The end is near

Well its that time of the year again.. We are closing in on finals and there is only one more thing to do before I take it, and that is to write this blog.
My favorite pieces of literature this semester were King Lear and Antigone. I absolutely love reading plays. I know they are meant to be watched and not read but there are always so many different ways in which you can interpret the play and I can just imagine what they would be like if I were to actually go see them.
The poems were a close 2nd in my list of favorites. They are short and to the point. Yes, there is sooo much that can be misinterpreted , but isn't that the best part of literature? Knowing that I can read something and know that there is no right or wrong answer as to how I can take it.

OH Dante...i enjoyed reading this but at the same time I hated it. It was so complicated and I got lost in translation have the time. I mean I'm lucky mrs. fowler made a list of the the different levels and circles or else I never would have figured it all out..ahhh

I hated reading Genji, I just didn't care for it. Yes i'm sure there were alot of people that enjoyed it. However, I was not one of them. I mean I can appreciate the different culture aspect and everything, but there is only so much i can handle when it comes to guys being man whores.. i mean really..keep it in your pants..oh well hahah
This semester was interesting as a whole, the different stories were fun to read, and the discussions were even more fun.

A interesting ending to King Lear

Ok, so to begin with, I knew going into the book that people were gonna die, but I didn't realize how many of the characters would. I'm really upset that cordelia was killed. I mean I know it s a tragedy and all but I was hoping atleast she lived. I'm glad Edgar is still alive. The two "evil" sisters finally got to each other. I saw that coming with all the bickering and fighting over Edmund, which I guess he is suppose to be all handsome and good looking, but seriously your going to kill each other over that. Then, we have Edmund, what a jerk if i do say so myself. He is the biggest manipulator/liar i have ever seen. I mean he has the sisters fighting over him, then he is telling albany that he is going to show mercy towards lear and cordelia when that was obviously false. I guess the good looks is what had everyone fooled. Darn those good looking people and getting away with crazy stuff. haha. In the end though it all came back to bite him in the butt with Edgar being the one that ultimately caused him to die (that was nice, to see him win his power back). Glocuster (however its spelled) dies, I saw that coming. I mean the poor guy already lost his eyes and he wouldn’t have been good for much else I guess. The only people still alive are kent, glocuster and edgar. A good group if I do say so myself, but I still wish Albany had decided to fight with lear instead of against him. O well that’s a tragedy for you.

King Lear 2

this book is driving me mad.. I mean everyone in it is going crazy or acting crazy so why shouldn't i get a little crazy? The daughters are making me sooooo mad! I mean are they really that spoiled and conceited? I mean at first I thought they were just trying to teach lear a lesson about he doesn't need to act like a child, but nope they are just as crazy, I mean its storming like crazy and they kick their father out. Evil evil people

Now onto the boys in the storm. Kent is begging the king to go into the hut but he won't so he should just give up, its not going to happen. Then you have the fool which i'm kinda confused about what he is doing, and then ENTER Edgar. I mean do these people really not recognize him? He only grew up around these people and they don't have any idea who he is. Shows how much they really pay attention to the people around.

I kinda like crazy Tom though. I mean he is really really crazy and the king is just like oh I don't care I want to know what this guy is all about. (Guess that shows how crazy the old man is getting).

Edmund is pissing me off..he is a spoiled little "bastard" and needs to grow a pair, he hides when his father comes back in and can't even confront him to let him know he is the one that ratted him out...Well atleast Gloucester finally knows the truth, too bad he is blind now -_-

King Lear

Ok so king lear is pretty cool, probably my favorite so far. Class helped me understand a lot of it though and helped me see it through a different perspective. At first I was all like what is up with the crazy sister and them being so horrible to their father..I mean he did just give them his land. But, after careful review I apparently didn’t pick up on the part about him acting a fool in their place. Old man has got to have some fun though, geeze let him get a little silly with his clown guy. He is old and is losing it, you can’t fault him on that haha. Anyways its funny all the conspiracy going on. I mean you got the sisters then you have Edmund (it is Edmund right?, I keep getting the names mixed up I mean Edmund, edgar? what’s the difference). Lets see you got the sister getting power hungry up in here and then you got Edmund who is trying to cause trouble between his dad and brother, I mean ok we get it that you are tired of hearing about how you are a bastard, but come on the truth hurts sometimes, get over it and own up to it. I mean just be like “ yeah that’s right my dad found my mom so attractive he had to have a hot good looking child with her.” Seriously though, it seems like there is too much conspiracy going on…That much conspiracy is just asking for a tragic ending…I guess that’s why it’s a Shakespearean tragedy. 

Sunjata

1st off I would like to say that it was very difficult to read this story because geeze every otehr word was some long hard to say name. And all the names sounded and looked a like and I was just getting confused all the way through. 

