Sunday, December 30, 2012


The Bell Jar Reflection #15


Chapter 20 (pgs. 193-200)

Everything is finally starting to fall into place for Esther.  She states that “In a week if I passed my interview with the board of directors, I would be dropped off at the iron gates of my college.” (pg.193)  I am very proud of Esther for going through everything she has and for getting that far.  Her mother has forgiven her and she tells Esther “We’ll act as if it were a bad dream.”  Esther states that everything is a bad dream when you live under a bell jar. 

Buddy Willard finally comes to visit her.  They get along greatly and she feels a strange connection between them.  She finally has forgiven him for being a hypocrite.  She helps him dig his car out of the snow.  Buddy asks Esther if she thinks there is something about him that drives women crazy, being as her and Joan both ended up in the asylum.  I found this kind of humorous.  Dr. Nolan walks in and assures him that it was just a coincidence and not his fault.  She also tells Esther that Joan’s death had nothing to do with her.  Esther is invited to attend Joan’s funeral.  It was a nice service and it helped her find peace.  She also calls Irwin to ask him for a check to pay the hospital for her injury the night they had sex.  He asks when she will see him again and she confidently replies “Never!”  It is almost time for Esther to be released; she just has to attend one final meeting with all of the doctors.  She got dressed in her nicest clothes and with Dr. Nolan by her side she was finally ready. 

The last sentence of the book says “I walked into the room.” (pg.200)  It was definitely a cliff hanger and I was a little disappointed with the ending; I wanted to see what would happen next.  I was very glad it was a happy ending though; during the middle of the book I predicted the book would end with Esther killing herself.  I really enjoyed The Bell jar.  It was different from what I am used to reading, but I liked the style and I’m glad that I chose to read it.


The Bell Jar Reflection #14


Chapters 18-19 (pgs. 176-192)

Esther awakens and the climax of the book happens.  Esther feels free and she feels as if the bell jar that she was once enclosed under had lifted and was now suspended above her head.  Dr. Nolan explains that with a few more weeks of shock treatments, Esther should be back to normal.  Esther cannot wait, being as she now has a new excitement for life. 

Esther gets back to her room and shortly after, Joan brings her a letter from Buddy Willard.  We learn that Joan used to date Buddy as well; however, she says that she never really liked him, she just liked his mother.  She was the kind, loving mother she never had.  Esther’s letter states that Buddy may come to visit her later.  Esther is surprised to find that she would not mind if he came.  Later that day, Esther walked in to Dee Dee’s room to get some sheet music, and she catches Dee Dee in the bed with Joan.  Esther has no idea what they are doing, but then she realizes that they must be having an affair.  She becomes confused and talks to Dr. Nolan about how she just does not see what women see in other women.  Near the end of the chapter, Esther realizes that women should have the same rights as men and they should be able to get away with sleeping around if they wanted to so she goes to the doctor to get birth control.  This was written in the time when women and men still weren’t treated equally and also when birth control was fairly new.  Esther is successful in getting the medicine, but as she waits in the waiting room she wonders why she is not maternal like most of the other women she knows. 

When the next chapter begins, Joan is telling Esther about her dream to be a psychiatrist one day.  Esther finds this humorous being as she is seeing psychiatrists herself at the time.  They also talk about how they will miss each other, being as they know Esther will be released soon.  Next, we read the statement “It hurts.  Is it supposed to hurt?” (pg.184)  I was confused at first, but then as we read on we find out that Esther is losing her virginity.  She went out that night and met a man named Irwin.  He seemed very nice and smart and he invited her out for coffee, and then later back to his room.  While they are at his house, another woman comes to his door dressed quite scandalously.  Esther realizes that Irwin must get many women, but she does not care.  She just wants to lose her virginity to a stranger and have no connection with him afterwards.  Esther exclaims that she feels a sharp pain, and after they stop having sex she notices that she is bleeding profusely.    Esther gets Irwin to drop her off with Joan and Joan takes her to the hospital.  They tell Esther that her case is very abnormal; however they get her help.  A few days later, the doctor comes in and tells Esther some very devastating news though.  She tells her that Joan was found in the woods, dead.  I feel really bad for Esther.  I feel like she will feel Esther’s death was her fault.

