Cuckoo's Nest # 4

In the end of this book, Nurse Ratched has won her victory. It unfortunately happened by the death of McMurphy, but she could now be on top and not have to compete with him for the respect received by the men. After I read part three I was left with the thought of how long it would be until McMurphy cracked. When trying to strangle the nurse, I've realized that his time had come. She was taken to a hospital due to the damage McMurphy had caused her. He also had been taken away for his wrong doing, and returned to the ward not able to speak, or move. The exact night he returned, Bromden suffocates him by putting a pillow over his face and then escapes from the ward. He escaped to be reunited with his family and friends. Nurse Ratched finally is able to take over the men of the ward. The loss of McMurphy was a downfall for some of the men, but regained the respect and control for Ratched.

Cuckoo's Nest # 3

Throughout part three of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, McMurphy is determined to gain control. He is basically competing with Nurse Ratched to have control of these men. He isn't trying to control them physically, he is just trying to help them for more relaxed while being a patient at the ward. He plans a "fishing" trip for himself and some of the other men at the ward and tells them that his aunt would be attending. He then shares with Bromden that it would be two "whores" coming along, not his aunt. However, one of them was recently married unknowingly to McMurphy's knowledge which was a bit of a let down for him and the guys, but there was still Candy Starr. Candy Starr and McMurphy reunite when she arrives at the ward to prepare for their trip. Every guy in the ward's eyes were glued to her when she walked in considering how beautiful she was. McMurphy sticks by these guys and tries his best to help them feel better about themselves. To him, this trip will boost their confidence since the prostitute would give them all the attentiong they've been longing for. He is trying to his full ability to be strong for these men, even though he is mentally sick as well. Nurse Ratched is trying very hard to get above McMurphy, but the men in the ward respect the both of them just from different perspectives. The Nurse scares the patients rather than pick up for them like McMurphy does. She tries to end the trip when she confronts McMurphy about pocketing some of the money that the men have given him for the trip. This still doesn't bring him down. He covers it up by saying it was for gas money, which isn't remotely believable, but still gets him away with his plan. McMurphy seems to me to be the strongest character in this book so far. But I'm starting to wonder how much longer it will take until he cracks. I feel as though there is only so much you can do and say before you are overwhelmed by your own problems and situations.

Cuckoo's Nest # 2

Through out part two of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest a lot happens. You learn a lot more about many characters, especially McMurphy. He seems to "open" up, but to a side that we don't learn about in Part one. I sensed a change in his personality and attitude as I read along. His actions and ways do however, gain him respect around the ward. The patients look up to him for opening his mouth when no one else would dare to. He speaks his mind, regardless of the consequences. From day one McMurphy has added a little spice to the ward. McMurphy does however stir up a few questions to me as the reader. I feel as though his rebellious ways have rubbed off on the other patients. By him voicing his opinion and speaking his mind, the other patients are doing so as well. Since McMurphy was basically a threat to the ward, he was always there to back up another patients story or complaint. However, when Cheswick complains that he "wants something done" about his cigarette limitations to the nurse, McMurphy doesn't chime in to back him up like he usually would. This causes Cheswick to be put into the "disturbed" section of the ward. Ironically enough, the situation "disturbs" him and leads to his tragic death. It is looked upon as an accident, but knowing the story behind it as the reader, I'm aware that he did not "accidentally" drown.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

I think this book is a good choice to read as we come to an end of our senior year. At this time most of us are anxious to get out into the real world, and this book portrays many real world problems and situations. I feel as if when books are more vulgar it keeps younger students more interested and involved. The fact that the story basically takes place in this Psych Ward gives an idea of the type of people we will be coming across as the story goes on. Just from basic knowledge, or maybe experiences or real life situations, we can relate to this place and the people that are in it.

I think Chief Broom is a very distinct and interesting character in this book. The way he describes things in the book really gives me a visual image of what he is feeling at that exact moment. He is always going into far detail about a past memory that something has reminded him about, or just explaining something with every possible detail you need to visualize it. Also, the way he pretends that he is "deaf and dumb" makes him very interesting as well. The act he puts on is smart in a way, because he can always hear how people feel about him and what they are saying. However, his actions portray him as stupid because he does not talk. This causes some people to act different toward him, but it doesn't necessarily affect Chief Broom. Since we know how he is thinking and feeling, as the reader we know when he is bothered, afraid, or just having a vivid memory.

