Class Reflection

My two favorite books from this class were The Complete Maus and Night. Although these texts did not relate to my life i have always been interested in the Holocaust. These two texts taught me the importance of family and especially parents.

Before this class I had never even heard of a graphic novel, and after I did find out what they were i will admitt i was a skeptic. However after reading my first graphic novel I got a better understanding of graphic novels and in turn a greater appreciation. The main reason that I like the graphic novels so much and especially Maus is because when you read a graphic novel you can really picture what the author intended the reader to see in the illustrations.

If someone were to ask me to read the texts before this class, I probably would've missed so much. I can honestly say that before I never really thought critically about the texts i was reading. I would have to say that Oranges are Not the Only Fruit was the most difficult book for me to read. There wasn't really any suspense, to keep me interested. So I had to read little parts at a time and then take a break, to keep from falling asleep. As said earlier I didn't really know what to think about the graphic novels at first but now i can say that I really enjoy them, I really loved all the grahic novels. American Born Chinese because of the colors and the storyline, Blankets for the beautiful illustrations, and Maus was fun to read because of all of the animal characters.

Neil Gaiman The Sandman Dream Country

Neil Gaiman's adaptation of a Midsummer night's dream was somewhat hard to follow it was as if there was too much going on. The characters seemed to be somewhat dark , puck especially who looked like a goblin from a horror movie. I didn't really like this adaptation i prefer the manga.

This is performed on a hillside in front of creatures from faerie even those who are in the play are watching the play, and then there is also a play within the play with the commoners, which intertwines the real world into the play just as Shakespeare's original version.

The set of panels that interested me the most were the panels with puck on page 85 he just looks so dark and scary almost like The Grinch.

A midsummer night's dream part 2

When looking for an different interpretations for A Midsummer Night's Dream I found an Indian Interpretation of A Midsummer Nights Dream which is said to be "Performed in English and six languages of the Indian subcontinent while remaining true to Shakespeare's poetry, this exotic and passionate production is a dazzling new interpretation."

I believe that Shakespeare should be able to be interpreted and performed in different ways it doesn't always have to be exactly as Shakespeare first wrote it. With the different interpretations it allows for more people today to be able to relate to the play because they can see things from a different point of view. I believe that Shakespeare would have wanted people to relate to his plays and the many different interpretations can make that possible.

Manga Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet
In Manga's interpretation of the Romeo and Juliet Death scene I don't think that the interpretation of the images do it any justice because in the book they are in just a regular building but in the play they are in a tomb and i think that with them being in a tomb in the play it sets to tone for the end of the play.

Oberon and Puck
Oberon and Puck make me laugh when they are together. When puck messed everything up in the magical forest Oberon was so mad at Puck while Puck just laughed and thought that it was funny. Almost like two brothers who are always making eachother mad. A little while later Oberon decided that they would leave what puck had done, done and then later undo it. Oberon was getting less and less mad and then towards the end of the play they make ammends and they go back to being "partners in crime".

Soliloquy

HELENAHow happy some o'er other some can be!Through Athens I am thought as fair as she.But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so;He will not know what all but he do know:And as he errs, doting on Hermia's eyes,So I, admiring of his qualities:Things base and vile, folding no quantity,Love can transpose to form and dignity:Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind:Nor hath Love's mind of any judgement taste;Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste:And therefore is Love said to be a child,Because in choice he is so oft beguiled.As waggish boys in game themselves forswear,So the boy Love is perjured every where:For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne,He hail'd down oaths that he was only mine;And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt,So he dissolved, and showers of oaths did melt.I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight:Then to the wood will he to-morrow nightPursue her; and for this intelligenceIf I have thanks, it is a dear expense:But herein mean I to enrich my pain,To have his sight thither and back again.





