A Nationalist in the time of Separatism wrote beautiful words describing his nation “I am of old and young, of the foolish as much as the wise; Regardless of others, ever regardful of others, Maternal as well as paternal, a child as well as a man.”(16.322-324) A man looking to unite a nation yelling to those who didn’t want to hear, but still ignored. He expresses with deep love how America is an enormous poem, a country with such diversity in every field (states, people, culture, religion), should be united and not part.

Styles Upon Styles

As I pass the day in Leadership I was constantly thinking and organizing myself to get home and do all of my homework. As I thought of what we had seen in earlier poems in class I calculated how much time I had to spend reading these poems to fully analyze the best way possible, but when I got in front of this computer and started reading I gave thanks to God. As he writes he didn’t get caught up metaphor or symbolism which demands much more time to truly analyze poems to their fullest. “My respiration and inspiration, the beating of my heart, the passing of blood and air through my lungs”,(2.15) it can’t get easier than this. His poems are accessible by everyone, of course this is part of his subtle style.

“The parrot was almost a son, a love. He climbed upon her fingers, pecked at her lips, clung to her shawl, and when she rocked her head to and fro like a nurse, the big wings of her cap and the wings of the bird flapped in unison.” This bird made Felicite human, giving her true emotions. Flaubert might have used an animal, something we believe is in some way barbaric, to show how “animal” Felicite was before having Loulou in her life, “All things moved silently, like ghosts. Only one noise penetrated her ears; the parrot's voice.”

Felicite is so under appreciate,earning 100 francs a year, Felicite saved Madame, her children and herself from first oxen’s and then a bull. “‘Don't be afraid,’ cried Felicite; and murmuring a sort of lament she passed her hand over the back of the nearest ox; he turned away and the others followed”, a simple action, the best is yet to come when she confronts a bull. Surly saving Madame, and the children life in a heroic way, ending with: “The bull had driven Felicite up against a fence; the foam from his muzzle flew in her face and in another minute he would have disembowelled her. She had just time to slip between two bars and the huge animal, thwarted, paused.” Incredibly after this heroic act, Felicite didn’t take credit for her actions “and probably never knew that she had been heroic”. This bothered me increasingly because after an act like that she should see how she really is a powerful hearted young women, but her not noticing this, done by Flaubert on purpose shows how brain washed people were by their social standing.

When duty calls we must write after two weeks after doing virtually nothing I am sitting at my desk listening to some music and reading The Sentence Is A Lonely Place Written by Gary Lutz. My last blogs show how lazy I was the week before I left for Armenia, which I offer my apologies because truly they suck.
When I was about to read this essay, I was thinking of how I was going to respond to it. I had no idea. As I read on I started getting trapped into the essay as if I were reading the Twilight Sage. Mr. Lutz has been one of the few that has captivated my attention and imagination to its fullest. Just as he was describing what writing truly is for him: “virtually every sentence had the force and feel of a climax, in which almost every sentence was a vivid extremity of language, an abruption, a definitive inquietude”, and as he said this I identified that this essay of his had that.

Cute

I’ve always asked how a movie of The Crying Lot 49 would be- this is not what I expected. Low budget movie but, a cute one.

Thank You, Your Hilarious

I’ve always thought that psychiatrist will end up mad after some years in their profession. Dr. Hilarius is truly hilarious, I hadn’t LOL since the beginning when “Mrs. Oedipa Maas came home from a Tupperware party”(1), but at the very end of a very long chapter I got out some laughs thanks to Dr. Hilarius. “‘He’s gone crazy. I tried to call the police, but he took a chair and smashed the switchboard with it.’ ‘Dr Hilarius?’ ‘ he thinks someone’s after him’” (108), do you know how much I laughed since this point on, I looked autistic. Thanks for the laugh Dr. Hilarius!

Realization

I don’t know if anyone has seen the enthusiasm of my latest blogs, and how much I’ve liked this book. Something that seems completely ridiculous to me at the beginning now is making some sense. Only until chapter 4 I’ve come to realize the target of this book, I feel stupid that I’ve only realize this until now, but at least I did. Last class Mr. Tangen was talking about the importance of the Paranoids in the development of the book, we even looked at one of their songs “Glee” and this is when I realized that the target of Thomas Pynchon is the United States Government and Economy in other words Globalization, “Convair boosts the satellite into orbits round; Boeing built the Minuteman, We stay on the ground.” (66) These rock songs that the Paranoids sing are typical 1960s rock songs of rebellion and youthful angst. The Rebellion against the Globalization in 1960s was characterized by rock bands and their followers and in The Crying of Lot 49 these are represented by Te Paranoids.

