Film Analysis Video

Movie Scene Analysis, The Great Raid, Sympathy vs. Hatred

Evoking emotion in an audience is the goal of any movie director but the great directors find ways in which the can make the audience love one group of characters and hate another group at the same time. In the movie The Great Raid director John Dahl does just that in his horrific depiction of the World War Two Japanese execution of the Prisoners of War from the Palawan Prisoner camp. He was able to use a series of filming techniques to show how the Japanese belittled prisoners of war and thought of themselves as dominant over the men who surrendered while at the same time depicting the Japanese commander (who would play a major roll as the antagonist in the rest of the film) as ruthless and merciless in attitude towards the American prisoners.

Dahl’s used camera angles, costuming, and background music in a way to show how the American POWs (prisoners of war) were thought of as disgraceful by the Japanese. One way he did this was by contrasting high and low camera angles when showing the Japanese soldiers and the American POWs. All of the shots of the POWs were taken as high angle shots which make the men seem smaller or less powerful while the shots of the Japanese soldiers to show their superiority over the POWs. Another technique the director used to convey this idea was the difference in the costumes; the Japanese soldiers were wearing sharp looking uniforms while the POWs had worn uniforms and dirt smeared on their faces to show how they are not treated well by the Japanese. The director’s decision to use oriental style music during the scene adds to the idea that the American soldiers are at the mercy of and in an atmosphere controlled by the Japanese army. These effects all lend themselves to the feeling that the American POWs are insignificant to the Japanese and are oppressed.

Dahl also focuses on the Japanese commander who is ordering the execution and portraying him as ruthless and merciless towards the American POWs. Dahl uses various camera angles and shots including close ups on the machine gunners, reaction shots, and having him either in the foreground or background of certain shots that show the scene unfolding. The director’s choice to show close ups of the machine gunners and connect them to the orders of the commander portrays the commander as ruthless and thorough in the extermination of the POWs. Dahl also follows up the shots of the machine gunners and the Japanese soldiers killing the POWs with reaction close ups of their commander’s face to generate a relationship between the commander’s orders and the brutality in the minds of the audience. Another example of the director’s techniques for creating this relationship and characterizing the commander are certain shots in which Dahl places the Japanese commander in either the foreground or background of the camera shot depicting the execution as it unfolds. These various camera angles and shot structures not only connect the Japanese commander to the murder of the POWs but through that connection characterize him as brutal and unmerciful.

Dahl cleverly structures this scene to show how the American POWs are less powerful compared to the Japanese soldiers and at the same time characterize the Japanese commander as ruthless and unmerciful by connecting his orders with brutality of the execution. These two ideas suggest that John Dahl was trying to make the audience sympathize with the American POWs and connect with them on an emotional level while building a hatred for the Japanese commander to last throughout the film as he plays the part of the antagonist. The director would not have been able to evoke this emotion in his audience by communicating only one idea, he had to organize the scene to demonstrate many different ideas in order to evoke the series of emotions he wanted to generate in his audience.

Word count: 653

Scene Analysis

My scene is the reanaction of a POW execution performed by the Japanese army during World War Two which was the opening scene following a narrated intro in the movie The Great Raid. The scene is one minute and fifteen seconds long. I picked the scene becuase it is replete with vaious different kinds of shots and an increased pace of shot cuts.
In the scene POWs are forced into dugout bomb shelters and the comendant of the camp hands his attendant a letter which issues the order to execute all of the prisoners. The Japanese then proceed in the task of blockading the POWs in the shelters with gas drums and burning the men alive. During this scene the director rapidly switches between close ups on the camondant, the burning POWs and a machine gun squad which is guning down the survivors as they crawl out of the shelters. The horrific scene is accompanied by Taico druming and the sounds of screaming but very little is actually said between any of the characters.
A few important shots are when we see the POWs in the shelters the camera is angled down to depict their lack of power. Also when we see one POW gunned down there is a panning and tilting action which happens simultaniously. The scene ends with a close up on the comendant as the screne fades to white in the smoke from the fires and the machine guns.

http://www.tudou.com/player/outside/player_outside.swf?iid=12551232&default_skin=http://js.tudouui.com/bin/player2/outside/Skin_outside_12.swf&autostart=false&rurl=

The video will need to load but my scene takes place between 3:50 and 5:05.

Anouilh's Antigone, 4

motivation of characters:

Each tragic character is motivated by something different. Oedipus is motivated by his curiosity to know the truth about his past. Antigone in Sophicles' version is motivated by her commitment to her family in honoring them and dying with them. This motivation is similar to that of Antigone in Anouilh's version. However, Medea is motivated by her own emotions, her lust for revenge and her desire to show her dominance over Jason and the city.

fate is what controls the characters:

Oedipus is the obvious example of fate; he cant alter his foreseen future. Medea on the other hand seems to have that power but regardless of her actions she is still destined to a life of pain and grief. Both Sophicles' and Anouilh's Antigones are controled by a diffrent kind of fate. They make the choice to bury their brother and there for are destined to die but they see no other alternative and believe it is their duty to go through with it. There isn't any other option so in that sense they are controled by a fate outside of their control.

