Mr_Shank

There are so many similarities and differences between the book Dracula and the movie. It’s relevant to know both about the book and the movie to be able to understand the book better and see what led to the differences between the book and the movie.

A main difference between them is that the movie is made to look like a romance and the novel is one more of action and dread. Whatdo you think is the purpose of Stoker starting out his novel with romance and then making it turn to action? Mina was obviously supposed to be a girl who looked like Dracula’s dead wife, so he wants to make her immortal, but it involves Jonathan who wants her back because he truly loves her, from this point Dracula and Jonathan with his 5 allies fight to get Mina back.

The two more obvious characters that differ in the movie and book are Mina and Dracula. In the novel, whenever Dracula enters Mina’s room Mina is afraid of him and Dracula is always angry and aggressive towards her but in the movie Dracula and Mina love each other even when she finds out that he is Dracula. What is your opinion on this, if it was the other way around for the book and movie which would you like better? why?

Also, the novel portrays Dracula as a character full of hatred, and anger and is related to the theme of death. But in the movie, Dracula is shown with emotions and feelings for Mina, who he loves and does not wish to condemn her to loving him. Does this somehow depict to us a theme of love that love can conquer all evil and can turn an inhumane creature human?

Sorry if you think the post is odd and random, I thought that at the end of the book it would be good to see how the movie and book relate even if you haven’t seen the movie!

-Kianat Zamir

OK, first off, I want to apologize for posting this late. Usually I’m able to post at my mom’s house, but this weekend I’m over at my dad’s house. His computer has been acting up a lot lately. He has a Windows 97 (Yes – a ‘97!) and I think it is on its last bit of life. The computer has been freezing up, crashing, and the internet is going haywire. Luckily, I should be able to comment fine tomorrow because I’ll be going back to my mom’s, so I can use my ‘08 iMac. So I’m really sorry about posting late, but due to unforeseen circumstances out of my control this was unavoidable.

So moving on to the discussion. Since this is the last post, I think I’m going to give my group a present and make this short, sweet and to the point (plus, I want to get this done in case the computer decides to throw a fit). Chapters 8 and 9 act as the conclusion to the book. Chapter 8 wraps up everything that happened in the few previous chapters, while 9 summarizes what little we have learned about Gatsby and Nick.

In Chapter 8, we learn about how Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship, but that’s not the part that I really wanted to talk about. The thing I’d really like to mention is Gatsby’s death/murder. This was a really interesting twist put on the story. Throughout the whole thing, I have seen Gatsby as the protagonist. And normally, the protagonists don’t die. So I for one was not expecting that. But when you think about it, everything that we’ve learned about Gatsby’s past and his actions thus far in the book have been leading up to this point (which would be why I called it the conclusion). This brings me to the first thing I would like everyone to answer. I want everyone to look back on every single thing that has happened throughout the book and create a list of events that caused Gatsby’s death. For example, Gatsby taking the blame for hitting Myrtle would be one of the final contributors in the list. Please, please, include chapter or page numbers if possible.

The second thing that I’d like to talk about is Gatsby’s funeral. Nick is placed in charge even though barely knew Gatsby. Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t the closest friends and/or family supposed to arrange the funeral? As we see in Chapter 9, Nick has a hard time finding anyone to come to the funeral and in the end barely anyone shows up. Even though hundreds of people have gone to Gatsby’s parties (most without being invited) none of them bothered showing up for his funeral. Question: What does this show about society today? Even though this isn’t a question I want answered, here’s something to think about – how is Nick’s personality reflected in the way he prepares for Gatsby’s funeral?

And that’s all I’m writing for today. But as a closing question, I’d like it if you guys could tell me what you think about the book. Did you like it or not? OK, now I am officially done. You guys don’t have to read anymore of my posts!

Erin B

Chapter 5:

In this chapter Nick is on his way home from a date with Jourdan when Gastby surprises him by coming up behind him. Gatsby starts offering Nick all of this stuff because he wants Nick to agree to his Daisy plan. (Inviting her over for tea.) Nick says yes and Gastby is overjoyed. The meeting ends up being very awkward at first, but after Nick leaves for a little while he comes back and finds them overly happy.

Chapter 6:

In this chapter reporters come to Gatsby’s mansion and Nick tells them the truth about Gatsby’s early life. Tom is suspicious about the fact that Daisy is always visiting Gasby alone. He invites Gatsby over for dinner and Gatsby agrees to go. Then, Tom and Daisy come to one of Gatsby’s parties and Gatsby is upset because he thinks that Daisy has not had a good time. He wants it to be like it was when they first met.

