Wednesday, April 30, 2014

SEVENTH READING

“Teach Us to Number Our Days”
BY RITA DOVE
In the old neighborhood, each funeral parlor   
is more elaborate than the last.
The alleys smell of cops, pistols bumping their thighs,   
each chamber steeled with a slim blue bullet.

Low-rent balconies stacked to the sky.   
A boy plays tic-tac-toe on a moon   
crossed by TV antennae, dreams

he has swallowed a blue bean.
It takes root in his gut, sprouts
and twines upward, the vines curling   
around the sockets and locking them shut.

And this sky, knotting like a dark tie?
The patroller, disinterested, holds all the beans.

August. The mums nod past, each a prickly heart on a sleeve.

The first time I read this I understood that the neighborhood was poor "Low-rent balconies"and dangerous "The alleys smell of cops". I feel like this would look like Downtown LA. In the third stanza, the narrator introduces the innocence of a child. When I first read the first line on the 3rd stanza, I thought that the kid might have accidentally swallowed some type of drug because since the neighborhood was dangerous, I assumed that drugs were not uncommon there. 

By the last read, I kind of saw the "blue bean" as a symbol of dreams and aspirations. Since this neighborhood can be said to be low class, they protroller in a way holds the future of the kid in his hands. If the patroller decides to stop the kid from "swallowing"his future, the child is not going to have any good type of future. The game of tic-tac-toe can symbolize the child's uncertain future. 

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

WHAT ABOUT MY MASTERPIECE?

This week, what I have been trying to do is find resources that show the difference between the way "respect" is shown to older people in the way they address them and the type of language that each society uses to address them.

LOVE IS BLIND

Shakespeare characterizes Lady Macbeth as someone who is willing to do what ever it takes to get the throne. She is  someone who would trade her gender because she is scared that Macbeth is too weak to do what it takes to get to the throne. Macbeth sees her wife as someone who cares about him and his well-being.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

MEET MACBETH

How is Macbeth introduced through in/direct characterization?

What elements of foreshadowing do the witches provide?

How does Shakespeare's approach to exposition give the reader background information about the setting and characters and a sense of what's to come without spoiling the play?

How does Shakespeare's characterization of Macbeth reflect a sense of tone (i.e., the author's attitude toward the character/s, audience, and/or subject matter)?

What themes appear evident in Macbeth's character and conduct?  To what extent do you think these themes will drive the rest of the play?