Whoops . . .

I know no one is looking at this, but I had to post the link when published.
http://teenink.com/fiction/all/article/465478/Dr-Arflunds-Day-at-Work/

Finished Huck Finn

I finished Huck Finn last Monday, but I kept procrastinating this post. Well, I want to be a procrastinator, but I keep putting it off.

Huck Finn introduced an ensemble of unlikable characters. The duke, the king, even Tom Sawyer were all unlikable even though the latter was just annoying. It annoyed me that the last 40 or so pages could have been eliminated if it hadn't been for Tom Sawyer, and had been cut even shorter if Tom Sawyer wasn't adventure-greedy. Not very many authors I know of purposefully introduce unlikable characters, but Mark Twain might have done this because of annoyance for people themselves. I don't know - Mark Twain was an interesting man.

Remember last time I posted and I said it more just one adventure for Huck Finn? I was wrong. Because of the self-proclaimed duke and king, there was an unnecessary amount of shenanigans in the different towns everywhere, all mainly to get money that Jim and Huck would have never looked for. What annoyed me most was how mad the king was that Huck tried to ditch him. Huck and Jim were the ones that saved him, offered him their beds, and carried them through the towns. But he was probably drunk at the time, so I don't know how to properly judge the situation. Either way, I'm glad the fight was broken up by the duke. So really, Huck Finn deserved the word "adventures" more than Tom Sawyer actually did. I would discuss my annoyance with Tom Sawyer in the story, but that would spoil too much of the ending.

One last talk about the book in comparison to Tom Sawyer. Tom Sawyer, a much more fun story that accurately represents childhood, is so light that its most famous chapter is the second one in which he gets kids to whitewash a fence for him, and it has nothing to do with the rest of the story. Huck Finn delves much deeper, but it is still more of a fun story than an intelligent story to observe deeper meanings and analogies throughout the story. It is much like the notice made by Mark Twain to the story:
Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.

Huck Finn Chapters 1-16(out of 42), pages 1-91(out of 279)

Having read Tom Sawyer, its very similar to Huckleberry Finn. However, TAOHF is a bit more serious, a bit more of an acutal story without miscellaneous little stories. Tom Sawyer actually met the part of "Adventures", but it seems so far like for Huck Finn it will be more towards "Adventure." There are some aspects that are amplified into Huck Finn. The main two are:
- The time era
- Superstitions
As a matter of fact, Tom Sawyer focused more on the timelessness of childhood, while Huck Finn does the exact opposite and focuses on the time era. And the superstitions, especially ones considering what brings bad luck and good luck, controls a lot of the actions in the story.
As for the plot itself, it's much more interesting than Tom Sawyer is - I'm still reading Tom Sawyer. It has much more realistic and interesting events, and it gives good insight into being grown into a bad family.
There are a lot of events and vocabulary in the story about travelling in the river that kind of confuse me. But eventually, in about two paragraphs or so, I understand it based on the context. Next week I might not post as much about it being compared and contrasted to Tom Sawyer, but it was a good place to start.

Why I chose my book

For my book report I chose The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The main reason I chose this book was because I'm reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in my regular, seventh grade English class, so doing this for the book report in this class is the perfect complement. Also, this book is perfect for our class's reading level. I had both of those ideas in mind for choosing this book before I even looked at the reading list, and I was glad I saw it there and looked up the number of pages. I'll post thoughts on Tuesday!

TEOGROMITMM vs. Capulets

(three full paragraphs!? What?! Well, here we go. . .)

      Tillie's family is similar to the Capulets because they're preventing their daughter from doing what she wants to do because it's the way their family currently is. Tillie/Juliet still try their best to get what they want, and it takes their families a while to figure out what they're doing. Their parent(s) get angry for their sneaking away. But the story still revolves around their sneaking to get what they want, whether academic or romantic.
      Tillie's family is different from the Capulets because her family isn't nearly as rich as the Capulets. This makes Tillie's situation more easy to see both sides. Tillie needs to stay home from school in order to live, but the Capulets' situation is just a pesky quarrel that has went on for centuries. For this reason, I like TEOGROMITMM better, and a much more interesting and likeable story. Romeo and Juliet is just an annoying story about a family fight that ends because a bunch of people die.
      Another reason the two families are similar is that they both have teachers that are motivating them. Juliet has Friar Laurence and Tillie has Mr. Goodman. Both of those people help the families start to realize that they should realize their daughters' desires. Both the teachers are not only the best motivators, but the first motivators. Although Mr. Goodman never appears as a talking part, you can feel his presence in the story from phone calls. However, Friar Laurence's plan fails and Mr. Goodman's plan succeeds - in the sense that Tillie wins the science fair.