CL49

I never thought that satire could be this boring. I enjoy satire, especially those which are TV late shows are the best I even liked Voltaire Candide, but Cry Lot 49 is truly the worse satire I have seen or read. Thomas Pynchon needs to be original and not make fun of the “The Paranoids with Dean, Serge, and Leonard” and their smoking pot hobbies which is no shocker nor the suburban housewife that needs more than a Tupperware party in her life, we already have Desperate Housewives and trust me that’s muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch better.

There Is Nothing More To Say

When invited to play that game of Strip Botticelli, in which Oedipa will have to remove one article of clothing for every question he answers. I thought it was very moral of Oedipa who “began putting on as much as she could on the closing she brought with her”(24) but too much tequila later they are on top of each other having sex. Someone haw low morals or at least ones that can bend easily.

CL49

1 word. Has 4 letters and starts with C.
Crazy is correct!
I have never seen a bunch of characters as odd as these that have been presented to me as I read Crying of Lot 49. Oedipa Maas a crazy women in my opinion who is coming “from a Tupperware party”(1) a Tupperware party.

Tupperware! How FML is that, let’s go to a Tupperware party! Woohoo! Sorry I have better things to do honey! And don’t get me started on Wendell Mass aka “Mucho”, were a bit irritable aren’t we? But you do have a reason for it I bet being a former car seller and a DJ at a radio station, isn’t what you imagine it be- you should of gone to college and do what you like, you wouldn’t be stuck with Oedipa. Don’t get me wrong I love satire but at least make it more interesting than a suburban family.

Scratching Farmville

This is my Farmville:

You may be wondering why I am I showing this to you. It’s very simple and has to do with my readings of Ch. 10, you scratch my back, I’ll ride on yours. For those who don’t know what Farmville is, “FarmVille is a real-time farm simulation game developed by Zynga, available as an application on the social networking website Facebook. The game allows members of Facebook to manage a virtual farm by planting, growing and harvesting virtual crops, trees, and livestock” (Wikipedia). In Farmville you have neighbors, and they can send you free gifts once a day which include tress, decorations, and livestock.

So if selfish animals like these unite for selfish reasons why can we? “A pack of hyenas can catch preys so much larger than a lone hyena can bring down that it pays each selfish individual to hunt in pack, even though this involves sharing food. It is probably for similar reasons that some spiders cooperate in building a huge communal web. Emperor penguins conserve heat by huddling together” (166), if I send my neighbor a gift it’s for him to send one back to me. These animals are smart because they act as a group and get all the benefits, if my 25 neighbors, would send me a gift per day I would send them one as well and if their neighbors would do that as well we would all win, but no. I use to send a gift every day to all my neighbors but stopped, and only started sending gifts to those who send me one. I only scratch your back if you scratch mine.

Sex Battle Diagrams

Fight Till the D...

As I was reading chapter 8 (BATTLE OF THE GENERATIONS) I couldn’t stop thinking of Andres Lopez comedy Pelota de Letras, where he makes fun of every generation. Generations over time have evolved mentally, physically, and with this have evolved their way of life.



My generation, generation Y, has evolved into a totally new being- thinking, acting in every way differently. As I was searching for an Andres Lopez video I found this one which totally let me laugh my butt off- every single detail I believe was true and each day we are getting worse. There is this specific case in Pelota de letras where Andres Lopez is making fun that the Y generations control their parents, which Dawkins also talks about. Dawkins talks about how “A child [. . . .] uses every psychological weapon at its disposal” (131), this is true a child will always use everything at its advantages to manipulate their parents to do something. I use to do it, and still do, but it doesn’t necessary work, after 16 years my mom knows ever play in my playbook. At first you have an advantage over your parents, but then forget it, your screwed and so are they-their stuck with you. SO NO ONE WINS

People can’t seem to get enough of each other due to the fact that: “Survival machines of the same species tend to impinge on each others’ life more directly”(67). We spend every minute of the day by a person by our side, why? Because we are pure social beings, which share same resources, mates, living space, and food. It is practically unavoidable spending time with the same species, just look at herds of zebras, families of fishes they are only with their species you don’t see a giraffe running around with the zebras they might mingle in the watering hole but nothing else. We are meant to spend most of our time with our own species if we are not them we wouldn’t be considered sane. Jane Goodall a remarkable women who has done countless research on chimpanzees, who has spent so much time interacting with chimps is not sane at least not in my eyes or in this video. Proving how each species need one of their own by their side.

