Friday, August 8, 2008

importance of being....

The importance of being Tracey:
I would like to say, that being me is very important. Even though I have a twin who looks and acts just like me! And is my room mate STILL and best friend. i know who I am, I know where I came from,I came into earth 3 min.s 39 seconds after my "big" sister! And i love her. I dont know what its like to be orphaned but I do know what its like to be an exact double. Thats what I am. I know that in class we talk about how important it is TO EVERYONE in all the BOOKS we have read, to know who you are!
Matilta, Knew who she was, But she did not know her father very well.
Opedious: Didnt know where he came from!
Earnest:Same thing!
PIP:Didnt know either of his parents!
These main books show a common story, WHO AM I?????? :) I am Tracey Leigh Mann and my sister is Taffnie Leigh Mann, Just one first name. :) But i am still Tracey, even though we have the same finger prints!!!! Identical twins right! haha
Tragady Vs. Comedy.

Both books we read were tragic in some ways, and were both Ironic. I think thats what they have in common the most, acording to Wiki this is what comedy is Comedy has a popular meaning (any discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy). This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in Ancient Greece. In the Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was remarkably influenced by the political satire performed by the comic poets at the theaters.[1]
The theatrical genre can be simply described as a dramatic performance which pits two societies against each other in an amusing agon or conflict. Northrop Frye famously depicted these two opposing sides as a "Society of Youth" and a "Society of the Old" (The Anatomy of Criticism, 1957), but this dichotomy is seldom described as an entirely satisfactory explanation.
A later view characterizes the essential agon of comedy as a struggle between a relatively powerless youth and the societal conventions that pose obstacles to his hopes; in this sense, the youth is understood to be constrained by his lack of social authority, and is left with little choice but to take recourse to ruses which engender very dramatic irony which provokes laughter (Marteinson, 2006).
Much comedy contains variations on the elements of surprise, incongruity, conflict, repetitiveness, and the effect of opposite expectations, but there are many recognized genres of comedy. Satire and political satire use ironic comedy to portray persons or social institutions as ridiculous or corrupt, thus alienating their audience from the object of humor.
Parody borrows the form of some popular genre, artwork, or text but uses certain ironic changes to critique that form from within (though not necessarily in a condemning way). Screwball comedy derives its humor largely from bizarre, surprising (and improbable) situations or characters. Black comedy is defined by dark humor that makes light of so called dark or evil elements in human nature. Similarly scatological humor, sexual humor, and race humor create comedy by violating social conventions or taboos in comedic ways.
A comedy of manners typically takes as its subject a particular part of society (usually upper class society) and uses humor to parody or satirize the behavior and mannerisms of its members. Romantic comedy is a popular genre that depicts burgeoning romance in humorous terms, and focuses on the foibles of those who are falling in love.

I think this is a long defination but does it justice.

The importance of being Earnest! What is in a name? I go to thinking about how he was really deep down to himself just oprah jack found in a lady’s handbag, that he was living two identities, One in the city and one in the country. I know a few people like that, who act differently around other people then they do me. Sometimes I think they are living the life of two people. In the end however Earnest was really just that. Even though the name was spelled a little different it was still the name his love Gwendaline loved so much.
I think that I like the comedy’s a little bit better, even thought its hard to get the thought of Oedipus eyes bleeding out of my head.



What about names, I liked Medina’s blog where she talked about how much she liked her name. That it gave her an edge over other people. I think that’s true. My twin sister’s name is Taffnie. I would say we are exactally alike exept for the name, But people always ask about where she got her name. the second thing is they seem to remember it better the next time we see them! So there is great importance in a name, well at least if you want people to remember you.

Matilta's Great......