Anouilh's Antigone, 3

• During Creon and Antigone's argument Anouilh uses the idea that the townspeople are seen as animals or beasts from Creon's point of view throughout the passage. This characterizes Creon as a king and also shows his idea about how he should lead the people. The metaphor suggests that the people are belittled and viewed as unsivilized by Creon. It also suggests that Creon has the power to control them and that they are not cappable of seeing through his lies.

character discription

The Gaurd:

He is motivated by two things: greed and his fear of death. The gaurd who speaks to Creon first is portrayed as a cowerdly boy who only came because he lost a coin toss. "We flipped a coin and i came right over" (22). The fact that the three garuds flipped a coin to decide who would tell Creon the bad news indicates that they are all scared he will kill them for their insubordination and that they are scared of death. Later we see the gaurd's selfish side when he pleads to Creon that he would not be punished if the two other gaurds spoke about the body being buried. He didn't seem to care about whether or not the other gaurds were punished as long as he would be spared from the punishment.

The motivation of the gaurd serves in characterizing him in the story. It contrasts his selfish views with those of Antigone's to add depth to the story.

Anouilh's Antigone, 2

4 Literary Techniques and their Effects (or how they Affect the play)

1. Imagery/Metaphors of Antigone and cute-harmless things: "A little young for what, my kitten" (14). The use of a kitten to describe Antigone is how Anouilh characterizes the nurse and her view of Antigone. It can also be a portrayal of how the city people view Antigone; A harmless little baby, fragile, and cute.
2. Metaphor of Ismene as fruit: "She's like fruit" (17). This metaphor portrays to teh audiance how Antigone views her sister. She compares her to fruit to make her seem sweet, desierable, and beutiful.
3. Parallel Structure: "We love you, we are alive, we need you" (19). Draws atention to Ismene's words and creates a depth and structure to the rebutal of Antigone's desire to bury her brother. Ismene uses the ideas that Antigone's family loves her, that they are smart and still alive, and that they need Antigone, they dont want to live without her. This literary technique is used to get the audiance to sympathize with Ismene's point of view.
4. Metaphor of tragedy and a machine: "The machine is in perfect order; it has been oiled ever since time began, and it runs without friction" (23). The image of a machine in context with the topic of tragedy portrays it as unstoppable, inevittable, and purposful.

Anouilh's Antigone, 1

In the 1940's Europe was either in one of the biggest and most destructive wars in history or in the economic depretion which followed the destruction of the infustructure in many of the countries. The Nazi's views and methods of control lead Europe through a very dark period of time. People followed the Nazi party's beliefs because if they didn't they knew that they could be very severely punished. There was a lot of fear and deception in Europe and it took the rest of the world's combined efforts to stop the Nazi reign and fix the problems.

Europes history will probubly influence the characterization of the central characters (Creon more dictoral, Antigone more rebelious, etc...). It may also influence how these characters make their dicisions and what they decide to do. The plot may also be shifted in certain minor ways to reflect that period of time.

Antigone, character cast

Antigone:

• "He has no right to keep me from my own" (61)
• "For my dear brother" (63)
• "I have no love for a friend who loves in words alone" (87)

actor: Mrs. Frizzle (from The Magic School Bus); She would wear traditional greek clothing and have long, brown, braided hair.

personality: Strong morals, looks out for the people she cares about. Also fearless and will do anything for the people she cares about.

Ismene:

• "But defy the city? I have no strength for that" (63)
• "Oh my sister, think" (62)
• "What do I care for life cut off from you" (87)

actress: Looking for a slender female with a loving heart but not strong will power. Relys on the people close to her for happiness and guidence but beleves firmly in the law of the land and not breaking the rules.

Creon:

• "Never lose your sense of judgment over women" (93)
• "The city is the king's- thats the law" (97)
• "Don't flatter me with father - you women's slave" (99)

actor: looking for a heavy set male in his thirties who believes in male dominace and specific gender rolls. Also a fearless leader who enjoys being in control of a group of people. Someone who believes in justice and that their word is justice, not afraid to punish rebels.

Haenmon:

• "It isn't a question of age but of right and worng"
• "Its no city at all, owned by one man alone"

actor: Obama; he is loyal to justice and his country. Respects authority but believes in a people's country. Loving of his family and if he was younger it would work perfectly.

Antigone, 2

Knowlege:

1. Who is Antigone's husband?
2. What was Antigone's sentence for the crime?

Comprehension:

1. How is Creon related to Antigone?
2. Why was the Sentry so happy to turn Antigone into Creon?

Application:

1. What makes Creon say that Antigone is not acting like a women and more like a man?
2. What is Creon trying to accomplish in killing Antigone and Ismene?

Analysis:

1. What is Ismene's motivation for claiming she commited the crime with Antigone even though she didn't and had originally refused to?
2. How is Antigone a tragic character? how is Haenmon a tragic character?

