Upon further research I find that what I thought was true. Sidney did base this poem off of a myth or a folk tale, to be more exact he based this poem off of a Greek myth about Philomela, princess of Athens. Her brother-in-law Tereus son of Aries agrees to go to Athens and escort her from Athens to his hometown, Thrace for a visit. He lusts for her on the way and when they get to Thrace he ends up taking her to a cabin in the woods and rapes her. So she won't tell he cuts out her tongue but this proves useless because she weaves a tapestry telling her older sister, Tereus' wife Procne what happened. To get revenge on him Procne ends up killing their son and feeding him to an unknowing Tereus. He finds out and tries to kill both Procne and Philomela but the gods end up turning them three into bird; Procne into a nightengale (hence the "the nightengale as soon as April bringeth" in the poem), Philomela into a swallow, a bird with no song, and Tereus into a bird similar to a hawk.
This adds alot of background to this poem and helps me understand it a little more because at first I didn't know what Sidney was talking about. I now know that the speaking in the poem is Procne talking to Philomena. In the first stanza it is as if she is in mourning for what happened, "what grief her breast oppreseth". In the reoccurring stanza, stanza 2, it looks like she is saying that Philomena should atleast be glad that Tereus wants her because Procne is older and describes herself almost as baren "Thine earth springs, mine fadeth". This seems a little vain and selfish but this could have been the opinion Sidney formed himself, because the myth was told in many variations over time.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Quote 4: Immortal Sin
"Sin never dies" 153
Carrie's mother says this, but I can't help but feel that King tries to say something with this line. I don't think King is one for redemption and neither am I. Really its the belief that you can never take back what you gave done in the past, ie sin, but you can better yourself in the future by learning what you have done which I think is the moral overall in the story. Sue tries to redeem herself with Carrie by making Tommy take her, but that ends up in disaster as is Carrie tries to redeem herself in front of her piers and Momma tries to religiously redeem herself from her having pre-marital sex. In other words every story has a moral and this one is that you can only move forward and learn.
Quote 3: Not divine but pagan.
"And if there was enchantment, it was not divine but pagan and she wanted it that way".
This quote symbolizes a point in most people's lives were they go away from their religion, loose their religion totally, or doubt it. Carrie had become tired of her mother's fundamentalist Christian ways which did not impose well on Carrie, i.e it gave her mother more "reason" to hurt her. On prom night she did not want anything from her mother's world in it, she wanted her own world, or what she viewed her classmate's world to be. When you are an outcast you sometimes view the world of the other people who fit in as wrather foreign, and in Carrie's point of view that would be categorized as pagan.
This quote symbolizes a point in most people's lives were they go away from their religion, loose their religion totally, or doubt it. Carrie had become tired of her mother's fundamentalist Christian ways which did not impose well on Carrie, i.e it gave her mother more "reason" to hurt her. On prom night she did not want anything from her mother's world in it, she wanted her own world, or what she viewed her classmate's world to be. When you are an outcast you sometimes view the world of the other people who fit in as wrather foreign, and in Carrie's point of view that would be categorized as pagan.
"I don't wanna fight with you mamma",Carrie said, and her voice almost broke from her and dissolved. She struggled to control it. "I only want to be let to live my own life .I...I don't like yours.". She stopped, horrified in spite of herself. The ultimate blasphemy had been spoken, and it was a thousand times worse than the eff word." P.92
This quote symbolizes not only Carrie breaking free from her mother but the overall feeling rings true for any person with the true intentions of breaking free from oppressive parents. She hates to do it because she loves her mother as do most kids who want to move off of her parents but she says that she doesn't like her mother's lifestyle and wants her own, as do the others. It also represents the fear that one may have, the feel that they're doing something wrong like Carrie felt that it was the "ultimate blashpemy".
