink. One color being blue is associated with O. I think blue was chosen because the connotations of blue can be sad, and she's a very emotional person for their society. She loves D, she is pregnant, she is sad, as well as the two of them having a sort of family connection to each other. She is a character that feels things very deeply and D will always mention her "blue eyes" (190) or "blue emptiness" (192). I think it's very interesting how even a character who was apart of D's life before he changed, experienced deep emotions, so really emotions still exist within the society even though they should not. A second color that I've found reoccurs with the same context is yellow. Yellow is always mentioned when talking about either ancient people, or this concept of wild savagery. For instance, on page 93 and 94 in the first third of the novel, he mentions an animal of some sort o the other side of the wall with yellow eyes, then visits the ancient house and the old woman also has yellow eyes. As it turns out, the "animal" he saw, was a person living on the other side. Both these yellow are associated with yellow and it shows that they are connected by having to do with defying the One State. Bringing it back to the last third, after D-503 has attacked U, he says "With shaking hands... the large, yellow, flabby body fell back on the bed..." (209). He has just done something uncivilized, and these uncivilized, unaccounted for actions are things which are related to the ancients or those living outside the wall.

Shadows: On page 202, when he is getting on the Integral and he's thinking about the plan he sees "a rapid spot flew like a brown shadow" and this is not the first time shadows have been noted. They were mentioned in earlier parts of the novel, and I've realized that shadows, or fog, which was also mentioned in the novel, cover things and remove clarity. The One State cannot function properly without clarity, and definite answers, so this idea of shadows or fog is a motif for imagination and souls. Imagination and souls, can challenge or threaten logic by making it harder to have things run on the button, but at the same time imagination helps logic be carried out. So, I think that in the instance before the big event where they will take over the Integral, the fact that D sees shadow, shows how he as a character has had his previously engraved logic be clouded and ignored by his emotions, imagination, and the idea of a soul.

There was the continuation of using nature to make figurative language, but I've talked about that before.

Setting: When D goes outside the walls, he looks at the sun and says "this was not out sun, evenly diffused over the mirror-smooth surface of our pavements" (154). This leads me to believe what I stated in the second journal, about how the weather is controlled, and not only that but maybe that there are two suns, the real sun outside the walls, and the artificial sun which has specific degree rays. Also I think it could be two suns because when the wall explodes D says it's so bright everywhere, and that he fell asleep at seven, and just as it got dark, he "could see the bird-strewn roofs" (225). So, with the wall gone, there's ultimately havoc. There's birds on roofs, which before did not go into the society much, two suns, and on top of that he finds his dead friend R. He says the street was swept clean after the wall got blown up, so the city was really destructed, and branches and nature where inside the society. I think the branches on page 226 re key because nature can be abstract and something to admire, whereas they find it ugly because it may not have a definite logical purpose, but with the destruction of the wall these things are prevailing and infringing upon their society.

Language: He uses lot of figurative language! He uses extended metaphors and lots of similes. for instance, on page 185 he says "the wind was ... carrying me like a slip of paper". Also before he gets the operation, he stops using a lot of math words, however this does not mean he stops using logic. He is talking about how something cannot be white and black because they're opposites, or how duty and crime cannot be one and the same. He is questioning the sort of "grey areas" in life and society, like white lies, or things that may be "bad" but aren't bad considering the situation. D finally concludes that there is "no black or white in life", by realizing that not everything can be computed and deciphered with math and science (190). Although he concluded this, he used logic, but no math terms like he once did. However, after having the operation to remove your soul, he goes back to picking out the finite details in faces and says, "the forehead a huge yellow parabola" noticing that there is a U-shaped function within a mans face (208). I believe Zamyatin does not want people to lose their imaginations because with that it means that things cannot properly function, and truly even in the people who did not have an imagination or soul, like O, she still felt feelings and got pregnant. So Zamyatin is also saying that this can never really happen as is shown through how the doctor in the first half was in on the rebellion, as were many others.

