The Wild Duck Journal 3

Within the first morning of Gregers living in the Ekdal house he had already made a mess of his room that Gina had to deal with. "I got the janitor's wife to come and scrub up after him, the pig; but it'll be fit to live in till afternoon" (157). This quote is interesting because it Gina's view of Gregers is seen. She often times has a negative view of him. It seems that Gina knew he would be trouble and he has already made a mess of something. She continues to hint at the idea that she does not like Gregers being in the house. Another thing that was curious was the fact that she had the janitor's wife deal with the mess. even though she is just the wife is she often require to do custodial work?The fact that someone else can do the work for Gina suggest that they have enough wealth to have some sort of service work.


As Hedvig is helping Hjalmar finish working on some photographs Gregers asks her about how the wild duck is and how the loft is in different lighting. "Yes it can change completely. In the morning it looks different from in the afternoon; and when it rains it's different from when it's clear"(162). This description given by Hedvig of the morning shows interesting things about her character and Ibsen's writing. Gregers points out the difference between the day and the night while says that even the different parts of the day change things. Ibsen uses many of the lines to have secret ideas hidden in them especially Gregers. Hedvig is young and is talking about time while Gregers might find a whole other meaning of the conversation. Hedvig takes great notice of the details like the difference in the light of the loft and when she works on the photographers. The idea of her attention to detail is curious because she does not see the hints of Gregers assumptions about her. This makes me curious if the detail of who is her father determines her feelings for Hjalmar and Werle.

The Wild Duck Journal 2

Gina
Act two begins with Hedvig reading and Gina is sewing while she "glanced over several times at Hedvig as if with anxiety" which suggested she is worried about Hedvig (137). Gina then tells Hedvig stop reading. Hedvig is eager to continue reading except Gina says, "Your father doesn't like it; he never reads in the evening" (137). Gina is very loyal to the rules that are placed down by Hjalmar and with very little reason Hedvig obeys. The worry of Gina continues to be seen as she starts noting the money spent that day. After listing many things, with the help Hedvig, Gina exclaims, "[i]t mounts up-- but it can't be helped" (138). This gives the impression that money has always been an issue and the attempts to fix it in the past have had little if no effect. this makes Gina worried and seem protective of the order of the house and those in it. As the conversation shifts they speak about how Hjalmar is at Werle's house for dinner and Gina correct Hedvig by saying the invitation was from Gregers. "We have nothing to do with Old Werle" (138). It appears that Gina has an ill view of Werle. From the previous Act there is suspension of an affair between Werle and Gina which left Gina seeing him as untrustworthy and full of strife.

The Wild Duck Journal 1

Some of the boundaries created are in the staging of the show. "[A] writing table, with papers and reports, in the middle of the room, and green-shaded lamps softly illuminating the room" creates a boundary because it is the focal point of the room (119).The many papers and reports suggests that someone works there diligently for long periods of time and possibly as that happens there may be boundaries that you must not disrupt that person as they work. Also "a small private door" suggest that only a few people are permitted into it and the fact that we can't see the room also gives the idea of the boundary (119). In the staging there is "laughter and the hum of many voices in conversation" setting a boundary between the two servants and the guests of the house since it apears that the guests are having a leisurely and enjoyable time while the servants have to work. Accompaning that idea is the fact that the two servants with names are not in the room. Another boundary is created with Jensen and Pettersen because one is a hired servant while the other is pernament. "[O]ld boy's up on his feet"continues that idea because Pettersen the manservant is the only serveant that personally knows Werle and his associates and has strong connections with them suggested with giving Werle a nickname (119).

Antigone Journal 4

"Antigone had hanged herself by the cord of her robe, by 1
the red and golden twisted cord of her robe. The cord was
round her neck like a child's collar. Haemon was on his
knees, holding her in his arms and moaning, his face
buried in her robe. More stones were removed, and Creon 5
went into the tomb. He tried to raise Haemon to his feet.
I could hear him begging Haemon to rise to his feet.
Haemon was deaf to his father's voice, till suddenly he
stood up of his own accord, his eyes dark and burning.
Anguish was in his face, but it was the face of a little 10
boy" (51).

