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Food Memoir--Chocolate Chip Cookies

Grandma’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

If the well-known ‘you are what you eat’ phrase really is true, then I guess I’d be considered quite boring. I am not—and have never been—an adventurous eater, I stick to the basics: macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, burgers, pizza, etc. I like it simple, bland, safe, and definitely familiar.

Familiar. Family. As Foster says in How To Read Literature Like a Professor, “The act of taking food into our bodies is so personal that we really only want to do it with people we’re very comfortable with” (Foster). After almost 18 years of living with them, I think it is safe to say that I’m comfortable with my family.

Every year my family drives eight hours to Pennsylvania to visit my grandparents. We have a family Christmas party where Aunts, Uncles, cousins, and siblings all on my Mother’s side of the family gather for the annual exchange.

I should probably explain that I am not the only one in my family who’s boring when it comes to food. We eat three meals per day like everybody else, but extensive time and preparation is not something that typically goes into a dish. I’m sure it would sicken some of the ‘foodies’ out there to know that I am more than content with my Kraft Mac’n Cheese from the box and some good old Tyson Chicken Nuggets.

Based on this information, it’s not surprising that much of the food at the Christmas party is pretty simple. Depending on the weather, the menu is either hamburgers and hot dogs, or sandwiches with assorted deli meats.

The Meaning of Food website points out that “There is no closer relationship than kin, and food plays a large part in defining family roles, rules, and traditions” (The Meaning of Food). While my family certainly doesn’t worship food, it has subconsciously defined family traditions. Every single year, without fail, every person brings some sort of snack or dessert, we say grace before getting our food, and the oldest family members get to go first in the food line; this Christmas party tradition has been going on for as long as I can remember.

The most worthy dessert is always Grandma’s chocolate chip cookies, passed down through four generations until finally reaching me:

2 ¼ c flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

Combine 1 c butter or shortening

¾ c granulated sugar

¾ c brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

½ tsp water

Beat in 2 eggs. Add flour mixture. Mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop from tsp to greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 10-12 min.

By the time all of the Aunts, Uncles, and cousins leave my grandparent’s house, the cookies have been demolished. The sadness, however, is short-lived; inevitably my Grandmother pulls a gallon bag of the savory cookies out of the freezer, and the munching begins once again.

These chocolate chip cookies are the one thing I actually remember being taught how to make. We would stand in my Grandma’s kitchen, ‘accidentally’ dropping brown sugar on the counter so that we had to eat it, and popping chocolate chips into our mouths as if they were a health food. Mervyn Claxton says that “The techniques utilized to prepare and process foods and the ways of serving and consuming it, [...] can have an important influence on social and familial relationships.” (Culture, Food, and Identity, Sixth in a Series on Culture and Development, Mervyn Claxton). I think making cookies has certainly strengthened my relationship with someone who I see only once in a while.

I get most of my non-existent cooking skills from my Mom, and to this day she still cannot make the cookies; they just don’t taste the same. Luckily, I did not inherit the cookie gene.

My brothers and I have taken it upon ourselves to make sure that these cookies don’t die in our household. Every couple of months we spend some time making Grandma’s chocolate chip cookies. Mother’s Day is most common (since she can’t make them herself), but the occasional birthday is celebrated with cookies as well. We blast some music to get in the spirit, and have fun making a mess of the kitchen.

Chocolate chip cookies are familiar to me. They are simple (although much simpler to eat than to make), and they may be safe, but they are comfortable, and I wouldn’t want my family to be any other way.

"The Rainbow"

Original Essay:
Familiarity was "enough for the men" (1). Their power was automatic, and they never questioned what they had, because they just had it. Their power was generational, familiar, unknown. In D.H. Lawrence's The Rainbow, he uses polysyndeton, repetition, and rhetorical questions to compare the woman to the Brangwen men, explaining that she wants something different from them: knowledge.

From the very first paragraph, Lawrence emphasizes that "it was enough" (4) for the men to live the same thing day in and day out. She then emphasizes that they have "warmth and generating and pain and death" (7-8), which is enough for them. This polysyndeton extends the list of what the men have, individualizing each word to make it seem important.

The second paragraph creates a tone shift, and the real topic of the passage is revealed. As it shifts from man to woman, Lawrence compares the woman to the Brangwen men described at the beginning. The woman "looked out to […] the world beyond" (18-19), while the men were "unable to turn around" (14). The author immediately characterizes the woman as different. "She faced outwards" (22-23) "whereas the Brangwen men faced inwards" (27-28). She is different, she is a woman, although living in the nineteenth century she did not have any opportunity to show it.

The woman "also wanted to know" (38), and have the power to do more with her life. This is why the vicar interests her so much, he has what she has wanted all along. In characterizing the vicar, Lawrence repeatedly uses the word "other" (41). This repetition emphasizes that he is on a different level, and cannot possibly be categorized in the same way that her husband is. No, the vicar had a way "of being that made Brangwen […] seem dull and local" (49-50), and she wants this.

The woman does not want familiarity for her children and herself. "She craved to achieve this higher being" (57), and wants to know "why?" (65).

Score:
My initial score for this essay is a five. Allie Specht scored it in this way because I tended to be "thin in my discussion of how Lawrence employs literary devices," but I did identify the devices correctly, and responded with a very "plausible reading of the passage."

I agree with this initial score. I spent too much time in analysis and too little time on writing. I knew what I was going to write about, and which quotes I wanted to include to prove my point, but I rushed through the writing and did not get to conclude the essay with the quote that I had chosen. I did not elaborate and expand on the things that I said in this essay, which significantly lowers the score of the essay. I demonstrated "adequate control of language," and while I did take the time to organize my essay before writing, it was not as "developed as 7-6 essays." I think that Allie gave my essay a fair score. I began my essay sounding much more clear and focused than I sounded at the end, because I was not thinking about what I was writing, I was too focused on the time limit, and getting to the conclusion.

