"To Build a Fire" --- Naturalism mini-unit

In class we have been introduced to Naturalism and Realism which deal with the harsh reality of life and how nature doesn't care about humans. Nature will go along with its course without worrying about human life. In the story "To Build a Fire" the narrator describes a man who decides to walk out in the freezing cold. We see how the man has no imagination and no common sense to know that it is too cold to be walking around. Then man also has a companion, a dog who knows the danger of being alone so he stays with the man. In this story the dog has more common sense than the man since he knows it is too cold and dangerous out. The dog is smarter than the man because the dog knew how to deal with the situation while the man simply went along through the dangerous conditions. Naturalism is connected with this story since it's showing how the forces of nature are stronger than man and man can never go against it. The man's confidence in this story end up hurting him since he is clearly weaker than nature. Naturalism emphasizes the way humans don't know how to deal with risky/deadlysituations. They only know what's right in front of their faces, but don't know how to react or save themselves.

Gatsby- color gold

In the novel The Great Gatsby, the color gold is constantly seen associated with the character of Gatsby. To me the color gold represents wealth and riches which is what Gatsby is seen as in the book. Gatsby has the perfect life. He has a huge mansion and a lavish life which is represented through the color gold. "His bedroom was the simplest room of all_ except where the dresses was garnished with a toilet set of pure dull gold." In this quote we see how the color gold is constantly being described with all the objects Gatsby has. Even though Gatsby appears to have the perfect life, it's all fake and not up to reality. He's been working his whole life on achieving his dream of wealth and a lavish lifestyle, and he has finally obtained it. But towards the end, he realizes that he has step up his standards too high and will never be completely happy with his life. The color gold represents in the novel the riches all the characters are constantly seeking to obtain.

The Great Gatsby- one symbol

In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses many symbols throughout the novel. One of the symbols is drunkness. We are constantly reading about characters being drunk throughout the novel. We get this impression by Fitzgerald's way of expression some character's lack of eyesight or blurry vision. He also makes characters misunderstand words and meaning. The drunkness symbol connects with the lack of communication characters have which relates to modernism. Modernism is the growing fragmentation and isolation of society which is seen in this novel. Fitzgerald also uses drunkness to criticize society of the 20's. He's expressing the constant partying and drinking which took place. He's also criticizing marrige by expressing the affair Tom has with Myrtle. All these things symbolize the way society was in the 20's and how careless it was.

Overall impression on A Raisin in the Sun

A Raisin in the Sun was a great play about the dreams of a family wishing to better their living situation and leave their cramped up life in the apartment they live in. We are introduced to this family and immediately know their life is a constant struggle since they are fed up with each other. After Mama gets insurance money from he dead husband, everyone gets excited because they feel this is the hope they have been wanted for their dreams to come true especially Walter. But soon after, Walter losses the money Mama gave him for his liquor store and Bennie's college fund and it turns into the climax of the play where everyone loses hope in their dreams. Towards the end, Walter realized that more important than the money comes his family and his need to be the head of his family and make the right choice in not letting his family be looked down upon. Beneatha also realizes she needs to keep going with her goals in becoming a doctor even though the money Mama gave Walter for her school is gone. She realizes that this money, which was never truly hers, wasn't going to ruin her chances of doing what she wanted to do with her life. Every character learned a lesson after the money was gone. They realized their family sticking together was more important than fighting over the money and their lives.

"A Raisin in the Sun" impression

After beginning the play "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Handsberry, I get the impression that the play will be centered around the check that Mama will soon receive. The play started out with the Younger family fighting the whole morning which makes me think the family has many issues regarding their living situation which is what Walter mainly complains about. The characters in this play seem to be very caring towards each other but want change in their lives. Mama, the most caring character thus far seems to be the head of the house hold by taking charge and caring about everyone. With the check she will receive, it is very likely she will share it with everybody since we get the impression she is very compassionate and caring and is looking out for the best in her family. I believe this check will cause many conflicts through out the novel since everybody has a different view of how it will be spent. It may even cause the family to fall apart from all the conflicts. Each character in the play has a very strong personality which I believe will develop as the play progresses.

Research Paper

Well now in class we are working on a research paper on a poet. My poet is Alice Walker, an African American activist who writes mostly about African American rights and about African American women and their roles in society. My theme in the paper is about how Walker explores the fight against oppression and search for freedom both in personal and racial points of views in her work. As i research Walker, most of her poems deal with the fight for freedom and how individuals are constantly attacked. She also writes a lot about the fight against oppression in a male-dominated society. In my paper, I plan to talk about the poems that deal with these themes and having each paragraph refer to one poem and analyze it. I am also going to mention Walker's novel The Color Purple which also deals with these themes and finding connections with the poems and the novel. I also found that Walker's like connects with her work in the sense that she also felt oppressed by society and felt left out at times due to a childhood incident. Some difficulties about this assignment is finding poems and analyzing them and connecting them to the theme.

Reaction to Huck Finn overall

After finally finishing the novel "The Adventures of Huckeberry Finn" by Twain i've come to realize that is very much depicts the South during the time period before the Civil War. Towards the end I was very much excited that Huck finally realized that Jim was indeed a regular human being like himself and everyone else, but little did I know that was all going to change as soon as society stepped in once again. As soon as Tom Saywer came back, it's as if Huck lost all his discoveries and lessons he learned while in the river with Jim. It was as if all these lessons and the whole entire journey were pointless. That is what I thought of about the story, not about the bigger picture behind it all. I believe Twain wrote the ending because he wanted to get the point across that even though many people did have revolutionary ideas of slavery to be abolished and that it was a mortal sin, no one really did anything to stop it. It all goes back to the 'mob' mentality and society. No one had the courage to stand up for what was wrong, everyone just let society control their thoughts. That is why i believe the endidng was brillient. Througout the whole novel we were made to believe that Huck was really going to change and was going to help out him slave friend Jim, but of course society (tom) took over and all was lost. He went back to seeing Jim as property and how everyone else saw him. Even though he still had the heart to be able to see that Jim still needed his freedom, his mentality of Jim was they same as when the novel started. This book was a way to describe how the South really was and how people acted.