One of the first things noticed was the repetition of "the cord of her robe" which is used to hang herself (1). This is an important concept because the word cord does not seem to leave the passage which is also true as it never leaves Antigone. since it is a part of her clothing she is always wearing it. With that the idea of death was always with her a the Chorus explained in the very beginning of the play. Her death was inevitable represented by the cord being with her at all times.

Antigone Journal 3

Dull vs. Vivid
"The whole world was gray [...] [a]nd now [...] [i]t's [...] all pink, and green, and yellow" (6).
This is said by Antigone and she is describing the world before she buried Polynices and after she did so. This contradiction is very useful here because it emphasizes the relief and happiness Antigone feels. It is as though her purpose in life has been realized and she now sees the world in a new light.

"Haemon,[...] From whom?
Antigone, Ismene.
Haemon, And the rouge? and the face powder [...]?
Antigone, Ismene.
Haemon, And in whose honor did you get yourself up so eleganly?"(16).
Although this is not directly the condradiction between dull and vivid the elements are still seen. If Antigone is view as having a dull beauty then Ismene is vivid. In the previous encounter of Antigone and Haemon, Antigone dresses herself up because she wanted to feel more like a woman. The idea of vividness in this scene is different from the one on page six because the vividness describes the new realization of the world and Antigone understanding herself. If vividness describes beauty then Antigone has no understanding of gerself because she trying to be more like Ismene than being herself. Antigone here is desperate and above she was content.

Impulsive vs. Rational
"Creon[to Antigone.] And was it you who covered the body the first time? In the night?
Antigone, Yes, it was. With atoy shovel [...] [i]t was Polynices' own shovel [...] [t]hat is why I left it with him. But these men took it away; so next time, I had to do it with my hands" (28).
The first time that Antigone buried Polynices it was a very rational action because she had a well thought out plan where she was to do it in the night so she was hidden and she brought a shovel to assist her. She even left the shovel as a memory of their childhood for Polynices. The next time was in the day where there are little chances of hiding and she assume that the shovel remained with the body. wothout the shovel she resulted in using her hands to bury Polynices. Antigone rushed to rebury Polynices which was an impulsive action that made her make other actions that were not rational.

Antigone Journal 2

1. pages 10-14 Antigone speaks to Ismene about Polynices.
   


2. pages 17-19 Antigone says farewell to Haemon. (Not in the text but she buries Polynices)
   


3. pages 6-9 Antigone enters and speaks with Nurse.



4. pages 9-10 Nurse talks to Ismene and Antigone.



5. pages 14-17 Antigone speaks to the Nurse and then is visited by Haemon



6. pages 19-20 Ismene confronts Antigone once again about Polynices.

What appears in the text

1. Antigone enters and speaks with Nurse

2. Nurse talks to Ismene and Antigone

3. Antigone speaks to Ismene about Polynices

4. Antigone speaks to Nurse and is then visited by Haemon

5. Antigone says farewell to Haemon

6. Ismene confronts Antigone once again about Polynices

Antigone Journal 1

The stage would be dimly lit with a grand staircase in the center upstage. There would be six chorus members. Two will stand six feet or so on either side of the stair on the same plane as the top step. Two more will stand on the plane of the bottom step or center stage. They will be further from the stairs than the first two. The last pair will be downstage and will be the furthest from one another. The will be dressed in similar colors but their clothes will be worn differently (one jacket buttoned up while another is opened and sleeves or pant legs rolled or not). One chorus member will speak at a time while important phrases will be said by all of the chorus. Once the entire chorus has finished speaking another chorus member will speak alone.

For example:

CHORUS, Well here we are.

CHORUS 1,these people are about to act out for you

CHORUS, the story of Antigone.

CHORUS 2, That thin little creature sitting by herself, staring straight ahead, seeing nothing is

CHORUS, Antigone. She is thinking.

Whenever a chorus member is speaking they will look downstage toward the audience and when they are not speaking they face the person who is being talked about like in the sample about the chorus would stare at Antigone.

Eurydice will be above everything in the upstage left corner. She will only have back lighting on her while she knits and hums a song. The Nurse will be with her but at a distance.

Haemon will first be next to Ismene and will move towards Antigone when the chorus speaks about him. He will climb the stairs but stay below Antigone when he goes on one knee.

Creon will be with his page in the downstage right corner opposite of the Queen. The page and him will be looking at documents.

The messanger will be to the far left of center stage. He will be leaning on a column and will be tending to his shoes.