Synthesis:

1. How do Antigone and Oedipus relate? How do Haenmon and Jocasta relate?
2. How does the author use the leader/ chorus to evoke pity and fear in the audiance?
3. How does the author use character contrasts and plot to develop the idea of gender rolls?

Evaluation:

1. What insight about Sophicles' outlook on Gender Rolls is portrayed through character foils in Antigone? How does this relate to other greek plays and their outlooks on gender rolls?
2. Contrast themes in Oedipus and Antigone; what idea does the author portray by contrasting these themes?
3. How does Oedipus' fate relate to that of his sons and his daughters? Is it the same or diffrent and how? What idea does this create?

Medea, 3 and Antigone, 1

Medea and Oedipus:
Both in Medea and in Oedipus the authors use similar tagic heros as the main characters. Medea is similar to Oedipus in that they both bring on their own downfall. Medea made a bad decision when she chose to leave her home with Jason and killed her brother in order to do so. By abandoning her home she left herself without a place to return to and by murdering her brother she rid herself of any firends she had in her native land. Oedipus brought on his own downfall when he left what he thought to have been his parents and on his journy killed a caravan of people of which unbenounced to him his real father was a part.

The two plays are also similar in that they are designed to purge their audiance of certain emotions, in particular fear and pity. They do this by arrosing the emotions through the play's plot and characters and setting an example of what certain emotions can do to a person. They make the expiriance of fear and pity a painfull one for the audiance. Because it is a painfull expiriance it discourages the emotions of fear and pity.

Antigone literary devices and effects (pg 59-76):
1) Motif seperating the dead from the living: The effect created is that still have purpose and significance but are thought of and treated diffrentely.
2) Metaphor of the country being a ship raveged by the gods on the high seas: idea that they are controled by fate and the city is in their troubles together. Powerless to make changes or decisions about the future.
3) Isemne says, "not since the two of us were robbed of our brothers" (59): The word choice of the verb robbed implys that the brothers were taken by someone or something in a literal or figurative way. Its interesting because we know that they killed each other so Ismene must be blaming something: fate, the gods.

Medea,2

In the greek tragedy Medea the two contending characters have two very different outlooks on the role that gods play in their lifes. Medea who is the daughter of the son of Helios the god of the sun believes that she is closser to the gods than other people and talks to them as if she could influence their decisions and actions. Jason however speaks of the gods and fate as if is at their mercy like most other people of Greece.
Medea seems like she has control over her decisions and her future because of the way she talks to the gods. The first example of this is when she refrences Zeus, "O Zeus, remember the author of this crime" (43). She is refering to Zeus as a judge and trying to convince him to think the way she wants him to. She is trying to persuade him that Jason is the one at fault. The second example of this behavior is when she rejects the gods, "O you gods-not for me-ever" (52). Medea believes she is in control of her own future and she is rejecting the idea that the gods govern her life. Unlike other characters she does not blame the gods for choosing an evil fate for her she blames the decisions she made in the first place and the people who betrayed her.
Jason and his new family see the gods in a diffrent light. They think the gods chose their fate and therefore use them as scapegoats for blaming their trouble on. Creon runs his daughters side as she dies and says, "O gods!... let me die with you, my daughter" (70). Creon is asking the gods to manipulate his fate not trying to convice them to do so. He does not believe it is in his power to change his future and therefore he must ask for it to be changed. Jason thinks of the gods in the same way as his new family, "and the gods have unleashed the fiend in you on me" (74). Jason blames the gods for his troubles not his decision to find a second wife.

Medea,1

The corus in Oedipus was a group of elders, they were wise and not socialy powerfull. They offered advice and guidence for the characters but also were used as a sort of on stage audiance. The point of this was that because they saw the play from the audiance's perspective the audiance would connect with them and relate. This way the author could use the corus' feelings and their acting to evoke certain emotions in the audiance. The finnal use for the Corus is a kind of restatement of what has happened in the play and then to provide some insightfull thoughts to the audiance about the events.

In Medea the corus is used in both similar and diffrent ways as it is in Oedipus. It is also used to review what happens throughout the play and provide insight poetically. However the corus is not a source of wisdom for the characters like in Oedipus. In Medea they are more importantlly characters which relate with the other characters. For example they are a corus of women and therefore Medea trusts them more than she trusts the men in her story. Finnaly like in Oedipus the corus is a group of characters in the play with which the audiance can relate and therfore a source of emotions and certain reactions to teh events taking place on stage.

Oedipus The King, 5

Sophicles uses the plot to evoke fear and pity in the audience. His biggest tool is the knowlege that the audiance already has about Oedipus. They know that he killed his father and married his mother but Oedipus doesn't know this.

At the begginging of the play Oedipus blames his best friend Creon for killing Lius because he thinks Creon wants his power. The audiance knows that Oedipus killed Lius and pities Oedipus for blaming his friend without the knowlege that he himself was the killer of Lius but he didn't know. Also the audiance watches as Oedipus and Jocasta slowly realize the truth about their situation and not only does this create pity but also a fear for what will happen.