Improvement:
Luckily, I could do a lot of things to improve this essay. One of the biggest things that could have helped me from the very beginning is dividing my time accordingly. As I mentioned, I spent the largest portion of my time simply planning for my essay, and then ran out of time writing. The problem with this is that the AP readers, obviously, do not know what I was thinking, they only see the writing, and in my case my essay was not finished and ended quite abruptly. Aside from planning, I also spent a long time reading the passage. In the future I need to read slowly and write notes, and then read again for the full impact. Instead, I read through it twice, writing notes both times, and not taking my time.

A second thing that would improve my essay is expanding and thoroughly explaining my ideas. I do not have a problem analyzing how the author employs literary devices for their purposes, but more often than not I do not explain myself thoroughly enough. After every technique/device I identify, I need to explain what effect it has on the purpose. I believe that this will keep my score in the upper half rather than the lower half. AP Comp spent a lot of time focusing on the 'SO WHAT?' and I wasn't thinking about that when I was writing my essay. By focusing on the ' so what', my essay will offer a more "persuasive analysis" and will seem to be more "effectively organized."

The third thing that I can improve about my essay is identification of literary devices. I know what they are--so that is not the problem--but in this particular essay I believe that if I had identified more literary devices it would make a "stronger case for my interpretation." An 8-9 essay "considers a variety of literary devices," and I only included three. After some class discussion I think that I could have found more than just these three devices, and I also could have found devices that were more critical to the characterization of the woman. The devices that I identified were correct, but may not have presented a strong case for interpretation.

Hamlet Final Essay

Final Blog Portfolio Assessment

Over the course of this trimester, I feel like I have really improved on a lot of my english skills. I feel much more comfortable analyzing a piece of literature than I did prior to day one of AP Literature and Composition, and although there is still a lot that I can work on next trimester, I am happy with my participation and work done in this class.

One particular assignment I am especially proud of is the summer reading creative project. I would describe myself as very creative, so when I got the idea for my project, the ideas kept coming. I wasn't a huge fan of the Man Booker Prize book I chose, but when I really analyzed it piece by piece, I learned the reasons for why the author wrote things that I originally did not like. One of my strengths is music, so I was glad that in this project I was able to incorporate that into my presentation. I am proud of my presentation--using a water demonstration to visually symbolize transformation of the book--and of my explanation. I really thought through each aspect of my presentation, so I did a good job of explaining exactly why I did what I did. I had a hard time putting into words what exactly the essence of my book was, so that part was a bit lacking. I could visualize this essence in my presentation, but it was hard to say it rather than show it.

Another assignment I am proud of is Hamlet Blog Post Number Two. I enjoy assignments like these because I like to make connections between literature and media--it makes the literature more relatable. It took me quite a bit of time to  think of a good movie-to-play connection. Just like the creative assignment, once I thought of which movie I was going to use, I came up with connections very quickly. I found lots of good parallels between the movie characters and the play characters, and did not have any trouble including quotations in my post. In drawing these connections I learned a lot about the characters' perspectives of each other because I began to think about the play in a more modern light. I did not incorporate a lot of quotes from the movie, so a weakness in this assignment was comparing and contrasting movie quotes to play quotes.

I consider myself to have a commendable work ethic. Throughout this trimester, there have not been any assignments with which I did not put my full effort into. I have generally liked the assignments in this class, and I want my work to reflect my strengths, not my weaknesses. In group settings I am a leader. For example, at the beginning of the trimester when we had a series of 'mini' group presentations, I tended to take all of the ideas we had and combine them into one big idea. I also created, and spent a lot of time on the google documents and power points in preparation for the presentations. During the American Drama Video Project, I acted in the video, as well as created and edited it. I made sure that everyone in the group was satisfied with the editing before posting, and I did my best to incorporate their opinions. In addition to the video aspect, I worked on the script, and the synopsis sheet, so I believe I play a large role in group settings.

In terms of class, I am also self-motivated to participate. I took notes during all of the mini presentations, and I am actively engaged in the conversations we have. I strive to get the most out of class that I can so that I can understand the material when I am on my own, whether it be homework, or tests. Individually, I am equally self-motivated. I do not get behind in the reading, because there is a possibility that we could be tested on what we read, and I want to do well. The day before a test (for example, our first real test) I like to compile all of the notes taken on that unit and re-write/re-word them in a way that makes sense for me to study from. I feel confident that my involvement and participation this trimester has played a significant part in creating success in my grade.

There is no doubt that I have expanded and improved on many of my skills since the first week of the trimester. In re-visiting Blog Post Number Two, our first practice test reflection, it is really interesting to see how I felt 12 weeks ago. I still have a ways to go (which is why this class is two trimesters), but I am more and more confident with every assignment. The four main difficulties I had with the AP multiple choice test during week one were: staying engaged with the text, prior knowledge of literature, time limits, and literary techniques. I can honestly say that right now at the end of the trimester these four things are not nearly as big of a problem as they may have seemed then.

After completing the final exam AP multiple choice test, these difficulties are mostly in the past. Over these three months, I have realized that I do, in fact, have prior knowledge of literature. I have taken Honors English since freshman year, and we have read a lot of books. For some reason, I did not think of In Cold Blood, or The Great Gatsby to be literature that could be cited on the AP exam. I thought that literature meant Shakespeare, and T.S. Eliot--poetry, not novels. This was the real mistake. I had no issue with the time limit during the final exam, nor did I have trouble staying engaged. I think these two go hand-in-hand. The more engaged I am in the text, the easier it is to answer the questions, which takes lots of time off of the test. I have learned a variety of literary techniques this trimester as well, most of them about poetry. I am infinitely better at reading and analyzing poetry, and catching their subtle meanings.

