Mr_Shank

Okiedokie.

So for chapters X-XIII, I found one quote specifically I think we should go over. (Chapter XIII, Page 124)

“Any relic of the dead is precious, if they were valued living.”

When Nelly is continuing to tell Lockwood the story, she pulls out a letter Isabella wrote. Soon after getting basically kicked out of the Linton family, she wrote to tell Edgar that she has married Heathcliff, and is pretty much unhappy with it, considering the turn it took on her family. I chose this quote because I like the message it has behind it, almost saying if someone had an influence or story to tell, then it should be remembered and passed along.

Do you guys have anything to expand on to this?

Oh, and Megan sorry that this is pretty late =/

In these chapters I have decided to watch and follow the narrators wife. Now I know that we haven’t heard or seen much of this women, but I feel that she is a very important person in this book. She is the reason why the narrator is having all of these adventures. If it weren’t for this women being a part of this man’s life I don’t even think that there would be a book called the War of the Worlds because the man would probably be dead.

The things we know about the narrators wife. She is in Leatherhead hiding with her cousin who (lets face it) is probably going to run away without her if he sees, or comes in contact, with a martian. Another thing that we know is that she is a supporter of her husband (just like every wife), but she is a special person. In the beginning of the book I thought that her husband was away a lot, but she put up with it.

My questions for you are:

What would this book be like if roles were reverse and the narrator’s wife was the narrator? Really think about this question. Think of all of the details that would change. Would the knowledge of the martians change? Think really hard.

Abbey

While reading the book, there are many connections I have been able to make with the text and with real life situations and characters. One connection I am able to make is to with a painting by the artist Seth Skim. He drew a picture of a chipped vase, with a person in the background looking very forlorn and like he has made the wrong decision. This can be compared with Catherine in the scenes after Heathcliff leaves the first and second time. The colors included in this painting are a collection of different blues, greens, browns, and whites. Each color represents a different feeling. The blue could represent Catherine’s sadness and coldness throughout her life so far. The green could represent the good life she is trying to live without much success, for there is a limited amount of green in the painting. The brown is only present in the hair of the man in the painting. This could also represent the only color Catherine valued was her beauty, her hair could be an example of this. The white could represent the emptiness of Catherine’s life, for she is very lonely and unloved by many and white is a color that has no visible color within (if that makes sense)!In Catherine’s life, there is much color, but because she is living life so fast and not stopping to think of the effects of the decisions she makes, there seems to be an absence of color. The broken vase represents her broken life and the negative outcome of her decisions! Any other thoughts about the painting? To view it, do a Google image search for “broken vessel”. It should be one of the first images to come up. Any other connections that you guys see to this painting?

Well, I just finished reading chapter 13 and I found a couple questions that thought would be good to ask.

Do you guys think Edgar Linton brought his troubles with Catherine upon himself by not swallowing his pride and throwing himself at her feet when she was locked in her room?

I recall Heathcliff telling Catherine that he would hate to be married to Isabella, so why did he go and marry her anyway? Was it just so he would become the inheritor of Edgar’s wealth?

Finally, when Hindly is talking about how he wants to kill Heathcliff, he mentions to Isabella that he doesn’t care if she tells Heathcliff and puts him on guard. Why do you guys think HIndly wants to drag it out so much and turn it in to a game almost? Why doesn’t he just kill Heathcliff or even just capture him and torture him if he is looking to cause Heathcliff distrust and pain?

(sorry about posting this kind of late Megan)

This section of the book deeply describes the town, and the condition that it is now in.  The area seems to be almost completely barren at this point and most of the buildings are destroyed from the heat ray and the aliens.  This section is one of the good descriptions: “We pushed through them toward the railway without meeting a soul.  The woods acreoss the line were scarred and blackened ruins; for the most part the trees had fallen, but a certain proportion still stodd, dismal gray trunks, with dark brown instead of green foliage.”  All of these descriptions remind me a lot of the movie, “I am Legend”.  The only differences are that instead of being infected humans, they are martians.  So my questions for you are:  Will the planet become completely desolate by the aliens killing them all off?  If not, how do you think the humans will survive?  Try to use background information to draw your conclusions.

Again please everyone post as soon as possible. Sonam and I are going to be in NY and unable to post anytime tomorrow or Sunday because we do not have internet connection!!! Please save us!!!! hahaha

~Erin C.