Sophicles also uses forshadowing to create fear. Tiresies is blind and Sophicles forshadows Oedipus becoming blind. The audiance realizes this and becomes apprehensive and scared about Oedipus' future in the play.

However the strongest expiriance of pity the audiance has in the play is when the messanger tells the corus about how Oedipus gouged out his eyes and his wife's corpses eyes when he found her dead. The audiance sees how powerful Oedipus' emotions were for him to do this and this realization is what evokes thier pity for teh characters.

The final way the audiance expiriances these emotions is through the corus. Not only the context of what they say but also how they act the part. The members of the corus winess almost the entire play from the stage with the audiance and even though they are in the play the audiance can relate to them. The members of the corus would be a normal social status and so its natural for the audiance to relate from them. By conecting with the corus teh audiance will also pick up on what emotions the corus is portraying and how they are reacting to the plot. The only thing that is diffrent is that the corus doesn't know the end of the story but because of this teh audiance can see and expiriance the from both the knowlegable and innocent points of view at the same time.

Oedipus The King, 4

Use of sight/light:

Sophicles constantly has cahracters reffering to their sight or encorparating blindness into the plot. For example towards the begining of the story Oedipus consults a blind profit for advice who tells him, "How terrible-to see the truth when truth is only pain to him who sees" (176, 359). Terrisias cannot see but he knows the truth and knows that Oedipus wont accept the painfull truth because he can "see" it. Another example of this would be when Oedipus discovers the truth, "O god- all come true, all burst to light! O light- now let me look my last on you" (232, 1306). Oedipus can now see the truth and he is declaring that it is revealed by "the light". Finnaly when Oedipus decides to cut out his eyes he defends his decision by saying, "Nothing i could see could bring me joy" (241, 1472). Oedipus thinks that the pain will be less now that he cannot see like the profit said so he cut out his eyes. He now can see the truth because he is blind.

This use of sight creates the idea that truth only visable completely to those who do not use their eyes. This more clearly defined by analyzing Oedipus and how he was blinded by his mother's apperance and was not able to see that she was indeed his mother. If he was blind he would not have been blinded by her looks.

Oedipus The King, 3

Sophicles establishes many diffrences between men and women through the examples of Oedipus and Jocasta. First of all Jocasta is centered on the idea that fate is not alterable and a person's future is pre-determined while Oedipus believes that he has power over what goes on in his life and demonstrated this by supposedly running away from his fate.

Also Oedipus and Jocasta react diffrentely to the knowlege of Oedipus' bad deeds and his murderous past. Oedipus wishes to uncover the entire truth about his fathers death and how it happened to destroy all possible doubts while Jocasta comes to the conclusion that Oedipus is her son and her husband and "freaks out" (yes i made that a technical term).

Oedipus The King, 2

Oedipus has demonstrated qualities of both a proficient leader and a deficient leader. For example he is working to save his city state from what is believed to be the rath of the gods but the means by which he is doing this are not productive. "Must Creon, so long my friend, my most trusted friend, stalk me by stelth, and study to dispossess me of the power this city has given me," (36). Oedipus is quick to lay blame on anyone he suspects to have killed Laius even when Teiresia tells him he is wrong to do so. This behavior is not practicall and could cause a misconviction of the criminal.

He also seems to rely heavilly on teh advise of others he believes are wiser then himself. However even when he is given advise he does not take it and turns hostile, blaming the one who gave him the advise. These actions lead me to think that Oedipus is stressed about something, possibly the burden of the plague. Although he started out with good intensions, Oedipus' methods have become less-than-exemplarary.

Teiresias and Creon both seem like humble, supportive characters. Creon like Oedipus seems like he wants to help the country however Teiresias seems a little more concerned with his personal condition than Creon. Both men do want to see the country's wellfare get better.

Oedipus The King, 1

pg 159-170,

Summary of pages:

• 159: Priests have brought branches wraped in wool to Oedipus and he trys to figure out what they need from him. The ciry is supposedly in turmoil
• 160: Priest exclaims that Thebes, there home, is in trouble of destruction. Unfortuanet circumstances like sickness, death, and crop failer
• 161: The priest speaks for the country and asks for Oedipus' help in ending all the chanllenges as he had done before.
• 162: Oedipus reveals that he had sent a man, Creon, to see a profit for advise and as he says this Creon returns from the trip.
• 163: Creon declares that he has good news but insists on telling Oedipus in private
• 164: The news is that teh gods want the coruption in the city destroyed. The corruption was the source of a murder and the killers must be paid back
• 165: Creon and Oedipus discuss the murder and where to find the killers
• 166: Thiefs had killed the king and the Sphinx had kept Creon from seeking out the killers then and there
• 167: Oedipus exclaims that he will look for the killer and avenge he tells the priests to leave and the gaurds to assemble the city people, priests leave happy that Oedipus has agreed to help solve the problem.
• 168: The chorus calls on Zeus, Apollo, and Athena to help them defeat the evil in the city
• 169: The chorus describes the troubles that Thebes is expiriancing, asks the gods for help, to save them from the death and the problems.
• 170: Asks the gods for help, driving the death out of their city, asks specific gods to come and battle to save their country.

