Saturday, October 22, 2011

Literature Analysis #2

Our Town by Thorton Wilder


1.       Our Town by Thorton Wilder is a three act play that consists of many characters and shares a part of their daily lives. The play is narrated by the Stage Manager who welcomes the audience to the fictional town of Grover’s Corner, New Hampshire in 1901. The story/ play are about the Webb and Gibbs family (their last names are so similar that I get them confused sometimes!). Anyway, George Gibbs and Emily Webb have affection for each other and they get married near the beginning of the play. Act I is basically an introduction—an exposition in other words but the story picks up its pace in the Act II.  Act II takes place three years later on George’s and Emily’s wedding day. George was very excited to see his bride-to-be but Mr. and Mrs. Webb cues him to leave because they believe that a groom should not see his bride unless he wants bad luck. After Mrs. Webb leaves the conversation, Mr. Webb and George has a very deep conversation about marriage and discusses how to be a virtuous husband. George is feeling a bit awkward and an outcast when they talk together. In Act III, Emily dies of childbirth and the scene opens up with a cemetery scene on a hilltop overlooking the town. Mrs. Soames, Wally Webb, Simon Stimson and Mrs. Gibbs already left the Earth at this time and the dead speaks. Unfortunately, Emily misses her life and decides to go back. She realizes at the end of the story that she should appreciate every part of life and not regret anything.

2.       The theme wasn’t expressed very clearly (well, intentions of many authors…). However, I believe that Wilder wanted to convey to the audiences that time a-wasting and we can’t let our busy lives ignore time. Emily’s family and George’s family were always very rushed and busy; the mother and father and daughters were so busy in the mornings that they wouldn’t even talk to each other. Some busily headed to school while the others hurried to work. Mr. Gibbs- also known as Dr. Frank Gibbs is a surgeon and is predictably busy with his life. Anyway, when Emily dies, she realizes how important to cherish every part of the daily life because eventually, everyone will lose it all.

3.       The author’s tone was very calm and reserved. Even though there were certain rush hours in the play, things still seemed very realistic and a slice of OUR lives itself. For example, from Act II; ‘they brought up two children apiece, washed and cleaned the house, -- and never a nervous breakdown.

4.       Diction, syntax, mood, imagery, motifs. Those five literary elements stood out the most while reading the play. Diction and syntax might go together because both are very similar but have a distinct difference. Wilder’s word usage is a bit banal but nevertheless it is quite easy for the audience to understand. Because it is a play, some parts can be confusing (like Hamlet) but the Stage Manager seemed to take care of it well. Anyway, the introduction sets the mood for the exposition; a childbirth. This clearly signifies “new” and “exciting life” which Wilder successfully conveys through tone and mood. Imagery wasn’t a very large part of the play however some scenes were very clear in our minds like how the play was set up. An example of this would be the opening of Act III when it introduces a cemetery on a hill top. Not only is this an example of imagery but these accounts for both tone and mood.

Stage directions: ‘The dead do not turn their heads or eyes to right or left, but they sit in a quiet without stiffness. When they speak their tone is matter-of-fact, with sentimentality and, above all, without lugubriousness.’

‘We all know that something is eternal. And it ain’t houses and it ain’t names, and it ain’t earth, and it ain’t even the starts…everybody knows in their bones that something is eternal, and that something and to do with human beings.’

Stage directions: the stage at no time in this act has been very dark; but now the left half of the stage gradually becomes very bright – the brightness of a crisp winter morning. EMILY walks towards Main Street.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Tools That Make...

"5% think, 10% think they think, 85% would rather die than think."
Just a somewhat funny quote I found online that caught my attention. It’s sad to say that only 5% of the people actually think while the other 10% think they think. Laughing out loud? Yes.

How does extensive internet or media change the way I think? I’m not exactly sure how it changes the way I personally think. Technology makes me somewhat unproductive and perhaps habitually lazy. It sure makes me distracted and makes me waste valuable time by logging onto my others accounts… anyway, concentration is definitely a key point to this—with all sorts of tabs and gadgets or widgets on a computer, it’s almost impossible not to get distracted while trying to actually do something productive. Thinking about my thinking, right? I know how to manage my time and I do know the subjects and topics that interest me, of course... I’m getting distracted by just typing up this comment. iTunes, Facebook and YouTube are just a click away.

