invitation

dear class of 2007:

the 2008 ap english class officially invites you to participate on their blog. it seems that perhaps the two blogs are linked so that should make it easy.

c.

Last quarter... vamo q vamo agora hein! Keep your heads up, ppl... it's almost over! :)

great site on the history of catharsis

http://etext.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-36

Thoughts from my bookclub book: The Life of Pi (Yann Martel) Harcourt, 2001, Orlando.

"What you don't realize is that we are a strange and forbidding species to wild animals. We fill them with fear. They avoid us as much as possible. It took centuries to still the fear in some pliable animals--domestication it's called--but most cannot get over their fear, and I doubt they ever will. When wild animals fight us, it is out of sheer desperation. They fight when they feel they have no other way out. It's a very last resort" (373) Any insights from this into Cathy?

"The world isn't just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no? And in understanding something, we bring something to it, no? Doesn't that make life a story?" (380) Any thoughts?

"I wished for her anger. I wished for her to punish me. Only not this silence" (386). A bit how Cal feels...

"Then we fought and I killed him. He had no expression on his face, neither of despair nor of anger, neither of fear nor of pain. He gave up. He let himself be killed, though it was still a struggle. He knew he had gone too far, even by his bestial standards. He had gone too far and now he didn't want to go on living any more. But he said 'I'm sorry.' Why do we cling to our evil ways?" Cathy?

"Do you think I want to be human?
Look at those pictures! I'd rather be an animal than a human," said
Cathy.

Does she get to the point that she has gone too far even for her bestial standards and is it at that point that she spares Adam and commits suicide? There is no catharsis, but there does seem to be a recognition that she has gone too far even for herself...

Just some thoughts...it seems that I have been unable to turn East of Eden off no matter what I am doing, reading, thinking, breathing, etc....

C.

One more week to go...

Hey people... Wow, one more week to go until we hand in term paper on the 30th of March. And most of East of Eden (at least the term paper part) will be over... (Btw, cool lil' image I put up there on the right, huh? hehe) The month is soon coming to an end, along with our semester, and soon we'll be graduating. I know this is a sad, sad subject... but it's something we can't keep pushing away or else it'll be much harder once the months of June and July creep by. To end on a happier note... I pray that we all make the most of the time given to us, and not let anything get in the way of it.. Haha, right Tim? Anyway... I guess that's all I wanted to say for my journal entry this week.


Toodles,


Tiffany<3333*

P.s.: I finally took the time to do some things to our dear AP-licious blog, hehe. I'll change it soon... I just wanted to give it a certain philosophical touch since we're doing our term papers, haha... Enjoy! ;)

P.s.#2: Something else I noticed... our blog doesn't know how to count! Because percebi que it usually says stuff like "1 Comments," hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. I drank too much coffee today.

Late Source

So i felt bad cuz i haven't put any sources on here yet, so here's one that's been pretty helpful to me.....it's http://www.steinbeck.org/eastofeden it's the national steinbeck center, bunch of info on him, his life, his works, and all that good stuff..........oh ya, btw....since i haven't been on here in forever, austin the answer to who plays Cal in the movie is JAMES DEAN MY COUSIN!!! and i should get a prize cuz when angie answered she couldnt' remember the name till i told her.......hehehe, all right everybody, hope u all got ur rough draft turned in on time, ill talk to u all later............
ps. I MISS U TOO AUSTIN!!!!!!!!!!!! i heard u guys won 1st at the tourney!! THAT'S AWESOME!!!!!, can't wait to c-u on monday, peace out homey- Michael J. Roome #7

thank u

thanx 4 the tips pete... i love u too... i miss u all!!!!!!! im having a gr8 time here!!! i'll give details when next we meet...
austin over and out...

i found a site, too... HEY AUSTIN!!!

i miss you austin.

ok, this one has names of books on steinbeck, may help, may not... just a list for those who need books...:

http://www.steinbeck.sjsu.edu/
biography/furtherreading.jsp

2 lines... hopefully it'll fit... not like aus's problem....
oh- the hyperlink doesn't seem to work for me, so copy-paste...

