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Almost there...

I completely forgot that there were more posts to do for research and writing but I have been working! For me, this project has been a little frustrating because I hope I am doing everything I can to get a good score and I hope I am doing everything correct, thus far. I will print off everything I have so far to make sure I am moving in the right direction but on this beautiful Saturday, I will be working my ass off in this library. My agree and disagree lit crit papers are done, I just need to look over them once again. I started my annotations and I will finish the rest. I am often worried than each part of my writings are not long enough... I am a little behind, I think but I will definitely get this done!

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Lit Crit

I need the figure out my two separate piles because one I thought I agreed with, when I actually wrote it out, I don't know if I actually truly agree with it🤔

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Frustrations

I am trying to write about my Lit Crit, I am just so incredibly lazy and I can't quite get my words on the paper to make sense. So I definitely will take advantages of the Eli Review. I started off working with 3 out of my 5 and if that gives me enough substance I will stick with that, if I need more, I have two more I can read. I am going to get this situated even if I stay up all night every night ☺️☺️

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So I went to Oakland University on Saturday to get Lit Crit. The librarian was very helpful unfortunately she did not want to take a picture but I have proof that I was there.

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So maybe you could look further into how the mother has so many expectations for the guy she wants her daughter to marry... like why is she like this? Is she not happy with the guy she married and maybe she wishes she would have married a really rich guy or maybe she is just very money hungry such as the mom is Rocking Horse Winner??

p&p reading log- part dos

Pride and Prejudice is definitely living up to expectations I really like it. Just for fun I’m also reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies too.

Darcy seems to be a pretty cool guy, he’s actually getting better towards Eliza and the way he talks about her to Bingley’s sisters is so cute. He’s so in love with Eliza and it’s perfect. Maybe Darcy isn’t that half bad. 

Eliza’s mom. Ms. Bennet has a plan for Jane to stay at the Bingley residence in Netherfield Park when Jane receives a letter asking her to spend the day there. Jane is told to go to the house on horse rather than taking the carriage because it will start to rain soon and that way Jane is forced to spend the night at Netherfield Park with Mr. Bingley, who is in love with her. When I read this I thought of Mrs. Bennet to a be a sneaky little person who only wants to have her daughter get married to a really rich guy such as Bingley. Which is true when she reveals her plans at the Netherfield ball that Bingley has at his house in celebration for Jane recovering well. But Mrs. Bennet doesn’t do this on purpose, she was really really drunk which Mr. Darcy actually ended up hearing her and soon after Bingley, his two sisters and Darcy pack up and leave Netherfield Park. 

But on the bright side Elizabeth actually visits Jane at Netherfield Park because Jane get sick by getting completely soaked by the rain. And when she is there the Bingley sisters try and make fun of Eliza and her family when she wasn’t around and Mr. Darcy actually stands up for her which is so heroic in a way and it documents his true love for Eliza. And the fact that he is the first one to stand up for her between him, Bingley and Mr. Hurst who is Bingley’s brother-in-law. If that doesn’t show that chivalry still exists and Darcy is a good guy I really don’t know what does.

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This reminds me so much of Handmaid’s Tale or Hamlet, was it written within the same time period? In all the books we have been reading, women are also supposed to act like “women.” They have to be lady like, be proper and appeal to a man so they have someone to marry. It is a common theme in these older books.

p&p reading log- part uno

So far so good, this book is definitely living up my expectations. The character of Elizabeth Bennett is so appealing to me, because her actions are so civilized and women-like but at the same time she is so feisty and is not afraid to giver her opinion whenever to whomever. I LOVE HER, and her sister Jane. The mom however, is getting on my nerves. She’s always telling Elizabeth that she can’t be the way she is because “she won’t have any man who wants to marry her”. Um no.. Elizabeth can be the person she wants to and be and doesn’t have to conform for anyone, especially a guy. But I get it, back in the days when this story is set in the main goal of a young women was to get married and they had to be on their best behavior, acting like a women.

Let me tell you how much Mr. Darcy is annoying me now. At first he seemed like a good guy and its the first guy that Elizabeth has really liked every since this story started and, shes a good person and get any guy she wants including Mr. Darcy. Except now he is being such a butthead, I don’t understand why he is being so mean to Eliza(beth) when all she wants to do is to get to know him better. He clearly has some feelings for Eliza but is too “man-ly” to even return the feelings or show it. I feel like he is afraid to sequester his manliness (if any actually exists). But definitely 10/10 recommend that he and Eliza get married because they would be good together. They both have a strong opinion about everything and it really comes off, they’re both strong minded people and strong minded people usually thrive if they are together. 

But yeah I’m really liking the book so far. It’s a good book and it’s kinda hard to read the archaic english that it is in but its all good I’m making it through and I’m still able to understand everything that goes on. I’ll keep you posted with any more advancements in the book.

