One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Part II)

In part two of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Harding’s wife comes to visit. While she is there Harding makes fun of her grammar. When she leaves McMurphy yells at Harding when he ask what McMurphy thinks of his wife. The patients start to look up to McMurphy cause he isn’t scared to open his mouth and say what he wants. I believe that other patients that looked up to McMurphy also started to say what they wanted to say when they felt like it. When Cheswick complains the he wants something done about the limitations on his cigarettes McMurphy just kept his mouth shut. Cheswick is then put into the disturbed section of the ward and then he dies. As the reader I am aware that Cheswick did not accidentally drown.

Lantern Theater performance of Hamlet

Going to the Lantern Theater to see the performance of Hamlet I was not excited. I thought that it was going to be boring but as much as I don't like Shakespeare I thought that the actors in the play did an amazing job at making the play worth watching. I thought that all the actors played their part very well and they were very in character. My favorite actor was Hamlet. He used all of the space very well. He made the play very funny and interesting. After watching the play I left amazed that I actually like it. Even though it was very long it kept my interest. Watching the play at the Lantern Theater helped me more understand what went on in the play and exactly what each character was like. The only part of the play I didn't like was how Ophelia's outfit didn't really fit into the time period which kind of threw me off but other then that I think the play was really awesome.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Part I)

In Part One of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest is introduces Chief Bromden who is the narrator of the book. He suffers from paranoia and has hallucinations. He has been in the mental hospital longer then any other patients that’s there. He gets treatments to help his problem. In the beginning of part one he tells about all the situations that are occurring at the mental hospital. The fog symbolizes the weakness of the patients in the mental hospital. Chief Bromden believes the he is weak when really he is very strong. Harding tells McMurphy that the Big Nurse is not helping them and she is treating them like little children. The therapy sessions are not helping them they are just making things worse. McMurphy finally is able to show what is really going on.

Hamlet (Act II)

In Act II Hamlet creates a play to see his uncles reaction and try to catch him in his lies. I believe that Hamlet is a very smart character he knew exactly what to do to try and catch his uncle in his lies. I cant figure out if Hamlet truly believe the ghost. I believe that is a good idea not to confront the uncle because he wouldn’t tell the truth anyway cause he wouldn’t want to be caught. If Hamlet ended up being wrong then he would have looked crazy and it would have cause a little drama with his uncle. In Act II everyone is going behind each others backs to find out information instead of just confronting them. King Claudius and Queen Gertrude want to find out what’s wrong with Hamlet but instead of confronting him they just hire his friend to find out what’s going on. I believe that it would make life much easier if they just confronted Hamlet. The fact that Hamlet is not giving up on finding out how is father really die shows that he had a strong relationship with his father and he wont back down till the truth comes out. I think Act II showed more about each character. By the end of Act II I started to believe that Hamlet was a little crazy but I wasn’t sure if he was just trying to make people think he was or if he really truly is crazy.

Hamlet (Act I)

Throughout Act I in Hamlet, you learn a lot about the characters. Shakespeare doesn’t come out and tell you about every character as a reader you figure out what they are like by the things that do and say. This made me read the story more carefully because the story doesn’t tell you exactly what each charater is like you have to draw your own conclusions.
In act one you don’t hear much from King Claudius but you realize exactly what kind of person he is. In this act you learn how self he is went you find out that he seduces Hamlet’s mother so that he can become King. Then you find out that he is very conniving when you find out that he poisoned Hamlet’s father. You realize that King Claudius is a bad man and only wants the power.
Hamlet is another character who you learn a lot about is act 1. You learn about Hamlet by what he does more so then what he says. From the beginning of the act you realize that Hamlet is a sensitive man. You see this when he cries over his fathers death and pronounced love for Ophelia. In act 1 you also learn that he has a lot of respect for his mother because he keeps his mouth shut about his mother marrying his uncle.
Another character in act 1 is Gertrude. I don’t really understand her much just yet. I haven’t yet figured out if she was part of the fathers death or is she just innocent. Hamlet says that his father and mother were deeply in love but I don’t believe that they were because she was very quick to run off and get married again. I cant figure out if Gertrude realizes what Claudius did to the king and is just trying to look past it or if she has no idea and is oblivious to what’s going on. I find it hard to feel bad for Gertrude because I feel that if she was really in love with Hamlet’s father she wouldn’t have gotten married so quickly to his brother. I don’t know much about Gertrude but I’m also not a big fan of her.
Even though I only read the first act I believe that this play is going to become more interesting. I am looking forward to seeing how Hamlet deals with Claudius and if anyone ever finds out that Claudius killed Hamlet’s father. I’m also looking forward to see if Gertrude realizes what kind of man Claudius really is.

Coleridge and Shelly

1. In “Kubla-Klan” I believe that it does show imagination. Coleridge talks about a beautiful paradise with imagery which made me believe that the poem is going to be about. But by the end of the poem it he talks about this place in a totally completely way by saying it “savage.” By the end of the poem the author is telling the reader to beware of where their imagination can take them. The author is telling the reader that you can imagine something amazing but in reality it might not be nice at all. I think that Coleridge writes this to show people that they should be greatful for what they have because what they want might now be as great as they think it is in the end.