Besides the story line, many of the characters are what make the book so interesting. All of the different personalities and differences they have keep the reader wanting to learn more. Shakespeare on the other hand usually loses our focus as young readers. Kesey does an excellent job at keeping the reader wanting more and involved in the book.

Additional Blog for Play

I enjoyed the Lantern Theater's version of Hamlet because of the enthusiasm that the actors/actresses had. I'm not much of a reader, especially in terms of Shakespeare so watching the play helped me to follow along better and gather a better understanding. It was hard for me to read the play because I kept finding myself losing concentration and not following along. This resulted in me having some confusion about the play. The man who played Hamlet was awesome. The energy he had kept me involved and excited. He never once lost energy or bored me. Also, Ophelia was an interesting character to me as well. I think it seemed very hard to portray someone who has lost sanity, but she was very well at it. Both her and Hamlet were very interesting characters throughout the entire play. The admiration that they have for Shakespeare was clear to the audience. The director must've had no problem casting those parts.

Hamlet - Acts 3,4 & 5

After finishing reading these three scenes, one thing that stood out to me was how Hamlet acts in such a "crazy" matter throughout all of the scenes, and play for that matter. His thoughts and actions seem to worsen as the play goes on. Three topics that follow through these scenes are love, death and suicide.

In Act three, Guildenstern and Rosencrantz are supposed to figure out why Hamlet is acting so insane for the King and his mother, but they fail to do so. Ophelia's father, Polonius tries to prove that the reasoning behind Hamlet's actions is due to the strong love he has for Ophelia. During this act love and suicide are both demonstrated together. It is thought that Hamlet is talking of suicide because of his love for Ophelia. He speaks of these suicidal thoughts not realizing he is being spied upon by Polonius and King Claudius. His thoughts and word concern both of them and King Claudius tells his mother, Queen Gertrude, that she should talk to him privately and attempt to figure out what has brought these thoughts and feelings to him.

In Act four Hamlet's actions lead him to kill Ophelia's father, Polonius. Death plays a strong role in this act. After he kills him, King Claudius says that Hamlet is to be shipped to England as soon as possible. This is because he is too well known in Denmark to be punished severely, so he must send him away. However, King Claudius has secretly told England to murder Hamlet when he arrives. The death of Polonius has driven Ohpelia to become insane.

In Act five, Ophelia's death is questioned on whether it was an accident or suicide. She had drowned, but due to her insanity it was unsure if she had done it on purpose. However, the coroner says that it was accidental, which allows her to have a proper burial. Many are upset over her death, especially Laertes. Him and Hamlet cause a scene at her burial. This is also another demonstration of death, suicide and love.

The love Hamlet has for Ophelia causes him to act in odd ways. The love Ophelia has for her father who was murdered by Hamlet causes her to lose sanity and her life as well. It was interesting to me how three simple topics could lead to such detailed acts and plot.

Hamlet - Post #2

After reading Act II of Hamlet, I was able to take a lot in from it. One of the main things were the pattern that he uses throughout his play that I noticed. In Act one he focuses on Vision, Perception, and Belief. In Act two he focuses on Tragedy, Love, and Greed. This helps me to read the text and take in what is needed in order to understand what is occurring during the scene. For me, these three main focuses keep me interested because as the reader I depict which scene or action matches up with the main focus he has given us. It is interesting to me that the simplest concepts can be broken down into such detailed sections. The way they all tie into eachother is also interesting to me as the reader. Having read many of Shakespeare's plays before, I have noticed his pattern in doing this in most of his plays. I think that is a wonderful way to keep the reader tied in with the play, because by using these everyday issues, people relate to them. His way of portraying these concepts keeps me as the reader interested, and it was what stuck out to me the most.