 

The Bell Jar Reflection #13

Chapter 17 (pgs. 167-176)

At the beginning of this chapter, a nurse tells Esther that she is progressing and that soon they will move her into Belsize.  Belsize is the place that patients go when they are about to be released.  Esther does not want to move to Belsize, although she talks about being relieved that they do not do shock treatments there. 

A few days later, they move her and all of her stuff into a room at Belsize.  She sees Joan there and many other women who have walking privileges, shopping privileges, and can basically do whatever they want.  She claims that the women are well dressed and they seem stuck up, being as they spend most of their time gossiping about each other.   I feel bad for Esther because she feels like the new kid on the block and that feeling is never easy.  I experienced that myself in fourth grade when I moved to Elizabeth City and I did not know anyone.  One day, Joan is reading a magazine and she finds a picture of Esther in it.  She asks Esther in front of all the other girls if it is her and Esther denies it; she even feels embarrassed. 

The next morning when the nurse comes in, she does not bring a breakfast tray and Esther knows that is bad news because if you don’t get breakfast, that means you are scheduled to have a shock treatment done.  She thinks there has been some mistake, but she finds out that it was no mistake.  She starts freaking out and runs and cries in the corner.  Dr. Nolan comes and comforts her, telling her that she promises to be with her throughout the entire treatment.  Esther is furious at her though because she had promised she would warn her if she had to get any shock treatments done.  The time comes and Esther walks into the electrotherapy room terrified.  Dr. Nolan is with her the whole time though and she decides to get it over with.  As soon as she gets shocked, she falls into a deep sleep and she did not feel a thing like Dr. Nolan had promised.
http://www.electroboy.com/electroshocktherapy.htm

The Bell Jar Reflection #12


Chapters 15-16 (pgs. 151-166)

A woman named Mrs. Philomena Guinea heard about Esther’s case all the way in the Bahamas and she became very interested in it.  She even came all the way to Boston and using her own money, she transported Esther from the awful city hospital to a nice, private one.  A black Cadillac came to pick Esther up and she rode between her mother and brother in the back of the Cadillac to the new hospital.  While they were driving over a bridge over the Charles River, Esther got a crazy idea to jump out of the car when it stopped and run and jump over the bridge, although she could not bring herself to do it. The entire time I have been reading this book, I have been wondering why it is named The Bell Jar and I finally figured it out at the beginning of Chapter fifteen.  Esther says that she knows she should be thankful for Mrs. Guinea’s kindness but she is not.  She says that even if she had given her a ticket to Europe I would be sitting under the same glass bell jar, stewing in my own sour air” (pg.152)  This shows that Esther’s illness has no cure, and no matter what anyone does for her, she will never be happy with her life. 

 When Esther gets to the newer, nicer hospital, she is surprised to find she has a female doctor named Dr. Nolan.  She is also surprised to find that they serve them nice food and give them real silverware.  I picture this hospital sort of like a nursing home.  A woman named Miss Norris moves into the room beside Esther.  She decides to go talk to her and make a friend, but becomes disappointed when she realizes that Miss Norris cannot talk and that she is worse off than herself.  A couple of days later, the nurses move Esther and Miss Norris to different rooms where there is more sunlight.  Also, the nurse tells Esther that she has a surprise for her!  Her surprise is an old friend named Joan who came to the hospital to be with Esther.  Joan tells Esther that they are in very similar situations.  Joan went to the doctor and promised herself that if the doctor could not do her any good, she would kill herself.  Of course the doctor did not do any good and she was going to kill herself until she came across the many articles in the paper about Esther’s story and she ran away to find her.  She gave Esther the articles and let her keep them; she even suggested she make a scrap book with them.  Esther continues living boring days in the hospital, many people try to come visit her though.  Esther is ecstatic though when the nurse announces that she will have no more visitors for a while, since she yelled at her mother when she tried to bring flowers for her birthday.

