I think I saw the roles of chance and fate when the family was eating dinner and the grandmother was talking to Red Sam. The stories he told were what made me notice that. I think the way The Misfit was is chance. He did not have to be like that, he could of grown up to be a kind, forgiving man. There was the chance that he would not become a good man, and that slight chance happened. I think it was fate when the family's car tipped over and the grandmother got to talk to The Misfit. It was fate when she talked to him, and told him what a good man he was. I do not think it changed him, though. If it did, I certainly could not tell. Maybe it changed him on the inside, and it would make him change someday.
I think the grandmother's definition of a good man is someone who can change. It could also be someone who came from a good family and was good to begin with, even if they are not anymore. She also thinks a good man is someone who prays, and gets forgiven by God. In the story, the grandmother tells The Misfit over and over that he is a good man. I guess that I never thought of someone like that to be a good man, but the grandmother does. She also tells The Misfit that he needs to pray. She says that if he prays, he will get help; he does not want to. She still calls him a good man.
By reading this story, I have realized that in life I try to view everyone as good people. I try to see the good in them. I have realized that I do not do this as much as I thought I tried to. I do not think that I could ever call a person who has broken out of jail and is running with two men and two guns a good man. I would not be able to see the good in them.
I do agree when the grandmother says that there is good in everyone, and that she is trying very hard to see the good in The Misfit. I also agree when she says that if he prays, he could do better. I think that even if he does not believe in prayer, repenting and being sorry for the bad things he has done would be good for him.
I wonder if the grandmother knew that The Misfit was going to shoot them all. When I came to that part, I noticed that it seemed like the grandmother knew he would, and was trying to convince him that he was a good man, and had no place going around and shooting people.
I also wonder why the grandmother said he was one of her own children. I wonder if she meant that he was as good as one of her own children, or that he literally was.
In the blogpost we read about Flannery O'Connor, I noticed something that I had never thought about before. The author of this blogpost got an opinion from another person about A Good Man is Hard to Find. The person said that grace was a part of the story, and that many of O'Connor's stories have grace in them. I stopped and thought about it, and realized that it is very much true. When the grandmother in the story just stopped and talked to the Misfit, telling him he was a good man and that things could get better and he could be forgiven, that was all grace. Having grace is what helped her to, in a way, forgive the Misfit.
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail- Act 2
It is very ironic that Henry says he feels more free inside the jail cell than outside, even though people are locked inside a jail cell to be stripped of their freedom. I think that Henry feels more free inside, because he is not being told to pay his taxes, and he is not in the middle of the war.
I also think that is was somewhat ironic that Henry was encouraging people not to pay taxes, and then his own family member was the one who payed Henry's taxes to get him out.
I think that the most important characters in this play are Henry, John, and Bailey. The reason that Henry is the most important character is self explanatory. His name is in the title of the book, and the book was written about him. John is important because he is Henry's brother and very good friend, and they teach their class (where the teaching is based on Transcendentalism) together. Bailey is also an important character, because Henry talks to him and teaches him in the jail cell.
I would cast Johnny Depp as Henry Thoreau, because while I was reading The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, I thought that some of the things Henry said and the way I imagined him saying them reminded me of the character Depp took on in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I think he could play the part well.
I would cast Sam Claflin (from Catching Fire) as John, because I think Claflin would play the part nicely. I think that he would be good at portraying John, who is similar to his brother Henry.
I think I would want Woody Harrelson to play Bailey, because I think that he could play the sad, jailed man nicely. Bailey reminded me of the way Haymitch was portrayed in The Hunger Games.
I think that at first, Henry's protest was not successful. His aunt payed his taxes and made it so that he could leave the jail. He was very upset about this, because his whole point of the protest was to let people know that his taxes were not going to be payed.
But at the very end, things changed, and Henry walked out. Not because he was informed he was free, but because he chose to leave.
I also think that is was somewhat ironic that Henry was encouraging people not to pay taxes, and then his own family member was the one who payed Henry's taxes to get him out.