Quote 2: They don't get better
"But hardly anybody ever finds out that their actions really, actually, hurt other people! People don't get better, they just get smarter. When you get smarter you don't stop pulling the wings off of flies, you just think of better reasons for doing it." 60-61
This quote to me shows King's views on the human race as a whole, and probably many other people's views. What he's trying to say is that humans don't just stop doing bad things when they grow up, they just think of more logical, mature reasons for doing them. For example a child that used to fight alot as a kid for no good reason could grow up and be president and say that he's going to make the country go to war because of some other reason that would make the people think that he is very justified in going to war. It is, admittedly, a somewhat pessimistic view on the human race because others think that people do change for the better when they grow up (some people atleast) but still King is justified in his thinking because of what the human race has shown us so far.
"Dead Fly ." Online Image. Wattle Creek Books. Jan.26,2011. Aug.28,2011 <http://www.wattlecreekbooks.com/wattle-creek-blog/?currentPage=4>.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
RR 6: Mama was a sado-masochist.
P.90
In these next 15 pages we find that Chris hates Sue now also. Maybe she's just hateful by nature or she just believes that Sue is a hypocrite. Chris is the type of teen that dresses provovativly, wearing things like a white blouse witrh no bra under with tight velvet pants, which I find just a little repulsive. We also find that Sue is loosing her popularity because of her tryng to make up for what she did to Carrie. What is King trying to say about redemption here? That it sometimes comes at a cost? Possibly even that its best to leave the past in the past. I also find that Chris seems very one sided but maybe that's because we don't go through much character building with her. We also find out that Carrie and Tommy (origionally Tommy and Sue) are going to be running for prom king and queen which Chris finds extremely hilarious. In "The Shadow Exploded" it simpily says that Carrie gets ruined on prom not, which pretty much ruins the surprise ending that was supposed to happen. Billy Nolan and his gang of friends go to a local farm. Billy says that he would kill for Chris, is this out of lust or love? Since he's even discribed by King as a gangster it's probably just lust. Him and his friends end up killing a few pigs, "pig blood for a pig" so he says. We go to Carrie trying on her dress for the first time, her mother comes in and sees her in it and urges her to burn it, but Carrie doesn't want to by any means so she refuses. Her mother's eyes are said to gleam when "tests of faith" are at hand, does this mean she is a masochist/sadist? Probably so considering all she has done to Carrie and now since she is hurting herself like she did before when Carrie was a child. Carrie goes about what's going on wrather calmly, probably because she is used to it, and ends up dragging Margaret out of her room with her mind. Then we end with Carrie waiting for Tommy to come pick her up and take her to the prom.
Yuumei. "The Masochist ." 2009. JPG file.
In these next 15 pages we find that Chris hates Sue now also. Maybe she's just hateful by nature or she just believes that Sue is a hypocrite. Chris is the type of teen that dresses provovativly, wearing things like a white blouse witrh no bra under with tight velvet pants, which I find just a little repulsive. We also find that Sue is loosing her popularity because of her tryng to make up for what she did to Carrie. What is King trying to say about redemption here? That it sometimes comes at a cost? Possibly even that its best to leave the past in the past. I also find that Chris seems very one sided but maybe that's because we don't go through much character building with her. We also find out that Carrie and Tommy (origionally Tommy and Sue) are going to be running for prom king and queen which Chris finds extremely hilarious. In "The Shadow Exploded" it simpily says that Carrie gets ruined on prom not, which pretty much ruins the surprise ending that was supposed to happen. Billy Nolan and his gang of friends go to a local farm. Billy says that he would kill for Chris, is this out of lust or love? Since he's even discribed by King as a gangster it's probably just lust. Him and his friends end up killing a few pigs, "pig blood for a pig" so he says. We go to Carrie trying on her dress for the first time, her mother comes in and sees her in it and urges her to burn it, but Carrie doesn't want to by any means so she refuses. Her mother's eyes are said to gleam when "tests of faith" are at hand, does this mean she is a masochist/sadist? Probably so considering all she has done to Carrie and now since she is hurting herself like she did before when Carrie was a child. Carrie goes about what's going on wrather calmly, probably because she is used to it, and ends up dragging Margaret out of her room with her mind. Then we end with Carrie waiting for Tommy to come pick her up and take her to the prom.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Reader Response 5: Cruelty of Women
