The Color Purple Letter

After reading the letter from the Color Purple I feel the ending is angry. Throughout the letter Celie is complaining to Shug the blues singer about God. She doesn't think God is very kind to her at all. Shug tries to help tell Celie that you must have your own view of God because if you picture him as a white tall man with a lot of hair, which Celie does then you wont have a connection with him. Shug believes that God is everywhere and everything. SHe doesn't believe in just one set figure, which is why it is easy for her to relate herself to God and forgive. At the end of the letter it gets angry though because Shug starts to talk to Celie about how man corrupts everything. She starts to tell Celie man doesn't ever do anything good, but corrupt your head and make you think he is the on in charge. Shug is very angry about this and expresses it to Celie at the end of the letter. The other reason why the end of the letter is angry is because she talks about not praying at all and not believing. These comments cause anger between them because they are angry towards man and if you picture God as a tall white man then you are going to be angry towards him. This is why the end of the letter is angry because Shug is explaining her anger towards man and why you must picture God as being everywhere and not just one major figure.

After the Film

After watching some of the parts of the movie I have really started to enjoy it. I really like how the woman who dresses up as everyone really gets into and acts almost exactly how the real people did. One of the major problems that she addresses is the problem with Crown Heights on August 1991. During this she acts as different characters from both sides of the situations. On the Jewish side they are saying that it was a complete accident and they are mad at the black community because they are killing innocent Jews when they really never did anything. Then on the other side the black community is furious with the Jewish community because they believe that the driver of the car was under the influence when he hit the little boy. After listening to both sides I really don't favor either side because they both have legitimate reasons to be angry. The black community has the right to be mad because they believe the driver was under the influence when hitting the boy, so if that was true I would be just as furious as they are. Also on the Jewish side I understand why they are mad because the driver passed the test to see if the driver had anything to drink so they believe the accident was a complete accident. This is why I cant really choose a side on who I believe is right because both sides are wrong for the actions that they are taking, but both sides also have the right to be very angry with the situation that has happened.

The Movie

After watching some of the parts of the movie I have really started to enjoy it. I really like how the woman who dresses up as everyone really gets into and acts almost exactly how the real people did. One of the major problems that she addresses is the problem with Crown Heights on August 1991. During this she acts as different characters from both sides of the situations. On the Jewish side they are saying that it was a complete accident and they are mad at the black community because they are killing innocent Jews when they really never did anything. Then on the other side the black community is furious with the Jewish community because they believe that the driver of the car was under the influence when he hit the little boy. After listening to both sides I really don't favor either side because they both have legitimate reasons to be angry. The black community has the right to be mad because they believe the driver was under the influence when hitting the boy, so if that was true I would be just as furious as they are. Also on the Jewish side I understand why they are mad because the driver passed the test to see if the driver had anything to drink so they believe the accident was a complete accident. This is why I cant really choose a side on who i believe is right because both sides are wrong for the actions that they are taking, but both sides also have the right to be very angry with the situation that has happened.

Malcolm X

In the pieces by Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. they both discussed their views on whites. Their views on whites were very different from each other because Malcolm X was more violent, while Martin Luther King Jr. was calm. Malcolm X didn't agree with whites at all he believed that they were all evil and had absolutely no good in them. He thought that the whites were all out to get the Blacks. Martin Luther King Jr. was pretty much the exact opposite from Malcolm X because all Martin Luther King wanted was to have equal and fair rights for everyone. He didn't believe that whites were horrible people and that Blacks should have more rights that whites. All Martin Luther King wanted was for everyone to work together and become a big society that can get along. He believed in this way because he found it to be the right thing to do and if blacks and whites constantly fought then it wouldn't solve anything. This is where Malcolm X becomes very different because Malcolm X didn’t believe in equal rights or working together. He focused more on describing both parties and saying what he thought about them. All this did was cause conflict between the two races and didn't really accomplish much. This is why I believe Martin Luther King Jr. approach is a lot more affective. If I had to choose one thing that stood out the most to me it would just be the major difference between the two. Both are really intelligent and know a lot about their race, but their ideas and motives are completely different