The three guards are going to be playing cards and drinking next to the stairs above the top step.

When all of the characters are mentiond they will have an amber top light on them only. The chorus will continually have a dark blue top light on them.

Handmaid's Tale Journal 3

In The Handmaid's Tale there are several things that could be the problem of the Republic of Gilead. Religion is the basis of the republic changing the views on sex, women, other religions, knowledge. One of the first ways the government decides to do about society was to burn the magazines of pornography and escalating to isolating women and the severity of the laws continued to rise. The line freedom to versus freedom from is the base of the author' warning. The Republic of Gilead saw harm in the idea that there were limited boundaries for the people allowing them freedom. There was not enough order. Order was built by the republic for the safety of the nation's people and was justified by God. There became walls that separated cities into districts limiting the people you seem and those in which you can communicate with. There became strict social class that put limits on speaking, labor, and other rights. There are other pieces to the warning one way represented in the book is through the side characters. Each of them are different parts of the concept of like the problem, the consequences, and the solution. Aunt Lydia and Janine help in the continuation of building the problem. The Mother, Daughter, and Moira suffered the consequences rebelling or being different Ofglen and Luke can be seen as part of the solution because one is part of the rebellion and one was rebellious.

Handmaid's Tale Journal 2

"It's Janine, telling about how she was gang-raped at fourteen and had an abortion. She told the same story last week. She seemed almost proud of it, while she was telling. It may not even be true. At Testifying, it's safer to make things up than say you have nothing to reveal. But since it's Janine, it's probably more or less true.
But whose fault was it? Aunt Helena says, holding up one finger.
Her fault, her fault, her fault, we chant in unison.
Who led them on? Aunt Helena beams, pleased with us.
She did. She did. She did.
Why did God allow such a terrible thing to happen?
Teach her a lesson. Teach her a lesson. Teach her a lesson" (71-72).

The first two sentences make Offred almost sound bored when talking about Janine. This story has been told "last week" which sets a mood about Janine. Janine gives the Aunts exactly what they want so she can get an advantage. Throughout the book Janine is disliked because of this trait and she can be seen as shallow because she doesn't care about those around her and she finds the easy way out of things. with this in mind the mood can become pessimistic or bitter.


The idea of conforming is in this passage in two ways. The girls make up stories at the Testifying because they know that they should say something and they do not want to be singled out. This is one of the major reasons as to why people conform. Conformity is also seen in the dialogue of the girls as they speak in unison and say a phrase three times. They are well informed of what they are supposed to do and they are crisp about it. It brings intimidation to the passage and is giving more reason to Janine to conform. In many dystopias they have the element of conforming and a rebellion going against everyone else. People always conform to be accepted by the corrupt authority whether it is an Aunt or the Government.

The Handmaid's Tale Journal 2

Cassi
The idea of mirrors being a way to look into the past is an interesting thing. when mirrors are found later in the book do they have the same meaning? The motif of flowers could be expanding the ideas of beauty and gardening being a way of creating life. The Handmaids are no longer able to worry about their beauty and the idea of creating life is tainted. The gym parallels to the Handmaids because the basketball games played in the gym are played with a lot of effort and the players become sweaty and clammy, and a Handmaid has to give birth which requires a lot of effort and she would also become sweaty and clammy.

Cierra
The thought of simple fun is no longer something that could be enjoyed was such a subtle idea and was interesting to think about. What you discovered about the balcony was such a wonderful find. Your conclusive idea about the "cardboard devils" was also a very creative thought which is often overlooked.

Clara
You were the first person to mention the technique of structure which always is a key thing to pay attention to. It was also great work on trying to identify the time of the novel by looking at such subtle hints in the passage.

The Handmaid's Tale Journal 1

“We slept in what had once been the gymnasium. The floor was of varnished wood, with 1
stripes and circles painted on it, for the games that were formerly played there; the hoops
for the basketball nets were still in place, though the nets were gone. A balcony ran around
the room, for the spectators, and I thought I could smell, faintly like an afterimage, the
pungent scent of sweat, shot through with the sweet taint of chewing gum and perfume from 5
the watching girls, felt-skirted as I knew from pictures, later in miniskirts, then pants, then
in one earring, spiky green-streaked hair. Dances would have been held there; the music lingered, a palimpsest of unheard sound, style upon style, an undercurrent of drums, a
forlorn wail, garlands made of tissue-paper flowers, cardboard devils, a revolving ball of
mirrors, powdering the dancers with a snow of light” (3). 10

