A Raisin in the Sun post 3

On moving day a man comes from Clyborne Park to the apartment basically offering them money to not move to the neighborhood. This is of course very upsetting to the whole family. This is probably the worst thing to do to your new neighbors. Discrimination was so bad that they thought black people moving near a white community would destroy it and its reputation.

One of Walters friends come over saying that Willy took all of his money and ran off with it. He did not just use 3500 but all 6500 which was Beneatha's money too. Mama gets mad and starts to beat him. Walter let his selfishness overcome himself in using all of the money and he was also foolish in giving his "friend" all that money and trusting him with it.

In scene III Mama says that they are not moving on account of that she will take the money from Mr. Linder. Walter is very down. I can understand. He wasn't happy in the first place and then his dream was taken away from him and he let down his family. This meant he had nothing left to lose except his pride. In taken the money to not move he would lose this too. So he made the decision that all of them were moving after all. This was probably the best idea because if they stayed the family would fall apart even more and Walter would no longer have any pride. The rest of the family agreed. I overalled thought this book was pretty good.

A Raisin in the Sun post 2

In scene II Beneatha cuts all her hair off because of the influence of Joseph. George did not like this at all. I can understand somewhat because she cut all her hair off and basically had a shaved head. This would probably look weird.

Mama says that she put a down payment on a house. This is only good news to her and Ruth because they are not selfish but thinks its the best for the family. Walter of course is mad because he had dreams of starting a liqueur store. He proves to be the most selfish in the play. The only thing wrong with the house that she bought was that it is near a white neighborhood and they were living in the times of bad racism and there were even occurring of bombings. I dont know why Mama would do this but it was probably one of the nicest houses. Racism or living in this neighborhood could potentially pull the family together though. It is definitely the best choice for Travis (except for the fact its near a white neighborhood). Mama feels bad for him and gives 6500 dollars of the money: 3000 for Beneatha for college and the rest for himself. This lifts his spirits.

A Raisin in the Sun post 1

I hoped that this play would be a little better than the previous one and thank goodness it was. At least the beginning. It starts out in Chicago in the 1930s with a black family living in a small apartment. Each of the family members are all talking about this ten thousand dollar check that they will be getting. First off the check was Mama's from her husband's insurance and she is the one who should get to do what she wants with it. Everything in this household revolves around money. For Walter to be be happy he needs money to invest in a liquor store. Beneatha wants to go to med school. Travis needs money for school. Also Beneatha's boyfriend is rich but shallow so she doesn't like him but Mama and Ruth think it doesn't matter as long as he is rich. Money isn't everything but i guess if your really poor it is.

Ruth is found out to be 2 months pregnant at the doctors and there is mixed feelings about this. With money being the big problem in the family, how are they supposed to raise and care for another son. Beneatha has her friend Joseph come over. He is kind of different in being obsessed in everything African. Mama tells Walter about the baby and that Ruth put a down payment on an abortion. I can understand this because there is not enough money to support this baby.

The Glass Menagerie post 3

Tom tells Amanda that Jim will be coming to dinner but Amanda thinks it is a gentleman caller. Laura finds out who is coming and what all the fuss is about and then she starts panicking because it is the same guys she liked in high school. The only normal one in the family seems to be Tom; the mother is over anxious all the time and Laura is just plain wierd. Jim is also somewhat wierd so he and Laura go well together. She describes herself as a unicorn in her glass collection to Jim which is very strange. When the horn falls off is symbolizes that the horse (she)that is different than the rest now is normal. Jim has a girl already so this wasnt even a gentlaman caller anyway. I bet Amanda felt pretty stupid.

This play was not on my top play list. It was by far the wierdest play i have ever read. Although it was interesting in some parts it was overall boring.

The Glass Menagerie post 2

Amanda still hasn't changed. She insists on getting a gentleman caller for Laura even though Laura doesnt seem to care. An argument breaks out between Tom and Amanda which ends in Tom storming out the house. Who can blame him, with a mom like that i would be arguing all the time. I learn Tom doesnt like his job and he is a dreamer. He goes to movies at night a lot, the only adventure in his life. If i worked at a factory I wouldnt like it either. Its the same thing every day, how boring. I dont know why Tom doesn't leave. Like is said before, Amanda needs to leave her kids alone.

Tom finally apoligizes to Amanda which is very mature of him since she is a crazy old lady. She wants Tom to find her a man at his factory for Laura since she is cut off from the world and likes it that way. Laura is just shy and not a people person. You dont have to force her to get married or even go out into the world. Its her choice.

