Mr_Shank

Mr. Lorry:  Mr. Lorry is in the midst of a marriage problem and the trial.  Mr. Lorry is a witness in the trial, where Darnay is found not guilty.  Mr. Lorry is “competing” against Darnay and Mr. Stryver for Lucie’s hand in marriage.  Lucie is really keeping the men in suspense about which man she will choose.  Mr. Lorry seems to be the “go-to” guy in this book.  Many people seek his advice on important matters and he is definately an important character in this book.  Do you think that Mr. Lorry has a good chance of marrying Lucie?

Darnay:  Darnay was in a trial for treason.  He was convicted for having alliances with both England and France.  Darnay was found not guilty.  Darnay is also one of the three men who is trying to marry Lucie.  Do you think that Darnay being found not guilty will give him a better chance of marrying Lucie?

Mr. Stryver:  Mr. Stryver is one of the three men wanting to marry Lucie.  He’s a wealthy man and sought after advice from Mr. Lorry about marrying Lucie.  Mr. Stryver is very sad when Mr. Lorry tells him that both Dr. Manette and Lucie will reject his asking for Lucie’s hand in marriage.

Carton:  Carton is talking to Lucie more freely about his life now.  He tells her that he would do anything for her, including give his life for her.  Lucie then tells him that he needs to “start a new life” but he says that he can’t.  I think that Lucie may want to marry Carton, what do you think?

Lucie:  Lucie is debating whom to marry.  She is trying to decide between Mr. Lorry, Darnay, and Mr. Stryver. Dr. Maneete (her father) has been giving her advice on the marriage situation.  Lucie also participated in Darnay’s trial, because she knew him previous to the event.  Who do you think that Luci ewill decide to marry.

Monsieur the Marquis:  Monsieur the Marquis is a selfish, powerful, rich lord.  In this part of the book Monsieur the Marquis kills a boy when he runs over him with the coach that he is riding in.  He reacts to this event by throwing money on the ground and riding on.  What do you think that this event symbolizes?  How does Monsieur the Marquis’ actions to this event reflect his personality?

Dr. Manette:  Dr. Manette has been advising his daughter on who to marry.  Dr. Manette and Lucie agree that if Mr. Stryver were to ask fo Lucie’s hand in marriage they would decline the offer.   He also was in Darnay’s trial because he knew Darnay previous to him being charged with treason.

Who do you think that Lucie will marry and why?  If you think that Lucie wants to marry someone that her father doesn’t want her to: who do you think it is, why does Lucie want to marry them, and why would her father not want her to?

-Maddie Zinn

Mr.Shank, I sure hope this post goes through.  My computer has been giving me problems all day, not allowing me to post.  Hopefully it works this time. ~Erin

Chapter 6

In this chapter, the news about the aliens and the cylinder spread throughout the town and neighboring towns.  This causes people from all over to gather around the cylinder, even though there are police there trying to keep the people back.  Eventually the extraterrestrials attack again by putting trees, hats etc. on fire.  Everyone escapes safely except two women and a little boy, who get trampled by the terrified people.

Chapter 7

The narrator of the story wakes up to find himself in the middle of no where, until he remembers what happens and slowly walks home.  He sees some people on the way there, and they had not yet heard of the aliens.  He finally makes it home, and tells his wife of everything, and she becomes very worried.  He tries to convince her that everything is okay, but in reality it is not.

Chapter 8

The people in the areas do not seem to realize that anything out of the ordinary is going on.  They continue with their daily routines as if it is a regular day.  The only people that seem to notice are the military authorities in the area.  At the end of the chapter the second cylinder falls from the sky.

Chapter 9

In this chapter, the military became even more abundant in the town.  The narrator discusses the aliens with them, but he does not learn anything new.   The military tried to destroy the second cylinder without success.  At about 6 o’clock an explosion ruins the college, the church, and the narrators chimney was destroyed.  Realizing that they were no longer straight the narrator, his wife and their servant left for Leatherhead right away.

Chapter 10

Once the narrator gets his wife safely to his cousins house he goes back to Maybury because he had the want of war in his blood.  On his journey home he witnesses the falling of the third cylinder.  Next, he sees monstrous metal tripods driving towards him very fast.  He flips the dog cart while trying to turn around, but winds up breaking the horses neck.  The tripods were the aliens, but they went right past him.  He then staggered home from exhaustion.