TEOGROMITMM Act I

Really, it's very hard for me to relate to this play. But I guess if I had to choose something, it would be my persistent interest in school like Tillie. If I was in an extremely poor situation and I had to stay home many days of the week, I would still have an interest in science and other school topics and my grades. I would want to go to school even if it was hard to get food on the table every day. I guess I would also be slightly like Beatrice, looking at better things and slightly wish I had them, and then immediately go back to reality. I can't see myself at all in Ruth. And although Nanny's my favorite character, I can't see myself in her either.

Classic tragedy from Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet

How does Shakespeare incorporate classic tragedy?

After reading Act I: It is clear so far that this is a negative environment. It starts out with a public Capulet-Montague fight, Romeo is sad because Rosaline does not love him, and Juliet may be forced to marry County Paris. Although Juliet and Romeo fall in love, which is a happy thing, their love is destined to fail with such intolerant families.

            After reading Act II, Scene I: This was a short scene, but it is still clear Romeo is desperate for Juliet and there’s no turning back, and Mercutio and Benvolio question Romeo’s choice.

            After reading Act II, Scene II: This is a very classic scene. It is tragic because you can see how much Romeo and Juliet love each other, yet they must speak to each other in the night from different places so Romeo is not killed. There is also a desperate feeling from both of them that there is a possible chance they will be allowed to stay together.

            After reading Act II, Scene III: This scene’s tragic element is the fact that Friar Laurence is reluctant in letting Romeo and Juliet marry. Friar Laurence tries to sway Romeo, but Romeo’s tragic desire to love gets in the way.

            After reading Act II, Scene IV: This scene is sad because Benvolio and Mercutio are discussing how dangerous Tybalt is, and that Romeo stands no chance against him. After that, you can see that the nurse doesn’t fully approve of Romeo, which is also a bit sad.

            After reading Act II, Scene V: This scene is tragic because the nurse seems to be hurt or tired out or something along those lines, and she also tells Juliet that he’s not the best man she could have. It’s also a little bit sad in the beginning when Juliet is waiting impatiently for the nurse.

            After reading Act II, Scene VI: There wasn’t really anything tragic in this scene, but the fact that everything leading up to it have screwed up one way or another, you get an eerie feeling that something bad is going to happen sooner or later.

            After reading Act III, Scene I: Mercutio dies! He’s a great friend of Romeo, the main character! That angers and saddens Romeo. So then he kills Tybalt! Tybalt is Juliet’s cousin, and Juliet is saddened by this. Eventually the prince clears things up a bit.

            After reading Act III, Scene II: Juliet figures out Romeo is banished and Tybalt is dead from the nurse. Juliet is devastated and wants him to be found. Juliet is a main character becoming unhappy at the end of the scene.

            After reading Act III, Scene III: This scene is mainly tragic because you delve even deeper into Romeo’s woe. He feels that he’d almost rather die than be banished, or it is the exact same thing to him if he is leaving Juliet.

            After reading Act III, Scene IV: This scene is tragic because you know that Paris’s wedding to Juliet is coming up, which Juliet dreads happening because she loves Romeo, not Paris.

            After reading Act III, Scene V: This scene is tragic because Romeo is getting his last glimpse of Juliet before he must leave Verona to Mantua, and they are both very saddened by this. Neither of them wants Romeo to leave, but they know it is inevitable. Also, Juliet’s parents figure out who Juliet truly loves and they are furious. This raises the chances of Juliet marrying Paris.

            After reading Act IV, Scene I: This is tragic because there is culmination of a desperate plan that, as we find out later, is doomed to fail. Also, Juliet is very heartbroken right now at Romeo’s banishment.

            After reading Act IV, Scene II: This scene is only tragic because you can see how close Juliet is to marrying County Paris, and also the fact she’s about to commit her plan by faking her death to escape to Romeo.

            After reading Act IV, Scene III: This scene evokes tragedy by Juliet giving a long monologue about her heartbreak and then taking the poison that turns her asleep.

