Dysfunctional family

I think the Bennets are more dysfunctional because as Wikipedia describes in a family like this there is a dominant parent that abuses the kids and the other parent is just a child like parent.  In Pride and Prejudice both parents switch those roles from time to time.  We all notice how Mrs. Bennet is constantly abusing her children by hassling them to get them married and just harassing them to make poor decisions like she does and all the while like a child Mr. Bennet just watches.  On the other hand, sometimes Mr. Bennet uses his sarcasm to verbally abuse his children and once again Mrs. Bennet plays the reverse and just gets abused as well, standing there like a horse just shaking her head.

Hamlet soliloquy

As Hamlet is talking to Ofelia, he is clearly presenting in his eyes her flaws.  These flaws are not picky but more honest then anything.  Hamlet describes how Ofelia is fake.  Hamlet describes her to be full of makeup and not being herself, not the way god had made her.  This fakeness irks Hamlet and causes him to cancel the marriage.  Now what Hamlet says is clear, but how he says is even more clear.  Hamlet is furious.  He is enraged and full of fury because Ofelia's lack to be herself.  He says i'll no more on't. It hath made me mad.  These two lines are two primary examples of Hamlet calling of the wedding but as well as dehumanizing Ofelia, calling her it, showing his lack of respect for her because she can not respect herself.  Hamlet is not wrong in saying that Ofelia has to be who she is, but his deliverance with anger is very off-putting and later on causes her brother to hate Hamlet of hurting his sister like that.

Dear Dr. Forman

Dear Dr. Forman,
   I wasn't really in class for some days so it was more difficult to grasp my ideas in the short amount of time, but when I saw all the videos in "rapid fire", it was quite simple to see that most of the movies all follow the same basic storyline.  This set me up to write my essay easier because I didn't have to digest as much for if I was reading the book itself.  My ideas came in spurts but because of all the visual imagery (movies) I had more flow to my essay because I knew what to picture and understand what the characters were doing and how they were acting (literally and metaphorically).

First Body Paragraph (rough)

In Kenneth Branough's the use of colors and tones is very extreme.  The palace itself is bright white and gold and Claudius himself is wearing red.  Gertrude as well is wearing a light color, white, which is ironic to Hamlet wearing black signifying Hamlet's sorrow and separation from the world he is involved in.  Also the fact that Gertrude wears whit is also ironic because one, she is not a virgin, so in a funny way she feels born again marrying Claudius but also that she is so easily taken away form mourning for her deceased husband the king.  The colors show the controversies in the love of triangle of all three.  Another aspect of the scene is the how close the characters are.  All three characters all stand inches within each other and whisper what they are talking about.  This whispering is ironic, because they are in a large room filled with tons of people.  Claudius uses this part of speech very well as he says what seems harsh or not politically correct in a whispering tone but addresses the crowd with only good news or boasting about his power.

Hamlet essay intro (rough)

In the play Hamlet, Shakespeare uses Act 1, Scene 2 to really establish the relationship and family triangle between Hamlet, Claudius, and Gertrude.  In both Mel Gibson's and Kenneth Branough's adaptation of the scene, the use of lighting and togetherness is impeccable.  Both actors/directors use lighting and tones to establish the great contrasts between the characters, and the controversies that makes them who they are.  It is not only the colors but as well as lighting.  Also in both scenes, the family of all three of them is tight knit.  Throughout the scene they are shown talking together, closely, and basically whispering.  These two aspects of the scene are not only key for the play, but also shows how evolved the characters are in their ideas, and how different each one really is.

Hamlet Act V

WOW WHAT AN ENDING!!! Hamlet finds out that his father was poisoned by Claudius (officially).  Hamlet is sent off basically to death.  Hamlet comes back to Denmark because pirates that captured his ship released him.  Hamlets friends Gild and Rosen, are the ones killed instead of Hamlet because Hamlet switches the letters.  Hamlet comes back and finds out Ophelia drowned and gets in a fight with Laertes over who loved her more.  Hamlet and Laertes are later placed into a fencing match but with swords and Laertes poisons the tip of his sword to throw a fatal stab.  Claudius poisons the holy cup and tries to get Hamlet to drink form it but Hamlet says its not time to drink yet.  So Hamlet's mother starts drinking, thus poisoned.  Hamlet and Laertes start fighting, stab each other and are both poisoned because they switched swords by accident.  Hamlet then sees that his mother is poisoned by Claudius and kills him with all the poisons.  At the end they are all dead with madness and prince of Norway claims all the kingdom for himself.

