Response to _To Kill A Mockingbird_

       For the next film, we have been watching To Kill A Mockingbird and it has really struck a chord with me. I found the fact that the main characters that initially drew the audience's attention to the story were children to be highly purposeful. The author truly set the stage for the audience to recognize growth or a change in the little girl nicknamed "Scout" from the beginning to the end of the film. This dynamic character perceived as an innocent tomboy child believing scary superstitions about their neighbor nicknamed "Boo Radley" in the beginning, clearly developed into a more mature, adult like state by the end as she accepted Boo as a person like herself rather than a fictitious monster. This transition reminds me of the children Holden imagines falling off the cliff that leads to adulthood in The Catcher In The Rye where innocence is lost, but more knowledge is gained. There still is the unanswerable question about whether or not this knowledge learned/experienced is for the better of the individual or not, but maybe it is inevitable that there will come a time when innocence is lost in an individual's life. One of my favorites scenes in this film was when Atticus was making his closing statements during the trial where Tom Robinson had been accused of raping a white woman. During his last remarks, he made it a point to declare that he himself recognizes that the court/justice system is not completely effective and it too has it's flaws. After reading that article that Ms. Bavaro had given is in class, it makes me question government and the justice systems we have in place. Everything that we as individuals perceive as natural in this day and age is only naturally because some people made it that way. The fact that I acknowledged that "some people made it that way" means that any invisible rules in place were created in a biased fashion. This makes me infer that the justice system can never truly be effective because it really was the "educated and rich" white men who created the laws in the first place. These "laws" everyone takes into account are only as good as the people who wrote them. I'm not even sure how we could go about "fixing it". Are films like this just replicating the ideal that these laws are "right and just" when we watch poor Tom Robinson be convicted of guilt after a perfectly winning argument made for him by Atticus? I don't know about you, but I was a bit pissed off at that. 

Response to _Precious_

       For our next film adaptation of a work of literature, we watched Precious. This was the first time that I've ever watched of or heard of this film and boy was it terrifying to watch!! The horrific topics it addresses from domestic violence to sexual abuse and people in poverty were so hard to watch I almost had to look away during some scenes. I believe that my profound reactions to the movie were just exactly what they intended on the audience having in order to get people to listen. I believe the movie's main goal was to force people to recognize the horrors in our society that they would normally choose to ignore in reality. The only reprieve from fear and disgust was located in the repetition of Precious' fantasy moments where she displayed an alternate happy version of herself with her ideal man. The significance of this repetition is for the audience to compare and contrast the dreams that Precious has with the reality she truly faces. At the end of the film, yes Precious receivers custody of her children and can read at an eighth grade level and it seems like a happy ending with her mother kicked to the curb, but in truth, Precious' fantasy life will probably never be in her grasp. The movie demonstrates that one can get through major conflicts and suffering in one's life if he or she perseveres through it, but this does not mean one's life automatically becomes perfect. I think it also forces people to be greatful and thankful for the lives they lead when they see horrible circumstances that cannot compare to their own trivial life problems. This movie was scary thought provoking! 

Reponse to _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_ Movie

       After watching the last half of the movie because I was absent when the first half was played last Friday, I can say that this movie was an extremely odd, but in a good way. I caught on to the fact that that King Arthur was obviously on a quest for the "Holy Grail" and every direction they turned, there was yet another silly highly exagerrated obstacle in their way. For instance, at one point in their path to the castle stood a bunny. One would think the bunny would be absolutely harmless and easy to get through, but it turned out to be a rabid and violent murderer of a bunny killing several of the men as they approached it. I found there was a lot of irony and jokes like this throughout what I watched that obviously culminated together into one hell of a parody of King Arthur and life during that time period. I also found the Bridge of Death scene to be pretty hilarious even though I anticapated that travelling across the bridge would not be as easy as Sir Lancelot made it seem. I noticed they used the technique of repetetion in order to make the scene even funnier, utilizing the same first two question and switching up the third. The only thing I did not expect that literally made me laugh out loud was when the bridge-keeper was unable to answer a complicated question in return and was removed and thrown to death. It's always funny when you realize as an audience member that the characters you think are safe from harm are not really safe at all. I noticed that basically all the main characters die in the end, which was extremely abrupt that I didn't even realize it was the end at first. I think it was clever and sneaky of the movie makers to produce an ending so bizarre as this. Overall, I can understand why this movie was such a hit with a lot of people, but I don't think I could sit through it again.

