Plays

1, Captured by feministas: Comedy because it has funny parts in it that makes people laugh.
You know how to whistle, don't you? : Melodrama because it has serious moments in the story.

2. I think his choice of words affect me positively because then the story and play feels real. If he would have chosen old fashioned words I would have been less interested. Instead I feel like I can relate and completely understand the play, like it would be happening in front of me.

3. The theme of "captured by feministas" is to understand that men and women are always going to be different. They operate differently, and even though how hard someone tries to operate equally in the end they will always be different to one and another.

4. The protagonist of the feministas story is clearly the man sitting blindfolded, because he is not doing anything bad in this play he is the nice guy.The antagonist is the women/woman interrogating him and threatening to shoot him because they are the bad guys of this play.

5. I liked the first play ( feministas) better than the second one ( whistle one) because I like comedy better than dramatic stories. I like to laugh and the feministas play really got my attention because It felt new and up to date, as well as it was really funny.

Andre's Mother:

1. The spectacle that is used in this play is the white balloons that they are all letting go and watching them fly up in the sky. It is symbolic of letting the spirit of the Andre go.

2. I feel like the protagonist in this play is Cal and the antagonist is Andre's mother. Cal is trying his best to talk to her and explain, bond and just communicate with the love of his life's mother. Instead Andre's mother just stands there quiet without anything to say. We also find out that she hasn't really been that supportive of her son being homosexual so that is another feeling I get why she is the antagonist.

3. I feel like the story turned when Andre's mother used a physical motion, the kiss on the balloon. When she decided to pull the balloon down and kiss it before letting it go, that really showed the reader that she cared about her son and she isn't really mean.

4. I think the theme of this story is to accept people like they are, even if you do not like what they do or think or feel. Everyone should accept and respect everybody.

Rap/Hip hop peotry

Part 1,

1.Poetry is a text that tells a story which makes people reflect on different subjects.
2. I think a poem should contain some kind of a story and meaning. There should be a main point that wants to come through. It does not nessesary have to rhime or have a special set up. The main important thing with a poem is that a story is told.

Part 2, 

Together with: Aaron Licardo

A song we believe is a poem: Bob Marley , Redemption Song.

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our mind.
Wo! Have no fear for atomic energy,
'Cause none of them-a can-a stop-a the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look?
Yes, some say it's just a part of it:
We've got to fullfil the book.
Won't you have to sing
This songs of freedom? -
'Cause all I ever had:
Redemption songs "

We decided that we could not choose a song that we did not consider a poem because we think all songs/texts are poems, all in their different way. All songs and text give out some kind of story and since we think the definition of a poem is to tell a story, all songs and texts are poems.

Part 3,

1. Yes I do believe rap /hip hop is poetic expressions. It's not the matter of words or style of language a poet decides to use, but what is said and what the meaning behind the text is. A lot of rap songs have great meaning behind it and often it is taken out of context of their own lives.

2. I think all of the characteristics that are listed on the handout is part of rap/hip hop. All songs are different and all songs seem to contain most of these poetic terms, all in their individual way. Though I can find all of these terms in rap/hip hop songs I think the main three characteristics are:

-Tone/Voice
-Imagery/Metaphores/Similes
-Rythm/Rhyme

These three terms is what all songs seem to contain, and especially rap/hip hop. Tone/Voice is what makes us hear the song and the tone of the voice is of great importance so that the words of the artist has the right meaning behing it. Imagery/Metaphores/Similes is a keystone in rap/hip hop lyrics. Almost all songs contain metaphores and similes, artists are always trying to find resemblance and different kinds of interpretations in their lyrics. Rythm/Rhyme is what makes a song and rap/hip hop songs usually have a good rythm to it and the artist very often decides to use rhyme in the lyrics.

3. Im a thematic critic. I always try to understand what the artist is trying to say or express. I try to figure out the meaning behind the words and find the underlying theme.

Hemingway

Part one

1.       The setting seems to be a very pleasant café. It is well described that the café is nothing like a bar or club, but a nice calming café. It seems like the point of having a well lighted setting is to bring out the positive in life. 

2.       The characters names are nameless because I think the author wanted to make this story relevant to everybody reading it. There are no names so that no one can be identified or and that more people might find similarities in the characters and themselves.

3.       The plot is about an old man sitting in a café drinking alcoholic beverages. The two waiters of the café are keeping an eye on the old man while discussing about his life. The younger waiter of the two wants to close up the café and go home and rushes the old man out of the café. The older waiter feels bad and tries to get the younger waiter to realize the importance of having a nice café open for everybody to visit. The story ends with that the younger man closes the store up and rushes home to relax. The older man talks about the importance of having sunlight.

4.       The story’s theme is that more people need to think about the positive in life.

5.       The younger waiter seems to be more immature and egoistic than the older waiter. The older waiter seems to have more compassion for people and he seems to want to help other people around him. When comparing the waiters to the old man sitting in the café I found the old man very oblivious to what is going on around him. He seems carefree of what is happening, while the waiters seem to worry about everything surrounding them. For example to get home within a decent time versus to making customers and people happy.