and i found the name of a book that is about all his themes and his beliefs shown in his works... google it to see more info:
Beyond Boundaries: Rereading John Steinbeck
maybe there's something like a quote from it on the net...
it has stuff like how he sees women and men, some stuff about some of his books...
brief summary of it on:
http://www.bibliovault.org/BV.book.epl?BookId=2980

peace out, and get your roughs done.

i love you aus.

well... im in chile...

hey guys... im in chile now... doing my civic duty as a knowledge bowl student... there was a question on east of eden that we got rite!! yay ap!!!!!! so... does anyone know the answer to this question??
who played cal trask in the film adaptation of east of eden????
hint: mike... u'll know this...
peace out...
austin

another great site...

http://webpages.charter.net/thejacowskis/eden/
on this site u can click on the links to discussion on parts 1, 2, 3 or 4... depending on which part of the book u wish to find information on...
austin... again

nope... lets try typing it out separately...
http://www.oprah.com/
obc_classic/
featbook/
eastofeden/
novel/
eoe_novel_timshel.jhtml

thats the url... u'll probably have to type it out separately...
austin... sorry bout the previous failed posts...

http://www.oprah.com/obc_classic/featbook/eastofeden/novel/eoe_novel_timshel.jhtml
there... maybe that'll fit this time...

helpful site for timshel and choice ppl

kk guys... for all of u who r doing theses on timshel and choice... go to this site... http://www.oprah.com/obc_classic/featbook/eastofeden/novel/eoe_novel_timshel.jhtml
so yeah... it's a good source... from oprah's book discussion of east of eden... it doesnt have a ton of stuff... but for those of u who r like me and r desperately looking for sources... its worth a visit...
austin

Blessing???

Okay...So I can´t seem to get the whole idea of whether receiving a blessing or not can influence the outcome of a person´s life. I look at Cal in the end of the book and it seems as if receiving the blessing from his father is one of if not THE most important points in his being able to receive grace and move on...Then I look at Cathy´s life and wonder if not receiving a blessing made a difference in her life...and what exactly does it mean to receive a blessing...Cathy had parents who loved her...was the fact that they may not have known how to love or give her the love she needed a hindrance...then I was reading Sarah´s first three pages and I thought about whether Adam had blessed her life by accepting her despite her past, but then it seems not as Sarah goes on to show how Adam builds his own view of her-makes her into the woman that he wants her to be. Thus, he doesn´t really bless Cathy, not the REAL Cathy, only the person that he has tried to make her be..It seems that it is only in the end with Cal that Adam learns how to truly bless...Just some thoughts....
C.

mike - what is your thesis?

i thought mike had a thesis to do with truth and falsehood (it may still be that, but cathy is just an example...) because i was looking for stuff to back up my thesis (cal's catharsis) and i ran across a lot on truth and believing vs. knowing... if anyone needs stuff like that...

in mike/carps/my version (penguin classics):
p. 447 Lee says "you may dislike me for knowing the truth" - that page also has bunches about not blaming the present on the past... lee trusting in cal...

p. 448 "Cal didn't hate the lie but the necessity for telling it. Cal lied for reasons of profit of one kind or another. To be driven to a lie seemed shameful to him" after adam lied about the scar.

p. 450 "It is one of the triumphs of the human that he can know a thing and still not believe it" very interresting - but i wouldn't consider that a triumph, but a weakness.

something i found on cathy:
p. 462 - 463 she likes taking people off-guard and taking control of every situation. "they thought they were so smart....they looked at me and thought they knew me. and i fooled them. i fooled every one of them..... he tried to tie me down... ....but nobody can hold me..... nobody can trap me...." then when cal asks her if she missed anything as a kid, she changes the subject, "what am i doing, talking to kids?" showing she's intimidated.

just some stuff to think about.
so think about it, even if it's not in your thesis.
oh, and if you don't have a broken arm, write for the post.
thanks.

peter.
remember GOD.