Chapter 11

Through the window the narrator sees a crashed train, the burning countries and the aliens.  A soldier comes to the house looking for shelter, so he lets him in.  He was an artillery man, but his people were attacked and he got pinned under dead men and horses.  Many hours later he tries to escape, and he sees other people being killed in the process.  It seems that the aliens had destroyed everything possible.  The main thing that could be seen out the window was the aliens surrounding a pit, and a green glow.

Deputation- the person or body of persons so appointed or authorized

Heathery- low growing shrubs, often including flowers

Sapper- A military engineer who lays, detects, and disarms mines

Belligerent- warlike; given to waging war

Detonation- an explosion

Fusillade- a simultaneous or continuous discharge of firearms

Reverberations- An echolike force or effect; a repercussion

All these words were chosen because they described how the war was slowly building up and helped with the description of the area.

Do you think that the aliens are real beings or more like robots with an intelligence?

Will the aliens have more cylinders land on earth?

Give some examples of other words that helped build the atmosphere of the story?

The connection I made in this section was that when Lucie had to pick one of the three guys to marry it reminded me of the show Parental Control where the contestant’s parents don’t like their boyfriend/girlfriend so they have to go on dates with 2 new people. Then they choose between the new people and their boyfriend/girlfriend, which is a total of 3 people. This is alittle like lucie’s situation since she is choosing between 3 guys to marry. In the show the person looks for likeable traits to help them decide who they want to be with, and lucie also has to do this with Carton, Darnay and Stryver.

*This sorta a dumb connection, but do you guys agree?

*And which of the three do you think lucie will pickk?

Alyssaa=)

So far in the story we still do not know the narrorators name. In chapter 6 he takes a more general view instead of his own expeiriences. In chapter 7 he seems to be going crazy becasue he cannot remember much about what has happened and is going on. In chapter 8 the narrorator collects himslef and starts analyzing the events that are happening. The narrator points out the irony in that, on the brink of their collapse, the old habits of the social order are as strong as ever. The narrorator seems to be foreshadowing in the 9th chapter when he uses the color red to describe the red glow. This foreshadows the future bloodshed to happen. In the 10th chapter when the thrid cylinder falls the narroartor seems to be even more intruiged my the martians.

questions:

If you were the narrorator would you be interested in teh martians or would you stay away becasue of the danger?

The narrorator seems to represent order in the story, what does it mean when he starts to become crazy?

Because I am the character watcher, I think I should talk about a different but important character in the book. That character is Granfer Cantle. He knows everyone in town by their first or last names and their occupations. He likes to talk about other people’s business, especially about the wedding of Thomasin Yeobright. He is eager to hear every new piece of information that may come about in that subject. He does not gossip to hurt other people in his town, but it does not seem to matter to him if they do not want him to say anything to anyone or not, because, he most likely will update everyone anyway. However, as the story goes on, I think that he is starting to care how people feel when he tells everyone their business. My question regarding this character is: Do you think that Granfer will stop his gossipping? or do you think that due to his gossipping there will be an outburst between who he gossips about and himself?

~Laurisa Varela

So basically where we left off in the story is when Catherine is captured by the Lintons outside their house with Heathcliff. The Lintons, feeling bad for Catherine reform her into a respectable woman. As a result of this, Heathcliff and Catherine drift away from each other as friends. At this point Heathcliff’s life is pretty hard as well, Hindly (the new leader of the household) hates him with a passion. After this, Hindly’s wife goes into labor and gives birth (and dies the next week) to a healthy baby boy, and Hindly wants nothing to do with it. After this Catherine is proposed to by one of the Linton boys after a little run in with Nelly.  Catherine accepts the proposal and her and Edgar Linton eventually get married. In chapter ten, Mr. Lockwood gets sick and is surprised by a visit from Heathcliff. Later he insists that Nelly get back to the story. So Heathcliff had left home for three years and returned a changed man, he was wealthy, strong, and attractive. Him and Catherine have obvious feelings for each other, so things get pretty awkward between Edgar and Heathcliff. At this point is where I stopped reading.

