In the early chapters of The Grapes of Wrath, we are introduced to Jim Casy, an ex-preacher who is pondering thoughts about his own faith. He speaks to Tom as a friend, confiding in him a revelation that he has recently had. Casy expresses belief that there is no God, and there is no Jesus. He only believes in the Holy Spirit, and he believes it to be in every being, every man and woman. He also believes that there's no sin and virtue - just stuff people do. And who's to say it's right or wrong?
Once Casy is introduced, it becomes clear that the novel is not about the Joads or random, one-shot scenes of the bigger picture. Instead, the novel is communicating Casy's message of a spiritual union, a world without sin and virtue. Constantly, migrant families stick together and stay together, feeling a connection hrough their similar situations. But is it just the situation that brings them together, or is it the connection brought about by a unified spirit - the one in every man and woman - that pulls them together and gives them the will to help each other, despite not having much themselves? The spirit that Casy talks about is everywhere - in the migrant families struggling to make a better life for themselves, in the Joad family despite members having to break away, in the turtle that was striving to get to the other side of the highway.
Perhaps Casy's message is best delivered after his death, when Tom and Ma Joad are talking about Tom having to leave. Tom comments that it's like Casy's been saying - he's just a little part of the bigger spirit, and so if Ma misses him, she can look to other people - the happy and sad, the laughing and crying, and he'll be there. Not in person, but in spirit - because in a way, everyone's just one part of a worldwide spirit, a worldwide message that Steinbeck strives to deliver throughout the entirety of the novel.
"I says, 'Maybe it ain't a sin. Maybe it's just the way folks is. Maybe we been whippin' the hell out of ourselves for nothin'.' An' I thought how some sisters took to beatin' theirselves with a three-foot shag of bobwire. An' I thought how maybe they liked to hurt themselves, an' maybe I liked to hurt myself. Well, I was laying under a tree when I figured that out, and I went to sleep. And it come night, an' it was dark when I come to. They was a coyote squakin' near by. Before I knowed it, I was sayin' out loud, 'The hell with it! There ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue. There's just stuff people do. It's all part of the same thing. And some of the things folks do is nice, and some ain't nice, but that's as far as any man got a right to say.'" -Jim Casy
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Honors Novel Blog #1
What would you do if you could see the dead?
Odd Thomas is an ordinary person, aside from one minor detail - he can see dead people. Just as spirits, nothing more, and they lack the ability to speak, but that doesn't change the fact that he can see them. He interacts with them as if they were real people, and sometimes he'll even do what he can to figure out how they died, which often leads him on a wild chase to solve murder cases.
But what does his gift, or curse, translate into? As a device in the story about someone whose drive to solve murders comes from his ability to see the dead, one would think that it is simply a device used to get the protagonist from point A to point B. But throughout my reading of Forever Odd by Dean Koontz, I have come to suspect that Odd's ability to see the dead may represent something more than simply a device to push the story along.
Odd himself is a strange individual, having characters such as Elvis act as spiritual guides. It is strange to look at the phenomenon Odd's abilities bring about and say that they can simply be coincidental - perhaps some sort of higher force placed them there, knowing that Odd was a strong-willed individual who would do the right thing with his strange ability. In this case, his power would represent trust and fate, the idea that some force is driving us to do what we do and simply giving us the tools to do it.
However, his ability might represent something far more sinister. It might represent the insanity that comes from living a life like the one that Odd has. He lived without a father since he was only a year old, and his mother was very trigger-happy and often holding a gun in her hands. Living such a life may have driven him beyond the brink of insanity, and led him to believe that he can see ghosts - we cannot be certain, since the story is told from his perspective. But Odd's behavior throughout the book only serves to support the idea that his gift might represent insanity - after all, most people would grow afraid and run away when dealing with the situations that he has.
Whether Odd's ability is a gift or a curse is uncertain, but it is certain that it symbolizes something more than simply what it appears to be. Odd's insanity may have driven him to think he sees the dead, or it may be an honest-to-god gift given to him by the strings of fate. Odd uses his gift to guide himself through the pains that other people feel every single day, and through the chaos that carries him through his life. But in the life he lives... is it guiding him, or is he guiding it?
