Monday, March 21, 2011

Girl-imitation

Take out garbage every week
Go to work or school or be kicked out of house
must work full time or go to school full time or part of both
dont do wrong
dont get speeding tickets or pay the extra insurance
Always be considerate to ever one
Always be nice to every one
fighting is not an answer to anything, use language to talk it out
Dont steal or hurt other peoples feelings
think before you act
when driving always remember clutch out gas in gas out clutch in
always look in the mirrors for other drivers and especially for cops
stay out of jail
stay out of rehab
stay in college untill you have a degree
go to UCSC
get degree in business management
learn manderine chinese
go to hongkong
come back get internship
be more sucessful then both of your older brothers combined.

The story of an hour- Kate Chompin

In this story is the reoccurring theme of sexism as in the story Girl by Kincaid. Talks of a lonely women who get news of her husbands death, she is saddend, then is happy, extremely happy. For the simple fact that she does not have to be married to her husband no longer. She is stricken with joy! untill her husband walks threw the door unaware of an accident and she dies right there of a heart attack because she knows that she will no longer be free anymore.

When she finds of her husbands death she locks herself in a bathroom sobbing. Peering out threw an open window where it is a beautiful day with birds, and clear blue skies. She all of a sudden realizes that she is no longer tied down by the wedding bands of marriage and begins to utter that she is free! She then starts to think of all of the things she can and will do because she is  no longer tied down by her husband, which i guess he was tell her what to do and controlling her life. All in this however it is mentioned that her husband did greatly love and adore his wife. But she didnt love the fact that she was being controlled. Seems like a love hate relationship. So then she hears some one come threw the door and it is her husband. She dies of her heart condition, because to be sunken down so fast about her husbands death to then being quickly uplifted by the fact she is free, to then shock of the fact that he is still alive is heart stopping. this is what i would call a bit of  irony for the fact that she is so happy to be rid of the husband and then eventually it kills her because of it. 

Girl-Jamaica Kincaid

In the poem Girl by Jamaica Kincaid, talks about how a girl, assuming a little girl, does the things that she is taught and told to do. They are totally sexist things she is told as well. Her parents, possibly just mother or father,  completely brain wash this little girl into thinking that if she does not do all of these things she will become a slut. She stresses all of the little things that she has to do and remember, ironing, setting tables, setting tables for important guests, how to sew buttons and their corresponding holes. All mean while you can tell that she is becoming angry with all of these little things and wishes to have fun and do stuff that every one else is. But the parent(s) is brain washing and training her to become a step ford wife women and wife.

it is stressed in the poem about her becoming a slut. "This is how to hem a dress when you see the hem coming down and to prevent yourself from looking like the slut you are bent on becoming."(Kincaid,2). She says it like her father is telling her to do these things or she will become a slut. And to stay away from boys. When there is an almost hint that she wants to experiment with the opposite sex to make her dad angry. When she talks about how to make birth control. " This is how to make good medicine to throw away a child before it even becomes a child" (Kincaid, 3). As well as when she says "don't pick people's flowers-you might catch some thing" (Kincaid, 3). I think this is a metaphor to not have sex with other peoples spouses for the fact that you could make them mad and they will try to hurt you. Then there is a big one, the one that makes her think twice about being a slut and experiment. "but what if the baker won't let me feel the bread?; you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker wont let near the bread?" (Kincaid, 3). She is saying that if she sleeps around the baker will hear about it. And so when she is growen up the baker wont let her touch the bread because he does not know where her dirty hand have been, and does not wish for the bread to be dirty.

So this entire poem is about how doing all of these tasks is supposed to make her look good in the eyes of people, but deep down make her sad. However that some of it is actually good because if she were to do what she wished then there is the possibility that she could ruin her public image. Its a poem of opposites, and deciding in the middle.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Rough Draft.