Literary Techniques and Effects:

• pg 160; "boys still too weak to fly from the nest, and the old, bowed down with the years," emphasizes that everyone has come for help.
• pg 160; "Thebes is dying," personification makes image of death and great trouble
• pg 161; "Raise up our city," save the city, describes the desperation the people have.
• pg 162; "shining like his eyes," designates him as what the people need at that moment, their hope
• pg 166; "singing riddling sphinx," gives the sphinx a mysitical persona, also glorious
• pg 168; "gold vaults of Delphini" makes them valuable
• pg 169; "sword of thought," they are defensless
• pg 170; "Drive him back-the fever, the god of death," by personifcation of death their problems suddenly become a person, something they can fight or kill

Denialism, the philosaphy that nothing is true or can exists.

Denialism is a philosaphy in which the believer claims that everything is false unless it can be proven. However it is true that many claims or facts are based on assumptions and lies and thus even if they can be proven "true" they are not because the information with which the claims are being proven cannot be proven to be true.

It is also true that anyone who is a Denialist cannot claim they are a denialist because there is no information that can be proven true with which to support whether denialism exists or does not. Therefor a true denialist must deny that denialism has any truth to it and is in fact false. This presents a probelm because the Denialist is left without any purpose or beliefs and then because they have no creed they cannot prove that they belive that something is not true. The true denialist will reach this conclusion and then deny that their sanity exists.

It is true that a person without sanity cannot be trusted to know what truth is and in this unproven truth the denialist will come to their ultimate epiphany. They will conclude that no material object can exist because the denialist can no longer trust their senses because they have no sanity. The denialist must then realize that all information entering their brain cannot be proven truthfull because the senses of an insane person cannot be proven to tell the truth. (they may be hearing something that doesn't exist like voices telling them something) This ultimatum is where the denialist would destroy himself in order to elimate the untruthfulness.

Then he would get cake..... but the cake is a lie so he would deny his accomplishment and refuse the cake.

final draft

Hey guys when you get your part finished post it in a comment on this entry.

revised thesis

In the novel 1984, George Orwell uses the juxtaposition between victory gin and wine; victory cigarettes and Inner Party cigarettes; and Party chocolate and Inner Party chocolate to warn people not to accept what they are told as truth without thinking about what they aren't being told.

Dystopian Journal 3

The main character of George Orwell’s book 1984, Winston Smith, finds himself immersed in a futile struggle against a perfect socialist society. He becomes a victim of this society by being put under constant surveillance, and exposed to the other means of control the government of Oceania uses. Winston feels trapped and realizes that the government is destroying things like intelligence, history, logical reasoning, the common thought process and even the nature of a person’s sexual desire in order to gain complete control over the members of its society.
He chooses to resist the government in many ways and is to an extent successful. Winston develops a pure relationship with a woman, expands his intellectual capacity, seeks out the underground resistance, and even writes a journal. However in the end all of this is futile because he and the woman are arrested and Winston discovers that any rebellious actions he takes against the party accomplish nothing in the way of disrupting the government’s control over the people.
Because he chooses to resist the government, Winston is eventually arrested. After being arrested he becomes a victim of torture and the government works at forcing him to conform. Winston confesses to whatever crimes the torturers tell him to and ultimately surrenders all of his dreams, hopes, desires, and feelings in order to save himself from death. Orwell’s society does not use pain as its main form of torture; instead they target the person’s feelings, desires, reflexes, and personal thoughts. By doing this Winston and the other rebels are slowly forced to accept what they are told and to forget about logic.

Word Count: 269

Dystopian Journal 2

The society that George Orwell created in his dystopian novel 1984 was in almost every way extremely powerful and very scary. The way that INGSOC controls its people is in every way extremely oppressive and corrupt. The government works toward the goal of complete and everlasting control. Orwell’s vision is so powerful because in it the people will lose there basic intelligence and with it their facility to deny what they are told is truth. Also their goals, independence, and purpose is taken away so the people have nothing to fight for and without intelligence nothing to fight with. This means that the government can completely solidify its rule and destroy all rebellious attempts.
The author’s alternatives is that the lower class, the majority of the population, will realize that they are not living how they should and they are being taken advantage of. Once they see this truth they will rise up and overthrow the government with their numbers. However the reason that the idea is so scary is because the lower class cannot compare their lifestyle to any lifestyle that people used to have. In fact they are told that their lifestyle has improved and because that lie cannot be proven false everyone accepts it to be the truth. So because the government keeps the lower class people happy and destroys any goals or dreams they have the government can keep the lower class from rebelling. This means that the government has become indestructible and not only has complete power but in fact everlasting control over the country.