Odd Thomas is an ordinary person, aside from one minor detail - he can see dead people. Just as spirits, nothing more, and they lack the ability to speak, but that doesn't change the fact that he can see them. He interacts with them as if they were real people, and sometimes he'll even do what he can to figure out how they died, which often leads him on a wild chase to solve murder cases.
But what does his gift, or curse, translate into? As a device in the story about someone whose drive to solve murders comes from his ability to see the dead, one would think that it is simply a device used to get the protagonist from point A to point B. But throughout my reading of Forever Odd by Dean Koontz, I have come to suspect that Odd's ability to see the dead may represent something more than simply a device to push the story along.
Odd himself is a strange individual, having characters such as Elvis act as spiritual guides. It is strange to look at the phenomenon Odd's abilities bring about and say that they can simply be coincidental - perhaps some sort of higher force placed them there, knowing that Odd was a strong-willed individual who would do the right thing with his strange ability. In this case, his power would represent trust and fate, the idea that some force is driving us to do what we do and simply giving us the tools to do it.
However, his ability might represent something far more sinister. It might represent the insanity that comes from living a life like the one that Odd has. He lived without a father since he was only a year old, and his mother was very trigger-happy and often holding a gun in her hands. Living such a life may have driven him beyond the brink of insanity, and led him to believe that he can see ghosts - we cannot be certain, since the story is told from his perspective. But Odd's behavior throughout the book only serves to support the idea that his gift might represent insanity - after all, most people would grow afraid and run away when dealing with the situations that he has.
Whether Odd's ability is a gift or a curse is uncertain, but it is certain that it symbolizes something more than simply what it appears to be. Odd's insanity may have driven him to think he sees the dead, or it may be an honest-to-god gift given to him by the strings of fate. Odd uses his gift to guide himself through the pains that other people feel every single day, and through the chaos that carries him through his life. But in the life he lives... is it guiding him, or is he guiding it?
Blog #11
Please note that this is simply a copy-paste of the honors blog entry that had us do the exact same thing. I see no reason to do the same work two times over, thus I am simply going to do this.
Dear Mr. President,
As the financial crisis continues to wear down our nation, tearing us apart at the seams and pitting us against each other in an endless struggle against our ideals, our laws, and our morals, we must look to the past for a way to save ourselves in the future. We have struggled through a financial crisis of a much higher degree than this one in the past, and it is because of this that I say we must learn from our mistakes in order to make our way to a brighter future. Mr. President, I speak not for me but for the entire nation when I say that I am tired of hearing words said but nothing being acted upon. You must gather your strength to bring people together, for only as a whole nation will we be able to push through this time of crisis and become a prosperous land once again.
During the Great Depression, President Roosevelt stepped into governmental affairs to make sure that the banks were held accountable for mishandling money, stepped in to make sure that people were getting jobs, and stepped in to make sure that the people of America knew that he understood their problems and he was going to do everything in his power to help them. In order to pull us out of this mess, Mr. President, you need to do the same. You must hold the banks accountable for their mistakes and stop giving them money that could be put into other resources. By giving them this money, you are only encouraging them to do the same things that they have been doing before, and we are not making any forward progress. Instead, put the money that you are giving to them into other resources – like jobs for construction of hospitals, or schools, which would create jobs for construction workers, teachers, doctors and nurses, and allow people to take those jobs, thus being paid for said jobs and allowing them to pay back the banks for the money that they owe. In the end, the banks still get the money – but this way, other people have a chance to pay off their loans, and have an opportunity to receive health care, or an education, or a job, thus helping stabilize the economy more than simply giving money to banks could ever do. Mr. President, you also need to hold congress responsible for their childish behavior. You must tell them that a massive financial recession – or, as it has been nicknamed, the ‘Great Recession’, is no time to be arguing simply based on what side of the political ballpark they are on. I know you are officially a democrat, but you must hold both sides responsible and tell them that, if we don’t work together, we are not going to be able to get this country out of the financial crisis that we’re in. You must tell them that we have to work together, that we have to pass bills and laws in order to make sure we don’t wind up in a repeat of history, and once we have we can go right back to arguing if that’s what they prefer (although I can’t see why – it would make much more sense to argue based on what is morally right instead of what is politically right).
