Streetcars, Lies and Jazz Music (Reaction paper #4)

                                  “The Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams

“The Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams was a play written in 1947. The play takes place in New Orleans in a humble town, the houses and apartments weathered gray but they all hold their own charm. 1947 was a time in New Orleans when the race disputes were already settled down, Jazz was picking up and streetcars were electrified  so that they could run on wires. The play “The Streetcar Named Desire” shows us a humble home with only two rooms, where our protagonists Stella and Stanley live, and visiting Stella’s Sister Blanche. The living quarters is the backdrop where many lies, abuse, both physical and emotional, and rape all take place throughout the play.

    Plays are one of the greatest forms of literature, next to poems, in my own opinion. They may be short, but they are able to pack so much into them without getting too crowded and boring. There is always so much symbolism and little hints in plays, its amazing how Williams was able to fit everything in, in only eleven scenes.  I also love plays because of the acting that comes with them! Although It was sadly only me reading so all I could do was change my voice every time a different character spoke.  I also love how authors of plays describe their scenery, I feel like they put more effort into it then novel writers. I always feel  I’m there in the scene or when I read it I am slowly transported into this new place. Play writers have to be more descriptive with their settings because it would have to be recreated on a big stage.

    When it comes to plays everything is deliberate, the setting, the background noises, and even the lighting. The music you hear throughout the play is put there on purpose by Williams. There is no doubt about it, obviously he knew what he was going, it wasn’t at all random. The background music go’s with the dialogue, when speech picks up the music is fast and loud, but when there is a pause in dialogue the music stops. In the play its Blanches idea to have the lights low so her possible romantic relation can not tell that she is older than she acts, and more used and weathered herself. The dim lights make for a romantic mood as well, especially with a candle lit.  The harsh lights from the train show the romantic setting being transformed into a bothered scene where there is no longer romance. Its amazing how many things are put into place in this play.

    Besides the scenery of the play many different types of subject matter also rise up, like lying. Blanch is the main liar of the play, most words that came out of her mouth were lies. She lied about her job, her love life and even what she had been doing with her life. Its funny because the character herself was acting, Blanche was acting like a better Blanche. Its sad though, all her lying caused distrust from everyone towards her. When it really mattered no one believed her and what she was saying, or at least no one wanted to. It was a very ‘boy cries wolf’ situation, liars probably regret lying once its too late, and everyone has lost trust in them.

    Finally, my least favorite part of the play is when abuse comes up between Stella and Stanley. Although the play was written it a different time than what we’re in now, its still crazy how Stella refused to leave Stanley even though he hit her, and abused her.  The men of the house have more power in this time period, more than the women. They make the rules and when a woman stepped out of line the men took action.  Of course spouses will always fight, theres no question about it, when two people live together they begin to get aggravated with each other. Though it should never go as far as physical abuse, the only part that Blanche was right about was Stella leaving her abusive husband, its not the right environment for anyone.

    Williams created an amazing play, it was filled with so much but never had a dull moment. He really made me feel for the characters, and then ever hate some of them. I love how Eunice character develops into someone who was just outside of the house to a close friend of Stella, who helps her in many ways. I also really liked Mitch, he was so sweet and innocent and cared for his mother, not even when he was drunk was he really that bad, he was just upset. He had been lied to by Blanche, the person he actually thought he would marry. I think this play really changed my view on plays, before the only one I had read that wasn't in shakespearean was “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller. That was also an amazing play but I didn't realize at that time if it also had all these extra elements. I had probably missed so many!

Do something for someone, quick! (Poetry reaction #3)

                                             

How To Be Happy By Unknown

I own many books that are filled with poems. My favorite one is "The Best Loved Poems of the American People." I must've gotten it from a thrift store or something along those lines, because its quite old. My two favorite poems are in  iti. One I've already reacted to  and the other I don't feel like I would really do it justice to react to it just yet.  Searching through the book for maybe the 100th time I believe I've found a new favorite. "How To Be Happy" The author is unknown, but I can clearly see that we thought the same way.

The title really caught my eye it was exactly what I needed. I was in a cruddy mood while searching for a poem. I thought this poem would help cheer me up, and I wasn’t wrong. The poem itself speaks nothing but truths, from the first line to the last. The poems main point is if you're in a miserable mood, and you don't see how anything is going to turn out good, then you should try to help someone out.  According to the poem helping someone with anything would not only get you out of your glum state but keep you from being bored  and help you see that everything in this earth is not all bad.

"Do something for someone, quick!" From my own experiences I can say that this is completely true, I find myself extremely happy after helping anyone no matter how large or small the task I helped them with was. Even if I wasn't already in a bad mood helping someone just cheers me up even more.  It's even been proven that helping other people or even complimenting them makes you feel good about yourself to. I believe that happens because  when someone else is happy you'd also be happy for them too.  Maybe even seeing their smile puts a smile on your face as well. For myself  I just get a good feeling in my stomach that tells me I've done something right.