Helena is comparing herself to Hermia which is normal for a young woman and she just can't understand why if she is as beautiful as Hermia why doesn't Demetrius love her, seeing as how Hermia loves lysander. This is because love is blind, and he has obligations, meaning an arrangement with Hermia's gather. Despite Demetrius' love for Hermia Helena is pretty sure she will win him over.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

On page 68 in A Midsummer Night's Dream is the scene where Helena is grasping onto Demetrius' legs and telling him how much she loves him. Helena's dialogue is shown in heart word bubbles where as Demetrius' is shown in a jagged spiky bubble showing his frustration. Because Helena is grasping onto Demetrius' legs as shown on page 68 it emphasizes how desperate Helena is to be with Demetrius. Helena looks a little down on luck with her hair all a mess and a leaf in her hair. Demetrius' aggravation grows stronger you can see it in his face, he has a water drop on his cheek from being so frustrated he is grasping his face and as she keeps talking he grasps harder. Without Manga's interpretation of this scene it would be hard to see exactly what is going on, and how these characters are really meant to be portrayed.

War is Kind by Stephen Crane

This poem was interesting to me because the author Stephen Crane kept repeating the line "War is kind", when everyone knows that war is anything but kind. He talks about how it is so great that these men were born to die and basically that they are fulfilling their destiny so war is kind. Its almost as if Stephen is saying be happy that your loved one died because this war is a good thing. However when a person loses a loved one in a war they resent the war and think it is anything but kind so it is kind of ironic that Stephen says that it is kind.

MAUS Part Two

In Maus Part Two on page 204 I thought it was really interesting how when Artie is talking to Pavel how he says "No matter what I accomplish, it doesn't seem like much compared to surviving Auschwitz". Within these couple of pages Artie is shown really small like a child even though he is an adult, showing how small and unaccomplished he feels compared to his father and other survivors of the Holocaust.

MAUS Part one

When I was reading The Complete Maus I found the choices of animals to use very interesting. I did a little more research to find what Spiegelmans reasons were for his choices. Spegielman chose the Jews to be mice for they are very resourceful with finding food, and also that it is nearly impossible to wipe out all mice just as it is impossible to wipe out a single human race. Spiegelman took some heat from the polish when he decided to portray them as pigs. However his itentions were for them to be portrayed as something like Miss. Piggy or Porky Pig. Many of the Polish pigs are portrayed as sympathetic such as Ilzecki who on page 82 allows Vladek to hid in his house or on page 39 when Jenina says she considers Anja to be part of the family. Last but not least the Germans are shown as cats, which I found to be somewhat comical. Cats want to kill mice just as much as the German Nazi's wanted to kill the Jews.

Research Paper

In all my life I have always written traditional papers. I have never even heard of a multigenre paper, however, it does sound interesting. I like the way videos and links are incorporated into the multigenre papers. I really don't know what I am going to write about!! I need more than ten minutes to think about it but here is my brainstorming. I suppose if I was going to use American Born Chinese or The Bluest Eye I would write about self image, and the idea of perfection and how peole conform to their societies ideal image of perfection as much as they can. If I were going to incorporate Oranges are Not The Only Fruit I would write about Homosexuality and the discrimination that homosexuals/ bisexuals have to face. If I were to use Blankets as my reference I might write about the importance of siblings or about sexual abuse and the effects. Although I have not read Night or Maus yet I know someone who was a POW and I might want to write about POW's and war and the impact on them afterwards. Like I said I don't know what I want to write about, but whichever book I decide to incorporate I would use one of these topics.