Mr. President, I ask you not as a single citizen, but as one of many, that you tell people this is not the time to be arguing, and that we must work together to get out of this crisis. I ask that you yourself revise your methods of going about things – because the way you are operating now is clearly not working. I ask this for the sake of our 50 states, I ask this for the sake of our population – I ask that you adjust the way you are approaching the financial crisis to something more firm. It does not have to make you the most popular person in the world, it simply has to help us out of this crisis - and I am sure, after all, that if you are able to help us out of this crisis, that people will look back and say 'You know, I didn't think it was a good idea at the time, but looking at it now, I'm glad that it was done.'
Many Regards, and Thank You for Reading,
Miss Nikita Atrash
Dear Mr. President,
As the financial crisis continues to wear down our nation, tearing us apart at the seams and pitting us against each other in an endless struggle against our ideals, our laws, and our morals, we must look to the past for a way to save ourselves in the future. We have struggled through a financial crisis of a much higher degree than this one in the past, and it is because of this that I say we must learn from our mistakes in order to make our way to a brighter future. Mr. President, I speak not for me but for the entire nation when I say that I am tired of hearing words said but nothing being acted upon. You must gather your strength to bring people together, for only as a whole nation will we be able to push through this time of crisis and become a prosperous land once again.
During the Great Depression, President Roosevelt stepped into governmental affairs to make sure that the banks were held accountable for mishandling money, stepped in to make sure that people were getting jobs, and stepped in to make sure that the people of America knew that he understood their problems and he was going to do everything in his power to help them. In order to pull us out of this mess, Mr. President, you need to do the same. You must hold the banks accountable for their mistakes and stop giving them money that could be put into other resources. By giving them this money, you are only encouraging them to do the same things that they have been doing before, and we are not making any forward progress. Instead, put the money that you are giving to them into other resources – like jobs for construction of hospitals, or schools, which would create jobs for construction workers, teachers, doctors and nurses, and allow people to take those jobs, thus being paid for said jobs and allowing them to pay back the banks for the money that they owe. In the end, the banks still get the money – but this way, other people have a chance to pay off their loans, and have an opportunity to receive health care, or an education, or a job, thus helping stabilize the economy more than simply giving money to banks could ever do. Mr. President, you also need to hold congress responsible for their childish behavior. You must tell them that a massive financial recession – or, as it has been nicknamed, the ‘Great Recession’, is no time to be arguing simply based on what side of the political ballpark they are on. I know you are officially a democrat, but you must hold both sides responsible and tell them that, if we don’t work together, we are not going to be able to get this country out of the financial crisis that we’re in. You must tell them that we have to work together, that we have to pass bills and laws in order to make sure we don’t wind up in a repeat of history, and once we have we can go right back to arguing if that’s what they prefer (although I can’t see why – it would make much more sense to argue based on what is morally right instead of what is politically right).
Mr. President, I ask you not as a single citizen, but as one of many, that you tell people this is not the time to be arguing, and that we must work together to get out of this crisis. I ask that you yourself revise your methods of going about things – because the way you are operating now is clearly not working. I ask this for the sake of our 50 states, I ask this for the sake of our population – I ask that you adjust the way you are approaching the financial crisis to something more firm. It does not have to make you the most popular person in the world, it simply has to help us out of this crisis - and I am sure, after all, that if you are able to help us out of this crisis, that people will look back and say 'You know, I didn't think it was a good idea at the time, but looking at it now, I'm glad that it was done.'
Many Regards, and Thank You for Reading,
Miss Nikita Atrash
Friday, March 5, 2010
Blog #10
I know it sounds terrible, but I do not have any feelings for these people. Perhaps it is because I am a selfish bastard who only cares about herself, perhaps it is simply the way the book is written. These people just don't have any place in my heart. In part, I think it's because they don't really seem to be suffering. I mean, I know they are, but the way this is written just doesn't give off the air of suffering to me.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Blog #9
Freedoms
One could argue that the freedoms involved in the production of Ampersand are not at all necessary and that we should have a strict schedule involved in its production, with something that needs to be accomplished each and every day.