            After reading Act IV, Scene IV: This scene is just barely tragic because you know the nurse is about to find Juliet, very likely thinking she is dead, given that only Friar Laurence knows about the plan.

            After reading Act IV, Scene V: This scene is tragic because everyone thinks Juliet is dead and is mourning her “death” very heavily. Even Paris doesn’t know what to do and quite how to react, just to keep talking about how terrible it is that Juliet is dead and that it is a “woful, woful day.” If I understood the musician conversation more I would probably figure out that that conversation evoked tragedy as well.

            After reading Act V, Scene I: This is the point where you know it’s going to fall apart. Benvolio tells Romeo that Juliet’s dead, and Romeo buys poison. Romeo is going to kill himself, and there’s nothing that can stop him. Only one scene in the whole play can top the tragedy of that.

            After reading Act V, Scene II: All this short scene does is explain why the plan tragically failed – Friar John, for a reason I couldn’t exactly understand from the text, couldn’t send the important letter to Romeo, and now Romeo is about to kill himself. Friar Laurence is also saddened by this.

            After finishing: People died – many people. The unnecessary death of County Paris came first, after Romeo inevitably had to fight in order to die next to Juliet. Although this was sad, I was angrier that Romeo didn’t just surrender the fight and die like he wanted to, but the story was written 400 years ago, so I’ll have to deal with it. After that, Romeo died after taking poison right next to Juliet in her tomb. Juliet wakes, and despite Friar Laurence’s instructions, she kills herself with Romeo’s dagger. Then news spreads about their deaths, and both Montagues and Capulet come to the tomb. Lord Montague gives news about Lady Montague’s unnecessary death. We also figure out the tragic truth that it takes both their children to die for each other in order to make up for past quarrels.

Romeo and Juliet

I don't like the way Shakespeare writes. I understand just enough to know what's going on in the story. The old english just feels like it should be updated or something.
I like the characters except for Tybalt and Romeo. I don't like Tybalt because he's Tybalt. That's just the way the play makes you feel. I don't like Romeo because he sulks all the time with really annoying quotes that I don't understand. I would feel bad for Romeo, but he just sulks too much.
The plot is interesting and a lot more in-depth than I thought it would be. I think it's pretty interesting and I'm definitely interested in reading act II.

Act II of TNTSIJ

• I know this is a terrible answer, but I've always had trouble with the word "ironic". It's always been hard for me to define, and therefore I couldn't pinpoint any specific ironic conversations in the play, although if I could understand the word more I could probably find many ironic conversations.
• Of course, the main character would be Henry Thoreau. I'd cast this as Nicholas Cage - they both can yell things like they're meaningful, they both can have a wild, weird look about them and they look a lot alike. The second most important character would probably be Waldo Emerson. After looking at images of him on Google, I'd have to say that I would give it to Jim Carrey. He wants a more serious role, or at least from what I've heard, and he looks like Mr. Emerson. After thinking for a little bit, I'd have to say John Thoreau, even though he died mid-story, is the third most important character in the story. I couldn't any legitimate looking photos on him, but I guess I'd cast the role to Ben Stiller. He looks like he could be brothers with Nicholas Cage and he is used to some serious roles. The only problem is Nicholas Cage looks older and I'm sure he's taller than Ben Stiller.
• No - Aunt Louisa had to pay the taxes and Henry actually sort of gave in at the end. He decided to go back to the society because it was the only way to live for him, and this was, in a way, giving up his protest.

APDfB & TNTSIJ

In APDfB, Seymour reminded of Holden - they were both a little bit odd in the mind and they didn't really see the positive side in really anything. Muriel reminded me of Jane Gallagher because she liked Seymour/Holden despite his issues. This is a weak connection, but I had a weird feeling that those two characters were alike. Sybil reminded me of Phoebe because of Seymour/Holden's strong relationship with her despite her age. However, Seymour's relation with Sybil may be a connection to Salinger's love of all children, not just of his younger sister.
In TNTSIJ, the quote from Henry "Our own school, John. No buildings. Break out of the classroom prison. All we need is the sky!" stood out reflecting transcendentalism more than the other two quotes after looking at dictionary.com. It reflects the fact that knowledge is learned through thought and thinking about things through spiritual and natural values and your own beliefs, not following what everyone else says or thinks unless it's coincidental. Every moral and scientific value can easily be obtained with thought and observation if you pay attention and stop and sniff the roses, no matter what "the man" says.

