Extra Blog Post

At the beginning of this blog I had two other partners...both dropped the class and I became a single partner. Although it was a bit tedious at the beginning, it turned out quite well. I enjoyed having the blog all to myself. I didn't have to rely on other partners to do the work. I was able to make the blog what I wanted.

This blog was extremely useful, I thought, with the class. It allowed me to think through concepts after the previous class. It allowed me to think through concepts I had thought when I was reading on my own. I’ve always been a believer that when you write something out, your ideas become clear. You start writing and all of these thoughts that you didn’t even know you had bottled up come rushing out. That is what this blog was for me. It allowed me to think of concepts in class, then go to the blog and figure out what I truly thought about a piece of text.

I did not end up following the blog manifesto at all. I planned to . . . but I found that I ended up wanting to write about the books we were reading. I didn’t want to write about the author’s subconscious like we had originally planned. I preferred writing whatever struck me that day. Whether it be about themes, characters, or the author, I found that just writing what came to mind helped me understand the concepts a lot more. I was able to form my own point of view on the class rather than trying to manipulate my blog to fit a specific criteria.

For me, what I most enjoyed about the blog was when I was writing the Sherlock Holmes post. I don’t think it made much sense, but for me I had just gone to the extra credit thing and felt like I needed to write what I thought. I was in awe from how similar but also unlike the movie and short story were. I had remembered watching the Sherlock episode on Netflix when it had come out, but on that day I saw it in a different view. It made me want to read the other books or short stories that went along with the Sherlock episodes on Netflix and do the same thing. I most likely will over Thanksgiving or Christmas break…let’s be honest.

Overall, I was happy to do the blog on my own and honestly preferred it. It gave me a place to think through the lessons and was a helpful tool with understanding the material for the rest of the class.

Blog 10 The Awakening

The Awakening is a book that I could see why the audience in that time would see it as shocking. Although now it wouldn’t be a huge surprise for a woman to not be much of a mother as well as someone that wants a divorce from her husband. But in those times that was not normal. Edna had been awakened by finding someone that she actually loved and had never felt that way before. She also friended Reisz who promoted her to be an independent woman and I think helped Edna to see that what she was doing (straying from the social norms of women) was what was best for her. While reading, one of the things I noticed was the symbol of color.

                Colors are described constantly throughout the book. Blue, yellow, white, and black seemed to be the main colors that I noticed. I can’t explain if I noticed the colors because I was looking for them, or if it was during a significant time in the book. I thought it was interesting in class how a group brought up that Adele was white, Reisz was black, and Edna was in the middle. Usually, black means bad and white means good, but in this book that doesn’t seem to be in this case. Reisz is where Edna is striving to be and in a way I think the author may be saying that’s where woman should try to be. Kate Chopin though seemed like a woman that was like Adele. She loved her 6 children and had married Oscar. Does the use of colors show that from the outside, the white (Adele) seems like the right choice and the black (Reisz) seems like the wrong choice. But I also do not think she is trying to say that being the middle is good either—Edna ends up killing herself and is unhappy. I think this shows the difference between being independent and being dependent. Adele depends on her husband and her children while Reisz only has herself. But while Edna has her husband her children to depend on she starts to shift and wants to not be dependent on anyone. She wants to be her own person…but at the end I have noticed she doesn’t seem to want that either. She wants to be able to decide for herself, but she is used to having people and strives to keep that. She still feels as if she needs people. She goes and visits Reisz constantly because she needs that company. She wants Robert and only Robert, and when she knows she probably will never have him she kills herself. She goes to the water. She thought she didn’t need people but she really did.

In the book blue and white were seen as innocent and pure colors. It was interesting that these two colors were seen as pure colors as they are the colors I think of when I think of the ocean. The foam and bubbles are white while the water is seen as blue. The ocean was referenced a lot in this book. It was explained as this place that looks like it is never ending. The ocean is where Edna was awakened, but also closed the book where Edna kills herself. Edna saw the ocean as this never ending place and was so captivated by it. And the fact that she was both awakened by the ocean and ended her life there shows that the ocean does have never ending features. I don’t know what the colors symbolize by having the pure colors as the ocean, but I think it shows that it was where Edna was able to clean herself of the burden of being a wife and mother and be independent, and in the end clean herself of her troubles.

I’m excited to learn more about what the colors symbolized in the book in class tomorrow.

Sherlock Holmes

After watching "A Scandal in Belgravia", I had to write my post before my comparisons between the BBC version and the short story weren't as fresh. While watching the BBC version, I noticed how almost every aspect of the short story was used in the episode, just in a more modern way. Sherlock for instance had Watson punch him and pretended to be a priest to get into her house instead of using the fake paint and pretending to be dying. Having someone punch you so it looks like you got mugged is a more modern way of getting into situations as seen in many films and tv shows now a days. Another example was the picture. In the short story, Sherlock wanted a picture to remember "the woman" by, but in the BBC version, he wanted her phone. Instead of having a simple picture that could be damaged, in the BBC version of Sherlock he wanted the phone which is now how everyone has their pictures. Last (there were more examples these three I found the most interesting and paid the most attention to) is Sherlock being outwitted by a woman. In the short story it was the only thing that Sherlock cared about--he got outwitted. In the BBC version--contradictory to the conventions of Detective Fiction--there seemed to be a romantic interest between Sherlock and "The Woman". Was he interested in her? I think he was interested in her, although you can never tell with Sherlock, mainly because of how she outwitted him. She kept him on his toes and was difficult to figure out. The romantic-ish interest between Sherlock and "the woman" was also a more modern touch because modern films and TV shows seem to need a romantic interest to keep the watchers interested. I do not think it took away from the plot of the detective fiction, but it was interesting to have just learned that in detective fiction they don't have a romantic interest so to not distract from the main purpose of the story, but in today's detective shows they seem to need to have that.
Overall, I was very glad we had the extra credit opportunity to watch the BBC version of Sherlock after just reading the short story that parallels it. I have watched the BBC series before but I never would have read the short stories before watching it if it wasn't for this class. It makes me want to look into what short stories parallel the BBC shows so I can read them then rewatch the show.