ELA Review of the Semester

I think that all of the activities we did with Maus were especially meaningful, seeing as they focused on one of the worst crimes against humanity ever. The story was powerful to me because it was told from the point of view of one of the people who went through the concentration camps, and it showed first-hand (sort of) what the horrors of the camps were like. For me, the response projects were the most challenging thing we had to do. There were so many types of ways to create a response to our current assigned reading, and that was by far the hardest part of the assignment. I don't really think there's anything I'd change about the class, but I do really like the way the seminars are started. That's one thing I'd like to stay the same in the class.

Violence in Books 22-24

In these last two books of the Odyssey, Odysseus sheds his disguise and kills the suitors of his wife. Telemachus and Athena aid him, as well as two lesser characters. But was all this murder and death justified simply by Odysseus' nostos? I don't really think so. You would think that Odysseus would have learned something from ten years of war that maybe violence isn't the answer, but he has several reasons to be this angry and driven. First, these suitors have been insulting him and putting him down as he wanders around disguised as an old man. They threaten to kill him multiple times, and this alone could be considered a reason to kill them. But wait, there's more. The suitors have been dishonoring his home and land for ten years, they've been eating all of his food for ten years, they've been slaughtering all of his animals for the past ten years, and worst of all they've been trying to convince his wife to marry one of them for the past ten years. It's a wonder he didn't try to kill all of them when he first got back. So, killing the suitors is justified, but what about the servingwomen he massacres afterward? He forces them to clean up the whole mess he made killing the suitors (all of that blood and gore), then he takes them outside and kills them. I mean, they did swear their service to him, and they did serve people other than him, but is that really a good reason to kill them? That's why I don't think all the killing was justified.

Find two passages in The Odyssey that are examples of xenia. Compare these two passages.

Two examples of xenia in The Odyssey are Telemachus' welcomes to Pylos, Nestor's home (pp. 29-43) and Lacedaemon, Menelaus' city (pp. 44-53).  When Telemachus arrives in Pylos, there is a large-scale sacrifice to Poseidon happening. "The ship came to Pylos, Nestor's great city. Onshore, black bulls were being sacrificed to the blue-maned Lord of the Sea. Nine companies of five hundred men were each assigned nine bulls for sacrifice." (p. 28). In contrast, upon arrival in Lacedaemon, Telemachus finds that Menelaus is holding a double wedding feast. "...which they found was filled with guests. Menelaus was hosting a double wedding party for his son and his daughter." (p. 44). These two passages show that even with whatever is happening at the moment the host must show xenia or risk losing face.

The Conflict Perspective on Maus

There are quite a few perspectives that socialists use as interpretive guides, but among all of them the conflict theory is the best to interpret Maus. A bunch of conflicting events conspiring together to create one big event: the Holocaust. Hateful Nazis, selfish Poles, vulnerable Jews. It's all a sea of negative emotions and fighting according to the conflict perspective. Everything that happened in the Holocaust was a tragedy, and those all suit the conflict perspective perfectly. Fights practically caused the Holocaust, along with the hatred and negativity that caused Hitler to want to kill off the Jews. All of the conflicts pulled together perfectly illustrate the conflict perspective's view of the Holocaust.

Smoke and Mirrors

Normally I wouldn't use my blog for this but I'm so proud of this story. Enjoy!

