Getting the memories flowing

Poets are very intune with emotions, they have this ability to make each word drip with 3-5 different emotions making their work fall under so many different genres. W.S. Merwin's poem, "To Myself"  is one I beleived could pull the heart strings in any reader. It is one of those poems where after you finish reading it, there is some moment in your life that can be associated to the poem and you understand how the poet felt when he was writing this. To each reader there are different genres a poem falls under depending on the emotion the reader feels, to me it was a rememberance poem, a solitude poem, and a love poem.  The line " Even when I forget you I go on looking for you.."(Merwin) is that person remembering another and rekindling that sence of comfort and familiarity they had with the person they lost. It seemed to me to be almost a poem of how even after your true love is gone you still have that feeling like they are there and they never left you. Its a sad dose of reality when you start thinking of that special person you lost and how you begin to feel them around again and get a false sence of hope that they were there then remembering they are only a memory now. Thats what I felt the poet felt, a false sence that someone was there again only to remember they are no longer around. Its one of the only poems I think readers catch themselves thinking and feeling long before they read " To Myself" by Merwin.

W-O-W

The Kite Runner has been probably the most intense and emotionally infused book I have ever read. Khaled Hosseini did an amazing job at putting every emotion into his writing; it was as if the reader could feel everything he felt during the intense journey the author endures. The ability to apply pure and raw emotion into ones writing is one that I have a problem with, which is why I found Hosseini’s book so intriguing. His writing style for this book was very powerful, and his ability to paint out scenes with words is one I envy, I am hoping by the end of this school year to be able to put at least half the emotion that Hosseini put into the Kite Runner, into my own work. The annotating process I used for Kite Runner which makes the reader notice the authors writing style, sure did its job. I found myself interested in being able to put that find of pure emotion and power into my own writing for the future. Overall Kite Runner was an eye opening and incredible book, and my favorite for the summer reading, I am very glad I got to read this. J

Gatsby's guide to getting the girl (well sorta)

In Great Gatsby we learn of a romantic love story of young Jay Gatsby who gains his wealth so to win the love of Daisy, a much richer and much sought after young debutante. Gatsby is distraught that he is much too poor to marry young Daisy and so they seal their love as he leaves to fight in World War 2 in hopes that when he returns, he can re kindle his love with Daisy. Too bad for Gatsby though, while fighting Nazis in Europe, Daisy was moving onto a more affluent field of bachelors. By the time smitten Gatsby set foot on American soil, his love of his life had gotten married to a much more financially secure man. Poor Gatsby is left with no money and no love, so he decides to gain his wealth and prove his worth to Daisy as a successful, popular, not to mention filthy rich man.  To Gatsby’s dismay, Daisy has forgotten her loving soldier and enters a state of utter materialistic, foolish bliss. She was flighty and unable to make up her mind for herself, she was immature in many situations and very emotionally insecure, her love for Gatsby stretched only as far as her security blanket, her misogynist, overbearing, loud,  not to mention cheating husband. When confronted with a dilemma she went the safe way and chose her husband over the enamored Gatsby. Fitzgerald portrays women as flighty and foolish, unable to think for themselves and completely absorbed in their materialistic and social needs. Fitzgerald’s rendition of a man trying his hardest to appease a woman so enchanted by parties and social events and foolish fancies, is a reflection of his relationship in real life. His opinion of women was greatly skewed due to his unpleasant and high life obsessed wife, giving no justice to the women of the 20’s.

Marlow, the englishman who doesn't act like most englishmen

Heart of darkness was the most complex 77 page book I have ever read, but I found that by using annotation, especially the text to world out line, helped me understand it a lot more.  After looking at the book and reading the first page I was ready to put the book down, it was totally different to the books I read and seemed like such a difficult read.  I had to reread probably every paragraph, to get a sense of what was going on.  But instead I decided to read it twice and during the second time I did the annotation, which was the best way for me to understand the book.  Without using annotation I don’t think I could have understood the book nearly as well the second time.  My opinion of the book changed over the two reads, the first time I was simply reading to finish the book but I didn’t absorb any content except for the general idea and plot. The second time around I did my annotation process and understood a lot more. I enjoyed Heart of Darkness the second time because I finally caught the difference between Marlow and the other Englishmen at all the different camps. Marlow was there for adventure and exploration; the others were there for ivory.  Throughout the book Marlow showed a significant difference in his treatment towards the natives, where the other men feared and enslaved them Marlow pitied them and worked beside them as a coworker. Marlow proved to be a very interesting character because of his lack of greed and racism; he understood the natives and found them more hospitable it seemed than the “pilgrims” in the camps. The book was a great recap of the imperialism in Africa by the English, and a partially true inside look at it through the eyes of a man who found imperialism terrible and inhumane.