We Journal #2

Motifs:

Colors: last time I talked about how colors could be a possible motif, but now that I've read more I don't think they are. He still mentions the pinks when referring to women or sex because their pink coupons permit sex, and greens in nature, and some days are yellow and the sun and the atmosphere, but for the most part I feel that colors don't play much significance anymore, or maybe they never did and I was just mislead and over analyzing the color scheme.

Faces: D-503 always describes the faces of those he talks to and at the beginning of the 2nd third he would continue to describe various facial movements in the way that their shapes are, rather than saying frown or anger. But now, he doesn't say she looked angry, but he's better at noticing a facial expression has emotion rather than shapes that make it up, for instance he says, "stern, shaggy eyebrows turned to me" (156). D notices that the face is stern, but rather he focuses on one aspect of the face rather than the bigger picture of the emotions.

Nature: He's mentioned before that the society doesn't find nature to be very attractive or important, but he always describes things in nature metaphors, like he says, "I kissed the ingrown mossy mouth" (94). I just think it's interesting that he mentions nature so often, I think that shows how he's different that the society too because of how often he mentions something that they all find repulsive.

Glass: There's still a lot of mention of glass, so the analysis I put for that in my first entry still stands about how it's a very clear way to depict the governments ability to look into the lives of the people.

Souls: "I have a soul, I am a microbe" (131). He mentions souls a lot, and how it's "bad" to have one, yet he realizes that he is gaining a soul, and with that imagination which goes against his life and society. they believe that imagination and souls are one in the same and to have an imagination or a soul, would be proving the completely math driven, logical society, wrong. Through this motif it is shown that there is conflict in the society with people having souls, emotions, imagination, and how the society that the government has created cannot function properly or have total control when individuals have imaginations.

Setting:

Sun: D-503 mentions the weather and the day changing on page 104 and he says the the day was different but that the setting rays from the sun "fell at exactly the same angle" as the ones when the sun rises, so that makes me question the governments ability to control the weather. I'm not sure why they would want to do this, other than to show that they can, to keep things in their control, to have more power than God, or nature or outside forces. So I guess the weather control shows governmental control.

Green wall and nature: at the beginning of the seventeenth entry he talks about how the green wall blocks out ugly nature, and the ocean, so I don't think there's any moving bodies of water in their society. He says that they were isolated from trees and other nature, so that also makes me question if they have any nature inside their society, and if not, how does D-503 describe it so well, or how does it come to his mind so often? He also thanks the green wall for being there, he's happy to be inside the wall and away from the rest of the world, so I imagine that's how many people feel because the wall is just glass, and I would imagine if people wanted to leave, they could, but they don't.

Also, the ancient house is different than their current houses because when D goes to visit it at one point he mentions the "opaque door" (153). I think it's interesting that the ancient house has an opaque entrance because it makes it so it's unclear, and clouded in the same way that imagination, or a soul, can cloud judgment and logic.

Language:

It's interesting because now we as the reader are really watching him transform from a loyal, unquestioning member of society, to a radical being that thinks, imagines and dreams. D-503 goes off on these elaborate tirades about these dreams or fantasies, but then he will also express how much he loves the society. He did this when he talked about how happy he was for the wall and being "saved" by the wall from animals on the other side, but then goes to the ancient house. He uses a lot of figurative language, and most of it has to do with nature. He uses a lot of extended metaphors or short metaphors to really get his ideas across. He uses similes a lot too, and when he uses them a lot of times he refers to animals. I haven't figured out yet if they have any animals in the society, but he said, "repulsive and agile as a gorilla" (144).

We Journal #1

Q: Dystopian Journal #1: How do the motifs, setting, and language contribute to our understanding of the society. Address each area separately and in depth.

Motifs: In We so far there are several motifs. One motif is glass. Many things are made out of glass, and their homes have glass walls. I think that this motif clearly shows the evasiveness and control of the government through the lack of general coverage people are aloud to have. The glass is transparent and therefore is a very obvious motif for their lack of freedoms. There is the motif of shapes when describing people for example D-503 will say her crescent downward mouth, instead of a frown. Looking at emotions in terms of shapes I think shows the sense of detachment that people were taught to feel. I think they are sort of taught to separate themselves from emotions through looking at things very scientifically and mathematically it just reduces the emotional value in life. There's also a lot of colors of shades. Pink reoccurs a lot when talking about women and the pink coupons, there's the green wall, and there there is emphasis placed on the lightness or darkness of a situation.