In looking over my blog portfolio, I have accomplished much more than I thought. I am more aware of my strengths and weaknesses, and I have certainly widened my knowledge. Again, I am happy with my work this trimester, and hope to achieve the same level of participation and success next trimester.  

And The Beat Goes On--Hamlet Blog #5

It is a sad day in Denmark. I lost all of those whom I have ever considered important to me, and I am in utter loneliness. Thank you all for gathering today for the burial of my dear friend Hamlet, and his loved ones. I know that many of you are still confused by Lord Hamlet's unusual actions, and so I would like to play a song in an attempt to honor his memory, and to clear up any misunderstandings. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Lyrics: All Fall Down--by OneRepublic
 Step out the door and it feels like rain
That's the sound (that's the sound) on your window pane
Take to the streets but you can't ignore
That's the sound (that's the sound) you're waiting for

 If ever your world starts crashing down
Whenever your world starts crashing down
Whenever your world starts crashing down
That's where you'll find me

 Yeah God love your soul and your aching bones
Take a breath, take a step, meet me down below
Everyone's the same our fingers to our toes
We just can't get it right
But we're on the road

If ever your world starts crashing down
Whenever your world starts crashing down
Whenever your world starts crashing down
That's when you find me. (Yeah)

Lost till you're found
Swim till you drown
Know that we all fall down
Love till you hate
Strong till you break
Know that we all fall down

 If ever your world starts crashing down
Whenever your world starts crashing down
If ever your world starts crashing down
That's when you'll find (find) me

Lost till you're found
Swim till you drown
Know that we all fall down
Love till you hate
Strong till you break
Know that we all fall down

All fall down, we all fall down, all fall down
We all fall down, all fall down, all fall down

Lost till you're found
Swim till you drown
Know that we all fall down
Love till you hate
Strong till you break
Know that we all fall down 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hamlet, from the very beginning of his Uncle's rule, took "to the streets" and could not "ignore [...] the sound [he was] waiting for" (All Fall Down). He was waiting for a sign from his deceased father, the King. We tried to stop him from visiting the ghost of his father, but "It wave[d] [him] still" (1.4.79). He explained that "[his] fate cries out" (1.3.82). Hamlet accepted the challenge that his ghostly father gave to him; he told his father "I have sworn't" (1.5.112), and he meant it.

 And thus began "Hamlet's transformation; so call it" (2.2.5). Gertrude was at a loss, eventually describing Hamlet as her "too much changed son" (2.2.36), and thinking him mad. His deceiving Uncle was no better, forcing others to believe that Hamlet did not have an "understanding of himself" (2.2.9), and sending for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on him. "Strong till you break" (All Fall Down) is how the saying goes, and he was; Hamlet was a strong man, but the shocking death of his father, his role-model, was not one he took lightly. He became crazy, fixed on only one thing, making those around him think that "Whenever your world starts crashing down [...] That's when you'll find [Hamlet]" (All Fall Down).

"Know that we all fall down" (All Fall Down). Hamlet knew, and the first to go was Polonius, "a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead" (2.4.24). All his spying did not serve him well, for he ended up tangled in the arras. Poor Hamlet begged his mother to see what she has done, for he cannot comprehend that his mother is able to "kill a king, and marry with his brother" (2.4.30) in such a short time. "Love till you hate" (All Fall Down). Gertrude is Hamlet's mother, and his only parent, so he has no choice but to love her unconditionally. This does not, however, mean that his thoughts of Gertrude have from high respect to very little respect.

 Poor Ophelia. Hamlet's lover, not given a chance to love. She went absolutely mad with the death of her father, singing of only death and disgrace of love. She too, had reached the point of breaking, and she "Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide;/And, mermaid-like" (4.7.173-174), and she drowned. "Swim till you drown" (All Fall Down). Much like her lover, "her own distress" (4.7.176) led to her downfall, and Ophelia was but a memory.

 And so, "We all fall down" (All Fall Down) "Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts,/Of accidental judgements, casual slaughters,/Of deaths put on by cunning and forc'd cause,/And, in this upshot, purposes mistook/ Fall'n on th' inventors' heads: all this can I/Truly deliver" (5.2.345-350). Hamlet was an honorable man, and if you learn of nothing else in this burial, remember that it was all in the noble name of our "sweet prince" (5.2.323) Hamlet.

Reviving Ophelia--Hamlet Blog #4

Ophelia has gone mad. I guess we should have seen it coming, "the critics who are so concerned to salvage her innocence tend frequently to forget that it was not Hamlet alone who sullied it" (Seng). It is true, that my dear Hamlet has gone mad, but he is not to blame for poor Ophelia's lyrical gibberish. Laertes was first. Maybe he was jealous, he tried to convince his sister that Hamlet's offers of love were "Forward, not permanant, sweet, not lasting,/The perfume and suppliance of a minute;/No more" (1.3.8-10). Polonius was no better. With no prior knowledge of his daughter's romance he began to get protective, telling her to "not believe in [Hamlet's] vows; for they are brokers" (1.3.127). Maybe this is why Hamlet did not like Ophelia's father.

I heard about her little 'episode' last week in the main room--with a King like Claudius the news sure spreads quickly. She is quite the singer I guess. If Hamlet were there with her he would have known the meaning of her songs, but it was Gertrude, instead, who attempted to make sense of them. Ophelia sings to the Queen; "Larded all with flowers;/Which beswept to the grave did not go/With true-love showers" (4.5.38-40). Ophelia "chides Gertrude for her inadequate mourning for King Hamlet" (Seng).

Everyone believes she is mourning the loss of her father, and this is true, but much of her sadness comes from the loss of Hamlet, her lover. He had "made many tenders of his affection to [her]" (1.3.100-101), and she wanted so badly to get her father's approval to proceed with Hamlet. She told Polonius that she did not "know [...] what [she] should think" (1.3.104), but that was not true. No, she knew what she thought, but "the habit of mistrust, so ingrained in her father and brother, is something new to her" (Seng). She trusted her father, because she knew no other way to be, and this is consequently what led to her own father's death.

