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             Again the reading was very interesting. Just the tone of reading was the most interesting part to me. You could tell the feelings of the characters and what the holocaust has done and is doing to them. Vladek gets out of the camp for a short time and even through his hiding; he is thrown back into one. Anytime a character has to move, it is a giant move, because you never know when you could get caught. This has made everyone focus solely on surviving and they have put everything else behind them. This has brought everyone closer because they all have the same common goal. Well maybe that isn't true, I guess Vladek has been very testy towards his wife, but it is understandable, due to the fact that there life is on the line. I am anxious to move on to Book II because things really picked up at the end of Book I, not in a peaceful, but it was still interesting.

MAUS reading Log

            The beginning of the story was very interesting. I think reading comics is much better for me because it keeps my attention much longer because each panel is almost showing a story in itself. Also I thought that it was extremely cool that the author uses animals to show one of the most historic events that has ever happened. He takes the seriousness of the event and then just makes all the characters animals. The mice are the Jewish people and then the animal that hunts mice, cats, represents the German Nazi's. on then on the side, the polish people are pigs. I am not sure why but I guess it probably makes sense.  

            I am curious to see and find out what happened with the mother. I know that there is a little section in the middle of the book about the mother, I am doing my best to stay away, but I wonder what made her commit suicide. Also they way the narrator tells the story is cool. It is not in the present, but he is telling his story with in another story. It is almost like Wuthering Heights, at least I think it is that book, I am not sure. That's about it.

In the quotes, we can see that Hemmingway advocates re-reading ones work over and over again because no matter how many times one may read it, things can always be found.  This obviously applies to our writing becuase it is a helpful and nessesary tip and everyone should do before turning something in. Also, on the topic of re-reading, it could very well apply to Hemmingway's book, "A Farewell to Arms". We already have so many questions about it, "Is Catherine a liar?", "Are they in love?", that maybe we could find the little things that may prove it one way or another by re-reading certain parts of the novel.  He also states this in the second quote, more you read a certain section, the more you can pick up.

1. What are the themes and idea that come out in chapter 1?

The only thing noted was the rain, and how when Hemmingway says that the rain continued for a long time and directly afterward he says that seven thousand people died in army.

2. How have they continued in the novel?

This is continued throughout the novel, especially in the latest reading becuase there was so much death and war and in the midst of it all, the rain was present thorughout. Therefore i guess the answer to the rain was right there on the second page.

From the quotes, Hemmingway shows us that he and everyone else should write and include "actual life scenes" that upon reading one will feel like they were actually there and experiencing the events. As we could see yesterday, he shows that writing is something that is impossible to make perfect and not even he can do, but by showing both sides, not just the side that is more ideal for the people. This makes it a more complete work so no one is bais towards most of the things that you speak of in your readings.

We can apply this is our writing in the sense that we just note all the ideas that he says and through hard work anyone will be very pleased with what they have written.

From these quotes we can tell that Hemmingway is very passionate about writing and nothing in the world makes him feel happier. From this we learn and most probably already know that writing is impossible to make perfect, and know matter what you do, something can always be added or be just a little bit better. But when the final outcome is produced, he says you feel happier then ever.

I think that we can apply what he says by taking the small things into consideration, like making writing a challenge againist yourself, with this everyone will be able to improve in their writing. In our reading i think the biggest thing is that we read the text very closely and just appreciate the writing for itself and learn from it.

"Much Madness in Divenest Sense"

First time Reading

            After my first time reading I was sort of clueless. I think that it is about the truth of mad men. To me it was like the author was looking through all the distractions to find out something bigger and more real. But all in all, I am really not sure what the deeper meaning was.

            The second time I read the poem, I did not learn much else, but I really think that Dickinson I sort of making sense of the madness or something along those lines. It is a very interesting poem and I think could be interpreted many ways. Also I guess you could say that she is talking about society and all the people in it in general.

"I heard a fly buzz when I died"

First time reading

            After reading it my first time I understood that it was about death. From what I got I think it is a rather peaceful one because of the way she talks about the slightest little things like a bee buzzing, but then again she could be talking about those things to show the horrifying aspects of death. I don't really know. I also am not sure why she chose a fly because I know she choose it for a reason.

            After my second time reading it I did not learn much else, so a lot is still confusing to me, but I have a guess about why she choose a fly. I was thinking that if you see a dead animal next to road, chances are that there are flies around it. Maybe she choose it because I symbolizes death.

I observed that he is indeed talking about nature and its surroundings; he is talking in the perspective of a hawk or something for the majority of the poem, but then I guess the overall meaning of the poem was that he was talking about death and how he is just accepting it, and letting God or nature take him away to be just another element of nature.

            It serves as a conclusion because it mentions death and how he is waiting for someone or something. He also is just accepting death like I said earlier.

            FREE VERSE

When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer

            When I read the poem the first time, I basically understand that the author is very respectful of the astronomer speaking in front of him. He obviously thinks he is a very intelligent man and thinks very highly of him. So the Astronomer is probably a very well-known guy.

            Well after the second time reading it and then talking to a friend about the poem I realize that I could be wrong. It says that he felt tired and sick, at first I thought I meant that he was tired and sick but stayed because he wanted to, now I realize it could be that he was sick because of the presentation. Basically I learned that I am not good at analyzing poems.

A sight in Camp

            Upon reading it the first time, I think it is pretty obvious that it is in a military environment at some camp. You can see from the reading that it apparent that he is sensitive about death. I got the sense that he feels that he is the only one that cares about people dying. It shows us that maybe we are passing over things that we should slow down and care for like Whitman did.   

            I didn't really learn anything new the second time except that people are just not fazed by the death around them.