Mr_Shank

Okay, this is our final post for Dracula. Shank has this idea that we’re doing another book, but I doubt it. Anyway, here are my final set of questions:

1. There comes a time in the story when Van Helsing is not able to hypnotize Mina. Obviously, it’s because she is becoming more of a vampire. What I want to know is your theories on the details. In other words, do you think that there is a certain part of being a vampire that prevents it? An example would be maybe because they are not really alive. What are your theories?

2. Why do you think that Dracula killed Renfield instead of turning him into a vampire? Explain.

3. What are your opinions on the ending?

4. If you could change the ending, how would you change it?

Now, we all need to start working on the RESEARCH PAPER!!!

-Brandon

This had to be one of the best books I have ever read.  I was a little disappointed with the ending.  I wish we learned what happened to Denn.  Did he beat Artie, or did he lose?  What do you guys think of this book and its ending?

“I got some advice for you, sweetie.  Take that ten grand I gave you and use it to buy yourself a ticket to Alaska.” (Pg.158)  This is said by Morty to Cattie.  Morty says this because Cattie gives Artie bad cards.  This shows how powerful Artie is.  You guys know that he does anything to get people back.  He took all of Denn’s money because Denn beat him in poker.  Who goes that far to get someone back?  This takes me to why Cattie did this.  Cattie did not give Artie the cards.  This either means she hates Artie or likes Denn.  What do you guys think about this?  I believe that this is her love for Denn.  First she gives him 10 G’s to get into the “Big Deal”, and now she stops helping Artie from winning.  She even gives Denn a couple cards while she was dealing at his table.  Next I would like to talk about Artie’s poker skills.  They must not be to good if he always is cheating.  This makes me very mad.  He barley has any poker skills, but he still wins because he knows people.  I wounder if Vegas is actually like this.  Can people win because of there money?  In this story this was very true.

“All-In” (Pg. 174).  These were the last words said by Denn in this novel.  These are the words that left us thinking “did Denn win?”  He was in the final of the big deal.  Denn only had a thousand chips left.  He called Artie, who had 999,000 chips.  Even if Denn would have won he wouldn’t have enough chips to cover the blind.  This was a great way for the author to keep the reader thinking.  This whole story has built up to this moment.  And now we learn that it is up to us, the reader to decide.  Did you guys like this cliffhanging ending?  Why or why not?  Also, in your mind did Denn win or lose?

-Julian Garcia

Sorry again, everyone, for not having my book last week and not blogging. Also, thanks for responding to me now.

Chapter 20 [Denn]:
The scene began with Denn sitting at a table in the Bellagio, playing a wimpy $6-$12 game. Cattie kept crossing his mind, causing him to lose his focus. The game got somewhat intense when the Hispanic woman and the man with the Twins cap started to play smart. Noticing that he was going to lose, Denn decided to fold and walk out.

Chapter 21 [Cattie]:
During this chapter Cattie reflects upon her mother and all of her mothers’ horrible and disgusting habbits. She explains how her father had left her and her mother. She also goes on into detail about her mother, saying that she has about 3-4 new boyfriends every week. She also says that her mother is a gold digger. Do you think that this could be how Cattie ends up? Lastly, the chapter ends showing that while Cattie was reflecting about her mother, she was out to dinner with the grey haired man.

Chapter 22 [Denn]:
Denn had come to King’s Crossing to look for Cattie. He had asked the man at the bar, Harley, but he said he had never heard of Cattie. Frustrated and not wanting to talk to the man anymore, Denn sits down at a $15-$30 holdem seat.

Chapter 23 [Cattie]:
Cattie had realized the idea that the grey haired man most likely only wanted Cattie to mess with Denn, and possibly to mess around with sexually. Creepily, the grey haired man tries to convince Cattie into coming back to his house. She declines multiple times. The man then gets a phone call, and takes Cattie and himself to King’s Crossing. Cattie tries to leave, but he insists that she stay. Why did you think that he wanted Cattie to stay? What all do you think the man wants from Cattie? Also, what do you think the man meant when he asked Cattie if she was “cold”, since he said he wasn’t talking about the weather?

Chapter 24 [Denn]:
Denn continued playing his $15-$30 game when he spotted Cattie out of the corner of his eye. He noticed that she was with a grey haired man, and he followed the two into the lounge. When he walked up to the table, he found Cattie there, and discovered that the grey haired man had been Artie Kingston, the man he has won the resturant from. After you guys had read this part, what did you think about this whole situation (do you think the phone call was from someone that was spying on Denn?)

Chapter 25 [Cattie]:
Cattie had sat back in her chair while watching Denn and Artie converse. She could see how Artie was mocking Denn and how Denn was taking it. She started to stand up, but again Artie grabbed her and stopped her. When she finally got free she grabbed her purse and stormed away. Why do you think she removed herself from the situation so quickly?