Ophelia's songs, sung in times of madness and confusion, are snip-its of how she has felt all along. I believe, and I am sure Hamlet would agree with me as well, that Ophelia was so deprived of her own voice that they only way she felt she could use it was in her decent to madness--through song.

Mis En Scene Analysis--Hamlet Blog #3

Kenneth Branagh's Soliloquy

There is both diegetic and non-diegetic sound in this scene. Hamlet is alone, facing himself in a mirror. He is speaking very softly to himself, and is the only one in the scene until the very end. The music in the background is barely noticeable--it is there only to set the mood: creepy, emotional, serious. Hamlet stands in a big room with multiple mirrors, one of which the camera is focused on. Through the entire scene, the camera faces the mirror that Hamlet looks into; it is an over-the-shoulder shot which captures Hamlet's entire body. It slowly zooms further and further in until the mirror shows a close-up shot of Hamlet's face, and his shoulder is completely out of the picture. He is not wearing anything out of the ordinary, and the only prop he uses appears at the end of his soliloquy: a dagger.

Laurence Olivier's Soliloquy

This version of Hamlet's Soliloquy is much more complex. There is lots of diegetic and non-diegetic sound: in the intro before he speaks, there is loud music playing, while scenes of clouds and the ocean flash on the screen. The camera zooms way in on the back of Hamlet's head (symbolizing the complexity of his thoughts). The music fades out, and we are left with only the background noise of the ocean. Hamlet begins to speak, and the camera is directly on him, showing us a medium shot of him sitting on a rock by the water. He is dressed fittingly to the time period, wearing clothes that nobility would normally wear--tunic and tights. When there is a break in Hamlet's thoughts the music returns, but only for a brief second. Hamlet holds only a dagger, and ends up throwing it into the water below. The scene ends with him walking further and further away from the camera.

Mel Gibson's Soliloquy

The only sound is of Hamlet's voice, which is diegetic. No music, no background noise, only his speech. The camera focuses on him as he walks down the stairs into a room that contains stone statues and walls (props). He briefly sits down in the room, and the camera switches between a close-up of his face, and bits and pieces of the room. In most of this scene Hamlet is walking around the dimly lit room, and the camera follows. Again, he wears a tunic and tights, and no other makeup. Whenever Hamlet pauses in his speech the camera focuses closely on his face, but zooms out again when he continues to walk around the room. It is interesting that in this version of the scene, Hamlet does not take out a dagger, but wanders restlessly around the room. The camera remains stationary as Hamlet walks back up the stairs which led him into the room.

Ethan Hawke's Soliloquy

This was by far the most unique approach to Hamlet's soliloquy. There is music (non-diegetic sound) playing very softly in the background of the scene, along with visual and auditory representations of explosions. 'Hamlet' is in Blockbuster, walking around the store (symbolically, the 'action' section of the store) when he speaks (diegetic sound). He is wearing modern-day clothing: a suit jacket and dress pants, with a t-shirt underneath. He is also wearing a hat into the store. The camera films him from both the front and the back, mostly using a medium shot, but occasionally zooming in further to get his face. It is interesting that in the first half of the scene Hamlet's words are only the thoughts of the character (non-diegetic), but switch to actual speech in the second half. The scene abruptly ends when Hamlet is standing in the middle of the 'action' aisle.

My dear friend Hamlet is represented most nobly by Kenneth Branagh. Hamlet is a great actor when he wants to be (especially with his Uncle), but this scene shows his sincerity. He is faced with a deep emotional conflict. "To be, or not to be; that is the question." The undertone of the music follows Hamlet's thought process through the end of his speech. I know that Polonius and Claudius must have been frightened by his grave thoughts. From their spot behind the wall, they could hear his struggle, his inability to continue through life without his father. There are rare occasions when my lord frightens me with his words, but this, this is one of them. I knew not how far his struggle went, and I still cannot find a means of help for him. All I can do is offer him my honest words, which he listens to unlike anyone else who advises him.

I believe that this scene is most effective when the changes in camera angle and distance are not as noticeable. They take away from the focus of the scene, which is Hamlet's speech. The reason that Kenneth Branagh's scene was more effective than the other three was because it focused on the mirror the entire time, only zooming in little by little, and make minute adjustments. I also think that since this is such an important scene to the play, the speech must be the sole focus in the film. The sound of the waves in the background, or no sound at all, is the best approach to this. It is true that music is capable of setting a background mood for the scene, but no sound at all sets the mood just as well. This scene is serious, and frightening, and emotional, and all of these things can be conveyed very well through the characters voice. The pauses for effect, and the change in volume from Hamlet's character adds more to the scene than music can, and Kenneth Branagh did an especially good job of this. The setting is not as important as camera angles and sound, but still plays a part. Again, Hamlet's soliloquy is the focus of this scene, and the setting should not take away from it. A bare, empty setting is best, because one with lots of props (like the Mel Gibson scene) is a distraction. Costume is of very little importance to me. Although the choice in clothing can reveal the time period (as it did in the last clip), it is not necessary--in this particular scene--to the soliloquy.

"To be, or not to be" Analysis of Form--Hamlet Blog #3

Uncertainty of death: 

• "to take arms against a sea of troubles/and by opposing end them?" (3.1.59-60)--Hamlet is asking himself whether he should 'end them' or not.
• "For in that sleep of death what dreams may come" (3.1.66)--Can we dream in our death?
• "To grunt and sweat under a weary life/But that the dread of something after death" (3.1.77-78)--Hamlet ponders if life is truly worth all the pain and hardship.