Hamlet Act IV

Hamlet is now just insane.  Everybody has found out that he killed Polonious, his friends don't know how to help him and are still on the way from London.  Ofelia has gone mad as well as she can not control who she is and now Laertes and the king plan to poison Hamlet.  Essentially it seems that each person has a vendetta on the other and are about to go on cycle type killing sprees.  As wells as, Ofelia and Hamlet's mother are still just like "deer in the headlights" lost beyond belief as Ofelia is in circles over Hamlet and Hamlet's mother awkward love for both Hamlet and the king puts the story in a pickle where I feel her decisions will ironically be the last and most important and I wonder how it will turn out in the final act.

Hamlet Act III

Hamlet is on a different level of crazy as he is bent on rage and willingness to kill Claudius.  Hamlet wants to dispose of Claudius' being as he wants to become the king as he feels that Claudius is undeserving and his mother will not change anything.  Hamlet finding out Claudius murdered his father puts Hamlet in a position where he needs and wants to end the king's life without his final words so he won't go to heaven like his father.  Hamlet attempts to kill Claudius but instead kills the innocent Polonious and now has a different man's blood on his hands, now destroying his whole "soul" and corrupting his thoughts which are not only filled with the ghosts, and his mother's incompetence, and Claudius' back stabbing but this as well.

Hamlet Movies

What jumped out the most at me was the really close affection between Hamlet and his mother and how lovey and at times incestual she is with him. This close relationship is not only seen in the earlier movies but in BBC 2010 version as well, showing the broad range of the affection through out the play.  What also is very prominent is the differences in all the Hamlets as not all of them have just one persona but are all different in how they act in the sense of hard and soft tones and emotions as well as the sarcasm factor

Hamlet: Act 2

In the second act Hamlet seems that he is highly invested in his love for Ofelia, so much so that he starting to go mad and Ofelia seems to think that Hamlet is crazy for her.  This maybe true or not but his  "loving" ways turn into discussion where Ofelia is already bragging to her father that she wants to get married with Hamlet.  As well as, Hamlet's close friends come back from school to visit, and it will be interesting to see how they play out in the role of Hamlet's life in the sense of the surrounding nature of the King, the ghost, Horatio, Bernardo, and Ofelia.

iPad in English Class

I think that having the iPad in class i great.  The problem that I have with it is that in Kno, if you try to read to fast or turn the pages to fast it slows down you iPad and makes the application crash.  Also without a stylus highlighting and reading is a lot more difficult with your finger.  The great thing about having such a handy machine in class is that you have everything at the tip of your fingertips i.e. dictionary, books, note pad, highlighters, the whole 9 yards without the inconvenience of having to carry a whole bunch of unnecessary amounts of stuff.  Even though you can easily distracted because of all the other things you can do on the iPad, besides that one con reading on it and doing work is quite a simple task and seems to get done with more flow electronically.  I feel that blogging is a great thing for class because its a fun way to earn homework grades but as well as really modern and intuitive way of keeping a journal about what your read and what notes you take becoming very productive when needed the most.  Lastly the iPad gives the students the ability to do more in class projects which again livens up the class.

Hamlet: Act 1

I think after reading Act 1 of Hamlet the main plot points to think about are these:
1) Through out the play, what will the ghost of Hamlet's father really mean.  Is his intent to only have the friends of Hamlet, Horatio and Bernardo pass on the messages or will the ghost bless Hamlet with his presence.
2) Hamlet himself.  Hamlet is constantly mourning his father's death, reasonably, yet he talks about suicide.  On the other hand his uncle marries his mother and quite obviously Hamlet is not pleased by the lack of respect and rawness of his fathers death and his mothers approach to it.  What will Hamlet do about it.
3) What will happen to the love spark supposedly talked about between Ophelia and Hamlet.  What will it hold for the future.

Marriage: Then and Now

I think after talking about it in class, as a group we established that marriage is no different from 1823 to 2012, all that's happened is the evolution of certain mechanics, meanings, ways to go about things.  There are still people who marry some for money, there are those who marry others for their looks, and there are people who don't get looked at all because they are not certainly appealing.  But in class we did establish what we think it essentially takes for a marriage.
1) There is the idea of money being a driving factor
2) How good looking someone is
3) How smart someone is
4) How educated
5) Where they're from, their background, their families, religious preferences
All 5 of these types of ideals are leading factors in a somewhat perfect match that we have assumed.
A question I would leave of with is behind everything "Is this the person you want to spend the rest of your life with?" Food for thought.