Some words I found noteworthy in the text are as follows:

countenance- appearance, esp. the look or expression of the face or the face. I included this word because it seemed important in describing Catherine in one of her conversations with Heathcliff.

petulantly- moved to or showing sudden, impatient irritation, esp. over some trifling annoyance. I included petulantly because i thought it was a good indicator of how Catherine begins to get impatient with Nelly.

vociferating- to speak or cry out loudly or noisily. Vociferating was included because it seemed to me like a good word to expand your vocabulary with.

consternation- a sudden, alarming amazement or dread that results in utter confusion; dismay. This word shows up in after Catherine slaps Nelly, as Edgar’s reaction. I thought this was important at the time, but as it turns out Edgar proposes to Catherine anyway.

beseeching- to implore urgently. Beseech seemed like another good word to know, and I think this word described Joseph’s urgent praying well.

What do you guys think will happen between Heathcliff and Catherine?

Do you think Catherine made the right choice to marry Edgar?

Finally, I’m curious to know what you guys think about how this is all going to relate to Mr. Lockwood’s experience.

Book the Second:

Chapter 4: Congratulatory

In this chapter, Dr. Manette, Lucie, Mr. Lorry, Mr. Stryver and Darnay leave the courtroom.  Darnay thanks Stryver for his work and they all leave.  Darnay meets Carton in the street and they go to the tavern.  Carton says to Darnay that it is not worth having your life tried.  Darnay is angry with what Carton has said and tells him that he is drunk.  Darnay leaves and Carton is mad at himself.

Chapter 5: The Jackal

Carton leaves the tavern and heads to Stryver’s apartment.  The two men have a few drinks and talk about the trial that went on today. Stryver points out that Carton made a good point about not being able to fully idenntiy that the spy was Darnay.  Stryver tries to tell Carton that his life is up and down and that he should find a way to balance it out.  Carton becomes angry so Stryver changes the subject to Lucie and he wonders how Carton really feels about her.

Chapter 6: Hundreds of People

This chapter is set four months later and Mr. Lorry is a family friend.  In this chapter, Lorry talks with Miss Pross about all of the men that have tried to be with Lucie.  She says that her brother is the only one that is worthy of Lucie.  But Lorry knows that her brother is a thief and would never be right for Lucie.  Lucie and Manette return and they are told a story.  The story upsets Manette but he quickly returns to his old self.

Chapter 7: Monseigneur in Town

A rich Monseigneur arrives in town and parades around with all of his servants and flaunts his money and all of his things.

Chapter 8: Monseigneur in Country

In the country the man is called on to help a lord, he does so without really wanting to.  Once he is on his way again a peasant calls on his help but he continues on his way without blinking an eye.

Chapter 9: The Gorgon’s Head

Darnay turns out to be the man’s nephew and tells him that he doesn’t want to inherited the man’s things once he dies.  Darnay says the family name is labeled with slavery and fear and he doesn’t want to be labeled with that.

Chapter 10: Two Promises

A year later Darnay is know a teacher in London. Darnay returns to Dr. Manette and admits his love for Lucie and asks Manette if he could marry her.  He also tries to tell Manette his real name but Manette will not let him.  He tells Darnay on the wedding day. 

Chapter 11: A Companion Picture

Carton and Stryver are working in Stryver’s chambers and tells Carton that he plans to marry Lucie, but little does he know that Darnay is also planning to marry Lucie.

Chapter 12: The Fellow of Delicacy

The next day Stryver plans to visit Lucie and asks for her hand.  He stops in to see Lorry and he tells him to not ask until he is certain that Lucie will accept. Lorry then talks to the family and Lorry tells Stryver that Lucie and her father will reject Stryver offer.

Chapter 13:  The Fellow of No Delicacy

Carton arrives at Lucie’s house and they talk.  He tells her that he would do anything for Lucie including giving his life for her.

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Words to Know

Defiance (page 63) – Noun- a daring or bold resistance to authority or to any opposing force.