I read a pretty interesting article how people literally, “cut and paste”, I mean, with scissors and glue when they wanted to copy something. The article also gave me some historical background about the first computer that was invented 400 years ago which was more bulky than a typewriter and could calculate up to six digit numbers. It’s fascinating to understand and see how much technology has improved and how people decades ago dealt with minimal information.


Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Notes on [Hamlet]

Pfft, royalty. I bet he's some spoiled rotten, no good man of his age.

Seems like I was wrong.

Hamlet proved that he's more than spoiled rotten and pathetic-- he actually is quite intelligent in a mischievous/morbid way.  The way Hamlet decides to let Claudius breathe more—it’s just interesting to me that he plots all this entangled revenge. I’m not sure if this marks him as a ‘good character’ but nonetheless,  he’s growing as a character. Very sly, like a fox waiting to prance at its meal… I didn’t expect Polonius to die at all. Or Gertrude. This story’s tangled up with all types of evil schemes; what was Shakespeare thinking?

Also, I can't quite grasp the theme of Hamlet. Perhaps when the time comes, I'll eventually find out.

Who Was Shakespeare?

Who was William Shakespeare? Seems to be that this question is wandering around in many critics' minds. Really, who was he? In this article below, the author believes that Shakespeare was not a son of a glover and claims Shakespeare was not a write, but an actor. It also states that Shakespeare's life evidence is very minimal and there were six different signatures found which said, "Shakespeare". The analysists believe maybe a group of people made this fictional "Shakespeare" up because for him to be a son of a glover meant he was poor, and if we was poor, he wouldn't have much knowledge about royalty. But then again, advocates argue that he was taught many things such as royalty.

"That's a modern image of the writer as someone who puts his own experiences into his plays, a very romantic idea of writing. But it's just not how plays were written back then."

The Coalition's "Declaration of Reasonable Doubt" doesn't claim to know who wrote Shakespeare's plays, but it asks that the question "should, henceforth, be regarded in academia as a legitimate issue for research and publication."

Then there's the apparent disconnect between the life that William Shakespeare lived and the ones he wrote about. Anti-Stratfordians claim that Shakespeare's plays show a keen grasp of literature, language, court life and foreign travel — not the kinds of things that a small-town actor without a university education would be familiar with.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1661619,00.html#ixzz1bBZalQRa

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1661619,00.html#ixzz1bBZWHj00

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1661619,00.html#ixzz1bBZPiuda
Source:
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1661619,00.html
From September 2007

To Facebook or Not to Facebook?

Facebook is a global trend currently with over 750 million users who are either children or adults. Don’t be surprised if your parents sign up for Facebook or even your dear old grandmother! Facebook is potentially well known that it doesn’t make the incorrect spelling errors mark underneath the word on Microsoft Word. Interesting.
Anyhow, Facebook can either be a good thing or a bad thing. Teenagers who abuse the idea of social networking can be messy—harassment can evolve from social media websites such as MySpace or Facebook. However, those who appreciate global communication such as myself, are not drawn to abuse this privilege. Mind you, I have friends in Japan and other parts of the world who I cannot get contact with but luckily for me, Facebook users found my profiles and now we can communicate very easily. Just a click away, isn’t it?
A piece of my opinion—I hate tags on Facebook. I hate seeing pictures of myself on other people’s profiles and for friends’ of friends to see. I know I’m one in almost seven billion people out there, but I don’t want pictures of myself on Facebook. I always try to “untag” myself and it’s one of my pet peeves. Hell, it unconsciously bugs me when I see pictures of myself on the internet. Even if I do have Facebook or not, people will still upload pictures for every damn person to see. So, there you go.
Back to the topic----
Those who do not respect Facebook and other social networking websites create a dramatic proposal to not allow Facebook to children for parents and teachers. It’s simply ludicrous how many people take advantage of cyberspace abuse and harassment. I mean, come on! Don’t humans need a bit of soul-searching? Perhaps we do.
In all in all, I can’t really decide for sure if Facebook is a good thing or not. I’m hanging loosely in the neutral side of the spectrum…however more leaning to NO FACEBOOK.  I don’t constantly go on Facebook or post things about my personal life.  Honestly, who’s interested?