Pg.75
We pick up with a very interesting question; are women less cruel by nature than men? It says that the girls would always harass Carrie way more than the guys. Does that women can be extremely cruel also? In history we have seen single women with immaculant bloodthirsts but what of the female race as a whole? I hope someday I know this answer but until then; Tommy ends up agreeing to take Carrie to the prom and tells Sue that he loves her for the first time but I still highly doubt he even knows what he's talking about. Tommy is surprisingly nervous about asking Carrie to prom, which is strange but she still ends up saying yes after he reassures her that it is not a joke or something to further humiliate her. Carrie is still a little doubtful and acts pessimistic towards it even though she still hopes everything will go good for her. What really confuses me is that Tommy touches her hand after he asks her and she says yes. Did he think it would have given Carrie the slightest idea that he liked her when he didn't? Would it upset Sue if she knew? We go back to Carrie's house were she tells her mother about Tommy, and in reaction she throws her warm tea in Carrie's face. This time, though, Carrie ends up throwing a pan at her with her mind. Her mother thinks she's some kind of demon, which probably hurt Carrie's feelings. In another exert from "The Shadow Exploded" we find out that Tommy also dies in the prom night incident. There was only twelve survivors and those were ironically the unpopular people. It also revealed that Tommy was a great student but I doubt he really was intelligent given what I've read. Carrie ends up making a dress (ironically in the color red which is the devil's color according to puritans and her mom) and builds up her TK powers by lifting things in her bedroom with her mind. She has flashbacks of her mother beating her and calling her a "little slut" and the day when she made it rain stones. We even see some unintended irony when Sue talks about how they made a movie about Carrie when in real life they ended up making 2 and a musical. It could have even been King's clever suggestion that the movie industry make a movie out of his book haha. In another exerpt from "The Shadow" we find out that Carrie could have got her powers from her father and her Grandmother, who could have been a TK. We end these pages with Sue and the prom committee decorating, the theme is Springtime in Venice.
We pick up with a very interesting question; are women less cruel by nature than men? It says that the girls would always harass Carrie way more than the guys. Does that women can be extremely cruel also? In history we have seen single women with immaculant bloodthirsts but what of the female race as a whole? I hope someday I know this answer but until then; Tommy ends up agreeing to take Carrie to the prom and tells Sue that he loves her for the first time but I still highly doubt he even knows what he's talking about. Tommy is surprisingly nervous about asking Carrie to prom, which is strange but she still ends up saying yes after he reassures her that it is not a joke or something to further humiliate her. Carrie is still a little doubtful and acts pessimistic towards it even though she still hopes everything will go good for her. What really confuses me is that Tommy touches her hand after he asks her and she says yes. Did he think it would have given Carrie the slightest idea that he liked her when he didn't? Would it upset Sue if she knew? We go back to Carrie's house were she tells her mother about Tommy, and in reaction she throws her warm tea in Carrie's face. This time, though, Carrie ends up throwing a pan at her with her mind. Her mother thinks she's some kind of demon, which probably hurt Carrie's feelings. In another exert from "The Shadow Exploded" we find out that Tommy also dies in the prom night incident. There was only twelve survivors and those were ironically the unpopular people. It also revealed that Tommy was a great student but I doubt he really was intelligent given what I've read. Carrie ends up making a dress (ironically in the color red which is the devil's color according to puritans and her mom) and builds up her TK powers by lifting things in her bedroom with her mind. She has flashbacks of her mother beating her and calling her a "little slut" and the day when she made it rain stones. We even see some unintended irony when Sue talks about how they made a movie about Carrie when in real life they ended up making 2 and a musical. It could have even been King's clever suggestion that the movie industry make a movie out of his book haha. In another exerpt from "The Shadow" we find out that Carrie could have got her powers from her father and her Grandmother, who could have been a TK. We end these pages with Sue and the prom committee decorating, the theme is Springtime in Venice.
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