2. While reading the poem Ozymandias I heard three speakers. The three speakers would be the narrator, the traveler, and Ozymandias. The narrator talks about a traveler who told him about a broken statue that was in the desert. This leads to what Ozymandias says My name is Ozymandias, king of kings, Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" This quote talks about that this man was once a great leader and eventually fallen in his rein of power. I believe this quote was very important because it tells what the poet its trying to say to the reader. I believe this poem talks about how all powerful leaders will eventually fall so they shouldn’t abuse their power. I believe that this poem is trying to say that a leader should no be over proud of their power because it wont last forever.

Blakes Chimney Sweeper Due 3-16-09

1.Yes I agree with the with the editors of the textbook. I feel Blake's poetry has the power to enact social change by appealing to the imagination of the reader. I believe the choice of words that Blake uses helps get his point across. “And because I am happy, and dance and sing, They think they have done me no injury, And are gone to praise God and his Priest and King, Who make up a heaven of our misery.” I picked this quote because I believe it shows that the child wants to help his parents and his parents believe that he is happy to help but really the child feels like he is in hell not heaven. Even though this child shows no pain and appears to be happy deep down inside he feels like hes in hell.

2. They included the Parliament Transcript as a primary source document in with the story because they wanted to show what Blake was really saying about child labor. After reading this i was very shocked because I didn't really know much about child labor. This made Blake's poem have a whole lot more meaning to it. I think the editor added this because it really helps open peoples eyes to what children went through.

Gulliver's Travels

1. Why do the lilliputians capture Gulliver and pin him down?
2. Why was Gulliver sleeping on the ground?
3. Why did Swift make the lilliputians speak a different language? What did the lilliutions really say?
4. Why was there a major sixze difference between the lilliputians & Gulliver?
5. Who exactly were the lilliputians?

B] At first I didn't really understand the story at first. As I read I wrote down somethoughts & questions I had. I asked Robin to help me fully understand the story so she shared what she knew with me which really helped. I also learned that being a teacher is alot of work. Making lesson plans for each class takes time. I thought lesson plans were just like one word describing what's going to happen during each class perido. Well I was so wrong. Making lesson plans is like making an outline about what your going to talk about in each class.. alot harder then I expected.

C] On Monday my teacher group is going to try and help teach another teacher group more about the story. We are going to see what their answers are to the questions we have and explain to them what we thought.

1984 Final

The novel 1984 was based on a place where people could only do what was acceptable to the “big brother.” The Party wanted to be in compete control of all the people but not the proles. The party’s main purpose was to keep society an oligarchic collectivism. This was able to happen because the people didn’t try and rebel against the Party because the people weren’t sure what the Party was capable of. Winston is very rebellious against the Party and Big Brother. Winston begins to test the limits of the Party and Big Brother. O’Brien is a member of the Inner Party and tricks Winston into believing that he is a member of the revolutionary group, “Brotherhood.”

Winston believes that O’Brien isn’t brainwashed like the rest of society and that they are somewhat alike. But by the end of the novel O’Brien tricks Winston. O’Brien was really nothing like Winston and was the cause of Winston’s downfall. Winston truly believed that O’Brien had his own thoughts but in reality O’Brien was the reason Winston let his guard down. The Party was waiting for Winston to let his guard down and that exactly what O’Brien did. Winston believed that everyone though exactly like he did but really everyone was brainwashed. He didn’t think anyone would ever catch him. Winston then met Julia and trusted her as well. He got a thrill out of rebelling against the Party and continued to think he would never get caught.

When O'Brien says "When you delude yourself into thinking that you see something, you assume that everyone else sees the same thing as you" he is talking about how what Winston's life is like and what kind of society he is living in. Winston really believed that everyone hate society just like he does but really he all alone. The party knew of every single move that was made by every single person. In Winston's mind he thought he was smart enough not to get caught but he was bound to be torn apart. The whole society just waited and watched Winston they watched every move he made and just one simple mistake his fate was decided.

For Winston to live in society without and struggles he has to stop rebelling and understand the thoughts and feelings of the society. Winston  could either give in and not be stubborn and think like society. Or Winston can continue to rebel and try to go against the government. He finally gives in and follows society. Him being and “outside” and not thinking like society only caused him problems in the long run. With him living like society and believe what society did they were able to have an oligarhical collectivism.

writing in response to orwell

As I read 1984 I realized that Winston Smith is similar to people I know. I compared Winston to my grandparents and great-aunt. Winston and my family members didn’t like chance they liked to stick with the same old same old. They both told stories about life as they knew is and how life was when they were younger. I believe they tell and keep these stories in their memory because it helps them remember their happy times and show that life really does change.
I believe that the new children will take the change much easier then the older people. I believe this because the new children don’t know life to be any different then how they are living now so the change isn’t really that big of a deal for them. But for the older folks life is changing big time and they aren’t really agreeing or liking it too much therefore it affects them a lot more then it does the younger ones.