|
|
Post by Mr. Thomas on Feb 13, 2014 16:47:14 GMT -5
The conclusion to the story. Keep using the same strategies to make sure you understand it.
|
|
|
|
Post by frankclarke on Feb 13, 2014 17:09:46 GMT -5
Frank Clarke
Mr. Sean Thomas
English 11
13 February 2014
D. “I’m just another customer. One more in the crowd lined up at his stall to purchase his wares.” We’ve seen a lot of these analogies. The quote I brought up in class today was very similar to this one, where he may never truly know his dreams, but just knows some of them. It’s the same idea as the customer, that he doesn’t really know what do, what to feel or what to think. He’s fallen in line with everyone else. I guess you could call this the social normality for this time, and this is his way of expressing that.
E. “I have lived to see the slaves free. My people frolic in the streets. Black and white. The ones who believe they are either or both or neither.” What I think he’s saying here is that, first of all, he’s lived through a lot of changes, from the fever to the liberation of slaves, where they can walk together in the streets. However, what he’s saying here is that some blacks may still feel like they’re enslaved, or maybe some whites feel like they’re enslaved. And that’s for any number of reasons… whether workers inequality or whatever.
C. I’m really confused on why he had to put the body parts on the very last page? What’s the point of that? Also something even weirder is why he put the weight of each body part??? I understand that he’s giving a specific example of someone who died, but the way he does it is bizarre as heck.
|
|
|
|
Post by georgebaroudos on Feb 13, 2014 18:42:22 GMT -5
George Baroudos
Mr. Thomas
English 11
13 February 2013
A – Through a time of distress rumors will ravage towns. People truly do not know what to believe and will therefore believe anything they hear. It truly is a vicious cycle that repeats itself throughout history. The people of Philadelphia are so confused they blame the plague on everything in sight. A new myth was brought up claiming it was found under fingernails. This made me laugh because they have seen so many stories. That confusion is never healthy for society; society without drama is a much better place.
D – “You worry about the souls of your people in the soulless wilderness. You love your family and your God” (151). Through adversity as humans we are able to find love. In a cruel and bitter World we are still enable to keep faith and that is a beautiful thing. Faith includes God, but also faith within our family. Faith that our family will pick us up when we are down and love us through thick and thin no matter the circumstances keeps this faith alive. Life is a difficult journey and at the end of the day if we have this faith we are better off.
I – The ending essentially flips the whole tone of the story. I sense a transformation into a hopeful attitude. As November goes on and the plague comes to an end they have goals. The goals consist of forgetting the horror, rebuilding and reconnecting. These are attainable goals with time. It is easier said then done, but with the right approach anything is possible. I can see the Modernists viewing life in this way. With no answers they continually looked to the future. No one knows what the future has in store. But maintaining faith to reach the future goes a long way. This ultimately realized the same thing and allowed some of them to carry on.
|
|
|
|
Post by bourdonm15 on Feb 13, 2014 20:43:04 GMT -5
Matthew Bourdon
Mr. Thomas
English 11
2/13/14
F. A very interesting line is written and shows the beliefs of these people in the time of despair. “That God is a bookseller? He publishes one book – the text of suffering – over and over again. He disguises it between new boards, in different shapes and sizes, prints on varying papers, in many fonts, adds prefaces and postscripts to deceive the buyer, but it is always the same book.” (Page 154-155) This is a very interesting quote that is comparing life to a book. The person is trying to say that God has life like a book about suffering and everytime there is something changed in this book you think you are getting a new story, meanwhile it is the same text. This shows the amount of disparity that these people have if they are saying that life is a book of suffering. This was a very thought-out metaphor relating life at the time to a book. There is a beginning and an end, but with all suffering.
C. Who is the man that is constantly talking to Allen? He is speaking very harshly to Allen and with hard words. This is definitely a reference to someone and a stream of consciousness but who is it? “And I lost everything. Became a wanderer among men. Bad news people see coming from miles away. A pariah. A joke. I’m not black like you, Allen. But I will be soon. Sooner than you’ll be white. And if you’re ever white, you’ll be as dead as I’ll be when I’m black.” (Page 152) These lines are very harsh and I honestly am very curious to find out who is this guy that is saying all these things to Allen?
