Now that you've finished reading this play, what is your reaction to it? Explain what you like about it and what you dislike. Be specific. Does it deserve the critical and popular reception that it has receive over the years? Why or why not?
After reading the first page of the play The Caretaker, I thought I wasn’t going to be another boring, uninteresting play. But to my disbelief, it wasn’t as boring as I expected it to be. I think that there is an important historical background that should be taken into consideration. Furthermore, the symbolism that Pinter uses through his characters and some of the objects within the room, were delicately chosen to suit the message Pinter was trying to convey to his readers.
Readers must understand that England had left World War II TRAUMATIZED! Prior to the war, it was a major world superpower, but it lost all its prestige, reputation, and influence after the war, especially after it lost India as a colony. And as one of the characteristics of an absurdist plays, Pinter tried to portray his characters as weak and inadequate. The dialog in his work is realistic, showing the utter shallowness of man.
The stage directions confused me a lot. The first page was flooded with intricate detail of the exact position and location of certain objects. It certainly gives the play a more real life aspect. I suppose it is very useful in the preparation of the exact play which will be acted out. But I remember after the first page, I had to call my friend in the other English class to understand what was going on. I thought L, C, and R were like a secret code that I could not break.
As for the plot line, it wasn’t that interesting. I guess Pinter was trying to depict a real life situation, so this is what he came up with: the story of three different, somehow-shallow men, each having their own personality and past, contributing to a huge theme. At least the point line was a bit less pointless than in The Bald Soprano. I’m not saying that The Bald Soprano didn’t have an important message, but in terms of the plot itself, it was a complete “non sequitur”.
Something interesting to note is who exactly is 'the caretaker'? Technically speaking, at face value, it is thought that Aston is the caretaker of Davies. But also, there is Mick, who is the caretaker of Aston and Davies who is supposedly going to be the caretaker of the house. So somehow there is like a chain of caretakers.
After all, it is an absurdist play. Anything is possible!
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Women - My IOP
1.Write a brief descriptive paragraph that summarizes your IOP. Be sure to include the topic, your thesis, and the hook and any visual aids you used.
Women’s role in society is something that shouldn’t be taken advantage of anymore. Women are now lawyers, doctors, teachers, fashion designers, etc. and without them in society, life wouldn’t run so easily. For that reason, I choose to discuss how J.M. Coetzee portrays women in his novel as symbols of sexuality, which they are not supposed to be any longer. In the beginning of my presentation, I started with my hook, a monologue for Lucy, which I wrote, trying to depict and explain how she might have felt after the rape. Since Lucy is one of the main female characters in the novel who is symbolized as a country woman who can be taken advantage of, showing the monologue was a perfect hook. Then, I started with my PowerPoint presentation. There, I discussed the four female figures in Disgrace: Lucy, Melanie, Bev, and Soraya. I explained the character and physical traits of each and how they are used as a symbol of sexuality. I clarified how since Soraya is a woman in the city, is how more of a nerve to stand up for herself and stop her weekly meeting with David. There was Melanie the youthful student, who revives David. Then I discuss Lucy, as a country woman, who men think they can easily take advantage of since they don’t have an important role in hard labor farming, leading to her rape. Bev Shaw’s role was then explained as the one who made David aware that he was a 52-year-old man. Finally I analyzed the significance of two quotes that J.M. Coetzee says in the novel.
I was trying to explain to the students how J.M. Coetzee degrades women in his novel Women have a very important role in society other than satisfying men in bed!
2. In a well-developed paragraph reflect upon the lessons you learned as a result of the IOP process. This process includes the preparation of your presentation, its delivery, and the subsequent reflection you engaged in following the presentation itself.
Through my IOP presentation, I learnt many things. Firstly, procrastination never leads to any good. Secondly, be calm before an important presentation. And third, sleep in necessary before such a presentation.
All through the summer, I kept delaying working on my IOP! I would have rather just sit on my lazy armchair doing nothing, than working on anything for school. At the end of the day, it all came back at me! When we returned to school, the students and I were all compounded with a plethora of work, including the IOP. I started working on it; I had all the quotes I needed to support my argument, a captivating hook, and a progressing PowerPoint presentation. The Saturday before my actual presentation, I found out that Nour was doing the SAME exact topic! I decided to work on a completely different issue, so that the audience would have to hear the same issue twice. So I settled on discussing how J.M Coetzee portrays the women in his novel as symbols of sexuality, which is a topic that I take very personally. I had to search for a lot of evidence from the text, come up with a whole new hook, and make a presentation in less than 48 hours. I worked a lot!!!! I stayed up all Sunday night and Monday morning working on my IOP, not getting any rest. I practiced and rehearsed all night. Then Monday morning was the official IOP. There was a technical problem with my PowerPoint presentation, which lead me to be VERY anxious and nervous. When I started with my presentation, I was very hesitant and worried, even though I had practiced it many times before. When I finished with the presentation, I was relieved! It was obvious that I hadn’t gotten any sleep after the presentation. I couldn’t concentrate in class and I was awfully dizzy!