Chapter 26 [Denn]:
Denn continues to talk to Artie in this chapter. Artie says that he knows that Cattie likes Denn. Denn likes this. Yet Artie continues to shoot Denn down with puns, and he informs Denn of all his victories and reminds Denn of all his failures. Artie tells Denn that he is too easy, and that he can’t be in love and play poker. He also confesses that he is the one behind all of Denn’s losings. Why do you think Artie wanted to get back at Denn? I think that Artie is a very suspicious character.

Chapter 27 [Jimbo]:
Here Jimbo, our narrator, tells us that when you’re in the poker business you should be careful picking your friends. He also tells us stories of how he lent money to some of his friends, but only reasonably. Denn had approached him and made small talk, leading up to the question if Jimbo would lend him some money. Jimbo shamefully declined, and Denn could tell that Jimbo was lying when he said he didn’t have the money. Why didn’t Jimbo want to help Denn out?

Chapter 28 [Cattie]:
Here Cattie thinks about her mother again. Could this signify something? She also was thinking about Denn a lot. She commented on her lazy lifestyle, with an ‘i hate myself’ tone.

Chapter 29 [Denn]:
Denn was in the Mirage, walking around, thinking. He had stopped by and watched a few games. He came across one that had a beefy man playing intensly. The man had overall won more than $50,000, and the game wasn’t over. After a while of watching, Denn laid down his wad of cash and joined the game. Do you think this was a good idea of Denn’s? Or could this be another mistake he is being sucked into by Artie?

Truthfully I really had not found any words that we haven’t came across before, and all of the poker terms have been defined. Let me know if you need anything clarified!

Thanks again guys for cooperating with me and blogging now!

-Leah Sevco

Okay well, Shank, it would be much better if you made the blogs due during the week so less people forget to do it.

So… Lets get this discussion going! So guys, how do you feel about Dr. Henry? What does Dr. Henry wanting Paul to choose a career with alot of money say about his character. Does it make him a lesser man for pushing Paul away from a career in music? Also, why do you think Dr. Henry wanted Phoebe and Paul to meet? Finally, if Dr. Henry knew that Norah had had an affair, why is he so okay with it?

Well, in this section of the book we start to see more of the Morlocks and figure out some key differences between the Eloi and the Morlocks. Some of the differences would be as follows. We see that the Morlocks are nocturnal and the Eloi aren’t, also the Morlocks are carnivores and the Eloi are strict herbivores, and also the Eloi are more layed back and relaxed and the Morlocks are more violent. So now that I have already recapped what you all already know, I will now get to the stuff that I’m supposed to be blogging about.

In this section of the book we start to see more of the Time Traveller’s extremely interrogative attitude. I do realize that I’m restating what I’ve already said in my prior blog, but now after reading this portion of the book I’m starting to see more of this than before. The most likely reason for this would be that now he is finding the deeper, more complex parts of the lives of the Morlocks and the Eloi and because of this he is trying to link it to the life that he knew before. The interesting thing about his curious attitude is that he realizes that all of his predictions are most likely incorrect, which is odd because even he realizes the fact that he is exceedingly intelligent. So my question for you is, do you think that the reason why the time traveller second guesses himself? Could this be because he doubts how smart he is, and if he is as smart as he can be? Please give me your input.

Now I would like to ask what you think about the two species, the Morlocks and the Eloi. Now that you have learned more about the Morlocks and the Eloi, what do you think of the species? Do you think that the theory that the Time Traveller has thought up is close to accurate? Now that we’ve seen that the Morlocks seem to be more violent do you think that this way of evolution is more likely than the Eloi because of the violence in the nature of every human? Now I would like to ask you, if you could think up a form of evolution for mankind in the year that the book takes place, could you tell me? (this is simply for amusement, and to see how your ideas on the future would differ from H.G. Wells’, and what that shows of your personality and morals.)

I was lol’ing pretty hard at Lacrosse earlier when Kody Bell mentioned Blogs.  Woops, forgot about that one.  Anyway, it looks like most people forgot to Blog this weekend anyway.  There were only three pages of blogs as compared to the normal  6.  I was worried, but the Lacrosse team won, JV and Varsity, so I figured it would all work out.  Ok.  On to Bloggin…

Due the scarcity of characters that can be examined, I am going to reinspect Anil.  In this section, Anil continues to struggle with the genocide taking place in Sri Lanka.  Sarath has not yet betrayed her, so I guess my predictions about him were wrong.  Anil and Sarath travelled all over to try and reconstruct Sailors face.   Once his face was reconstructed, Anil seems to gain some of the confidence that she lost through the whole searching process.  Anil started off strong, with a strong will to find Sailor’s killer.  She still has that drive for justice, the endless killing and civil war of Sri Lanka is begins to take its toll on her.  I am begining to wonder wether Anil will be able to continue to suffer through the horrors that she has been routinely witnessing.  Then again, this is a book, and like I always say, in a book something has to happen.  Anil will most likely be fine, and able to continue.  She and Sarath will find Sailors killer, because the book needs a purpose.  My question for y’all is which life do you think Anil perferred, her old life in Sri Lanka, or her life in America.  Throughout this section there are suggestions that Anil liked it at her home.  What do you guys think?

