American Literature

February 12, 2007

The Sound and the Fury Passage

Filed under: Uncategorized — kellbell @ 3:42 am

A passage from the book that I was intrigued by was the one mentioned in question 1 of our worksheet thingy we got in class on wednesday.  It’s the scene from pgs 150-153 when Caddy and the male Quentin are on the bank of the river and they have the knife and are thinking about killing themselfs. Literally they are talking about killing themselves but metaphorically they are talking about having sex.  Like if sit and listen to how they talk about it, it really does seem like they wanna have sex with eachother which they are a boy and girl so seems normal but then comes the problem that they are brother and sister.  The important idea here is that they are talking about sex and having it.  So this is important because it sort of confirms that this brother and sister love eachother a little bit more then they should.  What we can learn from this is that this really is one messed up family and really really needs counseling!!!!

For this week I commented Devon’s Blog and Dawn’s Blog!!! :-)

February 5, 2007

End of Gatsby/short stories/Faulkner

Filed under: Uncategorized — kellbell @ 3:33 am

I must say that I am glad that we are done with the Great Gatsby.  I read it in high school was not fond of it then and now in college I still am not fond of it.  I felt that there was too much going on in the book and it was just a little too dramatic for my taste.  All the characters just seemed like they were in need of counseling or something.  Even the ending was too dramatic, half the characters died.  Although I wish gatsby and daisy ended up together just so they could possibly go off and live happily ever after. 

Then we move on to the short stories and wow, being that I’ve worked in a hospital for a while I can understand how the main character Harry is feeling, like he knows he’s dying and has like these flashbacks.  Working in the hospital has exposed me to illness and death so many times.  I’ve seen patients that are sick and know they are dying and watched how they become hopeless.  Some like Harry just lose their minds and have no idea what they are talking about, this is especially true with the elderly patients. So when I read the snows of kilmanjaro I sort of interpreted it as him dying and just loosing it.  It sort of made me feel bad for the character because while i don’t believe I have ever seen gang green in real life I know it isn’t pretty and it’s a horrible way to die. 

The elephant story just confused me like i had no idea what they were talking about I didn’t get the whole abortion thing out of this couple having drinks at some bar or where ever. So yea and like I said I almost thought that the elephant story was just a different part of the snows story, so to anyone that reads this and did the same thing its ok. 

 As for Faulkner I’ve never read this book before but it looks interesting.  I hope it is better than Gatsby.  I mean it must be good, it was featured in Oprah’s book club, and Oprah seems like she has good taste so, I’m sure its better then Gatsby. 

For this week I commented Alyssa and Lauren J.

January 29, 2007

The Great Gatsby Chapters 4-6

Filed under: Uncategorized — kellbell @ 12:31 am

What I liked most about these chapters is that the author finally gave us some background on Gatsby’s character.  Like at the beginning were left with just these really weird rumors of weaither he killed someone or not and how he got to be so wealthy.  Well in these chapters we learn Gatsby’s real name and how he got the name Gatsby.  We also learn that he used to be a janitor just to afford to go to college.  While this background info does put the rumors to rest because we learn this is the real story of Gatsby it does seem a little far fetched to me.  Like Gatsby just happened to row out to this guy’s yacht to warn him of a storm and the guy decides to take Gatsby under his wing as sort of an apprentice. 

What I also liked is how we discussed this rather confussing situation the characters themselves are getting into. For example why Daisy cried over Gatsby’s shirts.  Yea I like that we discussed that in class so that I understood why that was because I did think that was sorta weird.  I understand now that the characters are like projecting their own emotions onto objects.  Like Daisy was not really crying over the shirts she was crying over Gatsby and the nice shirts are just what happened to set her off.  Just like Gatsby has all this stuff, for instance the Hotel style house and the cars ect, ect…it’s not really because he can, it is because he’s trying to impress daisy.  At least thats what I am understanding from it. 

for this blog i commented dawn’s blog and Kaylin’s blog

January 22, 2007

American Literature Post #1

Filed under: Uncategorized — kellbell @ 1:25 am

  When I hear the term American Literature a lot comes to mind.  The stuff that comes to mind the most though are all those books we were have supposed to have read in middle and high school.  Those authors and books that we listed on the board Wednesday was a pretty good representation of this. Those authors and books that we listed are the ones that were supposed to know and were told are the the core of literature here in America.  Sorta makes you wonder what they read over in Europe and if they think the same way.

     Then again American Literature can not only be those books we were supposed to have read in grade school but the very literature this country is founded upon.  The important documents such as the Constitution of the United States, or Emancipation Proclamation.  I mean I guess its all how someone interprets the saying.  Either way it is all American Literature. 

  Even something as simple as Magazines such as People or Time could be considered American Literature since they are produced here in America and even though some of the stories can be a little out there they are still literature.  So really I guess any piece of literature from here in America can be considered American Literature. 

For this week’s posts I commented Amanda Lea’s Blog and Rebecca’s Blog!!

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