    The poem itself could make anyone feel better, it just has a very upbeat tone. It's rhyme scheme also enhances the poem being ABAB, I read the poem just like the song "They're Coming to Take Me Away" by Napoleon XIV is sung. Of course that's kind of a creepy song, but the poem sounds better if you apply the same clapping rhythm while reading it. I also suggest head bobbing, who can be sad when your head is moving up and down, you probably look pretty silly.

    The poem points out many things that anyone would be sad about.  Such as “earthly affairs in a terrible whirl,” I believe the speaker is trying to say that we shouldn’t worry ourselves, especially that kind of stuff. In the past, the present, and in the future there will  always be hardships. There is nothing to avoid them, but you can take your mind off of it by helping someone in need. Everyday there are people struggling with no one to help them, one good deed could help. If you see a person struggling with bags of groceries, help them out.  If you see a person looking sad complement them, its tiny things that brighten people's day.  When other people are happy you could be happy too.

Utopias never turn out well( Reaction paper #3)

     

    Ayn Rand has created one of her own utopian worlds in her novel Anthem. At least what most people would believe is a Utopian world. There is no fighting because everyone has there own place, almost everyone is happy and they all try to benefit each other.  Everyone is supposed to live in unity, everyone is a brother or sister to the other,  although no one grows up with their actual family. There really is no such thing as a utopian world though, they are always corrupt, they suppress people making them unable to be themselves.  A utopia is defines as a perfect place, although a perfect place can change for many people. Its very hard to make everyone believe they live in a perfect society where nothing is wrong.  

Anthem is not the only novel that shows its readers what a utopia could look like. A utopia is mentioned in Brave New World By Aldous Huxley, 1984 by George Orwell  and even The Giver by Lois Lowry. (Side note: Didn't have to look any of the arthurs up.) Im sure there are many more, but these novels came to my mind while reading Anthem. Although Each society in these novels are described as utopias they are truly, Dystopian societies.  There will always be corrupt people. Those characters realize that their society is NOT perfect, because they are not happy in it.  They will defy all rules and laws and  even their government.  They’ll try to change the world. In Anthem Equality 7-2521, realizes that the place he had grown up in was not perfect, no matter what the scholars made him believe.

Rand creates a world that splits up men and women, where they only come together to have children, almost like in The Giver, where the children are raised by parental units that aren't actually blood related to them. Each child must have a different name meaning they must add numbers at the end. The names range from Liberty to International each with one number then a dash followed by four more numbers. As the kids grow they grow up in homes away from anyone that is actually related to them. They are all taught the same basic skill until they are told what career they should take, and are forced to take it. They are told where they should be in society and how they should act, much like Brave New World, where the children were actually made to fit specific jobs. All these things suppress people in a society, they can no longer make their own choices, and once they realize that, they will usually rebel or try to escape.

Something new to this novel that I’ve never seen before, and I thought was interesting was their was no use of ‘I’ in it. Although the novel utilizes first person, Equality 7-2521 must refer to himself as ‘we’ because he was conditioned to. It makes the characters in the novel united and thought of as one. This really shows the signs of unity that usually come up in utopian novels.  No character can think  only about himself, everything they do must be for and with the others. At first it was very hard to follow, and didn't make much sense to me. Until I realized that All the characters in the book referred to themselves as ’we.’ It makes the novel unique and different.    

    I’ve honestly wished many times in my life that I was in one of these societies where they tell me what I should be and do with my life.  Especially now that  I’m nearing College and after that i’ll have to find a career, I have no idea what I want to do with my life. Im so lost, I wished there was someone to tell me my perfect job, the one I can help the most in. A career that I can use all my skills in. What would I have to give up though?  A family life? My own name, and most of the freedom I already have.  I dont think I would be able to deal with that either. I wouldn’t want to be suppressed, turned into a pet of the government. I like being free, much like the characters in the dystopian/utopian novels.

We wont always be important (Poetry reaction 2)

                  Love Letter To Hans Christian Andersen By Carl Sandburg

    Carl Sandburg, choose to title his poem A love Letter To Hans Christian Andersen. If I had read this poem without the title I would never had thought that the title would have the words ‘Love letter’ in it. In the poem Sandburg personifies a knife and a chair having an argument that last a few years until they are discarded. I am questioning who Hans Christian Andersen is though, and how the poem relates to him. Is Sandburg fighting with someone named Andersen. It is possibly that the title is  written in a sarcastic. By writing the poem its possible Sandburg was trying to get a message across that at one point arguments that have been going on for a very long time don't even matter. There isn't anymore to fight about.