“It is just, O God!” he would say, over and over again. “It is just. on me and mine be the punishment laid.  We have sinned, we have fallen short.  There was poverty, sorrow; the poor were trodden in the dust, and I held my peace.  I preached acceptable folly-my God, what folly!-when I should have stood up, though I died for it, and call upon them to repent-repent!. . . Oppressors of the poor and the needy . . . !  The wine press of God.” (page 161)

While I was reading through this section of the story I found this quote and i thought, “This man has accepted his fate and is willing to die.  At first I thought, why?  Why would you want to give up when you had lived literally 10 yards from the Martians’ camp for days and now your just going to give up. Why?  Then I thought about it for a little while and I thought’ Maybe he has nothing to go back to when this is over. Maybe he feels he has no purpose to live.”  But why would you go this long and just decide that it is over.

If you would have been in this same position would you have done the same thing?  If not what would you have done and why?

“And has left me,” answered the nephew, “bound to a system that is frightful to me, responsible for it, but powerless in it; seeking to execute the last request of my dear mother’s lips, and obey the last look of my dear mother’s eyes, which implored me to have mercy and to redress; and tortured by seeking assistance and power in vain.”

“Seeking them from me, my nephew,” said the Marquis, touching him on the breast with his forefinger-they were now standing by the hearth-”you will for ever seek them in vain, be assured.”

Every fine straight line in the clear whiteness of his face, was cruelly, craftily, and closely compressed, while he stood looking quietly at his nephew, with his snuff-box in his hand. Once again he touched him on the breast, as though his finger were the fine point of a small sword, with which, in delicate finesse, he ran him through the body, and said, “My friend, I will die, perpetuating the system under which I have lived.”

…………………….

“If it ever becomes mine, it shall be put into some hands better qualified to free it slowly (if such a thing is possible) from the weight that drags it down, so that the miserable people who cannot leave it and who have been long wrung to the last point of endurance, may, in another generation, suffer less; but it is not for me. There is a curse on it, and on all this land.”

This passage takes place when Charles Darnay comes to see his Uncle, the Monseigneur Marquis, and they have a long discussion. After the Marquis is dead and Darnay gets his inheritance, he wants to give it up to a better cause to help the family’s name. The Marquis won’t have it though, and argues with Darnay. The two men part without resolving the conflict, and the next morning the Monseigneur is found dead.

This sounds very suspicious to me, especially since Darnay wanted the Marquis’s money and then he suddenly wound up dead. It makes sense that Darnay killed him, because then he could do whatever he wanted with the money without the Marquis standing in the way.

1. Do you think Darnay is guilty, && whyy?

2. Darnay’s innocence has been questioned before, in court in the beginning of the book. Do you think this makes it more likely that he was guilty, that it gives people more of a reason to believe he would do bad things?

-Alyssaaa=)

megan– I would be willing to guess that Darnay did kill him, for the exact same reason that you have already said about his innocence being questioned in the beginning. Although, he did just get married to Lucie and usually when people just get married they’re good.

Hey guys!  I forget to tell you what we are doing this week so here it is:

Erin – Connector

Lauren – Illuminator

Maddie - Summarizer/Word Watcher

Alyssa – Discussion Director

Megan – Character Watcher

I’m pretty sure that we haven’t done these roles before.  Anyway, I also want to remind everyone that we are reading from 117 – 180.  

So sorry that I forget to tell you at school!  Make sure you guys remind me; I’m very forgetful!

Erin B

The wisest quotes come from tee shirts. I actually read this quote on a shirt and did not believe it until just recently. My quote is:

“I am unique, just like everyone else.”

I find that this quote resembles mostly Turtle and her companions. Turtle is unique by herself, finding her own way with her own style. She holds herself this way through example, otherwise known as her fellow companions. All children learn through example and hers is Taylor, Lou Ann, and anyone else who interacts with her. After spending all of her time with Taylor, it does not suprise me that Turtle has her own way of doing things, just like her adoptive mother.

Who do you think this quote resembles the most? Does your opinion differ from mine? If so, why? If you agree with me, why? Can you think of anyone else who this quote resembles? I need feedback, people! Write back and tell of your opinions!

Thanks! That is my blog!

-Jenni Kantor

When I read this quote it made me wonder a few things,

 “But, there were other echoes, from a distance, that rumbled menacingly in the corner all through this space of time. And it was now, about little Lucie’s sixth birthday, that they began to have an awful sound, as of a great storm in France with a dreadful sea rising.” Book 2, Chapter 21, pg. 209

I found that Charles Dickens uses a metaphor of a terrible storm to signal the awful fate of France and how the poor stormed the Bastille and the revolution has started.  Dickens also creates the sound of echoes that haunt Lucie in the night, what do you guys think this means? Fate is a common theme in this book, once things get going they are slowed down by something happening that shouldn’t have.  What else has happened in the book so far that involves fate, what do you think will happen next?