Word count: 260

Dystopian Journal 1

TOPIC A:
As Wilson is eating lunch one day at the ministry he finds himself talking to another party member about newspeak, “In the end we will make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it,” (Orwell 52). This passage is an example of the party’s plan to take power away from the people of Oceania. We find that the purpose of newspeak is to make it impossible for people to think intelligently. By doing this the party can easily take advantage of the people and it would be nearly impossible for the people of the country to fight back in anyway.
This is one of the most important aspects of Orwell’s dystopia in 1984. The fear and dehumanization of the people is one thing but even over time history has shown us that societies that use fear for control do not last. Making the population incapable of deep thought is a tactic that could secure power over the population for a very long time. It is a philosophy that thoughts are constricted by vocabulary because people think in words. If this is true then if a government can deteriorate the language of their people then such thoughts needed to even contemplate rebellion would not even be possible in the minds of the rebellious.

Stranger 9

thesis: reveal that people are not able to see through their desires but once they let go of those desires they are not bound to acting according to what they want but instead they can decide how to act

Stranger 8

The contrast between parts 1 and 2 in The Stranger is the change in Meursault. In part two Meursault becomes more concerned about the people and things around him and also his personal condition. The author also uses symbols like cigarrets to show the change in Meursault. In the first part he smokes in every chapter atlest once but in the second part of the book after they were taken away from him Meursault stops smoking even when the gaurd offers him a cigaret before the court hearing. Also in the second part he loses obsetion in Marie and nearly forgets about her during the court session. These changes are used to show how Meursault does not need certain things anymore and he is begining to overcome the influence of the physical world and his desires.

Stranger 7

Awnser to analytical questions:

1. Word Choice: Camus uses lower vocabulary to show the reader that Meurasault has little interest in the world around him.
2. Sentences: Camus has Meurasault talk in shorter senteces than the other characters to create teh idea that he doesn't care about communicating with anyone else.
3. Images: Camus uses heat to symbolize how Meusault's decisions are controled by his wants and desires.
4. Symbols: Camus uses the sun as a symbol
5. Figures of Speech: Camus uses figures of speech to show us that Meusault is an outcast in his society and that this is what he wants.
6. Rhetorical Devices: Camus creates foils between the protagonist and the other characters in the book in order to develop the idea that Meursault wants to be diffrent.
7. Patterns: Camus uses cigarets to develop the idea that we are ruled by our desires
8. Narrators: Camus uses a first person point of view to create a world as it is would be seen by a person; this allows the reader to integrate into it and connect with Meusault
9. Structure: Camus uses his fast pace to show us that when people do not have anything to love they have nothing to long for and therfore time travels quickly.

Stranger 6

Analysis topics:

1. Word Choice: the author's choice of vocabulary and how much power the words he/she uses have. Also can include the dialect, use of alliteration or assonace, whether they use passive or active verbs, and also the use of conotation verses denotation. "Why does Camus
2. Sentences: includes the authors use of syntax, variation in length, complexity, rythem, and diction. Also includes the authors use of interogatives. "Why does Camus choose not to explain the character's thoughts or feelings and only describe the situation?"
3. Images: sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell. How the author paints a picture in our minds of the setting and the activities in the book. "Why does Camus choose to describe meursault's lust through his contact with Marie?"
4. Symbols: objects or actions that represent something outside the literature by going outside the literal meaning of the subject. "Why does Camus use the sun to depict Meursault's feelings?"
5. Figures of Speech: includes irony, metophors and cultural context. "Why would Camus use the metaphor of the old man and his dog?"
6. Retorical Devices: includes techniques like juxtaposision, foils, parraleism, and the use of dialouge vs narration. ""Why would Meursault feel the same way on the day his mother died as he did on the day he killed the arab?"
7. Patterns: The author will use patterns to create a theme or emphasize a specific characteristic in the character(s). "Why does Camus show people constantly expresing concern to Meursault about his mother's death?"
8. Narrators: The kind of narrator the author chooses to use is meaningful. Also the point of view has a huge impact on how the story is told and authors purposfully choose certain poits of view for specific reasons. "Why did Camus choose to use a noninsiteful, observant narrator?"
9. Structure: includes the others chossen pace, timing, space, and how the narrators mind analyses the world in the book. "What theme is Camus developing through the use of a quick pace?"

Stranger 5

My beliefs affect how i read and interpret a novel because i immediatley begin to judge the ideas of the author and the actions of the characters. These judgements can serve to help me interpret the novel but they can also limit my mind to only seeing or understanding certain ideas in the book. When i am presented with an idea or a concept i instinctively compare it to what i believe to see if it makes sense.

Now thats all negative and it pertains to most people. I try and look at the book and the cahracters with open eyes and an open minded perspective. This allows me to see things that i wuoldn't normaly and respect the ideas behind every piece of the literature. Someone once said that "a mind is like a parachute, its only funtional when it is open." I try and think that way as much as possible and not let pre judgement cloude my thoughts at all.

Stranger 4

The Sun: sun is a reacuring symbol in the book

• "The office overlooks the sea, and we took a minute to watch the firefighters in the harbor, which was ablaze with sunlight," (Camus 25). This passage is interesting because the author uses the sun not just to portray the setting but also describes the harbor as "ablaze" with sunlight as the characters are watching the firefighters.
• "The four o'clock sun wasn't too hot, but the water was warm, with slow, gently lapping waves," (Camus 34). The sun is used to reflect the setting of the scene in multiple ways; first it gives the time of day (four o'clock) but it also creates a mood for the reader (peacful, tranquile, non-hostile) by saying that it was "not too hot."

