The last book

We should end a semester on this because this one story has little pieces of multiple hero stories built in. Salman Rushdie took the stereotypical ideas of hero stories, placed them all in this little book, and then covered them up with fancy names and descriptive details. He played up a lot of these ideas and at first glance you would not realize their importance, but then you notice that he placed them in the story for a reason. Also, this story contains the hero’s journey in full. “Notes from the Underground” started off following the whole hero’s journey, but at a certain point, the underground swayed off the path of what a hero is. This book, from beginning to end, follows the path, as well as makes the path larger because he encounters so many different trials he must face in order to accomplish his ultimate goal of saving his father. Also, another example of something that is incorporated within this book that we have learned about throughout the semester is an anti-hero, or someone who doesn’t have the usual heroic characteristics. In this book, Mudra, the shadow warrior was this. When we first met him we were scared of him, but then he ended up helping us defeat the Chupwalas. Also, a lot of the books we read were written a very long time ago, and as we noticed with Dark Knight, our villains have changed, and the heroes have also. It was good to finish the semester off with a book that didn’t involve a mythical monster, or a book written in 1600. While this book had some interesting and make believe things in it, there was also a sense of us being able to connect with it much more than we could “Beowulf” for example. Also, it was good to see that the hero didn’t have to be a 30 year old man, and instead it could be the little boy, or even the girl page. Lastly, it was a happy book, and it is always great to end on a good note in everything you do.

At the end of class today, you also told us to write about the question “ why read stories that aren’t real.” I think the answer to this is it makes us feel better. If we read a story about a perfect romance, it makes us feel better about it actually being possible some day. We can look back and say “hey that couple did it, it can happen to me.” Same can be said for anything. You could read a book about a man who was not well off, but then something amazing happened to him, and before he knew it things were turning around for him. It just gives the reader a little hope in the future, because sometimes when you watch the news you think there is no hope at all for what’s going to happen next. It is basically for the same reason people used to listen to hero stories a long time ago. They didn’t know what was past their town, so if they had a hero to believe in who could fight what ever monsters lurked on the border of their town, they could easily sleep at night.

Female Heroes

When you think about heroes, the first thing you think of are men with the supernatural powers, that swoop in and save the day. There are not very many female heroes that come to mind even after a few minutes of thinking about it. In the real world, there are female heros like Rosa Parks, and other women who do wonderful things for human kind, but when we look at stories of contemporary heroes, women are most times left out. This is not to say that there are no female heroes out there, because that is not true, the male heroes just extremely out number the female heroes. This makes it difficult to think of the females. One female hero I thought of, however, was Laura Croft, the Tomb Raider. She has feminine characteristics in the fact that she looks like a very beautiful woman, and when she is not in the tombs she has common feminine characteristics, but while she is on the job she contains many more masculine characteristics. She doesn't go in and save the day by being dainty. Instead, she kicks down the door, shoots off a high tech weapon, punches the bad guy, and raids the tombs. Fiona, in Shrek, could be considered a hero as well in the later Shrek movies. She isn't afraid to get her hands dirty and fight crime either. Charlie's Angles are another example of women who fight crime violently, while the Angles use alot of their other characteristics and skills to trick the villain as well. I suppose that we do value that these female heroes are in fact females because we are so surprised that they can do such amazing powerful things. In the first few scenes we don't suspect that these women can defeat the villain without the aid of a man. We are so used to having the male come in and protect the frail women, but these movies show us other wise. I don't think we value the fact that they are women because we want the women to go and fight, we value the fact that these heroes are women because they are now doing things that we are so used to seeing guys do.

The Underground Man

Thought is what drives the underground man. He thinks about every single thing that he takes part in. Int he first part of Notes from the Underground the Underground Man discusses the differences between active men and men of acute consciousness. The underground man decides that he is a many of acute consciousness. This fits his following actions to a t. The first time where the underground man over thinks things is when he has a run in with the police officer. He gets pushed out of the way, and after that he feels like the police officer didn't even realize he was standing there. Then he started thinking that everyone hates him, and that he wants people to realize him. All of these inward feelings brew until he decides to take revenge against the officer. Also, revenge was a topic that was discussed in part 1.

