This year I can honestly say I have improved on my writing, even if it is a little bit. I think I was able to do this from learning different things about writing and also being able set up for the piece better. From this year I was able to master the task of making outlines, which helped out tons when it came to getting my thoughts out and how I wanted it to be organized!! I also realized that when things are organized they make things easier, less complicated, and waste less time trying to figure out how to do certain things, this helped with my procrastination problem with the year because it killed some time off if I had at least an outline done. This year I learned, (on multiple occasions), what procrastination causes a person to do, feel, and act like. In my perspective it is my enemy that I still am not able to conquer no matter how hard I try, this year just enforced that feeling of my failure when it came to attempting to stop my serious procrastination problem. No matter how many times I run across this thing, it just seems to be inevitable to me that I will procrastinate in some way. It has also helped me to understand that procrastination is like self inflicted pain on a person. I bring upon myself, I suffer the consequences, the terrible painful times, and yet continue to struggle with this serious problem with no hope for change. It is almost like I need to go to an intervention place to get my procrastination struggle problem to get rid of it. Another thing I have learned about myself is that a person has no good results or accomplishments when they are sleep deprived, it is as if I have a force holding me back on what I wish to do. The sleep deprivation makes it very hard to concentrate, and even more difficult to accomplish things. Being sleep deprived also causes a lack in ambition and a realization of a life of ruts: coming home-homework to very late hours in the night- very few hours of sleep= which inevitably leads to a lack of interest in what is going on in my life. But on the brighter side of that, when I do get sleep those things begin to come back.
As for Senior English next year, I think that I will start off better, get rid of my procrastination, (hopefully), get plenty of sleep, and accomplish great things and go to my highest potential. I do have to admit, I am kind of scared for English next year because I have heard it was really hard, but that did not hold me back this year so why should it next year? I'll go for it! To see what happens. A person can only learn things if they try. For next year my preparation would be:
1.) Better time management.
2.) More Sleep
3.) Trying harder
4.) Working on my writing skills, and understanding terms better.
5.) Focusing on reading comprehension.
6.) Write things that flow
7.) Understanding what is being taught better.
8.) Having a more positive outlook for English!!
To conclude this final journal, I will say it has been a struggle but a great learning experience! The work was hard but I lived! The class was fun, the people were great, but the load of work, and the amount of how intense it was, was immense for me and not my favorite part of the class.
Thank you for being patient with me Mrs. Townzen! I appreciated all of the time and help you offered me!
Thanks again!
Sincerely,
Marilyn Wallenburn
ACT ONE:
"Things happen. Two days ago they brought in my neighbor's son-with both arms cut off by the machine. Mother: Rafael?"(12).
This has a cultural aspect because of the neighbor’s name. Rafael in Spanish means literally God has healed. I find this interesting because he had had both of his arms cut off.
"Leonardo Felix"(15).
I always like to look behind names to find out what the hidden messages are behind characters, and if they do apply to their names or not. In Spanish Leonardo's direct translation is "Like a lion", "Lion bold" or "Like a lion". For his last name, Felix, it means "Happy and Prosperous" and or "Lucky" Two meanings kind of the same. I think I agree with both statements for the name, Leonardo is definitely what I would call a bold human being, and for his last name I think that could tie into him being lucky that he gets the Bride, but also it is interesting that he would be happy, when truthfully for most of the book he is absolutely miserable because he is not with the woman he loves.
"Yes. Yes. And let's see if you can make me happy with six grandchildren-or as many as you feel like- since your father had no chance to give me any more children of my own"(11).
In Spanish culture family is very, very important. Also in Spanish families are very close together and when there is a large family it is like a small community or tight pack of people who do everything together. The father is at the head of the family directing everyone and the mother is the one who teaches those manners and other sorts of how to be.
ACT TWO:
"The bride comes out, dressed in ruffled white petticoats covered with lace and embroidered scallops"(39).
When I read the book I noticed the appearance of scallops multiple times, but only on the clothing, I thought maybe, and probably, it was done on purpose. The origins of scallops are from the ocean yes, but in Spanish culture there is a legend of an apostle, (St. James), who also has a shrine that pilgrims would visit in medieval ages, in the legend it was told that wherever St. James would go he would be given food or gifts of sorts and he scoop it up with his scallop, he would not just get it from the wealthy, but everywhere, people even the poor would find it somewhere to give him something in charity.
"I am going to set the orange blossoms from here to here"(41).
