Comic Remix

Comic Remix

http://Pixton.com/ic:xy9pqwdu

Origional Comic

http://www.pixton.com/comic/g2e4f7hx

An Ode to College Lit.

We began with the story of an Indian boy's father,
Who's bad parenting came at his failure to bother.

With Jimi Hendrix he destroyed his father/son friendship,
And with drinking so to his marriage relationship.

Then came the story of very small child,
Who struck people out with her pitches so wild.

But in the end she nearly felt death's cold embrace,
When a ball to the side of the head wiped that grin off her face.

A woman of a upstanding family in the South,
Is defiant toward paying taxes without any doubt.

When the people see her, they notice no rath,
But as it turns out she was a sociopath.

Then comes the story of Bartleby the Scrivener,
Who could have lived if he just ate his dinner.

Ah Bartleby! Ah Humanity! Your defiance so bold,
You now lay still in a prison yard, rigid and cold.

Later a man woke up having been turned into a bug,
An image so grotesque not even his mother could love.

When he dies his family feels such relief,
O Gregor if only your life was more brief.

Out of choice I learned of a boy who was molested,
But in the end it turned out his depression he bested.

Drugs, sex, alcohol, and other bad things,
He experienced the pain that a poor choice brings.

Two brothers meet for the first time in years,
The tension it brings nearly drives them to tears.

Writing a script is not as easy as one might think,
The frustration drives them both to murder's brink.

A Catholic man so very generous and kind,
Meets a very odd family whom he does not mind.

The daughter one night gives him a sexual favor,
Then they crucify him just a few hours lator.

A man from the war can travel through time and space,
But he does not try to change it because he has learned his place.

He experienced the war in a nation he was alien,
And traveled to a new plant ruled by the Tralfamadorian.

A man with no memory wishes to avenge his wife,
And has much trouble knowing what is true in his life.

He can't accept what is true, he must find this John Doe,
To bad he doesn't realize he killed him many years ago.

Back to the South, a farmer, quite mild,
Has and imagination that is very wild.

Stopping the North, an advance they have begun,
From the bridge he chose to destroy he is silently rung.

And finally a story about an Iranian girl,
Who finds trouble fitting in Europe's strange new world.

Her own country in turmoil, starting to crash,
The bombs of war bring down fire and ash.

As we come to the end it seems quite depressing,
But we learned well, our knowlege progressing.

And through it all we had lots of fun,
But alas our College Lit journey is finally done.

But is it really an end, or just the beginning,
As we start reaching new heights with a new way of thinking.

And now as I write from my humble abode,
I think it is time that I end this ode.

Comic

http://Pixton.com/ic:xrflz51t

Iran then, Libya now?

The graphic novel we have been reading Persepolis has gone into some gruesome detail regarding the overthrow of the Iranian Shah and the forming of the corrupted government afterwards. This got me thinking about the future of the countries in Africa that are going through the same thing now. Will Lybia, once liberated, fall into the same problems that were faced by the people, or will support of other nations guide them in a better direction, a guidance that Iran did not have at the time. Will Egypt and Tunisia be better off because their previous leader gave up his power easily? I gues only the future will tell but we can hope that these nations will have peaceful transitions into these new governments and that the people in these nations can be happy.

Saving Private Ryan

Saving Private Ryan describes the search for Private Ryan (Matt Damon) in WWII to bring him home after his other three brothers died in the war. Tom Hanks plays the Sergent in charge of the group sent to retrieve him from the middle of Germany. Along the way the horrors of war are shown as the men in this group die along the way. Eventually they meet up with Private Ryan and then have to wait for reinforcements to bring him home, but they have to defend a bridge first. Thus insues a very bloody battle killing many of the characters, including Tom Hanks, before reinforcements come to defeat the enemy. Private Ryan is brought home.