Detriment (page 64) – Noun- loss, damage, disadvantage, or injury

Innately (page 70) – Adjective- existing in one from birth; inborn; native

Attainments (page 99) – Noun- something, such as an accomplishment or achievement, that is attained

Inaugurated (page 109) – Verb- to make a formal beginning of; initiate; commence

Who do you think Lucie will choose, Stryver, Carton or Danary 

~Lauren Gress~

Summary:

In chapters 1-4 we read about a girl named Taylor and how she had a child given to her, but we also read about a girl named Lou Ann and how she was having a baby and how Angel left her. In our first posts we never mentioned Lou Ann. I think it was necessary to mention her because now in chapters 5-8 Taylor was looking for a place for her and Turtle to stay and she ended up moving in with Lou Ann and her son, Dwayne Ray. Taylor soon got a job working with Mattie even though she has a fear of exploding tires. Also in these chapters Turtle starts to talk. Taylor took Turtle to the doctor and pound out that she had multiple fractures that had healed as she grew. Taylor and Lou an also discovered that Turtle’s real name is April.

Questions:

1.    Do you think it was a wise decision for Taylor to choose to live with Lou Ann instead of choosing one of the other people that had an ad in the paper?

2.    Do you think that Taylor’s decision to work with Mattie was smart due to her fear?

3.    Do you think that Taylor should have reacted little more when Turtle started talking?

4.    Do you think that they should continue to call Turtle, Turtle or start calling her by her real name April?

Alright as the character watcher I want to discuss Mr.Lorry, Darnay, and Monsieur the Marquis. 

First lets start off with Mr.Lorry.  He seems to be an obvious main character in this story.  So anyways in these 12 chapters of the book 2, he is in the trial and marriage problem.  In the rial he is a witness where Darnay, is found not guilty.  Also in the marriage, Mr. Stryver comes to him to talk about the topic of marrying Ms.Manette.  So it almost seems to me as Mr.Lorry is like the town mayor.  What do you think of the identity that Dickens has gave Mr.Lorry.  Do you agree that he is like a mayor?

Next lets talk about Darnay.  In his part of the book he has had a trial of treason, and is also apart of the marriage problem.  He is the main one in the trial, because it is said that he was targeting French, and English soldiers.  What did you guys think about the trial?  Was he guilty?  Also he was apart of the marriage.  His fate was not yet determined, but Mr.Stryver was.  Do you think that they could make a good couple?  Also do you think that his name thing will affect his chance with Ms.Manette?

Then we have Monsieur The Marquis, which is a powerful lord that is stuck up.  He only thinks of himself.  In his part he kills a poor boy, when he ran him over with his coach.  What he does is throw money and keep going.  It makes me sick when I read about this part, because what man could possibly do that?  What do you guys think of this part?   Also should the wealthy be able to treat the poor like this?  This book is making me sick just thinking of how brutal it is to be poor.

That is it for main characters in the book , but lets look at the minor characters.

-Mr. Stryver- A pretty wealthy man who wanted to marry Ms.Manette, but was rejected.

-Dr.Manette-Did play a role in the trial, and discussed the matters of marriage with his daughter.

-Ms.Manette-Played a witness role in the trial, and was the one that was basically deciding on marriage.

Do you think that Ms.Manette will get married in these next couple chapter?

These are all the characters I have for you, so answer the questions with thorough explanations.

-Leah

The book the Bean Trees resembles a quote written by Ivy Baker Priest:

“The world is round, and the place which may seem like the end, may also be the beginning.”

Chapters 4-8 resemble this quote because it is characterizing Turtle. She has gone through many tough times and has been abused before that she might’ve begun o think that her life was drawing to an end. But when she finds Taylor (or is handed to her) she gets a new meaning in her life. Signifying that she is going to have a whole new begging and do her best to try and forget her past. Taylor has given Turtle a new meaning and Turtle gives joy and happiness to Taylor. They are both having an experience in their lives that they have never faced before; Turtle has a reason to live, for herself Taylor. Even though Taylor may not realize it she has given Turtle a happiness from which she was deprived of.

Do you think that Taylor is the reason Turtle can finally have a normal life like a regular child? Has Taylor given Turtle happiness by accepting her or do you think that they will have to put up with tough times for each other?

-Kianat Zamir