Social Beings We Are

The first chapter I have actually fully followed, and by the way loved the title. I think that I can now understand why people are so different. Physically and emotionally every person completely different and unique and it’s because, “Colonies of genes they may be but, in their behavior, bodies have undeniable acquired an individuality of their own” (46). Our body is a mysterious place, scientist know more about stars than they do of how the human body works. Our bodies are all different in maybe some minimal way but still, this is what makes each person so different from one another. As we are all different we must struggle to understand one another’s actions and reaction, if we do not posses this ability it will enable us from creating and having relationships with others, thus not let us be the social beings we are.

buzz...Get Married and fast

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz… I wish their existed an optional book. What seems an eternity for me is just 3 minutes while I turn the pages, but these pages need to stop I understand that “The Selfish Gene is widely regarded as a masterpiece of science writing, and its insights remain as a relevant today as on the day it was published” (back page), but still it’s totally a book I wouldn’t pick, sorry Tangen but I know you have better taste. So as I was snoozing thought chapter three, the thing that caught my eye was, “that genes are at least partly responsible for their own survival in the future, because their survival depends on the efficiency of the bodies in which they live and which they helped to build” (24). In a world with so much people, 6,791,400,151 to be exact World Population Clock, genes have to fight to get the best gene they can to mix and keep on existing. If a women and a man have four children and none have children, that gene is dead when the last child dies. It’s the survival of the fittest in the animal kingdom we call home. So my advice to you all get married- and read this book only when you want to sleep.

Looking

I feel like I’m in science class, a class I don’t like a lot. I don’t know about anybody else but this scientific lingo is to me like Chinese. I can no longer be in a space with a lot of people I have to really concentrate to be able to comprehend The Selfish Gene. As I was staring at the book I was asking what relationship does Tangent want us to do with the other book I’m reading, Macbeth. Then as I read through chapter one and two I got the idea that maybe we have to decide what type of behavior do the characters of Macbeth, when I talk about behavior I am talking about how, selfish and altruistic behaviors. Macbeth from what I have read has a tendency to lead more to the selfish behavior and, “This book will show how both individual selfishness and individual altruism are explained by the fundamental law that I am calling gene selfishness” (6).

So long farewell to you I say goodbye.

I know I should be writing about the rest of the book, and I will just when I get this temptation out- because really I have to say it KARMA IS A BITCH! Why do I say this? Because just when chapter twenty was beginning I got to a part where I could express this (karma is a bitch).Just when Candide had no optimisim left, “they could still have occupied the whole voyage discussing moral and physical evil”(91), and is sailing off to France Candide recovers one of his stolen sheep, and sees how the Dutch captain boat sinks and he dies, “‘you observe’ said Candide to Martin, ‘that crime is sometimes punished. That rogue of a Dutch captain has had the fate he deserved.’”(93)

Now Candide “still inclined to Pangloss’s philospophy whenever he recollected what he had in his pockets and remembered his Cunégonde” (91). With all this joy he set off towards Europe to meet again with Cunégonde, the old lady, and Cacambo, still facing some situations like in Venice. He has been waiting for several months and still no arrival of his beautiful Cunégonde, he starts to agree with Martin that the world is misery and thus: has no hope. “How right you are, my dear Martin! There is nothing here but illusion and one calamity after another” (112), why keep on going with life if, “There’s no doubt about it, Cunégonde is dead, and I may as well die, too” (112), and the irony of it all is that when he finds her he doesn’t want to marry her, because she is no longer beautiful, which shows how humans are so vane and superficial. Worse than this he still marries her to defy her brother, which by some supernatural phenomenon was still alive, and Candide found him with Pangloss, who yes is still alive, and bought them out of slavery, this shows how pride eats a human kind up. Without a doubt a book to be remembered for is twisted and yet so funny satire.

Crunch.Crunch.

It’s two in the afternoon and I wish I was still asleep, you see I have a one month old puppy in my lap which is absolutely adorable- when it’s asleep. When he is awake at 3 in the morning crying for me to let him into bed he’s just a little irritating. My mood at this moment: easy irritable.This assignment is not helping. As I’m scrolling through the New York Times looking for a piece to match with chapter 17 and 18 of Candide, I’m saying to Nobu, that’s the puppies name, that the world is a perfect example of a dystopia and that the news media’s are the proof of it, so why in the hell am I looking in the New York times for? I have complete opposites Eldorado a utopia, and the rest of the world is a dystopia… what now!?!?! Eldorado a place where fine gems are spread thought the ground, were only one religion exists, were court cases were unknown, where there was a palace of science, and were all men are free: was Voltaire utopia. In compare to the rest of the world were all went bad for Candide: “I often noticed that all went badly in Westphalia” (77). A world were slavery existed, where you were sought out because you were from a different religion, where money matter , this is Voltaire dystopia which he sadly live in. Still today problems exists in our world, just when I was scrolling down the Global edition of the New York Times I see the following headlines:
“Britain’s Expense Scandal Hits Brown’s Wallet, Gas Pipeline Drives Political Wedge Between Europe, Tax Day Looms for Americans With Offshore Bank Accounts, Car Bomb Kills at Least 41 in Restive Region of Pakistan, 6 Sentenced to Death in Xinjiang Riots, Chinese Magazine in Turmoil After Resignations, Defying Baghdad Kurdistan Halts Oil Exports, Clinton Urges Hewing to Irish Peace Process.”
What have we come to? All human ever have cared to do is dominate and doing so they are destroying the world, and themselves, and don’t even know it yet. They have bit the apple and when they realize it, it's going to be too late.