One could argue that this is a completely stupid idea.
The freedoms that have been given to us with Ampersand have been something that I have thoroughly enjoyed. Give me a lot of due dates and I will freak out, wondering when I'll ever have time to work on that with everything else that's going on in my life. Give me a rough outline and say 'Okay, you should have this done by then, do what you want to get to this point' and I'll say "Okay, sounds good" and get right on doing that. I work better with very lose guidelines and when I can make my own work schedule, and when I can govern what I do when.
Structures
Structure, though... I would like more time to work on it in class instead of all this historical and Grapes of Wrath stuff we're getting into. It's like... "Okay, we're talking, we're talking, can I please do work on other things now?" I really don't like that we don't have much time to do work on it during class, when really we should have a lot of time... and as an editor I feel like there's not really much of a specific time when I'm supposed to go up to the people whose articles I'm editing and say "Hey, how are you doing? Anything I can help you with?" etcetera...
One could argue that the freedoms involved in the production of Ampersand are not at all necessary and that we should have a strict schedule involved in its production, with something that needs to be accomplished each and every day.
One could argue that this is a completely stupid idea.
The freedoms that have been given to us with Ampersand have been something that I have thoroughly enjoyed. Give me a lot of due dates and I will freak out, wondering when I'll ever have time to work on that with everything else that's going on in my life. Give me a rough outline and say 'Okay, you should have this done by then, do what you want to get to this point' and I'll say "Okay, sounds good" and get right on doing that. I work better with very lose guidelines and when I can make my own work schedule, and when I can govern what I do when.
Structures
Structure, though... I would like more time to work on it in class instead of all this historical and Grapes of Wrath stuff we're getting into. It's like... "Okay, we're talking, we're talking, can I please do work on other things now?" I really don't like that we don't have much time to do work on it during class, when really we should have a lot of time... and as an editor I feel like there's not really much of a specific time when I'm supposed to go up to the people whose articles I'm editing and say "Hey, how are you doing? Anything I can help you with?" etcetera...
Honors History Blog #1
Dear Mr. President,
As the financial crisis continues to wear down our nation, tearing us apart at the seams and pitting us against each other in an endless struggle against our ideals, our laws, and our morals, we must look to the past for a way to save ourselves in the future. We have struggled through a financial crisis of a much higher degree than this one in the past, and it is because of this that I say we must learn from our mistakes in order to make our way to a brighter future. Mr. President, I speak not for me but for the entire nation when I say that I am tired of hearing words said but nothing being acted upon. You must gather your strength to bring people together, for only as a whole nation will we be able to push through this time of crisis and become a prosperous land once again.
During the Great Depression, President Roosevelt stepped into governmental affairs to make sure that the banks were held accountable for mishandling money, stepped in to make sure that people were getting jobs, and stepped in to make sure that the people of America knew that he understood their problems and he was going to do everything in his power to help them. In order to pull us out of this mess, Mr. President, you need to do the same. You must hold the banks accountable for their mistakes and stop giving them money that could be put into other resources. By giving them this money, you are only encouraging them to do the same things that they have been doing before, and we are not making any forward progress. Instead, put the money that you are giving to them into other resources – like jobs for construction of hospitals, or schools, which would create jobs for construction workers, teachers, doctors and nurses, and allow people to take those jobs, thus being paid for said jobs and allowing them to pay back the banks for the money that they owe. In the end, the banks still get the money – but this way, other people have a chance to pay off their loans, and have an opportunity to receive health care, or an education, or a job, thus helping stabilize the economy more than simply giving money to banks could ever do. Mr. President, you also need to hold congress responsible for their childish behavior. You must tell them that a massive financial recession – or, as it has been nicknamed, the ‘Great Recession’, is no time to be arguing simply based on what side of the political ballpark they are on. I know you are officially a democrat, but you must hold both sides responsible and tell them that, if we don’t work together, we are not going to be able to get this country out of the financial crisis that we’re in. You must tell them that we have to work together, that we have to pass bills and laws in order to make sure we don’t wind up in a repeat of history, and once we have we can go right back to arguing if that’s what they prefer (although I can’t see why – it would make much more sense to argue based on what is morally right instead of what is politically right).