I think that the most important characters in this play are Henry, John, and Bailey. The reason that Henry is the most important character is self explanatory. His name is in the title of the book, and the book was written about him. John is important because he is Henry's brother and very good friend, and they teach their class (where the teaching is based on Transcendentalism) together. Bailey is also an important character, because Henry talks to him and teaches him in the jail cell.
I would cast Johnny Depp as Henry Thoreau, because while I was reading The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, I thought that some of the things Henry said and the way I imagined him saying them reminded me of the character Depp took on in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I think he could play the part well.
I would cast Sam Claflin (from Catching Fire) as John, because I think Claflin would play the part nicely. I think that he would be good at portraying John, who is similar to his brother Henry.
I think I would want Woody Harrelson to play Bailey, because I think that he could play the sad, jailed man nicely. Bailey reminded me of the way Haymitch was portrayed in The Hunger Games.
I think that at first, Henry's protest was not successful. His aunt payed his taxes and made it so that he could leave the jail. He was very upset about this, because his whole point of the protest was to let people know that his taxes were not going to be payed.
But at the very end, things changed, and Henry walked out. Not because he was informed he was free, but because he chose to leave.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail- Act 1
Henry: Our own school, John. No buildings. Break out of the classroom prison. All we need is the sky!
The way I interpret this is Thoreau's way of expressing his feelings about being a naturalist, and his thoughts on learning about the world, and everything around us that was not human made. That is the part about them having to learn in the "classroom prison." Him calling it a prison and proposing to "break put of" it makes me think that he would much rather not be inside a building to do his teaching and learning. He would like to be outside.
This quote also expresses independence, when Thoreau expresses how he wants their own school. He seems to want a place that other humans have not destroyed or created, where he can teach about nature, and show his students how to explore by themselves, and uncover knowledge that they had not discovered or learned before. This brings us into Transcendental thought.
Thoreau believed strongly in this way of thought, because as the quote above shows, he enjoyed learning and discovering things by his own free will. He wanted others to learn how to do that, too, so he taught self-reliance in his class. The classmates all left the class eventually, because their parents all decided that they did not like Transcendentalism, and they did not want their children learning that.
The last student left, because his father did not like that he spoke up at the table, and believed that the parents only had the right to do that. He pulled him out of the school.
Thoreau expressed civil disobedience, when he refused to pay taxes, and forced Staples to arrest him. He was very defiant, and I can begin to understand why some people disliked this way of thinking. He got very mad at Staples, and refused to pay multiple times. He went so far as to talk to the crowd about what he was doing, and why he was doing the right thing.
I really like the Transcendental way of thinking for the most part, but some of the defiance does not seem like it is the right thing to do when facing the government. They have the power to do a lot of things.
The way I interpret this is Thoreau's way of expressing his feelings about being a naturalist, and his thoughts on learning about the world, and everything around us that was not human made. That is the part about them having to learn in the "classroom prison." Him calling it a prison and proposing to "break put of" it makes me think that he would much rather not be inside a building to do his teaching and learning. He would like to be outside.
This quote also expresses independence, when Thoreau expresses how he wants their own school. He seems to want a place that other humans have not destroyed or created, where he can teach about nature, and show his students how to explore by themselves, and uncover knowledge that they had not discovered or learned before. This brings us into Transcendental thought.
Thoreau believed strongly in this way of thought, because as the quote above shows, he enjoyed learning and discovering things by his own free will. He wanted others to learn how to do that, too, so he taught self-reliance in his class. The classmates all left the class eventually, because their parents all decided that they did not like Transcendentalism, and they did not want their children learning that.
The last student left, because his father did not like that he spoke up at the table, and believed that the parents only had the right to do that. He pulled him out of the school.
Thoreau expressed civil disobedience, when he refused to pay taxes, and forced Staples to arrest him. He was very defiant, and I can begin to understand why some people disliked this way of thinking. He got very mad at Staples, and refused to pay multiple times. He went so far as to talk to the crowd about what he was doing, and why he was doing the right thing.
I really like the Transcendental way of thinking for the most part, but some of the defiance does not seem like it is the right thing to do when facing the government. They have the power to do a lot of things.
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