Friday, November 11, 2011
Breakk
These past few weeks have been very busy academically and activity-wise for me. Even though cross country is over, now I'm participating in sundry clubs, and show choir takes up a lot of time even outside the twice-a-week rehearsals. The rest of my time is consumed by my piles of homework (mostly from AP Lit >:C) and my sick addiction to facebook-checking. I don't even spend much time on facebook, but I log in like two or three times a day to check my notifications. But most of my time is filled with hard work and fun activities. I have not been sleeping much, even on the weekends. And now that I'm signed up for the SAT and ACT, I need to start the practice books and questions. Needless to say, I am one of many students who is counting down the seconds to thanksgiving break. However short it may be, few teachers are heartless enough to assign homework over this holiday, which in turn causes it to be an extended weekend of much-needed sleep, family and FOOD. I can't wait.
Finally
This semester, I have read a couple books that interest me as well as a couple that were torturous to read. I found that I enjoyed more informal writing rather than Charles Dickens or Emily Bronte. The styles of these two authors mostly just bored me, and the complicated plots made them frustrating to read. I guess I just like to take the easy way out and not think too hard on the books I'm reading.
I constantly had trouble meeting the weekly quota for pages and was often only reading the bare minimum pages. I am a very slow reader which is a hindrance when it comes to reading for quantity. I also had trouble keeping up with the blogs that go along with the reading, especially because I have very little free time on my hands, so anything that isn't absolutely imperative to get done the next day often did not get done until the night before it was due. I am a chronic procrastinator, but part of this is due to the fact that I often value sleep at 11 or midnight over homework. My time management is somewhat lacking, but even when I do manage my time well, there are days which just don't contain enough hours to allow me enough time to do all my homework and reading, after-school activities, and a full-night's sleep. The reading was probably my most enjoyable homework this semester, but it was also usually the thing to get pushed aside until the last minute. This makes for long nights of trying to stay awake while reading and writing.
I constantly had trouble meeting the weekly quota for pages and was often only reading the bare minimum pages. I am a very slow reader which is a hindrance when it comes to reading for quantity. I also had trouble keeping up with the blogs that go along with the reading, especially because I have very little free time on my hands, so anything that isn't absolutely imperative to get done the next day often did not get done until the night before it was due. I am a chronic procrastinator, but part of this is due to the fact that I often value sleep at 11 or midnight over homework. My time management is somewhat lacking, but even when I do manage my time well, there are days which just don't contain enough hours to allow me enough time to do all my homework and reading, after-school activities, and a full-night's sleep. The reading was probably my most enjoyable homework this semester, but it was also usually the thing to get pushed aside until the last minute. This makes for long nights of trying to stay awake while reading and writing.
Still On the Road
I recently wrote a paper on Dean Moriarty, Sal's friend with whom he travels and around whom the story is based. I would say Dean is the most influential character in the book. He not only influences Sal's decisions directly by telling him what to do, but he also influences Sal indirectly by teaching him lessons on life and by living an example, whether it be good or bad. His carefree attitude is what inspires Sal to want to live a life of free, unburdened happiness. At one point in the book, he even tells Sal and Marylou to take off their clothes and ride around naked with him, which seems to be the ultimate symbol of liberation.
The other major influence Dean instills in Sal involves his attitude toward women. Sal holds a view of women which characterizes them almost as objects rather than human beings with whom to fall in love. Sal sees the way Dean looks at women, and the way he treats even the women he says he loves, as well as the fact that Dean moves from one woman to another without care--he leaves three wives throughout the course of the novel. Sal subconsciously decides he does not want to treat women the way Dean does, and he seems to be a little more careful in his choices regarding women; he "falls in love" with mainly only two women, and seems to find true love at the end of the book, which leads to the happiness he has been searching for the whole time.
The other major influence Dean instills in Sal involves his attitude toward women. Sal holds a view of women which characterizes them almost as objects rather than human beings with whom to fall in love. Sal sees the way Dean looks at women, and the way he treats even the women he says he loves, as well as the fact that Dean moves from one woman to another without care--he leaves three wives throughout the course of the novel. Sal subconsciously decides he does not want to treat women the way Dean does, and he seems to be a little more careful in his choices regarding women; he "falls in love" with mainly only two women, and seems to find true love at the end of the book, which leads to the happiness he has been searching for the whole time.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Currently
For Weeks 2 and 3
Pages: 207
Semester Total :1184
On the Road- Jack Kerouac
Just Finished Oliver Twist- Charles Dickens
Sentences of these Weeks:
-I was so interested in the opera that for a while I forgot the circumstances of my crazy life and got lost in the great mournful sounds of Beethoven and the rich Rembrandt tones of his story.
-We were on the roof of America and all we could do was yell, I guess--across the night, eastward over the Plains, where somewhere an old man with white hair was probably walking toward us with the Word, and would arrive any minute and make us silent.
-Soon it got dusk, a grapy dusk, a purple dusk over tangerine groves and long melon fields; the sun the color of pressed grapes, slashed with burgundy red, the fields the color of love and Spanish mysteries.