SMOKE AND MIRRORS

Step. Step. Slide. Maria ran down the alley, stumbling over bits of loose trash. She could barely see through the haze of smoke that clouded her vision. She had no idea where the smoke had come from, but it was New York. It's not hard to find heavy smoke in the back streets of the Bronx. She coughed, a violent expelling of gas from her lungs. But more smoke simply took its place. Maria couldn't remember what she was running from, but she knew that she had to get as far away as possible from the apartment on East 222nd Street. Apartment 32B, Maria's home since arriving in Manhattan. Step. Step. Slide. She remembered how she and her boyfriend Tom had walked down the street from the apartment to get coffee at that little family-run business on the corner. They went every Wednesday after Tom got off the late shift at North Central Bronx Hospital. He was an emergency room nurse there, and he often came home shaking from the things he'd seen overnight. She had always comforted him when that happened. Step. Step. Slide. They hadn't been to that little family-run coffeehouse in a while. Maria couldn't remember how long it had been, but she did remember it had been no paltry amount of time. She had lived down in Florida since her birth, in Tampa. Her family, of Cuban descent, lived a few blocks away from the beach.  She had always loved to swim, and her family often called her "our little water bear." She had loved it when her father ruffled her hair and growled playfully at her. Step. Step. Slide. Bits of crushed pavement bounced against the ground in the alleyway behind her, and she flinched. Maria's mind, smoke-muddled, flashed back to a few weeks ago. Step. Step. Slide. She had come home from the bookstore lugging two bags full of mystery novels. Maria had always loved to read the mysteries and the thrillers with the twist endings. Tom constantly gave her grief about the mysteries and thrillers. He was more into science fiction and fantasy. She set one bag of books down and fumbled in her purse for the key. She opened the door and brought the books in, setting them in the minuscule foyer. "Tom?" she called, "I'm home!" Tom had called her from the hospital two hours ago, telling her he was feeling sick and that he was headed home. All of the lights were off. This wasn't normal. "Tom?" Maria stepped into the house. There was one light on in the kitchen: Tom's laptop, sitting open and blaring music from one of his online games. "Tom? Why aren't you answering me?" She walked into the hallway and then she saw it. The shadow of something in the doorway of the bedroom. She called Tom's name once more. "Babe? Is that you?" No answer. At this point Maria knew something was wrong, and she was shaking in fear. That thought had barely crossed through her head when an ear-shattering scream ripped through the air. Smoke blasted out in plumes from the doorway. Maria's legs shocked into action and she sprinted to the door. As she watched, something slipped out the open window. But she only saw that for a split second. The next thing that captured her gaze was Tom. But it wasn't Tom anymore. Just a corpse secured to the wall above the bed frame with a length of pipe through the chest. Smoke was heavy in the air. Blood covered the bed sheets and poured from a hole in her boyfriend's stomach. She could see the wall through the gaping rip in Tom's abdomen. "Oh my god..." Maria couldn't feel anything in her body. She was completely frozen at the sight. Then she had collapsed. Step. Step. Slide. The sound of more crushed asphalt rolling across the ground pulled her from her memories, and she began to run again. Suddenly, she burst out onto the street. But something was wrong. No one was on the street. Cars sat in mind-numbing rows of traffic, but drivers and passengers were absent. The sky was a dark purple color, and smoke clouded the street. Maria began to run down the sidewalk, shivering in terror. She had just realized something. The last time she had smelled this smoke was the night Tom had been killed. Then, a shadow loomed from the murk in front of her. She screamed, and it echoed lifelessly through the streets of Manhattan. The figure was naked, and smoke flowed from its body. It had a nimble frame, and claws grew from its fingers in place of nails. Its skin was a sickly pale color, and cuts stitched shut oozed blood all over its body. But its face was the worst. Staples held its eyelids open, revealing bloodshot eyes with red irises. Its cheeks were sliced open in a gaping smile, and stitches criss-crossed the open wounds. Its teeth were shattered in its mouth, and blood dripped from its cheeks. It held a length of sharpened pipe covered in barbed wire in its right hand. That was the sharp pain in between her breasts as the figure stabbed the pipe through her, securing her against the wall. As her vision began to fade, she saw it raise a clawed hand. She screamed as the monster sliced into her stomach. Step. Step. Slide.


THE END  

Discuss how the trauma that Art Speigelman's father experienced in the Holocaust trickled down into Art's life as the son of a Holocaust survivor.

In the beginning of Maus, it depicts a young Art Spiegelman skating with friends. As he is passing his house he trips and falls, and his friends leave him behind. He goes up to his father and they begin to talk. After Art explains what happened his father replies "Put them in a room together for ten days with no food, then you'll see who the real friends are." Would you hear this from just any father? No. Only someone who has been through a traumatic event, such as the Holocaust. Another thing the book details is Vladek's miserly outlook on life. It is explained that he wasn't like that before the camps, and therefore it must have been the camps that changed him. Auschwitz set Vladek on a path where if he didn't conserve various things he would be killed. This affected Art's life in the way that he grew up with a father who would do anything to survive and a father who had been traumatized horribly in the camps.

Part I of Maus is called, "My Father Bleeds History." Why do you think Spiegalman chose to call it that?

I think that Spiegelman chose to name Part 1 of Maus in this way because he felt that it conveyed its purpose well. "My Father Bleeds History." These words draw the reader in, perhaps because they want to find out why Vladek Spiegelman bleeds history instead of blood. Art Spiegelman's father tells him stories about his time leading up to the Holocaust in a way akin to how blood spills from an open wound: fast and flowing. The stories go straight from Vladek's mouth to Art's notebook, and his father's metaphorical lifeblood is transcribed in his book. I think "My Father Bleeds History" is an eloquent name, well thought up for its purpose.