Blog #12: Poem #8: Poetry Response to _When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer_ by Walt Whitman

       I felt that this poem, When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer by Walt Whitman, provided a very relatable topic that is revelant to today's society. I felt that the author was trying to convey the importance of learning through experince rather than learning by just being taught in a lecture like setting. It was interesting because the poem was in first person point of view and I could feel the speaker's growing angst and annoyance at the during the lecture being given to him. For the first four lines, the speaker used repetetion and begin each line with the word "When" and then going on to state how the astronomer was explaing what he knew through the use of graphs, formulas, and etc in a classroom setting. It felt as though the speaker rolled his eyes everytime he said "When" because immediately following those lines, the speaker literally got sick and tired, annoyed with the praise and "much applause"this astronomer receieved when the speaker learned absolutely nothing from this astronomer's teaching methods. Once the speaker got sick and left the room to go into the "mystical moist night-air, it seemed that the alliteraton used conveyed that being outside in the night-air had a more profound impact on the speaker than the lecture given to him previously inside. It is ironic that at the end of the poem, the speaker is looking up at the stars peacefully because he had felt highly distraught when an astronmer, who knows everything about stars, proved to be an epically horrible teacher about the stars to others. Instead of listening to the confusing equations and formulas the "Learn'd Astronomer" discussed, the speaker "learn'd" more astronomy by literally looking up at the stars and observing them. He was able to experince them first hand rather than being told confusing information in a setting away from them. This all proves that everyone learns at a different pace in different ways and that it is easier to learn about a concept when you try to discover its wonders yourself rather than being told all the answers and not understanding how you got them in the first place.

Blog #11: Poem #7: Response to _The World Is Too Much With Us_ by William Wordsworth

         After reading the poem, The World Is Too Much With Us by William Wordsworth, I'm finding myself reflecting on the awfulness of humanity's increasing materialistic values and decreasing environmental values. I think the author did an effective job manipulating his first person speaker to voice his concerns and outrage at the growing blatant ignorance that humanity has for the value of nature. When reading the details in the second line about "Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers," I automatically knew that the speaker was referring to this rise in consumerism where humanity has begun to dwell only on buying and taking physical items in which they place a lot of value in. By stating that "We lay waste our powers" the author is emphasizing that humanity is capable of compassion and respect for the Nature that provides all the resources we use in order to live, but chooses to ignore the fact that humanity is not offering a fair trade. Instead of caring about the environment that sustains us, humanity is deconstructing Nature through drilling, deforestation, polluting, taking advantage of natural resources and etc, destroying the beauty of nature and disrespecting the power it gives us. Wordsworth even personifies the wind stating that the wind was "howling at all hours" in order to convey complaint and fury that Nature has for humanity. It makes a statement that demonstrates that the relationship between humans and Nature should be a balanced give and take relationship, but is currently not. Overall, I found this poem to be extremely realistic to today's society and find it ironic that when I looked up when this poem was written, I found it was written in 1802 which was a really long time ago. It just goes to show how the past is more relevant than we think it is.