Ethics of my life

In my life a have many different types of ethics. Three major ethics that I have in my life are to always try my hardest at everything I do. Another is to never give up no matter what the situation is. Lastly, my other ethic is to always respect my older peers. Everyday I try to work as hard as I can at whatever I am faced with. Even when the situation may not be something I want to do I always try to push myself to do it. Sometimes this is overlapped by my laziness, but I try to push through it and stay with working as hard as I can. Also, never giving up stands in the same category as working as hard as I can. Sometimes my laziness makes me want to give up on certain things and not worry about them, but I try to tell myself that it will all be worth it in the end. Lastly, respecting my older peers is not usually hard to do for me. Normally I am very good at respecting my older peers because I realize that they are older and wiser than I am. The people all around me contribute to these ethics that have. Without the people that are around me I wouldn't have many of the ethics that I have. One of the biggest influences on my ethics are my parents. Everyday my parents always try to push me to try to do something new or remind me about my ethics if I do something wrong. My friends also contribute a lot to how I act and how hard I work. Most of my friends push my to do my best and not give up. This is a big influence on me because I am close with my friends so with them always pushing me it really helps contribute to me keeping my ethics that I have.

Hughes Compared to Claude McKay

Claude McKay and Langhston Hughes are both writers and they both have their similarities and differences. The first difference that the two have is the type of way they express themselves in their writings. For example, Claude McKay talks about things in a point of view different from Hughes. Hughes uses personal moments to write his stories while McKay does not. Also McKay writes in sonnets while Hughes doesn’t. Hughes writes in his own style and doesn’t have any specific pattern or style. He writes to what he feels while McKay writes mostly in sonnets. The similarities that the two have is what their topics focus on. Their topics focus on both Africa and slaves. They talk about what they had to go through and also about the moving from Africa to the states. They are also bott able to tell about their own experiences. They both went through a lot of the things that they talk about. Due to going through a lot of different experiences they are able to get into detail and specific facts about things that have happened. Another similarity between the two is what they both had to go through. They both had to go through many different situations of discrimination due to their color. This is also what helps both of them write all of their writings. This is how both Claude McKay and Langhston Hughes are similar and different due to their similar ideas and different writing styles.

Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington

After reading this short excerpt by Booker T. Washington I was able to learn a lot about why he believes African Americans should stay in the south and not go up to the north where everyone was wanting to go. In this excerpt Book T. Washington gives many different reasons and the first reasons is because of the huge amount of people all going there at once. All the African Americans wanted to go up to the north because they felt like they could find much better jobs than they could find in the south. This caused a huge influx of people in the north and all that would o is make a lot of the “good” jobs that the African Americans wanted would soon be taken anyway. Booker T. Washington likes to talk about how in the south there are many of the same opportunities that there are in the north. Just moving to the north wouldn’t solve anything for them because everything they need is in the south. He also likes to talks about how African Americans believe that working in the fields is in a bad thing. He talks about how using your brain isn’t the best thing for everyone and that working in the fields isn’t a bad thing at all. Working in an office works for Booker T. Washington, but he says that it isn’t for everyone. One last example tat he uses to say why African Americans shouldn’t move to the north is because he says that it shows they feel the north is better than the south when in reality they are mostly the same and that working in the fields is not the only thing you can do in the south. These are some of the reasons why Booker T. Washington believes that moving to the north from the south is not the best idea.

Comparing Equiano to Venture Smith

In both stories of Equiano and Venture Smith they both have their similarities and differences. The similarities between the two is first they both live in tribes that they care very much about and for. Also both characters were able to take different characteristics from their tribes. Venture Smith was able to take the trait of being trustworthy from his tribe. Equiano on the other hand took the trait of being cheerful and friendly.

Those are the similarities between the two, but I believe that they have more differences between each other. The first difference between the two is their values. When Venture Smith first leaves his tribe and goes off he proves that he can keep his trustworthiness. Then it all changes when Venture Smith is free and starts buying being with money and starts making them work for him. Venture Smith starts doing this when he gains his freedom and starts to learn about money. This shows he is not trustworthy though because he is buying people and making them work for him and then when they die he just gets mad because he loses money. This shows that he has no values that he learned from his tribe. Equiano on the other hand keeps his values from his tribes and tries to learn more about it. He keeps his cheerful and friendly self. These are all of the similarities and differences between Venture Smith and Equiano.