The Bell Jar Reflection #11


Chapter 14 (pgs. 139-150)

When Esther wakes up, she hears voices around her, but she cannot see anything and she has no idea where she is.  She feels a chisel crack down on her eye and all she can see is a small stream of light.  She is convinced that she has gone blind, but she is told that she is lucky that her eyesight is normal.  After a few minutes, she can finally see and she sees nurses standing around her bed.  Her mother and brother come in to visit her and see how she is doing.  She tells them that she wants to be left alone.  Shortly after that, a man named George Bakewell that she met once comes in to visit her.  He tells her that he is that hospital’s watchmen and she screams and says “Get the hell out and don’t come back.” (pg.142) 

The next day, she asks a nurse to see a mirror.  The nurse tells her no at first, but after Esther continually bugs her about it she lets her see it.  Esther is convinced that the horrible image in the mirror is a picture and not her.  Esther accidentally drops the mirror and breaks it.  The nurses freak out and yell at her saying she will have bad luck for seven years.  Esther tells them that is just a superstition.  The next day, Esther is transported by ambulance to another hospital to see a ward.  She is put in a room with an Italian woman named Mrs. Tomolillo and after Esther tells her that she tried to kill herself, Esther asks for the privacy curtain to be put between them.  Esther finds out that she has been sleeping and eating in the hospital and she becomes upset.  She talks about the Negro waitress at meal time who gave her two servings of beans.  She becomes angry and kicks him in the calf.  This was during a time when some places were still segregated, so it was unusual to see a black man working at a hospital. 

That night, the nurses come to Esther’s room to take her temperature.  They lay their thermometers on her bed while they are busy and Esther purposefully kicks them over, although she claims it was an accident.  The thermometers shatter and glass and mercury go everywhere.  The nurses are furious and rush to clean everything up; however, Esther manages to grab a small, silver ball of mercury before they can get to it.  I am very nervous about Esther having mercury and I predict that she will swallow it and try to kill herself again.


The Bell Jar Reflection #10


Chapters 12-13 (pgs. 115-138)

Esther and her mother go to Dr. Gordon’s special hospital so that she can have her shock treatment done.  Esther notices that everything and everybody in the hospital is still and quiet.  She expects to see bars on the windows, but instead it just looks like a normal house to her.  After waiting a while, Dr. Gordon comes to get Esther.  He takes her upstairs and Esther sees a woman saying that she is going to jump out of the window; Esther now realizes that the windows upstairs are barred.  They remove Esther’s jewelry and put her in a machine.  She says the pain is terrible and that she is not okay. 

When she wakes up from her treatment, her mother and Mrs. Dodo Conway are there to drive her home.  She gets home and tells her mother that she is done with Dr. Gordon and his silly treatments.  Her mother is relieved because she thinks that Esther is finally getting better, but she is actually getting much worse.  Esther gets home and is exhausted being as she has not slept in twenty one days.  She has finally hit rock bottom and take out her fourteen Gillette razor blades and attempts to kill herself; however she just can’t bring herself to cut her delicate wrists.  She states that” It was as if what I wanted to kill wasn’t in that skin or the thin blue pulse that jumped under my thumb, but somewhere else, deeper, more secret, a whole lot harder to get at.” (pg.121)  As I was reading, this book really started to frighten me and I got scared while reading it alone in my room at night so I had to put it up. 

 Esther begins to get even crazier in the next chapter.  She goes to the beach with her friend Jody and two guys and attempts to drown herself.  She also recalls trying to hang herself that morning with her mother’s yellow robe tie, but she could not find anything to hang the tie on.  Esther’s mother gets worried about her so she gets Esther to volunteer at a local hospital.  Esther goes and gets assigned to pass out flowers on the maternity hall.  Some of the women are rude to Esther and she runs home and says that “It’s time.”  I assume that meant that it was time for her to kill herself because she leaves a note for her mother saying she has gone for a long walk and she crawls into a dark hole in the cellar and takes fifty of her sleeping pills one by one until she starts seeing things and falls into a deep sleep.

http://www.malewitch.com/articles/suicide-is-not-the-answer.html

The Bell Jar Reflection #9

Chapters 10-11 (pgs. 92-114)

The next morning, Esther takes the train home from New York.  She is all torn up from the night before and she does not have any clothes except the ones on her body since she threw them all off of the roof.  As soon as she gets to the station, her mother is there to meet her.  She tells Esther the bad news that she did not get accepted into the writing program that she had hoped to.  Esther feels awful.  She had planned on getting into that program and now she has no idea what she wants to do with her life.  I feel really bad for Esther, I had hoped she would get in as well. 