The concept of relations

In The Alchemist, it can be observed that interactions and relations between characters are not the  same as interactions and relations between people in reality, as shown throughout the book. A good specific example for this idea is the dialogue between Santiago and Fatima when Santiago tells Fatima he loves her. "'I came to tell you just one thing,' the boy said. 'I want you to be my wife. I love you.'" (98) Would this situation ever occur in reality? I don't think so. In our world people aren't so open with their feelings, resorting to lies and treachery to get what they want. But Santiago doesn't seem to have a concept of deception. Why would he? He doesn't lie once on his journey, giving only the truth to those who ask. He maintains a relatively perfect innocence on his journey to complete his Personal Legend. He sees many things that would prompt someone in our world to lie to save their own skins, but Santiago does not falter in his integrity. What would our world be like if no one lied?

This week, you learned about The Hero's Journey. Trace Santiago's steps along the Hero's Journey, and use the text as evidence.

This week, you learned about The Hero's Journey. Trace Santiago's steps along the Hero's Journey, and use the text as evidence.

The Alchemist is an excellent example of the Hero's Journey, seeing as one can easily trace Santiago's steps along the path. He starts out as a shepherd and thinks he will always be shepherd. This is the life before the call. Then, he meets the old man, whom he soon learns is the king of Salem, who teaches him about the Personal Legend. "It's what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is." (23) This is the call to adventure. After that, Santiago begins his journey but is stopped in Africa and begins to work for the crystal merchant. That stops Santiago for a while. He almost decides to quit and go home after he leaves work with the crystal merchant. That is another of the trials, but Santiago does decide to continue his journey. Santiago meets the Englishman and learns from him about alchemy as he travels to the oasis with the caravan. He meets the love interest, Fatima, in the oasis and meets the alchemist soon after. The alchemist is the supernatural aid in this story. He and the alchemist leave out into the desert, where Santiago learns about alchemy. The alchemy is Santiago's tool that is necessary for him to complete his journey. Santiago uses alchemy to change himself into the wind and overcome yet another trial. After that he finds out the location of the treasure described to him in his Personal Legend. He travels to the pyramids, gets the stuffing beat out of him, and learns that the treasure is back where he started, in Spain. He travels back, gets the treasure, and that's where the story ends.

Explore the notion of omens and Universal Language in this novel. What do you think of this idea?

Explore the notion of omens and Universal Language in this novel. What do you think of this idea?

I think this idea of the universe having its own language and ability to communicate what will happen through omens is a very valid idea. Omens have been around for as long as we can find. Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and most other ancient civilizations had some sort of omens in their religious structures. Prophecies. They may not have been ramblings of religious maniacs from thousands of years ago if Paolo Coelho is right. Coelho writes many omens into his book, such as the ones Urim and Thummim create when Santiago asks. "God has prepared a path for everyone to follow. You just have to read the omens he left for you." What language are these omens in? The language of everything (or the universe, you pick). I think I'm going to liken this "universal language" to the Force from the Star Wars movies. The Force flows through everything, linking everything together. You just have to be able to sense these links. The king and the Gypsy fortune teller may be people who can read into the universal language, and they push Santiago further on his course.

What is a Personal Legend, and why do you think this will be important in the rest of the book?

In The Alchemist, the concept of a "Personal Legend" is explained by the King of Salem as "...what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young, knows what their personal legend is." He goes on to say more about how the Personal Legend stays bright in a child's mind until a "mysterious force" convinces them that their goal isn't possible. The pursuit of a Personal Legend will surely become more important in the story, seeing as Santiago (the boy) is torn between traveling and going after marrying the merchant's daughter. The legend will serve as an impetus to start him on his journey towards fulfillment.

What do you hope to get out of English Language Arts class this year?

What do you hope to get out of English Language Arts this year?

What do I want from my english and language arts class this year? I've always been good at the wordy kinds of things like history and ELA, so these kinds of classes have always been easy for me. I'm very excited for what's going to happen in class this year, but I'm not too worried about the work. I've also taken a look at the list of the books we'll be reading in class this year, and I'm liking the list very much. I don't have much else to say, so I'm just going to say goodbye for now.

-Until next time!