Free book and Blog

The book I want to read after being done with college apps is The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo because of all the good things i've heard about it and after looking at which blogs are the best I want to start following and reading Eater L.A. the blog that discusses the best food and restaurants in L.A. but as well as yelp which is basically a blog again about one of my favorite things, food.  But also the Lakers Buzz blog.

Conclusion

Marriage in the 1800s basically only came around once in a woman's life, so she had to choose the prime timing and the perfect person to spend her life with.  This sole, key idea, Mrs. Bennet is unable to grasp as all she does is try to exploit her daughter using a sacred, bonding symbol.  As well as her lack of knowledge in the real world, this all adds to being the display of Mrs. Bennet's inability to understand what life is.  On the other hand, Elizabeth, much younger, is much more fruitful, thoughtful, and independent and believes and comprehends, that life is a one time experience and marriage is the same, and that you have to take full advantages of both by committing what you want and to whom you love.  This sums to be the differentiating line from both women's true perspective, and which one is the proper one.

Paragraph 1

Marriage to Mrs. Bennet is not something that can be easily defined.  She understands what it means, a binding between a man and a woman, but she does not understand what it stands for.  Mrs. Bennet doesn't appreciate the true aspect of marriage because to her, it is just an object of money.  She materializes a sentimental moment in life, and removes any type of love or emotion linked with it.  For Mrs. Bennet, marriage is a look towards the future and stability, the ability to say that she has made it in this life by vicariously living through her daughters and becoming wealthy.  This selfish thought propels into the clouds leading her to believe that she actually means something when she truly isn't anything in this world except another member of the middle class.  Furthermore, because of her oblivious attitude this incorporates itself into her ideas of marriage causing her to be careless and lack respect for not only emotion but her daughter Elizabeth as well, who is a complete 180 from her mother.  Mrs. Bennet takes marriage on like a bull rather a "journey" meaning that she aggressively approaches only with the idea of winning and ultimately sucks out the feeling of love, her biggest example being her daughter Jane, and as a result disgracing and not fully understanding marriage.

*Forgot: Stupidity of Mrs. Bennet causes her to be left in the dark as she can not experience life, except through a one-minded thought channel.

Intro Paragraph

Marriage is a sacred bond between a couple that symbolizes their love and want, to be with one another.  In the novel "Pride and Prejudice", this idea of marriage is not considered traditional as it is rare as the morals of the time are split, and favored towards the materialistic side of life.  The greatest example of that being, Mrs. Bennet. She is essentially one-minded in what she does and in a sense emotionless when it comes to anything except getting her daughters "hitched".  Mrs. Bennet sees marriage as an investment and the groom as broker who is suppose to take on the stock which is her daughters and make it grow in price in terms meaning their financial situation in their lives.  She wants a cash cow not a husband for her daughters, as she says for future stability but really for herself for the self satisfaction of knowing that she pulled it of getting into the higher class, thus displaying how careless she really is.  Yet Elizabeth is anything but the same as her mother as she is one who does not look for the glitz and glamour but the real, raw emotions of love, the real reason to get married.  Her simplicity allows her to be grounded, down to earth, and give her the ability to not care if her husband is rich or poor. What Elizabeth wants, is the man of her dreams, yet not in the comic way as in a fairy tale, as we would think in the 1800s, but in a way which a man would truly love her and she could love him for who he is and not for what he stands or what he's made of.  She wants the sacred bond to be legitimate.  This ability to be so real with herself, allows Elizabeth to be an independent woman and think for herself. Independence allows Elizabeth to grow as a human being and understand the true values of life, and what the difference between money and love really means, unlike her mother who believes that every emotion can either be bought or be caused by money because she who has not grown, because she does not have to capability to, in her life, can not understand what a real marriage really is.

Essay: Why is marriage not the same for Elizabeth as it is for her mother (Mrs. Bennet)?

Intro:
- Marriage is a sacred bond between a couple who love each other.

- Mrs. Bennet is very careless.  

     - One Minded.

          - Emotionless

              - Lack of thought and development in what she does.
- Elizabeth very simplistic on life.
     - Doesn't take things to hard.
           - Not afraid to speak her mind.