The Glass Menegerie post 1

The title of the play means a "collection of glass animals". This to me makes absolutely no sense at all so i had no clue what it was going to be about. Also the play was a "memory play" told by Tom which and i had never read a memory play before so i was somewhat interested in how it was laid out.

The begining of the play starts out with the family at dinner. The mother of two kids, Amanda, is yelling at her son to chew her food. Tom is old enough that his mom should not be telling him how to eat his food; he is a man. She is also whining to Laura how she has no "gentleman callers" and that back in her day (Amanda) she was very popular with the guys. Seems like she is living in the past and likes to brag. She needs to quit whining and yelling at her kids and worry more about the present time. She found out Laura was skipping classes at college and got very mad at this. Amanda also wants to find her some gentleman callers. She needs to live her own life and let her kids too, her kids are adults anyway.

Bronx Masquerade post 2

Each student starts writing poetry for this open mic friday and it gives them time to express their deepest thoughts and problems in there life. Diondra, one of the students wrote about how she was different and how her dad didn't accept her for not playing basketball or even being a boy. She just wanted to be her tall self and wanted to draw. Janelle wrote about how she didnt like the way she looked and that she was fat. Each student had a problem and in writing poems about it they were overcoming their problems. All of them grew closer too which helped all of them even more in being more comfortable with themselves.

The school year is almost over so they have an open mic meeting in the auditorium for the class to present their poems to the whole school. They thank their teacher Mr. Ward who was the one who started the whole thing and helped all the students. It shows that how one teacher can change the lives of many students in doing little things such as supporting poetry.

This book proved to be very good after i look back at it. It was very short which is a plus and had a lot of meaning in it too. Real students face many of the problems presented in the book which they can relate to.

Bronx Masquerade post 1

I've seen a movie that is somewhat similar to this after reading the back of the book and the first half of the book. It was about at risk teens not focused on school become suddenly pulled in by poetry and improve themselves in many ways. The teacher is what started everything and can make a big difference.

This book starts off with a student named Wesley that decides to write a poem instead of writing an essay and in doing this starts off a thing called "open mic fridays" where students can read poems that they have written. Many of the students aren't very "good" at school including Wesley, but he thinks poetry is like rapping and likes it. Many of them discover they are very good at poetry and can express there deepest feelings. Many students started participating in this and it was getting pretty famous.

Lucky post 3

Alice finally wins her case. Just reading this does show that going to court is a hard and can take a lot out of you. I personally think that Madison, the man who raped Alice, should get a worse punishment than jail. An "eye for an eye" as it says in the book. That night basically ruined the rest of her life and jail only ruins a number of years of Madison's life. But, Alice finally starts to try to have a normal life which seems to be going ok. She now has boyfriends and a really good friend and has put the rape behind her. Things for the rest of her family were going well too.

Then Lila, Alices best friend or "clone", is raped. This was the end of her normal life (Alice). She thought that rape was a disease and it would happen to everyone close to her. She then loses her best friend. The idea of the cops was probably right; that Madison told his friends to get revenge on Alice by raping her best friend. This proved to be successful. The end was basically that rape ruined her life (at least most of it) but she would not let the "disease" follow her. All in all it was an okay book that left me pretty depressed.

Lucky post 2

The book slows way down after the begining; being good in some ways and bad in others. Good being there is no more intense parts about getting beaten or raped and bad being it is getting boring. Alice tries to show that she is ok after the incident but she really isn't. People begin jugding her and labeling her as "that girl who got raped" and not as Alice anymore. Her parents aren't really good at dealing with it which doesnt make it better. People also treat her differently then before and it is like her life is just falling apart. Poetry seems to help her express her feelings and help her problems.

She then sees the man who raped her in the street, calls the cops, they catch him, and she goes to court. The case takes a really long time and takes a lot out of Alice. It should be that hard to put this man in jail after what he did and if his hair matches then it is basically a given it is him. It also must have been hard for her to remember back to the details of the rape.

Lucky post 1

I picked up this book not knowing what it was about and right off the bat it was very intense. The first pages were very graphic about the beating and rape of the author, Alice, in a park at her college in Syracuse. For her even to publish a book about this must have been hard and took a lot of guts but it also may have helped her get over her problems better. Getting beaten almost killed her and then the criminal even raped her. When he was letting her go he even had the right to say he was sorry and asked Alice what her name was... this man sounds messed up in the head; to beat and rape a girl then say he was sorry and that she was going to have a baby. What kind of person would do this? Alice better be able to catch him and give him as much punishment as he gave her... or more.