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Themes!?!?!?

So I am trying to figure out in what direction I want to take this whole project. Salvage The Bones is a fairly new book and Jesmyn Ward is a fairly new author with not much literary criticism on that specifically but a little. But I could also get literary criticism on other aspects of the book? Or authors such as Ward? Or books such as Salvage The Bones? This whole book is the 12 days in preparation for Hurricane Katrina. It also has a lot of looked over themes within. Family - how tight nit they are and how they stick together through it all Insecurity - how Esch repeatedly stated that it was easier for her to let guys have sex with her than the resist She also very often cited Jason and Medea from Greek Mythology...

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FINAL

So as I said this book was very short so I finished reading it 🙌🏾 it had a lot of different parts in it that came together for a bigger meaning. The hurricane hit and the whole city was destroyed. Everyone finds out the Esch is pregnant and they are all there for her. One of the big themes I say is unity and family. They stick together through it all and it is not blood family, it is also close friends. They fight for each other, they are there for each other and most importantly they love each other. Now time to find some literary criticism 😊

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#6

Daddy gets sick in this chapter and all the kids work together to do his work while he is sleeping to prepare for the hurricane. The kids get upset because Skeetah buys two bags of dog food for China and only pees and ramen noodles for the family and he tells the family that they will be okay eating dog food 😂

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#5

Still hoping all of these different aspects of the book come together for a better meaning. Because the dogs just had a dog fight and my mind is all over the place 😂 The narrator repeatedly refers to Medea and Jason, which I looked up as apart of greek methodology. She often relates their situation for her so maybe looking up criticism on that could somehow help me with the criticism I need for the project 🤔 This book is fairly short with pretty long chapters so it is not many chapters in the book so I am pretty close to being done 😊

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UPDATES

So, I find out the hurricane coming in Hurricane Katrina and Esch baby daddy, Manny, finds out that Esch is pregnant. He is the first to know besides Esch and Manny already has a girlfriend🤔 A fight broke out at Randall's basketball game between Skeet and Rico between who gets the dogs that China recently had. Rico is Manny's cousin who has a dog named Kilo who had the puppies with China. The story is getting pretty interesting but it is still a little all over the place. I am guessing in the end, all of the different parts will come together and make sense. I am interested to keep reading.

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Characters

Esch is the narrator and main character. She is 15 and the only girl in her family since her mothers death. Skeetah is one if the older brothers. He is 16. He takes good care of the dog. Daddy is the alcoholic father who tries his best to take care of his kids. Randall is the oldest brother who is 17. Junior is the youngest brother who is 7. The mother died while giving birth to Junior. China is the pit bull that Skeetah takes such good care of. China could be a little part of symbolism... Manny and Big Henry are family friends.

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Chapter 2

I find out a little more about to narrator and she talks a lot about sex and I also figure out she is pregnant. Also I notice each of the chapters are like days (first day, second day...) which is pretty interesting because they talk a little about how they are expecting a storm

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Chapter 1

After reading the first chapter, I get a back story of where the setting is. I don't know the narrators name, it was not mentioned yet. I already see some possible themes in the book though. Her mother died giving birth to the youngest child and in this chapter they are watching their dog have babies which is ironic. The girl discusses a little about her sex life and basically it shows a lot about how she feels about herself having to do with boys. And her age is not mentioned yet but I am guessing she is young. Also they are preparing for a bad storm that is supposed to be coming up by filling empty containers of moonshine with water. In this chapter, we are introduced to her siblings and her father and some of her brothers friends.

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FINAL

Last year for AP Lang, I read another book by Jesmyn Ward. A nonfiction book called Men We Reaped. This book was amazing and I wanted to pick another book by the same author. Salvage The Bones is the fiction book I decided to pick. It won the National Book Award for Fiction books and I am excited to get started on this book.

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THT

After reading more of the book, I am very interested in Offred's past life. Like a back story as to how each part of her past life just slowly far apart. Her past life obviously means a lot to her and she thinks that one day, she will be able to return to that life. She often does a lot of recaps to her past life.

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THT

Symbols play a big role in this book. The main point of Offred and the handmaids are to have kids and be fertile. Flowers are one of the symbols that pop up ALOT. 1st, flowers represent fertility, power and life that is why they are associated with handmaids Serena Joy keeps a garden and Joy is also infertile. She grows and keeps up the garden like a child of her own. Growing a garden is the only way she can make life and it makes up for her "failure" Each different type of flower has a different type of meaning that could represent different qualities of each handmaid. Eggs are also another symbol in handmaids tale. Of course eggs are a part of the woman's reproductive cycle and the narrator often eats eggs. The egg is a symbol of birth and rebirth, a lifeless object which life comes out of.