Beloved #4

I feel like Sethe was overlooking a lot of good things in her life after the spirit left. She had Denver who would have really benefited from more attention. Also she had Paul D. I think she was trying to dwell in the past to much. The past is there for us to learn from. I think we should always remember the past but not focus to much on it because then your focus is taken off the future. The future is the most important part not what happened in the past. The past can only guide our decisions in the future. I have learned the hard way of focusing too much on the past and it can really cloud your decisions.

Dianna

Beloved #3

While I was reading some analysis on this book it is said that Beloved may be the spirit of Sethe's dead baby, or the spirit of Sethe's mother, or even of all the past slaves. As you read to the end you see that even Denver thought Beloved was more than just the spirit of her dead sister. I wonder myself as I read the book. The spirit may have been a little bit of all them at different times in the book or maybe no one really understood the spirit really except for Sethe.

Dianna

Beloved #2

I think that brutality and slavery go hand in hand, not just in this book but when you talk about slavery period. We see from the very beginning when Sethe talks about the scars on her that form a tree, and she also focuses on the fact that they took her milk. Which is just one part of all the brutality the characters go through. The characters have been through so much that they have a hard time loving people or having fun. Paul D says he has learned to only love people partially. And Denver almost had a hard time having fun at the carnival. These characters not only have to go through horrible, brutal, events and they also can't do the everyday things a person should want and be able to do.

Dianna

Beloved #1

Obviously from the very beginning we see the supernatural happening. The ghost of Sethe's baby is haunted the house. I wonder why the ghost seems to be angry. The baby was killed in a bad way, but when I think of the ghost of a baby I don't think eerie and angry. Even Paul D fills the bad spirit as soon as he walked in. I guess as a mother even though the spirit is gloomy you would want to stay in the house because it is supposed to be the spirit of the dead baby. I don't think I would want to stay though especially since it was affecting the other children. She already lost two sons because of the spirit. Although Sethe did say that she did not want to run from anything else.

Dianna

George Saunders

"Sea Oak" I think portrays the life of most families that are deep in poverty. I think the family thinks this is the best they can do or just doesn't know how to move on to something better. Obviously Aunt Bernie comes back to help the family move forward and on to better things. I think the part about her fulfilling her sexual desires could have been left out. She still is able to help them see what they can accomplish rather than just get through the day. I think everyone needs a little help sometimes, because we do get blind to the future by what is going on today. I know I do anyway. Sometimes things seem so stressful, and never ending that I have no idea what my future is going to bring. Help from loved ones is a good way to make it through.


Dianna

T.C. Boyle

I read T. C. Boyle's "The Tortilla Curtain" and after reading "Chicxulub" I see many similarities. Both were very interesting to read, but were so sad. Chicxulub kept me interested. I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I didn't really like the inserts about meteors because I wanted to know what happened to his daughter, but it was very interesting the comparison. It makes sense that tragedy will one day happen maybe not right now but one day. I think it is something that I do not really want to think about. The story shows that it can come at any time. They were just sitting at the house having a good time and all of a sudden it seemed that the whole world had come to an end. I wonder what the other couple was doing when they got the call that it was their daughter instead of Maddy. They were probably having a normal night as well when their world came tumbling down. I guess Boyle is saying that we will not know when it is going to happen and it will takes us off guard.

Dianna

Adrian Louis

"Without Words" is a sad poem. The first four lines bring a whole new meaning to crying to me. The way it is described like pulling water from a well is very visual. I imagine pulling water from a well is difficult, but a task that has to be done. I guess in the same sense crying is something that is hard to do, but it has to be done. Some things may be easy to cry about, but others may not. They might be hard to cry about because you don't want someone else to see you cry or you don't think you should be crying about. Either way crying cleanses the soul, and a lot of times makes you feel better just like drinking a cup of water from a well.

Dianna