Jenning's Intelligence

I have to say, I liked Paycheck much more than The Minority Report. Even though minority report was pretty easy to follow, Paycheck was even easier to follow. I also really liked the mystery aspect that the Paycheck had to it. I was always wondering what his next trinket would be and how Jennings would survive the next task at hand.

The quote I chose this week comes from the closing of the piece, "Don't look so unhappy:' Jennings said. He folded his arms. "The paper's safe-and the Company's safe. When the time comes it'll be there, strong and very glad to help out the revolution. We'll see to that, all of us, you, me, and your daughter."

I like this quote because it shows how clever Jennings truly is. This is one of his final statements and it does a great job of showing how he did accomplish blackmailing the company. However, the best thing about this entire story was how the reader gradually finds out about Jennings intelligence. The Rethrick Construction should’ve thought twice when bringing in the smartest and best mechanic. What I don’t get is how they didn’t see this takeover coming. I thought the timescoop allowed them to see into the future? But, I’m glad they didn’t, it led to a very interesting story. I was always excited to see what clever thing Jennings had coming next. Even in the last second when I thought he had failed in his mission, he came through and surprised us all. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this piece.

Time

The Garden of Forking Paths, was a very strange but intriguing piece. I feel like a piece such as things makes you think deeply, unlike the Crucible, which basically tells you what you should be thinking. I’m not going to lie though; this piece struck me as a little bit confusing. The main point I got from it was the fact that time is a tricky thing and leads to infinite possibilities.

The passage I chose was when Albert was explaining Ts’ui Penn’s idea about time, “This network of times which approached one another, forked, broke off, or were unaware of one another for centuries, embraces all possibilities of time. We do not exist in the majority of these times; in some you exist, and not I; in others I, and not you; in others, both of us.”

I’ve never heard about time in this way. The way it’s described seems as though it’s an object colliding with other things. I don’t really follow exactly how time can “fork off.” The only time I could imagine time “forking off” is when you’re dead and your timeline is simply over. Other than that, if I were to imagine time as an object I would imagine it a straight line that just continues on without any collision between anything else. It’s merely a way just to track your life. However, the way time is described in this piece, gives it much more power over everyone’s lives.

I also don’t understand how they can exist in a time period without each other. Aren’t we always in the same time period? I never thought time would be so complicated.

Reputation

The significant passage I chose this week is said by Proctor who was defending his name, “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave my name!”—Act 4, pg 133

The last sentence of this “speech” was the one that caught my eye, “I have given you my soul; leave my name!” This quote here reveals to us that Proctor’s reputation is far superior than his own soul. Throughout the book there has been an overriding theme of reputation. Many in the town were sincerely concerned with how others viewed them. We can see this with both Parris and Abigail. Parris was concerned that others would condemn him if they were to find out his relatives were in touch with the devil. Abigail was concerned that Goody Proctor was “blackening” her name in town because of her affair with John. However, the one who struggles with reputation the most is John Proctor. John even verbally admitted to dealing with the devil, but would not have it posted upon the church. He didn’t want others to see his name as a shameful thing. He has prided himself on his honesty and if they “blacken” his name, there will be nothing left of him.

We talked in class how honesty led to the downfall of Proctor and this is true. He couldn’t have his name associated with so many lies in front of all the townspeople. Therefore, he gave up his life in the name of reputation. I would agree with Proctor if he gave up his life for a legitimate reason such as Goody Nurse, for truly believing in God. But to give up your life because of fear of a ruined reputation is ridiculous. I had once viewed Proctor as an admirable man, but now I see him as weak.

