Reactions to Jane Eyre

    So far I actually really like this book.  It's a pain to read but I like the challenge of it!

    If I were in Jane's shoes, I would still have left Rochester.  I know that it was hard for her to do that, but it was the right thing to do.  Rochester was already married so it would have been really frowned upon in those days if she stayed with him, and Jane may have even been sent to death.

    I really like the complex story lines and how risky they were in those days.  The thing that I don't like about the book is how long the descriptions are.  I know that that adds a lot to the story and helps "set the mood", but reading them just got really tedious after a while.  Another thing that doesn't really work for me is how long Rochester talks.  He talks so much, it's annoying!

    I think that this book should be taught in College Lit.  The overall theme of all the works that we have been reading has been Coming of Age, and this book, in my opinion, totally fits in.  We get to experience what life is like for a plain, little orphan and how she makes the best of it as she grows older.  Plus, it is more of an advanced read and gets us ready for college level literature.  I think it is a good choice!

Inner Beauty vs. Outer Beauty

Requirements for Outer Beauty Today:
- spray tan
- long, straight, blonde/dark brown hair
- size zero, Hollister jeans
- a low cut shirt to show off your boobies (or lack there of)
- ditsy personality
- crude language

Requirements for Inner Beauty Today:
- show compassion and niceness towards everyone
- open your mind to different ideas

    Today in class we were talking about physical beauty and how women are different now than they were in the Victorian times.  To be honest, I really hated that powerpoint activity, but it actually got me thinking.  I started thinking about what we, as Americans, view as beautiful and what little girls model themselves after.  Is it bad that my mind immediately thought of Jersey Shore?  I mean, any one of those women can fit those stereotypes stated above in the outer beauty column. 
    It makes me sad how much we value looks over morals now.  Most of the celebrities that the little or pre-teen girls pay attention to are terrible rolemodels (and kind of terrible people).  I mean look at Miley Cyrus, Paris Hilton, and for god's sake look at Snooki!  These are some of the most popular women in our country and all of them aren't worth looking at twice.
    My challenge is for anyone who reads this, granted not many people will, is to look at and think about yourself...are you materialistic and petty, or are you willing to open your mind to others and be a friend to your peers.  I know I've made my choice, what's yours?

Harry: a New Version of Jane

    As I was reading the first few chapters of Jane Eyre, I couldn't help but notice the similarities between Jane and Harry Potter.  For instance; both of them have unloving families, both of their parents are deceased, and both of them don't have any other family...that they know of.

    In Jane Eyre John, her cousin, is constantly physically and mentally abusing Jane.  At one point John had said,  "You have no business to take our books; you are a dependant, mamma says, you have no money; your father left you none; you ought to beg, and not to live here with gentlemen's children like us, and eat the same meals we do, and wear clothes at our mamma's expense."  John continues on to throw a book at Jane which cut her forehead open.  In Harry's life Dudley is basically doing the same thing.  Dudley is always talking and acting like he is superior to Harry.  (Dudley is also quite whiny and tempermental like John)  Plus, Dudley and his gang of hooligans always beat up on Harry at school or at the Dursley's house.

    Second, Aunt Petunia and Mrs. Reed are almost identical.  They both believe that their children are angels, they are very bossy and snotty, and they both treat their niece or nephew like garbage.  They are just all around terrible women.

    Another, very obvious comparison between Jane Eyre and Harry Potter is that they are both orphans.  Sure, Jane's parents weren't blasted apart by the most evil wizard in the world, but they too had pretty nasty deaths.

    Lastly, both Jane and Harry are sent off to some sort of boarding school; Jane went to a plain, religious school, and Harry attended Hogwarts where he learned how to brew potions and cast spells -- not much of a difference right?!

    Over the last few days of reading, I could not believe how many similarities there were between these two books!  It's almost overwhelming!  I think I know where J.K. Rowling got her inspiration...

Inspirational Speeches

    This week in class, we watched a motivational speech, and it kind of reminded me of the speeches in The Legend of Bagger Vance.  This movie is really good, and even if someone doesn't golf, they can still find meaning in them.  I would have to say that this is definitely one of my favorite movies to date.
    The Legend of Bagger Vance is about Rannulph Junuh, a professional golfer played by Matt Damon, who had everything going for him and then was deployed to Europe in World War I.  When he came home, no one seen or heard from him again.  He just disappeared.  No one knew if he lived or died.  
    Years later Junuh's ex-girlfriend Adele Invergordon was hosting "the greatest golf tournament in the world" at the golf course that she and her father had built in Savannah, Georgia.  The tournament was going to be played between Walter Hagen and Bobby Jones (two of the most electrifying golfers of the time), and Savannah's own Rannulph Junuh -- the problem was, they had to find him and then convince him to play, which was no easy feet.
    After a few days and lots of yelling, Junuh had agreed to give it a try, but it was harder than he remembered.  Junuh had lost his swing -- that might not mean much to you if you're not a golfer, but to a golfer, that's everything.
    One night Bagger Vance, a traveler played by Will Smith, had walked in on Junuh practicing and offered to be his caddie.  He only requested one thing of Junuh: five dollars guaranteed.  It turned out that Bagger Vance wasn't just a caddie, he was the person that Junuh had been looking for since he came home from the war, he was the voice of reason.  