She goes home and goes immediately to her bed and lies down since she is exhausted.  She talks about her white house in the suburbs that she and her mother live in and she talks about some of her neighbors, one named Mrs. Ockenden who told on her for kissing a boy outside of her house, and one named Mrs. Dodo Conway who has seven children.  Esther’s friend Jody who she had planned to live with while she completed her writing course called her to see what the plan was and Esther quickly shut her down.  Also, Esther makes plans to write a book, but shuts down that plan as well.  I feel like Esther is doing nothing with her life and becoming more miserable as each day goes on.  She goes to the doctor on day to get prescribed more sleeping pills, because she cannot sleep, and the doctor refers her to a psychiatrist.  I am really starting to worry about Esther at this point. 

She goes to a psychiatrist named Dr. Gordon hoping that he can help her.  She has not changed clothes, showered, or slept in weeks.  She quickly decides that she does not like her psychiatrist though and only tells him what she wants for him to know.  He tells her to come back next week and Esther’s mother is not happy since Dr. Gordon is so expensive.  Next, there is a small episode of Esther flirting with a sailor.  He is many years younger than her and they become very touchy until Esther thinks she sees Buddy Willard’s mother.  She was just hallucinating though.  I think that this episode was unnecessary; I guess they just included it to show even more of Esther’s craziness.  Esther goes back to Dr. Gordon the next day and he becomes very worried about her.  He tells her mother that she needs to have a shock treatment done at a hospital nearby.  Esther tries to get out of it by running away but she realizes that she has no time or money.  She sees an article about a man who almost jumped off of a seven story building.  This really opens up her eyes to the idea of suicide and now I am really starting to get scared that she might try something suicidal soon.

                  


The Bell Jar Reflection #8

Chapter 9 (pgs. 81-91)

The Rosenberg’s are talked about a little more at the beginning of this chapter.  Esther and one of her co- workers named Hilda discuss the event, being as they are supposed to be electrocuted that night.  Hilda states that the whole situation is awful while Esther says that she is glad they are going to die. We learned about them recently in U.S. History so I thankfully, I understand that part.

After Esther’s discussion with Hilda, she rushed to Jay Cee’s office.  She found out that they were supposed to have their pictures taken that day though and she tried to get out of it.  She was not successful in getting out of it though.  They had to pose in their picture as what they wanted to be when they grew up.  For lack of a better answer, Esther states that she wants to be a poet so they give her a rose to pose with.  They pick up the camera to photograph her and she just starts uncontrollably sobbing.  The photographer and Jay Cee leave after a while and Esther never has her picture taken. Honestly, this part confused me a little because I have no idea why Esther started crying; it just goes to show that she has even more mental problems than I originally thought. 

When Esther gets back to her room, Doreen convinces her to go out with her and some guys.  Esther decides to go and she gets into a bad situation.  Near the beginning of the night, the guy named Marco had given Esther a diamond pin.  He took her outside and very roughly starts tearing off her clothes.  Esther decides to lay there and to go ahead and let sex happen, until he start calling her a slut.  She gets very offended and starts hitting him to get off of her.  She tries to run away and he starts screaming at her to give him back his diamond.  She keeps running until he threatens to break her neck.  She goes back and gives it to him and tries to find Doreen; however, she is nowhere to be found.  She goes back to the hotel and for some reason goes on top of the roof and throws her clothes off into the night one by one.  I guess this was her method of coping with her depression.  Also, this was her last night in New York City and tomorrow it would be back to her same old helpless life.

