Hutchinson's Bloggerosa

I would say the most important thing I have learned from this class is how literature is interpreted.  The story, " A Rose for Emily" tells of the once grandiose house that is now an eyesore.  I would have never looked at this house as a symbol of the Old South and how it had faded even down to the color of the house that is not as "pure white" as it once was.  To me, that symbolism is fascinating.

I chose to compare Imani's blog post and I agree with her that many women in modern times now have the opportunity to go to school, work and better themselves.  Staying at home, if they choose to do so, doesnt make them less of a woman but it is good that women in the modern era have the option.  For the male version of the blog, I chose Zachary Reid's post.  Zachary brings up a good point that grandparents now play a major role in helping to raise children due to the fact that more women are entering the workplace and arent staying home to be housewives.

The modern woman of today compared to Nora in the story, "A Doll's House" isn't really that different.  There are many families where the woman of the family doesn't have a job outside the home and the man is the money maker of the household.  There are some families where the husband prefers the wife doesnt work and there are families where the wife is expected to work.  I think Nora likes the idea of not having to work but she knows how to make money when the family needs it. That happens in modern families also.

The best plot in a movie has to be Jurassic Park.  As a lover of dinosaurs, I think this movie is amazing, timeless and still awesome over 20 years after its release date.  To see dinosaurs alive and moving rather than in bone form in a museum, Jurassic Park gives life and personality to the dinosaurs and the chance to see them in person.  Aside from the major setback that results in loss of life for some and total devastation for others, Jurassic Park was still a monumental idea that made for an awesome movie.

My favorite television show is Friends.  The setting of the show bounces between a coffee shop and an apartment.  The settings of the show are important to the story lines because they remain relatively simple and show a sense of community between the friends.  Whether it is the apartment or the coffee shop, both locations are where the plot of the show starts and ends. 

In E.E. Cumming's "next to of course god america i", irony is present in the author's description of the soldiers as "happy dead".  It is only my opinion but I feel that soldiers willingly die for their cause but to say they are happy to do it, goes beyond my realm of understanding and willingness to accept.  The same type of irony is present in the song, "There is a light that never goes out" by The Smiths.  One lines says, "if a double decker bus crashes into us, to die by your side, is such a heavenly way to die."  Again, as sweet as it would be to die with your loved one, a human being would never, in my opinion, look forward to or be okay with dying in such a horrific way even if the love of their life was doing it with them. 

Both the song "Every Rose has It's Thorn" and the short story, "A Rose for Emily" have symbolism in them.  In the song, the rose is something good and the thorn is the something bad that most seemingly perfect things have.  Nothing is perfect and as the lyrics say, "Every rose has it's thorn, just like every night has its dawn. Just like every cowboy sings a sad, sad song, every rose has it's thorn."  In the story "A Rose for Emily", the dilapidated house is symbolic of the fading and dying, old South.  "It was a big squarish frame house that had once been white...".  The house no longer being the high statured house that it once was is symbolic of how the South isn't the same South as it was in years prior.

A flower that doesn't bloom until you are finished looking at it, is what poetry is to me.  Once it has bloomed, I may either like or dislike the finished product.

A metaphor of my life right now could be "whirlwind of emotions".  I have a son who will be a senior in high school next year who will more than likely move away to go to college, I have a son who just joined the Navy who will be leaving January 9th and I have a special needs son with behavioral issues who just came to live with my husband and I full time.  All of these things happening right now have my emotions going in every direction. Never Eat Shredded Wheat, Some coming, some going, All off to their own retreat.

Images can mean different things to different people because we all have different life experiences.  For example, somebody who has traveled the world will have a broader range of imagery than someone who has only read of or seen pictures of different places and different things.  There is more left to the imagination if all you have is a description of something.  Having just returned from a Hawaiian vacation, the poem Windsurfing  has a very vivid image to me because windsurfers were always in the water showing off their skill.  The line, "It rides upon the wrinkled hide..." accurately describes the way the windsurfer seems to just float above and ride on the waves.