OHP Reflection

On this blog, I will be covering the following questions:

• What did you enjoy most about the interview process of the Oral History Project?
• How did you handle the difficulty of working in a group?

For our project, my group interviewed Emily Weinstein. She is a Post Oak parent and experienced flooding during Hurricane Harvey. I thought this project was very meaningful, as the hurricane was still in everyone’s mind. I assumed that this interview would be very tough, as Ms. Weinstein had lost her entire house in the flood. The interview turned out not to be too difficult and it was very comfortable. The most enjoyable part was hearing her story from the past weeks and how Houstonians have reached out. We learned about how her family is moving forward, along with much of the city.  I’m very glad we got the opportunity to connect with people from outside of the school that had various experiences during the Hurricane. Seeing the video showing the strength and recovery in Houston was amazing.

The group work itself wasn’t new to me, but this project different from others we have done. It was a bit more challenging because we also had to work and communicate with an interviewee outside of the school. There were a few bumps while working in the original interview group, such as confusion with devices and who would be turning things in, but everything ended up working out. The primary difficulty was communication, but we made sure to keep each other informed via text rather than only discussing the project at school. Without doing that, we would have had many issues. The other group portions worked very smoothly and I think our final project was very successful.

Persepolis - Marjane & Her Grandmother

Is Marjane Different? + What led to Marjane's grandmother yelling at her? Was the yelling justified? Why or why not?

In the chapter titled “The Makeup,” Marjane is attempting to fit into Iranian society as a grown woman. It seems that she disagrees with the laws in Iran even more-so now that she has experienced other parts of the world. Couples in Iran who weren’t married were “at risk,” because the law says that having relationships before marriage is illegal (288). Even so, Marjane still did what she wanted to, including going out with a guy while wearing makeup. Marjane still has her rebellious qualities, but she’s fairly different as a person. On pages 285-288, Marjane shows a lack of care for other people and quite a bit of selfishness when she accuses an innocent man of being indecent just to save herself. In the past, she cared a lot about being a hero and saving people, but now, she doesn’t seem to put much thought towards that. The fact that Marjane doesn’t feel real remorse until talking to her grandmother shows that she is not the same anything like her old-self who dreamt of being a prophet and a hero.

On page 291, she speaks with her grandmother and tells her of the incident. Marjane laughs it off and her grandmother is fuming. Marjane’s actions don’t not align with anything that her family has fought for over the years. Her grandmother even calls Marjane a “selfish bitch,” which shocks Marjane. Focusing specifically on the last part of the prompt, I do believe that the scolding from Marjane’s grandmother was entirely justifiable. Marjane was fortunate enough to leave Iran and experience freedom, while her family stayed in the war-stricken country. She then comes back and causes an innocent man to be taken by authorities just to cover herself for wearing makeup. I believe Marjane’s actions were irrational, selfish, and entirely wrong. Her grandmother had every right to scold Marjane for acting in this way.

Persepolis - Marjane: Make My Past Disappear

"Why does Marjane want to 'make her past disappear' (194)? And how does this affect her development as a person?"

       In the chapter titled "The Vegetable," Marjane struggles with her image as an Iranian teenager who left her country. She was sent away by her parents for a safer life, but her memories were somewhat of a burden. Marjane was trying to fit in with her friends and classmates and was taking part in activities with them. In the pages leading up to where she wishes her past away, she discusses her physical transformations and her assimilation (193) into the new culture. She isn't exactly fitting in because of her background and how she was raised. Her life in her hometown was much more conservative. She was also seeing images of her home being bombed while she was safely observing it on the television. She admitted she was feeling guilty (194) and she turned the television off when she saw Iran.

       Marjane began to hide her nationality, but she thought of her grandmothers words: "Always keep your dignity and be true to yourself!" This was difficult when she would constantly hear how Iranian people were inferior from people around her. It eventually got to a point where she confronted her issues and realized "for the first time" that she would be "proud" of who she was (197). She grew in maturity and realized that she should be herself.

Fahrenheit 451

I am going to write a longer summary than needed because I want to go over the story again, as I found it very interesting and exciting. In short, the book Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, is about a dystopian future where books are outlawed. It focuses on a man named Montag, who is a fireman that burns books. Montag begins to realize how numb society is and recognizes reality after multiple encounters and events over the course of the story. He begins a quest to read and eventually rebels against his fire chief. He works with a man named Faber and meets a group of people who are also interested in reading. These people work to memorize great literary works. When he is with these people, he watches the city get obliterated by enemy bombers. Montag feels that is important to leave a legacy and remembers all the people he lost.