Scott Wright
English 1b
3/7/11

Rough Draft (The Difference in Rolls of the Bravos)


When Sonny was growing up he never had much of a father figure. It was always Sylvia, his mom, Ceci, his sister, and himself. Father left early on, and not much is said about him in the book. Sylvia is a very pretty  mother who many men are attracted too even as she begins to age. She uses it to her advantage, but still acts a bit younger then a middle aged mother with two kids. In this essay I will be using the reader response theory to break apart how Sonny acts as his own father, and grows to become a man. In that he evolves to be more mature then his own mother. While Sylvia is still stuck in her old ways, and maybe very caring to her son, she is just a teenager stuck in a woman’s body with a beautiful face.
It came to me that Ceci was not just an older sister to Sonny and a daughter to Sylvia. She was a sister to both Sonny and metaphorically to Sylvia. Sonny says about Sylvia, “She would go after Ceci with belts or wooden hangers or what ever was near.” (Gilb,5). Then Sonny says, “ Sometimes both of them would cry for a while during and after, though mostly it was my sister, once she got old enough, and meaner, until she finally stopped being at home much.” (Gilb,5). Sonny says that  eventually they both were not talking to Sonny as much, which he thought was great because he had the whole house to himself. It is that Ceci couldn’t stand being in the same house as some one who treats her like a rivaling sister rather then, the daughter she is. We see a bit of immaturity with Sylvia when Sonny says, “My mom would be around for an hour or two, and she’d change clothes, leave or be tired  and went to her bedroom and went to sleep.”(Gilb,6). Sylvia cannot stand to be in her own house because she knows she will fight with her daughter, Ceci. So instead of actually confronting the problem like a mother should do, she reverts into her child like mentality and just avoids the whole situation and goes shopping, or hangs out with her friends. That leaves Sonny home alone too young to go out. Sylvia is having trouble growing out of the “I’m a beautiful 21 year old girl whose ready to party!”. Sylvia is really single middle aged woman with two children who are in a very needy stage of their life.
Once Sylvia meets this handsome man named Cloyd Longpre she marries him with at a very sudden pace it seems like to the reader. She finds that he is the owner of a apartment complex called The Flowers. Sylvia soon realizes that her daughter Ceci is gone, basically cuts all ties with her and starts her own life. Sylvia decides to get married because I think she is having her mid-life crisis, and starts to feel lonely since her daughter is gone and she cant seem to find a suitable mate. Sylvia then uses Cloyd in this fake marriage to take a second chance and prove to Sonny and her self that she can be a great house wife mother. She put this fake mother hood mask on along with her brand new apron, along with a whole new wardrobe just to look like she fits this perfect step-ford house wife, for Cloyd and to prove to sonny that she can do it. Yet she even make basic food and just uses Cloyds money to go and buy dinner and say she made it so every one can say how good she cooks. Sonny points this out by saying “I knew something was more messed up when Cloyd complimented her on the chili salsa. He might as well have complimented her on the tortilla chips, because she bought them at a store too.”(Gilb, 51). Sylvia married Cloyd to ditch her old habits, yet you can still see her sneaking around behind Cloyd’s back going to bars, and clubs and staying out late. When she comes home she is interrogated by Cloyd, just as if she was her daughter Ceci and she came home late and drunk from a party. Cloyd is constantly asking Sonny where his mom is and he doesn’t even know himself. She begins to realize that she might have married the wrong person for all the wrong reasons, money. Sylvia hysterically complains about Cloyd to Sonny,
“Do you know he cares about toilet paper?”
“What?”
“He cares about toilet paper. How much is used.”(Gilb,50)
Sylvia slowly starts to realize that she is going to have to live with the choice she made. And tries very hard to make things work. This is when you see her start to grow up into the mother that she should be, not the too hot to trot with two kids she once was. Instead of packing her bags and making a new move she decides to sick close. While I respect her for that

Should I speak about sonny as well or continue about Sylvia and extend it out with more details?
And  harsh criticism on the introductory paragraph and the title would be nice.

Idea for paper.

It is kind of hard to not write about sonny after have that touching ending with Nica. Talk about how Sonny grew out of being a man and became and adult, and experienced every thing from racisim, stealing, love, sex, drugs, responsibility, hate, violence, and just generally raising himself. Because the fact that his mom was always out and he hated his step dad and so did his mom it seems like. So there is some thing i might write about, how sonny in the begging of the book was a kid, then we watched him become a teenager, then he became a man.

The other thing that i really enjoyed and could write about was about how Syliva does not grow up. She has a son who basically she throws money at and trys to raise him. She loves him dearly, but shes just ignorant. She goes out and parties all the time, and goes shopping more then she goes grocery shopping. Like she was a teen mom who cant get out of her party phase. So she thinks that maybe its time try settling down again, like that would get her life back on track. So once she gets married, shes with Cloyd who she basically only sees the name on his credit card more then she sees his actual face.

Those are just two of the topics i plan to write on one still deciding however. I think i will do a reader response approach to the novel. Not because its the easiest but because i have alot to say about the novel.