Defining Goodness

I'm not sure if "goodness" is really that easy to define. Some people show their "goodness" by donating money, some by volunteering and some maybe by just setting "good examples" Are people any less good if they don't have money to give or time? I think to be good you need to have passion, understanding and wisdom.

Antigone

I feel that Anitgone is a heroine. She stood up for what she believed in and although she went against the laws of her time, she stood up for laws that may have the need to be changed. I think that this play kind of reminds me of a lot of the things people have stood up for in real life even thought they went against the laws of their times. Like slavery, women's rights and gay/lesbian marriage. Just because the law says its wrong or it used to be considered unacceptable does it really mean it is wrong? If there is generally a good reason to go agaitnst then maybe it is worth the trouble. I believe she stood up for a good reason.

Good People

In "Good People" the two characters are both religious people. This is the first thing that is to make the reader think they are "good people". But really, if you are to truly follow in the religious ways...I believe anyway...there is no sex before marriage.  Not only did the couple have sex, but they got pregnant and they were considering an abortion. Another thing that is frowned upon in the church. There is one part where the girl is described as "Down to earth" and this is to lea the mother to believe that she is good people. i suppose that is supposed to mean that the girl is maybe aware of her surroundings and what life is really about. Toward the end there is mention of disgracing the family by keeping the baby and raising it, but that is truly what a good person is. Someone that goes through something that isn't easy, but in the end chooses the right way, not the easy way.

A Good Man is Hard to Find

I think "A Good Man is Hard to Find" starts out by trying to make us think that the son is not being a very good person by not taking his mom on vacation to where she wants to go. Then the two children who come off as naughty, by the way they speak "freely". The girl makes a comment about the place being a dump when they stop to eat, and even with the Misfit she make the comment "What are You telling us what to do for?"
After the accident the "goodness" changes drastically. The Misfit with his two accomplices pull over with no intentions of helping the family. They view the children and take them all to be shot with their parents. That is just heartbreaking and one was just a baby. The grandma tried to talk the Misfit out of the killing, by saying she knows he comes from good blood and that he just needs to find Jesus. In the end he kills her too. I seems that they have no feeling what so ever. 
None of the character's stood out as more "good" then the others. The son seemed to try to protect all by reasoning, the mother just agreed that it would be best to go back by her husband and the grandma tried to plead the 3 men from killing them all.

A Midsummer Night's Dream #2

I watched the film "A Midsummer Night's Dream" on Amazon Prime.
A Midsummer Night's Dream. Dir. Peter Hall. N/A. MGM. N/A. Streamed Video.

I am glad that this assignment had me watch a a video/play after reading it. I did feel a little confused in some spots of the reading because I had to get the definition of the word and reread the sentence sometimes, but for the most part I think I followed along. The video was more of an "Ohhhhh. I see what he means here." It seemed like the video stayed pretty close to the same wording to the play. I thought there was maybe a few spots where there was a word switched out with something more current, but nothing dramatic.
It was a lot easier for me to understand with the visual though.Seeing the way the actors responded and presented the wording helped with what Shakespeare was saying. I even had pictured the men and women dressed almost the same way, but the women seemed to be a little more 70's style to me.
Now the forest fairies are what surprised me the most. I thought that the director in the movie styled the king of the fairies to look almost like, what I vision anyway, the devil. I felt like the movie portrayed the king and queen of the fairies as a good and evil, which I didn't pick up in the reading.
I really enjoyed reading the play and then watching it. I think I may have to do this with more plays. I have done it with books made into movies quite a bit, but the play was very enjoyable.