Values in protest songs

After reading all of the protest songs i am able to point out different values that are present in them. When African Americans used to see protest songs while working it was usually to help pass the time away and also try to make the best out of the situation they had. This shows the value of what life meant to them. Even though they had a horrible situation and they really couldn't do much about it they still tried to make the best out of it. I think that shows a great deal of value for their lives because if they didn't care or have value for their life then they could have just not of worked or ran away or just not even care. For example, in "We Shall "Overcome" they sing about how some day they will all overcome everything they are going through and might actually be thought of as equal. They talk about how they will walk hand to hand which is say that segregation will be no more and they will finally be free. I think this also shows a lot of value towards life because when they were slaves they still didn't want to take the place of whites and beat up on the whites, but rather just become equal with everyone and have peace. This I think shows a great deal of respect and values to people and life. This is what i got from the reading of the songs and what values were taking place.

John Henry Values

In John Henry it tells a story about a young black boy who wants to be the best steel-driving man there ever was. He also doesn't want to do anything else, but steel-driving. He told his mamma that when he becomes a steel-driving man that that is where he is going to die, on the C & O Road. When you think about this the song already starts off with some values because John Henry is completely dedicated to being a steel-driving man. Also another point that helps support this is when he talks about how he will hammer himself to death. This helps show how he will do anything and everything to be the best at steel-driving. Also you cant tell that John Henry's values are a lot different from the white mans in this song because when they get started to do the duel between each other the white man just says he will grab his steel machine while John Henry talks about his trusty hammer and how he will work harder and better than the machine. This shows the values John Henry had over the white man because he was willing to put everything he had on the line and put every ounce of effort towards beating that machine. One last thing that you can see in the values that John Henry had was after the the steel-driving battle he dies because of all the effort that he has put into it. He works so hard for what he believed in that he just completely shut down and died. But before he died he asked for a glass of water and a women in a red dress gave it to him. This all shows how big his values were in life and how he would do anything for them no matter what it took.

Joe mastering time

While Joe is in the hospital for many years he is becoming severely bored and doesn't even know what to do with himself. He cant do anything because he cant see smell or barley move. Keeping tack and mastering time for Joe is a huge accomplishment for him and gives him something to look forward to. For example, because Joe can master time he can give himself something to look forward too, like holidays. When holidays come around in his head he can imagine and pretend that he is truly with his family and his girlfriend that he loved very much. Joe doesn't have anything else to do with his life because all he can do is lay and sleep in a hospital bed. This really helps Joe because he would go insane if all he did everyday was lay in bed and not know what day and time it was. The way Joe is able to keep track of the time is by having the rays from the sun shine down onto his skin. He is able to feel when the first rays hit his skin because he sense of touch has gotten extremely better because all of his other senses are gone. This is how and why keeping track of time and mastering it is so important to Joe and keeps him looking forward to something everyday. 

What is worth fighting for?

In the novel of Johnny Got His Gun Joe thinks there are certain reasons for which you should fight and certain reasons for why you shouldn't fight. Joe believes that you should fight for something that is true to your heart and something you can see. When I say true to your heart I am saying that Joe believes that it that something you are fighting for is worth more than your life to you then you should fight for it. Joe doesn't see any point in fighting for something that doesn't mean more to you than your life. Joe also thinks that you should only fight for something that you can see like a girlfriend or something like that. He believes that if you cant see the thing that you are fighting for then what is the point. One thing that Joe doesn't think that you should fight for is something that is in words. For example, Joe talks about how you shouldn't fight for words like liberty, freedom, or honor. He says this because he himself is not sure what those words mean and if you are not even sure what the words mean then why should you fight for them. These are the reasons for which Joe believes you should fight and why you should not fight. 

The rat

Joe is still in the hospital miserable from all the pain he is in and knowing that he doesn't have any arms or legs. Even though this really frustrates him because he cant really do anything he gets a visitor from a rat. When the rat comes in and visits Joe it sits on his face and starts to chew on it. There are scabs on his face so the rat finds enjoyment in nibbling and chewing on the scabs and scars. The rat comes and goes because it can and nobody is stopping it from coming. The rat represents a couple of different things to Joe. First of all the rat helps joe keep track of time because it comes during the night when the nurses are gone and nobody is around. Then the rat goes away during the day when it is busy and hectic throughout the hospital. This is how the rat helps Joe keep track of time. The rat also represents Joe's time during the war because when the rat keeps bugging him and wont go away it reminds him of being in battle. It also reminds him of being in battle because Joe is helpless due to having no arms or legs so he cant get the e off of his face. Joe not being able to get the rat off of his face represents Joe's troubles throughout the war and how he was helpless. 