Another moment where he over thought about what was happening was when he went to the dinner. First off, everyone was late, so he was convinced all of the waiters were thinking he was an odd man for being there alone, waiting on all of the other guests. Then, when the other guests finally arrived, he spent half of the dinner passing around the dining room because everyone was ignoring him. If he was an active man, he would have just gotten up and left, but instead he sat there thinking about everything he thought the other guests were thinking about. It ended up getting him extremely upset. After everyone left dinner, and he decided to join them at the brothel, he spent the whole carriage ride playing out what was going to happen next. He went through all of the possibilities.

These actions that took place fall into exactly what he was talking about in part 1. He really isn't an active man, but a man who over thinks things instead.

Rooster

Mattie recruits Rooster to help her find the killer of her father. Rooster is a marshal who isn't afraid to use his powers and title. If he ever feels threatened, he shoots the man in his way, and then is easily able to justify it as self defense. When he is in the court room, he nonchalantly confesses to having killed 23 people within 6 years of being a marshal, and doesn't seem to think anythingg is wrong with it because it did them all in " self defense." In fact, he feels so strongly about it not being a big deal that he uses comedy in the middle of being questioned, even though his status of being a marshal is on the line.

I don't know how I feel about him yet, because when Mattie asked for his help he wasn't very kind to her. First he made fun of her carrying around a huge gun because he didn't think she was capable of it Secondly, he said he wouldn't help her, even though she has a reason for hunting this man down. He thought she was incapable of providing the 50 dollars she promised, and once she found the guy, he didn't think she could do anything about it. The only thing that caused him to change the mind was when she mentioned that hemight be able to find a guy he was looking for on the search. This makes it appear that he is very selfish because the only time he even thought about helping was when he had the opportunity to settle his revenge.

the Underground Man

From what we have read so far, we know that the underground man is a middle aged man, who used to be an officer. As of right now, he is sick with a liver disease, but he doesn’t want to get it fixed. Also, he is an educated man, and we know this because he talks about how his knowledge has taught him not to be superstitious.

So far, I think that he is very hard headed. Also, I think he is a wanna be. He gives off the impression that he is some tough guy who you don’t want to mess with, but I don’t think that is the case. Sometimes he contradicts himself, which makes it seem like he doesn’t know what he really wants. He tries to ask like he is intimidating by saying “sometimes I slap myself in the face”, and “I enjoy being rude to people,” but I think that is just a cover up for who he really is. The way he made a point of repeating the parts where he was being rude, and brave, gave me this impression. Sometimes when people want to believe something, they just say it a bunch of times, and sooner or later they will believe it.

The underground man is also hard headed. The first paragraph talks about how he has know he has been sick for 20 years, but he still refuses to go to the doctor. He made a point to say he didn’t want to live past 40, but I think that is because he is scared. He knows he is very sick and chances are he won’t live much longer, so the easiest thing for him to do is make living into old age an awful thing to do. Something that people would hate doing.

blog 5:

Throughout the whole play I felt sorry for Othello. Jealousy is an extremely powerful emotion. Once someone plants in your head the idea that someone has cheated on you or has been unfaithful, it causes you to do crazy things, things you wouldn’t normally do under normal circumstances. Iago knew these facts about jealousy, and decided to put Othello through the horrible lies about his love cheating on him. You could tell as the play progressed that it was just tearing Othello apart piece by piece. His world was being town apart, and he did the only thing he thought was possible. While I don’t condemn the actions he did in order to get revenge against his cheating wife, I can understand how the powers of jealousy could drive him to do something so forceful. Hints of infidelity grow as time goes by. When the first idea of Desdamona being unfaithful was planted in his head, everywhere he turned clues popped out at him. Everything she said began to sound like a dagger going through his heart. This is why I felt sorry for Othello throughout the whole play.