Golden Candlesticks

The significant passage I chose this week has to do with the materialism that lies with the town of Salem. It can particularly been seen with Reverend Parris but there are other instances with land where this issue comes up. John Proctor recognizes this, “But Parris came, and for twenty week he preach nothin’ but golden candlesticks until he had them.” (pg. 62)

Although Salem is said to be a Holy town, it seems as though there is more concern with materialism and reputation than religion itself. The materialistic hold is especially prominent in Reverend Parris’s character. There have been many instances like the one mentioned above that elude to the fact that money and possessions may be more important to Parris than anything else. He had previously mentioned how he was a successful businessman in Barbados and couldn’t “fathom” the poverty of Salem. As the story proceeds there is a continual weaving of materialism throughout the chapters. There are many disputes over land ownership and this eventually leads to bitter relationships. This is a critical theme to the story and leads to yet another theme as well: hypocrisy. Why would a town that claims to be focused on spirituality choose a minister who will only preach at an altar with golden candlesticks? The town is hypocritical and clearly does not maintain the holy status that they are perceived to be. As seen in the book so far there are three prominent themes: materialism, reputation/status, and hypocrisy. I predict there will be many more instances in which each of these themes will occur.

Insanity

The significant passage I chose this week comes from page 140 in the last paragraph and continues onto page 141, "Either way, they'll call it paranoia...Or you are fantasying some such plot, in which case you are a nut, Oedipa, out of your skull."

To start off, I figured that after reading the final chapter of this book, I would be relieved of all my confusion. Unfortunately, I'm just as confused as when I read the first paragraph. I chose this quote for two different reasons. The first, Oedipa and I have a connection! We are both extremely confused at this point and have no idea what's going on. Of course, her sitaution is much more complicated than mine. This brings me to the second reason, is this situation even real? Or just within Oedipa's mind? The one thing that was truly made clear throughout the entire book was the theme of communication. It's evident in Pierce's will to Oedipa and the whole idea of the "postal service." At this point in the novel, things should be coming together and answers should be given. Oedipa recieves information about the Trystero that is helpful, but there still seems to be many gaps. Who is trying to convey all this information to Oedipa? Is Pierce a consipirator in the Trystero, or is it simply just a part of San Narciso that Oedipa happened to stumble upon? Her sanity is crumbling at this point, and the "true communicator" to Oedipa is never revealed. I also feel like sanity played a huge role in the book as well. It could possibly be that Oedipa did make this up in her head and is trying to connect things that don't have any connection at all. We can see insanity in within many characters in the book: Mucho Maas on LSD, Dr. Hilarius with the Israelis, and ultimately Driblette killing himself. In my point of view, I personally think the writer had some sanity issues, some things in the book were so farfetched and I had no idea how they were linked to the book. The ending did not serve me any justice, but hopefully there was some conclusion in Oedipa's mystery. Hopefully the mysterious auctioneer "crying" for Lot 49 helped Oedipa come to some sort of closure and to bring back sanity into her life.

Projecting a World

The passage I chose this week stems from Oedipa’s dilemma with Pierce’s estate, located on page 65, “Shall I project a world? If not project then at least flash some arrow on the dome to skitter among constellations and trace out your Dragon, Whale, Southern Cross. Anything might help.”

This idea of “projecting a world” comes from the painting Oedipa saw while on a trip to Mexico with Pierce. The women in the painting are projecting a world through the tapestry that encompasses everything. This was referenced to in the book on page 11. At that time Oedipa felt like a trapped maiden in the tower, being held by the power of the man dressed in black that controlled the thread. However, at this point in the book it seems as though Oedipa has more control on her life. She isn’t the maiden anymore, but the man dressed in black. She holds a lot of information and she’s wondering if she should project this information to the world. When she says, “Anything might help,” it makes me question whether this is for her sake or for the sake of Pierce’s jumbled estate. All the information she holds up to this point is scattered and the connections don’t seem to be there. By projecting it to the world perhaps Oedipa will kill two birds with one stone. Her sanity won’t be questioned any longer and she will finally be able to make sense of Pierce’s estate. However, before this projection occurs, Oedipa must acquire more information or establish some connections.

Oedipa and Mucho's Weird Relationship

The passage I chose this week has to do with the communication and relationship issues between Oedipa and Mucho. The quote can be found in the second paragraph on page 32 describing Mucho’s letter, “The letter itself had nothing much to say, had come in response to one of her dutiful, more or less rambling, twice-a-week notes to him, in which she was not confessing to her scene with Metzger because Mucho, she felt, somehow, would know.”