Chapter 7:

In this chapter Gatsby fires all his servents and stops having his parties. The only reason he had them in the first place was to attract Daisy to his house. His love for her is taking up all of his time and he can’t think about anything else. During an awkward lunch meeting at Tom and Daisy’s house in East Egg, Tom sees the way Gatsby gazes at Daisy and is sure that they love each other. There is a confrontation between Tom and Gatsby and Daisy ends up going back to Gatsby’s mansion with him. Tom is okay with this because he wants to prove it will not hurt him.

*Do you think this plan of Nick’s will work? Will Daisy and Gatsby end up together, or will she stay with Tom?

*As she watches the conflict between Gatsby and Tom Daisy is leaning a little towards being on Tom’s side. What does this show?

Words:

Contemptuous- This means to show or express contempt or disdain. I picked this word because I have always thought I knew what it meant but I was not sure.

Ineffable- This means unable to be expressed with words. I chose this because it looked interesting.

Ramifications- The act of ramifying. I picked this word because it looked interesting.

Alyssa

LAST POST!!!!!!!

Honestly, this was the hardest part of the story to connect to real life. Thankfully, after talking to my sister who works on an army base, I have decided to connect this last part of the book to an anxiety disorder associated with soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD.

PTSD occurs after someone undergoes extreme traumatic stress and causes  psycohlogical and sometimes physical damage. In the case of sodiers returning from war, they have gone through being shot at or being wounded, they’ve witnessed people dying around them, and they have possibly killed people themselves. When they return home, back to a “normal life”, little things that used to seem trivial can remind them of those moments when they’re own traumatic stress was at its peak. This can make them feel alienated from their friends and family, make them want to be alone most of their time, and depending on the magnitude of their disorder, can make them suicidal.

To me, John Grady has some form of PTSD. He’s gone through the same traumatic events as sodiers; he’s witnessed murders, been wounded, killed someone else, and he’s gone through the emotional pain of losing Alejandra. He also tells the judge that he’s being tormented by the fact that he killed the assassin in the jail where he and Rawlins were held. Finally, after being home for a while and talking to Rawlins, he realizes that he can’t stay in San Angelo anymore; he feels alienated and leaves alone on horseback, not sure himself of where he’s going.

What is going to happen to John Grady now? Is he going to go the way of some soldiers, become suicidal and all that? Or will he somehow find peace during his time alone? Do you think he will ever find his true home and gain the happiness his life once had? Feel free to throw in your own ideas!!

Chapter 10- The Palace of Green Porcelain

• The Time Traveler and Weena go to a ruined museum
• He is very interested in some of the exhibits others he is not
• The time traveler hears the sound of morlocks in the darkness
• He breaks a lever off on of the exhibits and runs out of the museum with wenna.
• He realizes that they still do not have a shelter, but he doesn’t think much of it because he has weapons against the morlocks.

Chapter 11-In the Darkness of the Forest

• His plan was to go to the white sphinx statue, but then he decided to go through the woods then he was going to go as far as possible and then build a large fire.
• They were both growing ver tired as the day dragged on
• As they got closer to the woods they could hear morlocks behind them.
• They were now surrounded by the morclocks so the time traveler quickly started a fire and  and went to sleep feeling safe
• He wakes up to feel morlocks grabbing him
• He grabs his lever and swings wildly killing a  few morlocks
• The small fire he had made is now a huge forest fire and he cannot find weena
• He runs after the morlocks hoping they will lead him to safety
• He heads toward the hiding place of the time machine

Chapter 12- The Trap of the White Sphinx

• When he reaches the white sphinx statue he realizes that the pedestal was open
• He walks into the pedestal knowing that the door would close behind him and morlocks would attack him, but he thought he would strike a match until he got in there he had nothing to strike it against
• He gets on the saddle of the time machine and screws in the lever he pushes the lever and goes off into the future

Chapter 13- The further Vision

• Although the time traveler is traveling hundreds of years per second he sees day and night and notices a change in the sun it is now larger and redder
• He brings the time machine to a stop. He is on a beach there is vegetation on everything
• He sees a crap and feels another one behind him
• He quickly goes a month into the future. He finds the beach has more crabs. Then, he goes on even farther.
• He stops every hundred years or so looking at how everything is changing. He finally stops 30 million years into the future.
• There is small snow flakes in the air and eclipse is starting to cover the sun there is barely any animal life.
• He climbs back onto the time machine and goes back in time. He stops the machine when he is in the laboratory, his guests are in the dinning room.
• The time machine was moved to a different end of the laboratory which was the distance from the his little lawn to the pedestal of the white sphinx
• He tells the men the story.

Chapter 14- After the Time Traveler’s Story

• The narrator is now one of the men in the room like it was in the beginning of the story
• The guests do not believe the time traveler’s story.
• The time traveler prepared for another journey
• He said he would be gone half an hour, but that was three years ago the time traveler has not been seen since

Questions:

1. Why do you think the author changes the narrator in the story

2. What do you think happened to the time traveler?

3.Do you think he will ever come back?