I also felt sorry for Desdemona, who did nothing but love Othello. While some scenes portrayed her as a flirt, I believe it was really just Desdamonas kind nature that lead her to act the way she did. While these actions were, in the end, the straw that broke the camels back, they were actions she couldn’t help but do, and in her mind she never thought they were anything more than kindness. Every time she tried to defend her name, Othello refused to listen to it, and at that point, I don’t think Desdemona could have said anything that would have untainted Othello’s opinion. Cassio is also someone I felt sorry for because he was used throughout this whole play as well. At least he was able to make it out alive.

Roderigo is someone whom I feel sorry for too, possibly more than Desdemona or Cassio. He had such love for Desdamona that he was able to be tricked to do things like start a fight, and try and kill Cassio. When ever he would begin to doubt the plan, his doubt would quickly disappear when Iago would mention Desdamona again. I feel bad for him because all he wanted was the girl of his dreams. He wanted her so badly he wqas willing to kill for her, but all of these actions were placed in his mind. If it wasn’t for Iago, Roderigo would have been able to live, and find a new love of his life. She could have been better than Desdamona.

It is hard to go through the whole play and watch Othello get physically ill from jealously, Desdamona getting badly talked about, and watch Cassio get framed so badly. Everytime Iago brought out another lie, I found myself cringing because I knew the story was going to get more and more intense.

In my own life, I have experienced situations similar to this, but of course not nearly as bad, and they never ended in a blood bath like this. But I have experience manipulation, on both small and large scales, lies, and schemes.

Blog 4:

Iago’s hatred for Othello begins to become more and more apparent. He hates Othello for choosing Cassio over him for the Lieutenant position, and for sleeping with his wife. His plan to make things even is first to get Rodrigo on his side, doing everything he asked. By convincing Rodrigo that he needs to do certain things in order to win over Desdemona, it helps him get money from Rodrigo, who is paying Iago some money to help him get his love, and it helps stir things up in general, causing some confusion. Iago’s plan is to convince Othello that Cassio and Desdamona are having an affair together. He things Othello will believe him because Cassio is a very handsome man, and someone the ladies would easily fall in love with. Also, Iago himself has been labled as a very trustworthy man, and Othello finds him honorable. Othello is the type of guy that if he finds you trustworthy will listen to you every word because he honors that trait in a person. Once Othello hears that Cassio has been having an affair with his wife, he will take Cassio’s position from him, give it to Iago, and then break up with Desdamona for being unfaithful, allowing Rodrigo to have a shot at love. As of right now it appears he will be sucessuful. In the very first moments Cassio and Desdamona are together, he has already set up a situation in which it appears Cassio is wrongfully touching Desdamona. Iago is extremely rude to Desdamona, and when she asks Cassio if what he said was true, he grabs her hand to assure her that those words are in fact false. As an outsider looking in, this hand grab and kiss appears to be sort of suspicious. If the topic of Cassio having feelings for Desdamona was brought up in conversation, people could easily begin piecing together their own evidence to support this idea.

Blog 3:

Luke Skywalker and Beowulf are very different heros, yet they have a lot of similarities between the two of them. Beowulf is a hero that enjoys being a hero, and is never against saving the day. He loves getting the challeneges that are put in front of him. Luke Skywalker, on the other hand, was very reluctant the first time he was told he had to come and save the day. He thought that he couldn’t do it, and almost didn’t take the challenge. Once Luke starts, however, he is very passionate about what he does. He tries his best to save the people and side that are important to him, and puts his neck on the line to try and make everything safe. Beowulf also does everything he does with a great sense of passion, but also Beowulf has the alternative motive of fame and reputation that is driving him. He wants to protect the people, but he wants to make sure everyone knows it is him doing it. Luke just has that goal of helping protect against the dark side. Also, Beowulf is very confident. He has been in the hero business for quite a long time, so he often times doesn’t worry about whether he is going to make it out alive. He assumes that he will be victorious in what ever he might get involved in. Because Luke is so new at being a hero, he is much more nervous and insecure about his actions. Luckily he has a strong spiritual guide to help grow on his journey, because if not there would be a lot of second guessing. They are similar in the fact that they both share the points of a hero journey. They both have their mystic weapons in the great sword that Beowulf has and the light saber that Luke has. Also, they both make a journey exc. They have many similar traits as well. For example, both Luke and Beowulf are great leaders. At first Luke is so unsure of himself that he isn’t much of a leader, but once he begins to believe in himself, everyone else does too. He even gets Han Solo to come back and help, which was a huge feat. Beowulf is the guy that has everyone listening to his every word, and if he says jump, everyone jumps no questions asked. Also, they both are extremely brave. Beowulf volunteers to take on monsters that can not be defeated, and Luke agrees to fight against this powerful darkside.

Blog 2:

Wiglaf has a lot of the same traits are Beowulf, but he also shows a few of his own traits. The main action of bravery we see Wiglaf complete is when Beowulf is fighting the dragon by his lonesome and he needs help. Before he enters battle to help his faithful Beowulf, he gives a speech to the deserting men. He says that Beowulf has spent his whole life protecting everyone else, and it is their duty to help him, but they are just being cowards. After this speech he enters the dragons layer to aid the hero. He tries to fight the dragon, and with the help of Beowulf, they end up killing the dragon, but at the cost of Beowulf. Wiglaf had alot of the same heroic traits as Beowulf. First off, he made a speech before he went to battle, which is very similar to what Beowulf did before his battles. Beowulf always made an elaborate speech about him being willing to die for the people he was fighting for, and his reason for fighting, and that was seen here as well. Also, he had some of the same heroic ideas as Beowulf because they are fighting the same Dragon. The basic hero values are all the same between the two men. The main place where Wiglaf takes it to another level is because of his reason for fighting. Sometimes we get the idea the Beowulf is fighting because he wants to become a hero, and he likes the fame behind it. Also, he is driven by the idea of fate. With Wiglaf, he is pushed by the desire to do right to Beowulf. He feels like it is his duty to help the person that has helped him so many times instead of just flee like the other men. He isn't trying to go into this fight to earn glory or fame, but he just wants to go and help a friend. I think this is what makes him more heroic than Beowulf. With Wiglaf, he is fighting with someone else in mind. Beowulf, on the other hand, is fighting to protect other people, but he has himself and his fame in his mind while he is fighting.

Blog 1:

In the beginning of this excerpt, Unferth begins to talk about Beowulfs swimming match with Breca. In this swimming match, Beowulf lost. Unferth talks about how it was sort of embaracing for Beowulf to loose something as simple as a swimming match, when he is supposed to be this influential person. Unferth is a jealous man. He is normally considered the powerful and heroic person among the Danes, but now that Beowulf came, and offered to take care of protecting Heorot, he isn't considered as powerful anymore. For twelve years, Grendel had been attacking the mead- hall, and he hadn't been able to do anything about it, and now there is a man who is confident in himself that he will be able to stop this monster. Unferth is jealous that the attention is away from him, so he is trying to make Beowulf sound weaker than he is. Beowulf responds to this by saying that he might have lost the actual swimming match, but he won many more battles within this match than Unferth has given him credit for. The whole time he was swimming the match, he was being attacked by huge sea monsters. He continued to swim, but fought and killed these monsters the whole way. By the time the match was over, he had killed nine sea monsters, and protected the seas for all sailors. This is something that adds to Beowulfs heroic qualities in many ways. First off, Beowulf was able to talk his way out of being humiliated. Articulateness is a quality found in many heros. Also, he took a situation that was bad for him, and turned it into this epic journey where he did all of these wonderful things. He was able to take a situation where he lost, and turn it into this time when he cleaned the seas of all dangerous threats. He gave up the competition in order to save all of the sailors. This is very heroic of him.