Overall, I am satisfied with my IOP. Surly, I know I could have done a much better job, but for the time being, it was that bad. While watching the movie, I noticed that that “umm”ed quite a few times in the beginning, but then I was able to continue without much difficulty, explaining my point of view exactly the way I wanted to.
Women’s role in society is something that shouldn’t be taken advantage of anymore. Women are now lawyers, doctors, teachers, fashion designers, etc. and without them in society, life wouldn’t run so easily. For that reason, I choose to discuss how J.M. Coetzee portrays women in his novel as symbols of sexuality, which they are not supposed to be any longer. In the beginning of my presentation, I started with my hook, a monologue for Lucy, which I wrote, trying to depict and explain how she might have felt after the rape. Since Lucy is one of the main female characters in the novel who is symbolized as a country woman who can be taken advantage of, showing the monologue was a perfect hook. Then, I started with my PowerPoint presentation. There, I discussed the four female figures in Disgrace: Lucy, Melanie, Bev, and Soraya. I explained the character and physical traits of each and how they are used as a symbol of sexuality. I clarified how since Soraya is a woman in the city, is how more of a nerve to stand up for herself and stop her weekly meeting with David. There was Melanie the youthful student, who revives David. Then I discuss Lucy, as a country woman, who men think they can easily take advantage of since they don’t have an important role in hard labor farming, leading to her rape. Bev Shaw’s role was then explained as the one who made David aware that he was a 52-year-old man. Finally I analyzed the significance of two quotes that J.M. Coetzee says in the novel.
I was trying to explain to the students how J.M. Coetzee degrades women in his novel Women have a very important role in society other than satisfying men in bed!
2. In a well-developed paragraph reflect upon the lessons you learned as a result of the IOP process. This process includes the preparation of your presentation, its delivery, and the subsequent reflection you engaged in following the presentation itself.
Through my IOP presentation, I learnt many things. Firstly, procrastination never leads to any good. Secondly, be calm before an important presentation. And third, sleep in necessary before such a presentation.
All through the summer, I kept delaying working on my IOP! I would have rather just sit on my lazy armchair doing nothing, than working on anything for school. At the end of the day, it all came back at me! When we returned to school, the students and I were all compounded with a plethora of work, including the IOP. I started working on it; I had all the quotes I needed to support my argument, a captivating hook, and a progressing PowerPoint presentation. The Saturday before my actual presentation, I found out that Nour was doing the SAME exact topic! I decided to work on a completely different issue, so that the audience would have to hear the same issue twice. So I settled on discussing how J.M Coetzee portrays the women in his novel as symbols of sexuality, which is a topic that I take very personally. I had to search for a lot of evidence from the text, come up with a whole new hook, and make a presentation in less than 48 hours. I worked a lot!!!! I stayed up all Sunday night and Monday morning working on my IOP, not getting any rest. I practiced and rehearsed all night. Then Monday morning was the official IOP. There was a technical problem with my PowerPoint presentation, which lead me to be VERY anxious and nervous. When I started with my presentation, I was very hesitant and worried, even though I had practiced it many times before. When I finished with the presentation, I was relieved! It was obvious that I hadn’t gotten any sleep after the presentation. I couldn’t concentrate in class and I was awfully dizzy!
Overall, I am satisfied with my IOP. Surly, I know I could have done a much better job, but for the time being, it was that bad. While watching the movie, I noticed that that “umm”ed quite a few times in the beginning, but then I was able to continue without much difficulty, explaining my point of view exactly the way I wanted to.
Monday, September 8, 2008
My Opinion to Oracle Night
What is your reaction to the novel as a whole? If you liked it, what did you enjoy most about it? If you didn't, what about the story did you find lacking?
Upon finishing Oracle Night, I was left in awe, possessing some feelings of astonishment concerning the ending of the novel. The novel is very captivating and interesting. The fact that Paul Auster was able to juggle two different plots is extremely talented. Somehow the novel’s ending wasn’t satisfying enough, yet somehow it is exactly the perfect ending for the novel. Surly it did rap-up all the single story lines in the novel, but it was missing the certain “flavor” which had been available all through the rest of the story.
