response to miranda's blog post

 

                I really liked Miranda’s blog post (I know it was a few weeks ago but it really stood out to me). All of Miranda’s blog posts are really good, they have a brief summary and then she writes about an interesting idea or thought of hers. This particular blog post made me want to read the book, because of the way Miranda describes this book. In her blog post she proposes a very interesting question, is it better to be a victim, or a witness?” there were several comments about this question and most people said that its obviously worse to be the victim, but I believe in some cases it could be just as terrible to be a witness. I think that it’s especially when you are witnessing the pain of a loved one or someone who is very close to you. And living in such an abusive and violent environment is not healthy at all. And I’m certain that there is a pain that comes from being ignored.

                Miranda did an excellent job on this blog post; I can tell that she put thought and effort into it. This post was also successful in starting discussion, which is really good and shows that it was thought provoking. Great job Miranda, keep it up.

http://cottoncandymush.blogspot.com/2011/01/because-i-am-furniture-victim-or.html

Ernest Hemingway writing

                I’ve kind of been reading a lot of Ernest Hemingway lately. I have read the old man and the sea, recently finished the sun also rises and just started a farewell to arms (and I’m planning on reading for whom the bell tolls next). But I haven’t really read far enough in the book to post anything at the moment. However I can write about Hemingway’s style of writing.

                First of all, a lot of situations in his books are based on personal experiences. For example the sun also rises was based on his own experiences in Spain. And a farewell to arms is based on his experiences as an ambulance driver during world war1.

                In his writing he rarely uses adverbs. Ms. Rear said that she thinks that it makes his writing a little bit too “dry” sometimes. I happen to agree with her opinion. Hemingway’s writing is a lot of the time “straight to the point” without very much description. I suppose that he wanted to get the main point through but I believe that elaborating and using descriptions adds a good quality to text. I have had trouble starting his books but as I read further, they became much more interesting.

                Hemingway’s books are all very interesting and deeply meaningful. Several of them have won awards. In research about Hemingway I found that he traveled to many different countries. He led a very interesting life which contributed to his writing. To me he seemed to be a very troubled person, I read that he was often a heavy drinker, was often depressed and also was very paranoid especially in his final years. He suffered many injuries from war, as well as two airplane crashes. And he was married four times in his life. The reason for his death was suicide.

                Hemingway writes in prose, the most typical form of written language. It is the natural flow of words, no rhythm or rhyme like some poetry has. Hemingway is famous for his “spare and tightly written prose” style of writing. In 1954 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature because of his influence in contemporary style.

does the sun also rise? i think so

                I have now finished reading The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. I must say, Hemingway has a very interesting and powerful style of writing. This book is a story of love, and jealousy and tension. And all of this tension circles around Brett with whom the main characters are in love with. Brett is engaged to Michael Campbell. The main character, Jake Barnes, and his friend, Robert Cohn, are also in love with Brett.

                Brett is a complicated character. She has several love affairs which leaves men believing that she still loves them. As I was reading this book I noticed some reasons why Brett is considered to embody the sexual freedom of the 1920s. Brett has short hair and her attitude and behavior are much bolder than women in earlier times. She also cannot decide who she loves, even when she is engaged. (Spoiler alert)She uses her beauty and bold personality to eventually even seduce a 17 year old matador whom she was in love with later on in the book(by the way, Brett is 34). But she makes him leave because she feels guilty for what she has done. And she finally realizes that this is not what is right for her to do. And she decides to marry Mike Campbell.

                Although I really didn’t support what Brett was doing, I felt sympathy for her when she was crying. She regretted what she had done. As she was talking to Jake she said “I don’t wanna be one of those b*tches.” And I think that she made the right choice in the end, although I also felt bad for Jake and Robert Cohn, and Pedro Romero as well as any other men who were in love with her. And I believe that we all make mistakes. A lot of us make a big mistake that affects our whole life, but there is always some kind of hope and forgiveness that could be given for nearly any wrong doing. And there’s bound to be something positive that comes from something very negative.