Anyways now that i'm done with my rant. The book was pretty interesting for what i understood, but i can't help but think that it is more of an origin/creation type of story. I mean everything that sunjata did caused something that happens now. Like the tree dying from the top to bottom and not starting at the bottom because of the shooting of the arrows and the tree, and the way the families are so close that one helps the other and if not its bad for them. I mean there were so many more that I just found so interesting. I always love reading those types of  tales because its interesting to see how different cultures and even religions explain why things are  the way they are. I'm not really sure if  that was  the whole purpose of  the story but that was what i got out of it. 

Another thing, teh talking ring thing that sunjatas sister used to fake that she was still at the palace or whatever when she was sneaking away.. how legit was that. I mean here we have this african story that is incorporating a type of technology that didn't even exist (maybe it was suppose to be magic) but still INTENSE. I really enjoyed reading and seeing the different things, the griots were pretty cool that were telling to story, i could imagine the whole thing going on in my head and these two guys just being like "ok now listen this is how things really went down"

So good!

Evening Faces

The beginning of chapter 4 has proved to be no different from the other chapter, with its lustful settings. I find it so amusing how so many years ago it was perfectly normal to sleep around, but now it is a huge no no. I’m not saying that I condone the sleeping around, just that it is funny how things change. Any ways , so at the beginning of this chapter we have genji coming back from court. He stops in to see his old nurse whom he was very fond of as a child. This woman is very ill I love the sentimental side of genji that we see here. He is truly upset that his old nurse is sick and dying. The woman was obviously extremely fond of genji as she cries and shows more affection for him then her own children, which her children notice and I don’t believe they like that all too much. I mean every loves him though so they should be ok with it right? Haha However, even in the mist of this horrible setting, Genjo still seems to only have one thing on his mind. Sex. I mean even Koremitsu is thinking “oh geese he is at it again with the women.” But, they bring it upon themselves by saying its ok. I mean lets all be okay with sleeping around and ofcourse a good looking guy is going to be ok with it. I mean what do they expect. So he inquires about this woman and writes more poetry and don’t get me wrong poetry is nice, but sometimes I’m just like come on get to the point all ready, just say what you mean! That’s not going to happen though, we are reading about the Japanese culture and they do seem to be very passive in there language.

Chastity

Ibn Faraj's chasity is an interesting work. He seems to approve of the idea of remaining celibate and not being a "beast". However, he uses imagery to intensify the sexual nature of one and how it is difficult to sustain from acts of sinful nature. In the very beginning when he describes how he denied himself from participating in sex, he doesn't just say he said no, he lets the readers understand that this woman was giving herself to him and was more than willing to partake in this temptation. Yet, even with her being so willing he still refrained. He then goes on to describe how she came "unveiled in the night." He uses this to play on the readers sexual imagery. He is basically tricking readers. Its funny, even I at first was taken back by thinking he was all about abstinance and all the while he is describing in details this woman so that readers will picture and understand what he is giving up by denying this woman. I love the part where he uses the metaphor to describe how intense and difficult it was to hold back his desires. “like a thirsty camel whose muzzle keeps it from nursing.” He compares himself to a poor animal who is unable to fulfill its needs because it is being held back by something. I’m assuming he considers a camel to not be too wild either because later he says he isn’t one of those wild beast that does whatever it wants in any garden. Haha. So he is like a camel but not a wild beast! I do wonder if this means he has some kind of belief that camels are better. I mean why not use another animal to compare? hmmmm

Oh Marge

Margery Kempte seems to be quite the woman. She is very interesting and the way she writes in third person makes the book that much more interesting. It is written by her and she calls herself “the creature”. It strange how she refers to herself in this way, but I guess we are all creatures. Oh well, her life on the other hand is quite the interesting. She started off admitting how much sin she committed and then suddenly flipped a switch and became some virtuous woman. It makes me think how could she just one day up and decide that everything is going to be different. Obviously everyone that she knew and lived with felt the same way. What was going on with this woman that made her so different all of a sudden?  I don’t think I would have been able to deal with it as her friend either, but I might have been able to deal with it better than her husband. I mean come on the woman tells you that she doesn’t want to sleep with you anymore and she wants to live this virtuous life and all he could do is complain that he wasn’t getting anymore. Well at least she was able to pray to God and she didn’t have to sleep with him because he was being a little baby and couldn’t get over himself. She was a pretty tough woman it seems that her life definitely had its obstacles, but what life doesn’t .

More Inferno..what is confusing me this time.

I find the eighth circle to be particularly interesting. In all of the different “pouches” we see the different sides to Dante and his feelings toward the punishments. Now I don’t want to go into some great detail as I am writing about this topic in my paper.  I am slightly confused on how Dante feels about the second pouch. I am also confused on how this punishment has anything to do with the “flatterers” sin. Oh well maybe I can figure it out in class tomorrow. In the third pouch Dante is more than happy that these people are being punished the way they are. I mean I agree, these are the people you basically tried to buy their places in the church. However I am still having difficulty with the rest of the pouches and figuring out how the punishments are “symbolic” of the sins that are committed. I mean I can understand some like the one in the 4^th pouch where they are forced to look behind them because they spent their whole lives trying to look ahead and into the future. It is rather clever if you ask me. However, some of the others aren’t as clever. I don’t know I might feel differently once we discuss it in class and I feel like an idiot because people will be explaining the underlying meanings and I’m sitting there thinking “How the heck did you come up with that” and “Are we sure we are all reading the same thing”. This section was still the most interesting to me though, because even though I don’t understand the symbolism, I can still be intrigued by the different ways in which one can be punished for the sins they commit.  