Auster’s way of not dividing his novel into chapters is noteworthy, especially when understanding one of the main themes, time, and how time is linear, as though everything continues to continue. Even though the plot is over duration of a couple of days, the author allows everything to flow easily, depicting the flow of time. There are many references to time and the explicit difference between the past and future mainly when Sidney was considering writing the screenplay. “…As soon as one person began to travel in time, time as we knew it would be destroyed…”
From its multi-layered gripping plots to the occasional foot notes in which the Sidney describes the background, there are many special and unique features about Oracle Night.
Upon finishing Oracle Night, I was left in awe, possessing some feelings of astonishment concerning the ending of the novel. The novel is very captivating and interesting. The fact that Paul Auster was able to juggle two different plots is extremely talented. Somehow the novel’s ending wasn’t satisfying enough, yet somehow it is exactly the perfect ending for the novel. Surly it did rap-up all the single story lines in the novel, but it was missing the certain “flavor” which had been available all through the rest of the story.
Auster’s way of not dividing his novel into chapters is noteworthy, especially when understanding one of the main themes, time, and how time is linear, as though everything continues to continue. Even though the plot is over duration of a couple of days, the author allows everything to flow easily, depicting the flow of time. There are many references to time and the explicit difference between the past and future mainly when Sidney was considering writing the screenplay. “…As soon as one person began to travel in time, time as we knew it would be destroyed…”
From its multi-layered gripping plots to the occasional foot notes in which the Sidney describes the background, there are many special and unique features about Oracle Night.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
What do you think about The Rock of Tanios so far? Is there anything that you especially like or dislike about the plot, setting, or characters?
"In my native village, the rocks have name." The first sentence of the novel is captivating enough to initiate the reading of the novel. So far, I sincerely think that the novel is great! Many aspects in the novel allow me to believe so…
Firstly, the fact that the book is settled around a village in Lebanon is an advantage to it. Due to its setting, all the reference and traditions are familiar to me. On page 48, it is mentioned that all the village women had 'their hands deep in the cinnamon and caraway … preparing the meghli in honor of the newborn son.' This custom is well-known in Lebanon, let alone all other Middle Eastern countries. As a result, it is easy to make the cultural connection between my everyday life and that spoken of in the novel.
The characters are very interesting. The author makes them seem to be three dimensional. We, as readers, are able to visualize how they might look and understand their personality with their flaws. It is evident how feudalism affects the lives of the people there and how each person has their "position" in society.
Personally, I got carried away with the novel. I was extremely anxious to find of whom in truth the father of Tanios was. Even though it isn't clearly stated in the novel whether it is Gerious or the Sheikh, there are many reasons to justify why it is most probably the Sheikh. Page 34 says, 'She [Lamia] smiled. And so he shared with her all the September fruits.' Even though it is not evident, it is most likely to be a reference to sexual intercourse, especially because the timing was perfect. Gerious was away on a task the Sheikh had sent him on, they were alone in the castle, and soon after we find out that Lamia is pregnant. So, it is just a matter of filling in the blanks.
The Rock of Tanios is truly a page turner. In some ways it reminded me when reading Midaq Alley. They both explain the sociology of human nature, even though in different time periods. The novel has a lot of hidden meaning. To a certain extent it explains the history of Lebanon, the role of religion and feudalism on the people, and the culture of Lebanon at the time. It is all a matter of reading between the lines.
Firstly, the fact that the book is settled around a village in Lebanon is an advantage to it. Due to its setting, all the reference and traditions are familiar to me. On page 48, it is mentioned that all the village women had 'their hands deep in the cinnamon and caraway … preparing the meghli in honor of the newborn son.' This custom is well-known in Lebanon, let alone all other Middle Eastern countries. As a result, it is easy to make the cultural connection between my everyday life and that spoken of in the novel.
The characters are very interesting. The author makes them seem to be three dimensional. We, as readers, are able to visualize how they might look and understand their personality with their flaws. It is evident how feudalism affects the lives of the people there and how each person has their "position" in society.
Personally, I got carried away with the novel. I was extremely anxious to find of whom in truth the father of Tanios was. Even though it isn't clearly stated in the novel whether it is Gerious or the Sheikh, there are many reasons to justify why it is most probably the Sheikh. Page 34 says, 'She [Lamia] smiled. And so he shared with her all the September fruits.' Even though it is not evident, it is most likely to be a reference to sexual intercourse, especially because the timing was perfect. Gerious was away on a task the Sheikh had sent him on, they were alone in the castle, and soon after we find out that Lamia is pregnant. So, it is just a matter of filling in the blanks.
The Rock of Tanios is truly a page turner. In some ways it reminded me when reading Midaq Alley. They both explain the sociology of human nature, even though in different time periods. The novel has a lot of hidden meaning. To a certain extent it explains the history of Lebanon, the role of religion and feudalism on the people, and the culture of Lebanon at the time. It is all a matter of reading between the lines.
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