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/depression_tips.htm


The Bell Jar Reflection #7


Chapter 8 (pgs. 71-80)

During this chapter, Esther has a flashback to a time when Buddy Willard’s father took her to the Adirondacks to visit Buddy, since he was staying there while he had TB.  She states that it was the day after Christmas, which I find quite ironic since I am writing this journal entry the day after Christmas.  Esther says “At Christmas, I almost wish I was a Catholic” (pg. 70) which shows us that she is an atheist and does not practice a religion.  I believe that religion is a very important part of life and is necessary to keep a person on the right path; maybe that is why Esther is having some mental issues. 

 Esther is very close with Buddy Willard and his family.  She is very reluctant to go, however, since she thinks Buddy Willard is a hypocrite.   On the very awkward drive to get there, Buddy’s father tells Esther that she was the daughter he never had.  She wishes she could hitch hike there rather than be in that awkward situation.  They finally get there and go to visit Buddy in his room; Buddy’s father leaves them alone quickly.  Esther notices that Buddy has become very chunky, which she did not expect with his sickness.  They talk and Buddy asks Esther how she would feel about being Mrs. Willard one day.  She is shocked and tells him that she never plans to be married.  She tells him that she is neurotic and could never settle down in one place with one person.  I made the word neurotic stand out because it is a big step for Esther to finally admit her mental issues. 

 Esther stays with Buddy and the next day they go skiing.  Buddy is very patient with Esther and slowly teaches her the basics of skiing.  Esther hates it at first, but when she finally gets the hang of it and glides down the hill, she loves it.  She states “This is what it is to be happy.” (pg. 79) I really like this quote because I like how Esther finally finds something in life that makes her feel free, happy, and like life is good.  She gets to the bottom of the hill and quickly exclaims to Buddy that she is going again but he stops her.  He tells her that she has broken her ankle in three different places and will be in a cast for months.  I did not like this part because it shows that poor Esther’s life keeps letting her down and she keeps seeing that nothing she loves lasts for her.

The Bell Jar Reflection #6

Chapter 7 (pgs. 60-71)

Constantin picks Esther up and they head out on their date to the UN.  Although he is shorter than her like she expected he would be, Esther finds Constantin attractive.  While they are talking at the UN, Esther listens to Constantin talk about all the things he is good at and Esther realizes that she has not been truly happy since the age of nine.  She talks about how she was never good at cooking, dancing, horseback riding, skiing, etc. and for the first time she feels inadequate.  She begins thinking though, and decides to let Constantin seduce her to get even with Buddy Willard.  He asks her to his room and Esther becomes very nervous, but excited.  She knows that she could become pregnant (since this book was written before birth control was around) but she does not even care.  She talks about how she does not find it fair that woman are expected to be pure until marriage but that it is okay for men to brag about sleeping with women before marriage.  She decides that if men can do something like that, then she will to. 

Constatin and her talk of his porch and Esther starts becoming upset when he does not try to make any moves.  She finally gets to the point where she claims she is tired and she goes and crawls into his bed.  He goes and crawls in with her but just goes to sleep.  Esther starts thinking about how that’s how things would be when she got married, and she decides she does not ever want to get married.  At around three in the morning, Esther and Constantin wake up and he tells her he will drive her home.  When Esther gets home, she lays in bed depressed, thinking about how bad her left leg hurts.  She thinks “Buddy Willard made me break that leg. No, I broke it myself.  I broke it on purpose to pay myself back for being such a heel.” (pg. 70) Esther is really starting to scare me as I read on in this book.  This chapter showed us that she has physically harmed herself before and that she feels depressed and inadequate; these are not good signs.

http://thepill.umwblogs.org/invention/

The Bell Jar Reflection #5

Chapters 5-6 (pgs. 41-60)

The next morning, Esther gets a telegram from Jay Cee telling her that she can have the day off to rest and get over the food poisoning.  Esther is thrilled and excited to spend the day relaxing with no disturbances; however at seven o’clock she gets a call from an unusual number.   She answers the phone and a strange man asks for Miss Esther Greenwood.  She tells him that it is her and he tells her that his name is Constantin.  She has no idea who he is, but then she remembers that a woman named Mrs. Willard had mentioned trying to set them up.  He asks her if she wants to grab a bite to eat later, and Esther agrees hesitantly. 