As I mentioned in my first Hamlet post, I sometimes have trouble staying on topic. Keeping your eyes open for any point you notice me going off into another topic or just not sticking to the topic would be what I ask everyone to look for. Also, in both posts I sometimes have trouble with grammar. Not as much as switching topics, but you could also look out for that.

Hamlet Post

The first two scenes of Hamlet weren't very informative to me as the reader. However, in class Mr. Fiorini explained how every bit of text in this play has a purpose behind it. The way Shakespeare sets the play up is somewhat confusing to me, because it doesn't give much for the reader to analyze. Besides reading the page where it explains in detail who all the characters are, I got a better description of some of them as I read the first two scenes. Hamlet, a teenage boy, and the Prince, has lost his father who is known as "Old Hamlet". He is trying to cope with the fact that his mother, Queen Gertrude has moved on so quickly, not to mention the man she is now married to is his father's brother. King Claudius took the throne when his brother died, and is now both Hamlet's father and uncle. It is obvious from the text that Hamlet isn't very fond of his uncle. Also, he nearly despises his mother for her actions, considering he is in mourning due to his fathers death. How she could move on so fast and to his own brother is something Hamlet cannot understand. The fact that Hamlet is determined to seek revenge on his uncle for taking his fathers life, pushes him away from both his mother and uncle. The two scenes that I read so far weren't extremely detailed, but gave me enouugh information to understand what was going on and to lead up to what will happen next. They mainly focused on how Hamlet was feeling about the situation with his mother and uncle, and how he was coping with his fathers death. Shakespeare has set up the play so that we are now aware of the conflict, and are prepared for what will happen next.

I would like other viewers to focus on how I stay on topic. Sometimes when I write I get nervous that I'm going off into other topics and it starts not making sense. Focusing on that and leaving any questions or comments to help me fix any problems that you can pin point is what I'd ask of my classmates and/or Mr. Fiorini.

Kubla Khan

1] The poem "Kubla Khan" is definately celebrating imagination. The way Coleridge describes the images in the poem helped me as the reader to envision this place he was talking about. He describes the river, gardens and all of the naturistic things he mentions in full detail which enables the reader to really imagine it. I feel as though Coleridge is trying to reach out to the reader's imagination in general due to all of the description and imagery he is using.

2] After reading Shelley's poem, Ozymandias, I was able to depict three voices. All three are describing the scene of the poem in different ways, but all relating to one another. They describe the statue of Ozymandias after it has been destroyed, and the depressing sense that people are being filled with. I was left with a sense that Ozymandias was some sort of leader, considering the statue was made of him. However, the destruction of the statue lead me to believe that he did not have victory of whatever he had been leading. The tone of all three voices expresses who Ozymandias was and what he was looked upon as.

The Chimney Sweeper

1] After reading both poems from The Chimney Sweeper from the Songs of Innocence and The Chimney Sweeper from the Songs of Experience, I agree that Blake's poems appealed to the imagination of the reader. Since the poems were from two completely opposite points of view, I had different perspectives about them. At the very start of the Songs of Innocence, I developed an emotional sense for the little boys at work. The poem seems to have the effect on people have sympathy for the two boys. However, when the boy dreams about Heaven, as the reader I gained an uplifting emotion that the boys would live a better life one day. The other poem, Songs of Experience, doesn't have the same effect on me, but relates to the Songs of Innocence. Unlike Songs of Innocence, this poem doesn't get uplifting at any point. It describes the horrible life this boy has to live in which he is forced to live there and do things he doesn't want to. Both poems are about young boys who are deprived of important needs, however the Songs of Innocence leaves the reader with a sense of hope for the boys, when the Songs of Innocence leaves you feeling bad for the young boy.

2] I think the purpose of this document was to show the reader that even though these characters were fictional, child labor is a real problem that children face in their lives. It gave me a sense of the tragic lives that young children, such as these boys in the poems, have to deal with and face everyday. It helped me to envision it in my mind as a real image of what goes on during child labor. It brought me as the reader, a sense of sadness because it showed how real it is. However, I thought it was a good idea to add the Parliament document because it helped me, and probably the other readers, to imagine what children go through.

