Last Journal!

I feel like my writing skills have greatly improved during my time in IB junior english. I am able to write essays about anything now. I have also become a better typist. Im finding literary elements in movies and I sometimes understand deeper meanings hidden is symbols and stuff like that. I didn't enjoy the essays but I think they were good for me. One change I would make is to be able to see my grade sooner though. Another thing I learned was the importance of cultural events going on at the time. I didn't think they were important until I had to do the Cultural Refections essay. I saw connections in the book that I hadn't realized existed. I don't think I will go onto IB senior english though.

Lorca 6

Lorca 6

In preparations for the interactive cultural connections, please find nine quotations, three from each act, that suggest a cultural connection.  Discuss your thoughts on each in one to two sentences.   Please make certain that you have your ideas in class tomorrow.

Act 1

“He finally bought the vineyard!” (13).

- This demonstrates the agrarian society portrayed in the book.

“Do you know this girl my son wants to marry?

A good girl” (13).

- This shows the expectation to marry for social status.

“The children who take water out the reapers are black from the sun. Goodbye, my friend (16).

- This quote shows that everybody works in an agrarian society including children. It also shows the technology available the planters.

Act 2

“Just as we women all waste away” (39).

-This quote shows women living in a male dominated society.

“This is no time to be sad” (41).

- This quote shows the pressure shown towards women to marry for status and not love.

“I will shut myself up with my husband, whom I must love more than anything!” (47).

- This quote further solidifies my argument that women are pressured to marry for status and not love.

Act 3

“Now he must be making love to her” (79).

- This quote shows the social expectations of the community.

“Quiet, I said! Is there no one here?” (99).

-This shows how the society is male dominated.

“Here is where I want to be” (100).

- This quote shows the social expectation that women are supposed to stay in the house.

Lorca 5

Themes:

Death

Passion

Social standards

Gender roles

Restraint

1.         I think the symbolism of the woodcutter, the beggar woman and the moon are to show the punishments of going against the social norms. The woodcutter cuts trees and ends their life to make lumber. The bride and Leonardo are trees and the woodcutters are their fate. “they  will track them down and kill them” (80). The beggar women has nothing and when Leonardo and the Bride get together, she is jealous and wants to take away the good thing they have. “ We won’t let them cross the river. Silence!” (84). The beggar woman represents other people’s jealousy. The moon is the motivation of the people to find and kill the Bride and Leonardo. “No! they cannot escape!” (83).

2.         When the couple are caught the Bridegroom and Leonardo kill each other. “now everyone is dead”(100).

3.         Mother tries to be very calm but she is also very angry at the same time. “I must be calm”(100). And  also “I must not recognize her, so I wont dig my teeth into her neck!” (101).

4.         “Their eyes are broken flowers. Their teeth are just two handfuls of snow” (98).

“it is the arm of my brother and of my father and of everyone else in my family who is dead!” (84).

“better to be dead with no blood than to be alive with it festering” (79).

5.         Lorca has the buildup and downfall of the protagonist in Blood Wedding.

Lorca 4

Lorca 4

Characters that appear miserable in the play are Mother, Bride and Leonardo.

Bride:

            The Bride is miserable in the play because she doesn’t want to commit to the Bridegroom. At the beginning of act two she is very pessimistic about the wedding. “Just as we women all waste away” (39). She talks to Leonardo about it. He wants to be with her and she says she cant be with him because she is getting married. Then the wedding happens. After the wedding the Bride feels “sick”. I think this is to get rid of the Bridegroom. “No. I want to lie down for awhile. I’ll keep you company. Never! With all these people here? What would they say? Let me rest a moment. What ever you say.” (72). She wants to be alone so she will be able to escape from the wedding. Also she doesn’t want to be around the bridegroom because she doesn’t like him.

Leonardo:

            Leonardo is miserable because he is in a loveless relationship. That is why he came to the wedding without his wife and talks to the Bride a lot. “I can’t have peace if I don’t tell you these things. I got married now you get married!” (48). Leonardo is in love with Bride but he is already married and she is getting married.

