DRJ #1: Hamlet, Act I

When reading the first act of hamlet it brings back old feelings. Like when I read it in high school and had no idea what I was reading or the book talking about.  As for any connection with the character, it just isn’t there. It probably has to do with the language and the odd ways of “old theater”. The character that stands out the most in this scene is the ghost. It would be a character that is remembered in any play simply for the concept of itself. As we learn the ghost in shape resembles the dead king. As the guards see him they are terrified and curious at the same time. The ghost is a protagonist in this scene and draws all attention. This character does fit the description of the classic tragic hero. The ghost represents the tragedy that holds this whole play. The theme of the act is to create a wondering for the purpose of the ghost. Is the ghost evil, and does it come with vengeance? “For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death, Speak of it: stay, and speak! Stop it Marcellus” (138/39). All that is known is that it keeps coming every night for an unknown reason. They ghost will not speak to the guards or respond to them in any way. It is Ironic that Horatio would ask the ghost to speak of death even before he knew what the ghost wanted. As it turns out the ghost was there for the very reason. Why do you think Marcellus and Horatio both think the ghost will talk to Hamlet even though he would not talk to them?

Extra Credit Hemingway #11

When I turned eighteen I moved away from my family to go to college out of state. It was the first time I started living on my own and away from home. It was an exciting time for me, having my own car, job, apartment and being self-sufficient. The experience was great I learned a lot about life and started seeing it in a new light. After two years I flew back to visit my family and the house I grew up in. To my shock everything was different. Not just the fact that my old room looked smaller but the people I knew and grew up with changed. My family was the exception, they all stayed the same, I think it was because we emailed a lot and talked on the phone. My friends however were all different, with different personalities. Weather it was from growing up or being away from them for so long, or maybe a combination of the two. Reading Hemingway’s story made me reflect on my own personal experience and understand how Krebs was feeling. The longer the separation the more people change. It’s bound to happen, what is unfortunate is the fact that Krebs was away for a very important reason, to protect the ones he knew and cared for. When I consider how he must have felt when those same people he was fighting for neglected him or worse despised him for the very thing laid his life on the line. It generates anger in me knowing there are people like that. Hemingway does a great job of arousing those feelings and even if someone had no experienced isolation the story would still create a similar effect.

Walker Extra credit

If there’s anybody here that knows a reason why: On this hot day with no shade I stand here in Mississippi. Have I gone totally insane, what force compelled me to get married here on this front porch on this dusty highway 61. On these forsaken grounds with dogs barking and debris whirling around my head every which way, how much more can I take? Standing here makes me wonder what was I doing out here in the first place. Should I run or should I stay?

SSRJ #3 I am the grass... by D. Walker

This time I picked the story by D. Walker for several reasons. First I thought that the introduction of the story was written to capture the reader’s attention, and it did. The mood of the story lasted throughout the entire plot. I never really knew what was going to happen next. I was sort of relieved when nothing catastrophic happened. I kept on thinking that the narrator would have a flashback to the war and do something crazy. That was not the case in the end, quite the opposite actually. He felt regret for his actions and tried to the best of his ability to help a “former enemy”. The story gathered momentum nicely and had a good flow. The couple of things that really stood out to me were the flashbacks and the use of the grass as a symbol. When I was reading the title and then the story I was confused on how "grass" has anything to do with the story. As i read on "grass" became a symbol for “healing” and “cover-up” of the past. The flashbacks gave the story a purpose by showing the narrators inner feelings. By knowing his background we can see how difficult it would be to revisit the places which haunted his thoughts after he came back from the war. “After I was discharged from the Army, I went home to Chicago and hung around there for a couple of years, haunted by memories and nameless faces” (326). The part about the grass I did not fully understand until the very end when I finished the whole story and read the full poem by Carl Sandburg. Then all of a sudden everything tied in and made a final point. Even though the story ends with the Dinh’s hopes being shattered and his concept of life revolving in circles does not favor the outcome of the surgery. Even though the narrator was not personally involved in Dinh’s torture, he could not help but feel as though his wrong doings were somehow connected to this man’s troubles. “Because it is my nature, the fate of Dinh’s transplanted toe takes on a monumental importance”(336). Personally I had wished the story would end on a happy note with the thumb transplant working out well for Dinh. I was expecting that the whole time, since after all there has to be something good that comes out of the story. How different would the story be if the transplant took and the operation was a huge success? Would that change the way the narrator felt about his past or would it not have an impact one way or the other?