4. What did you think of the ending?

Word to know:

credible- believable- they do not believe the time traveler’s story

hoax- a joke/ tick- this is what they think the time traveler is doing to them

eluded-escaped- the time traveler escaped the morlocks

begrimed- dirty-the time traveler was very dirty when he came back because of all that he has been through

portal- doorway- the time traveler went in to doorway of the white sphinx statue

This post is going to be very short due to the fact that Gatsby was only in the one chapter before the twist of the story. 

Before I get to my point I need to give some back round on Chapter 8.  In this chapter Mr. Wilson ( the husband of the dead Myrtle) wants to find who killed his wife.  He remembers seeing a car that looked like one Tom would know the owner of.  Wilson finds out that it was Gatsby’s car and thinks that Gatsby killed Myrtle and that Gatsby was the one having an affair with Myrtle.  While this is happening Gatsby tells Nick that he has never used his pool and as going to go for a swim in it.  Nick leaves and Gatsby is alone.  Mr. Wilson goes to Gatsby’s house and shots him.  Wilson then shots himself. 

My point, Gatsby’s emotions in the beginning and the end were both the same.  He stated out feeling upset and lonely without Daisy and that is the exact same way how he felt when he died.  There was a time in the middle where he was happy.

Questions:

1) How do you think Gatsby was feeling at the end before his death?  (your opinion)

2) Do you think Daisy felt at all guilty for Gatsby’s death?

~Lauren Gress~

I am going to be honest with you guys because I wasn’t sure if Denn could actually win the Big Deal, I was holding my breath in those last couple pages…

Denn- A poker player who has been though it all: Heartache, starvation, sleeps deprivation, wins, loses, and encounters with bad people.  Throughout the book we have gotten to known Denn and see him grow as a person.  Denn use to read people and learn their signs for when they had a good or bad set of cards he has learned that using that method doesn’t always work and now thinks twice before he make a move.  Denn is a smart person and even though he made be wasting his money away it doesn’t matter because people do what they have to do in life. 

Did you honestly think Denn was going to win the tournament?  If you had your doubts what were they and why? 

Cattie- This girl was very confusing to us at the beginning of the book and we didn’t know if she was on the good side or bad side of Denn’s situation.  Cattie Hart is a poker dealer who grew up with a slut for a mother and learned how to make money herself and get what she needed in life.  Cattie Hart originally tricked Denn into a poker game with Morty and Frisk but in the end she helps Denn win the most money he has ever had. 

What reaction did you have when you read Cattie had come back to the Big Deal wearing Denn’s gold necklace? And why? 

Who do you think Cattie was helping more during the tournament Artie or Denn? Why?

Artie- The man with all the money during the poker tournament until Denn wins it all from him after a chip mix up.  Artie thought he could win his own tournament but by then end of the night he was breaking his own rules and giving up quickly.  When Cattie was dealing his table she was suppose to help him win but Cattie ended up making him lose and was sent away from his table and sat out the rest of the tournament.  Did Artie have this bad luck coming for him?  Is karma part of it? 

After Denn won the Big Deal what do you predict happened to Artie?

Morty- This guy is a friend of Arties and helped out in the first set-up Denn was a part of.  In the last chapter he has to call a shot for Denn or Artie and he picks Denn, this was very shocking!  There weren’t that many people around and Morty was suppose to help Artie, what do you think happened to make Morty choose to play fair?  This is unusual considering what we know about his character.

Jimbo- The main “narrator” throughout the story.  He also played in the Big Deal tournament and went pretty far but left his table before the last few rounds started.  We also had our doubts about Jimbo while reading the story but in the end Jimbo was just one of Denn’s friends trying to help him out.

Who was who?

What character completely changed from who they were at the beginning of the book to who they were at the end?

Who spoke Spanish over the phone with Denn?

What characters played at Lucy Lou’s?

Who drives a Lincoln Navigator?

Who drives a Camaro?

Who was your favorite character? WHY?

Who was your least favorite character? WHY?

To start things off I would like to say, ” FINAL POST!!!! WAHOOOO!!!” Now, I insist that everybody who is reading this should have a little party of their own, just like I did.  Alright, now I guess I should write about something that I am supposed to write about. =]

In the last section of the book the frenzy, I talked about earlier, has seemed to have reached its climax and then ended.  In the previous section the Time Traveler only had the want to kill the Morlocks, but now he has.

“I struggled up, shaking off these human rats from me, and then holding the bar short, I thrust where I judged their faces might be.  I could feel the succulent giving of flesh and bone under my blows, and for a moment I was free…  I determined to make the Morlocks pay for their meat.  I stood with my back to a tree swinging the iron bar before me.  The whole wood was full of the stir and cries of them.”