Part two

1.       Ernest Hemingway was born on July 21^st, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. He was the second child and lived together with his parents.  He was an American author and produced most of his work between the 1920’s and the mid 1950’s. He won the Nobel prize in Literature in 1954. When only 18 he left America for the Italian front and became an ambulance driver during World War one. He returned home within the year due to a serious injury of an act that had given him the Italian silver medal of Bravery.  During his life he had four marriages. Hemingway took his life in 1961, July 2^nd by shooting himself in the head.  The first similarity I found in the story and Hemingway is the suicide discussion. In the story they are talking about that the man tried to kill himself and so did Hemingway in real life. The second thing I found as a similarity is that the old man in the story is very lonely and I think Hemingway seemed to be very lonely too. Even though he had four wives it seems like he was very lonely. The third and final thing I found as a similarity is that the story seems kind of dark in some parts and so does Hemingway’s life.

Alice Walker - Everyday use

Alice Walker was born on February 9^th, 1944 in Eatonton, Georgia and was the youngest of eight children in a economically poor family. She is an African American author and poet with a theme often about issues of race and gender. The most famous book is the novel “The color purple”. She even won the “Pulitzer prize for fiction”. When Ms. Walker was four years old she was enrolled in the first grade, a year ahead of schedule. After high school she attended Sarah Lawrence College in New York City and graduated in 1965.

When growing up Ms. Walker often used to write, but very privately. In 1952 Alice was accidently injured in her eye when a shot from a BB gun was fired by one of her brothers. Without the availability of taking her immediately to a doctor for treatment the family waited a week to receive the news that she turned out to be permanently blind in the wounded eye. This disability made Mrs. Walker feel like an outcast and became very shy. This made her focus more on reading and writing poetry. 

In 1965 Ms. Walker married a Jewish civil rights lawyer  named Melvyn Roseman Leventhal. This made them the first legally married inter-racial couple in Mississippi. Together they have one daughter.

The similarities I find between Mrs. Walkers everyday life and the story “Everyday use” is mainly that their life seem to be a little bit of a struggle. Mrs. Walker grew up in a economically pour family with some struggle. Even though the story does not imply that they are poor, I feel that there is struggle in their everyday life. I also see the similarities when it concerns education. In real life Mrs. Walker was very close to not having an education because of her skin color and the way people used to think back in the days. She makes it very clear that “Mama”  in the story does not have the education she wanted though she gave it to her daughters. This seems to be a reflection of how her family situation was. Mrs. Walkers own mother might not have had any education but struggled so that Alice and her siblings did. Education seems to be an important factor in her life and in her stories.

1.      I think the term everyday use refers to the quilts that Dee’s and Maggie’s grandmother made a long time ago. It can also refer to the difference in heritage opinions in all three characters of the story. They have different views on how to keep a heritage which makes them think differently when it comes to everyday stuff. I think Mrs. Walker chose this title to reflect on the everyday simple stuff that can mean a lot to some people. 

2.      Dee defines heritage as someone you have to be careful of and not touch or use. It should be there every day to remind you. Maggie is more relaxed and she does not need the actually physical thing there to remind her about her heritage, she will remember without it. Mama seems very worried about her heritage and she is very concerned that it will not be forgotten. She needs to be reassured that it will be remembered.

3.      I find it very ironic that Dee changes her name to Wangero even though she is very keen on keeping her heritage alive. She was named after several people in her family and should be proud of her name. Throughout the story she implies that Maggie would not be able to keep the heritage alive like she would, but even though this she changed the one thing that would be able to keep their heritage alive for very long time. 

4.      The story would change very much if Mama was not the narrator. Maggie would have had a very relaxed story and tried to focus more on the spiritual way of keeping heritage alive. Remembering it by stories and memories. Dee’s story would have been a more alive and eventful story. The focus of the story would have been directed to the things that keeps the heritage alive and the importance behind it.

5.      The Quilts is a big significance in the story’s meaning. They represent their heritage and what they feel like they need to remember. They all have different opinions of heritage but they all feel concerned about the quilts and remembering their heritage and history. The Orange Dress that Dee shows up wearing in the beginning of the story is to me something to notice. The significance about the dress is that at first glance it stands out so much and it reflects Dee’s personality. It makes the reader really feel the difference between Dee and Maggie. This was an important part for me as a reader to understand and realize their differences. The sunglasses that Dee is wearing in the end of the story seem important in my point of view. It’s a very good way of once again reflecting on Dee’s personality. She often seems very blunt and almost oblivious. It is almost like she is always wearing sunglasses because she lives in her little world/bubble where everything is her way. 

                                                                            Quilts

Tell Tale Heart - Edgar Allen Poe

After reading “the tell tale heart” story by Edgar Allen Poe I surprised myself with how quickly I got caught up in the reading. The conflict in this story is not an external conflict, but an internal one. The protagonist is the killer and the person who took the antagonist’s life; the old man. With mixed emotions about the old man and the murder, the protagonist shares the feelings and thoughts he/she experienced pre and post the deed. I get a feeling that this person is happy and relieved that they finally killed the old man who bothered them so much, but towards the end the feeling seems to change. When police comes knocking and are welcomed into the home, I believe they were sincerely convinced that the protagonist is innocent. Though somehow the guilt of the murder gets to the protagonist’s head, it gets too much for them to bear. The story seems to contain two main emotional conflicts based upon the dislike of the old man as well as the guilt of a murder.The climax of this story is also the same part where one of the conflicts is resolved; when the murder actually appears the old man is attacked and murdered under the bed.