Celeste's (the restaurant): a symbol of the community

• "Cheleste was there, as always, with his big belly, his apron, and his white mustache," (Camus 26). This restaurant is were the characters go to eat and talk. It is a public place and the author depicts it as a comfortable place, the description of the owner also gives it that "generic european restaurant feel."
• "I had dinner at Cheleste's. I'd already started eating when a strange woman came in and asked me if she could sit at my table," (Camus 43). The resaurant is again where Meursault meets people and interacts with the culture. It is a symbol of the european culture and community because in Europe restaurants are meeting places and places where people go to people watch or meet new people. In this scene the protagonist is doing just that.

Stranger 3

progresiveism: The higher law is that life is on this earth to find a way in which it can live in harmony while each differenbt form of life discovers its own way to help achieve the goal.

• passion is what rules and dictates our actions and feelings
• people live together by accepting the simple fact that they themselves could be wrong
• love, compasion and comitment are essential
• everybody has equal relevance and power
• must care for and respect the interdependant web of all existance
• religion should be a tool to achieve peace, focus, and serenity
• each person has different strengths they are created with and they are commited to using them to achieve their goals, other's goals, and the goals of the community together

Stranger 2

Meursault is a very boring character. He kind of floats through his life doing as little as possible and only observing the world around him. The few things he has done he didn't really care about. The funeral he spent most of the time observing the people and the world around him and when he went out with the girl he didn't seem to fall in love or to take great care in the relationship it seemd to happen and then end he didn't do anything to make it longer or better.

He disgusts me. He doesn't seem like he wants to live, takes anything out of life, or even expects anything from it. I think the author does this to create a flat character as the protagonist who throughout the book will develop and becaome more involved in his life and the world around himslef.

Journal entry 9

The conection between the begining and ending of the book tied the story to a close. It allowed us to see that Janie was finnaly at peace and in a place she wanted to be. Also this connection helped the reader reflect back through the story and context of the book by remebering where she was and also how the story started.

Journal entry 8

Chapter 16-17: Mrs. Turner is completely opposite to Janie in every way except in that her character is shaped by the relationship she has with her husband. She works but Janie doesn't. She worships white people, Janie doesn't worship. Mrs. Turner runs her store and her husband works for her. She brags about him and her son but they don't own the store. Mr. Turner didn't do a thing to help either when the fight broke out. Mrs. Turner is alot like Tea Cake in that she hates him while he hates her and she does the work. Janie and Tea Cakes relationship is alot like the Turner's except that their roles are reversed.

Chapter 18: The title is supposed to convey a sense of anticipation as well as get the reader to consider god's role in the story. The characters are ultimatley at the mercy of god and they know this. Janie realizes this in chapter 18 and understands that influencing her fate. Hurston uses the title and the reacuring allusions of god to develope this theme.

Journal 6

"Janie's train left too early in the day for the town to witness much, but the few who saw her leave bore plenty witness." (pg116)

Motif: This passage is a parallel to earlier in the book when Janie runs away from Logan with Jody. "Janie hurried out the front gate and turned south."(pg 32) The diffrences of the situation are important however. The fact that she is on a train and not a road indicates that she is not only a changed person but heading to a different life in a different setting. She could be a symbol of society and how over time it started using railroads for travel instead of roads. But the idea that a road is closer to the natural world than a train could be forshadowing a life in which Janie is not comfortable.

"When the fellow began to pick the box the people came from east, west, north and Australia." (pg122)

Hyperbole: Hurston is exaggerating the people coming in order to characterize Tea Cake. This passage also creates a humorous mood for the story that he is telling because it is supposed to contrast with the mornful atmoshpere previously used. Also it is in part an allusion to the influence of jazz and blues music on the colored people during the harlem renesance.

"So her soul crawled out from its hiding place." (pg 128)

Personification: This is a key moment in the book so Hurston uses personification to accent the sentence and its meaning. Though out the novel Janie's biggest internal struggle has been to find true love and through it who she is.

"Big Lake Okechobee, big beans, big, cane, big weeds, big everthing." (pg 129)

Parralel Structure: Hurston uses this repeating word to not only catch our attention and bring our minds to the setting but to express a theme. The continued motif of nature is showing us that Janie is conected with her sexuality and her "soul". At the same time the use of the word big is interesting because as the book progressed the settings have grown along with Janies understanding of herself. She started at the Washburn's then lived with Logan on his farm then she moved to a town, then a city, and now she is living in a vast wilderness on plantations were everthing is "BIG". This growth parrallels her growth into better lifesyles, relationships, and a better understanding of love.