In this passage the narrator is remembering things of the past that occured here. The setting is of a gymnasium but is it a High school gym, middle school gym, or an elementary gym? How much would the imagery change from one gym to another? One of the uses for the gym was "for the games that were formerly played there"(2) like basketball. If games are not played here then where are they played or are they played at all? With the line "[a] balcony ran around the room, for the spectators"(3) not only do you see the balcony you see anxious people for the next play excited or worried for the teams playing, and you can see even a father pacing around the balcony cheering on his son. Imagery is one of the strongest techniques that Margaret Atwood uses in this book. It is continued to be seen when she describes the smells that our narrator remembers. Our narrator remembers the smell of sweat mixed with the smell of perfume leading to the memory of the girls watching the game. "[F]elt- skirted as I knew from pictures, later in miniskirts, then pants, then in one earring, spiky green-streaked hair" (6) tell us that the narrator doesn't fully remember all the details of the past because she has to rely on pictures to remember the change in styles through out the years. Later dances are described as palimpsest with a list of things describing the dances following. Palimpsest can also be used to describe the floors. The paint hides the many details and complexities of the wood. Is the idea of palimpsest going to continue through the book? The items like "a revovling ball of mirrors" (9) she knows that they exist but they are all fading from her memory as they just barely grasp her now. This can either create a curious character trying to remember the world before or a frustrated and bitter character that longs for the past.

Stranger Journal 6

Following me with her eyes

I waited in the courtyard, under a plane tree.

Above the hills that separate Marengo from the sea, the sky was streaked red.

It was inhuman and oppressive.

I waited in the courtyard, under a plane tree.

"Meursault, now you're a pal."

I stood there, motionless,

Emmanuel was laughing so hard he could hardly breathe.

"Meursalt, now you're a pal"

I said it was fine with me: he seemed pleased.

Emmanuel was laughing so hard he could hardly breathe.

I wasn't hungry, and I went to bed without any dinner.

I said it was fine with me: he seemed pleased.

He looked at me in silence. Then he said, "Good night."

I wasn't hungry, and I went to bed without any dinner.

So I rolled over, tried to find the salty smell Marie's hair had left on the pillow.

Stranger Journal 5

• The images changed from being precise and blunt to becoming very described and creative. They seemed to make Meursault appear to be more inquisitive and focus on ideas that were more abstract. They include more colors are some what more surreal.


• Meursault also starts to think back to past memories while he is in the second part. His life is a standstill in jail and nothing changes and the only change he gets are the different thoughts in his head


• In part one the idea of religion is only mention in little bits like Maman wanting a religious burial, Sundays, and a pastel angel In part two the evaluating magistrate and the chaplain heavily discuss religion with Meursault. The second part has a more direct mentioning of religion.


• He can't watch and find people interested so he starts to focus on the little details of small things.

Stranger Journal 4

How does Camus portray the physical world and the spiritual world? What does Camus suggest is the function of each? What theme do they help us to develop?

"I explained to him, however, that my nature was such that my physical needs often got in way of my feelings" (65).
This is very important for answering our question because it talks about physical needs which is what builds the physical world and how it holds back the ideas of feelings which could be seen as part of the spiritual world.

"He asked me if he could say that that day I had held my natural feelings. I said, "No, because it's not true" (65).
The spirit world is hinted at through the morals of Meursault. He doesn't want to lie because he knows it is bad even if it helps cover up an even more serious action.

"I felt the urge to reassure him that i was like everybody else, just like everybody else. But really there wasn't much point, and i gave up the idea out of laziness" (66).
The connection between this quote and my topic I can't quite get a hold of but I believe there is a connection.

"I looked at the director, too. He was walking with great dignity without a single wasted motion. A few beads of sweat were forming on his forehead, but he didn't wipe them off" (16).
The director put physical matters like the heat and the sweat in the back of his mind and honoring Maman was the priority of the moment and he was dedicated to showing respect. His actions to not let physical elements get in the way is one of the few examples of the spiritual world being the focus rather than the physical world.

Stranger Journal 3

All three titles have the same idea of being different from everyone else. They all suggest that the being could be new to an area and that to other people they are not different and are well known.