Setting: The novel takes place in the future and many of the characters, and D-503 in particular talk about "the ancients" a lot. D-503 is writing his book or journal entries for the ancients, but he also refers to us as aliens or people that live on Mars, so it makes me question either if they've been told that we didn't always live on Earth, or if we moved then went back to Earth. I think the fact that they are meant to be in the future and be far more intelligent than us, the reader, shows their confidence in themselves as a society. Everything is calculated out and math and science play a great effect in people's day to day lives. Generally speaking, people do not question authority or speak out. Their civilization is really small, only a small portion of the worlds population exists now after the 200 years war, and they're in this sort of enclosed place, surrounded by the green wall, although it's not green, it's glass.

Language: There are several allusions to science and math, for example D-503 mentions Newton and his theories. These allusions show the importance of math and science to the society. He also uses math words like sinusoids, and imaginary numbers, those sorts of things. I really like the fact that the novel is told by D-503, I think his point of narration shows a lot of character, especially for how the society is and how people seem to lack character. I like that he shows his thoughts by saying that he apologizes for overlooking to explain things because they're as natural as explaining what a coat is. His narration is just really friendly and it makes you want to keep reading. He uses a lot of figurative language like similes and ongoing metaphors when he writes to the reader and it makes his reading very colorful.

The Stranger: Journal #5

Rachel Ramirez Philosophy:

1. Send the elevator back down: Each and every person must try his or her hardest to empower themselves, to live up to their full potential, to be the best, to educate themselves. Once a person has done this, once he or she has taken the elevator of success to the top, it is his or her job to send the elevator back down for someone below them. There are many many people in the world that are nowhere near as fortunate as we are in America, they strive to have an education, and it is important that we extend our hand and help.

2. Find what "God" or "religion" means to you: I personally do not believe in a "God" I was raised to be Jewish, and spent five years in a Jewish private school. Now, I do not reject religion, but it's not for me. Instead, I believe in love, music, perfect coincidences, and science. I don't practice any religion, but I do believe in things and I think that some people can choose God, and others will choose to have "religion" mean something different to them, and that's fine.

3. Do not regret yesterday, tomorrow: Everyone must live in the present, live their current situation to the fullest. I saw a quote once, and it was something like, it is important to do something you enjoy each day because you wasted a day of your life doing it. Now, this quote made me think, for one I read it on the internet after watching three hours of Grey's Anatomy on Netflix, so it hit me, you only have one today, don't waste it. You should look ahead to the future and hope that there will be one, but don't take it for granted.

4. Today shapes tomorrow: Understand that the things you do and say will impact your future. I'm not saying every minute white lie, or that a persons future is predetermined, I just mean that it is important to remember that in 10 years, or five years you may be put into a situation where it may not be easy to deal with your past. For example, I think of your future spouse, or child, or how things impact your parents. People need to realize that their actions and words, have the full potential to change another person whether or not that person is present in their life at the time.

5. Hate is learned: I will fully agree with the the child development specialists that argue that personalities are predetermined. I believe that all individuals are born with some sort of special personality, in the same way that our DNA is different from one another. However, I do not think that hate is in the mix when personalities are predetermined. No child is born to hate, it is absolutely learned, and it shouldn't be. Babies are not born to be racist or sexist or discriminate another over their sexuality, religion, parents, socioeconomic stance. No child should learn how to hate.

6. In spite of fear, stand: It can be the most difficult thing in the world to stand in a room and realize that you are alone in your beliefs, that you do not have a friend who views the world in the same lens as you, but the only way to prove that you are not wrong for simply being different, is to stand up, hold your ground, hold your had high, and regardless of what they say, do not let anyone or fear stop you. Do not let fear suppress you.