                “one generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth forever…the sun also riseth and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to the place where he arose…the wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits…all the rivers run into seas; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.”-Ecclesiastes

the sun also rises by Ernest Hemingway

                Right now I am reading The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. I just started reading this book. This is the second book that I have read by Hemingway, before it I read the old man and the sea. As I was reading "the sun also rises" I did a little bit of research. It says that this book was his first novel and that it was based off of Hemingway’s own experience in Spain.
     this book takes place in Paris, the main character is an american journalist named Jacob Barnes, who is in love with an English woman named Brett.  Brett has had numerous love affairs, she has married and been divorced and is engaged to a man named Michael Campbell. however she is in love with Jacob.
     Brett and Jacob realize that there is no way that they can have a relationship, because their lives are so different. i would say that so far this the major theme. in my research i found that Brett is supposed to represent the "new sexual freedom of the 1920s" which is why she has married, divorced and had several love affairs. during the book several men fall in love with Brett, which builds tension.
      the book consists of three parts (books). and i have just finished book 1. overall i find it a bit sad that Brett may be in love with Jacob but she is engaged and they can never really be together.

witch child entry 3 salem witch trials

  i have now finished the book, the witch child  by Celia Rees. and as i predicted, this novel eventually led to the salem witch trials. i wasnt expecting the book to end the way that it did. i expected a more happy ending. but i really liked how it ended in a suspenseful way that left u wondering what actually happened. overall this book was alright, nothing particularly special about it. the salem witch trials were a tragedy. a lot of people were brutally murdered for something that obviously does not exist (witchcraft). i think that that is why i resisted this book in some ways. but i think it could have been more suspenseful or just more interesting. I do however find it scary to think that this could have been a real incident. It could have been a real person's story of their life in eary America. i dont remember wheather i chose tragedy or triumph for a social studies essay last year on the puritain society. but i wish that i had read this book at the time because it really gives a good perspective of the way puriatins ran their society.

the witch child. entry 2

I am a little more than half way through the book. There are a lot of difficult things going on in the text. I mentioned the main conflict in my last blog post. Mary thought that in America she would be safe from the witch hunters and she could begin a new life, different than her old one. But even as people travel overseas and oceans, no matter where they go, they carry their superstitions and beliefs with them. Really, if anything, it might become worse in America. Several people are beginning to suspect that Mary is different. And several people have been informed about her past.

To get away from this, Mary spends a lot of her time in the woods. She has befriended some Native Americans and she enjoys being in the woods. But she cannot be seen with the Native Americans because the settlers fear them and hate them. I think that this is another conflict in the novel. Nearly none of the settlers know anything about the Native American people. Mary’s Native American friend, Jaybird, helped cure one of the settlers from a disease. The Native Americans know a lot about the land and the plants, including which ones heal and which ones are poisonous. This knowledge could help the settlers, especially since they only have one doctor. But they do not trust this; they believe that use of herbs is associated with witchcraft. Which leads back to the main conflict of this story.

The conflict with the Native Americans in this book reminds me of a movie that I watched in social studies this year. It was called Bury my heart at wounded knee. Although the two stories take place in different time periods they both have parts about the oppression of Native Americans. the movie, Bury my heart at wounded knee, is about the assimilation of Native Americans. The witch child takes place far before the battle at wounded knee and the assimilation of native Americans. i really felt strongly about what we saw in the movie. i thought that forcing people to change their ways of  living and their culture is a very cruel thing to do. america was originally the land of opportunity and religious tolerance, but it did not start out that way. It took hundreds of years for it to become that. and even to this day, many social issues involving rights still exist.

The Witch Child

 

                The Witch Child begins with a young girl in England in the year 1659. This girl, Mary Newbury, never knew her mother or father. She lived in England with her grandmother, who was taken away and accused of witchcraft. Mary flees English witch hunters to settle in an American Colony. She hopes to leave her past behind and keep it secret from the puritans.

I am not very far into the book but I’m finding the prospective very interesting. I found myself resisting the text sometimes because the character is around my age and she is experiencing some very harsh things. Mary watched her grandmother’s trial and she was threatened with death because everyone believed that she was a witch.

Mary is very cautious about what she tells people and how she expresses herself. She makes sure that there are no hints that will lead anyone to believe that she is a witch. On her voyage to America, Mary saves a newborn child from death. People began to say that she “breathed life into the newborn”. But Mary explains that all she did was clear the baby’s mouth and nose so that it could breathe, denying any hint of magic.

I noticed that in the beginning of the book, Mary was not sure if she was really a witch or not. But later on she realized that everything that she and her grandmother were accused of was all lies.

                I remember learning about the Salem witch trials in social studies last year. But I realized that Salem is in America, but in this novel the Witch trials are in England. I’m wondering if later on in the book some people will accuse Mary of being a witch in America.