*Longer summary...   

     

        For my final reading this year, I chose to read Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. This novel focuses on a dystopian future where books have become outlawed and firemen burn them when they are found. The time period of this book is not mentioned exactly, but it is likely in the late 21st century. The people in society are very unaware of history and their lives are fairly meaningless. The main character in the book is a man named Guy Montag. He is a fireman who pours kerosene on books and burns them daily. A fireman's role has been completely reversed by this time, and many people are completely unaware that they once worked to put out fires, rather than start them. Montag is fairly satisfied with his life until he meets a girl named Clarisse McClellan, who opens his eyes to reality. Montag is very disturbed by what Clarisse is telling him, which causes him to realize the ingenuity in his life. He feels that his wife Mildred is not as much his wife as he once thought, and fails to even remember how they met. Montag becomes increasingly disturbed as he learns that Clarisse died and he watched a woman burn herself to death over her books. Montag is having a lot of trouble with his life and he starts to read books. Montag begins reading, but Beatty, who is his fire chief, warns him that firemen sometimes grow curious and are allowed to take a book for 24 hours, but if it is not destroyed, the firemen will come to destroy it. Beatty is very knowledgeable about books and talks to Montag about how they disrupt society and cause issues. 

       Montag continues to read, despite the warnings. He eventually confides in Mildred, who is reluctant to support him. Montag recalls a man named Faber who he once met. He thinks he may be able to get help from him. Faber is reluctant to meet with Montag because as far as he knows, he is out to burn his books. Faber is an English professor who enjoys books. He and Montag plan a scheme to change the idea of firemen and books in society. As Montag prepares for this, he sets up a communication device in his ear so that Faber can listen and guide him. Montag goes back to his home, where Mildred and her friends are. He gets angry at these women as they discuss politics and other subjects which he doesn't agree with. Montag begins to read a poem, which makes Faber a bit nervous. One of the women starts crying and the other gets angry at Montag. Mildred helps Montag play it off as a rule that firemen can take books and show them to their families for a day, but these women leave. After this, Montag goes to see Beatty so that he can return one of the books he has, but Beatty clearly has a strong suspicion about Montag. Beatty confuses Montag by throwing many quotes at him and making him feel nervous. Faber is still in Montag's ear, but Beatty has really caught on. 

        There is a fire alarm and the firemen proceed as usual. Montag is very surprised to see that  the alarm has been called on his house. He sees Mildred leaving and realizes that she reported him. Montag is ordered to burn the house himself, which he does. He is then arrested, but escapes and kills Beatty with the flame thrower. He grabs a few books that he left in his backyard and eventually heads to Faber for help. At this point, the town is after Montag as he is considered an extreme danger. The chase is televised and Montag leaves Faber's house and makes it to a river to hide his scent from the search hounds. Montag finds a group of men sitting around a fire who have been expecting him. They have a TV set up as they watch the hounds kill a man they accuse to be Montag,  but is not really him. From here, Montag learns that these people he met memorize great literary works to try and preserve what has been lost. They are a part of a large group of people around cities that don't agree with society and understand the importance of books. Montag talks with these people for a bit and eventually, enemy bombers fly over the city and obliterate it. This is a turning point for Montag, as he remembers the people he has lost and finally remembers where he met his wife. Montag continues on his new, free life.  

*End of summary 

I found the setting and the portrayal of the future to be one of the most interesting things in this story. It is close to the current state of the world, as this book is depicting a period of time near the current date.

        As I mentioned earlier, the story takes place in the 21st century. The book was written over half a century ago and portrays a time period around where we are living now. The description of the world is fairly close to the reality today, aside from the evil firemen arsonists. Still, it represents many events occurring today. The story is set in the United States, but the government is one of the big differences from today's society. The story portrays a more authoritarian government and a different America that is more separated from the rest of the world. Bradbury portrays relationships as very dry and simple. As the story was written before the advent of social media and the internet, it is very interesting that this book portrays the lack of emotional connection largely because of technology. People travel quickly on the highway, often ignoring their surroundings.  The world is very intense and fast paced which similar to how many see the current world. I would say that the book has a message about people losing their connections to their culture, knowledge, and to each other. The characters are overwhelmed with the new technology and fail to recognize what is actually going on around them. People mindlessly watch TV and listen to music while going through the motions of their simple life. Literature is not as important and we focus a lot more on technology and desires rather than our reality today. The lack of emotional connection in the book is not as extensive as it is now, as we still are deeply connected to one another, but there is a powerful message about technology in society and the advancement of the human race.