These sentences all just give a pretty good idea of Jack Kerouac's approach to describing things. He leaves a lot up to interpretation, and he describes many things in ways I'm not sure he can even fully grasp. But that's his style, and I like it because it's different than how anyone else would ever even attempt to write, and he's the only one I feel can pull it off. And in a weird way, his enigmatic descriptions make me understand the depth of the situation and his feelings better than a straightforward, denotative passage could accomplish.
Pages: 207
Semester Total :1184
On the Road- Jack Kerouac
Just Finished Oliver Twist- Charles Dickens
Sentences of these Weeks:
-I was so interested in the opera that for a while I forgot the circumstances of my crazy life and got lost in the great mournful sounds of Beethoven and the rich Rembrandt tones of his story.
-We were on the roof of America and all we could do was yell, I guess--across the night, eastward over the Plains, where somewhere an old man with white hair was probably walking toward us with the Word, and would arrive any minute and make us silent.
-Soon it got dusk, a grapy dusk, a purple dusk over tangerine groves and long melon fields; the sun the color of pressed grapes, slashed with burgundy red, the fields the color of love and Spanish mysteries.
These sentences all just give a pretty good idea of Jack Kerouac's approach to describing things. He leaves a lot up to interpretation, and he describes many things in ways I'm not sure he can even fully grasp. But that's his style, and I like it because it's different than how anyone else would ever even attempt to write, and he's the only one I feel can pull it off. And in a weird way, his enigmatic descriptions make me understand the depth of the situation and his feelings better than a straightforward, denotative passage could accomplish.
Around California
As I suspected, Sal's ventures in the cotton fields didn't last long; it seems he was done with it in less than a week, although he never specifies exactly how long he was there. Sal decides his best option is to go back to New York, which was where he lived before he started his life on the road. Terry says a few sentences that sound distraught, but overall Sal's departure and Terry's response to it is rather emotionless. Sal mentions love a few times, and Terry even says straight out that she loves Sal. Yet when they see each other for the last time, even knowing it is the last time, they kiss automatically and say goodbye and look back at each other once, comparing love to a duel. Sal never really mentions Terry after she is gone, which makes me think it wasn't real love, since it seems he rarely even thinks about her. Or maybe he just doesn't want to think about her. The way I see it, though, there wouldn't be much of a choice but to think about her if they really were in love.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
More On The Road...
I'm still reading On the Road and it's still not boring, so that's a good sign! I'm such a slow reader but I have really been putting some time into reading every day, and I am trying to finish it this weekend because I am doing a project on Jack Kerouac.
So far in the book, Sal, the main character, has been traveling around to a variety of cities. Every time a city becomes monotonous to him (which happens often), he moves on to a new city. He is perpetually low on money, and although I feel he is trying to convey a message of self-reliance and general independence, he certainly depends on the little money he has, and is always borrowing money, stealing groceries, or compromising his comfort for the sake of saving money so that he can have more--to spend mostly on whiskey. Right now he has a job picking cotton for which he gets paid $3 per 100 pounds of cotton or something equally as meager. In those days, I suppose the dollar had greater value, but even then it was a low sum. At this point, it seems he would do anything to earn a buck. Perhaps I should explain why: he is in "Frisco" and has met a girl named Terry whom he thinks he loves. They are bored of Frisco and want to move on to another city (the name of that city is escaping me right now but I think it's another big city that would not easily bore the average Fort Wayne resident) but neither of them have any money or a place to stay, since their last business venture involved selling manure with some sketchy friends of Terry's. So now they live in a tent for $1 a day and pick cotton from dawn until dusk (some locals shared with them that the early morning dew makes the cotton heavier and therefore more lucrative). I hope soon they will make enough so that they think they can leave this boring arrangement, because I don't foresee there being much to write about in this particular situation.
So far in the book, Sal, the main character, has been traveling around to a variety of cities. Every time a city becomes monotonous to him (which happens often), he moves on to a new city. He is perpetually low on money, and although I feel he is trying to convey a message of self-reliance and general independence, he certainly depends on the little money he has, and is always borrowing money, stealing groceries, or compromising his comfort for the sake of saving money so that he can have more--to spend mostly on whiskey. Right now he has a job picking cotton for which he gets paid $3 per 100 pounds of cotton or something equally as meager. In those days, I suppose the dollar had greater value, but even then it was a low sum. At this point, it seems he would do anything to earn a buck. Perhaps I should explain why: he is in "Frisco" and has met a girl named Terry whom he thinks he loves. They are bored of Frisco and want to move on to another city (the name of that city is escaping me right now but I think it's another big city that would not easily bore the average Fort Wayne resident) but neither of them have any money or a place to stay, since their last business venture involved selling manure with some sketchy friends of Terry's. So now they live in a tent for $1 a day and pick cotton from dawn until dusk (some locals shared with them that the early morning dew makes the cotton heavier and therefore more lucrative). I hope soon they will make enough so that they think they can leave this boring arrangement, because I don't foresee there being much to write about in this particular situation.
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