TCITR 7-12 (chapters)

• If I was just kicked out of school, I would just go home. I'm not scared of my parents THAT much, and it's the most comfortable option I have. I would be fed, and I wouldn't really have too much worry on where to go next.
• Jane is important to Holden because she's really the only person outside of his family who isn't too much of a "phony" to him. He doesn't quite know his feelings about her and how important she is to him, or at least in what he says, but he wants to call just about every second he's away from her. And he could NOT get his mind off of Stradlater, a Holden-certified "moron", being with Jane in the coach's Buick. She's almost in the running for being as important to Holden as Allie was.
• I don't think people are always ruining things for me, and I can't think of a time someone has ruined something for me off the top of my head. However, I think it's very true for Holden - he gets the most amount of crap thrown at him, and once he finally settles somewhere, people ruin that for him. He's had Pencey ruined for him, Bernice and Marty and the other one ruined his experience at the Lavender Room or Club or whatever, and Lillian ruined his time at Ernie's. The streak even continues after this reading!

The Catcher in the Rye questions through chapter six

• To be unique is to have characteristics unlike anyone else, or just have extremely rare characteristics. I feel that in the story, no one is truly unique except for Ackley and Holden. Everyone else is just part of the school in slight moderation, and they are all very similar. Jane may be unique based on what Holden described, and also maybe the fact that he likes her, but I don't have enough information on her to know whether she is unique compared to everyone else.
• To keep individuality in the adult world is not go by any one's rules. For example, Holden has a great amount of individuality because he hates to be like anyone else, and he doesn't even care that he isn't even going to school anymore. Ackley has individuality because he never does anything that people tell him to do - he never brushes his teeth, he never really ever does anything that you want him to do with common sense unless you yell at him. It's very hard to keep individuality in the adult world, especially with all the various scruples littered silently everywhere today.
• I don't really have a favorite person, but if you put a gun to my head, I guess I would say my mom. There are very few similarities I can find between her and Allie - my mom doesn't go against what's expected of her appearance, and it's not that she's mean, but she wouldn't exactly be described extremely and outwardly nice, or at least with people that she's more comfortable with. But my mom does get good appraisal from her colleagues at work, much like Allie does  from school. And she is also one of the most intelligent people I know. It is much more street smarts than book smarts, but the book smarts she has include everything she would possibly need to live in the modern world, and she's also very resourceful. Otherwise she isn't really like Allie at all. Plus, I don't feel I know Allie enough from Holden's description of him, so it's kind of hard to make a comparison.

Odyssey books whatever we had to do to finish it

I am finally done with the Odyssey and looking at other posts by people I have followed in this class I am only the third person to finish it. This isn't anything new to me - I was actually surprised to see that two others had other had already finished it. But to the book - no, poem - itself. They actually used a different name for Dawn! Instead of rosy-fingered Dawn, they called it at one point rosy-fingered morn, and then they said gold-enthroned Dawn. I was surprised that Dawn was in a gold throne - she seems like a minor goddess, and where would they get her a gold throne. Next, is Rumour, mentioned late in the book, a metaphor, a goddess, or was it just a typo that it was capitalized? Also, is Mentor - the form that Minerva takes so often in the book, probably the most favored of all her forms - a real person that Minerva is copying, or is Mentor completely made up, and so is the whole story about him? It also seemed odd and abrupt when Ulysses was at war for on the last page and it just ended immediately. Except for the gory description, I thought it was awesome how Ulysses just whipped around after shooting through the twelve axes and killed Antinous. Just why didn't the story get into the part where Ulysses brought the oar to that weird country, sacrificed a bunch of animals, and slowly died somehow? I didn't really want the story to get much longer, but it was still a question that was floating above my head in the end.

Books XIII-XVII

Finally a reading without crap and fluff in it! O.K., I'm going to try to do this briefly. First, I'm going to talk about Neptune. It seems likie he would have tried harder than just turning the boat into a rock. And what will happen to the Phaeacians? They didn't deserve that! But I am still glad that Ulysses came home. Minerva turned him into the anonymous beggar, and it was annoying that he had such an intricate story when he didn't even have a name. Next, I found it so touching when Telemachus came back to Ulysses and they were crying. Random question: Why do all gods and goddesses get to control the wind?

