Saturday June 9th, 2012
Blog # 15

       Throughout the semester, I was obligated to work on a blog containing 15 entries, this being the last one. From blog one, I have realized that the entries have been varying in length as well as sophistication. It seems as if my entries are longer on the topics I have been interested in. Those topics are the ones I have had to most to talk about. My blogs acknowledge all sources properly by using citations or links. They are also supported with examples from the text as well as being in an easy to read style.

        Writing online for me was incredibly different from my other writing experiences in the past. I have never wrote any online blogs before or even discussed a certain topic with the use of blogs. Although it was a new experience for me, I have learned a lot while writing the blog entries. From the beginning to end my blog has changed dramatically. I have improved on my grammer and spelling as well. While writing, I have also realized that discussing certain topics of Kindred, Much Ado About Nothing and poems had a great effect on me. I was able to understand them better. To help me write my blog entries, I have occasionally, read other classmate's blogs to obtain a few ideas of how I can write it on my own.

        The lessons that were taught in the class, has helped my writing and reading abilities. So, in that case, I wouldn't be taking any of them away. Everything that our proffessor, Dr.X has lectured about was thourougly detailed and helpful. The most memorable moment was when we played the jeapordy game as a class. We had the chance to learn about the characters from Much Ado About Nothing. It taught me a lot and at the same time I had a lot of fun. For future students, I'd reccomend to stay up to date with all the homework and blogs. They shouldn't save everything for the end of time. With these reccomendations, the class will definalety be a breeze.

        Please re-read Blog # 13
            Thank you

Much Ado about Nothing

June 2nd,2012
Blog #14

        Much Ado about Nothing by Shakespeare was the first drama that I've ever watched. I ended up really enjoying it. This will be my last blog entry. I was told to choose one blog that I am most proud of and that would probably be Blog #13. In that blog, I've discussed how Claudio and his fellow soldiers had come to Hero's grave site to express their deep sorrow and guilt. Claudio and John Pedro had realized that they killed Hero, even though she was innocent. This blog taught me an important lesson which was to think before you act.

        While watching the movie and reading the book, I had also learned a few other things. The Literary Quiz was really helpful to me as well. It had taught me the difference between tragedy, comedy, dramatic irony, soliloquy and aside. Watching the film version of Much Ado about Nothing, helped me understand the book better. The powerpoint presentation also helped me a lot. I was able to understand the setting of the book. Another way the presentation helped me was by telling me about the characters. After watching the movie, it was a bit unclear to me. Finally, Dr.X's lectures about contexts and characters, alliances and happy endings made the book very understandable.

        Thanks to my favorite professor, Dr. Ximena Gallardo, everything was so easy and helpful. I salute you from the bottom of my heart.

Much Ado about Nothing

June 2nd, 2012
Blog #13

        When Claudio realizes that Hero is innocent, he and his fellow soldiers go to her tomb to express their great sorrow and guilt. He going to re-honor her innocence by saying, "So the life that died with shame lives in death with glorious fame"(5.3.5). Claudio imagines Hero as a heroic "Knight" of the " Goddess of the Knight" who was killed not by swords, but by slanderous tongues." Since Claudio is an excellent young fighter, he imagines Hero as a "Knight" (fighter) who was killed by him. This cruel action against the "Knight" makes him remorse and penitence. Claudio's tribute to Hero's chastity and his vow to commemorate the anniversary of her death convince that he is truly sorry and I think it was not a show off. His public admission of Hero's innocence plus one night's vigil at her tomb is sufficient punishment for him. Even though he is a count he does all the things only because he loves Hero genuinely. Claudios acceptance to marry Leonato's niece, lightened his guilt and also  Leobato's niece looks exactly like Hero. So, he decided to marry Leonatos niece. In my opinion, Claudio made the right choice.

Much Ado about Nothing

Wednesday, May 21st 2012

Blog # 12

                                           
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        Now we are reading the book Much Ado about Nothing by Shakespeare. We were told to write blog # 12 out of three questions. I have chosen Question # 1.

      Benedick and Beatrice meeting after a failed wedding is the time to give a moderate face of their love. When Claudio and Don Pedro falsely accused the cousin of Beatrice (Hero), Beatrice becomes very angry. She says, "Oh God, that I were a man! I would eat his heart in the market place". (4.1.300). When Benedick comes to her and says that he loves her, she wants him to prove his love by killing Claudio. It is a big risk for Beatrice to ask Benedick to kill Claudio because she might lose her love forever. On the other hand, Benedick is surprised when he hears that, because Claudio is his best friend. He has no choice left when Beatrice says,"You kill me to deney it. Farewell."(4.1.287). He has to kill Claudio if he wants to prove his true love for Beatrice. Instead, he says that he will challange Claudio. Benedick risk is, he might lose his best friend forever, but he will gain Beatrices love. I dont think he should kill Claudio. By killing him he will risk Hero's reputation in public. People will think that maybe the lie is the truth. I think the death of Claudio would break up their relationship because Benedick would never forgive himself after killing his best friend.