Break Free

Unlikely Animal Pairs Defy Laws of Nature

The video talks for itself. The Laws of Nature can be broken, and Candide should have thought of this. If men can go to the moon, if men can fly, naturally the other animals can be with other animals, as friends or as lovers. The Laws of Nature are a mere description of how humans imagine the way the world is, when in fact they don’t have a clue of how the world REALLY is- just the image of what they’ve made it. Why is it so wrong in the eyes of Candide that, “They found that the cries came from two naked girls who were tripping along the edge of the meadow while two monkeys followed them nibbling their buttocks [. . . .] he fired and killed the two monkeys[ . . . .] you have killed those two young ladies’ lovers’” (69), the video proves it other animal species can be with other animal species, take the antelope and the lioness, they are Mother and child or the orangutan and the dog are best friends, or the most extreme case the tortes and hippopotamus who are lovers. They are together not to defy the Laws of Nature, and go against all their instinct of not being together, but because they are totally different from each other, and fill each other’s needs. So a monkey and a woman can no longer be weird, apart that we are “family” in the animal world, there is no one stopping is than society itself. If we wanted to we must break away totally from the corrupt society we have today and truly be free.

Once more Voltaire uses satire to show the arrogance of the nobility. Don Fernando carries a very long list of names which Voltaire uses to mock the importance nobility gives to their titles: “the Governor, Don Fernando d’Ibaraa y Figueora y Mascarenes y Lampourdos y Souza, a nobleman with a degree of pride appropriate to one who bore so many names” (58), using hyperbole to show the arrogance of THE NOBILITY and a little sarcasm at the end is what gives it it’s spice. Attacking once again the nobility belief that they are naturally superior, and their belief that they get to have a good life without working for it. Between November 21, 1694 – May 30, 1778 lived the most free minded, satirical, and sarcastic person who has walked on this planet. All Voltaire does is mock optimism, religion, and aristocracy and nobles which is what makes the book so interesting and funny because if not the book would be merely telling the story of Candide which is simply-boring.

Loving Life

Life for this old woman has been misery after misery, but she has no self pity, not even after telling her story which includes the sad experiences this woman had to live through: rape, slavery, and cannibalism. Living thought this tough and horrid life has, “a hundred times I wanted to kill myself, but always I loved life more. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our worst instincts; is anything more stupid than choosing to carry a burden that really one wants to cast on the ground? to hold existence in horror, and yet to cling to it? to fondle the serpent which devours us till it has eaten out our heart? —In the countries through which I have been forced to wander, in the taverns where I have had to work, I have seen a vast number of people who hated their existence; but I never saw more than a dozen who deliberately put an end to their own misery”(57). She in Voltaire’s eyes is a person who loves life, she has had all this misery at hand, and has had the opportunity to kill herself-but has not. She knows how to value life, she has not killed herself not because of Gods and the Churches disapproval, even though she is the Popes daughter but because, like most people she had seen thought her life-they all loved life.

Absurd yet True

Cunégonde has suffered a great deal, even more than Candide . Since there separation nothing has gone right, and there’s no other way than saying it but Cunégonde is now, “afraid Pangloss cruelly deceived me when he told me that all is for the best in this world” (43). Cunégnde has suffered a great deal and what Pangloss use to say doesn’t convince here anymore because if what has happened to here is for the best of all possible worlds, what is the worst of all possible worlds? She believes she has nothing to hope for in life but her servant Abigail sure does teach her to be grateful. Yes, Cunégonde has suffered, but yet no one has suffered like Abigail. These two women are perfect examples of the maltreatment of women thought history by men.

Switch

You can say that the theory of Pangloss that everything is for the best in the world starts to get a little tiring for Candide to think now that he has suffered so much, his benefactor and teacher are now both dead, and Cunégonde is now dead. And he questions it: “‘if this is the best of all possible worlds,’ he said to himself ‘what can the rest be like [. . .]” (37) Candide is no longer optimist, there for he no longer is Candide, which means he is lost in all senses, until someone bring his faith and optimism back in to the world, an old women gives him medical care and food and later reunites him with Cunégonde. Who is truly the one who was sending the kind old women to attended Candide, “It is not my hand you should be kiss”(38), as said by the old women giving us a clue that she was sent by someone who cared for Candide.