Gulliver's Travels

A] 1. Why do the lilliputians capture Gulliver and pin him to the ground?
- I feel as if this would be a general question a class may want to know. They capture him and pin him down because they are confused on who he is. They aren't aware if he will try to hurt them. Also, the fact that he is so big scares them.
2. Despite the size of the lilliputions, why didn't Gulliver react to their attack?
- I think that Gulliver was just as confused as the lilliputions were when they saw eachother. The fact that there were so many of them may have scared him away from reacting. He probably wasn't aware of what they could do to him, even being as small as they were.
3.Why was Gulliver asleep on this ground in the first place?
- This question generates ideas that a class may have. It can be opened up to a broad discussion about why he may be sleeping there in the first place. If this is such an unknown land to him, then why would he be there? It develops ideas to talk about in a class and teaching discussion.
4.Why didn't the lilliputians instantly kill Gulliver when they first saw him?
- I think maybe because they were curious about him. Considering they were all so small, they had never seen someone as big as him. However, how were they sure that he wouldn't hurt them as soon as he awoke? This question also develops a broad classroom discussion.
5. Why do they have the lilliputians speak another language, and why don't they explain the meaning right after?
-I think they have them speak another language to tell the difference between them and Gulliver. They might not translate it right away because they want the reader to continue reading and figure out the meaning from the surrounding words. It keeps the reader interested and involved in the reading.

B] The story didn't make much sense to me when I began to read it, but I wrote down any questions I had as I went on. It started to make more sense as it got to the end, so most of my questions were answered. By working with Christina and making the teaching chart, it helped me to learn how to teach a class. By writing down both of our thoughts, opinions and questions, it made it easier on both of us to understand the story. Obviously, neither of us are teachers, but we taught eachother by using our own thoughts and questions. This prepared us for our lesson to teach the class this week.

C] When we prepared our lesson, we started by writing questions that we think the class will have. When we teach the other group we are assigned to we will use those questions we prepared, but open it up to a broad discussion and allow the students to share their thoughts and ideas. If the disagree with something we have written down, we will allow them to share what they are thinking so that it is easier for them to learn more. Hopefully the presentation leaves the students with a sense of what we learned from the story. We will ask them to give their personal input, whether it be an idea, or even a different way to bring the topic about. We hope to teach these students as much as we learned preparing it.

