Fences 2.4 and 2.5

2.4

• Why does Troy keep trying to pick fights with Cory?
• What do you think of the last part of this scene where Troy is yelling at "Death?

2.5

• How do you think Rose is able to care for Raynell even though she knows that she is the product of Troy's cheating?
• Cory is now a corporal in the army and Lyons was sentenced to 9 months in the workhouse; is Cory's success because of Troy's influence?
• Do you agree with Rose that Cory's not attending Troy's funeral is disrespectful?
  

Their Eyes Were Watching This Blog (10-12)

Chapter 10:

In this chapter, Tea Cake is first introduced. From the beginning of the novel, we know that Janie had "run off" with Tea Cake, but returned to Eatonville by herself. It has been about 2 months since Joe died and Janie has been constantly asked about a new marriage. While everyone is at a game, Janie works in the store until about 5:30 when a man she has never seen before comes in. Unlike Joe, Tea Cake believes that she is smart enough to learn how to play checkers and resolves to teach her. Although Janie finds Tea Cake attractive, she thinks that he must be only after her money, not only because she is forty, but also because he is 25. It is interesting that Janie believes Tea Cake to not have any money just because he is young. Right before she left Logan, Joe was only about 30 and had plenty of money to spend on her and himself. Since we already know that Janie will end up marrying Tea Cake, we will have to see how her mind changes about his intentions.

Chapter 11:
Janie decides to be very cold to Tea Cake in this chapter so she can find out what kind of person he really is. Her act lasts less than a day and then Tea Cake tells her that nobody is as good as she is. The most important part of this chapter is when Janie realizes that Tea Cake is the man that she wanted when she was sixteen and used to sit underneath the pear tree. Do you think that Tea Cake will end up being that person that she wants or will it end up the same way that her marriage to Joe did?

Chapter 12:
In this chapter, Phoeby goes to Janie to talk about her spending time with Tea Cake. Janie admits that they are planning on getting married right after she sells the store. While Phoeby warns Janie that Tea Cake is only after her money, Janie says that it's not true. From what she says of Tea Cake, it becomes apparent that Tea Cake treats her as an equal and not as a possession as Joe did. He takes her hunting and fishing and to the movies, whereas Joe made her sit and do nothing when she wasn't in the store. How important is being treated like an equal to Janie? Is Tea Cake the only person who does this?

Black Boy - Chapter Three

"This was my test. If I failed now, I would have failed at school, for the first trial came not in books, but in how one's fellows took one, what value they placed upon one's willingness to fight."
-Page 91

In Chapter 3, Richard's mother suffers a stroke and he goes to live with his Uncle Clark and Aunt Jody in Greenwood. On his first day of school there, he fights another boy during lunch to prove his worth and become accepted. The theme of education in this chapter deals with both learning from life experience and learning from books. Uncle Clark tells Richard that he is to study every night and he does. He starts earning high marks until the dead boy incident. The type of learning from life is more prominently shown in this chapter, though. The chapter starts with Richard and his gang and how they talked about the racial segregation and the differences between blacks and whites. Richard learns that in the north, race is less of an issue than in the south. In Greenwood, the learning comes more from fitting in with other people. Richard knows that if he did not fight or put up a weak effort, he would have to keep proving himself to the others time after time, which would affect his school work. This is reminiscent of Richard's first experience with a new school when he could not write his name on the board even though he knew how to spell better than most of the other children.

Things Fall Apart chapter 15

This chapter shows the arrival of the white man in one of the villages. Obierika comes to give Okonkwo the cowries and says that a white man came on an iron horse. They kill the man and tie his iron horse to a tree. Obierika says that before they kill the man, he talked "through his nose" and muttered a word that sounded like Mbaino. Then, the white men came back and shot everyone at the market and Abame was wiped out. The iron horse that the white man brought is most likely a bicycle. In retrospect, a bicycle is a very tame invention that they could have introduced to the villagers. An interesting part is when Obierika mentions that a white man came, and Okonkwo immediately assumes that it was an albino. What will happen when the white men venture further into Africa and go through Okonkwo's current and former village? How will the differences in culture further separate the two people? Because of the ignorance that the Ibo people show to technology, the white men are most likely going to disrespect them and view their confusion as unintelligence. Since the white man's burden is what drives them to Africa, will the culture further strengthen their resolve to westernize Africa?

Things Fall Apart Chapter 7

The main topic in this chapter is the relationship between Okonkwo and Nwoye. As we have seen in previous chapters, Okonkwo refuses to appear weak and views gentleness as a weakness. Nwoye on the other hand, seems to resemble his grandfather instead of his father. As opposed to the previous chapters, we gain insight into Nwoye. We knew that Nwoye had become close to Ikemefuna and viewed him as an older brother, but now we see that Nwoye views him as a role model where Okonkwo is concerned. Although Okonkwo is inwardly fond of Ikemefuna, when Nwoye is told that Ikemefuna is "going home" he is beaten because he shows affection toward Ikemefuna. When one of the most respected men in their town comes to tell Okonkwo that he is not to take part in Ikemefuna's murder, he does it anyway so he doesn't appear weak. Will Okonkwo's desire to be strong further alienate Nwoye? Because Nwoye is now afraid of Okonkwo, will he still take over the family after Okonkwo is dead?

