IOP Journal 4

Now that I have started looking at Janie's house with her new husband Jody, there seems to be a connection again from the house to the husband. This connection seems to be the prominent one, and I wonder if it will hold for Tea Cake. Jody is sort of a rich, powerful black man that seems to be a "white" black man. The house is similar in that it is so nice and extravagant that it is almost like a "white" house. It is described as making all of the other houses look inferior, just as Jody does to the other townsfolk. This is also like Janie and Jody's relationship which is portrayed by them as a good marriage, but in reality it is pretty bad.

IOP Journal 3

As I read on, in Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie has just married Logan Killicks. She speaks more about his sixty acres than himself, as does Nanny. Nanny is always talking about how great the sixty acres are, and how Janie is going to get the life that she or her mother never had. Nanny says that Logan means protection, which seems to mean that the land is actually what is providing her with protection. The land is making it so that she is financially stable, and therefore is providing protection. Nanny seems to like the land more than Logan, and Janie seems to hate both. There seems to be a connection between Logan and the house.

Blood Wedding Journal 3

This journal connects to a previous one from The Wild Duck. As I mentioned in the previous journal, there is a trend in deaths in all three books. In all of the plays there is a death in the end. Death itself is a trend throughout the tragedies. So far there has always been a death, whether it was Jocasta, Hedvig or the Bridegroom and Leonardo. Another trend that I noticed about death itself in each of the books was that it did not affect the primary character that the play was about. There were significant characters that died however, and one could even argue that in Blood Wedding, the Bridegroom is a primary character, but in reality the main character is the Bride, as most of the story surrounds her, more than the Bridegroom. Not only was it not the primary character that did not die, but the primary character is not the most likable in the story, and the character who dies has been if the not most likable character, has been much more so that the main character. In Blood Wedding, the Bride is the main character, and she is not characterized for the reader to like her. She is moody, and rude to those around her. Her actions are not honorable, she lies, and intends to cheat. The Bridegroom however is the opposite. He is characterized as opposite of the Bride. He is trusting, as he believes the Bride when she tells him that she has never been engaged before. He is also the victim to her leaving him.

IOP Journal 2

As I reread the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, I am convinced more than ever that the homes are significant and mean something. There is a lot of description of Janie's home growing up. She describes a lot living with the "white folks" and also about the place that Nanny saved up and bought for them to live on. The land and homes are important in Janie's lives as she talks about them a lot, as she tells her story to Phoebe. Maybe the homes represent what part of Janie's life she is in.

IOP Journal 1

My original idea for my iop was to look at what was going on historically and try to find connections in the book, Their Eyes Were Watching God. As I though about the story more, I noticed that there seems to be a personality to the different places that Janie moves to during her life. There is definitely a significance to the places, and further investigation will be necessary to determine what is the significance. Until then, I will reread the novel, and look for clues and insight into what these locations represent and how they contribute to the complex ideas in the story.

Blood Wedding Journal 2

In act 2, the character of the bride was characterized a bit more. Before, she had acted a bit weird, but the reader did not know much about her character. Act 1 had been mostly about the bridegroom, and a bit about Leonardo and his wife, but not much about the bride. She is very selfish which is shown through her response to the maid when she is talking about her wedding. The stage directions are things such as "severely" and "gloomily." She seems to be not very happy, and she is also not very kind. She acts cold to the bridegroom when he comes up and hugs her, and she is rude to the guests. The only person that she was always kind to was the mother. She invited her to stay the night, and when the maid was giving her biscuits, she told her to give her several dozen. For some reason, the girl likes the mother.

Blood Wedding Journal 1

Since there are so few words in the play, I looked at the different parts of the play as symbols. There is a contrast between the bridegroom's and the bride's homes and families. The bridegroom comes from a vineyard where there is fertile soil, and the crops are thought of as luxurious and also make vine. The bride lives on a farm too, but the soil is very bad, and they are hardly able to grow hemp. Hemp is not thought of as luxurious like grapes are. It does not need much water or nutrients to grow like grapes.

Another thing I noticed was the mother's obsession over weapons. When the bridegroom asks for a knife to cut some grapes with, she becomes upset and goes off about the death of her husband and son. This happens frequently, and she cannot seem to let go. She is the only one with anything against weapons that we have seen so far.

The Wild Duck Journal 4

There is a foil between the characters, Gregers and Relling in the play The Wild Duck. This foil is used to represent two opinions of whether the truth rules all, or if it is sometimes better to lie. Gregers is a firm believer in the truth. In act 1, he asks his father about the truth, and decides that it will be he job to tell Hjalmar the truth that his father has been keeping from him. Relling is the opposite of Gregers. Relling is always lying to people in order to save their happiness. He believes that if a lie can bring happiness, then it is worth more than the truth. In act 5, Relling tells Gregers that the way he treats Hjalmar's "sickness" is to, ". . . keep up the life-lie in him." He thinks that a way to treat someone's unhappiness is to lie to them. The foil is shown most in their conversation about Hjalmar's "sickness," but is also shown in the end after Hedvig's death. The two men argue about what will happen to Hjalmar in the future. Relling thinks that the death will bring only temporary, superficial greatness in Hjalmar, where Gregers believes that the death will change Hjalmar for the better.