Many people can be seen as the Stranger, Outsider, or the Foreigner.

• The Pied Noirs are foreigners to Algeria who eventually start to make the Arabs become outsiders.


• Meursault is different from everyone because of how he sees life.


• The Robot woman was a stranger that was peculiar in her habits.


• Some of the things the characters do like abuse women are things that we do not normally see. To us that action is foreign.


• Salamano and his dog are outsiders because they keep to themselves.

How would the connotations of the title change if it was the Outcast?
I believe it is fairly because is someone is out casted it takes effort from a group of people while being a stranger, outsider, and foreigner would happen without effort by any being for they are naturally different from the rest of the population.

Stranger Journal 2

Like many other characters in the Stranger there are relations to religion including Emmanuel. This name means "God is with us". Emmanuel only appears in the beginning passage of chapter three where the only possible connection between Emmanuel's character and his name is the fact that Meursault and him had blind faith in their actions of jumping onto the truck without receiving an injury. The idea of blind faith relates to believing God is always with us despite proof.
Emmanuel is a dispatcher for freight trucks which means he schedules and controls when trucks have pick-ups and deliveries. Emmanuel is applied to Jesus who had disciples that would spread the word of Christ. They would "deliver" the gospel to all of the gentiles.

Outside of the idea of religion I found it interesting that Meursault knew exactly what Emmanuel meant when he said, "How 'bout it?" and just immediately started running without hesitation. This suggest that they have a strong relationship even if it is only at work. I wonder if Meursault helping him up rather than Emmanuel helping Meursault up has any significance. Like the bus ride to Marengo, the ride is bumpy and there are probably strong smells of the sea and the dust makes breathing unpleasant none of which seem to be bothersome to Meursault nor Emmanuel.

Stranger Journal 1

I found "I ran so as to not miss the bus. It was probably because of all the rushing around, and on top of that the bumpy ride, the smell of gasoline, and the glare of the sky and the road, that I dozed off"' an interesting statement because it isn't what you would expect to hear. For some people it would be hard to sleep on a bumpy ride where you smell gasoline and have a constant glare in your eyes. Meursault blames these things for making him fall asleep. Would this be an example of absurdity?

Some of the sentence structure is interest because of the way you are forced to read it. "I thought he was criticizing me for something and I started to explain. but he cut me off" could also be shorten to say "he cut me off when I felt criticized and started to explain myself"(4). In the original sentence before the word but there is a period. This period makes the first sentence sound as if that was that and it was over. As you go on to the next sentence you realize it isn't. the period creates this choppiness that changes Meursault. With the period it give the reader the sense that Meursault had an expectation where he would explain himself when he instead was interrupted. It also adds to Meursault if you think of it as his thought process. It is short an choppy but he doesn't seem to miss a beat in this passage. He is aware of everything.

On page five he talks about not visiting his mother and says one reason why he didn't do it was because it would be on a Sunday and he doesn't want to waste it. In chapter two we read that he doesn't like Sundays. My would he be upset if he wasted a Sunday when he doesn't even like them? When he doesn't want to do something he comes up with excuses. He is being a bit lazy like earlier when he responded with yes just so he wouldn't have to talk to the soldier anymore. He knows what people want to hear and sometimes he tells them what they want and sometimes he doesn't consider the ideas of others like when he claims his mother's death wasn't his fault to his boss.

Sometimes Meursault seems to be lazy and other times he just seems lazy. Is it absurdism to be one thing and then the complete opposite? I find him interest and he too finds many things interest. with his interests they seem shallow in the sense that he will find something interest and then not try to know more about it. He let's the reader know it is interesting and then stops there (most of the time).
Our protagonist isn't a hero of some kind and he seems simple when he really can be a complex being. Camus may have created him like this so we start to be come a more interested person in the things around us and so we think more often and in different ways.

Eyes Journal 7

• Work


• faith


• jealousy


• hopelessness


• equality


• judgement


• marriage


• doubt


• eternity


• apprehension


• pleading


• urgency


• decisions/ choices

The motif of judgement used in Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God shows the constant obstacles in life.

The idea of marriage in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Hurston shows that the bonds of marriage can complete a person or hollow a person.

Jealousy in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Hurston emphasizes the humanity of her characters and shows that some types of love can fall into the hands of jealousy.