Oedipa and Mucho’s relationship is very strange to me. They are a married couple but their communication skills are terrible. It seems like the reason they write these pointless letters is because they feel like they have to do it. They don’t have a personal incentive to write to one another. Obviously the relationship between Oedipa and Mucho isn’t a strong one because the content of their letters is referred to as “rambling,” not actually anything of importance. This is a huge theme running throughout the book, the issue of communication. Oedipa seems to have the most trouble with it. She’s looking for things to communicate with her, but they aren’t coming through. What’s ironic is the fact that Oedipa is expecting things to communicate openly with her, but she herself is a terrible communicator. She doesn’t reveal any of her travels with her husband and also keeps secrets from him, such as the affair with Metzger. I’m not exactly sure where The Crying of Lot 49 is going with the whole communication “issue.” Perhaps Oedipa will work through these issues as she digs further into the execution of Pierce’s will. As for now it looks like her relationship with Mucho is on the decline and will continue down that path.

Oedipa's Strange Character

I’m not going to lie; The Crying of Lot 49 is an extremely strange book. It’s so weird and complex that we even took an entire class period to dissect just the first paragraph. But, it’s very interesting. The quote I chose from this week comes from the first paragraph. It’s when Oedipa questions Pierces death, “Was that how he’d died, she wondered, among dreams, crushed by the only ikon in the house? That only made her laugh, out loud and helpess: You’re so sick, Oedipa, she told herself, or the room, which knew.” (pg 1-2)

First impressions are a very big deal, and Oedipa’s first impression is a strange one. We find out she will execute her ex-boyfriends will and her reactions are quite bizarre. When thinking about her boyfriend’s death, she laughs it off. I found this extremely odd. You would think moments reflecting back to a personal death would bring about sad emotions, but Oedipa laughs at the situation. It almost makes her appear a little crazy. Even if he was her ex-boyfriend, we know from the situation of the will that they were hot and heavy at some point. There could be many possibilities of the laughter produced from the thought of Pierce’s death. Perhaps it’s a coping mechanism that Oedipa uses to get past his death, joking about the matter to make it seem like a light situation. It truly makes me question the relationship she had with Pierce. They seem like a very quirky couple, but was the love even there? How could she not even be slightly depressed when thinking back on his death? It’s a very perplexing situation. It makes me question the motives of Oedipa. Could it be that she was with Pierce for the amounts of money he held? Her character is already complex within the first paragraph of the book; I can’t even imagine what will happen with her throughout the rest of the book.

Gulliver's Travels- The Movie

After watching Gulliver’s Travels in class, I would say I prefer the book over the movie. The movie wasn’t terrible, but it came off a little cheesy. My mental depiction of Gulliver was much different than his portrayal in the movie. I imagined him more as more composed from what I read in the book. However, in the movie he seemed scatter-brained and came off as kind of an insane character. I think that was the main difference between the movie and the book. They showed Gulliver on his travels and would show Gulliver at the present time either telling his stories to others or show him locked up.

It was also weird to see so much of Gulliver’s family in the movie. In the book Gulliver’s family was rarely mentioned, but they played a significant role in the movie. His family thought he had gone mad and Mr. Bates seemed to be a replacement of Gulliver. The relationship between Gulliver and his wife was also much stronger in the movie than in the book. In the book, their relationship was not talked about often. But as seen in the movie, they really missed each other and Gulliver was even desperate to see his wife.

Overall I would say the book is much better than the movie. Hopefully Jack Black’s version will do more justice to Gulliver.

The "Noble Savage"

The passage I chose this week came from the debate of whether or not Gulliver could stay among the Houyhnhnms. It’s starts with the last sentence on page 156 and continues into the entire first paragraph on page 157.