Mr. President, I ask you not as a single citizen, but as one of many, that you tell people this is not the time to be arguing, and that we must work together to get out of this crisis. I ask that you yourself revise your methods of going about things – because the way you are operating now is clearly not working. I ask this for the sake of our 50 states, I ask this for the sake of our population – I ask that you adjust the way you are approaching the financial crisis to something more firm. It does not have to make you the most popular person in the world, it simply has to help us out of this crisis - and I am sure, after all, that if you are able to help us out of this crisis, that people will look back and say 'You know, I didn't think it was a good idea at the time, but looking at it now, I'm glad that it was done.'
Many Regards, and Thank You for Reading,
Miss Nikita Atrash
Sources:
The Two Emailed New Yorker Articles
Knowledge based on news that I have seen
This article, used for information on Obama's term so far in office
As the financial crisis continues to wear down our nation, tearing us apart at the seams and pitting us against each other in an endless struggle against our ideals, our laws, and our morals, we must look to the past for a way to save ourselves in the future. We have struggled through a financial crisis of a much higher degree than this one in the past, and it is because of this that I say we must learn from our mistakes in order to make our way to a brighter future. Mr. President, I speak not for me but for the entire nation when I say that I am tired of hearing words said but nothing being acted upon. You must gather your strength to bring people together, for only as a whole nation will we be able to push through this time of crisis and become a prosperous land once again.
During the Great Depression, President Roosevelt stepped into governmental affairs to make sure that the banks were held accountable for mishandling money, stepped in to make sure that people were getting jobs, and stepped in to make sure that the people of America knew that he understood their problems and he was going to do everything in his power to help them. In order to pull us out of this mess, Mr. President, you need to do the same. You must hold the banks accountable for their mistakes and stop giving them money that could be put into other resources. By giving them this money, you are only encouraging them to do the same things that they have been doing before, and we are not making any forward progress. Instead, put the money that you are giving to them into other resources – like jobs for construction of hospitals, or schools, which would create jobs for construction workers, teachers, doctors and nurses, and allow people to take those jobs, thus being paid for said jobs and allowing them to pay back the banks for the money that they owe. In the end, the banks still get the money – but this way, other people have a chance to pay off their loans, and have an opportunity to receive health care, or an education, or a job, thus helping stabilize the economy more than simply giving money to banks could ever do. Mr. President, you also need to hold congress responsible for their childish behavior. You must tell them that a massive financial recession – or, as it has been nicknamed, the ‘Great Recession’, is no time to be arguing simply based on what side of the political ballpark they are on. I know you are officially a democrat, but you must hold both sides responsible and tell them that, if we don’t work together, we are not going to be able to get this country out of the financial crisis that we’re in. You must tell them that we have to work together, that we have to pass bills and laws in order to make sure we don’t wind up in a repeat of history, and once we have we can go right back to arguing if that’s what they prefer (although I can’t see why – it would make much more sense to argue based on what is morally right instead of what is politically right).
Mr. President, I ask you not as a single citizen, but as one of many, that you tell people this is not the time to be arguing, and that we must work together to get out of this crisis. I ask that you yourself revise your methods of going about things – because the way you are operating now is clearly not working. I ask this for the sake of our 50 states, I ask this for the sake of our population – I ask that you adjust the way you are approaching the financial crisis to something more firm. It does not have to make you the most popular person in the world, it simply has to help us out of this crisis - and I am sure, after all, that if you are able to help us out of this crisis, that people will look back and say 'You know, I didn't think it was a good idea at the time, but looking at it now, I'm glad that it was done.'
Many Regards, and Thank You for Reading,
Miss Nikita Atrash
Sources:
The Two Emailed New Yorker Articles
Knowledge based on news that I have seen
This article, used for information on Obama's term so far in office
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