Much Ado about Nothing

Monday, May 21st 2012

Blog # 11  

      
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        We are reading a book called Much ado about nothing by Shakespeare. We also saw a movie about that book. As a class, we had a long discussion about the movie that we saw. We were told to write blog # 11 out of three questions. I have chosen Question # 2. This is the first book by Shakespeare that I have ever read, and I really enjoyed reading this book.
     
         In my thoughts, match making (arranged) marriage was very common in the past. Even in this modern time, Asian countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan and India have parents that choose the bride/groom for their children. They look at the family background and financial stability like Leonato sees for her daughter. I don't think Claudio genuinely loves Hero. He just sees Hero's background more importantly. When he was asking Don Pedro: "Hath Leonato any son, my lord?" (1.1.234). This dialouge clearly shows that if Hero is only child to Leonato, She will get all the assets of Leonato. If he can marry Hero, he will have all the property in the future. His idea of love is that, she is pretty and virgin. He does not love her truly, thats why he could not protest his love against John Pedro. He just gets angry. I dont think Hero loves Claudio nor does she hate him. Since she is an obident doughter, she just followes her fathers decision. In my opinion as an Asian woman, it does not matter if they love each other or not before marriage. They can fall in love after they spend time together.

     


       
     

Blog # 10
Saturday, May 12th, 2012

          It is really hard for me to choose one blog that I am most proud of, because I think, I am proud of every blog that I have done so far. Though, if I had to choose, I'd choose blog number nine. In that blog, I was able to look back in Kindred to deeply analyze the heroism of Sarah, Alice and Dana. They all sacrificed their lives in different aspects. While reading about Dana, I have learned a very important lesson. She had taught me to help others in spite of fear.

        Kindred is the first book that I had really liked. It was a very emotional book. The quizzes on Kindred were very helpful for me. I understood the chapters very well. The brainstorming in class discussion helped me a lot as well. I was able to write my blogs  as clearly as possible.

        While reading my house mates blogs, I saw that they were talking about the slavery connection from the 1800's and the present time. One of my house mates talked about the domestic violence. She/he wrote, "Women who are abused are either embarrassed or afraid to get the abuser in trouble because they love them." That is so true. As a women, I had realized that we sacrifice our lives for our loved ones.

Heroism

Blog # 9

Tuesday, May 8th, 2012

                                                 Google

According to Fowler, endurance and sacrifice are in fact, the characteristics of the hero. Sarah, Alice, and Dana are forced to endure constant exploitation and degradation to survive and to allow others to survive. 

In the novel Sarah works in Tom Weylin’s house as a cook, who endures all the humiliation to survive. Tom Weylin took away her three children out of four. The only one left with her is Carrie, who is unable to talk. Sarah is like a mother to other slaves. She is the one they come for advice when they needed it. She also gives them the left over food that the Weylin family didn't eat. 

Alice is also a hero in the book. She could not stay with her beloved husband because of Rufus. Rufus is obsessed with her. He wants Alice anyhow. Finally he bought her with all his money. Rufus rapes her so many times and made her pregnant with two kids. She wants to run away from him but could not do it thinking of her children's safety. When Rufus takes her kids away, she could not tolerate that and eventually hangs herself. Dana also a hero in the book. Even though she is a smart and educated young girl, she had to put up all the bad things that Weylin and his wife did to her.

According to the Rogets 21^st Century Thesaurus, hero means a person who redeems,aids in time of difficulty. To me Dana is the most heroic character in the book, who saves Rufus's life so many times when he is about to die. The first time when she had her dizzy spell, found herself in a green place. She has no clue what was going on. When she sees a boy in trouble. “Before me was a wide tranquil river, and near the middle of that river was a child splashing, screaming….Drowning! I reached to the child in trouble. Later I could ask questions, try to find out where I was, what had happened. Now I went to help the child.” (Butler 13) Without thinking of the consequences of the unknown place she saves the little boy from drowning. The second time when Dana had her dizzy spell she found herself in Rufus's house. When Rufus put up the fire in drapery. She put out the fire as quickly as possible. She saves Rufus as well as his family. As they were talking, Rufus called her nigger and Dana does not like that. “I helped you, I put the fire out, Didn’t I ?” “ yeah.” All right then, you do me the courtesy of calling me what I want to be called.” (Butler 25) Dana expects him to treat her with more respect.