Eyes Journal 6

Thesis:
Topic 1: Janie's relationship with Logan is emphasized with the story of Annie Tyler.
Topic 2: The ideas of belonging and possessions relate to her marriage to Jody.
Topic 3: Janie shows some growth and progression through her pleads.
Topic 4: Tea Cake's playfulness and freedom brings her happiness and at times anxiety.

Comments:
For Thomas: The figurative language analysis about the sun is similar to what I found. In our groups today, Clara D. and I realized that the first paragraph also relates to Logan with the idea of "no free will' and the middle paragraph relates to Joe with the idea of possessions.
I also liked your analysis of the colors used in the text. If the red and the white mean what you say, then what is the so called "business"? I was just curious because when I read "But pretty [...] in white" again it just sound interesting when you switch the colors red and white to the associations of those colors you made.

For Vlada: I really like how both your analysis on the bed imagery and the analysis of time worked to emphasize the difference between Annie and Janie. The symbolism of the bed and the different actions that Annie and Janie took was very interesting and something I had not realized.

For Andrew:I see what you mean when you say the daughter might be busy but I thought it was comparing the mother and the daughter instead. The mother has jumped from man to man and never seemed to settle. The daughter on the other hand has a husband and has settled. Her daughter also becomes an insult to Annie because her supposedly more successful daughter has to help the Annie out of an unpleasant situation. Also another interesting thing to think about is how old is Annie and how many men has she been with? How many men was the daughter with before she married?

eyes Journal 5

They put her to bed and sent for her married daughter from up around Ocala to come see about her. The daughter came as soon as she could and took Annie Tyler away to die in peace. She had waited all her life for something, and it had killed her when it found her.
The thing made itself into pictures and hung around Janie's bedside all night long. Anyhow, she wasn't going back to Eatonville to be laughed at and pitied. She had ten dollars in her pocket and twelve hundred in the bank. But oh God, don't let Tea Cake be off somewhere hurt and Ah not know nothing about it. And God, please suh, don't let him love nobody else but me. Maybe Ah'm is uf fool, Lawd, lad dey say, but Lawd, Ah been so lonesome, and Ah been waitin', Jesus. Ah done waited uh long time.
Janie dozed off to sleep but she woke up in time to see the sun sending up spies ahead of him to mark out the road through the dark. he peeped up over the door sill of the world and made a little foolishness with red. but pretty soon, he laid all that aside and went about his business dressed all in white. But it was always going to be dark to Janie if Tea Cake didn't soon come back. She got out of the bed but a chair couldn't hold her. she dwindled down on the floor her head in a rocking chair.

Bold words: Ambiguous
colored bright blue: Feeling of urgency
Colored yellow: feeling of despair
colored pink: innocence
colored bark blue: word choice
words colored and italicized and bold: word choice and colored category
Phrases bold with italics: Two desired men Vs. Sun

Janie had this urge to prove people's opinions of Tea Cake wrong. She was proud of her decision and now she feels it was a huge mistake. All of her husbands gave her a moment of despair. The purpose of this passage was to show the doubt we all have in each other.
We almost pity Janie for getting herself in this situation. Oddly enough that was what she wanted to avoid.

Eyes Journal 4

So Luisa plunged in the meditation of Dreams. Dreams, that wispy mist with the intoxicating smell which exists before all beds. The mischievous thing which curses the senses like a sickness without relief, and without a cure. Why do Dreams unhinge, and who can hide from her? She lays on top of the stars masking all light. Laying mindful and calmly for all time with her arrows held down, watching the hopes come forth. Been laying yonder preceding the past, present and future. She was prone to discover a scent from her skin on her pillow any moment. She was worried and anxious also. Pitiful Guido! 'e should not need to avairt into loneliness. She issued the director to comfort yet Guido replied No. Zese collegues wair copacetic with ze genius, but zey lack ze abellity to cair fair 'is problems. He would be fine when the Vatican learned her place. He wasn't leading to failure after all. That was what he concluded. Yet the director said another story, so she grasped. Later still he hadn't, the new day she was compelled to see, since converging would occur in the studio among the press and the cameras. Those who were restricted in the past entered. Remaining behind cameras and watched. Curiosity, the poisoned water, had whispered in the news.



Note: Ambiguous pronouns might make my paragraph confusing. Should I color code it for a better understanding?

