The Tell-Tale Heart

To me, The Tell-Tale Heart has two major themes- insanity and guilt. The narrator of the story is clearly not in his right mind, and awe know this for a few reasons. First, at the beginning of the story, he keeps reiterating that he's not crazy. Then he develops this obsession with the old man's eye, and makes it his sole purpose to kill the man, and therefore kill the eye. He is so obsessed with it that he kills the man in a very methodical, almost level-headed way. Last, of course, is the fact that when the police come to the house to investigate a minor disturbance, the murderer begins "hearing" the heartbeat of the old man's body, and rips up the floorboards to reveal his disembodied corpse.

Speak Plainly, Diana- An Explanation

Lyrics to the song Speak Plainly, Diana by Joe Pug:

Speak plainly, Diana

There's nothing to understand

Yes there's mysteries in the basement

But there's comic books upstairs

And there's a wrecking ball in the front yard

But there's blueprints on the couch

Speak plainly to me, Diana

We'll build ourselves a house, said...

There's no safety, Diana

And there's nobody to blame

Even daylight will surprise you

Even dreams will end the same

So when there's too much to remember

And you remember me

Speak plainly to me, Diana

We're swimming to the sea, said...

I don't mind ridin' around

I don't mind ridin' around

I don't mind ridin' around

No, I don't mind ridin' around

I don't mind ridin' around

No, I don't mind ridin' around

I don't mind ridin' around

No, I don't mind ridin' around

Come lately, Diana

And quit what's got you down

Steal from the tallest cabinet

And make your favorite sound

And when there's too much to get rid of

And you get rid of me

Speak plainly to me, Diana

There's nothing you must be, said...

I don't mind ridin' around

I don't mind ridin' around

I don't mind ridin' around

No, I don't mind ridin' around

This is a love song. The singer, Joe Pug, is telling the story from his point of view, I believe. He loves this girl, Diana. He accepts her as herself, and tells her there's nothing she has to be, and that they will have a beautiful future together if she wants that. He will love her no matter what, though. But everything is not entirely what it seems with Diana- there is a dark undertone to the story, maybe she is depressed or something has happened in the past to not make this a perfect ending. He is saying that even if she had a dark past, everything is happy now and he will do everything to keep it that way. He will destroy her bad memories, and is ready to make new good ones. He will protect her with his love. I think he does know, however, that she will eventually move on because that is just her nature, but he does not mind, because the short time he got to spend with her was better than no time at all. It is a bittersweet ending, but also hopeful.

Listening to the actual song (linked above) enhances the experience. Joe Pug has a southern twang to his voice, which adds to the mournful crooning throughout most of the song. When he draws out certain words or phrases, the listener knows what Joe Pug wants them to listen to specifically, and this helps to understand the greater meaning of the song.

On the Reservation

There's an exhibit at the Field Museum that's all about Native Americans. The lights are slightly dimmed amongst the cases of clothes and houses and tools. It kind of creates an air of mystery, a little time travel situation. The museum saves this little part of a huge history that everyone can see, and be exposed to, and learn a little bit about the Native Americans.

Native American culture is actually very interesting. One specific aspect that I like is the way they coexist with nature. Almost their whole world revolves [or used to] around nature- hunting and gathering, praying to the various gods of nature for various things, and I'm not being very articulate right now but I'm sure you get the picture. They appreciated nature to the fullest, something that's really important to remember, especially in today's day and age.

I don't know how the average American thinks of Native Americans today, but it's sad that they've become such a small part of modern American culture. They are pushed to these small reservations, treated generally badly by the government and are usually poor. Whatever happened to the rich and thriving culture? Well, Europeans I suppose. We came in, brutally killed them and took their land [pushing them farther and farther West], and now look what's happened. In the end, I wish there were better rights for Native Americans; because after all, they were here first.

Reflections on Black Boy.

I was really excited to read this book again, I read it in eighth grade but I definitely don't remember all of it. Richard Wright writes with a nice, flowing poetic style and is not boring whatsoever, at least, not at where we are right now in the book. And his story really is interesting. Some of the more interesting parts for me are Wright's opinions on religion and God, and how his opinions deeply affect the lives of him and those around him. He doesn't really believe in either (which explains why he makes some important decisions, later on in the book), but here he is thrust into this world of going to religious school, and a granny that is determined that everything except the Bible is the work of the devil. Pretty intense stuff. So we have Richard, who loves reading which will later lead to his writing, but his granny forbids him to. This is why he sells the newspaper- to read the stories. Unknowingly, the newspapers are pro- Ku Klux Klan, but he is too wrapped in the stories to pay attention to the actual news. This is one example of how his rebellion leads to greater consequences than he could imagine. Another situation is Aunt Addie. I really really don't like her. She's totally unfair to Richard and completely flips out whenever he does a little something wrong. And then she goes crazy and tells him she's going to kill him while he sleeps. So frankly, I can't blame him for taking out a knife in defense. I would be really scared too. The conflict first started when Richard stuck up for the religious boy about the walnuts, because he had been raised by his group of friends to cover for other people. Then Aunt Addie starting beating Richard, but he stuck up for himself, and then the conflict greatly escalated. Maybe this is something the author Wright thought about while writing the book, maybe it's a little creative license or maybe his family was just quick to jump to conclusions. Well, it's a good book so far, and I wonder what will become of Richard's adult years.