In a Spanish culture it is customary to wear a crown of orange blossoms. It not only is for the looks but also is a symbol that stands for a happy and life full of satisfaction for the married couple.
"She wears a turn-of-the-century black dress"(53).
In Spanish culture of this time period it was typical to see a bride wearing a black dress instead of our usual white. The black of the dress would represent devotion to the husband until death.
ACT THREE:
"Leave a green branch for love!"(88).
When I was reading I noticed the appearance of leaves multiple times. This time it was green, "green branch for love" I thought about the color green and it brought me to olives as mentioned later in the play about an olive grove or something. Olives on their own stand for many things like wealth for oil but what struck me was an olive branch, symbolic for peace, i found it interesting that the beggar woman said to leave a green branch, could she mean leave some peace for their love?
"Jasmine clothing"(94).
I looked up the significance of jasmines in because i noticed it had appeared on multiple occasions. What i stumbled upon was that it was in the olive family which grows in Spain and that the jasmine that grows in Spain is not actually a native flower to the country, it came from elsewhere.
"Olive grove"(94).
In Spain a lot of production over there is done through olive oil. Olive oil is a huge seller and many olive farms are located in places to make extra virgin olive oil.
1. The symbolism of the woodcutter, beggar woman and moon
I believe that the woodcutter stands for a chorus of sorts. I say this because they make comments on things and speak their mind unlike some of the characters in the book and they comment on more things than one all in one setting, plus a chorus is supposed to say things that apply to more than one thing. I believe that the woodcutter applies under time because it is one of those characters who only shows up once and then vanishes and so does what they say. I believe that the beggar woman represents death in the play. She can be seen as death by the way she is portrayed and described. She is seen wearing a big black cloak and being hunched over, which to me seems like an old person who is feeling ill and is on their way towards death or leading to bad things such as death. The moon stands for time. The moon is brought to be time by the way it is described. The moon is always moving slowly which can represent time going by; because as we all know time goes by very slowly.
2. What happens when the runaway couple are caught?
Once the runaway couple is caught bad things are to come. Two men are after one woman, which in my perspective never ends well. They end up fighting brutally over her and they both die, leaving the Bride all by her lonesome. They try to not be separated and say that they will not be separated unless he is dead. This applies to the theme of passion, passion is shown through the love that the Bride and Leonardo have for each other when they run off together and how they feel like they must be together and will be until death tears them apart.
3. What happens to the Mother after the death of her son?
After the death of her son the Mother seems almost like she is better off. She is at peace know that all of her conflicts with everyone are settled, she may now live on knowing that she does not have to worry about her son being harmed because he is dead as is the rest of her family. This applies to the theme of death in the play and how everyone succumbs to it.
4. At least three significant lines of imagery
"She wears a turn-of-the-century black dress, with flowers at the hip, a long train covered with pleated gauze and heavy lace"(53). I know that this is a wedding gown but is it just me or does it seem like it stands for death a bit since it is black? I believe this could tie into it because her marrying him and wearing this dress eventually leads to the death of both of the men. The black can also stand for the Duende or inner spirit, or passion that is inside her that is showing through the wedding dress and getting married.
When I think of flowers I see it as more a feminine thing, "and the crown of orange blossoms in her hair"(53) a bride is supposed to wear a crown of orange blossoms, I think that this applies to the theme of gender roles when a women is in ritual or needed to do a specific thing.
"The coffers open, and clean white sheets are waiting upon the bedroom floor for bodies of men whose throats have been torn"(83). I think that this imagery by the Beggar Woman goes directly towards the theme of death. The coffers, like giant chests can stand for coffins which represents burial of the dead. The White sheets can describe the reason for the death and the death beds. And the throat torn represents the cut throats from the fights of the two men the Bridegroom and Leonardo.
5. What elements of a tragedy does Lorca incorporate in Blood Wedding?
Lorca incorporates the element of catharsis when the mother comes to peace at the end of the book after all things have come to peace and her enemy one of the Felix's is dead. Tragedy is also seen in the fact that the one of the main characters (Bridegroom) starts off well and then his fate turns towards worse events, this must always happen in a tragedy. Another aspect of tragedy that shows up is suffering. Multiple people are in misery in the play. I think of the Bride because she could not be with her love, Leonardo for the same reason and then the Bridegroom because he could not fight for the Bride well enough. Also it is a tragedy because it is a somewhat enjoyable play to read and that it is not intolerable in the fact of being too sad, gruesome or further that direction.