Mother:

            Mother is miserable because the people that killed her family are at the wedding also. “On all their faces, I see nothing but the had that killed what was mine” (60). She is mad because she is reminded of the deaths of her husband and sons when she sees the people. She is also miserable because at the end of the wedding the Bride runs off with Leonardo on his horse. She keeps saying that her son was married to the Bride.

Lorca 3

Lorca 3

The symbol of death changes during act one. At the beginning, Mother is regretting the death of her husband and sons. This makes her be protective over her last living son. Then the Neighbor comes and talks enviously of Mother’s dead children because her neighbor’s son got both his arms cut off in the “machine” (very ambiguous). She feels Mother’s children are fortunate to be dead instead of become useless like her neighbor’s son. She describes death as rest for the sons.

I think the symbol of vineyards stays the same throughout the first act. The Bridegroom’s mother is very proud of him for getting the vineyard but she is also hesitant because her sons and husband died in a vineyard also. The vineyard is a status of wealth. It is a good cause of income for the Bridegroom.

In the poem the water is described with an ominous tone. It is described as deep, black, dead and the horse doesn’t want it. The horse could be avoiding some danger in the water by not drinking. Also the horse is watching a “silver dagger” (18). It’s probable that if the horse drinks the water, it will get harmed.

Comments:

Cassie’s blog.

I like your analysis of flowers. I think you may be on to something with the baby having special beauty. I agree with your statement about how the horse is using good judgement  by not drinking the water.

Trevor Lusk’s blog.

You have a solid list of symbols there. Good job.

I like your description of the archetype of Mother. I agree completely about the gender roles being displayed in Mother.

I never thought of the Bride's actions like that before. It makes sense though that the bride is sketchy when she is seeing Leonardo and the fact that she gets really angry at the maid. Its kinda creepy.

Lorca 2

Vineyards

Death

Horse

Trees

Flowers

Weapons

Blood

Happiness

Children

Water

Precipitation

Rose

Cold

Land

Isolation

I think Lorca agrees with the archetype of Mother because he portrays her as a loving protective character only intent on keeping her only son safe. She only wants to do what is best for him. She is also very sad over the death of her sons and her husband. Her sadness shows how she cared for them and how their deaths affected her deeply.

Lorca doesn’t agree with the Neighbor archetype because Neighbor was wishing that her kids were dead instead of wounded. Lorca then has Mother reprimand Neighbor showing the author’s disagreement towards wishing people were dead.

Plus I think that Mother and Step Mother are the chorus of the play because they speak in poems occasionally.

Lorca 1

Ibsen pastiche

Wilma Buffit. What is college like?

Amanda Reconwith. Oh don’t worry yourself about something like that dear.

Wilma. Daddy never liked college; he said it was a place of hard discipline and strenuous labor.

Amanda. Yes he certainly did.

Wilma. But didn’t college help daddy get-

Amanda. You know you cant go to college and go to the doctor. We haven’t the money.

Wilma. I know.

I chose the names because I thought they emphasized the absurdity of someone living their entire life as a lie and to portray the characters in a skewed, grotesque way to show how people will destroy anything to enforce their beliefs. I made Wilma (Hedvig) wonder about college because it shows her curiosity of the world but Amanda tells her no because she believes Wilma’s health is more important than her education.  Wilma accepts what her mother tells her because she is loyal and gullible. She will believe anything her parents say or accept any belief they have.

Antigone pastiche

Chorus. Today was a new beginning of the end. It has been foretold many different times and many different ways but today was the newest. The passing of 2011 marked a new beginning for doomsayers. They tell of a close end. They overlook the past ends and focus upon the newest one.

I chose to do the pastiche over people predicting the end of the world in 2012 because it demonstrates the ridiculousness involved in senselessly predicting death. Antigone felt like she had to die in order to carry out her cause, doomsayers feel that everyone will die anyways so people should do what the doomsayers want them to do. It is absurd.