Dante and Limbo

The most interesting and I guess I should say confusing passage for me was the “Canto IV.” I am a Christian; however, I was raised under the southern Baptist denomination. My mother is catholic so I have been given a little bit of information about Limbo. I understand that this is the place where unbaptized infants and the “virtuous” people that did not have the opportunity to know about God and Jesus. However, I do not understand what all Limbo entails. According to the passage (from what I understand at least) these people are just wondering around and are not allowed to enter neither Heaven nor Hell. Why is this though? I guess that might be why I have never completely been able to understand when my mom tries to explain it to me. Why are these people that never had the opportunity to know and worship our Lord sent into what I would consider punishment. I mean don’t get me wrong it is nothing compared to Hell, but in a sense it could be this group of people’s perception of hell. They are stuck in this abyss and are only allowed to hope and wish that they were able to be in heaven. That sense of longing must be a severe form of torture. I can only imagine what it would be like to long for something and know that I will never be able to reach it. However, I cannot tell If Dante is having the same thought process as me or if he is trying to make fun or show a flaw in the Christian religion, but at the same time is a flaw is what he is searching for, I don’t understand how this one could be one since it isn’t even considered in the Baptist denomination (at least not where I grew up). Maybe someone can explain this to me in class. Well until tomorrow I will be left wondering.

The Ramayana

I love the differences that are presented here with Gilgamesh and Rama. First, I like Rama way more. Gilgamesh to me seemed way too over confident and had too much pride. Rama is almost here to simply do what is asked of him. He does not disrespect people and he seems to be pure of heart almost. It is funny how they are both heroes but are so different at the same time. They represent the far ends of the spectrum almost. You have Gilgamesh who is this man who is stronger than any man on earth and I would say doesn’t care about his people as much as he should being a leader. Rama on the other hand is yes extremely strong and a warrior, but he is also very kind hearted and cares about his people. You can see this in the way he is loved by everyone (not feared). He also has such a different way of looking and treating women. Yes the women in the stories are not “equal” to the men. However, Rama treats Sita like a man should treat his wife. He loves her and he values the husband/wife relationship while Gilgamesh had to sleep with every wife before their husband did.  Gilgamesh was all about him going off and battling all these different “opponents.” Rama’s epic tale is about fulfilling Dharma and making sure you are doing what you are meant to do on earth. Yes he has his fair share of battles, but the ultimate goal of his is to fulfill his life’s meaning. Overall, two great epics, but with two different perspectives on the types of “heroes.”

Antigone

Oh Haemon!

I really enjoyed this character. Yes I was upset when he killed himself in the end, but hey whats kinda Greek story would it be without a tragic ending. I loved how he came in to speak with his father and was like no I understand and will not go against what you are deciding to do but damn are you wrong! (sorry for explicit language, however I think it was in good context). He stood up for himself and I love that in a male character. He knew how he felt and he didn't care if he was considered to be an insubordinate. He was like yes I might be young, but at least I know when something is right and wrong. It showed how much he truly cared about Antigone and  that he did understand where he was coming from! It was a nice contrast to Creon's character where he wouldn't listen to anything and wouldn't even try to understand why she would act the way she was. I mean it really made me mad that Creon who is suppose to be older and wiser is telling Haemon that he is wrong and a horrible son, when Haemon is the one listening to what the people are saying behind creons back and trying to take on different perspectives, but oh well what can you do. Overall I pretty much fell head over heels for Haemon and even though he killed himself at least he was with the one he loved (yes morbid, but there is no other way to describe Greek tragedies.)

Women according to Gilgamesh

So to begin I would like to let people know that I am not some crazed Feminist-haha. :)

In the world of Gilgamesh women seem to be good for one thing and one thing only and that is sex. Now I realize as women we play a very vital role in the whole lets have babies so we can have a way to carry on our name once we are long gone, but don't you think these people take it to the extreme? I mean we have a priestest that's primary role in this tale is to sleep with Enkidu and  show him the ways of civilization. Why couldn't she have had some thing else to do? I mean come on do we really have to sleep with a man to get him to see the ways of life?
Then we have Gilgamesh who sleeps with all the women like they are just toys for him to play with and then pass on once he is done.
Oh! let's not forget Ishtar who is a goddess and all she wants is for Gilgamesh to be her "bridegroom," and to grant her his seed. Well now we have a female role who goes crazy when he tells her no that he will not be her bridegroom. So what does she do? She runs to her father and begs for the bull of heaven.

Now I could be wrong, but all in all I believe we just have a bunch of women characters who are portrayed as being a little off their rocker when they don't get their way, and also as being only good for sex. A sad day for women I tell you, a very sad day.

Maybe next time we can get a female character that can kick some butt or do something more with their life!