The Bakery and Jose

As we read more into the novel of Johnny Got His Gun we learn more about Joe and his memories. One big memory that we learn about is the Bakery. Joe remembers the bakery because that was a time in which he could walk and also had his arms. He remembers walking to and from the bakery doing whatever he needed to do. He remembered that he never even use to think about how grateful legs and arms were. Now all he thinks about is how he wants his legs and arms, which is why he remembers the bakery. Joe also starts talking about how much he admires Jose. Joe admires Jose because he remembers Jose always working as hard as he could and never slacked off. Also he remembers stories that Jose had told him and everyone else, but at the mission nobody would believe other peoples stories because they were all a bunch of lies. This wast true until Jose got a letter from a girl that was the cause of him running away and going to the mission. When he got the letter he showed other people and they all were in aw because Jose was actually telling the truth. This is why Joe admires Jose so much because he works hard and to his full potential and was also the only person who told the truth about why he came to the mission. 

Joe

As we start to read into the novel we meet a guy named Joe. Joe is a very confused and lost character in the novel. Joe doesn't have any arms or hearing. This causes joe to become very unhappy and confused in his life. In a way Joe doesn't even know which side is up and down. Sometimes Joe feels alright and starts to get happy, but the all of the sudden he is hit with the old miserable feeling of feeling terrible and not knowing what is going on. Joe compares this too drowning because both are very similar to one another. For example, when you are drowning you come up for a breath of air which can be compared to Joe feeling better for a little bit. After you come up trying to get air, then you suddenly go back under because you are drowning, which compares to Joe feeling horrible and being confused all over again after finally feeling better. This is how and why he compares his feelings and troubles to drowning, which I find to be very interesting. 

New Asylum

Esther was not liking the asylum she was in at first. She wasn't allowed to do anything and she was starting to get shock treatment which she didn't like at all. Her friend offered to pay for her to go to a new asylum because she once was in an asylum. Esther accepts the offer of going to a new asylum and starts packing. When she gets to the new asylum she automatically loves it and thinks it looks like a fancy clubhouse. There are different sports that you are allowed to play all around the asylum like golf or other sports. Esther also has a lot more freedom than she ever did at the old asylum. For example she is allowed to go out for walks and can also leave her room whenever she wants unlike at the old asylum. Esther is also allowed to go into town if she starts to show improvement, which will be like she is not even at an asylum. Esther is a lot better off being at this new asylum because she doesn't have to feel like a prisoner all day everyday. I also believe this will help her get better unlike being at the old asylum. 

What is wrong with Esther?

There are a few different things wrong with Esther. Esther has a mental disability and is put into an asylum. The people there don't understand what is wrong with her and start to believe that something really isn't wrong. The people there don't help her out at all and it starts to make Esther feel upset because she is not getting any better. Everyday Esther feels the same and doesn't know what to do with her life. This is a big contributer to why Esther wants to kill herself. Another reason why she wants to kill herself is because she finds killing herself a noble thing to do. She doesn't think of anything being wrong with the fact of killing yourself. Esther is also very lonely because she doesn't really have anyone in her life to get her through this tough time in her life. Maybe if she had someone to help her get through this rough time in her life things would be a lot easier for her and she wouldn't want to kill herself. These are some of the reasons why Esther wants to kill herself, there could be more behind it, but these are the reasons I believe she wants to. 

Dr. Gordon

Esther is very sick in her head, but she doesn't realize that anything is wrong with her. He mom send her to Dr. Gordon who helps mentally ill people with their problems. Esther doesn't like him because she doesn't believe that anything is wrong with her. She thinks that she is perfectly fine. She also doesn't believe that Dr. Gordon is helping her at all because she doesn't think anything is wrong with her in the first place. She tries and stops seeing Dr. Gordon, but when she does this all that happens is that her metal illness is getting worse. I believe that if he believed that Dr. Gordon could help her and she accepted the fact that something was truly wrong with her that Dr. Gordon could help her. This isn't going to happen though because Esther doesn't believe that anything is wrong with her. When she doesn't think that anything is wrong with her this triggers everything to go wrong in her head and it just gets worse and worse. If Esther didn't refuse everything her mother says and that Dr. Gordon says she could be healed.