One Day in the Life of John Smith

-Because Ivan is the Russian form of John and is supposed to be just an ordinary guy, my character John Smith is the English version.


John's face hovered near the glowing screen of his computer. His eyes were not even halfway open, but he had to finish this paper. A burst of light filled the room. John jumped and looked around wildly, only to see his mother standing in the doorway.
"What's wrong?" John asked.
"Nothing, it's time for school," his mother replied with a look of confusion on her face. "Were you up all night?"
John nodded. Even after ten straight hours of typing, he still wasn't done with his paper. He'd finish it at school, he thought, and started to get ready.

"Late again, huh John?"
John looked up and saw the dean of students. He sighed. It wasn't his fault he was late; there had been a fatal accident on the 51 and it had blocked up traffic. Frankly, John was surprised that he even made it for his first class.
"Yeah, there was a car crash," John responded resigned. His excuse wouldn't get him anywhere.
"You know the rules. That's the third late you've gotten this week - detention."
John groaned.
"My office after school."
He hurried off toward the office to sign himself in. It was 8:15 and he hadn't called the school to tell him that he'd be late. He'd probably get another detention for his unexcused absence. John's stomach growled. He had been planning on eating at school. Unfortunately, he had classes all morning and didn't have time to go grab a bagel. He sat down at the back of the class and rested his head on the desk. Slowly, he got out his notebook and began to take mediocre notes.
"Psst, John."
Up near the front of the class his best friend was holding something.
"I got you a muffin. Where were you?"
"Accident on the 51," John said as he bit into the muffin greedily. Finally, he could concentrate.

The rest of the morning went by slowly. He dozed off during his biology class and missed some important notes. His teacher understood; everyone had been up late writing that paper. As his last morning class rolled around, John couldn't decide if he actually wanted to write his paper or risk a bad grade by sleeping through the rest of the day. As he dropped off his books at his locker, John spotted something peculiar near his right foot. John crouched down and reached into the tuft of grass. Eureka! Five dollars! John glanced around sharply before pocketing the money. Looking at his watch, John realized that he had enough time to catch his friends in the parking lot before they left. And he did. John returned happy that he didn't have another bland school lunch. But even that couldn't lift his spirits when he thought about the paper he had to finish and his detention after school that day.

John's first afternoon block was a free so he rushed into the library to work on his paper. He had already finished all the actual writing and all he had to do was go through it and add his footnotes. John snorted. All he had left to do. Understatement of the century. John banged his head softly on the desk and grumbled to himself until a cheery freshman grew concerned and moved to the other end of the library. He diligently checked each line for any borrowed material until five minutes were left in the block. John figured that his teacher would only check some of the footnotes and hurriedly entered in some random sources to the last few pages. The bell rang and John sighed in relief. He turned it in electronically and went to his last class of the day.

After school John headed over to the dean's office to serve his detention. Luckily, all he had to do was pick up trash around the school for an hour. John picked up the trash in the quad as fast as possible and then sauntered around the campus for the rest of his detention. He would be judged mostly on how the quad looked. An hour passed and John went back to the dean to say that he was finished. He looked around John and scanned the quad. It appeared to be flawless. John rushed to the parking lot to get into his car and go home. He needed to sleep. Thankfully, it was just another day.

Fwame-Wesistant Suit? But I love fire!

So maybe I'm a pyromaniac-scratch that-I am a pyromaniac, but who isn't? Is there anyone who can honestly say that he's never been strangely drawn into a flame? I didn't think so. What confuses me is that most people deny this fascination.

Now, coming from a pyromaniac family, or "pyrofamily" as I like to call them, the only disapproving stares I receive after lighting something on fire come from my mother and sister. Thankfully, my dad majored in chemistry and fully supports and understands my decision to love all things fiery and explosive. Therefore, the whole notion of creating a costume that won't burn is ludicrous! But back to the problem at hand: those people in pyromaniac denial. They, too, are living in a metaphorical "fwame-wesistant suit," but unlike Spiderman, their suits are not essential to defeating pathological men in brightly-colored costumes. In fact, the material is probably harmful. Okay, maybe not everyone is using a fwame-wesistant suit to hide their pyromania, but they definitely are hiding from something. Spiderman wants to burn his suit to free himself from the responsibilities of being Spiderman. But he can't; he's Spiderman for life. Everyone has something that they want to change about himself, but sometimes it's not possible.
Even though some people can create a new persona to hide behind, their real selves will always show through. Spiderman, for instance, may hate having to repeat the same tedious acts day after day, but he became Spiderman for a reason: to help people. If Spiderman got rid of his costume somehow, he still would feel the need to help people, even if he didn't act on it.
Everyone has at least one moment where he wants to change himself. The fwame-wesistant suit is there for a reason. Without it, people would be able to completely change themselves whenever they wanted without any conscientious thought of who they really are. As for me, I may sequester my need to light things on fire while in polite company, but as soon as I can, my fwame-wesistant suit vanishes and I'm left to be myself. Although Spiderman may want to burn his suit on occasion, there are times when he will remember why he became Spiderman to begin with, and be grateful that his suit can withstand fire.