journal entry 5

question #1: Janie is motivated by her natural desire. Throught the book Hurston has used allusions of nature in her book to depict this theme. She does not want to be constrained by her grandmother's beliefs or the lifesyles of her lovers. She has been motivated since she discovered bees in the pear tree to explore her sexuality and find what true love is. Janie herself is a symbol of women during the time that Hurston wrote the book in that her struggle towards female freedom of expresion is the same as their's. This desire for freedom and love is natural and thus symbolized through metaphors of plants, animals, and procreation.

question #2: Janie has changed drmaticaly over and over through out the story. By analyzing the authors repotition of certain symbols through out the story and in chapters 11 and 12 we can conclude that Janie is begining to follow what she naturaly wants. The author links many of the activities that they do together to nature (fishing, hunting, etc.) in an effort to convay the idea that by loving Tea Cake, Janie is following her sexuality and natural desires. When being with Logan and Jody she was following her grandmothers wishes. In chapter 12 Janie actually says that she is now to live for herself and to live with a man who she feels wont try to contain her in any way. And finally by making the decision to close her shop and move away with Tea Cake, Janie is turning her back on a life which she felt she was held prisoner in.

Journal entry 4

So Angelina began to discuver fear. Fear, the man who devils with thoughts as he lurks behind the curtains of reality. If fear is hated by people then how is it that he can harbor hatred? He dodges intuition to contaminate actions. Dodges common sense in the face of threats, thus provoking false retaliation. He has been contaminating actions since danger threatened to become a threat. Now Angelina was liable to find one of his red daggers any day. She was scared too. Poor Brad! He does not deserve to deal with fear alone. She sent his friend Will to calm him but he broke down infront of his friend. Friends are meant for support but he was so fearful he nearly hurt Will. He would be calm as soon as he could reason through his toxic thoughts. He was calm though. Thats what he thought. But Will and Angelina could see into his now toxic mind and through that denial so they knew. And then if they didn't they soon would, for people began to be affected by his actions and the daggers started flying. People he had never met before saw fear in him. They too waited for the next dagger to be thrown and fear its resolve. Rumor, that cloaked assasin, had turned him toxic.

journal entry 3

Journal 3:

I: Metaphor, "Janie noticed that her husband had stoped talking in fhymes to her." (pg 26) The author used this metaphor to emphasize what Grandma said about how the sweet talk and spoiling would not last long. The metaphor is also emphasizing the begging of the end of the marriage between Janie and Logan.

II: Simile, "Logan held his wad of tobacco real still in his jaw like a thermometer of his feelings," (pg 27). The author wants to emphasize the stillness of the moment and the anticipation in Logan. He is waiting for something. Thermometers are used to measure temperature and in this case Logan's temper. He is frustrated with Janie.

III: Symbolizm, "But springtime reached her in there so she moved everthing to a place in the yard where she could see the road." (pg 27) The road in this passage is a symbol of Janie's anticipation for something to change. Through out the last two chapters the author has made clear that Janie is not happy with her marriage and the road symbolizes change. In literature things like roads and rivers often symbolize an adventure and Janie seems to be anticipating something new. An opportunity to continue her search for love and truth. This is what the road is signifying.

IV: Repetition, "A bee for her bloom." (pg 32) Hurston wants to remind the reader of one of Janie's inner conflicts which was discovered earlier and that is her search for love. By reminding us of this theme Hurston also accents the transition here in the end of the chapter when Janie leaves Logan and marries Joe Starks. This is an immportant point in Janie's dynamic character and by hinting us towards it Hurston is making the shift all that more significant to the development of Janie's quest for true love.

V: Imagery, "They sat on the boarding house porch and saw the sun plunge into the same crack in the earth from which the night emerged." (pg 33) The reacurring motif of changing time and the transition from day to night is important. Here it is used to signify the change that Janie is going through and how the plot, tone, and atmoshpere are changing. Janie's transition between the foils Logan and Joe is a very significant point in the development of her character.

Journal 1 and 2, "Their Eyes Were Watching God"

Journal 1: The narration and the character voices differ completely in dialect and for a reason. The author decided to have the narration be in a normal english dialect which is easily understood by the reader. In contrast the voices of the characters in the book are writen in a way that mirrors their character traits. The dialect of the characters is southern and the meaning of this is to further characterize them and to create an atmoshphere that pulls the reader into the story. This technique develops a deeper insight into the personalities of the characters and the culture of the world around them.

Journal 2: In the first three chapters of the book we see many developing themes such as, a women's search for freedom or independance, and the search for love. These are protraid through the use of motifs such as trees, kissing, and god; metaphors; personification; and the quickly developing character Janie who has been through many stages of her early life in Florida. She is motivated by her search for true love and seems to be stuck in a lonely world now. Janie feels trapt by her lonliness and her colored skin and she seems driven to resolve these impairments. With the loss of here grandmother she finds herself alone. Her first marriage is dissolving and she learned that "marriage does not make love". The authors message about true love may be conected to marriage. In a conversation Janie also expresses a feeling that seems very important to her character and the theme; "i want to want him." Through this passage the author is telling us that desire is a desired characteristic of love and may be a large part in Janie's search for true love as her dynamic character is shaped by her life and the decisions she makes.