Truth Be Told...

James a good hearted fellow who has been very charitable with Pangloss and Candide, “On the voyage Pangloss explains to him how all was designed for the best. James did not share this view” (31). James said how men were given such and always wanted something more they were not supposed to have, but always got it by themselves. Even with these believes about men James was kind and was very charitable with those in need, at his death Voltaire is showing how men like James were outnumbered by those men who acted like this sailor who is selfish and evil. Voltaire is no twenty-first script writer, were the good guy always win, he is a philosopher of the enlightment having no mercy on us and laying at our feet the truth.

The Act

Since Candide laid eyes on Lady Cunégonde nothing has gone the way he wished. He has been kicked out of his “earthly paradise”, as said in page 23. He has been drafted to be a part of in the Bulgarian army, here he is court marshaled and has to choose between 12 bullets to his brain or being flogged 36 times by the whole regiment, he chooses the second option. He is spared by the King of Bulgaria and soon after participates in a bloody war between the Bulgarians and Arabs. He soon finds himself as s deserter and a beggar in Holland were no one wants to help him. As Candide is having a discussion with a minister and is treated horribly by him and his wife, a man called James sees the cruelty. James takes Candide to his home and washes him, gives him food and offers him a job. This immense kindness that no one had express towards Candide overwhelms him and says, “ My tutor Pangloss, was quite right,’ he exclaimed, ‘when my tutor told me that all is for the best in this world of ours, for your generocity moves me much more than the harshness of that gentalemen in the black gown and his wife’”(27). Just a simple act of kindness can impact a person, such a big act of kindness that James shows Candide he is deeply commoved and has immense gratitude.

love it

I love Voltaire use of satire against the baron and his family. By giving these nobles a title by the name of “Baron Thunder-ten-tronckh” (19) Voltaire is using satire in a simple and funny way to ridicule the belief of aristocracy, that they being nobles are superior even from birth. Take for example Candied mothers attitude, “he was the son of the Baron’s sister by a worthy gentleman of the neighbourhood, whom the young lady would never marry because he could only claim seventy-one quarterings” (19). How pathetic can you get? Voltaire makes a complete mockery of the life of these nobles because surly they were pathetic enough to act in these manner, and surly enough some still do. This is completely dim. The only thing they are completely worthy of: is mockery.

Robert Frost:
Robert you need to read my book, the New York Times best seller: Handbook of Epictetus. I saw in your poem that you hesitating too much on which way to chose: "two roads diverge in a yellow wood" (line 1). Of what I can see you were having problems on which road (life style) you were going to chose, no worries the Handbook will help you when making decisions. You might get a little confused between lines, but life will also get confusing at times.
Best wishes,
Epictetus
P.S tell me how it turns out

Courage and Solidarity

It is very different when we suffer from something then when someone else suffers, “But we should have remembered how we feel when we hear of the same things about others” (19.26). We must be conscious and put ourselves in the person shoes. We must be prepared to console them in what just happened, for when something happens to get in our way of what we had planned they are there to console us. It doesn’t matter if they are not your friends, because they have feelings just like you. If it’s something big like them having cancer or a family member dying, we must show the courage and solidarity to stand beside that person, because that’s what god intended us to do as: brothers and sisters.

Coming Together

People are accustomed to judge people since the moment they see them, even though we are told since we are young to “never judge a book by its cover”. I sympathies new students who go into a new school, especially mine. Customs in my school are very different than other: we tend to judge others by their appearance and nationality. You can see a clear line between those who speak Spanish as their native tongue and those who have English as their native tongue. This is something that is very remorseful, because as you get to know these other students you see how nice and how unique they are, in the sense they are not Colombian and hold other traditions and ideas, which we could all learn and accept. Still Colombian students still have difficulties incorporating foreigners into their groups, drawing a line between each other. I can’t hold only the Colombian students responsible for the line drawn between Colombians and foreigners, normally the kids that are coming into the school don’t want to be here in the first place. Which is reasonable, they want to be with their friends in their old city, this is a big issue because they limit themselves to socializing with others. After they know it they’re in one side of the line. As said in the Handbook of Epictetus: “Most importantly, therefore, try not to be carried away by appearance” (16.21). It’s normal to hang out with a group of friends, but to become a true school community we need to learn to accept others and integrate with each other, even though they might be different than ourselves.