Blog #10: Poem #6: Response to _On Being Brought To America_ by Phillis Wheatley

       The next poem I decided to read was On Being Brought To America by Phillis Wheatley. I had chosen it partly because it was one of the shorter poems to read, but as I discussed previously, the shorter poems are more difficult to decipher sometimes. Originally after reading the title, I predicted obviously that it was going to discuss about people who journeyed to America, but after reading I honed in on the word "Brought" within the title. After analyzing this poem, I think the word "Brought" is used to distinguish the fact that Americans are trying to take control and "fix" the people in this world who specifically in this poem's case, are not Christian. It was interesting to break down shifts in dialect between the beginning, middle, and end of the poem. It seemed that in the beginning, the same dialect was used that may represent a "lower class" was of speaking using words such  as "'Twas" and "refin'd". While interpreting this poem, I came to an understanding that afraid or "Pagan" people to be more specific, immigrated to America whereupon the Americans try to teach and enforce in them Christian values like the fact "That there's a God". I could tell the voice of the speaker was starting to appreciate these teachings less and less and became more weary and creeped out by these ideals especially emphasized in the alliteration, "Their colour is a diabolic die". In this line, the speaker is referring to the "scornful eye" that criticizes the Pagan culture. By deeming the eye that represents the Americans, the become painted as evil and ill-willed towards the Pagans because they are trying to bend them to their Christian wills. Although in some aspects in the poem, the speaker learns their values and even shifts to a "higher class" dialect of English using words spelled so properly like "colour" and "redemption", the speaker ultimately takes control of his or her own personal cultural identification. It is ironic when the speaker shifted back to their original dialect that he or she said "refin'd" instead of refined due to the fact that to be refined, is to be extremely proper and by misspelling the word, the speaker has purposefully sent a message that his or her culture will not be ignored or deleted just because he or she moved to America. America advertises that we are a "salad bowl' of cultures, but do we really hold true to that fact? Hmmm....

'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,

Taught my benighted soul to understand

That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too:

Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.

Some view our sable race with scornful eye,

"Their colour is a diabolic die."

Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,

May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train.

Blog #9: Poem #5 of Poetry Response to _This Is Just To Say_ by William Carlos Williams

       For this next poetry response, I decided to read This Is Just To Say by William Carlos Williams which has proven to be an even bigger challenge than some of the other poems I've tried to decipher due to the fact it is a very short poem to begin with. It's form consists of three extremely short stanzas which made me read this poem quickly and suggested the speaker's agenda was to be concise and directly to the point. After reading the title first, I noticed how odd it was that the words "Is" and "To" were capitalized in the title because normally they are not, but here, Williams purposefully  did this. I think he emphasized these words to connect it to the overall voice of the speaker of the poem. By marking "Is" and "To" at the same level of importance in the title, Williams is making an even more declarative statement to emphasize whatever it is that just has to be said.  This relates to the poem because the speaker declares he knowlingly ate plums that he knew were not his and that he was sorry, but then stated in a matter of fact way that it was worth it anyway. While analyzing the form of this poem, I noticed how the first and last stanza have lines that alternate between three words and two words long each, but in the second stanza there is a break in that pattern where one line consists of only one word. This one worded line may demonstrate the importance of the word "saving" to the overall theme of the poem. The speaker who lets us know his thoughts and feelings through first person perspective, emphasizes this word "saving" and having the readers pause while reading to recognize either the value or lack of value in saving something for later, whether it be food or any other item. The third stanza it almost seems for a second that the speaker feels some remorse for his actions when he says "Forgive me", but immediately after goes on to give his own logical thought process for why he ate the plums emphasizing his point through the repetition of the word "so" when he says the plums were delicious because they were "so sweet and so cold". These sensory details help the speaker try to convey to the readers that he was justified in taking the plum from the other person who was saving the plum for later. I'm almost not sure whether the author is manipulating the speaker to feel arrogant and proud about stealing the plums or is the speaker supposed to sound sorry about his actions. When I picture the speaker, I picture some macho guy who deep down feels bad abut what he did and this poem is him secretly relieving himself of any guilt he may feel about stealing what he knew was not his. Overall, maybe the bigger picture of this poem was to convince people to enjoy the savor the moments was has in the present rather than saving pleasurable moments for the future when the future is never so clear as it may seem. The speaker was enjoying the plums, savioring the present, while the other person who was actually saving the plums for the future, missed out on them and will have to suffer because he waited too long to eat them.