Returning From Boston

When Esther arrives home from Boston she seems very depressed and doesn't know what to do with her life. She seems to be very bored and very lethargic. She doesn't do or go anywhere for awhile, all she does is just sit at home and do nothing. Esther doesn't feel like doing anything and she also doesn't go out and hangout with people or anything social. After awhile a phone rings and it is her friend Jody. While on the phone with Jody we find out that she doesn't get the job and this is why Esther is so down and a part pooper. Marco could have had an effect on her because he was very rude and inconsiderate to her. This did not help to the fact that she already didn't get her job and then she had Marco being very mean. Esther is not very happy with her life and she doesn't know what to do. After awhile she thinks of stuff she can do but all she can think of is maybe going to Germany for a little and trying to learn the language. She is not very sure what she wants to do and this could all be because of not getting the job and Marco being very mean to her. 

Chapters 7-8

In chapters 7-8 Esther is very unhappy about the way women are looked at by other men around the world. Men are allowed to have sex with as many women as they want and are still looked at as being "pure" to other women. This is totally different for women, if a woman has sex with more than one man she is looked at as being not worthy and not very "pure" at all. This really frustrates Esther because she finds it crazy and absurd that men have the right to do whatever they want and women can"t. She doesn't see the difference between a man having the right to be "pure" whenever he has sex, but a woman can't. When Esther finally meets Constantin she wants to have sex with him because she thinks she can actually be worthy to him. When  she meets up with him she thinks that he will try and get with her, but he does the exact opposite from that. When they get together they just hold hands and Esther says this is the happiest moment of her life. Due to Constantin not trying to have sex with her she is very shocked. I find this very interesting because the guys in this novel seem to only seek out for that kind of things. 

First sentence in The Bell Jar

In the first line of The Bell Jar the line talks about the main character Esther and about the Rosenburgs executions. The main character Esther is a very confused character and is very offended by the fact that the Rosenburgs are getting executed. When you read the first sentence of the novel at first I was not sure by the meaning, but after I re read it over again I put things together and realized that Esther is a very sensitive and confused girl and does not know what she wants in life. This is what i took from the first sentence of the novel and I know this is a short blog but I dont know what else to write about. 

Character decision that reflects the 1950's

In the movie Mona Lisa Smile Betty follows everything that she is suppose to do and thinks the role that women play in society is the way to go. In the movie Betty makes a decision where she makes her husband read a poem that he doesn't want to read. Betty doesn't care at first, but when she talks to her mom about it her mom gets furious and tells Betty that she needs to make her husband read that poem. Betty listens to her mom and talks her husband into reading the poem. Her husband reads the poem, which is Betty's favorite poem. The poem is suppose to show how he feels about Betty, but because he is being forced to read it, it shows that there is not real love between the two of them. This is how it was in the 1950's, everything had to go a certain way and people got married just for the heck of it even if there was not true love between the couple. The 1950's were seen to be the perfect time, but in reality it was just a society run by tradition and not but true love. 

Portraying the 1950's

In the film Mona Lisa Smile we see how the 1950's was portrayed. In the 1950's women were expected to do everything for the men. Woman started to go to school, but once they found a boyfriend and eventually got married they were expected to drop out of school and be a stay at home mom. They were expected to work at home all day while the man was at work and then when the man came home she was suppose to make dinner and others things for him. Everything also seemed perfect in the 1950's. People acted like everything was how it was suppose to be, but under it all people were not as happy as their appearance looked. The 1950's was also portrayed as a black and white society. Everything was boring and was suppose to go a certain way and if you didn't follow that way you were looked upon as a sinner and different. The 1950's may have been portrayed as the perfect ideal time in life, but really underneath it all everyone had their own problems and life was not as perfect as it was put out to be. 