Limits

If in life there are things that are up to us and things that are not up to us, what makes a person think he has control over another person’s life? Since the beginning of time people have chosen to believe that they have a special don to control life. Take slavery for example, the slave owners thought that they were in conditions of taking over another human being life. They had it under control but what they didn’t seem to grasp is that the small control one has over life, has it under his life, and only his life no one else’s. As said by Epictetus but with another example:

“You are foolish if you want your children and your wife and friends to live forever, since you are wanting things to be up to you that are not up to you, and things to be yours that are not yours. [. . .] but wanting not to fail to get what you desire-this you are capable of.” (15.14)

People have to understand there are limits in which, if they pass they become Gods, something they are not meant to be, (even though they think they should) because they lack wisdom and tolerance, and above all they do not and are not capable of understanding the meaning of life. Human beings need to understand that there is a line they cannot cross, and as long as they try to God, or the universe if you don’t believe in him, will teach each and every one of them a lesson. Eventually they will come to understand their limits and place on earth.

6 Feet Under

Death is something I believe, most people don’t look forward to. They don’t know what’s next, not wanting to leave their cherished ones behind, nor their whole life, most of all they are afraid of being forgotten and leaving their loved ones sullen. What can they do if “ some things are up to us and some are not up to us” things that are not up to us, which includes our death, “ are weak, enslaved, hindered, not our own” (11.1). Most people do everything to keep death away, they take all types of precaution, but what they don’t understand is that they are acting dead before their time: they are forgetting to live life to its fullest and truly be alive. As said in the Handbook of Epictetus, “[. . .] if the captain calls, let all those things go and run to the boat without turning back” (13.7). There is a difference between living one’s life and being alive, those who understand this are those who are ready to die, and do not fear death nor the aftermath, nor do they hold any class of regret. These are the people holding the key to life: Carpe Diem.

Mad^2

It is often said that a soldier can come back in two ways: in a body bag or a changed man forever. Being a war veteran himself Kurt Vonnegut want to show how war affected him and other veterans, showing how a war is not worth life lost nor the lives changed. Kurt Vonnegut uses the idea of time travel frequently throughout the novel. As the Tralfamadorians would advise “Billy to concentrate on the happy moments of his life, and to ignore the unhappy ones-to stare only at the pretty things as eternity failed to go by” (194) what we must recognize is that Billy had no free will, choosing where to travel to. He may have well be in the Trafamadorian zoo and go right to his childhood. Particularly striking is that with his time traveling he can also see the future. Billy knows exactly what his fate holds for him and yet he does nothing to alter it. Seeing this I want to answer a question frequently asked: Is Billy Pilgrim Crazy? Yes, without a doubt Billy is crazy Kurt Vonnegut not only does he shows us this thought the novel with Billy’s actions, but he uses time traveling to prove how war drives people crazy, in this case Billy. As we are reading Slaughter’ House-Five we are thinking, “All this happened, more or less” (1). What I’m seeing now at the end of the book is what Kurt Vonnegut real message behind the book, behind all these aliens, and time traveling is what happens to soldiers after they have lived through a war: they become mad.

The Scar of War

“Billy sat in the back of the jiggling coffin. His head was tilted back and his nostrils were flaring. He was happy...” (SH5pg194) He’s not actually in a coffin, Kurt Vonnegut just wants to show a symbol of death, all the soldiers have had to live through this death during the war. Killing others is not an easy thing to do and seeing death beside you is less, all these men had to live through that left each with a unique scar. The Scar of War. Each handled their Scar of War in a different way Billy chooses science-fiction and even possibly invents the Trafamadorians and Montana Wildhack. “What really became of Montana Wildhack? So Billy read it. He knew where Montana Wildhack really was, of course...but the magazine...promised that she was wearing a cement overcoat under thirty fathoms of saltwater in San Pedro Bay.”(SH5pg204) We never considered Billy so crazy (he was reading sci-fi, and had been scared by war after all) but all this, the Trafamadorians and Montana Wildhack could well be Billy’s imagination of an alternative utopia were he would escape. Running off in times when he really didn’t want to be there and this may explain why he ‘time travels’. Maybe he just remembering all his life from his deathbed, and jumps from one event to the other we never know because he so unpredictable.

Mr. Lonely

I can’t believe Billy has a relationship with Humans no wonder they took him to Tralfamador. “Billy liked him, but didn’t know a lot about Robert” (SH5pg176). How is that possible? It’s his own son for crying out loud what type of man is he if he doesn’t know his 17 year old son. You can see why the song of “the Febs” bothered him. He never cared for anything or anyone in his life so there for “He had never had an old gang, old sweethearts and pals, but he missed one anyway…” (SH5pg172) He had had people around him all his life but still was lonely. And worse than being alone, is being in a room filled with people and still feel alone.