Negative experiences of life:

• "The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks" (3.1.62)
• "The pangs of despis'd love, the law's delay/The insolence of office and the spurns/That patient merit of th' unworthy takes" (3.1.72-74)
• "And thus the native hue of resolution/Is sickled o'er with the pale cast of thought" (3.1.84-85)

Appeals:

• Pathos: "When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,/Must give us pause: there's the respect/That makes calamity of so long life" (3.1.67-69)--introduces the 'we' and talks about the the 'mortal coil' in the world of a 'long life.'
• Logos: "For who would bear the whips and scorns of time" (3.1.70)--it is logical to think that this world seems to not be worth living if all of the 'whips and scorns' outweigh the good things.

Literary devices:

• Paradox: "For in that sleep of death what dreams may come" (3.1.66)--implies that dying may be as peaceful as sleeping, but we know that dying is not the same as sleeping, we cannot dream in death.
• Parallelism: "Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep" (3.1.64)--adds to the complexity and flow of the speech, propels it forward to the next part.
• Infinitive: "To die: to sleep" (3.1.60)--creates more emphasis on the verb.
• Tone and diction make Hamlet's soliloquy more emotional and reveals the struggle he is dealing with currently.
• Two primary metaphors: sleep is a metaphor/symbol for death, also 'weary life.'

Comparisons: 

• Life on earth: "For who would bear the whips and scorns of time" (3.1.70)
• Afterlife: "For in that sleep of death what dreams may come" (3.1.66)
• Death: "No more; and by a sleep to say we end/The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks" (3.1.61-62)
• Humans: "Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely" (3.1.71)
• Thinking: "And thus the native hue of resolution/Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought" (3.1.84-85)

Oppositions:

1. "To grunt and sweat under a weary life/But that the dread of something after death" (3.1.77-78)
2. "Or to take arms against a sea of troubles/And by opposing end them?" (3.1.59-60)
3. "And enterprises of great pitch and moment/WIth this regard their currents turn awry" (3.1.86-87)

Eternal Philosophical Questions:

• "And makes us rather bear those ills we have/Than fly to others that we know not of?" (3.1.81-82)
• "And by opposing end them?" (3.1.60)
• "When he himself might his quietus make/With a bare bodkin?" (3.1.75-76)

Conclusions:

• Hamlet decides that he cannot "lose the name of action" (3.1. 87), and he must continue on to avenge the death of his father.
• "Conscience does make cowards of us all" (3.1.83)

The Hunger Games--Hamlet Blog #2

 "I just keep wishing I could think of a way to show them that they don't own me; if I'm gonna die, I wanna still be me."

This is what Peeta has to say about the Hunger Games. He is chosen, along with Katniss, to compete in the most ruthless game there is, one that requires a lack of heart, and the ability to kill. Katniss and Peeta, however, are having no part in the government's cruel entertainment. As the movie continues, they find secret alliances with the other 'team members,' and they strive to outsmart the government's own game of life. They must plot when the cameras (the spies) are not on them, and find a loophole in the rules. Peeta and Katniss hate their government, so when they find a loophole in the game the revenge is sweet.

Hamlet too, wants revenge. He himself has said that he is going to "catch the conscience of the king" (2.2.533). I cannot choose sides, but if Hamlet's suspicions are made true then Claudius is in for a bit of a surprise. My lord knows that his Uncle has ordered two old friends from college to "glean/Whether aught, to  [the King and Queen], afflicts him thus" (2.2.16-17). Just as Peeta wishes he "could think of a way to show [the government] that they don't own [him]," Hamlet wishes to show his Uncle that he cannot escape with murder. In this way, I believe their deeds are righteous. They do not intend to harm those around them, they wish to act out of revenge, to expose the faults of their target. Hamlet is "but mad north-north-west" (2.2.330), his ideas are crazy, but not unattainable. These crazy ideas are thrown around in The Hunger Games as well, Katniss' friend says "We could do it you know, take off, live in the woods." Hamlet and Katniss. An interesting pair. My Lord is inspired: "Prompted to [his] revenge by heaven and hell" (2.2.512). As is Katniss: after her sister is chosen to compete in the games she "volunteers as tribute." In my humble opinion they would make a great duo. Hamlet places a great value on his "own honour and dignity" (2.2.462), and Katniss knows she is "stronger than [the government] is."

"Make mad the guilty and apall the free,/Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed/The very faculties of eyes and ears" (2.2.489-491).

With honour and dignity,
Horatio

The Wedding--Hamlet Blog #1

I think Hamlet is on to me. I arrived in Elsinore and told him that "I came to see [his] father's funeral" (1.2.176), but he knew that I really came to see his mother's wedding, just as everyone else in Denmark had. The wedding, as I see it, is a little questionable. The King was too quick to marry; while the Queen is still "weighing delight and dole" (1.2.13), he speaks only of the memory of "our dear brother's death" (1.2.1). Hamlet is furious. Rightfully so, he believes that King Claudius is "no more like [his] father/Than [he is] to Hercules" (1.2.70-80). My brave master Hamlet always seems to have unique ideas. Obviously the death of the King has caused the people of Denmark to be on alert. What if it wasn't an accident? What if the King was murdered? I had to tell him about what happened two nights ago. In the dead of the night, Marcellus, Bernardo, and I saw "A figure like [Hamlet's] father" (1.2.199). It did not talk to us, nor did we completely expect it to--it was a ghost. So, I told Hamlet about the ghost, and he talked to it. I warned him that the ghost could "assume some other horrible form,/Which might deprive [his] sovereignty of reason" (1.4.72-73), but Hamlet, being the brave man he is, disregarded my warnings. He did not tell us exactly what his ghostly father revealed to him, but I think he has it in his head that Claudius is to blame for the death of his father. No matter, I will trust him in any endeavor he chooses to follow. To think that Hamlet and I could be endangered because of a wedding is an interesting concept. I too, find it suspicious that Gertrude would marry so soon, and that Claudius was more than happy to marry his brother's widow (of course, it meant taking the crown as well).

