Trifles by Susan Glaspell

I thought that Susan Glaspell's Trifles was an interesting play. It deals with the murder of a man named John Wright, and how his wife becomes a prime suspect. I thought it was good that it dealt with some important issues like feminism, in that the female characters are able to relate with John Wright's wife and her motives for killing her husband, while the men don't see the case in the same way. Another interesting aspect is that Minnie, John Wright's wife, is never seen during the play. We only see her friends as well as the Court Attorney and Sheriff. Overall, I thought it was a well written and very nice short play.

Plays: Reading Vs. Seeing

Today, (almost) everyone, including me, performed their scenes in the plays we've been reading. It was pretty fun, I enjoyed seeing everyone acting out both "The Man in a Case" and "The Sound of a Voice".
One difference I noticed from simply reading the scripts of the plays and actually seeing them being acted out is that when I watched people acting them out was that the characters seemed more recognizable. It was easier to see what each character was like in how they acted and delivered their lines. It helped that everyone did a great job doing their parts in both plays.

Life at College

So far, I've really been enjoying my life at College. Both of my classes in my current schedule are very nice. It's also not as bad as I was expecting compared to high school. I have an easy time following my math class, which is ironic because math was always my least favorite subject (aside from the Spanish class I took one year in high school). My English class, while rather long, is also fun. My homework load is also not too bad. For math, I do my homework on an online website, and I usually am able to get that done. For English, my homework mainly consists of reading something related to the class.

Next quarter, I'm going to have different classes, and I'm looking forward to that as well. They might be harder, though I'll find out when I take them. Overall, I'm having a great time here at DeAnza.

Poetry

What does it mean?
To get a high paying job,
To have a family with kids,
To win the World Cup,
To direct an award winning picture?

What does it mean?
To live life to the fullest,
To own whatever you want,
To win the lottery,
To take the vacation of your dreams?

What does it mean?
To get a driver's licence,
To play with your friends,
To live a healthy life,
To celebrate your birthdays?

What does it mean,
when in a matter of time,
Your life will be over?

Inspired by "Miracles" by Walt Whitman

The Sound of a Voice

"What details do you have to notice in order to understand the play?"

In order to understand The Sound of a Voice, you must pay attention to the relationship between the man and the woman. The woman mentions how when she's alone, she plays her shakuhachi to resemble a human voice. She later makes it clear that she wants the man to stay with her. This woman is lonely.

You also need to pay attention to the man. At the end of the play, he plans to leave the woman because he is in shame of "being defeated by her"; her skills with the sword are greater than his, and he is ashamed by this.

Once you realize these details, you will understand the play better, and why the characters act the way they do.

Being in a Play

Currently in English class, we are acting out various scenes from the plays in our readers. We've been split into groups, each one focusing on a certain scene from one of the plays. I'm doing a scene with a partner from one of the plays called "The Sound of a Voice".

I haven't done anything involving plays since elementary school, so this is something interesting for me. All I've got to do is look over my lines and familiarize myself with them for next Monday. While I do have a lot to say, I think I'll be alright with it. One thing our teacher suggested to us was wearing clothes to match the roles of our characters. People playing the man in "The Sound of a Voice" will wear a bathrobe to resemble the period accurate clothing. The girls will wear a Kimono-like garment to fit the role of the girl.

To be honest, I'm kind of looking forward to the plays on Monday. I'm going to have to look over my lines some more, but I'm sure it's going to turn out just fine.

Persepolis: The Dowry

In this final chapter of Persepolis, Marjane moves to a new school after hitting the principal of her old one. In this new school, she objects to what her religious teacher was teaching. Her mother explains to her how big of a deal it is, that it's possible for one to get arrested and executed for doing things such as what she did. A week later, Marjane's parents tell her that the principal didn't send a report, but considering who she was, they wanted her to move to Austria. After a farewell to her friends and family, Marjane and her parents go to the airport. As she begins to board the plane, she takes one look back at her parents, only to see that her mother has passed out in her father's arms.

I really thought that this was a great way to end the book. It managed to be very emotional when Marjane was saying goodbye to her friends and sleeping with her grandmother one last time. The ending was sad, but at the same time, satisfying; It really made book feel complete.

Overall, I think that Persepolis was a very well made graphic memoir. It makes one experience the feelings that Marjane has throughout the story, and it really captures what life was like for her during her childhood.

Persepolis: The Wine

The chapter opens up with the Satrapis hiding in their shelter during a bombing. By now, the new regime has made partying strictly forbidden. People had been punished severely for breaking these rules. However, partying was the only way for people to get any joy out of life under their conditions. The Satrapis hold a party once to celebrate the birth of Marjane's aunt's child. During this party, the power goes out and the sirens go off, causing Marjane's aunt to run away, giving the baby to Marjane. Marjane and her mother father and grandmother head for home, only to be stopped by a couple Guardians of the Revolution, who suspect Marjane's dad to have been drinking alcohol. They follow the family home, and Marjane's dad distracts the Guardians while Marjane and her Grandmother get rid of all the wine they have at home.

I thought this chapter was interesting because it showed how hard life was for people living in Iran at this time; people are not allowed to party, use alcohol, ect, but they do it in secret because without parties, life wouldn't be "psychologically bearable" for them. (Pg. 106).

Another thing I thought was good of Marjane to do was mention how once the bombings were over, people had relatives and friends to worry about, making sure that they were alright after the bombing. This is something that I never had really thought about until it was brought up in the chapter.

Barefoot Gen

Barefoot Gen is a Japanese manga about a family living in Japan during WWII. It shows us what life was like during the war, and we see the effect of the atom bomb when it was dropped on Hiroshima. This book is similar to Persepolis in how it shows the childhood of someone as they grow up during a war, and the effect that they have on said childhood. They also both deal with the governments and their decisions during these times of war.

Being a fan of anime and manga, I was able to really enjoy this novel for what it was. It was also interesting seeing a manga based on real life events, as that is something that one doesn't see often in anime or manga. This is something I really have to admire Barefoot Gen for doing, and for doing so in a realistic way.

The manga itself got really sad toward the end after the bomb is dropped, and Gen, being one of the survivors, finds his father and siblings trapped underneath the ruins of their house, and is unable to get them out before one of the fires reaches the house.

Overall, I found Barefoot Gen to be both very well done and very moving, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes war stories.

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