Thank You

I’m sick with Laryngitis, it’s a Friday and I’m in the mood to go out but, no luck there. I’ve been trapped in my house for the last week, and I’m about to become insane. I need to get out of these four walls and the only thing that gets me partly out of here is "Slaughterhouse Five". As I’m reading Billy has gotten some laughs out of me he’s just too innocently comical. The best part is that he’s not trying to be, people who try to be never are: they try too hard. The first time I’ve laughed was when Weary is kicking Billy is laughing and the Germans can’t understand why. The one that definitely won was the last chapter, I even laughed out loud. A lady asked Billy “What he was supposed to be” (SH5pg159). Obviously the widow is seeing in his new uniform: Blue cape, silver boots, and a muff. The best part is when the lady says “ All the real soldiers are dead(SH5pg159) I just couldn’t hold it in, maybe because I wasn’t expecting it or I was just too into the book to notice, whatever it was thank you Billy Pilgrim.

Readings DC blog entry "On many" made me realize that every person is different there for each of us writes differently. And has different style and preference when it comes to writing. So I believe it’s a problem of Diction and it all depends on the writers and what diction they are looking for.
“...where we find many examples....
where we find a lot of examples....
where we find lots of examples.” (DC blog)
Each of them has their own level of diction many is formal, a lot is informal, and lots is friendly.

Imagination

Imagine “Billy Pilgrim in his blue toga and silver shoes, with his hands in a muff” (SHp5pg149) Parading around into Dresden. They all were the clowns of America instead the American troopers they should be. It’s just obvious why they are prisoners of war. No wonder when the ex soldier no w surgeon spots them especially Billy he says “I take it you find war a very comical thing.” (SH5pg151) Billy had nothing to say ; like usual. What could he do if the only reason he wore this was because of “fate and feeble reason to survivr” (SH5pg151) He meant no mocary to anyone of sny kind

IF WE CAN, WE MUST.

I love the attitude of the English prisoners have. They look ways to distract and entertain te American prisoners and themselves.” The Englishmen were clean and enthusiastic and decent and strong” (SH5pg94). After so many years in the camp to have spirits like they it’s inspiring, No wonder the Germans loved their English prisoners. If everyone had that attitude towards life we would be a lot better off than we are today, just look at what we done and yet have not learned from. We have had so many chances to redeem ourselves, but just like it takes only one person to make a difference it also takes one to screw it up. Obviously we can’t all go out looking for our personal utopia, because as everyone on the first day of school each individual has their own utopia. That’s why people in politics (it’s not only in politics it’s all around us) never totally agree even though they are in the same party, they didn’t exactly grow in the same ambient. Their for they were always reached by different ideas, just because one sees different way to solve a problem it doesn’t mean they are wrong or even right . The Englishman greeted the Americans with songs, food, and dace even though they though the Americans were 'Weak, smelly, self-pitying-a pack of sniveling, dirty, thieving bastards,” (SH5pg127) The English could help the Americans, so they did. We must all follow the example if we can, we must.

Why We Dominate

Now that I said in my last blog how the last chapters didn't have close reading, I am beginning to wander that what the Tralfamadore are the ones that I’m most looking forward, even though they may be brief. This last chapter has a conversation between the Tralfamadore and Billy about humans that was very interesting. They were having a brief conversation of how “Earthlings are the great explainers…”(pg 85). Human Beings need to have an explanation for everything if not, they don’t feel comfortable where they are. This need for us to have an explanation for everything is what I think, has brought human beings to be the dominant species. This need for an explanation for everything is something we are born with it’s one of our killer instinct (that everyone is too proud to admit). If when we are simply toddlers we are already asking questions, like why?

So It Goes

 This the first book that there is no close reading, this has me lost. I don’t know what to write about, my last blog I did not like at all because of it. I want this new blog to be much more invigorate. As I was reading a word that has come up often so far in the book has been, so it goes. I understand that this is a tradition from Tralfamadore when someone dies. Thought chapter three this word is used 7 times (pg 52, 53, 54, 65, 65, 68, 69). The funniest thing is that you can see the lap’s time between the pages (54-65) when he is traveling through time. What irritates me is that this words makes him sound detachment and with a huge lack of feelings towards people. Since the beginning of the book I have asked myself about the sanity of this man and now I can see that we was completely utterly damaged from the war, and I think of the time traveling seeing deaths including this own. Billy seems so lifeless in his actions that, I guess that makes him cold hearted towards other people outcome and his own, which makes me pity him so much because a man with out feeling has yet to explore life. 

Something is Wrong With This Picture

Billy doesn’t have any reason to live, he just wants to give up and stay. Weary on the other hand had other plans, being the hero and part of the three Musketeers with the two scouts. When the two scouts reject and abandon Weary and Billy. This brings up childhood memories for Weary, with people ditching him in the past. He blamed Billy for the scouts’ departure and started beating him up when “Five German soldiers and a police dog on a leash were looking down into the bed of the creek. The soldiers' blue eyes were filled with bleary civilian curiosity as to why one American would try to murder another one so far from home, and why the victim should laugh.” (Pg 18-19 PDF SH.5) I just can’t seem to imagine the faces of these soldiers and the thoughts because obviously it makes no sense from their point of view. The image these soldiers must get from these two is just crazy, one colleague beating on another and the other one just full of laughter. There is definitely something wrong with that picture in anybody eyes especially to one that has just got there to witness it.