I will be sure to keep everyone updated on how the newly-weds are, and naturally, how my dear friend Hamlet is (I worry that he is becoming more and more crazy with each day). That is all for tonight.

From Elsinore,
Horatio

Horatio

I would like to write my blog posts from the perspective of Horatio. Horatio is Hamlet's loyal side-kick, the one entrusted to keep Hamlet's deepest thoughts a secret. He accompanies his master through their adventures, and maintains a level head with all of them. Since Horatio has been through the same things as Hamlet, the main character, I think it would be interesting to write from a different perspective. Hamlet himself describes his loyal friend as more 'virtuous' and 'self-controlled' than he is (Mabillard), so Horatio must have different opinions than his master. I also find it interesting that Horatio has no desire to overthrow his master; in fact, he would go so far as to sacrifice his life for Hamlet. He has all of Hamlet's darkest secrets in tote, yet does not judge, which is why writing from Horatio's point of view will be enjoyable.

Storyboards

Works Cited

Posthuma, Johnathon. The Glass Menagerie. Cond. Teresa Ter Haar. Perf. Brian De Young. Dordt College. Dordt College, 2011. Youtue. Youtube. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.

"The Glass Menagerie." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.

West, Kanye. Graduation. Kanye West. Jon Brion, Warryn Campbell, Mike Dean, DJ Toomp, Eric Hudson, Brian Miller, Nottz, Patrick Reynolds, Gee Robertson, Kanye West (also Exec.), Kyambo "Hip Hop" Joshua (also Exec.), 2007. Youtube. Youtube. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.

West, Kanye. Late Registration. Kanye West. Kanye West, Jon Brion, Devo Springsteen, Just Blaze, Warryn Campbell, 2005. Youtube. Youtube. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.

Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie: A Play. [New York]: New Directions, 1949. Print.

AP Prompt and Thesis

Prompt:

1990. Choose a novel or play that depicts a conflict between a parent (or a parental figure) and a son or daughter. Write an essay in which you analyze the sources of the conflict and explain how the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid plot summary.

Thesis:

In Tennessee William’s The Glass Menagerie, Amanda’s desire to prevent Tom from becoming like his father and her desire to force Laura to become more like Amanda creates conflict, illuminating the fact that the more Amanda tries to shape the lives of her children, the more they deviate from what she wants, exemplifying that only a shattering of an individual's “glass menagerie” - their idealized perception of reality -  is enough to create a change in a character’s personality.

Synopsis

The Glass Menagerie Synopsis

A General Synopsis: The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is an autobiographical "memory play," , anchored by the aging southern belle Amanda Wingfield, who hopes for her son Tom to fulfill her dreams of finding the perfect “gentleman caller” for her shy and damaged daughter Laura.

Playwright Background Information

Playwright Tennessee Williams was born on March 26, 1911, in Columbus, Mississippi. After college, he moved to New Orleans, a city that would inspire much of his writing. On March 31, 1945, his play, The Glass Menagerie, debuted on Broadway. Williams described his childhood in Mississippi as pleasant and happy, but life changed for him when his family moved to St. Louis, Missouri. His new urban home forced him to leave his carefree boyhood, and as a result Williams turned inward and started to write. His parent’s marriage was often strained and his home, at times, was a tense place to live. This situation, however, did offer fuel for the playwright's art. His mother became the model for the foolish but strong Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie.

Primary characters:

• Amanda - The mother of the family, a southern belle with a bubbly personality. Amanda is paranoid and often lives in her past.
• Tom - Son of Amanda and narrator of the piece. Tom craves “adventure,” and goes to the movies every night. He wants to run away because he is fed up with his family’s oppressive dependence on him
• Laura - Daughter of Amanda. She has one leg shorter than the other (disability) and is painfully shy. She dropped out of high school and business college and is obsessive about playing her “victrola” and with her glass collection.
• Jim - The “gentleman caller” set up by Tom for Laura. A high school hero who is ambitious. However, he turns out to be engaged to “Betty.”
• The Father: Never actually appears, but is talked about. His portrait hangs in the apartment and he left the family years ago because he “fell in love with long distances”.

Setting

• The family currently lives in a cramped apartment in a lower-class part of St. Louis in the years 1930s, the time of Depression. Tom, from an indefinite point in the future, remembers the winter and spring of 1937.
• Fire Escape: Used as a way of escaping life in the apartment.

Key Plot Moments.

• Family resides in St. Louis with Tom working at a warehouse and Amanda, who never states where she works, involved in different organizations and activities such as DAR. Laura, who secretly dropped out of school, helps her mother around  the house and plays with glass figurines.
• Amanda confronts Tom about him being too much like his father. She confesses she is worried about him, while Tom states that he is out late at night at the movies because he craves adventure. Amanda then pleads Tom to find Laura a “gentleman caller” or future husband.
• Tom brings a “gentleman caller” named Jim for dinner one night. Jim went to high school with Laura and was her secret crush.
• Jim and Laura dance after dinner in the living room, but breaks Laura’s glass unicorn horn that was part of her figurine collection. Jim confesses to Laura that he is engaged, abruptly gets up and leaves.
• Amanda blames Tom for bringing Jim over to dinner despite Tom not knowing Jim was engaged. Tom becomes very upset and reaches his breaking point. He packs up his stuff and leaves the house to end the play.