Blanche does not approve of Stanley for many different reasons. Stanley is a very violent person and is not very nice to both her and Stella. At one point Stella and Blanche are listening to music in their room while Stanley is playing poker with his friends. When Stella and Blanche put the music on Stanley flips out and runs into their room and hits Stella. When this happens he friends try to stop him, but he starts to fight them. This makes Blanche think that he is too violent for Stella. Another reason that Blanche does not approve is  because Stella used to live in a rich home and family, but now that she lives with Stanley this has all changed. Blanche does not like the place she is living in and how she is being treated. She feels that Stella can do much better than she is doing right now. These are a couple reasons why Blanche does not approve of Stanley with Stella. 

Something new found out

 In scene one we learn about Stanley and how he is married to Stella. We read about how they live in New Orleans and don't live in the best of neighborhood. We don't really know that much about Stanley personally. We find out more about Stanley in the next coming scenes. We find out that he is a fighter and isn't the nicest person to Stella. In the coming scenes Stanley hits Stella and says mean things to her. This is a change from what we new in the first scene to what we found out in scenes 2-3. Another thing we find out is about Blanche. At first we don't know much about Blanche. As we read farther we find out that she is not the nicest person ever. She makes fun of her sister Stella and always says rude comments. These are a few things we learn after reading farther through the play. 

Initial thoughts for new essay

I think that this essay will be very unique and interesting because we have not done any essay like this before. I think it will be a little more challenging because we have never done something like this before and we are not able to have a rough draft. Even though it will be a little harder I still think that I will enjoy it because it is something new. I also like the poem because when you read it you can automatically find similarities in the poem with Willy and Norma. 

Willy and Norma Desmond

Willy and Norma Desmond both have very similar character traits. One of the first things that make both of them very similar is that fact that they used to both be very good at what they did. Willy used to a great door to door salesman and then as he got older he was not as great as he used to be. Norma used to be an amazing actress in silent films, but once sound came into play she didn't act anymore and wasn't the same as she used to be. Not because of her talents, but just because she was getting older. One other thing that Willy and Norma have in common is that fact that they both are a little crazy up in the head. Willy alway has many flashbacks and doesn't have any control over them. In his life he cant control his flashbacks so his flashback take control over his life. Norma is also crazy because she still believes she is an amazing actress and that people still love her when really it is her butler Max who is sending her the fan mail. The only difference is that Norma is kept in control better because of Max where as Willy isn't because Linda doesn't do that well as a job. Either way both character are very similar. 

Willy's Final Action

Willy's final action of the play was killing himself so his family could collect his insurance money. The insurance money would help both pay of debts on the house and then the rest of the money was supposed to go to Biff to use to be successful. Nobody wanted Willy to kill himself, but everyone new he was trying to. When Willy finally succeeded in killing himself he thought of his action as a noble one for his family. That is what Willy cared about the most was always having integrity and being noble. This action did not turn out to be a noble one because more than anything his family missed him. When Willy died the family paid off their debts, but the debts were so low that they could have paid them off soon if Willy didn't even die. All Willy's death did was cause everyone in the family to grief. Nobody cared about the money, Will was more important than money. Biff ended up moving away so he didn't even take the money, which was a big part of why Willy killed himself. Due to all of these reasons Willy's action was not a very noble one because he was missed more than anything and the money didnt help what it was meant to help with. 

Biffs and Willys relationship

Biff and Willy have an interesting relationship from the start of the novel. Willy thinks that his son is very lazy and can't do anything right at some points, but he also believes in his son and thinks he can do anything he puts his mind to. When Biff goes to the hotel and sees his father there he starts to talk to him. He finds out that his dad Willy has a woman in the bathroom because she keeps calling his name. Willy tries to cover it up by making up excuses, but it is almost making things worse when this happens. Biff realizes that is father is lying about not having a woman with him. Biff becomes very upset when this happens because his father is offering this other woman his mothers stockings and Biff cannot believe it. This ruins their relationship because Biff used to look up to his father but after this happened he doesn't have anything to prove or to motivate him. All because of this one moment it ruined their whole relationship. 

