Sydney's Blog

Marjane in the end was not happy because she felt she was giving up her identity to become someone's wife and have to be submissive to what society perceived her as: a helpless woman. Marjane was getting married at 21. She was at first excited, as she states on page 312, “I'm only 21! I haven't seen anything yet! But I love him! How can I know if he's the man of my life without having lived with him?” She was confused throughout the process. Through pages 313-319, she contacts her parents, she gets multiple people's opinions, and she gets various responses. On page 312, Marjane’s father says, “You're the only one who can know. At the same time, if you want to know him, you must live with him, and for that, you must marry.” But on the next page, Marjane says, “Long afterward not father admitted to me that he had always known that I would get divorced. He wanted me to realize by myself that Reza and I were not made for each other.” Her mom doesn't approve, ...

As Marji was getting older and the war was becoming more dangerous, it was going to be harder for her to leave the country. She needed to leave as a child to be safe, and once her neighbors were bombed, her parents decided. It would be safer for her to go to Austria to continue her education. On page 147, her parents tell her that they want her to go to Austria so she will be safe. She is sad at first, but she is also surprised that her parents trust her enough to let her go. After her neighbors are bombes she realizes that they’re right. She is just sad. Her parents are just trying to look out for her and do what they can for her to have a successful life and stay alive.

          For my book of choice, I read “The Jazz of Physics” by Stephon Alexander. This book is about how music and physics are very similar, and how the best scientists and musicians use equations to learn a den improvise their skills. It talks a lot about cosmology and how music notes and intervals had a role in the creation of galaxies. It uses music as an analogy essentially in teaching people about physics, cosmology, and geometry.           The argument of this book is basically saying that music, physics, geometry, cosmology, these all used to be seen as one. And that the people greatest in these areas still see it that way. They use all of these in all of these areas to further expand their knowledge in the individual subjects. I don't disagree with this because if it's a good enough statement to have a book written about it then it can't be crazy. However, I don't have enough knowledge in any of these subjects to have a big op...

This year we’ve read a lot of different books. We read poetry, autobiographies, fiction, and nonfiction books. Out of all of those, my favorite was probably the Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby story is very well known and it is so good! It is full of mystery, romance, adventure, and all of the things that I enjoy in a book. The movie also has Leonardo DiCaprio so I enjoyed the book even more. My least favorite book of this year (besides GGS) was the Merchant of Venice. Not because of the story, but just because I’m not a huge fan of Shakespeare. I know we had to learn about it because everyone has to learn about Shakespeare, but I have a harder time understanding it than I would like. I know that there was some comedy in there, and I never understood any of it. It wasn’t terrible, but it was my least favorite.

On the first page of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway (who is the narrator of the story) says that he is, “inclined to reserve all judgement”. Whether this is a true statement or not is to be determined. However, as the story has progressed, he seems to not be following his own statement. He has been judging people from the first few pages. For example, on pg. 2, Nick says, “Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn. If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him”. “What foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men” (Fitzgerald, 2). There are many more examples I could put in this to explain how he seemed judgemental, but I also think this could just be the way he wrote. He was very poetic, and very serious but blunt. This might be the way Fitzgerald wanted the narrator to be...

The play I am reading is called, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” which is a comedy. A comedy play has to end with either a feast or a wedding. This play ends with both. Theseus is married, and Hermia and Lysander have a feast. A comedy doesn’t have the protagonist die generally. In this play, the protagonist does not die. This play is not about history, unlike Henry V. It is also not a tragedy, unlike Othello. Although this play is a comedy, I did not find any lines or parts that were “funny”. I have also read “The Merchant of Venice”, and that had some lines that had some comedy in them. However, this play had no lines that were comedic, or that I understood as comedic.

          My response project for the Merchant of Venice was writing a script, which was acting as an Act VI or a sequel. I did this project with Izzie. I think it went really well. We did an even amount of work. We worked together on a day to come up with some content, and then we would help each other come up with the lines and help each other with the formatting. We had Nathan C., Nathan T., and Charlie helped Izzie and I perform our script in front of the class. They were very helpful, cooperative, and they made the play go really well.            Izzie and I work very well together. We get along really well, and our minds worked every well together for this project. I am very happy with how our project turned out. The audience seemed to respond very well, and I was very happy. I would definitely do this project again, it was fun, and I enjoyed the outcome. 

One of the things that interested me the most was Antonio and Bassanio’s affection for each other. They are always putting each other first, even in front of Portia, who is Bassanio’s wife. Antonio is always giving Bassanio money, even when he doesn’t have it. Bassanio tells Antonio everything, they are very very close, and there was speculation in my group after the reading that they might have romantic feelings for each other.     They seem to care about each other more than anything else, and my group had a small discussion about whether Shakespeare might have tried to hint some romance between them. They both love each other so much, and to the audience that was a possibility. I think Antonio and Bassanio had a very intriguing relationship, and that was something that interested me a lot while reading this play.

In Act 4, Scene 1 (pp. 78-79) Portia gives a speech about the mercy vs. justice ("The quality of mercy is not strained..."). Explain what Portia is saying about justice and mercy, and why it is important in the play. In this scene, Portia is talking to Shylock in court dressed as a man, and she starts by saying, “ The quality of mercy is not strained” (Shakespeare, 78-79). In the remainder of this speech, she is saying how mercy is temporal power, and, “An attribute to God himself” (Shakespeare, 79). She is telling Shylock that although he wants justice, he needs to think about the fact that he cannot look for redemption in this. “Though justice be thy plea, consider this: That in the course of justice none of us should see salvation” (Shakespeare, 79). This play is about a Christian and a Jew. In that time period, the Christian would have the upper hand. In this case however, they make a deal that the Christian could not abide to. This gave the Jew the upper hand and h...

    According to the 5-act play structure, the climax or turning point of the play should have happened in the third act. Did it happen? If so, what was it and what central conflict was addressed? If not, discuss the central conflict that has not yet been resolved.     My group acted out and discussed the third act together, and I think we can all agree a lot happened in this act. First off, Bassanio picks the right chest, (with Portia’s help) and wins her hand in marriage. But shortly after, he has to leave for a little bit and Portia says she going to join a coven until he returns, (she is actually going to dress like a man and find some people with Nerissa). Another big thing that happened in this act is Shylock’s daughter Jessica, runs away with her lover and takes a bunch of Shylock’s money and possessions with her. One of the things she took was her mother’s ring, (which Shylock later finds out she traded for a monkey). Something else that happened is the rum...

What do you think of Antonio’s behavior toward Shylock? Why do you think Antonio behaves the way he does? Antonio is a Christian, and Shylock is a Jew. In Europe during that time, Jews were frowned upon and seen as if there was something wrong with them. Antonio called Shylock many names. He called him a dog, he spit on Shylock,  as well as many other rude things. Antonio sees himself as superior to Shylock because of his religion. Shylock is a moneylender, which means he makes a living by loaning money to people, and then charging interest. Shylock does not like Antonio because Antonio loans money without charging interest. In Act 1, they bicker about this and Shylock tells the audience in short, that he despises Antonio for the things he does. Antonio’s behavior is something I feel is not nice. Whether he feels to be better than Shylock, it is not appropriate to treat someone else with such disrespect. However, at that time, that was how society worked. So he did not act ...