1984 - final

The passage quoted by O’Brien is significant in many ways to the story. Nineteen eighty-four was set up as a society where everything was perfect and nothing could go wrong. Everyone was controlled by the people of the party and demanded to follow their rooms or else. The most important aspect of this “or else” is that no one quite knew what it was. The whole idea of the society was to maintain an oligarchical collectivism. The reason for this is because of the fact that it allowed them to control those who lived in this society in any which way they wanted. However, the people of the society allowed this oligarchical collectivism go on, which is how and why it continued to exist. They were so unsure of what their fate may be that they did not want to go against the Party. The questioning between if their fate was already planned for them without their knowledge or if they truly have the choice to chose the path they want to follow was always lingering in people’s minds. Winston’s fate was already known from the very beginning of the story.
When O’Brien states “When you delude yourself into thinking that you see something, you assume that everyone else sees the same things as you” he is describing how Winston lives in this society and what his life is like. When Winston met O’Brien, he immediately sensed a connection between the two of them. Orwell states “Much more it was because of a secretly held belief - or perhaps not even a belief, merely a hope - that O’Brien’s political orthodoxy was not perfect.” This quote meant that Winston sensed hope in O’Brien about having the same feelings toward the party as he did. Having such a hatred for party, lead him to believe that others felt that same hatred as well. By others he really meant O’Brien. Winston began to trust O’Brien considering they shared the same feelings, however he didn’t realize what was soon to happen to him. He starts to believe that everyone is believing the same things he does and has the same feelings, when in reality he was alone. The trust that he felt in O’Brien was the fall of Winston’s character. Once he began to trust O’Brien, there was nothing that could stop him from seeing Julia. By him seeing Julia, it lead him to make foolish mistakes that lead him to be torn apart. The trust he had in O’Brien was nothing. In fact, O’Brien was the bait that the controlling party used to get to Winston and it all faults in Winston’s foolish actions.
At the end of the book Winston’s fate once again plays a large role. When O’Brien says “You must humble yourself before you can become sane" he is stressing to Winston that in order to live with himself he must learn to live with the society first. He needed to learn to accept the person he had become before he could truthfully become that person. For Winston to live in the society without a constant struggle, he has to understand the societies thoughts and feelings. Rather than fighting against society, he must realize that it is just easier to make peace with the society and the people who control it. He has the choice of just giving in and being like everyone else or to still try and continue to go against them, but at the end of the story he realizes what needs to be done. “He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.” He finally allowed himself to be a part of the society. For so long he tried to be different from the world around him which only gave him problems in the long run. He finally stopped fighting against them and decided to fight with them.
Through these acts, the society was able to form an oligarhical collectivism into allowing the people to only believe what the party believed was the truth. The people of the society put up no argument and were completely fine with this act. “War is peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength” the slogans in which the society was built upon. The people are so used to thinking that was is peace, that when there is no war, to them there is no peace. The Party uses that slogan so that they are able to keep the people in the society under very strict control. They are always worrying about what is happening in the war that it doesn’t open them up to details about different things. The question “why?“ does not exist to these people. Even when they have to ration their food, they believe that this is okay because the war is going on. By doing this the society is able to manipulate the minds of the people in to believing whatever they want them to believe. That is such a strong tactic because if they decide to go against this, they aren‘t aware of what will happen to them, just that it will be bad. “You are here because you have failed in humility, in self-discipline”. This is the beginning of the speech that O’Brien says to Winston. They feel as though they must be looked upon as an example of disciplined people and that is what the society decides to make of Winston.
The Party decides the fate of everyone that lives with in their society. There truly is no such thing as “Big Brother“, but he acts as a figment so that the party is able to have more control. Since no one has every actually seen Big Brother, it adds more to the illusion. The party decides the fate of their people because they are able to see everything they do. “But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to.” They knew of every move that was made by every person, which also leads to the fate of Winston. Winston’s fate wasn’t just determined due to the few mistakes that he had made through out the book, but they knew from the moment that they had seen a change in Winston that he was going to be torn apart. There are certain people with in this society that will always be around due to the fact that they are either not intelligent enough to think out side of the box, or simply smart enough not to show it. Winston thought that he was able to be smart enough not to show it, but he did realize that the simplest malfunction could lead to the destroying of his fate and that is exactly what happened. The party waited and watched him, and with just the simple mistake that Winston made, his fate was decided.

What interested me the most about this book was how people lived without freedom. It showed me how different things were compared to now. I can't imagine living such a confined life to where having personal thoughts and opinions was committing a "crime". The people were only allowed to believe what the people of the "party" believed, anything other than that was a crime. I've never even heard of "thoughtcrime" until this book, which is of course because it doesn't exist. However, my thoughts of the word itself would have gotten me locked away in the "Ministry of Love". The factor of control also plays a big role in this book. The party of Oceania had control over every aspect you can think of. As I mentioned before, the people were demanded to live this “confined” life that the party had control over. Anything from a document all the way to an event from past times was not allowed to be carried along throughout their lives. The reasoning behind this was to delete the past and all memories from each person’s past. In was in full affect for all the people of Oceania which left them forgetful and confused about the past they once experienced.
Also, the poem interested me too. The poem written by Orwell speaks of these "dreams" that he doesn't believe in. I always have some belief that dreams do come true, in some cases at least. He thinks all of the good things in life are just dreams that he will never experience. I feel as if both my explanation about freedom and about how you should follow your dreams link together. If you have the freedom you deserve, you are more likely to experience more things then a confined person whom can't express their personal opinions and thoughts. The word freedom is even a dream in some peoples cases. I think freedom drives you to dream, which is why these tie in with each other.
I feel that all three of these factors relate to one another in different ways. They all lead up to one another in someway. By being under complete control which doesn’t allow you to remember your past, will effect the way you portray dreams and experiencing them. Without the freedom that you need, dreams will be portrayed more as fantasies rather than a goal to reach. I believe these are put in the book to appreciate the things we have in life and follow your dreams.