Tracey Mann
Professor Sexson
English 123
August 7th, 2008
Matilda’s Great Expectations
Matilda had dreams of great expectations. One of her best friends went by the name Pip, even though she had never met him face to face. Matilda knew Pip very well indeed. I think it’s important to know that her life. Even though she was on an island far away from where most of us live. I think she lived some of the same ups and downs people feel everyday. Even though, many of us never had to see a beloved friend and mother eaten by pigs. Everyone has needed a friend before, hoped for change, and felt the pain of a broken heart.
The importance of having a friend is crucial to Matilta. Matilda’s best friend was a while boy from England. Matilda had needed so badly to escape the island where everyone feared the Redskins, as well as the Rambo’s. She needed a safe place to go at night. Matilda says, “As we progressed through the book something happened to me. At some point I felt myself enter the story. I hadn’t been assigned a part-nothing like that; I wasn’t identifiable on the page, but I was there, I was definitely there. I knew that orphaned white kid and that small, fragile place…”(Jones 46-47) To live somewhere where you feel so alone at times your friends are the ones that keep your hopes up at night. Even if those friends are only real to you and a few. I believe that keeps many people going. Girls who have been abused or raped dream of the day someone will love them and treat them right. Boys in the slums dream at night about the basketball games they watch. These boys dream of the day they too could play on the courts of the great. This is a survival tool that Matilda used as well. It is amazing what people will do to stay alive. I once heard from a teacher of mine, keep the story going, stay alive. This is a tool that has been used in Arabian Nights as well as by Mr. Watts. Mr. Watts feared the Rambo’s but gave them one thing he had. The power to tell a story keeps him alive.
The fact that one day everything can change. It is important for Matilta to escape to a place outside the tropical island. That otherwise is beautiful, but is being havocked by war. The fact that in just 21 months Matilta gains a teacher she cares about deeply just to lose him. That in this short time you can lose everything. Her house was burned along with all her and her mother’s belonging. Matilta even lost her mum. The book Great Expectations came to mean everything in to Matilta and I am sure was one of the only things that kept her alive at times. Early in the book this hope shows through foreshowing the change when Matilda says, “In Great Expectations we learned how a life could change without any warning.”(Jones 52) Again this is relevant today to thousands of people that are in Iraq dreaming of leaving behind the everyday life of war. Matilta also hoped for that change, I do not think when she said this that she knew that the change would be horrific at for a while. Matilta gets the biggest change of her life of course when she leaves for Townsville to be with her father. Everything in her life changed except for Great Expectations.
The pain of a broken heart happens to everyone. Everyone has cried before, even if they do not wish to admit it. Matilta experienced a severe case of a broken heart. It was hard for her to think or care about anything. It seemed like she had even up on any and all expectations she had ever had. She had given up and just went numb. One passage which high lights this emotional moment is when she says, “It could catch me and I wouldn’t care because everything dear to me had been taken away-my mum Mr. Watts. My father was somewhere out there in a world I had no hope of reaching. I was alone. The river could catch me and I wouldn’t care.”(Jones 214) This is the highlight of her low. She dose however find that once the river got her she did have a life and she wanted it saved. Once again she found something to hold on to, her father. Matilta had finally bottomed out completely. She finds her light at the end of the tunnel and goes on to college still caring Mr. Dickens around with her. A person can only hope that her life turned out right, and she went back home to Bougainville. It is very hard for a person to run away from where they came from and who they are. Even though broken hearts are painful they are part of life, and life most certainly goes on most times.
In conclusion, Mister Pip was Matilta’s best friend. It is hard to say if she would have made it out of the island let alone the river alive without him. Where ever a person can take refuge in times of crisis, is an important survival tool that should be used. A white boy from England who lived somewhere she had never been let alone understand saved her life. Everyone needs a friend and she had Pip. Of course there is always the other Mr. Pip, Mr. Watts who also helped her through hard times. The hope for change is sometimes the only thing that can keep a person going. Even while murder, rape, and war are in effect. This is important for any person who wants to just give up on life. Of course these things go hand in hand with broken hearts and it will hurt. However, if you can get through it with a good friend, a little hope, and being brave things might just turn out ok. A popular saying to remember is things always get the darkest before dawn.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Blog 10

Blog 10: Some questions to answer!
11. Why does Dolores step forward to declare herself "God’s witness" to the murder of Mr. Watts? Were you surprised that she did? Why does she insist that Matilda remain silent?
I think the reason Dolores declares her self Gods witness is of course her faith. Even though she did not care for Mr. Watts teaching for all the book it looks like, She still stood up in the end to do what was right! She is not perfect, stealing the book and all, but in the end Dolores did the right thing. Of course she wanted Matilda to be quite because her mum knew that what would follow would not be good.

13. Discuss your memorable experiences of being read to as a child. What book made the greatest impact on your life? Did any book come to you at precisely the right time, the way Great Expectations was brought to Matilda?
My sister always read to me the most. My father remarried a very not nice person when we were young, My sister and I read Cinderella a lot. I remember thinking that just like in the story she was going to get what was coming to her. I also felt like I would get my prince charming and things would be just fine. This book came into my life at just a fine time. I think it reminds you that things can take a very bad turn and you want to give up on life by letting a river take you, BUT things WILL get better some how.