I. I agree with Frank’s comment on the body parts at the end of the story. Why did the author do this? It has me pretty confused as well.
|
|
|
|
Post by matthewchan on Feb 13, 2014 22:10:35 GMT -5
Matthew Chan
Mr. Thomas
English 11
2/13/14
E.I enjoyed the middle to the end of this part of the ending. I think he compares alot of this to how slaves and the less fortunate were treated during this time. It also tells us what they did to stay warm and how they tried to survive. It says on p.156, "No wonder then the celebration does not end as a blazing chill sweeps off the Delaware. Those who leap and roar round the bonfires are better off where they are. They have no place else to go." It tells us that they had no place to go to and that they were simply better off on the streets.
C. I also want to know who is talking to Allen like that. I agree with Matt that the wording here is very harsh. While reading this part on p.152, it reminded me of Huckleberry Finn and how many people were racist during that time. I have a feeling the person saying this to Allen is white or a slave owner or a racist. This is one part of the story that also shows the dark side of slavery and how slaves were treated.
I. I also agree with Frank and Matt about the ending. It is literally disgusting and hard to read as well. It mentions a miniature hand of a child right next to his heart. Maybe there is a child inside. What is the significance of this kind of ending? It's just out of the ordinary.
|
|
|
|
Post by Sgarlato on Feb 13, 2014 22:14:42 GMT -5
Stephen Sgarlato
Mr. Thomas
English 11
2/13/14
A. When John Edgar Wideman listed the parts of the body with their own weights, it was kind of strange. He was just trying to show what was seen when the body was cut open. However, it was extremely strange why it was put it in like that. It does go with the Modernist attitude about obsession with the human body and how the narrator leaves you guessing and wanting to know more answers.
I. I would like to agree and expand on George Baroudos’ comment about how as the plague begins to wind down, they formulate realistic goals as a community. They maintained faith through hardship and this isn’t easy to do. Like George said, no one knows the future and the best you can do is hope for the best.
C. I didn’t know that their want that much loss of life. At the end he mentions that there where eleven who died in the fire and and the half dozen children. He didn’t mention anybody else when he gave this regretful speech for the loss of life from this plague. Maybe he just felt the need to mention a couple of groups but it was unclear.
|
|
|
|
Post by danokeefe15 on Feb 13, 2014 22:47:48 GMT -5
Danny O’Keefe
Mr. Thomas
English 11
12 February 2014
C. What confused me about this reading is who the narrator is talking about at some points like on page 157 when he is talking about the stops that this person is making. I feel like the character changes are confusing and especially when there is conversation than it switches to the narrator that’s when I lose what’s going on and I don’t understand it.
D. What I like about this section was on page 54 when he talks about how God chose his people to suffer and take on the hardships and suffering that no one else could ever endure. He spoke about how normal humans like him go through the same brutal things as people that are immortal or divine do and that they are only human like the rest of us and are yet treated so differently. I thought it was interesting to hear this because it’s very true and allot of people don’t realize what these people actually went through.
E. I found the end of this story very interesting, it doesn’t have an entirely happy ending other than the fact that the disease is over. It ends with the news that allot of people died and that there was a lot of suffering that came with all this. I liked it because it was allot different from most endings and I thought it was pretty good.
|
|
|
|
Post by eointunney on Feb 13, 2014 22:51:49 GMT -5
Eoin Tunney
English 11
2/13/14
A. Throughout this story we have seen many stories made up to figure out where the fever came from. First we see people blaming blacks for bringing it over from different islands, then we see European immigrants get blamed for the fever. Now in these 10 pages we are seeing the Jews getting blamed for the disease. Supposedly the Jews brought the fever over to America through their dirty fingernails, which is absolutely ridiculous. The fever most likely occurred because of the filth people live in.
I. I just wanted to say that I totally agree with Matt Bourdon’s thoughts on the scene where God is referred to as a writer/ bookseller. I thought this was an extremely interesting quote and it really says a lot about life. I feel like this line is saying that all people suffer immensely some time in their life and everyone ends up with the same outcome. God doesn’t change the fact that we suffer, the only thing that changes is the way we suffer.