Brian Wawrzyniak

okay well im going to start with chapter 5 because we all read to different spots last time

•      At the start of this chapter the time traveler is examining this future world and its people. He comes up with this idea of communism.

                                     How does communism represent how society of the Elio function?

• The time traveler finds out that the time machine has been moved and is in a frenzy. He wakes up some of the creatures and  scares them but eventually calms down and reasons with them on where the machine may be.
• In the morning  the time traveler believes the machine may be in the statue. He asks the creatures how to open it but he gets weird reactions. He decides to be patient
• The time traveler rescues a creature in the river. Her name is Weena, they immediately become friends.
• In the morning he sees a new kind of creature, a “morlock.”
• These new creatures live underground and can only come out at night. They are ape like creatures.

• The time traveler decides he needs to enter the morlock’s world to be able to find the time machine
• The time traveler goes down a well and gets frightened by morlocks , but all he has to do is alight a match to get them to go away. They are afraid of light.
• He gets attacked by morlocks and barely escapes.
• After his experiences with the morlocks he trys to come up with new theories about this future world.
• His new theory is that the morlocks were forced underground by ancestors of the Eloi, but the Eloi have grow weak and so the morlocks are gaining power back.
• The time traveler believes that both the Eloi and the Morlocks are what has become of man.
• The time traveler and weena try to find a safe place to sleep that night because the time traveler fears he has upset the morlocks.

                        Do you think after the time travelers experience that he will try to go into the morlock’s world again?

• The Time traveler and Weena go to the Palace of Green Porclin which is a actually a ruined museum.
• He gets some matches and camphor and runs out.
• He hears morlocks. He quickly breaks off a lever off of a machine and him and weena exit the museum.

words to know:

rotundity- roundness

cupola- a rounded roof

transitory- temorary

ameliorating-improving

intervention-interference

stolid- sow to react

repugnance-loathing

monomania- extreme anxiety concerning one thing

undulating- rolling

sepulcher-tomb or grave

subterraneous-under the surface of the earth

apprehension- fear

nocturnal- active at night

spectral-ghostly

inferred-reasoned

deliquesced- melted away

Colin Easter

The beginning of this week’s reading provided an interesting possibility as to the location of the future events and how they came to be.  On page 52, the time traveller says, “All the old constellations had gone from the sky, however: that slow movement which is imperceptible in a hundred human lifetimes, had long since rearranged them in unfamiliar groupings.”  Since all of these stars have moved far away, the earth must have moved also.  The time traveller also says, “And amid all these scintillating points of light one bright planet shone kindly and steadily like the face of an old friend.”  The time traveller doesn’t say anything more about this planet.  However, I think that it is earth.  The time machine stops in the location that it starts.  The time traveller made this clear by telling us how he worried about stopping inside a solid object.  If the location stays the same and the earth moves around the sun, the time machine probably wouldn’t land on earth.  The time traveller landed on a different planet in the future.  This society could have been formed as a space colony.  This would explain the underground ventilation system.  It could also explain the war between the Eloi and the Morlocks.  If they lost communication with earth, they could have fought against each other if they were from different countries.  The similar locations of the rivers that the time traveller mentions would be a coincidence.  The same rivers wouldn’t be there after around 800,000 years, would they?  The museum could be a collection of fossils that they brought from earth, showing how the colony could preserve things (the fossils would have to be extremely old by then).   What do you think of this possibility that they are on a different planet than earth?  Is there any more evidence supporting it?  Is there any evidence against it?

Ok, recap of section 1; Kathy losses her house to the county and Behrani buys it. Kathy’s husband left her, and Behrani quit is second job. Behrani finds Kathy talking to his wife, and he threatens her. Lester impersonates a cop to try to get Kathy’s house back. Kathy tries to kill herself, but Behrani finds her.

So in the section we have just read we learn that Behrani takes Kathy to his house and his wife cares for her. They leave her to take a shower and get cleaned up, but after a period of time she still hasn’t come out so they go to check on her. They find her lying in the tub unconscious from overdosing on some pills. Soon after that Lester comes and hold the family hostage in their house because he saw Kathy’s car parked at their house when she was suppose to be at the cabin with Lester. The family gets locked in the bathroom for some time. Kathy wakes-up to find that the family is locked in the bathroom and that Lester is also there. Behrani persuades Lester to let them out to eat, but then Lester makes Behrani call the county so he can sell it back to them in order for Kathy to get the house back.

Questions:

1.      Do you think that Kathy will ever stop trying to kill herself because she has already tried                  2 times one at her old house with Behrani and his family there?

2.      Do you think that Lester should get some type of legal action taken against him for holding the family hostage?

3.      Should Behrani sell the house back to the county that is if he wasn’t being forced by Lester?

4.      Do you think that after all that has happened Kathy will still love Lester? Should she still love Lester in your opinion?

5.      Do you think that Kathy should just forget about that house and find a new one?