The Cherry Orchard Act I - Nostalgia

Any symbol has a specific significance to someone. Sometimes this symbol gives nostalgia of a memory. For example, my dolls give me nostalgia of my childhood. On the other hand, my mother has a lot of nostalgia from a piece of land (Tausa) my grandfather gave to her before he died. She tells me that is it is something she does not want to sell even though she has had a lot of problems with "paramilitares". This problem is something that she has struggled a lot with because, some of her siblings want to sell the land but she does not. What I can see about it is that my mom sees Tausa with a lot and nostalgia, and even though she can earn a lot selling it she will not want to sell it.

In the play The Cherry Orchard, Chekov creates a character that is in the same position as my mother. Lyubov Andreyevna, a landowner who has a special identification with her nursery and cherry orchard. She describes it and talks about it as if it was something very special when she said: "The nursery... my dear, lovely nursery.... I used to sleep here when I was little…” (Chekov I.324). In this quote she expresses the nostalgia that the nursery gives to her. Even though she has a lot to earn from it she will not agree to sell it because she has strong nostalgia towards it. This also happens with the Cherry Orchard, she will deny to sell it : “Cut it down?... one thing in the whole province that is interesting… it`s our Cherry Orchard” (Chekov I. 333), Lyubov Andreyevna has a close relationship with this symbols and they have a strong mark on her. Therefore, she will not sell the Cherry Orchard no matter what.

Poem Analysis

 November, Late in the Day



Lazyness is an issue that many people have. People are lazy for not doing their chores, wheather its homework, cooking, ect. In November, Late in the Day John M. Ridland narrates the afternoon of a lazy person. Ridland tells the issues people have with lazyness throughout this poem with a character.

He writes about many things that the reader might get identified with. For example when he says, "spoiled dog waiting to be fed. / Not now, dear warmth./ Too far to fetch. (Ridland 5-7). I am identified with that quote because I am too lazy to play with my dog. Sometimes I invent excuses so I don`t play with him. I`m also identified when the narrator says: "let`s make a wish/ and boil fresh water for the small teapot"(Ridland 14-15) because I want everything to be done for me. Ridland  is criticizing society because that is what everyone wants. However, it is something that will never be done.

Vocabulary - Huck Finn

Raspy: Harsh, irritable


Haggle: To bargain, to argue


Rummage: to examine, to disturbe.

Huck Finn - "A Scholar Finds Huck Finn's Voice in Twain's Writing About a Black Youth"

Anthony DePalma wrote an article, A Scholar Finds Huck Finn's Voice in Twain's Writing About a Black Youth arguing that probably Twain wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn inspired on  a ten year old black servant he met before writting the book. Probably that is true because Huck could be related to a black servant back in the racist era by his lifestyle.

Eventhough Huck was living with Ms. Watson and the Widow he was "away from his family" and some slaves were away from their families. At the begining of the book I can relate Huck with a slave. It can be interpreted in the scene that his dad takes him to the small house they had and locks him in and it was hard for him to escape. Slaves were not able to escape from their owners and it was hard for them to escape. He also took Huck`s money "His lawyer said he reckoned he would win his lawsuit and get the money" (Twain 31), slaves did not earn money and Huck had money but his dad took it all away.

Jim was the runaway slave that escaped with Huck. However Huck could be considered as a slave because he also was a runaway and wanted freedom from Mrs. Watson and the Widow. Acording to DePalma I actually can see a relation between Huck and a slave, the only difference is the skin color.

Huck Finn - "New Huckleberry Finn edition censors 'n-word'"

The United States has had many issues with racism. Racism is an inapropiate discrimination towards people of different color, culture, ect. The issues with racism have impacted a lot society and today it has grave consecuences. An article called "New Huckleberry Finn edition censors 'n-word'" talks about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and how some context was changed due to the racist words that were used to write the book. The "n-word" is often used in this novel and some adressments were made. Therefore, it would not be racist towards the black society.

Twain citicized the American racism and probably that is why he used such languaje. The idea of changing the cotext of the book is probably not good because it will not affect the readers as much as it would affect them with the original vocabulary. However Dr. Sara Churchwell said: "Twain's books are not just literary documents but historical documents, and that word is totemic because it encodes all of the violence of slavery. The point of the book is that Huckleberry Finn starts out racist in a racist society, and stops being racist and leaves that society. These changes mean the book ceases to show the moral development of his character". She makes a clear point of the message that Twain wants to give to the reader and I think that the adjustments made to the book were apropiate. Evethough the lecture impacted many readers for the vocabulary used, it stated a clear message and it showed people how the can change eventhough they are in a racisct society. For example in the novel when Huck decides to help Jim, a runaway slave.

However the way to impact society somethimes has to be hard "The whole point of literature is to expose us to different ideas and different eras, and they won't always be nice and benign. It's dumbing down.". The way Dr. Churchwell expresses her thoughts might be true because not always people learn with "kind" things.

Pride & Prejudice Movie 2

Characters in books might seem different to the reader when they watch the movie. Long ago I read Harry Potter: and the Chamber of Secrets, I read it before watching any of the movies and I had a different view of Hermione Granger, one of the main characters. I imagined her like a geek (phisically). In the movie she is a geek mentally but phisically she is not. Even her name changed I thought it was said Ger-me-on instead of Her-ma-yo-nie. In other cases like in the Twilight saga I imagined an Edward similar to the one of the movie and it did not do a lot of difference.

When I read Pride & Prejudice, I had a different view of Mrs. Bennet. Eventhough in the movie she appears as a selfish, superficial and proud women but, Wright (director) showed her as a women with long and dirty clothes. My prediction of Mrs. Bennet in the movie was of a classy tall women but Wright showed her as a small and anoying women. However the role that Brenda Bethlyn played as Mrs. Bennet was very good. For example when she is telling Mr. Bennet that Elizabeth rejected Mr. Collins proposal and wanted Mr. Bennet to "Come and talk to her..." she is so worried about that, she will try to do anything to get her daughter married .

On the other hand Jane (Rosamund Pike) was what I expected. She is sensible, for example when she recived Mr. Bingley`s letter. The description used in the book "..." is very similar to the one in the movie. She looks like something had stabbed her and her world ended. In the movie we can see how she didn`t feel that coming eventhough we actually do not know if she really loves Mr. Bingley because in the book never tells.

Pride & Prejudice Movie 1

The first scene of the movie describes what the story is about. Five sisters spying on the new guy on the newighborhood. They begin talking about him eventhough they do not know him. The five girls seem inocent of spying, this still foreshadows the story.

Troughtout this book there are many scenes of prejudice for example at the ball. Mr. Darcy liked Elizabeth and instead of talking to her he would listen to what she would say " he looked at her only to criticize". Can you see? Even Mr. Darcy has prejudice. When he met her at the ball he was criticizing her without even knowing her. The prejudice is something that is in everyone in this book. By the end of the story these two character realize that they actually liked each other.

Prejudice can lead you to many things. It can separate you from a friendship. Sometimes people have prejucide because they feel jelousy towards that person. Even I judge people when I don`t know them and sometimes it is because they have somthing I want. It could be a pice of cloting or just because they are pretty.