7. Rely on yourself: It is unrealistic to expect others, or even a God to do things for you. It is unrealistic to wish upon stars and not follow up those wishes with hard work and determination. You may never fully achieve anything with the full faith that 'If God wants me to ____ then it will happen". You must go out and do things yourself. Yes, sure, have faith in your God, magic, stars, parents, connections, whatever it may be, but do not forget that when you do succeed or fail it is because of what you did or did not do.

I write these ideals from my own lief experiences, I am very passionate about helping others and loving each and every person. I think that the world is too often filled with hate and anger. I am a minority in many different ways and therefore it can be hard to stand alone, but it must be done or no one else will. I feel that we all must empower ourselves, and if in that power you find a a faith, run with it, but do not forget yourself. This is just what I believe in, and it is so much easier to write down guide lines for life, or to give advice than to follow it, but for the most part I do follow my own philosophies.

The Stranger: Journal #4

At the end of the novel The Stranger Meursault realizes that no matter what a persons past was like, each and every person dies and whether they are killed because they are guilty of a crime or whether they die because of old age, everyone dies in the end. I think that Meursault has known all along that death is inevitable and always had a sort of "What's the point?" type of attitude, but it really came through in the second part of the novel near the end when he's in his final moments and really accepts death as something he cannot control. I think that Meursault's absurd or existential qualities in the novel were used by Camus not to tell his readers to be absurd but rather to inform them. I had never encountered something with absurd philosophies until this book, so I think he's making readers aware of what this concept is, but not trying to force anyone in any specific direction.

The Stranger: Journal #3

Q: Why do you think Camus divided his novel into two parts? Use textual evidence to support your answer (consider how does Meursault changes, what are some parallel ideas and scenes, etc.).

I think that Camus divided the novel into two different parts to add emphasis to the change in character that Meursault undergoes. Because the novel is told in first person, the a lot of the book is composed of Meursaults thoughts. In part one Meursault thoughts were short and choppy, "I wished I didn't have to listen to her anymore. But I didn't dare say anything" (Camus, 10). The sentences are simple and short, which make Meursaults thoughts appear to either be simple and short, or that he does not include the reader into every thought, there is no clear flow from one thought to the next. In part two there is shift in Meursault's character that is shown through his thoughts, "I gazed at my reflection one more time. It was still serious - and what was surprising about that, since at that moment I was too?" (Camus, 81). Clearly, the sentences of his subconscious are much deeper and longer, being portrayed with more complex sentences. I think this shift is in part because he is in prison all by himself, and therefore he has more time to actually open up to himself and reflect on how he feels, so we see a different side of him.

As far as parallels go, the same colors are continued in the second half of the book. At the beginning of the trial, Camus describes the red robes, and the black a ties, the white fans. The Robotic woman, appears again, watching him. When she was described in part one she had bright eyes, and the man that was watching him that Meursault felt was himself had bright eyes. The people judging him are very similar to how part one started with the old people in the vigil. He was unable to distinguish individuals in both scenes. As far as his thoughts go, we see a change as earlier addressed, but there are also the same type of thoughts, the trial irritated him and "The utter pointlessness of whatever I was doing there [...] I wanted to get it over with and get back to my cell and sleep" (Camus 105).

The Stranger: Journal #2

Option 2: Evaluate the author's use of first person point of view. Why didn't Camus choose third person omniscient? How is his choice of point of view related to Camus' purpose/themes in the novel.

Personally, I feel that Camus chose to have the story told in first person as opposed to third person omniscient because when a story is told in first person there is a certain level of closeness that you have to the character because it is told by them. With third person omniscient the narrator can tell many characters thoughts, but with this story and Meursault being an outsider to the world, it makes sense to have the focus only be on him and only know his thoughts rather than everyone else's as well as his. I believe that because he is an "outsider" or "stranger" because the story is told by him the reader is more able to want to side with Meursault and see him as something other than a "stranger". Lastly, by telling the story from him point of view, the subtle changes that Meursault does go through in the book, are more obvious.