This film was meant to show the many horrors that come about during the war and  horrible situations that the soldiers had to fight through, but it also shows the determination of the soldiers to fulfill their duty of bringing the man they have never met home, even at the cost of most, if not all of their lives. I believe in the end only one of the origional group survives. This movie was likely an anti-war movie showing the horrors that soldiers faced while fighting in the war whereas Slaughterhouse Five was also anti-war, and showed the horrors of soldiers who were captured. Mary O'hare would aprove of this because it does not glorify war at all.

Schlachthof Funf

I have finally finished slaughterhouse five, and was glad to see the connections that began to appear in his time travels that related to the importance of the story. Things that he traveled to that did not make sense, or did not seem to fit in the story began to make sense. For example, when he travels to the time his father throws him in the pool to sink or swim, it does not make sense as to why this would be included until it is found out later that this is part of the causes of his emotional problems. Another thing that I was glad to see was that his experiences in time traveling later brought into more detail some serious events that happened in his life. It is not until the later chapters that we learn about the details of his plane crash, his wife's death and his relationship with Montana Wildhack. I also liked how it wasn't till the second to last page that he explained Derby's death as the person who was killed for taking a teapot, the same person mentioned in the first chapter. A third thing that I really enjoyed about this book was how many coincidences he seemed to have throughout the book, meeting people or their relatives, such as Kilgore Trout living in his same town in Ilium, Iowa.

Still, like in any story, there are questions that come unresolved and things that don't seem to add up. The first thing that I am curious about, since I have not read the books... is Eliot Rosewater meant to be a character from his book, "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater" or is it just a coincidence. Also, in the second chapter it says that Billy is the only survivor of the plane crash, but in the seventh chapter, when the crash is fully explained, Vonnegut says that both Billy and the copilot survive. Finally, out of all the times that the idea of "So it goes" appears in the book after nearly every mention of something dying, there are two instances where this does not happen where it seems it should. The first appears on page 121 when a woman refers to the execution of Edgar Derby, and the second on page 199, when he told of how George Nathan, the critic and editor, died in 1958. It just seemed odd that he took so much care as to label all deaths with a so it goes, but he missed these two spots. Maybe I am looking at things that are just coincidence and have nothing to do with anything, but I just thought I would put it out there.

Out of Control

I have just finished reading chapter four of Slaughterhouse Five, and a motif of this book seems to be Billy's lack of control. It shows how he is not able to change the things in his life. One of the most obvious things he has no control of is his time traveling. He ends up in seemingly random parts of his life with no control of where he goes, and for how long he is there. Also, he does not have control of what he does while he is in these different points of his life. He is just living them out the same way he would had he not traveled through time. He can not change what happens and it is almost as if he is viewing his life rather than living it.

Outside of this time traveling state he also has little control about what happens to him. He starts by joining the Three Musketeers, who force him to go on with them even though he would rather give up. He is then powerless to stop Weary from beating him up and later is captured by the Germans and can has to do what they say or be killed. He even voluntarily helps the Germans with a propaganda shot of him being caught by the Germans and when he is on the box car, he cannot lay down because all others will not let him. After the war he has other instances with no control. In his work his boss tells him that he should have people call him Billy instead of William so that they will like him better. He suffers from an uncontrollable urge to cry and will also be unable to prevent himself from falling asleep on the job.

On his wall in his office he has a poem that says "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom always to tell the difference". The problem is that he does not have the wisdom to tell the difference. The prime example of this appears when the sniper is shooting at him on the road. He has given up and is waiting for the shot that will end his life, but then is still pulled out of the way by Weary.

Finally, when he abducted by the Tralfamordians, he shows another instance without control. He uncontrolably grabs the ladder to the ship and does not let go. Once he is on the ship he learns of this beings belief in no free will and that Earth was the only place he had ever heard of the idea before. It seems almost as if Billy is going to a place he better belongs.

How does the idea of control show up in the other books we have read, and also the short stories?