Blankets

On pages 51 and 52 in blankets Craig comes to a realization and says "At that moment I knew what I wanted... I wanted Heaven." This is showing a point in Craig's life when he finds out what his purpose is in life, he believes his purpose is to live his life here on earth, which he believes to be torture at this point in the novel and go to heaven. Craig says that he grew up striving for heaven the world that would wash away his temporary misery. On page 51 after Craig says that he wants heaven, he is jumping into a sea of clouds. The look on his face is almost as if it is fun he looks excited. He is small in this panel considering the panel takes up a whole page, therefore showing Craig jumping into life and all of the space around him representing uncertainty. On page 52 Craig keeps falling but his expression changes almost as if he no longer excited but now afraid of the uncertainty, or perhaps dreading what is to come with his life here on earth. Craig is also getting older and his size relevent to the page and the size of the panel is getting larger.
Craigs relationship with his father doesn't seem to be the warm comforting relationship that children long for. On page 14 after Craig and his brother had been fighting for a while their father comes upstairs. Their Father is a very large man and his facial features are rigid and dark. After their father picks them up by the back of their shirts they both look scared and when Craig is put back into bed his eyes widened and it is obvious that he is frightened then in the next panel it almost looks as if they are pleading with him. It is obvious that Craigs father is the one who disciplines in the household and he isnt a very warm individual.

Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit... Close Read

At the end of the chapter Judges on page 136 I found one line that jumped out at me and struck me as odd. When Jeanette decides that she will not repent her sins(being lesbian) because she feels as if she has done nothing wrong because she is only following what her heart is telling her to do, the church and her mother decide that they will get rid of her. Jeanette's mother says "I'm not havin' demons here" assuming that Jeanette is a demon. This is extremely important because Jeanette's mother no longer looks at Jeanette as her daughter but as a demon, and wants nothing to do with her. Throughout my life I have always heard parents say that they love their children unconditionally and that no matter what their children do they will always love them, it seems to be a common theme among parents when talking about their children. Jeanettes mother obviously does not, and when she can't make Jeanette into the "cookie cutter" perfect christian that she wants her to be she says she has to leave because shes apparently full of demons. When Jeanette's mind starts racing thinking about where she is going to go she realizes that she doesn't have anywhere to go her mother tells her "The devil looks after his own." At this point Jeanette's mother has now completely disclaimed Jeanette and is basically telling her that she is no longer her daughter or her responsibility but the responsibility of the devil a "devil's child".

Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit

What do I believe? I believe in God. Ever since I was a young child I went to church Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night. I choose to believe in God because when I look at the world around me I know that someone must have created all of it, and with everything that has happened in my life it would have been hard to get through without him. My parents, my friends and the rest of my family shaped my belief in God, I have a mostly religious family. Even though some of my family may fall down every once in a while and lose their path, and they may not go to church every Sunday they still know that there is a God and believe in him. After my parents got divorced I had an ongoing battle with my belief system, my mom stopped taking me to church because she was embarassed to go alone, and because she was to depressed to go anywhere really. For a while I had a hard time believing, I couldn't understand that if there was a god why would he let something like this happen. It wasnt until this past october when my faith became really strong again when my grandmother passed away, she was a very religous follower, my grandfather being a pastor and all. Somehow I knew that her passing away was a sign that I needed to renew my faith.
In the book Oranges are not the only fruit Janette struggles with her mother, and who her mother expects her to be. Her mother always gives Janette oranges and tells her that "Oranges are the only fruit." Janette obviously knows this isn't true therefore the title gives a little bit of foreshadowing saying "Oranges are not the only fruit" possibly saying that there are other things to be discovered, outside of what Janettes mother allows her to come in contact with. When Janette kept saying that men are pigs, and when she kept hanging out with Melanie constantly, as soon as I stopped reading the first half of the book last night I set my book down and told my boyfriend "She is going to turn lesbian." He was obviously confused because he wasnt reading the book I was but i just told him not to worry about it and I would tell him if she did later. So I definetly think the end of the first half of the book foreshadows that she is going to be a lesbian and fall in love with melanie.

