Othello #1

Tonights read was pretty good, except I forgot how hard Shakespeare is to read since the last time i read Romeo and Juliet.  I went on No fear shakespear and re-read the whole scene and i found out alot more than what I had by just reading it from the book.  Its starting out pretty fast paced and it just started getting interesting right from the first page.

Piano Lesson Analytical Paragraph

In the Piano Lesson, Wilson uses Doaker as a symbol for some kind of enforcer of peace, like a judge or police officer.  As Berniece and Boy Wille are fighting, Doaker intervenes saying, "I got to stay around here and keep you all from killing one another,"  (90).  This displays that Doaker wants to keep each other from getting in a fight and hurting one another, or just to keep everyone at ease.  Whenever there is a part where two characters are starting to raise their tempers, and Doaker is present, he steps in and trys to get them to calm themselves.  One of the purposes of Doaker in the book is that  he acts as a foil to the other characters in order to contrast the different personalities of the other parts in the play.

Piano Lesson #7

In this scene Bernice seems like she is maybe falling for Lymon instead of Avery.  The writer makes you think about who Bernice will choose and just kind of leaves it at that.  It makes me wonder why authors do that because some people really don't like to have to make up what they think will happen in that particular event, maybe because they are just lazy and want the author to do it for them, or maybe because they just believe that thats the writers job to tie up all the loose ends.  I don't know if it is too early to start talking  about this because maybe it will become clear later on, but its just a thought.

Andrew S said...

I agree with your comment, it is strange how the writer makes you pick sides because some people really dont like to choose what the outcome of an event is.

Piano Lesson 6

This section of The Piano Lesson was pretty interesting because it shows that Berniece is a lot like Boy Willie in that she doesn't really care about what Avery is telling her and that she is selfish.  He keeps telling her that she needs to let go of the past and Crawley and the piano but she just doesn't listen.  The theme that  "The Past is Present" is true in that history repeats itself but it can also be misleading because if you dwell on to the things of the past for too long, sometimes they will cause you to get distracted by other things that are more important in the present.


Andrew S said...

i think that avery will end up marrying berniece because he said that he was going to bless the house and then that will probably get berniece to stop worrying so much about the past and then just marry him.

Piano Lesson 5

When Mrs. Wecker warned us that there would be some inappropriate language in The Piano Lesson, I didn't really think much of it and I kind of thought that it would just be little petty words but it turns out that the way they talk can be pretty crude at times.  The use of the word "nigger" is used throughout the book and euphemisms, such as when Wining Boy is instructing Lymon how to pick up women.  It makes the book kind of awkward to read in class but I like it better that Cry because I can keep up with it better.

Andrew S said to Michelle Vollmuller...

Yeah the first time I heard them talk about the ghost, I thought it would just be some unimportant thing that just happened... I didn't think that the ghosts would come up again and keep getting talked about.

Piano Lesson 4

When we were reading the piano lesson I was thinking about why there were so many ghosts and other things being talked about. There are the the ghost of the yellow dog and then there is sutter's ghost. I think that maybe the two are connected somehow, whether sutter is one of the yellow dogs or something else, I don't know. Something may happen later on in the book explaining more about them.

It seems like there is alot of talk about ghosts in the book, maybe they have something to do with what will happen later

Piano Lesson 3

When they started singing I wasn't surprised because I knew that music would somehow come into the book one way or another and this is the first major part when they do anything musical.  They all seem to get together pretty well when they are singing and they stop arguing for the first time in, well, ever.  I am starting to wonder when the piano lesson is going to happen and between who.  Also since the book is only called The Piano Lesson, is there only going to be one or more?  I'm also thinking that Wining Boy is somehow going to be involved with the piano lesson.

Andrew S said to Alec...

The music does seem like it is a connector to all the characters because they all join in and they all know the song.