    With some research on Hans Christian Andersen I found that he was also a writer. Now it makes some sense that Sandburg is mentioning him, because he is another poet. “Sandburg had read Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales and was familiar with the classic fables, but he had no interest in stuffing European tropes into an American mythology.” Sandburg was writing poetry much like Andersen, but he didn't want to be completely the same. He didn't want anyone to compare himself to Andersen. He wanted to put a twist on his own writing to make it stick out. I think Sandburg wants to draw attention to himself by placing another familiar poet into his title, he wanted everyone to notice that he is different from him. The title is definitely a sarcastic tone.  

Its possible that he has personified  the knife and chair so that he could use them to explain how he felt without mentioning Andersen or his own name. Andersen would be the chair and Sandburg would be the knife. The chair asks the knife why he doesn't have any legs because the chair has legs and in response the knife asks why the chair doesn't have teeth like him. The two items question each other, they basically ask ‘why aren’t you like me?’ or even ‘why don't you have what I have?’ or ‘why don't you do what I do?’  And the arguments go on and on until the two are worn out and can no longer argue about those things.

The items are discarded by their owners, no one wants a chair that has no legs or a knife that is dull. Now neither of the items have anything to argue about, because their key features have been taken away, they have grown old. Much like how Sandburg and Andersen did, they grew old and their quarrels no longer mattered to either of them or to anyone else around them.  Much like everyone else in the world, you will be forgotten when you are no longer interesting or needed or useful. Onced the two items had been placed in the cellar with the other junk like broken tools and old mops, they realized that they no longer mattered to anyone, just like what surrounded them.  They were surrounded by useless stuff, they were useless now. Its easy to tell that the items felt regret, they wished they were still young and new. Except they wasted all that time fighting, when in the long run it wouldn’t matter.

          It seems a little sad to personify items that are no longer in use. Giving them feeling much like humans, of sorrow. They feel useless. They realized they no longer have any use. They will either be recycled or discarded into the trash. At least when it comes to people they are still taken care of when they can no longer work or when they grow old. This poem reminds me of this old movie I watched ‘The Brave Little Toaster’ all the items like the vacuum, toaster, blanket, and lamp were all given real feelings, they missed their owner. They felt depressed when they found themselves in the junkyard.

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D Salinger Reaction #2

 

    The Catcher In The Rye by J.D Salinger  was filled with many questions. The one that stuck out the most to me was when Holden asks where do the ducks go in the winter? I found this question strange, what was even more strange to me is that he was so focused on finding the answer he was even asking complete strangers. I thought I knew the answer.  I always thought they flew south for the winter. Except where do they REALLY go? I mean gosh, wouldn’t it be strange if you were sitting outside by the heated pool on a hot winter day in Florida, and then out of no where all you hear are a bunch of quacks and honks and all types of noises from the Central Park ducks.  

Something like that has happened to me before, every spring hundreds of crows stop right on my block. They perch on houses and caw, they’re just taking a break from their long journey, they usually leave within an hour. I always ask myself where are they coming from , and where are they going. Holden has it easy, at least he knows where they start from. I had a theory that J.D Salinger was trying to hint that Holden doesn’t know where he’s going to go in life. Like he was connected to the birds in some way.  It really connects with the rest of the story as well. He doesn’t know what path to take in life, he keeps getting kicked out of schools, he tries to decide where he is going to go after leaving early from school. Where will he live now, the only other character in the book that asks that is his younger sister.

Holden really is going through a crisis, he hates everyone, because in one way or another they are all ‘phonies.’ The only people that don't make him cringe, are kids. He relates most to them, he knows they aren’t phonies they don't try to impress anyone of make others see them as better, they are just them. When he saw the boy singing in the street that made him blissful because the kid was doing it just for the heck of it. He wasn’t trying to impress an audience, he sang because he wanted to. He also enjoyed talking to the little girl at the park, she reminded him of when he was a kid, now even he is a phony he admits at one point in the book. Lastly, the one person Holden likes the most was his sister, she was perfect to him. She was so bright, and acted all adult like except she wasn’t a phony like the rest of the adults in his life.

I think my favorite part of the novel is when Salinger has Holden recap on what's happened in his life already. He recaps about his past school situations This really gave me a better perspective of him.  At first I had thought he was mean to everyone, just judging everyone he met, except after this recap I realize he was right to judge everyone the way he had. People are mean, cruel, sarcastic, coincident, disgusting, ect. He believes he’s the only one that truly sees this in people.

         I also now know why the book was titled The Catcher In The Rye It didn’t make much sense during the whole book until Holden says that “I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around- nobody big, I mean-except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff-” Holden just wants something to do, he would gladly help out kids, he wants them to be safe and still be able to have fun.  I think He truly just wants to find something he can do correctly that doesn’t involve being smart like his siblings were.