Initial impression

my initial impression of yang's book... well i was confused!! At first I didnt understand why there were three different stores and how they could al possibly be linked. I though about it and then I realized all of the main characters are ashamed of their backgrounds. For example Jin doesn't want to get made fun of for being chincese so he starts eating sanwiches instead of dumplings and doesn't want to associate with other people from his culture. The monkey king gets made fun of for being a monkey at a dinner party so he starts wearing shoes, trying to be more like a human. Danny is ashamed of his chinese cousin Chinkee so he kind of just blows him off. On pages 82 and 83 in American Born Chinese the monkey King is disciplined in by collapsing the concrete on which he is standing. You can hear the concrete crumbling and the monkey screaming and the rocks falling on top of him the panels are trianglular going on a diagonal showing that there is a conflict or struggle

A Different Point Of View

I believe that race and gender and class are important when discussing literature. When people read a book or watch a t.v. show they tend to relate things that are happening to their own lives. When people cannot relate to their own lives they put themselves in someone elses shoes. It is important to be able to do this because obviously we cant live our life in everyones shoes so we try to ask ourself questions like "How would this make me feel" when someone can do this they can for the most part understand what other people are going through and this would give someone a better understanding of the world and what its like to be someone else.

multimodality, multisemiotics and multiliteracies

Multiemodality, multisemiotics and multiliteracies are all about different way of interpreting things using our five senses(see,hear,touch,smell and taste). Because Multiliteracies encourage us to use all of our senses it makes it easier to absorb an comprehend information. For example when you get on an airplane and they go through the shpeel about the exits and masks. Most people don't listen they just look at the handout in each seat with the picture diagrams on how to use the mask and where the exits are. The pictures also make it easier for people to understand how and actual mask is put on. Mccloud uses multimodal literacy by using words combined with a picture in a way in which one can almost hear the sound that is represented in the picture.

Understanding Comics Chapters 1-4

What is real literature? Real literature is interesting and engaging. Real literature forces the reader to think about what is going on and reflect on his or her own life. Honestly before reading chapters 1-4 of Scott McCLOUD'S understanding comics I knew very little about the art form of comics. My knowledge of comics went as far as the Sunday newspaper, once in a blue moon I would read Garfield, and other comics in which I no longer recall the titles. Not to say that I didn't like comics per say, just that I wasn't always interested and wasn't able to appreciate the art of comics without a basic understanding. I enjoyed reading the first four chapter of Understanding Comics, I read it a little bit at work and then when I got out of work. The pictures kept me interested, sometimes late at night I read a newspaper, book, or magazine to help me fall asleep but I was able to stay awake reading the whole 4 chapters, which to me is amazing and unusual. I am very excited to see what is to come in upcoming chapters.

La Guernica Using Molly Bang's Theories

La Guernica by Picasso has dark colors and rigid shapes and lines. La Guernica also makes one feel unsafe because of the dark background, more so than a lighter one. The rigid shapes makes one feel uncomfortable, or scared. Because of the contrast in La Guernica it is very easy to see everything about the picture such as al of the different lines and shapes. Most of the "action" is going on in the middle of the picture where the center of attention in. All the people/animals in this picture have their mouth open, perhaps they are scared, shocked or possibly dying.

Western Michigan University

What is an american?

I believe an American is obviously someone who lives in the United States. However a true American embodies the same values, such as family and friends. An American works for what they want, no matter how long it takes. An American believes in freedom and lives life to the fullest. Some people believe Americans are rich white people and that everything comes easy for them. America is the "melting pot" so Americans are of all different colors and come from all different cultures, an American stands up for what they believe in and are truly proud to be called "An American".

Literary Theories

The first literary theory that catches my attention is the feminist theory first and foremost because I am a female. Because I am a female I have dealt with discrimination because of my gender. Even when it's just the little things like "you can't lift that you're a girl". Gender really shouldn't be as important as most people make it when it comes to everyday life. In a perfect world male and female would be equal, however, from the time we are little we are taught gender roles such as girls do the dishes and cook, and guys mow the lawn and fix things around the house. Therefore I find literature on women empowerment interesting because it helps people realize that women do have a voice that should be listened to.
The second theory that caught my attention was multiculturalism. Having taken many culture classes in high school, and going to a school that was very diverse I have learned about different cultures and how important they are. People shouldn't be ashamed of their culture, but instead be proud to show their culture because it makes them unique.