        I would definitely recommend this book to anyone with an interest in futuristic novels or science fiction. Even if the story doesn't seem all that interesting to you, I would encourage you to give it a chance. Going into this story, I was not so sure that I would enjoy it, but I genuinely thought the story was amazing. I learned a lot about how our society compares to the past and found it very interesting how our world has developed. The story itself also was very well put together. The plotlines were clear and the entire book felt intense and interesting. 

Our Readings: Favorite and Least favorite

Of all the texts that we've read this year, which one is your favorite, and why? Which one is your least favorite, and why?

I really enjoyed the readings we had for ELA this year. I can clearly pick my favorite, but I didn’t have one that I really disliked much more than the others. The Great Gatsby was definitely my favorite. It had so many interesting styles and such a detailed story. This book was also more modern than our previous books, which I enjoyed. 

The Odyssey is probably the least favorable out of the books we read. I really do appreciate the style and the writing for that time, but I did not enjoy reading it as much. The language was a bit hard to understand and the writing style was sometimes confusing. Even though I don’t like it quite as much, I still recognize that is a great literary and thought the overall story was very interesting. 

If I had to give our readings an overall rating for this year, I would probably give them a four out of five as they were mostly enjoyable.

Who loves who?

Something which I found interesting in the story was how Daisy dealt with Tom and Gatsby in the climax of the story. Gatsby encourages Daisy to tell Tom that she never loved him, but she cannot do it. She says that she did love him, but she loves Gatsby now. She says this, but it seems possible she doesn’t love either of them. Gatsby is not really satisfied and he wants Daisy as his. 

Daisy is portrayed as a foolish, shallow character, who married Tom for the wealth. It is clear that most of the characters are absorbed in their wealth and Daisy seems to value that lifestyle very much. I don’t believe Daisy was in love with Tom or Gatsby. I think that she was in love with the status. Tom acted as a protection for her and allowed her to be married to a wealthy man with a high status and background. The more you look at each character, you start to realize it’s possible none of them were really in love. Gatsby, first off, was not in love with Daisy. He was in love with the past and the idealized version of life with her. Tom didn’t really love Daisy, he went to Myrtle because he wasn’t really satisfied with his wife, but he wanted to have a high status life with a stable wife. Tom didn’t really love Myrtle either, it was just an affair. Daisy didn’t love Tom or Gatsby, just the wealth, and the newness of Gatsby's money and their past love. Lastly, Nick probably wasn’t in love with Jordan either. He seemed to genuinely like her, but it wasn’t enough to cause him to pursue a relationship any further.

The Great Gatsby represented this American Dream, with love and wealth at the core. Both turn out to be very different at the end of the story. Many were in search of wealth and love, and they grasped onto what met those needs, even if it wasn’t genuine.

Jay Gatsby: Character Development

How does Jay Gatsby, the protagonist of the novel, fundamentally change over the course of the novel, and how is this change caused by the central conflict(s) that Gatsby faces? Use textual evidence to support your claim.

This prompt asks “how” Jay Gatsby changes, but I believe the question should be, does he fundamentally change at all. Of course, there are small changes within each chapter, but there aren’t really any major changes to his character. I am currently writing an essay related to character developments for my response project, and I have found that Nick seems to be the only character that really developed or changed. On page 110, when Gatsby says “Can’t repeat the past? [ ] Why of course you can!”, it seems to confirm that Gatsby has his mind set on the romance and the past. Aside from changes in his actions (such as stopping the parties), he remains basically the same. The biggest change I see in Gatsby is his emotional openness, specifically with Nick. Gatsby confides in Nick about his feelings, as he really didn’t talk to anyone else previously. I also think that Gatsby was beginning to recognize the reality of his world, but he was killed near that time. I believe when he says “Her voice is full of money” (Page 120), he is recognizing that these characters (Tom, and Daisy), are absorbed in their wealth. This is mentioned later on by Nick.