Easter 1916: Yeats Poem

14:  We know their dream; enough
15:  To know they dreamed and are dead;
16:  And what if excess of love
17:  Bewildered them till they died?
18:  I write it out in a verse -
19:  MacDonagh and MacBride
20:  And Connolly and Pearse
21:  Now and in time to be,
22:  Wherever green is worn,
23:  Are changed, changed utterly:
24:  A terrible beauty is born. 

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Punctuation: Lots of questions (throughout stanza) & a dash, announcing a verse.
Rhyme: ABCB, ABCB, ABAC, ABAC, ABAB, ABCB (of entire stanza)
Repetition: Of words. Specifically: death & dream.
Word Choice, and Interesting Passages:  
Repetition Throughout Poem: Change & the names of the people from Stanza 2 & the passing of time. 

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Interesting Sentence: The people at war dieing for their dream of equality or whatever they want out of the war. The idea of love and compromise instead of war confused the attackers and they did not believe that the dispute could be settled without a war. 

 Enough: It is known what the attackers wanted out of attacking, but 'we' do not truly understand their ambition and drive towards it (their dream of what they wanted the war to change).
 Wherever green is worn: Military green? Irish green?

In this stanza the people were the things changed with the final, "changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born."

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The terrible beauty is the Easter Rising itself, which serves as a specific example for all uprisings, revolts, etc. These events are being referred to as 'terrible beauties' because in the moment, they seem awful. People dieing, killing, and doing evil deeds. But in the end, someone revolting may bring their group equality and peace. Whereas beforehand they were not treated equally by a higher group or leader.

 ~

The theme: No matter what one does, believes, fights for, or ignores, things around one will change. And if one is to participate, or ignore, or not even notice, one will change from the event as well.

Weekend Questions

1) What do you think "the piano lesson" is?

I think that the piano lesson is a metaphor for what each member of the family learns throughout the novel. Each person learns a life lesson from their own experience with the piano. For example Boy Willie learns that ancestry and family history is more important than he originally thought it was. Berniece learned the opposite, that sometimes holding onto your past can hold you back from your personal potential. So by learning their own piano lessons, each person has found a medium for their beliefs.

2) Why did August Wilson choose this title?

I think that Wilson chose the title because it tries together all of the book's conflicts. Everyone learned a lesson because of the piano, Boy Willie and Berniece fought about the piano, Sutter's ghost haunted the piano, Avery wanted the piano, etc. The piano is the main focus point in the entire novel and the book ends when  Berniece learns her lesson of what to value in life, and how strongly to value those things. The title also sticks with you throughout reading the book, the curiosity of what it means. 

3) How is it that Boy Willie comes to understand the importance of the piano in the final scene of the play?

In the final scene Boy Willie sees the power that Berniece playing the piano holds. He sees the importance of family history and ancestry, as that is what the piano symbolizes. Without Berniece harnessing her ability to emote and connect to her past, Sutter's ghost could have haunted the house forever, and Boy Willie sees the connection and its power. He hadn't connected to his past because it had not been tangible, like money and land are, but seeing up-close the actual power of ancestral connection, he understands the necessary balance of spiritual and physical. 

 4) What is significant about her calling out the names of her dead family members?

Berniece calling out their names is how she finally lets them go. It is how she gives herself, being so afraid of the piano and its history, up. She is announcing them without fear or hatred, just as fact. Those are their names and they no longer mean anything to her personal life. She will always honor and respect them, but no longer fear their very presence in her mind. 

5) What purpose does this serve?

By finally letting them go, Berniece is allowing herself a happier life. She is, as Avery said, finally leaving her stones on the side of the road. No longer dragging them along in her life and weighing herself down with them. Now, without the burden of so many  lives, Berniece can go on to live her own. She can make her own footprint in the world and be her own person. Maybe even marry Avery. Wilson has Berniece do this for a reason, to show all the readers to let go of our faults and our parents' faults. It does not matter what has happened to us in the past. It can strengthen us and propel us forward, or drag us down and take away our opportunities. Whichever one we choose.

Weekend Article

Why does Zakaria think that social mobility is going down in the United States? What do you think about his conclusions?

He thinks that social mobility is going down in America because Americans are only funding institutions for the wealthy. The wealthy in America are only funding the wealthy, and the poor have no money to help their children succeed without a healthy welfare program. Which America does not have.    I agree with most of his conclusions, although I do not think that the poor should get anymore money than they already do solely through welfare. 

What is the biggest factor for getting the US back on track with the American Dream and social mobility? Why?

The biggest change that has to be made in America is a country wide public school system that is not only welcoming of all people, but also funded well. With a school system that has generous opportunities for all students and a well-equipped staff, all students will be equal, regardless of family history. 

Piano Lesson Act 1

1. Who are the ghosts of the Yellow Dog?

They are the ghosts of the people Sutter burned alive in a box car called Yellow Dog after one of them, Boy Willie's father, stole his piano.

2. How is the "n word" used so far?

In a friendly kind of familial manner, like calling someone 'bro'.

3. What is the Irene Kauffman Settlement House?

A house in a poor area where working class and upper class were brought together, in the 1880's.

4. What is Parchman Farm a historical reference to?

A maximum security prison, the Mississippi State Penitentiary, where Boy Willie has been jailed before the book begins. 

(I was absent and was allowed an extra day for this :) thank you)

Coding Assignment

The forest near them burst into uproar. Demoniac figures with faces of white and red and green rushed out howling, so that the littluns fled screaming. Out of the corner of his eyes, Ralph saw Piggy running. Two figures rushed at the fire and he prepared to defend himself but they grabbed half-burnt branches and raced away along the beach. The three others stood still, watching Ralph; and he saw that the tallest of them, stark naked save for the paint and a belt, was Jack.

TH -- Repetition
S -- Alliteration
Rushed -- Repetition
Word Choice -- Use of dark and frantic language

     No sounds or letters repeat in the first half of this paragraph, it's just frantic language and tone changes.In the last two sentences almost every word has a repeating sound. The point of this is that in the beginning everything is frantic and scary and jolting, so the language resembles that. Near the end everything has settled, everyone is standing still, and the chaos has ended. The last two sentences move freely and with a certain suavity that the beginning lacks. And at the very end, where the savage is revealed as Jack, the words suddenly stop flowing, fitting with Ralph's shock of recognizing the painted boy as his old friend. This passage is silently showing Ralph's reactions to the situation, from terror and panic to calm and slow to absolute shock.

First Blog Writing Assignment

   In key passage 6 Ralph biting his fingernails symbolizes the boys becoming savages. “They were bitten down to the quick though he could not remember when he had restarted this habit nor any time that he had indulged in it.” The boys didn’t see what they were doing when they killed Simon and Piggy, they didn’t understand the gravity of it.
   At the end of the novel when the officer comes, introducing a new point of view, all the boys all begin to cry. As if they are just realizing that they’ve been biting their nails the whole time.
   This symbol connects to the book’s theme of ‘evil not seeing evil’. When you are the bad guy in a situation you don’t consciously make decisions thinking that they are wrong, but when you look back on the situation, you can see the evil that you’ve done.