A Midsummer Night's Dream #1

Since "A Midsummer Night's Dream" has a few different plots, I find it difficult to pin point the protagonist, or hero. That being said, I think that the hero in this play may be the villain too. I believe the protagonist is the king of the fairies, known as Oberon. Oberon has came to give good blessings on the Duke's marriage, but in the mean time wants to play a trick on the Queen of the Fairies, Titania. He sends Puck to go and get a flower that will make someone fall in love with the first living thing they see. He also notices that a women is following a man in the forest the she loves, but her doesn't love her; Demetrius and Helena. He has Puck place the stuff on Demetrius eyes, but Puck find Lysander instead. So now both Lysander and Demetrius are in love with Hermia. Oberon sees that they are to fight to the death and sends Puck to correct his mistake and take the love potion stuff of Lysander's eyes so that Lysander and Hermia continue to love each other and Demetrius and Helena love each other. He also feels for his Queen and takes the potion off her. in the end, the 2 couples end up together and the King and Queen of the fairies aren't fighting anymore either.

Those Winter Sundays

Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" reminds me of my Grandpa from my younger days. He talks of his father getting up early on Sundays and my Grandpa would always be up early on Sundays. In the summer time he would take us kids fishing and I remember his hands, just as described in the poem as he would hook the worm, dry cracked and weather from working the farm and the store. I can see the No on ever thanked him line in the Death of a Salesman...I kind of feel like Willy felt he worked a thankless job. He traveled and sold and we still doing the same job with no thanks from the company. Maybe this is how the young boy felt in the story, the A&P, were he quit? 

Then in the poem he talks about waking up when the house is warm, the work that the father did is to warm the house for his family. Maybe a job were you aren't thanked, but certainly not thankless. And the last part of the poem; what did I know, what did I know of loves austere and lonely offices? I think this is what Willy in The Death of a Salesman maybe felt his whole life, like something was missing the whole time, when in the poem, and for my Grandpa, it is the love you feel from a loving family.

Death of a Salesman

Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" is about Wally, a traveling salesman who seems to be chasing "the American dream." He wants the loving family, with smart, successful children, the nice big house and lots of money. Wally is married to his wife, Linda, and has two sons, Biff and Happy. It seems at first the Wally may be getting something like Alzheimer's, but it seems that his family thinks he is suicidal and his work, brother and nephew think he is going crazy. I think Wally may have been unhappy with how his life turned out. He feels like he missed out on the opportunity to get rich quick. He was always looking for the "big" deal to make him big and well know. He never really wanted to work hard to get where he was. His affair seems to be another run at trying to be big, by sleeping with the lady that will let him right through to the buyers? He keeps remembering his bother saying I went into the jungle and came out rich, but what does rich really mean. I think Linda had said it right at one point when she says something like, He has all he needs right here. I think he had the wrong view of rich. I think he also gave his kids the wrong view as they were growing up too. He could have worked a decent job and still have the house and the family and be rich beyond money. In the end, he killed himself so he could get his wife and boys money. The one thing he seemed to value over life.

Theme

I think "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" and "Trifles" maybe be similar in theme since it seems that both of them seem to have a some sort of questionable act upon them. In the poem it mentions Uncle's weeing band sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand and find even the ivory needle hard to pull. Is there a reason that the ring is a heavy on her hand? The play's ending ends in an act of hiding evidence, but the poem seems to end in happiness it seems. At least the tigers go on dancing and Aunt Jennifer took whatever it was with her to the grave.

Trifles

In Susan Glaspell's "Trifles", you meet two women named Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters. This story seems to take place somewhere in the upper midwest, since they seem to mention that they are not to far away from Omaha and that Mrs. Peters is originally from the Dakotas. It becomes apparent that the two ladies are not really against each other, but don't seem to agree on Mrs. Wright's innoncence....or maybe her motive. At the beginning of the story, it seems that Mrs. Peters has already decided that Mrs. Wright killed her husband cold blooded, but Mrs Hale seems to have some compassion. Most of the story is the two women discussion the way the house looks and trying to find a motive. I think Glaspell did this to get well both sides of the story, really. I think she wanted the readers to have compassion and yet know that the women did kill, quite viciously too. If Mrs. Hale hadn't had talked about how Mrs. Wright used to sing so beautifully in the choir and how this man hardened her would we as readers agreed to the hiding of the dead bird and the fixing of the stitching? The two women hid evidence from the law. This ending is a great ending to get the reader to say "would I have done the same thing?"