Key Quotes

• "I'm going to the movies" - Tom (7.135)
• "Blow out your candles Laura - and so goodbye..." (7.137)
• “Poor little fellow, he must feel sort of lonesome.” (7.122)
• “Well, if he does, he doesn’t complain about it. He stays on a shelf with some horses that don’t have horns and all of them seem to get along nicely together.” (7.122)

Symbols/Motifs

• Abandonment; the words and images on the screen; music. Picture of the father.
• Laura’s Glass Menagerie-Laura’s collection of glass animal figurines represents her personality. Like the glass figures Laura is delicate, fanciful, and somehow old-fashioned.The menagerie also represents the imaginative world to which Laura devotes herself—a world that is colorful and enticing but based on fragile illusions.
• The Glass Unicorn-represents Laura’s peculiarity. The fate of the unicon’s fate foreshadows Laura’s fate in Scene Seven. Laura cannot become normal without somehow shattering.
• “Blue Roses”- Jim’s high school nickname for Laura, symbolizes Laura’s unusualness yet allure. Associated with Laura’s attraction to Jim and the memory of their unusual acquaintan. Also, recalls Tennessee Williams’s sister, Rose, on whom the character of Laura is based.
• The Fire Escape- an escape from the frustration and dysfunction in the Wingfield household. Laura slips on the fire escape in Scene Four which highlights her inability to escape from her situation. Tom, on the other hand, frequently steps out,foreshadowing his eventual getaway.

Themes

• The difficulty of accepting reality
• The impossibility of true escape
• The unrelenting power of memory

Stylistic Devices

• Williams found realism to be a flat, outdated, and insufficient way of approaching emotional experience.
• The Glass Menagerie is fundamentally a non realistic play.
• Distortion, illusion, dream, symbol, and myth are the tools by which the action onstage is unraveled.
• A screen displays words and images relevant to the action for example “[Screen Image: Blue Roses.]” (2.44)
• Music intrudes with melodramatic timing
• The lights rise or dim according to the mood onstage, not the time of day
• The play’s style is expressionistic—underlying meaning is emphasized at the expense of realism.
• The play’s lack of stylistic realism—Tom’s memory, yet it still has some elements of reality to make it relatable.
• Emotions like Tom’s boredom, Amanda’s nostalgia,Laura’s terror, the tension between Tom and Amanda and the quiet love between Tom and Laura are conveyed realistically.
• Similarly, the lower-middle-class life of the Wingfield family is portrayed with a great deal of truth to historical and social realities.

Rationale

The 1990 Open Question AP prompt was fitting for Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie because one of the unifying themes of the text was the conflict between Amanda Wingfield and her children to illustrate that only a shattering of an individual's “glass menagerie” - their idealized perception of reality -  is enough to create a change in a character’s personality. Amanda is constantly nagging Laura to be more outgoing, more like she herself was as a young woman in Blue Mountain. With Tom, Amanda’s main worry is that he will turn out like his father - a drunkard who abandons his family - so she constantly tries to keep him at home. However, despite having a modicum of success with Laura by showing her that there is more to life than old records and glass, Amanda fails to break Tom’s idealization  of a life of adventure, and he ends up leaving the family out to dry when he joins the Merchant Marine.

Another point in favor of choosing this prompt that it addresses the complexity of the relationship between the characters in the text. Although Laura did become more outgoing, it was not a direct result of Amanda’s constant nagging, but rather a consequence of Jim (the “Gentleman Caller”) kissing her, and breaking her “glass menagerie.” Prior to this occurrence, Amanda’s attempts to change Laura (signing her up for business school and sending her to the church’s “Young People’s League”) backfired by causing Laura to lose confidence in herself and close herself off to socialization even more. Also, the more Amanda tries to control Tom, the more he tries to gain independence by staying out late at the movies, and eventually not paying the bills and leaving the family entirely.

In choosing the scenes to use for the video presentation, we tried to choose scenes that would exemplify the familial conflict and explore the complexity of the play. Scene 1 introduces the conflict between Amanda and Laura by showing Amanda’s fear of Laura becoming an “old maid” and the conflict between Amanda to Tom when she micromanages Tom’s every move.  Scene 4 further develops the conflict between Amanda and Laura as Amanda expresses her concerns about Laura’s lifestyle to Tom. By expressing her concerns about Tom’s night-owl habits and tendency to drink, the scene adds more tension to the relationship. This scene was chosen because it is the main turning point for family, with Tom agreeing to find Laura a “gentleman caller,” and the revelation that Tom is unhappy in the apartment and has plans to leave. Scene 7, contrary to expectations, does not resolve the conflict, but brings it to its logical conclusion. Laura’s gentleman caller is revealed to be engaged to marry somebody else, and Tom leaves the family in the dark (literally - he neglects to pay the electric bill). The encounter with Jim was not a complete failure, as the symbolism of the glass menagerie is brought full circle, with the breaking of the unicorn coinciding with the breaking of Laura’s perceptions of herself (that her “clump” is horrible and she is inferior to others).

The portrayal of the selected scenes was made doubly important by the time constraints, so stylistic choices had to be very deliberate and effective. Some of the more important choices were camera angle, lighting, and the modern lens through which we reenacted the play.

A common camera angle we used was the over the shoulder shot. This angle allows the viewers to focus on a specific character, allowing for a greater degree of acting and plot interpretation by the actor. Similar to this angle, the point of view shot allows the audience to “become” a character, in that they can experience a conversation from the point of view of the character. Once in scene 7, the point of view is that of the glass unicorn lying broken on the ground, allowing the audience to more closely feel and understand the conversation between Jim and Laura. The basic, mid-range shot is frequently used to accurately and objectively convey the goings-on of the play. When the camera is below the characters, looking up, the characters become more powerful, as seen once when Tom and Amanda are arguing in scene 4. The effect on the interpretation of this sequence is that the audience can see two strong-willed characters in conflict, and feel the tension the way a little kid feels the tension when their parents are arguing.