Willy's Decision

 In the novel The Death of a Salesman Willy turns down Charles offer of offering him a job at his shop. Charlie offers him the job because Willy has lost his. Also due to Willy losing his job, Willy is worried about the money situation. Without having a job Willy can soon run out of money. When Charlie offers him the job Willy turns it down, not because he doesn't want the job, but because Willy looks at the overall view of dignity. Willy thinks that if her were to take the job offer from Charlie who he always bickers with then his dignity will go down and Willy's dignity is more important to him than having a salary. I believe this is a dumb decision because having a salary and supporting your family is way more important than having your dignity. Sometimes there are pints in life where your dignity is not as important as it usually is or should be. There are some things in life that come before your dignity, which supporting your family is one of them.

Ben and Willy

Ben was not a positive influence on Willy at all. Ben teaches and tells Willy things that are a bad influence on him and Linda doesn't like it at all one little bit. Linda thinks that Ben is a bad influence on Will and doesn't like it when they are with each other because Ben does bad things and Linda cant stand it. Because Linda doesn't like Ben due to his bad influence on Willy so she tries to make sure that they don't get together to hangout or chat about anything because she believes that it can lead to something no good. This is what I understood and took from the reading that I read. Even though Linda finds Ben a bad influence on Willy, Willy doesn't see it so he still talks to Ben. 

The Plan

I do no think that Biff's and Happy's plan will work for many different reasons. First off, Biff and Happy's plan is to talk to their friend Oliver about borrowing money to create a sporting goods store. Both Biff and Happy are not very reliable characters as you read and learn more and more about the two. Starting off with Biff, he is not very dependable. He cant really keep a steady job or even find one. He can also not find a girlfriend because he just is not really that overall great in anyway. When you look at Happy's descriptions, you almost get the same aspects out of him as you do Biff. Happy does have a steady job but still doesnt follow everything through. This is why I find it hard to believe that Biff and Happy will follow their plan through and actually succeed with it. Even though I don't believe that it will work, Happy and Biff's dad do believe and help them by giving them each money.

Willy and Charlie

Willy and Charlie's relationship is mostly just bickering and yelling at each other. They never really have a hear to heart conversation with each other. I also don't think that they care for each other that much either. When Willy and Charlie were playing cards together all they did to each other was harass and make fun of each other. In a way this could be the way they show their emotions to each other, but I believe that Will and Charlie just dont really like each other. When Will and Charlie were playing cards Will dozed off and starting imaging back in time talking to one of his friends and when that happened Charlie was trying to talk to Willy, but Willy was saying things that Charlie wasn't understanding. When this happened Charlie got furious and left Willy to himself talking to himself. I think this just shows how frustrating the two can get with each other. Also if they were really close I don't think they would fight as much as they do. 

Biff and Happy

I think that Biff and Happy are both really odd characters. Both don't really know what they are doing in life and where they are heading. Biff is kind of a lazy person and doesn't have a steady job that he maintains. Biff is made fun of for not having a good job and not being able to maintain one. Happy on the other hand has a good job that he is working towards to becoming the top dog of. Right now he isn't, but he is sticking with his job to become bigger and better. Happy is a lot better than Biff with working and keeping a job. Even though Happy is more independent than Biff they are still both similar in one way. They are both not very reliable or happy. They are not happy because both of them don't have a love in their life or if they get one they cant maintain one. Biff and Happy are very lonely so they move out together and are going to live together. I still don't think that will solve their happiness. Overall I still don't think Biff and Happy or reliable or Happy characters. 

The End

Janie talks non-stop throughout the novel, but at the end when Tea Cake dies she doesn't say much at all. The trial goes on about if Janie killed Tea Cake. Janie doesn't say much I think for one main reason. Throughout the novel Janie is defending herself about if she really loved jody when he died. People doubted that she really loved him so she had to speak up and out to defend herself. Janie also was searching for the love she always dreamed for and she couldn't find it. Because she couldn't ever find the love she really wanted she was always speaking out about it and complaining about the husband she was with and how he didn't treat her the way she wanted to be treated. Finally she found Tea Cake and he treated her the way she always wanted to be treated. She actually loved Tea Cake unlike any of her other husbands. When Tea Cake died she finally didn't have to speak up on how much she loved Tea Cake and she didn't have to prove anything to anyone because inside herself she new she really loved him and she didn't care what anyone else thought about her. This is why I feel Janie didn't speak up at the end of the novel during the trial. 