I’m currently in an Intro to American Indian & Native Studies class and I saw many parallels between what I read in the last section of the book and their relations with the English. In this quote, Gulliver’s master talks about his transformation in Houyhnhnm; he essentially describes a “noble savage”. He said Gulliver was rid of his dispositions as far as his inferior nature would allow. This situation is much similar to when the English arrived in America. They saw the natives as naturally inferior, incapable of change. They categorized the Indians just like the distinction of “Yahoos” and Gulliver. There were “savages” and “noble savages”. The “noble savages” were obedient and even showed some interest in learning their culture and religion. However, just like what happened to Gulliver, they weren’t accepted into the European culture. The irony here is the role reversal with the Houyhnhnms. The horses seem like the American Indian culture, they are very in tune with nature and they are peaceful creatures. However, unlike the natives of America, the Houyhnhnms are in charge. This leaves the English to be the barbarians. Yet, I believe this is how they should be truly described. Their ways of dealing with the natives were extremely barbaric and it makes sense why Gulliver detests the Yahoo culture after his many voyages.

Gulliver's Boastfulness

For this week’s significant passage, I’ve chosen something that highlights Gulliver’s character. In class on Tuesday we talked about the many accounts of Gulliver’s boastfulness, this passage eludes to that particular idea. The passage is paragraph one of Chapter IV on page 162.

In this paragraph, Gulliver talks about how he wants to leave Laputa. He claims that he wasn’t given enough attention. He was upset when they weren’t vastly interested in his journeys, but rather his knowledge of math and science. This adds to Gulliver’s conceited character; just because they weren’t infatuated with him like those in Brobdingnag he got upset. With each journey, I believe Gulliver’s head is getting bigger and bigger. It’s almost to the point that when he arrives to a new location he expects to be worshiped or in high regard among the people. You can see this increasing throughout his travels. In Lilliput he wasn’t boastful. However as his time passed in Brobdingnag, his head got much bigger. An example is when he tried to jump over cow dung in the road. His arrogance peaks at Laputa when he and his travels aren’t marveled at and he gets extremely upset. It’ll be interesting to see if this trend continues.

Role Reversal

The significant passage I chose for this week came from Gulliver’s travels to Brobdingnag. It occurred when Gulliver was found by the Farmer-Giant, “For I apprehended every Moment that he would dash me against the Ground, as we usually do any little harmful Animal which we have a mind to destroy.” (p. 83)

I chose this passage because there is a total role reversal upon this point in the story. We talked a lot about perspectives in class on Tuesday and this is a complete 180 for Gulliver. I found the passage amusing because Gulliver had the exact same thoughts when the Lilliputians were crawling on his body. At that point in his journey, Gulliver held some control, but was still a “prisoner” in some respects. He could easily squash the Lilliputians with a single finger. However, on Brobdingnag, Gulliver is out of luck. He is now in the Lilliputian’s position, an ant compared to this huge monster. He even wished how he could be back in Liliput, where he had some control over his life. Perhaps he can now fully understand why the Lilliputians had tied him up, they were extremely fearful. Now he lies in the hands of Giants, and is still a prisoner. The perspective has totally changed.

Marriage

Both of my significant passages this week are from the piece“Marriage” by Gregory Corso. I found this piece very odd but extremely amusing at the same time. The first passage of significance I chose were the lines, “should I sit knees together on their 3^rd degree sofa and not ask Where’s the bathroom?” The second I passage I chose was in the closing of the piece, “And maybe there’s a girl now but she’s already married And I don’t like men and- but there’s got to be somebody!” Each of these passages were significant to me in different ways.

When I came across the first passage, I instantly thought of my ex-boyfriend Michael. Whenever he came over to my house, he was extremely nervous about talking to my parents. He never knew how to act in front of them. Most of the time he would shout out a quick “hey” from the other room and make a dash for the basement. For some reason the man in this piece reminded me of him. He’s unsure of how he should really act, he’s putting on some kind of act for the parents. He never really knows if there’s a time he can be completely honest and comfortable enough to basically say, “I really need to use your bathroom! Where is it?”

The second passage I wrote about wasn’t of personal significance to me, it just struck me as interesting. I feel as though throughout the whole piece he is kind of joking around with the whole marriage deal. When I read these few lines, I felt as though his true character came out. It’s not that he doesn’t believe in the whole marriage deal, he’s just scared of what’s out there or even worse what’s not out there. To me it seems like he’s using the joking method as a defense mechanism. What he really has to do is go out there and be active in his search for love.