For most of the play, the lighting is natural, and the camera angles are relied upon to explore the nuances of the plot and theme. Scene 7, however, is an important outlier. In scene 7, the lighting is dimmer, almost like mood lighting, to emphasize the intense emotional battle going on within Laura - she is terrified by Jim because of her shyness, but she likes him. Then, once out of her shell, she is crushed to find out he is engaged to another girl. Similarly, in the sequence on the floor around the broken glass unicorn, the lighting is from below, illuminating Jim’s and Laura’s faces. This difference is important in that it draws more attention to an important part of the play, and highlights Laura’s realization that she is not inferior to others. She sympathizes strongly with the unicorn because its horn sets it apart from other horses, while her clump sets her apart from other people. The breaking of the horn symbolizes her acceptance of her difference.

The modern lens through which we reenacted and interpreted the play was the reality show Keeping Up with the Kardashians. This was fitting because of the family conflict that appears in both the play and the show, and the fatherless families in both. In addition, the mother of both families is a strong character that tries to control her children, perhaps illuminating an effect of a missing paternal presence.

The Glass Menagerie Video

Summer Reading Creative Project

Text: Deborah Levy’s Swimming Home.

 Essence: Water paves the path for character transformation from life to death.

 Brief Summary of Text: Kitty Finch is first found swimming naked in the Jacob family’s pool and is greeted by several characters who are sharing a villa in Italy for the summer. They all wonder who this strange, mental girl is at first, but as the week goes on, all but a few of them fall under her spell. Kitty takes a special interest in Joe Jacobs—renowned poet as well as a husband and father. Joe finds out that the reason for Kitty’s arrival was so she could give him some poetry of her own to read. She feels connected to him through his poetic words and wants him to feel the same. After reading her poem, he does feel a connection to her, but continues to hide it. By the end of the novel, Kitty has made Joe acknowledge his feelings of sadness and depression, but the tables are turned when he is found dead in the same pool in which Kitty was discovered.

1973 Prompt: An effective literary work does not merely stop or cease; it concludes. In the view of some critics, a work that does not provide the pleasure of significant closure has terminated with an artistic fault. A satisfactory ending is not, however, always conclusive in every sense; significant closure may require the reader to abide with or adjust to ambiguity and uncertainty. In an essay, discuss the ending of a novel or play of acknowledged literary merit. Explain precisely how and why the ending appropriately or inappropriately concludes the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.

 Thesis: In Deborah Levy’s Swimming Home, the ending of the novel ties back to the beginning, and informs the reader that the real reason Kitty Finch came to Italy was to try and save Joe Jacobs from his secret depression.

 Explanation of Project: In the very beginning of Deborah Levy’s Swimming Home, Kitty Finch’s “head emerged from the water, its mouth open and gasping for breath” (7). When Kitty comes out of the pool she is baptized, and given a second chance to live. The young girl is on a mission to find Joe Jacobs and give him her poem so that he can validate the connection she feels they have. The end of the book is a complete contrast to Kitty’s rebirth. Joe, “words and spluttering […] utterances […] disappeared into the water” (148) instead of emerging from it. In my project, I connected the water theme in the beginning and the end by playing a sound effect of someone swimming at the beginning and end of my ‘mash-up’ of songs.

 Water is an important theme not only at the beginning and end, but also throughout the novel. When Nina Jacobs menstruates for the first time “She finally jumped into the pool” (68). Isabel Jacobs also periodically swam in “the cold green water” (46). These swimming scenes take place during the slower paced parts of the book. In my project, the sound of a person swimming is hidden underneath all of the other sounds. This sound effect is most evident when the slower songs are playing—just like in the book. I chose to use a variety of contrasting songs within my project. The book is choppy and jumps from character to character.

While some characters thought that “The arrival of Kitty Finch was bad news” (73), others were head-over-heels for the girl, and wanted to “marry Kitty Ket” (79). Much like the novel, these songs reflect the various characters’ thoughts, and move very abruptly from one another. I did not put a slow song directly after a slow song. Instead, as this ‘mash-up’ goes from song to song, it goes slow to fast, or fast to slow; this imitates the pacing of the book.

Besides the theme of water in the novel, Levy discusses the complexity of depression and loss. Kitty and Joe both battle depression, and Kitty even mentions that “Life is only worth living because we hope it will get better” (4). The small portions of songs that I used in my project all have lyrics that somehow relate to this theme. Some songs discuss the struggle of having no one to help in a time of need, and others talk about a deep sadness in the world. In addition to their relation to the theme, the lyrics also relate to a central topic in the book. The entire reason Kitty came to Italy was to find Joe, the famous poet. She had read nearly everything he ever published, and now she wanted him to read a poem that she had written herself.

The reason I chose to do a ‘mash-up’ of various songs is because I believe that song lyrics are the same thing as poetry, only put to music. Both poetry and song lyrics convey a persons feeling in a more sophisticated, flowing manner, and both are worded in a way that a person would not ordinarily speak. Since water is a very significant symbol in Swimming Home, I wanted to do something visual with water while the song played. Since the end of the story is tied so exactly to the beginning, I showed the journey from beginning to end using water.

When Kitty first talks to Joe, she says “I have come to France to save you from your thoughts” (26). At first, Joe refuses to admit to Kitty’s accusations that he is suffering from his depression. With each day that Kitty stays with him, Joe believes her more and more. By the end of the book Joe finally admits to himself that he is quite unhappy, and the only thing he can think to do about it is to commit suicide. To show Joe’s gradual transformation in the novel, and how Kitty was the one who led him to his eventual downfall, I used two cups to represent these two characters. As the song started playing, I poured water from the ‘Kitty’ cup into the ‘Joe’ cup. The ‘Joe’ cup was filtered with a paper towel that had red food coloring on it. As the water from the ‘Kitty’ cup is slowly transferred to Joe, the water gets more and more red, signifying the downfall of his character. By the end of the song the water from Kitty’s cup is all in Joe’s cup, because Joe is dead.

Through the use of both an aural and visual presentation, the audience is able to see the transformation of characters and the major themes in the novel.