C. The part of this reading that really confused me was the last paragraph. One thing about the last paragraph that I thought was extremely weird is that narrator is giving the measurements of each body part. Along with this, the narrator mentions that when they opened the guy up there was a miniature hand of a child next to his heart. I felt this was an extremely creepy way of ending a story.
|
|
|
|
Post by johnmarano on Feb 13, 2014 22:55:48 GMT -5
John Marano
Mr. Thomas
English 11
B. As strange as it may sound, I thought the last passage had the most meaning and greatest significance. The last passage is written from a man who seams to not mind what others think about him. I really liked this because this guy literally makes so much sense. He even mentions how all these doctors and professionals act like they are better than everyone. I thought this was the best part of the reading because it is so true. This also reminded me of the realism point of view. This narrator isn't living in a fantasy at all. He knows what is best suitable for him and he does it. He does what he wants to enjoy life.
D. A quote that really intrigued me as I finished up the story was on page 154. The narrator is speaking to Allen and he says "You do know, don't you, that God is a bookseller?" This really amazed me because he compares something so powerful to something so insignificant. After he says this, he goes on to explain that God publishes "books" or as I interpreted it, chapters in our lives, and these chapters have suffering in them. I felt this was such an amazing quote because this whole story has been about suffering. The way I interpreted it made so much sense to me. God uses different actions even "post scripts" to reveal each chapter of our life stories.
I. i would like to try and answer Frank's question as to why the narrator listed all these body parts. I was confused the entire story but I kind of feel like he mentions this to show how actually brutal it was to stick around and find all these body parts lying around. I could be wrong but that is what came to my mind. I felt like he was so descriptive to make sure us viewers know what was going on.
|
|
|
|
Post by 1adams12 on Feb 14, 2014 1:02:03 GMT -5
Michael Adams
2/13/14
C. One thing I was confused about while I was reading this article, was the fact that "I am more slave that you're ever been. I do its bidding absolutely. Cough up my lungs. Shit hunks of my bowel" (Page 152). The reason why I was confused with these lines of the whole paragraph was because of the fact that I did not really understand what was going on her. How has this person been a slave than this person has been, and what is its? I personally don't understand what is going on simply, because of all the modernism things and metaphors and similes in this article, they are little too much for me.
D. I personally like the vivid details on page 153 of the following lines; "The gold-haired lad bound me for seven years was carted across the seas, like you, Allen, in the bowels of a leaky tub." The reason why I like these lines so much is because I picture a blond haired boy that has just traveled across the seas in a tub that just leaked and did nothing else. I know that this is not really what that line meant to mean, but it is quite funny to me to think about the line this way. I don't really know the meaning of the metaphor, so I am not going to take a crack at it.
A. From my aerie, at my desk secluded among barrels, bolts, crates and trunks of the shop's attic, I watched him steal, drink, fornicate. This reminds me of one of my friends that got expelled from Xavier, because he stole, drank, and fornicated too much. He always boasted about what he was doing, and eventually the activity he was doing nipped him in the butt, and he got expelled. He enjoyed Xavier and was disappointed when he left it. The moral of what I learned from my friend is don't do stupid illegal stuff, and wait till I am older to fornicate.
|
|
|
|
Post by rodriguezj15 on Feb 14, 2014 2:59:23 GMT -5
Joel Rodriguez Mr. Thomas English 11 February 14, 2014 The Fever 151-161 B. The very last paragraph really got on my nerves. I actually had my hopes up thinking there might be a semi-happy ending to this story where the city is restoring normalcy and Richard Allen took the mayor advice and forgot the past. This ending kind of kills the idea of having a protagonist. When Allen saw his family dead he thought of killing himself because the pain was too hard to bear. A protagonist would’ve endured this hardship and move on. F. I like how the narrator of the paragraphs from 151-153 compares himself to Richard Allen. He says he is more a slave than Allen ever was, and that Allen is free but misusing his freedom. Also his comparison of Allen to Moses was not that far-fetched. The narrator says if he was as healthy as Allen that he would be with his family and not shadowing Dr. Rush. This foreshadows the death of Allen’s family. D. My favorite line from this part was, “He winces when he sees the dead man and woman, husband and wife, not entwined as in some ballad of love eternal, but turned back to back, distance between them…If he could he would rearrange them, spare the undertakers from this vision (pg.158).” Allen doesn’t wince from the sight of death but instead from the sight of the desolation. This goes back to the modernist idea of people being far apart from each other and fragment. |
|