Part of the Group

At times, people feel like they can do something on their own. They think that they can do something amazing without any help along the way. They may try to cut themselves off from others, trying to achieve more for themselves. What they don't realize is that they can achieve just as much by working with others, in a group as a team. Much more can be accomplished. We see people rise to success, but not without the help of some people pushing them forward, the people with whom they belong. The most prominent time I remember this feeling of belonging was during this years swim season. After school we would always wait outside the pool doors, talking, watching videos, playing cards, etc. always having a good bonding experience. During practiced we all worked hard. We did what we could to make every practice count, but we still had fun. Making jokes between sets, and playing games if we had the time. Everyone was part of the group on this team, and everyone fit in, in someway or another. When it came to the State Meet, it was this bond that we had gained over the entire season is what had allowed us to achieve our amazing victory. I was happy to be apart of this team.

Fences: play of symbolism

August Wilson's play, Fences is part of a ten play cycle that each represent the a decade during the twentieth century and how African American's lives changed throughout. Fences is placed in the 50s and he shows a masterful use of symbolism in many ways throughout his play. One of the most obvious appears in the theme of baseball. Troy continually strikes, and by the end he has stricken out. When he tells Rose about his affair and described his life as sitting on first with Rose for 18 years and was ready to steal second. He is also constantly telling Cory that he is striking out and after "strike three" he kicks Cory out of the house to live on his own. Another, less obvious symbol is the idea of a garden. Rose describes her love for Troy as a seed that will never blossom. Troy's building of the fence around the garden seems to reflect him keeping love gated inside, not able to spread. Rose's name itself even suggests a reference to fertility. Other examples come with the refrigerator that Bono buys for his wife which could symbolize him preserving his relationship with his wife whereas Troy is fencing out his own relationship.
What do you think? Are these good interpretations of different symbols in the book. Are there more?

Metamorphosis of True West

As we have been watching the movie True West, the places and roles of the characters have begun to change, or switch roles, much like the members of the family did in the metamorphasis and there are some key similarites that relate these two works. The first can be found in the roles of the characters. Austin represents the role of Gregor. He is the one who did the work to provide for his family and to get a good chance to write a screenplay, much as Gregor did with his job, working up to a salesperson. Then he suddenly has a radical change in his life that  causes his job to be lost and he worries about this overrall else. For Gregor it is the turning into the beetle. Austin on the other hand has his great opportunity lost at the success of his brother Lee. However, his beetle is not just the success, but his stubborness to not help out his brother with the project which would still benefit him in the end. Saul is like the manager, in the fact that he does his best to persuade Austin to "come out" of his idea for hisown movie, much like the manager warning Gregor to come out of the room. However, he gives up on him completely when he sees his stubborness and determination to not help and disgusted, he leaves him with no chance at the career he wants. Lee is Gregor's family in this book as he goes from being a man who is in need of help and relies on his brother to support him, just like Gregor supports the family, and when Austin is in trouble, he rises up and becomes a knew man, not dependent on his brother anymore. Another similarity comes from the scene in which this story takes place. While the characters leave the house, the camera does not and much like the Metamorphasis the viewer has this added feeling that the characters are trapped. The difference between the two is how characters interact and that is what makes this unique from the Metamorphasis. Whereas in the book, everyone abandoned Gregor and he died miserably, Lee does still have a connection with his brother that he is not willing to leave, despite their constant arguing. So while they are not the happiest at this point in the movie, they are still together and working things out.

Modernism Metaphors

In class we talked about the new age of modernism in literature and art as it came about in the 19th century. We also talked about how this very controversial movement that brought a change from the traditional way of "natural" to the modernistic way of " rational as Mr. Kunkle said in class. We also talked about the Explosion of Modernism in the early 20th century and the political upheavals that it caused as well as creating metaphors aligned with different issues of the time. In my U.S. History class, while discussing the Guilded Age, (the first 35 years after the Civil War), we discussed how L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" was less a children's book than it was a metaphor for Bimetalism, the headlining political issue of the Democrats and Republicans in the 1896 election, as well as for other things such as western farming. He depicts many aspects of these issues through his characters and settings:

One of the controlling forces at this time were Big Businesses who had the support and influence over the Republican party. Their main source of labor came from the massive influx of immigrants seeking jobs who they could easily manipulate into low paying jobs. Labor unions popped up looking for better conditions however the government did not do much to help. In the book, Big Business is represented by the "Wicked Witch of the East" as they were mainly located on the East Coast. Immigrants, who were not very highly thought of at this time are represented by short, less-than-human beings with annoying odd voices also known as "Munchkins." When the house drops on the witch, the munchkins are freed from the oppressor. The "Tin Man" represents the steel worker labor unions, looking for a "heart" of the business owner to give better conditions. The "Wizard" is a representation of the position of President at this time. A man that is in a highly esteemed and popular position, but who does not have the power to really do anything. The Emerald City is Washington D.C.

The issue of Bimetalism is brought up as well. This refers to the want of inflation by farmers and debtors by adding silver to the gold standard which said that the nation could not print off more money than it had gold for. Adding silver at a 16:1 ratio would increase money and inflation in the U.S. In the story, the "Yellow Brick Road" represents the Gold Standard. In the book, but changed in the movie, the "ruby slippers" are actually "silver slippers" and represent the addition of silver. "OZ" being the symbol for ounce represents the 16:1 ratio with 16 ounces of silver per pound of gold.

Finally, farming in the West was also a problem around this time. Land was barren with little to no water and faced locusts that could eat up crops in a day. Farmers made more and more crops that caused the market prices to drop and they made little money. L. Frank Baum represents these farmers as the "Scarecrow" without the "brains" to work together to control the market. The "flying monkeys" are these locusts that leave the crops wasted, and the "Wicked Witch of the West" represents the heavy drought that made land hard to cultivate. Her "melting" by the water symbolizes the advanced irrigation that helped end this drought.

For anyone who so chooses to do so, I encourage him or her to add any other stories, movies, works of art, etc. that could have had a symbolic or metaphoric meaning to the time. Please explain and feel free to go into as much depth as you choose, whether it be short or lengthier like mine.

Setting the scene for the other

This course is a large focus on the others of society and how writers depict them in their novels, movies, plays, etc. But one interesting thing to think about is in what setting did the author decide to place the character, and why. These characters that we are learning about are really only outsiders in the places that they are in. Given the right situation, these characters would just be an average person of a society. For example, take the Indian father of the first short story and change his race to that of a white man and compare him to the many others that have walked out on their families, as the story suggested, and his story is not all that much different on a general scale than that of the others. Or in a similar way you can change the place and get the same result happens. If the author of "A Rose for Emily" had Emilies life end in the small southern town, but in a mental institution after someone had found out what happened, then she is no longer an other because she ends up surrounded by other people who are just like her in some way or another and she then enters the norm.

So why does the author put these characters in these odd places that don't suit them. Why not put them in a place where they fit in? This answer is different for each story. In Slumdog Millionaire, why isn't Jamal instead a person who rises from nothing in America?  Why is he placed specifically in India? In this case one answer might be that it becomes more inspirational because there are far less people who are able to do this in India where social classes are meant to stay seperated whereas in America, economic growth is a supported idea. Or in Bartlby the Scrivner, why is such a peculiar man placed in the job he is? One answer could be simply to add comedy, or another to give a simbolism of death and silence.

So my question to anyone who may so choose is to explain your characters in your novels of the different groups. Why did the author of your book choose to place the other in whatever situation they are in. In the Perks of Being a Wallflower, Charlie, the main character is an out of the ordinary kid who does not always connect all the dots, and as he rights down what happens to him in letters, questions or things he wonders about are clear to the reader and I think that is why he is here. So that the reader can see some of the innocence that he has in not knowing exactly what is going on.

Kevin Bio

Hello and welcome to my blog. This is a quick introduction as to who I am. My name is Kevin. I enjoy many sports including: swimming, soccer, and running distance track. I like listening to music on the radio, but don't own many CD albums myself. I enjoy watching TV and using the computer, as well as reading books, though it has been a while since I have read one. My favorite book would have to be Eragon, and my favorite movie would likely be The Green Mile. After High School I hope to go to college to study something to science and also swim on the college level.