The Rape of the Lock

I think this poem is a bit ridiculous. It is so crazy that the whole time you are reading it, and trying to understand it, you are also trying to find metaphorical meanings to it because it could not possibly be about something as simple as it actually is. The rape of the lock is a lock of a girl's hair that was cut off. I do not think I would go so far as to call that rape. Nor would I attack someone over it. Do not get me wrong, I like my hair, but it is just hair. It will grow back. Belinda, whose hair was cut, came across as very conceited. She thought so highly of herself, she could not bear the thought of being imperfect. Which is why she freaked out when her hair was cut. The Baron, who cut her hair, was a jerk. You do not just chop someone's hair off for a good time, especially if you know that it will make that person very upset, or in Belinda's case, angry. I guess what I am getting at in this blog is that the poem was very exaggerated.

Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane

I am not a huge fan of poetry because, most of the time, I do not understand it, but I thought this poem was actually kind of interesting. From what I understood, Hard Rock was a bad guy, so he underwent a lobotomy to try to change that. Everyone thought it was a success since he stopped doing bad things, when really it mentally impaired him. This poem had to have taken place a long time ago because people do not get lobotomies anymore. We know the consequences of them and that they do not work. Even though it creeps me out, I find all the stuff that they used to do in the hospitals for the criminally insane fascinating. To think about some of the things that they used to do to people just blows my mind. It almost seems stupid to us now that they actually thought they were helping people by doing that stuff. Then again, it also makes you think about what if people in the future find some of the things that we do stupid because we are not actually helping anyone or anything. I am sure they will, but we learn from our mistakes.

The Mums

I am going back to a story we read quite a few weeks ago because we have not read anything new the past couple of weeks. This week I want to talk about "The Mums". I felt bad for the woman in this story. Her life seems pretty crappy. I think on the inside she knows this too, but she just tries not to think about it and keeps it bottled up inside. Seeing her mums on the side of the road, though, was the final straw. She just kind of broke down and let her true emotions show somewhat (she still did not let her husband see her crying). I hope I never end up, unhappily married, like her. I wish she would have tried to voice her opinions and feelings sometimes. I think that could have made a difference because her husband seemed like a nice guy that would at least take her words into consideration. Whether or not he acted on them, would be another story. Maybe if they made some changes, she would not feel the need to try to feel up a stranger's leg. I still cannot believe she fell for that guy's lies.

The Glass Menagerie (Part 2)

Now that I have finished reading this play and we have discussed it in class, it makes more sense. So I wanted to blog about it again this week since I understand it more, and I have a different perspective on it. Apparently, the title The Glass Menagerie is not necessarily referring to Laura's collection itself, but to the characters in the play as the glass menagerie. They are fragile like glass. This is not what changed my perspective on this play, however. What really changed my mind about it was when I started thinking about it as a memory play. Tom was just thinking back to all of that stuff happening. Sometimes you remember things differently than how they actually were. Therefore, Amanda may not have actually been that annoying, and Laura may not have been that crippled (both in the physical limp and shy sense). Also, he was not even in many of the scenes, so how did he know what really happened? I thought this made the play more interesting because it was no longer just a simple play about a family and their problems. It became a story with possibilities. It got me thinking...

The Glass Menagerie

Okay, so I have not finished reading this yet, but I decided I wanted to blog about it now anyways. I cannot make up my mind whether or not I like this play. Part of me thinks it is kind of boring, especially compared to some other plays, but then the other part thinks maybe it is not actually that boring since I have yet to fall asleep reading it or watching it in class. Two things I have been confused about are how Laura is crippled and why is the glass menagerie so important. Is Laura's leg what makes her crippled? And I know Laura loves her glass menagerie, but I do not see how they are important enough for the play to be named after them. I thought Tom was the main characters since he is the narrator, not Laura. Or maybe this is just one of those times where the play is named that because it sounds cool and it interests you. I know I was definitely interested in reading it based on the title alone because I was not sure what menagerie was. Maybe the answers to my questions are at the end of the play and I should just stop being impatient and go finish reading it.

Hills Like White Elephants

I had to read this story twice. The first time I read it, I completely missed the point of the story. The whole time I was waiting for something obvious to jump out at me as the main point. When I got to the end I was just kind of like "ohhh, so that's it?" Once I realized what the story was supposed to even be about, I reread it so that it would make more sense to me. I did not fully understand the things it was supposed to be hinting at until after our class discussion on it though. After that, I just had a whole new perspective on the story, so that made me want to read it a third time. I do not know if it was that I was not looking for clues to pick up on because I was not expecting it to be that type of story or if I am just not good at taking a hint. I would like to believe it was the first option. Whatever the case, if anyone would like to fill me in on more subtle clues I missed, please do. I now know about the use of the words ‘man’ and ‘girl’ and their significance, and also about the operation being an abortion.

A Good Man is Hard to Find

This was probably one of my favorites out of the stories that we have read so far. The surprise ending was a real shocker! I think the reason I liked it so much is because I want to be a Forensic Scientist so all of that crime stuff really interests me. My only complaint about the story was the middle. The middle was kind of boring and just seemed to drag on. For example, I understand that the part where they stopped to get something to eat was significant because they talked about a good man being hard to find, but I did not think that part was all that interesting. I believe the story could have had just as much of an impact without that scene as it did with the scene. Maybe even more so of impact because more people would want to read it since it was not quite as long. On the other hand, that scene helped build suspense. While reading the story, it is like you are just waiting for something to happen because the story does not really seem to have much of a point. You are just reading and waiting and waiting and reading and then all of a sudden...SLAP TO THE FACE!