Little Vonnegut

This constant flow of ideas doesn’t let the text flow as it would be if were probably structured. This biography of how the book is written and anything related with it is a very cool idea that the author does to confuse the readers. The way its written makes him sounds like a child writing it and this is his intention. Like he promised Mary O’Hare” If I ever finish it, though, I give you my word of honor: there won’t be part for Frank Sinatra or John Wayne.” (Pg 15) If you reread this part it shows how Mary fears this book and future films would encourage war, fearing children (like her husband was when he went to war) would go to war. And that’s why he is writing like if he was an 8 year old with a lot of ideas, keeping his promise.

Dante a Capito

Dante without a doubt has changed after walking through the inferno, watching the sinners’ punishment is enough for him to change, not to mention seeing Lucifer. If we do close reading on this text in canto 34:
I raised my eyes, believing I should see
the half of Lucifer that I had left;
instead I saw him with his legs turned up;
and if I then became perplexed, do let
the ignorant be judges-those who can
not understand what point I had just crossed.
We are able to see his fear of hell and how now he is determine not to come back. He states that he was once ignorant and confused (like we the readers are), but having that experience is enough to say that he now understands what he has to do and how to acting thought the remaining of his life: to never come back. Dante hopes to in light us with his knowledge for us not to be confused or ignorant like he once was, but for us to understands how he now understands himself.

Walking Through Utopia

Go to the field were people are filled with bless,
Here we will meet near a sea of white willows,
Were we will reach for each other and start to press.

You will soon hear the sound of the wind billows,
and we will come to a place filled with beds,
please rest in the bed of yellow pillows.

While we sleep we will be surrounded of gems,
gems of all colors and sizes and very bright,
carful when picking them, do so by their stems.

Flipside

Hate turns into love, war turns into peace, and this is what we are looking at when we are seeing this episode of The Twilight Zone. As the male actor says at 9:21 “… the only reason I can see for our fighting is that your uniform is a different color than mine.” But he doesn’t want to fight he is tired of it, he wants a normal life that’s why he returned where he had left here lying. She in fact doesn’t always catch-up to his intentions, for instance when she is given a dress to try on and sees the recruiting office posters, she gets the wrong idea and goes on to shoot him, when he was deliberately trying to send a message of change from war and hate into peace and love (specifically unity between themselves).

Chat (A)way

Alexa Says:
Hey
Mimi Says:
What’s up?
Alexa Says:
Not much just doing some English home work. You?
Mimi Says:
I’m doing the POW for math it has to do with exponents and like I can’t take it any more there’s too many rats on the island.
Alexa Says:
What POW? What is the rat thing you’re talking about?
Mimi Says:
POW number one, the one that there is 2 rats on an island and she has babies every 40 days, and those babies can start having after 120 day, then we have to count how many babies there is in total after one year. I’m like dying over here.
Alexa Says:
OK I’m so not doing that POW I know I’m going to flunk math just like I did last year so whatever.
Mimi Says:
You’re a piece of work I don’t know how you’re going to graduate less have a job.
Alexa Says:
You’re going to help me aren’t you? :)
Mimi Says:
I tried to last year but you’re impossible. You have to help yourself.
Alexa Says:
Ok then goodbye.
Mimi Says:
Bye.

Yes They Can

For the last 10 years people all over the world have started to blog, I just discovered it myself. Some people have an addiction for blogging, which I can’t seem to understand. Most people I believe don’t have anything else to do (I’m sorry if I’m offending someone but it’s true). I for example have a purpose when I’m blogging it’s for my Pre-AP English class, but if you look at all the categories that a blog could have some are ridiculous in my eyes “confessional blogs, gossip blogs, sex blogs, mommy blogs… to name a few”. Sarah Boxer in her piece blogs gives very good examples of people who are writing these inexplicable blogs waiting to be “followed” by other people. Looking for fame bloggers misinformed people who read their blogs “there are bloggers out there who will do practically anything—start rumors, tell lies, pick fights, create fake personas, and post embarrassing videos—to get noticed and linked to.”All these confessional blogs, gossip blogs and sex blogs I believe people make up to believe they have these eccentric and fun life’s, just look at big time blogger Perez Hilton he lives with his mom and dies his hair of various colors. Respected columnist, reporters, and journalist are being replaced by bloggers “anyone with a computer and Internet access could start a blog”.