This extreme change I believe is caused by three things.  It is my opinion that the most obvious reason is that the threat of his own life is in play.  In this view his actions are like a defense.  Another reason is probably because he is homesick, and can not stand the Morlocks tricks anymore.  All he wants is to retrieve the time machine and go home.  The final thing that may have changed things for the Time Traveler is the disappearance of Weena.  The way this is described you can assume that she is dead, either by fire or the Morlocks.  The Time Traveler really cared for her so this may have resulted in the Time Travelers change.  Whatever the reason may have been the Time Traveler’s mental state seems to have snapped, at least for that moment, in time.

What is also interesting is how easily the Time Traveler seems to go back to his normal (or at least as normal as he gets) self.  This happens pretty much as soon as he gets back home.   Most people, after a traumatic experiance do not recover this easily.

The final thing that I would like to point out is the reactions of the Time Traveler’s guests and then the responses followed by the Time Traveler.  After telling this grand story known of his guests believe him that it is true.  They believe that it was in fact just a story.  The odd thing is that the Time Traveler even has a hard time convincing himself that the events had actually occurred.

” I’m d-d if it isn’t all going.  This room and you and the atmosphere of everyday is too much for my memory.  Did I ever make a time machine, or a model of a time machine, or is it all only a dream? They say life is a dream, a precious porr dream at times- but I can’t stand another that won’t fit.  It’s madness.  And where did the dream come from?… It’s alright now.  The story I told you was true.”

Here are my questions as usual:

1.  What do you believe is the main reason for the character’s frenzy?

2.  Would you have snapped in this situation, or would you have stayed cool and thought rationaly?

3.  Do you think that the Time Traveler did infact time travel or was it just a story?

4.  If you were one of the people hearing the story would you believe the Time Travler?

and just for fun…

If you were to be the person to have created a time machine where would you want to travel to?  Tell of your adventures and what you see.  Be creative.

♥☺Last post ☺♥

Now that we are done with the book I’ll give a summary of the previous sections along with the summary of this section.

The story started when Kathy got evicted from her house, and it just happened that the other main character Behrani bought the house at an auction. Things were not going so well for Kathy, she w as trying to get her house back and while doing that she got threatened by Behrani. She also met Lester who fell in love with her even though he had a wife and kids. Kathy tried to kill herself, but Behrani stopped her. He took her back to her house and she tried to kill herself yet again. Lester comes to the house and takes the family hostage. He orders Behrani to give the house back to Kathy.

In the last section Lester takes Behrani and Esmail into town to sign the house over to Kathy. While they’re walking down the street Email grabs Lester’s gun, not knowing it was unloaded, and pointed it at Lester.  People started to gather and Lester fought Behrani to the ground. Someone called the cops. As the cops came they saw Esmail with the gun and they shoot him 2 times, one in the chest and another in the leg. They arrest Behrani because they think he is the cause of this, but because they know that Lester was a cop they take him in too. They question Lester and he tells them everything about what has happened. He is arrested and sent to Jail. They let Behrani go, and he goes to the hospital to see is son, but when he gets there he is told that his son is dead. Behrani was very upset. He goes home and strangles Kathy (she didn’t die) and his wife. He leaves a note to his daughter because he is going to suffocate himself. Someone found Kathy and took her to the hospital. When she wakes up there is a police officer there to arrest her. She has someone call Connie Walsh and she tells Kathy everything that happened. She is then sent to jail.

Questions:

1.      Since we’re finished with the book, overall what did you think of it?

2.      Why do you think that the author of this book decided to kill Esmail first?

3.      Do you think that police need to learn the facts before they arrest someone, because in this Behrani was innocent and he got arrested.

4.      Do you think that Behrani’s decision t kill everyone was the right decision?

5.      Do you think that Kathy should have been arrested; it was Lester who started this, she was just confused and sad and wanted her house back?

Okay, so as you all know, this is the last Dracula blog. All I have to say is even though it had its tedious times, Dracula was a book worth the read!

Now my passage for the last blog comes from the chapter twenty-three from paragraph four. It is words of a conversation between Harker and Van Helsing (also known as “The Professor”…). With Harker starting, here it goes:

Harker groaned and said, “And this is all arrayed against my darling! But how is he experimenting? The knowledge may help us to defeat him!”

“He has all along, since his coming, been trying his power, slowly but surely; that big child-brain of his is working. Well for us, it is, as yet, a child-brain; for had he dared, at the first, to attempt certain things he would long ago have been beyond our power. However, he means to succeed, and a man who has centuries before him can afford to wait and go slow. Festina lente may well be his motto.”

My first question for you is: how does this paragraph turn Dracula from a powerful monster to a simple id? Why?

The second is: Why do you think that the author, Bram Stoker, sought to insert this information into the readers’ (our) minds? Does he have a motive or just trying to add interest to the story?

My final question is: What does the phrase Festina lente mean and why is it a good motto for Dracula?

There is my LAST Dracula blog for you!

-Jenni Kantor