 She begins getting ready, and starts thinking about her only real relationship with a man named Buddy Willard.  She tells us about how she was crazy about Buddy, until the day she realized he was a hypocrite.  They had known each other and were family friends.  He even went all the way to her college a few times to visit her, even though he attended Yale.  One day, he came and gave her a letter inviting her to the Yale Junior Dance.  She gladly accepted and all of the girls in her dorm were jealous because Buddy was very good looking and smart.  They went to the dance and had a great time; Esther even got her first kiss that night.  They continued to hang out for a couple of months until “the day the baby was born.” (pg. 50)  This is the day that Esther found out Buddy was a hypocrite. 

She had gone with him to view a child birth because he was in medical school.  Although it disgusted her and made her not want to have children, she dealt with it since she got to spend time with Buddy.  Later that night, they went back to Buddy’s place and drank some Dubonnet and while they were there, they got curious.  Buddy asked Esther is she had “ever seen a man?”  She told him no and he asked her if she would like to and out of curiosity, she said yes.  She was a little disappointed claiming that it looked like a turkey neck and turkey gizzards.  She asked if he had ever slept with someone before, expecting him to say no, but he said that he had slept with a slutty waitress at his hotel about thirty times that summer.  Esther was furious!  Buddy came from a very conservative family, always valuing virginity; therefore, Esther starting viewing him as a hypocrite.  Also, unlike today, losing your virginity before marriage was a huge deal. I think she was just jealous, but she never wanted to talk to him again. A few months later, she heard that Buddy had caught TB and she was happy that she could use that as an excuse to tell her friends why they no longer saw each other.

hyp·o·crite

[hip-uh-krit]   
noun
a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.

The Bell Jar Reflection #4


Chapter 4 (pgs. 31-40)

When this chapter begins, Esther is still having a flashback about when she was in Jay Cee’s office.  She says that they talked more about future short stories for the magazine and they looked over manuscripts.  Esther talks about how she admired Jay Cee and how she wished her own mother had been more like Jay Cee when she was younger.  After a couple of hours, Jay Cee left to go to lunch with two famous writers and Esther went to the Ladies’ Day Banquet.  Before they left though, Jay Cee said to Esther, “Don’t let the wicked city get you down.” (pg.32)  I feel like this statement is very important and I have the feeling that it will be a recurring theme throughout the novel. 

 After Esther attends the banquet, she and some of her co- workers go see a movie.  About half way through the movie, Esther starts feeling unusual.  She quickly gets up from her seat to head back to the hotel.  Another girl named Betsey leaves with her and they get a cab to head home.  Before they can even get home, they both start throwing up uncontrollably in the cab.  They have no idea what is wrong with them.  When they get home, Esther runs to the bathroom and just lies in the floor until two people come and carry her up to her room.  Later that night, Doreen comes to Esther’s room to bring her medicine and to visit.  She informs Esther that she and the other eleven girls got food poisoning from eating the crab meat at the Ladies’ Day Banquet.  Although Esther feels awful, she is secretly happy to know that her friend Doreen is back by her side.
 

The Bell Jar Reflection #3

Chapter 3 (pgs. 20-30)

At the beginning of this chapter, Esther attends a Ladies’ Day Banquet with her co- workers.  She talks about how nice the banquet is and all of the delicious food that is arrayed on the tables for them to eat.  Esther mentions her love for food in this chapter.  She states that “My favorite dishes are full of butter and cheese and sour cream” (pg. 20) which I really appreciate because I love all of those three things too.  Although she has fun at the banquet, she realizes that she misses Doreen. 