Paragraph 1:
- Mrs. Bennet looks towards the future.
     *Stability for her daughters.
- Money is the issue (yet the men are handsome).
- Living in the clouds.
- Doesn't understand her boundaries, thinks she's is higher class, yet she is part of the poor.
- Marriage is a joke for her in a sense.
      *Doesn't respect it.
- Selfish
- Carless
- Wants her daughters to have a financial future, true love is last on her list.

Paragraph 2:
- Elizabeth is very independent
      * Shuts down Mr. Collins and Darcey.
      * Not afraid to dance with multiple at the ball, doesn't care what others think of her
- Pride
- Wants true love.  Doesn't care for the money
- Doesn't look at her class but is aware of who she is.
- Head not in the clouds.
- Respects marriage
- Money is nothing to her but material, wants the sentimental value of the heart and care.

Conclusion:
- Mrs. Bennet sees marriage as an investment and the groom as broker who is suppose to take on the stock which is her daughters and make it grow in price in terms meaning their financial situation in their lives.  She wants a cash cow not a husband for their daughters, as she says for future stability but really for herself for the self satisfaction of knowing that she pulled it of getting into the higher class.
- Elizabeth keeps life simple.  She is middle class and knows.  She doesn't care if her husband is rich or poor, she just wants the man of her dreams, yet not in the comic way as in a fairy as we would think in the 1800s but in a way which he would truly love her and she could love him for who he is and not for what he stands or what he's made of.  She wants the sacred bond to be legitimate.  Her simple values allow her to be a real woman unlike her sister who's more like glass and can break at any time because she is unable to think for her self like Liz, INDEPENDENCE.

Pride and Prejudice Essay Thoughts

Ideas:
- Rich vs. Poor ideal
     - How Elizabeth is able to turn down offers of marriage so easily without thinking of benefits.

- How Mrs. Bennet is not so clueless, but actually greedy with a plan.
     - Throws her daughters at all men with a bank account and pulse.

- Why do the men with money, power over society and not the women with money?
     - Men have women thrown at them for their money but it doesn't seem like the other way around.

- Doesn't it feel as if the upper class should be more in charge, but it is the people of the Bennets social class that puppeteer the system of love for some reason.  Ironic.  Even though rich have a say, the way Darcey imposed on Jane's relationship still...

1) How do rich control the poor in the idea of society and other aspects of it? (in progress)
2) Why is it impossible for a women to be the women who is wanted and needed, rather than the man?
3) Why is the bond of marriage not as sacred? (seemingly)...ideas of truth and realness.

D.W. Harding

3) I agree with D.W. in the sense that Austen truly does use exaggerated characters to prove her underlying hatred, even though hatred my be a strong word, for those she dislikes as well as to use it to relate with people who in a sense lived in the same sensitive, lacking of social status life style that she was.  He proves a great point with this idea signaling to the fact that her sarcasm isn't really detected and is more sensed by how snobby the characters are, exaggerating their motivations and story tellers and characters of fiction as we can not imagine that back in the 1800s, even the poor people thought that they can lie in the same bed as the rich and not wake up the next morning feeling as poor as they were the night before.

Thoughts:
I think that D.W. Harding makes some fantastic points as well as some points that you can't necessarily say are accurate but are not on the right track.  It really does make sense how D.W. puts Austen in perspective as a person of sensitive life and values who is unable to "compete" with the sharks of the contemporary life and reverts to writing to make connections with those she hates.  I think he is off in the fact that he says that Austen's sarcasm is light or delicate.  As he describes her as putting the people she hates in her book as characters so they can love, she is also understanding that they have to be made fun of and insulted for them to understand the humor and disregard the facts.  In this sense, Austen sarcasm isn't necessarily sharp but incredibly witty as the people she dislikes in the society, the upper class, are reading her book and relating to her and her characters, little do they that these snobby, sometimes stupid, and socially extravagant people are themselves in a nutshell.  Lastly I understand where Harding is coming from when he says that Austen is a critic of society and has no right to do because her sensitivity in a way doesn't allow her to explore different aspects of life, but as an author you have to write your book on what you think and see more often then what you do, essentially that's why it's called fiction.