Eyes Journal 3

The two names that caught my eyes first were Lige and Lum. They appear in this chapter in the part with the mule and in the scene with Daisy.

Although there isn't a meaning for the name Lige there is a similar name in Greek mythology. Ligeia means "cleared-voice, shrill, whistling" and was the name of a Siren and the title for one of Edgar Allan Poe's stories. This seemed interesting because used their voices through song to trances seaman to their death. Lige is leading people to their death, but he does get people to come and hear him speak about the mule and when Sam and him start a little scene. The story written by Poe has a few similarities that seem to have no importance. Ligeia is a woman who has long black hair and eventually dies leaving behind her husband. The husband remarries and still thinks of Ligeia. The only things that are similar is the hair to Janie's and a spouse dying leaving the other to remarry. Janie moves on fairly well after Joe's death and doesn't seem to linger on it.

Lum is also a very interesting name and the closest name found was Lumi which in Finnish means "snow". That would be a large stretch to connect to the book but is interesting to see all of the unique character names that appear in this book.

Eyes Journal 2

"[Hicks] wasn't ready to think of colored people in post offices yet. He laughed boisterously.
'Ya'll let dat stray darky tell y'all any ole lie! Uh colored man sittin' up in uh post office!' He made an obscene sound.
'He's liable tuh do it too, Hicks. Ah hope so anyhow. Us colored folks is too envious of one 'nother. Dat's how come us don't git no further than us do. Us talks about de white man keepin' us down! Shucks! He don't have tuh. Us keeps our own selves down.'
'Now who said Ah didn't want de man tuh git us uh post office? He kin be de king uh Jerusalem fuh all Ah keer. Still and all, 'taint no use in telling lies just 'cause uh heap uh folks don't know better. Yo' common sense oughta tell yuh de white folks ain't goin' tuh 'low him tuh run no post office.'
'Dat we don't know, Hicks. He say he kin and Ah b'lieve he know what he's talkin' 'bout. Ah reckon if colored folks got thay own town they kin have post offices and whatsoever they please, regardless. And then again, Ah don't speck de white folks way off yonder give uh damn. Less us wait and see' " (36-37)

In the white are two words describing the sound that Hicks is making. Boisterous has the synonyms rowdy and rambunctious which makes me think of the words loud and uncontrollable and childlike. Obscene has the first definition as "disgusting to the senses". It was a disgusting sound. It is also curious as to why she said the word "sound" as in the past she has used snort or an other specific sound. The word "sound" is generic which maybe shows there is no better description than "an obscene sound".

Coker repeatedly uses the word "us", highlighted in black, when he is speaking about the colored people keeping themselves down. This is important because he is emphasizing that all are held down not by the Caucasians but by themselves. Joe Starks doesn't appear to be held down by anyone. Coker also says that the colored folk are envious and they are the problem. In some ways it was the Caucasians because they started that idea with slavery and the Jim Crow Laws.

Finally, in blue are words used because of the dialect that show a repeating idea of being less. The word "down" is not closely as related but emphasizes how Hicks and Coker see themselves and other colored people below the whites or a step down. The two words "low" and "less" really meant allow or let. the words being said in slang like this continues to make Hicks and Coker's idea of their people more visible.

Eyes Journal 1

When seeing Janie kiss Johnny Taylor, Nanny is described as, " the standing roots of some tree that had been torn away by storm" (12). This image is used showing the shock and dismay of Nanny. She has been caring for Janie and was Janie's strength and kept her safe. Now Janie describes her as being broken and powerless. This also shows that Nanny no longer can take care of Janie for she has nothing left to give. Nanny has become the Giving Tree at the end of the book and she can't even be used as a seat to rest on. In contrast, the blossoming pear tree that Janie enjoyed in her childhood shows her innocence with its "alto chant of visiting bees, the gold of the sun and panting breath of the breeze" (10). This tree is warm and welcoming with beauty. It is untouched and has seen no struggle. Janie wanted a struggle as said on the next page " she wanted to struggle with life but it seemed to elude her" (11). She received her struggle when she married Logan Killicks and it was what she had dreamed it to be. As Joe Stark walked down the street one day she realized there was something better than her pear tree. "[H]e did not represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees, but he spoke for far horizon" (28). The far horizon poses new struggles and adventures with the companionship of a man who shows promise.