Chapter 18

In chapter 18 a hurricane starts to brew up. People in the the town don't think much of it, so they all just go on with their nightly things. Janie is at home while Tea Cake is gambling, but then the weather starts to get bad so Tea Cake goes home to Janie to make sure she is alright. The weather gets really bad and the title is used in a sentence. They say that "Their Eyes are Watching God." When they say this they are talking about how they are waiting for the wrath of God to come and do what he is going to do. 

Working with Tea Cake

When Janie and Tea Cake arrive in the Everglades everything is a lot different than before with her other husbands. She works at home all by herself at first and doesn't hate it, but also doesn't love it. One day Tea Cake comes home from work and asks her to work with him on the muck because he misses her everyday he leaves her. Janie agrees to work with him, but only because he doesn't force her. He doesn't come home and say Janie your going to work on the muck with me. He comes home and asks her and she has the decision to. This is different from both of her other husbands. Both Jody and Logan made her work without even asking. This is why Janie is so quick to work beside Tea Cake on the muck. 

The angels

In chapter 9 this parable relates to Janie because of Jody. Jody started out being a good man and husband to Janie. After being together for awhile Jody begins to gradually change over time. Everybody in town finds Jody to be the good person for doing all the good deeds and Janie to not be that good. This turns out to not be the case, Janie is really the good person and this frustrates her. When Jody dies Janie is finally looked as the good rich person instead of Jody. Some townspeople do think that Janie isn't sad that Jody has died, which is true but they think that is really disrespectful. I believe this is how the parable relates to Janie. 

The Mule!

In Their Eyes Were Watching God there is a mule that is kept by a man named Matt Bonner. Matt Bonner's mule is overworked and underfed. The people on the porch always make fun of it because it is bad tempered due to how it is treated. When the mule runs away it gets teased by all of the shop owners and Janie sees this going on. She tells them to stop and Jody over hears her so he buys the mule to make Janie feel better. Janie like this mule I believe because she can relate to it. Janie relates to the mule because just like the mule she feels she is being overworked by her husband Jody. She also doesn't feel respect by Jody because he keeps ordering her do things that she doesn't want to do, just like Matt Bonner's mule. She feels as they both feel each others pain, which is why I feel Janie really likes the mule. 

Jody's New Personality

In chapter five we are able to learn more about the town with all blacks in it. The town is named Eatonville and only consists of fifty acres of land. When Jody and Janie arrive, they ask to see the mayor of the town. There is no mayor of the town so Jody decides to become the mayor because he bought and extra 200 acres for the town. Jody starts improving the town by buying new improvements like buying a street lamp for the town. While being the mayor and having more money than anyone else in the town, Jody starts to let his real personality come out. He becomes very controlling with the town and Janie. For example, he chases a guy out of town just for trying to steal some of his ribbon cane. Jody also has the biggest house out of everyone else in the town making him look better than everyone else and making the rest of the townspeople look like his servants. He also becomes so controlling over Janie that he doesn't allow her to wear her hair down. She is forced to where her beautiful hair up in a bun while she works in the stores. Jody changes everything he said to Janie before when he tells her that every women deserves to just sit on the porch while the man works. But he has Janie working in the town stores with her hair tied up in a bun.  

The last paragraph

The last paragraph in chapter four says they sat on the boarding house porch and saw the sun plunge in the same crack in the earth from which the night emerged. When you first read this you obviously notice that they are talking about how they were sitting on the porch watching the sunset. While watching the sunset it starts to disappear into the night. They use a metaphor in saying that the sun is disappearing to where the night arises. I honestly don't know if there is any other meaning than that, but I think its a pretty powerful metaphor. 

Their eyes were watching god..Ch. 1,2 response

In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie returns to her home after living with the man she ran off with named Tea Cake. When she walks down the road she gets starred at by most of the townspeople. The townspeople all start to assume things about why Janie has returned home. The townspeople assume that the man she ran off with, also know as Tea Cake has left her and took all of her money. They all do think that she is very pretty. This experience is similar to the one she goes through while growing up playing with the Washburn children. While growing up and playing with the Washburn children that were white, she was also made fun of by the blacks for living in the back yard of a white couples house and playing with white people. This is just like when she returns home and is mocked by all of the people on the porch.