Questions focus

Matthew and Adrian

1) Do the same rules apply when the women is one who is wealthy?  C
2) How does Elizabeth have the view to deny someone like Mr Collins unlike others.  O. X
3) How does Mrs. Bennett able to apply herself as high status, obviously not being rich?  O. X
4) Why does Mr. Bennett similar to Elizabeth not care for others opinions about him?  O
5) What makes Bingley better than other men, besides his money?  O
6) What is Whitckam's p.o.v. On marriage and higher statuses?  O
7) How do the Bennet's lifestyle compare to the real lifestyles of the non-rich? Better or worse?  O. X

We selected these three because they are the most controversial that cause more questions and answers.

iPads in the classroom

iPads are one of the most innovative inventions of all time.  A small tablet that has everything you need at the small tap of the screen, ridiculous.  Yet in the class room, this awesomeness can be both beneficial and bad.  The beneficial side of the iPad in the classroom is enormous.  It's essentially an electronic binder, so you have everything you need.  Its as mobile as a cell phone.  It only ways about 3 pounds, and because you put all your books there, because they are ebooks, you save about 50-70 pounds worth of wait depending on which classes you take.  The iPad is a marvel to have in class, because it just spreads out the knowledge to a whole new, technological level, and honestly, I think it enhances and livens the learning experience.  Yet there are some things that are bad.  Having such great machinery at ones fingertips, the temptation to wander is a lot greater now.  Since it is essentially your classroom book and notetaker, one can only assume someone does these things, but there are distraction such as games, the internet, music, conversing and much more.  Even though this may slow down the class, it essentially slows the class down the same amount of time as if a pair of students were to be talking in class.  Very minimal compared to the positive results.  Overall iPad in the classroom is a terrific, and innovative idea.

Mr. Collins Proposal

I like to imagine Elizabeth as a very witty character.  Even though she already portrays herself to be one, I would imagine that the use of hand gestures and certain ways of talking, in a way we discussed in class, a condescending tone, would be used to prove her points.  Collins I would imagine him the way Soren was in the movie, short, jittery, all over the place, full of energy and emotion.  I feel like the scene would go down, probably in his house, or at least somewhere private, because we take into account that Elizabeth is his second choice and even though he doesn't think about getting rejected he does put the possibility that she has to think about it.  As Collins proposes, I would assume that Elizabeth would seem very bored, as she has clearly displayed disinterest before, while Collins would be so happy as he is blinded by his own self wants and satisfaction that he forgets to think about WAIT, DOES SHE EVEN WANT TO BE WITH ME.  And that irony would set up the humor for the scene.

Satire in Pride and Prejudice

"Her mind was less difficult to develop.  She was a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper.  When she was discontented she fancied herself nervous.  The business of her life was to get her daughters married; its solace was visiting and news." - Mr. Bennet (pg 5)

Satire as discussed in class, is the more intelligent version of sarcasm, as it used in most novels, to poke fun or make certain points.  Mr. Bennet is probably the most satirical person in the Pride and Prejudice thus far, as he is described as cruel and carless for his family yet is just the way he talks that shows this. In this passage early in the book, Mr. Bennet pokes fun of his wife using satire, for example, her mind was less difficult to develop implies that she is not smart and doesn't have to much knowledge.  In the second sentence, Mr. Bennet basically calls his wife stupid, or a person who is oblivious to everything and doesn't understand anything.  But the reason these lines are satire is because they are carried with such intelligence and flow, the "sharpness of the tongue" must be heard and understood.  In the rest of the passage Mr. Bennet says that his wife is social and can only be part of social gatherings and events, nothing more, and if she doesn't know whats going on she is essentially a "deer in the headlights".

HW: Brief description of what Janie's expectations are for the three men whom come into her life and how they change

Logan Killicks: Janie initially doesn't think to much of Logan.  He is one of few wealthy blacks.  Janie believes that she will be able to marry her one true love, but Logan is pushed upon her life by Janie's grandmother, because her concern is that her free spirit will get in the way of having a secure life.  So Janie's expectant thought is basically she is punished for trying to have her own life.  She describes trying to love him but it never happens.

Jody Stark:  In a way Jody presents himself that is to good to be true.  All he can do is describe how beautiful Janie is, and how she should be treated so royally, and how if she was his she could do whatever she wanted.  This flips Janie's life around thinking she has someone who is the man of her dreams.  Yet the true Jody comes out when they run away together and essentially Jody takes over his own town and doesn't allow Janie to participate in any form of society.  As a result, to her, he is just as bad as Logan.

Tea Cake: Tea Cake is essentially a poor, uneducated fool who in the eyes of everyone else can be a no one in Janie's life, at most a servant or a door mat along the path of life.  But ironically enough he is the one who interacts with Janie, he is the one that takes her out, and although he takes her money, surely enough he is the one that actually provides for her with care.  So as Janie spends time with him her thoughts of nothing about him change to the greatest man she's ever been with because he treats her as his equal.