    I can honestly say that I'm not easily moved by movies, and I don't get very emotional watching them, but Bagger Vance has a way of making even us, the viewers, feel and understand what he is saying.  If you get the chance, rent this movie.  You won't regret it!

  

Disney = God's Gift to Man

       When I was reading the Bottle Caps story, the main character reminded me of myself.  When I was a child, I would collect anything and everything, but my biggest collection by far was my Disney videos.  Ever since I was little, I have been in love with anything made by Walt Disney.  It is safe to say that I own almost every Disney movie known to man -- with the exception of four.
    I remember when I was little, I had to watch Cinderella AT LEAST three times a day.  It was crazy!  Even now as a teenager, I still have to watch my nightly movie!  It was Sleeping Beauty last night by the way...it's okay, I know I'm just a little obsessed.  
    It amazes me how a little thing that your parents introduced you to when you were small can stick with you your whole life.  I can honestly say that without my parents, I would have never gotten into Disney movies like I have.  So thank you Mom and Dad, thank you!

Holden's Loneliness

    "While I was laying there trying not to think, I heard old Stradlater come back from the can and go in our room.  You could hear him putting away his crumby toilet articles and all, and opening the window.  He was a fresh-air fiend.  Then, a while later, he turned off the light.  He didn't even look to see where I was at. 
    "It was even depressing out in the street.  You couldn't even hear any cars anymore.  I got feeling so lonesome and rotten, I even felt like waking Ackley up."

    I chose this excerpt because I think that everyone can relate to this at some point in their lives.  Everyone, I'm assuming, knows how it feels to be lonely and knows how this feeling can eat away at you.

    In my opinion, I think that Salinger was trying to show that even the people who seem to be all together, or the people who don't really give a crap, can still feel sad or lonely sometimes.  I guess he's trying to show that it's not always what's on the outside, you really need to get to know a person to know what they are truly like.

One question that I had while reading this was, if Ackley bothers Holden so much, why does he go over to Ackley's room when he is in need of a friend?

Literature's Depiction of Childhood

    In all of the short stories that we've read, childhood has been a huge theme.  Most of the stories described or presented the adolescents as innocent and naive.  It isn't a bad thing that the children are presented in that way, they're just kids so they can't really help it; they haven't had that much "life" experience yet.  Another common theme I noticed was that all of the characters were stuck in difficult and emotional situations.  Victor had to witness his parents and friends getting drunk and trying to wash their troubles away with alcohol, Cates observed his father flip out towards his mother and a guest (which might not be that much of a stranger at all...), and Connie, well Connie was about to be abducted and possibly murdered.
    There were also differences too.  One of the biggest ones was the characters in the story To Esme With Love and Squalor and the characters in the rest of the stories.  Maybe it was just me, but I didn't feel that this should be included in the packet.  They presented Esme as highly intelligent and snobby.  I guess Connie was kind of snobby too, but I hope you understand what I mean.  I just didn't really see this story as a "coming of age" lesson, it was just a story about a thirteen-year-old girl hitting on an American soldier.

   Some movies that demonstrate adolescents in an interesting way, if you couldn't have guessed from the background of my blog, are Disney movies.  One of the best "coming of age" Disney movies is Peter Pan.  The entire plot of this movie is about the decision between being a child forever or growing up.  At the beginning Wendy's father Mr. Darling tells Wendy that it is time for her to grow up and move out of the nursery, which she shares with her brothers John and Michael.  Soon after, Peter arrives and whisks the children off to Neverland where they are never allowed to grow up!  It's every child's dream!  After meeting the mermaids, learning about the "red-men", and fighting Captain Hook, the time comes for Wendy and the boys to go home.  This disturbed Peter a little because he couldn't understand why anyone would willingly grow up.
    What I had gotten out of this classic tale, was that girls naturally grow up faster, it's in their nature, where as boys tend to be more immature.  I mean, when you look at the main characters of Neverland, they're all male -- Peter Pan, the Lost Boys, and even Captain Hook himself.  It's not a bad thing, but I just noticed how Wendy was a lot more motherly and refined compared to the others.  It is really a good story; I love it!