Tracking Journal

The Wild Duck Journal 3

In both Oedipus and the Wild Duck, I was not that fond of the main character in the play. Oedipus was both overconfident, and condescending to the other characters, and lacked respect for even the gods. Hjalmar is not much different. He is ungrateful, and rude. When he walks into his home after the dinner party, he is very demanding from his wife and daughter, and does not show them too much kindness. He is more kind to his daughter, but shows a complete lack of respect and appreciation for his wife. He waits on him and does whatever he asks. When he asked for lunch, he demanded that she make what he wanted, and that she make some for his friends. He asks her to do his work for him, and does not even thank her. It was very selfish of him to react the way he did to the new that Gregers gave him about Gina and Werle. After all that she had done for him, and that he had put her through, he had no right to react the way he did over something that happened in the past. Even when he plans to move out and leave Gina, he still eats the food that she prepares for him.

The author adds to the effect of the tragedy by making the main character unlikable. The characters see the bad things unfold, while it is the likable characters that suffer. Jocasta, though her actions were not very nice, was made to be liked by Sophocles. She was the character that ended up killing herself in the end. In The Wild Duck, Isben kills the arguably most likable character in the play, Hedvig.

The Wild Duck Journal 2

The metaphor of a wild duck seems to describe several of the characters in the play. Hjalmar is one example of who could be considered a "wild duck." He does not know that his wife was with Werle and so Greger's moving in to save the family is one way the metaphor is shown. Hjalmar can also be considered a wild duck because of how Werle saved him by paying for his photography lessons. Hjalmar is incapable of saving himself, and he is put through many perils. All of the other characters are always "saving him."

Another character that could be considered a wild duck is Old Ekdal. He can no longer take care of himself, and he has been shamed by a scandal. People are always whispering about him, and he is characterized as a quirky, if not a bit crazy. Hjalmar tries to save him from his problems. He moves him into the loft, and surrounds him with animals so that he can hunt, and feel like he is back in his glory days. Hjalmar does thing that would not be considered usual so that his father will feel better. Also, Hjalmar's life goal is to build the invention so that the Ekdal name will be restored, and his father will no longer be gossiped about.

Wild Duck Journal 1

What i noticed most in tonight's reading was the importance of relationships in the play. So far, the entire play has been about relationships. There has been much attention on the strained relationship between Hjalmar Ekdal and his father. The relationship is not very good, as Hjalmar is embarrassed by his father. The relationship between Gregers and his father is also a strained one. Also, the major twist that has so far been revealed was that Hjalmar's wife had worked for Gregers' father, Haakon Werle and also had an intimate relationship with him. Another major plot development was that Old Ekdal and Werle used to work together, and were friends, but now Ekdal had taken a major fall on the societal ladder because of a scandal involving both of the men, however Werle got off easier than Ekdal. Now the two are no longer friends. Not much of a plot has happened other than the story of the character's relationships. Since Modernism focuses on real, tough, life, perhaps the story will be about the toughness of relationships.

Oedipus Question #2

Would Oedipus' fate have been realized if he had not been sent away by Jocasta?

Oedipus Question #1

Was Jocasta's attempt to prevent Oedipus from finding the truth from the shepherd because of her concern for her own reputation, or was she trying to protect her husband/son from being hurt by the truth?

Oedipus Journal 4

The end of Oedipus shows how important honor is to the characters. Oedipus is humiliated by what has happened with his mother and father, and in response to this, he blinds himself. This is so that he cannot see anyone, even after death when he joins his mother and father. He wishes a better fate for his daughters, and goes along with being exiled. He wants to be exiled because he is humiliated by what has happenned to him.

Oedipus Journal #1

The point of view in the story changes, depending who is on the stage. You see the play as an outsider looking in, and therefore can learn parts of the story that other characters do no know about. When Tiresias tells the audience that Oedipus is the son and husband of Jocasta, and that he killed Laius, who was also his father, this is something that Oedipus does not know. The story is not told by Tiresias, but we hear his personal thoughts. Tiresias is not seen again, so the story is not told from what he knows. Oedipus is in most of the scenes but the story is not told from his point of view either, as there are scenes that he is not in. The change in point of view makes it so that the audience can be more informed than the some of the characters, creating dramatic irony.

Oedipus Journal #3

Creative Response: A Diary Entry By Laius

Dear Diary,

Today my wife, Jocasta gave birth to a baby boy. The prophet sensed a very dark future ahead for the child, forecasting that he would eventually kill both of his parents. Though I do not want to give up a possible future king, a prediction such as thing should not be taken lightly. The Gods are vengeful, and always find a way to get their way. My wife thinks that we should send the child away to be done away with, but I am more hesitant. Choosing between the love for a child that has just been born, and the love for a wife that I have known for years, should not be so difficult. In the end however, I will probably have no choice in the decision. When Jocasta gets an idea, there is no stopping her from realizing it.

- Laius.

Oedipus Journal #2

How does the background information on Greek Theater and History inform your reading of Oedipus?

Knowing the history of the Greek Theater really helps me understand the play as a play rather than a novel. Sometimes when you read a play, it is hard to picture it as it was intended. Knowing more about what the Theaters looked like, and what type of people were acting in the parts makes it much easier to imagine the lines being read, as a performance. It's also interesting to picture Jocasta, who is a woman, being played by a man. Usually, when a man plays a woman's part, in today's culture, it is to stir up laughter in the audience. In the tragedies, it is not for comedic purposes.

In the play, the Gods play a major role in the characters lives. When learning about how the Gods affected the people in Greece during the time the plays were written helps me understand the importance the the characters place on the Gods. The Gods have control over the characters, and are also vengeful. If the character does something to upset the Gods, that character will live with a punishment for the rest of their lives, like how Oedipus was destined to kill his father and marry his mother.