Reflection

Out of all we read in the class I enjoyed the Watchmen the most. Mainly because of the way the book mixed graphical pictures and text to tell a story. I also enjoyed the poems by James Dickey. I would have cut out some of the Anthology stories for more time to discuss the Watchmen. I also would have liked to read another novel instead of the short stories.

Watchmen Review

I don't think that the comic book was quite the same experience as the author depicted it to be. I enjoyed the comic book but it wouldn't describe the book as taking my virginity. The multitude of meanings and symbols in the book made it very intriguing and I can see how the book can be physically exhausting. There is so much extra material that you can relate to the book. Of course the more knowledge you have of literature the better you'll be able to distinguish the references in the book. I don't have the literature background of the author of the review and this caused me, I'm sure, to miss some of the literature references. I believe the book plays on the philosophical and moral beliefs of the reader. All of this material and the way the book starts off with a bang its hard to get pulled in right away. At least that was how it was for me. For the first three chapters I was mostly confused and it was a real slow process of comprehending what was happening in those chapters. After those first three chapters though the plot and the references started to make more sense and I was able to move through book at a faster pace. The more I got to know the characters the more I could relate to them and understand their minds. The book wasn't my favorite, but it was also my first real comic book and it was a really good book.

Personal Battles

I believe that a lot of the stories we have read deal with a personal battle. In the "Obsolete Man" both Wordsworth and the Chancellor had to deal with a personal battle. Wordsworth had to decide to become either a conformist and live or be free of mind and die. The chancellor had the same dilemma as Wordsworth but he didn't win his battle. He ended up turning against his ideals to save his life but in the end was killed for it. Christina had personal battle with herself. When the Korean guy started messing with Christina had to decide how to deal with him. She didn't want him messing with her but he caused her to be noticed and gave her a sense mysteriousness. You could say that the narrator of the "The Indian Uprising" was also dealing with a personal battle of some sort. It is unclear of what the personal battle was but from the symbolism and string of consciousness you could tell that some kind of personal battle was taking place. Thats probably the reason why the author wrote the story the way he did. It gives the conscious side of a personal battle. The side that constantly flows from one image to another and if written down would be hard to comprehend. Many of the other stories had some sort of personal battle. Its possible that both modernistic and post-modernistic views lead to some sort of personal battle.

Insulin shock...

Reality is a blur. Swimming in a conscious self consciousness at the edge of permanent sleep. Waking to dreams of reality with the sweat of a warning body. Running through motions of survival mixed with a sense of thrill. Enjoying a weightlessness step finding the kitchen is an adventure. Stumbling down soft cliffs and through spinning corridors to the one cure for this blur. Finding the unnatural nightly sun and turning off the blindness of sleep the quest for food begins. Making the decision of what to eat causes a lifetime of thought ending in desperation of random choice. Choices come an go but this one doesn't come fast enough. Slumping over into a pandemonium of shakes as if a freight train was coursing my veins. Still figuring if i was in a waking trance sleep overcomes quickly. It is a sleep devoid of distractions and alarms. Never ending the sleep will continue until fate decides its waking moment.

Blanche - Rescue Me by Pushmonkey

I chose Blanche's theme song to be Rescue Me by Pushmonkey. Blanche throughout the book is looking for someone to rescue her. She is suffering from all the wrong choices she has made and is still making. All of her lies have caused her to get into trouble. You can almost say that Mitch is the one that she wants to save her.


Rescue Me - Pushmonkey

Hey..can you save me in any way?
Even though I hate to say
I'm not understanding me

Chorus:
I need someone to rescue me.
When I get a little bit crazy,
I need to you to save me from myself.
I'm waiting for someone to rescue me.
When I go a little too far,
I just want to be sure that you're the only one to save me from myself

No words control
You're not

Chorus

When I get a little bit crazy
When I go a little bit too far
I come to you

Hey can you see the warning signs?
Can you help me recognize
where it's me

chorus

save me from myself
save me from myself
save me from myself

The right Blanche for hysteria.

The second film definitely does a better job of representing Blanche. Jessica Lange never really showed the hysterical side of Blanche. In the 1951 version when Vivien Leigh opens the door Blanches hysteria reaches a climax. From there on out Blanche really doesn't know what and her hysteria gives Stanley the idea of raping her. In the 1951 version Blanche shows hysteria but when Stanley starts to come on to her at the end she has the strength to fight back. In the 1995 version I don't think Blanche really connects with type of hysteria Tennessee Williams is talking about.

Modernistic Character

Modernism has very narrow ideals while postmodernism is broad. In "The Man from Mars" Christine is a prime example of a modernistic personality. Margaret Atwood describes Christine as a person who "always agreed with these estimates of herself." She basically says that Christine always accepts the views that people have of her. Atwood portrays Christine as being very simple in thought and never questioning what other people tell her. The way she acted towards other people really helped me understand the difference between modernism and postmodernism. She never really thinks of other people and doesn't care to learn about other cultures.