The author then uses a flashback where Esther tells us about the beginning of her day, which was not the best.  She mentions that Doreen had tried to get her to go to the fur show with her but she refused and just lied in bed.  Also, her boss, Jay Cee called her into her office earlier that day.  Jay Cee told her that she needed to “roll up her shirt sleeves” and work a little harder.  She also asked Esther about her plans for the future and Esther said she was not sure.  Jay Cee told Esther that it would be a good idea to get into a foreign language class.  Esther was stressed because she knew she did not have room for any more classes, but she came up with the brilliant idea to get out of chemistry, which she hates, in order to take a foreign language.  I can relate to Esther on that because I am taking chemistry right now and it is definitely not my favorite class.  Finally in this chapter, we learn the very important information that both of Esther’s parents died when she was quite young.  I believe this could have a lot to do with some of her depression problems.

http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/parent-death-during-childhood/

The Bell Jar Reflection #2

Chapter 2 (pgs. 12-19)

In this chapter, Doreen convinces Esther to go with her and the two guys they were with back to one of the guys’ places.  Esther is reluctant, but she finally agrees to go.  Doreen makes Esther promise that she will stay with her in case the guy tries to make a move, and she promises, but it did not take her long to realize she had made a bad decision.  After seeing Doreen do some very inappropriate things with the guy, Esther becomes fed up.  She takes out her New York street map and decides to walk the nineteen blocks back to her hotel. 

 When she gets home, she is a little hungover and sore, so she decides to take a hot bath.  She says that “I never feel so much myself as when I’m in a hot bath.” (pg. 17)  As I read this chapter, I started to think that Esther might have some mental issues.  She is very weird and likes to be secluded.  Her only friend is Doreen, or so I thought, until Doreen shows up at her door that night and throws up on her feet.  After this, Esther vows not to have anything to do with Doreen anymore.

The Bell Jar Reflection #1

Chapter 1 (pgs. 1-11)

The opening sentence of The Bell Jar was a huge attention grabber for me; it talked about a man and a woman by the name of the Rosenburgs who had just been electrocuted.  Although I do not think the Rosenburgs are going to be a huge part of the book, using that episode was a great way to lead into telling us about the life of the main character, Esther Greenwood. 

Esther is a nineteen year old girl from Boston who won a writing contest for a fashion magazine and as a prize won a dream job in New York for a month with all expenses paid.  Esther knows that with this amazing opportunity she received, she should be having the time of her life, but she knows there is a problem when all she can think about are the Rosenburgs.  Esther feels as if something from her life is missing.  She states that “A girl from a small town with my opportunity should be steering New York like her own private car.  Only I wasn’t steering anything, not even myself.”(pg.2) 

Esther lives in the Amazon hotel with twenty other girls; however, she likes to keep to herself.  She really only has one good friend named Doreen, who is beautiful.  Towards the end of the chapter, they are on their way to a work party when two guys stop them and ask them to go to a bar with them.  They decide to be a little risky for the night and take a chance.  Esther does not have the best time because she got stuck with the short, ugly guy, which was not good considering she was 5’10”, while Doreen got the tall, good looking one.  Esther orders a glass of vodka plain, which was quite humorous to me.  This book seems like it is going to be very interesting and I cannot wait to read on and see what happens next.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

The Huck Headlines:

 The Big Show Scam/ Article 2

All of the men in our village this morning are furious due to two strange malefactors who cheated them out of their money the past three nights.  The two men are named Edmund Kean and David Garrick.  Edmund Kean, the Elder, looked about seventy or older and he had a bald head and very gray whiskers.  David Garrick, the Younger, was about thirty and had dark hair. (ch.19, 123) Everyone in the village is on the lookout for these men that they show disdain for; thirsty for revenge and the return of their money.
Edmund Kean the Elder 


Three nights ago, everyone got excited about posters they saw hanging around the village advertising a big production in the Court House.  It stated that the Tragedy of The King's Camelopard would only go on for three nights and no women or children were aloud.  It also said that admission was fifty cents. (ch.22,152)  The first night of the production sold out quickly.  Many eager men filled the seats.  They were enjoying the beginning of the show; however you can not really call what these men advertised a show.  It was

David Garrick the Younger
merely one scene and then the men caustically claimed it was over.  All of the customers became furious and threatened to tell everyone in town about the scam; however, Edmund and David convinced them that they would look foolish if they did. (ch.22, 154)