This book makes one think about where you take refuge. Where is it you feel safe? Where do you go hide at night when the world is crashing down on you? How do you pick yourself up again and dust yourself off?

Matilta


BLOG 9
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT WHILE READING MR. Pip, from
http://www.bookclubs.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780676979282&view=rg

I kept relating Matilda to Pip. I think this is an important thing to wonder about. I found this on Line to help give ideas to think about, how these two books compare. Im going to try and answer a few of these in my next blog.

1. Is it important that Mr. Watts is the last white man on the island? Why?
2. Why does Matilda write Pip’s name in the sand alongside the names of her relatives? Why does this upset her mother? How does this contribute to Dolores’s feelings about Mr. Watts’s instruction of her daughter? Are these feelings understandable?
3. Why do you think Mr. Watts pulled his wife in the cart? Why did he wear the red clown nose? What meaning did that have for them?
4. What is the message Matilda’s mother is trying to express to the children with the story of her mother’s braids? How is this related to the issue of Mr. Watts’s faith in God?
5. What did you think of the lessons that the mothers of the children bring to the classroom? If you were the parent of a child in Matilda’s class, what lesson would you teach the children? What might your mother have taught the class?
6. Who is Dolores warning the children about when she tells them the story about the devil lady and the church money? How does this story justify her actions regarding the book and the redskins? Do you agree with Dolores’s refusal to bring forth the book? With Matilda’s?
7. Where do you think Gilbert’s father takes Sam? How do you know? In your opinion, was it necessary that he do so?
8. Why does the corned beef in Mr. Watts’s house "represent a broad hope" for Matilda? Discuss Mr. Watts’s reaction to Matilda’s fragment. Do you believe that Grace was alive when Matilda arrived?
9. Discuss how the characters in this story struggle to reconcile the concepts of race and identity. Does it seem to dictate their interaction with each other? How does it influence their concepts of self? What moments, especially, helped reveal this to you?
10. What is the meaning of the story of the Queen of Sheba? Why does Mr. Watts bring it up? Why is it significant that Dolores is familiar with that story?
11. Why does Dolores step forward to declare herself "God’s witness" to the murder of Mr. Watts? Were you surprised that she did? Why does she insist that Matilda remain silent?
12. Do you think Matilda was able to return home? How would that outcome affect your reading of both novels?
13. Discuss your memorable experiences of being read to as a child. What book made the greatest impact on your life? Did any book come to you at precisely the right time, the way Great Expectations was brought to Matilda?
14. On Great Expectations and Mister Pip. Are both Mister Pip and Great Expectations universal coming-of-age tales? How did you react to the blending of these two distinctly different settings and time periods?
15. The initial lines of Great Expectations are reflected several times in this novel. Compare them to the opening lines of Mister Pip. What connections do these first sentences draw between the themes of both novels?
16. In what way are the narrative voices of Mister Pip and Great Expectations the same? How are they different? What shifts do you notice in the storytelling after Matilda leaves the island? How did this impact your reading?
17. How is Dolores’s treatment of Matilda similar to Estella’s treatment of Pip in Great Expectations? How does this relationship help Matilda understand Pip’s attachment to Estella? Is it necessary that this attachment be severed before Pip/Matilda can grow individually?
18. Why do you think Mr. Watts omitted the characters of Orlick and Compeyson from his telling of Great Expectations? What additional meaning might the children have gleaned from the story if these characters and their storylines, such as Compeyson’s jilting of Miss Havisham, had been included?
19. What is signified by the changing of one’s name, both in Great Expectations and Mister Pip? Why does Matilda not change her name?
20. In what ways does Great Expectations help Matilda cope with her reality and prepare her for the future? How does it help Mr. Watts deal with his past?

Monday, July 28, 2008

Ride a donkey nacked!


“A change of style is a change of subject.”

About this Mrs Alfred; that wants to ride the donkey naked, I think that is sweet. I agree with her that even if she was naked she would be all that would remain. I think we are all pretending some how. How this poem makes me feel, is that no matter what we are who we are and we can not just chance that.

What I will say about the day when we all got up and read our poems and let our feelings and interpretations on Stevens out, everyone was brave. I heard voice’s shake like trees. I saw uncomfortable glance’s around. I even saw one person’s brave tears. I just want to say kudo to everyone that stoop up and did something that makes them a wee bit uncomfortable with. I was interested in what every one had to say.

The drawing’s that were on the board make me laugh even when I was far from the class room.