Next, why did Argos the dog die as soon as he recognized Ulysses? And how did Argos recognize him? Then Ulysses begged all the suitors for food and such. This seemed risky, and afterwards when they said that the beggar might be a god or goddess, that made me realize how stressful that lifestyle would be, constantly worrying about your actions to please Jove. And lastly, Penelope wanted to hear the beggar's story. It seems like she would have heard enough stories by now, and they were false. I wouldn't even start to think that they were being honest no matter how nice they seemed. That's where it left off, so I tonight I'm going to start reading ahead. Happy reading, everyone!

Odyssey Books VIII-XII

I liked this passage. I was especially glad to have gotten the full of Ulysses's story. It was very blurry up to that point, and all I had known was that Neptune was mad at Ulysses and Ulysses had been trapped with Calypso. But out of all my reading, I couldn't keep my mind off the gruesome description with Cyclops, or Polyphemus. First disturbing paragraph, "The cruel wretch vouchsafed me not one word of answer, but with a sudden clutch he gripped up two of my men at once and dashed them down upon the ground as though they had been puppies. Their brains were shed upon the ground, and the earth was wet with their blood." It still went deeper into disturbingness, but I don't want to be reminded of anything more. It was also disturbing when they were twisting the peg into his eye! This isn't right, it's down-right disturbing - people had too much fascination with violence back then, a sick obsession and I hate it! I suppose people still find entertainment in violence, but this isn't right. If it's this disturbing with Cyclops/Polyphemus, I'm not sure the death of suitors will be so nice either. . . This has lowered my judgment of this book, and I'm downright angry at it right now.

Revelation of note!!!

I tried to comment on people's posts on my older, windows XP computer, but it kept denying access to comment. However, I did it on a modern windows 7 laptop and it worked! Hooray!

Books 5-7

This was really good! But I have some annoyances and questions. The gods keep guiding people and telling fates, but at other times it is stated that they have no control over humans. So do they have control on humans or not? And gods in this are so human-like that they reproduce, fall in love, etc. with humans!? That's pretty weird. . . But probably the most annoying, simple thing, is how rosy-fingered Dawn keeps appearing, every morning. So only dawn gets to take the form of a goddess? That's so unfair and annoying! Why can't their be ashy-fingered night, or orangey-fingered evening, or dandeliony-fingered evening! Plus, why does it have to be the fingers? It seems like it would be rosy-cheeked, or something along the lines of that! Also, what is a nymph? I've recollected (or what ever the word is) that a nymph is some sort of inferior, evil god or goddess, but that's just an inference - what really is a nymph? From all what I know, it's just some sort of bug here on earth, but what is it in Greek /Roman mythology? One last thought - what's going to happen for the last hundred or so pages if Ulysses is so close to getting home already? No spoilers, Josie and Ethan! (I don't think I used any periods - just exclamation points, question marks and multiple periods in a row. . . gosh, my fingers are numb!)

WHOOPS! Books 2-4

This reading was better than book I - I didn't know I had to post about my reading specifically last week - and it was very revealing. My main questions would have to be about the geography of everything - all the different places are hard to keep track of, and it would really help if there was some sort of map to help me. The good thing is, I figured out this is definitely greek mythology with some weird roman names scattered about. These books showed the story to be a very good poem. I just kind of find it odd that there are books within a poem instead of poems in a book, like an anthology. Not much else happened to take increasing note of that I can think of at the time.

NaNoWriMo

I'm doing just barely decent in getting a thousand words in a day to meet my 30,000 word goal. . . is there any way that this can be a more efficient process???????????????????????

Odyssey Book I Review

I found it very interesting for this first book. A creative story, and I can see already why it's stayed up as a great story for so long. It was still very confusing. Is this Roman or Greek mythology? I know they're the same, just with different names, but my guess would have to be Greek. Also, how did Telemachus just somehow know that Minerva, even in disguise, was god-like? Did he have exposure to gods in a human disguise from knowing some of Ulysses's friends? If anything, that would have to be my guess. My last question would have to be what are all of those god characters they keep referencing? They keep referencing characters with no explanation whatsoever. So I think if I knew more about Greek mythology, I would be able to understand this story a lot better. That's all I have to say about the first book of The Odyssey.