There are two characters in the play that seem miserable the Bride and Leonardo. The Bride always seems miserable because she never seems happy and she never has what she wants and can never decide on things. For Leonardo, he seems miserable because he seems to have a lot of feelings for the Bride but because she ditched him at the wedding they could never be together and ever since then his life had never really been the same. He is miserable because he wants to be with the Bride but he can't because he has gotten married and now she must get married as well so that she must suffer the torture he went under as well. Leonardo states he is miserable when he talks to the Bride on the morning of her wedding; "To keep still when we're on fire is the worst punishment we can inflict on ourselves. What good did it do me to have pride? -and not see you?-and leave you lying awake, night after night? No good at all! It only poured fire over me!"(46). The bride is miserable for the same reasons, she can never be happy because she is not with Leonardo and so when she is not around the groom or his family or her father she acts rude and mean to show how miserable she is and that on the inside she feels terrible, she has to let it seep out some-how.
I think that water stands for passion, it can be seen as this by how it is described, as deep and black, almost like a passion could be. Some passions are to be hidden but yet a person might still want to go for them and they know they want to but yet they are being held back from going towards them for many reasons. The reason behind this passion is that it looks like it could be dangerous if someone was to pursue this passion. The passion leads to the Id in the book which is the subconscious part of the brain that only goes for a human’s desires, sex and violence. These are both things that could lead to some serious problems or deaths, feuds, and many more where that comes from.
Flowers:
I think that flowers can stand for multiple things but what I think of is comfort, romance, and warmth with color. The flowers can stand for the people who have great wishes and dreams and what they want is what the flowers represent like for instance the rose, the rose can stand for a wish for someone to be strong or being strong, instead of a person being just a fragile flower as for example when the mother and mother-in-law go back and forth talking and one says flower and the other a rose, one wishes for them to be fragile, sweet and free and the other wishes for the girl to be like a rose, strong bold, bright, full of pride, and can protect itself as example of having thorns; something can be both beautiful but strong and fierce and can stay protected at the same time.
I think that the horse is Leonard, it may be a wild guess but when I think of horses in the play it directs me straight to him. He often talks about riding his horse or always riding it instead of a carriage, this is just his wild nature and one of his passions maybe. I also think that he is the horse when they say "And in his eyes A silver dagger"(17-18), later on in the book he is said to have daggers in his eyes, which brought me right back to this, and also the fact that I would imagine him with a piercing look because it would make him look more aggressive because he is a more passionate person. Another reason I think the horse might be him is because he appears right after they are done talking and I think that Lorca did this on purpose to maybe show that Leonard is the horse. Could he be the Horse? What Else could tie to him in the play?
Comments on others blogs:
Annie:
"I like the thought of the horse representing a journey! I thought it was a very good idea! It was the idea that struck me the most out of the two."
Carmella:
"I like what you said about flowers, I said something around the same area but only when it came to loves and protecting, and I changed characters to wishes."
Katey:
"Perfect! I like it! It is straight forward about knifes and I love literal meanings to things, but could it mean more? hmmmmm..."
Symbols:
Horse
Water
Knife
Marriage ?
Yellow
Pink
Vineyards
Land
Roads
Flowers
Lorca & Archetypes:
Lorca characterizes the archetypes of the play by making each one talking in a certain way, the Mother always talking about her children, the Bridegroom talking about his work and about his fiancé, and the bride talking in a polite manner, but only when surrounded by the Bridegrooms family. I believe that for the most part Lorca does embrace the archetype the mother always talks about her family which should be the case; "Can anyone bring me back your father? Or your brother?"(7) Multiple times are the father and brother mentioned, and always alongside of her showing that she misses them very much. I think this helps provide a little more emphasis on the motherly side of protective and wanting her husband and son back as any mother would want. In multiple times the mother is protective towards her child or the Bridegroom but not always does she seem like the archetype of a mother being sweet, nurturing, kind, or just staying at home doing nothing but embroidery. The times when she seems not like the typical mother is when she is out gossiping with her neighbor: "Neighbor Things happen. Two days ago they brought in my neighbor's son- with both arms cut off by the machine. Mother Rafael?"(12). the mother is going against her stay home stereotype by leaving her home and also by gossiping with another neighbor, when a mother is stereotyped I seem to think of a woman who would never gossip. Another case where a character goes a little out of their archetype is the bride. When the bride is around the groom and his family she acts like a typical bride and like the archetype, but when she is away from him she becomes rude, loud and not very considerate of others thoughts and opinions. The effect of characterization I think is to show that each character has sides to them, one that goes with the archetype and another that does not.