Hungry for Attention

Every little kid craves attention. You did, I did- we all did. Little kids don't yet have the experience one attains as they mature- that everything is not about you all the time. I mean, as we get older, some people still act like that, and let's face it, it's nice to be the center of attention. But to little kids who just want instant gratification, it's natural and they think nothing of it. We've all had to pretend to our younger siblings that the story they're telling you for the fifth time is so interesting and so funny and great! We have not let them know that what they're saying isn't exactly what they think it is. As they grow up, they will mature and hopefully, drop this cute but somewhat annoying habit.

Richard's parents never gave him this fake interest. Even though it may be fake, the kid doesn't know that, and it's not too much to ask to pretend to be interested. But Richard's dad was tired and frustrated with him most of the time, and his mom was too worn out by dealing with him and his brother and everything else that needed to be taken care of around the house. I can definitely understand why it would be hard to give Richard some attention. But a brief minute here and there couldn't have been too hard, right? At least, I don't think so. I feel bad for Richard because he never had that feeling that his parents were genuinely listening to him, and so maybe that's what affected his personality in certain ways later in life. We haven't gotten that far in the book yet though. And that's why he went to the saloon- because even though those grownups were drunk and amused by him, they were paying long-denied attention to him, which was more than his parents had done.

Thoreau the Transcendentalist

Out of all the readings we've had to read for this unit so far, I've liked the Thoreau ones the best. He was a brilliant man, and revolutionary too, going into realms of thought that hadn't even crossed anyone else's mind. His time at Walden and in jail, like we read in our book, were two prominent experiences in his lifetime that helped him to develop his thoughtful opinions about the world. I especially like Walden. I used to live in Lexington, 20 minutes away from Walden Pond, and we would go swimming there. It's really a beautiful place, isolated but not too isolated, and you could really see how Thoreau would choose there to be alone with his thoughts. I think, in today's day and age [and also back then because that was the middle of another time of great change, the Industrial Revolution], it's important to remove yourself from your fast-paced life once in a while and just be alone and think about things, which is exactly what he did. A lot of his philosophies agree with my personal ones, such that the individual has the power and it's important to recognize this in order to create a functioning society.

Although Civil Disobedience seemed more serious than Walden, his idea that we are all cogs in the machine of the government is one that still holds true today I think, and has since the time he wrote it. One can really see the path his life takes- he went into the woods because he wanted to be self-sufficient, to not be a cog for a brief period of time.

I think we can all learn something from Thoreau, and his view on what it means to be an American is a very unique and though-provoking one.

King Still King?

Although Martin Luther King Junior is still a holiday [as it rightfully should be], is it truly a day off for him? Sadly, I think the answer is no. I mean, I'm not going to complain. I love a day off to do absolutely nothing and to make up all the homework I didn't do because it was a three day weekend. And yes, it is a day dedicated on paper to him. I guess it all depends on what you do that day to actually make it dedicated to him. One could do a National Service Day.

In grade school, we always read these nice picture books that explained what Dr. King did for America and civil rights, but in a way that was appropriate for young children. As we got older, we learned what he truly did and how it impacted the world, but also the events that lead up to it, with no filter. However, now in school, it merely gets mentioned, maybe with a brief praise of King but not usually.

The short answer of what I'm trying to say here is that yes, King is still a King, but less so than he was in the 60s, or after he was assassinated. Most legacies fade over time, and even though Dr. King is not most people, it happened. Also, it depends on the time period. It took awhile for America to become desegregated even after laws were passed and Dr. King died for his cause. Racism is still prevalent today, but I would say that the US is less racist than it has ever been. It is, of course, still really important to remember what MLK did for the US. He literally broke down barriers no one had even dared to approach in the past. He got things done. And he did so without violence and brutality, a peaceful fighter. I wish we still made a bigger deal out of this day being a day specifically for him.

Children of the Sea

Edwidge Danticat has a unique writing style. She tells it just how it is, no BS, but yet even though she is blunt, her words have a certain poetic flow to them. She is great at imagery, and while reading Children of the Sea, I was able to create some extremely powerful and vivid visuals. Children of the Sea was not only an interesting and genuinely good piece of writing, I learned about Haitian life as well.

The characters in the story grew up in Haiti underneath the Duvalier regime, a dictatorship. She describes some of the horrors her neighbors and friends experienced during that time. In the other part of the story, she wrote a character on the boat, escaping away from life in Haiti if it was the last thing he did. I didn't imagine the characters to be that much older than us, so I tried to imagine growing up in a place like that, and not knowing if my friends were in Haiti, dead or had escaped somewhere else. It's a very scary thought.

To both of these characters, America represented a new start, and hope. Anything was better than in Haiti, and if you had to die trying to find a better place to live, so be it. The Haitian attitude toward death is something I found very intriguing, and I like it. Times are different now, and I'm saying this having lived in the US my whole life, but I think people these days have such a negative view on death. I'm not saying it's happy, but maybe we as Americans could try to make it seem less... bad, overall. Anyway, back to what America represents. No one knew exactly what they might run into when they got there, but they flung themselves out into the ocean with only hope carrying them forward. Hope is what kept them on the boat. These people had great faith that something great was out there. I'm not sure what to call that quality, but it certainly is admirable.

I look forward to reading more of Danticat sometime soon. Any suggestions, Mr. McCarthy?