The second night, many new customers filled the seats and the same thing happened as the night before.  Everyone in town was furious because the men ended up raking in more innocent people's money.  Surprisingly, the third night all of the seats were still filled.  We got the chance to speak with some of the innocent men and they informed us that they only went back to throw sickly eggs and rotten cabbages at Edmund and David for the sick scam they had played, but they never got the chance. (ch.22, 155)  The men were ready for some real revenge and entertainment, but little did they know the rapscallions had escaped!  All of the men angrily searched, but the two men were nowhere to be found.  Before the third show, we go the opportunity to interview Edmund and he informed us that they managed to earn four hundred and sixty- five dollars from the three shows.  (ch.22, 155)  Those thieves had wits and ended up getting away; however, they better watch out because the Arkansas men do not like being humiliated.  They are out for blood. 









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Should Huckleberry Finn be censored?/ Opinion Article

The book, Huckleberry Finn, takes place during the nineteenth century when slavery was very common in the United States.  Many African Americans were owned to work for whites, and they were also looked down on by their owners.  Often, whites used the word "nigger" to refer to their slaves and to other black people during this time period.  Mark Twain used this word a number of times throughout his novel, Huck Finn, and today the issue of whether or not the word "nigger" should be censored out of the book is very controversial. 

Many people today, especially African Americans, find the use of the word "nigger" in book offensive and amoral.  Although the word is not the kindest label to use, I believe calling someone a "nigger" today is more offensive than it was back then.  During the 1800's, whites got so used to calling blacks "niggers" that often times they used it nonchalantly and they meant no harm by it.  Today, since everyone is segregated and the word is used much less often, I believe it is more offensive this day in time.  In my personal opinion, I think that people reading the book today need to realize that and look past the use of the word in the book.

One example of how Twain used the word "nigger" in Huck Finn is "Miss Watson's big nigger, named Jim, was setting in the kitchen door."(ch.2, 6) Personally, I believe this adds to the book and the book would not be the same without the use of the word.  It helps take you back to the time period and see what Huck Finn's life was really like.  Huckleberry Finn is an American classic that is read in tons of English classes and I believe that the book should not be censored in any way. 

 

Saturday, November 24, 2012

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Harney Shepherdson

Shepherdson vs. Grangerford Incident/ Article 1

The Shepherdson vs. Grangerford rivalry has been the talk of the town for the past couple of years; however, this Monday morning, tragedy actually  struck between the two families.  Early today, Colonel Grangerford announced that his comely daughter, Sophia, was missing.  Shortly after that, the Shepherdsons realized that their fetching son Harney was also gone.  This was the start of a typical Romeo/ Juliette love story but unfortunately, it ended worse than the original story did.

Immediately after the two families became aware of the situation at hand,
the women tried to talk things over while the men rode of on their horses
to stop the couple from crossing the river. (ch.18, 116) The fighting between the men got gruesome and it did not end well.  A plethora of casualties occurred once the incident was all said an done.  Five of those casualties were Grangerfords while two of the reported casualties were Shepherdsons.  The Grangerford fatalities include Col. Grangerford, Buck, Joe, and two of the bodies have yet to be identified.  Both of the Shepherdson bodies have yet to be found or identified.  In the end, Sophia and Harney ended up getting away.  (ch. 18, 117)  At this moment, they have no idea about the amount of chaos and destruction they have caused back home between their families.
The Grangerford Home

At the scene of the incident, we got the opportunity to speak with and query a bystander by the name of  GeorgeJackson.  He had been staying with the Grangerfords for about a week and he informed us
 of some very useful information.  George even witnessed the action first hand!  He told us that Buck had stated "The Shepherdsons was too strong for them." just before being shot by a Shepherdson man. (ch.18, 117)  George seemed quite upset and guilty about the whole situation.  He told us he felt as if it was his fault the entire incident happened because Sophia had sent him to fetch a note from the church just the day before from Harney that had printed on it "Half- past two." (ch.18,113)  Jackson seemed very rushed so we did not get any more information out of him; however, we got enough to know the story of how the momentous Shepherdson vs. Grangerford rivalry ended.