Mother Earth

2 strikes!

I must be honest and say that I did not understand this article. It spoke about the language Mark Twain used in the book "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." From what I understood, the people who were analyzing the book and who wrote or took part in the creation of this article think that the voice Twain used was not his own. Along with the many other arguments and convictions held towards Twain's use of inappropriate language, this is a valid but useless argument. If some scholars do not agree with the book, then they do not have to read it. Teachers should be able to teach the book without a problem; afterall, history books also give detailed explanations and examples of how life was for the african americans in that era.

The people who analyzed the book do have a point and I agree with them completely, but this book is a classic for a reason and they cannot simply change it just because they feel uncomfortable teaching it or because they feel it is disrespectful.

Ooooooooooh I Read a Bad Woooooooord!!!

By simply reading the title of the article, "New Huckleberry Finn Edition Censors 'N-word,' " I already had a pretty good idea of what I would be reading. As I began to read, different scholars expanded on why they thought that the racist words such as "nigger" and "injun" should be changed for more common and less hurtful words. They were very persuasive and had a very valid point. One of the best arguments that struck me was "The n-word possessed, then as now, demeaning implications more vile than almost any insult that can be applied to other racial groups," he said. "As a result, with every passing decade this affront appears to gain rather than lose its impact."At this point I completely agreed with them.

Having been raised in the United States, it has been drummed into me my whole life that everyone is equal. No matter if you are rich or poor; or if you differentiate in race, religion, or gender, everyone should be treated with respect and dignity. I am not sure if my peers here have the same point of view that I have, for they have been taught that social classes are important and that you should associate with the people outside of your social class as little as possible. This change was one of the hardest for me to overcome when I first moved here. Because of ballet, many of my friends apart from school are from lower social classes, and it breaks my heart not being able to invite them over as much as id like or go to their neighborhoods when they invite me. I saw the idea to remove these terrible words and replace them with synonyms as a splendid idea.

As I continued reading, the point of view of the article changed. Different scholars put forth what they thought and also made valid arguments. The argument which changed my point of view completely was "The point of the book is that Huckleberry Finn starts out racist in a racist society, and stops being racist and leaves that society. These changes mean the book ceases to show the moral development of his character. They have no merit and are misleading to readers. The whole point of literature is to expose us to different ideas and different eras." This scholar agrees with the problems the language gives and how hurtful they can be, but that does not mean that children need to be babied until they are adults. If we did not have texts with this grave dialect, then we would not know what it was like to live in other eras. I believe they should keep the language and just make sure that the students understand what the words mean and the era in which the book tok place.

Great Ending

Finally, I finished the book! Seeing as to how I had already seen the movie and read the easier adaptation of the novel, I already knew how it was going to end. Regardless, I love the ending. Throughout the whole novel, Austen gives the reader the idea that Mr. Darcy is an arrogant, prejudice, and exclusive man, but she does not allow him to share his personal view until the middle of the novel. This gave me as a reader a feeling of disgust towards Darcy. After he presents Elizabeth with the letter explaining the reasons behind his actions, which to her seemed terrible and selfish, the story changes completely. The story then becomes more of a game between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth. They cross paths more than once and they constantly search for each other.

This novel had the exact storyline of a fairytale. The girl and the boy are star-crossed lovers who seem to have no way in which they would ever unite and then by a stroke of fate or luck, they end up meeting falling in love, fighting for that person, caring for that person, sweeping them off of their feet, and then finally they marry them. Its the typical princess story that every girl wants to experience as her life. As for her sister, she had the exact same ending, but without so much hardship or focus in the novel. I'm really glad Lady Catherine did not succeed in scaring Elizabeth off into not marring Darcy. I didn't like her character at all! Since the beginning i knew that she would be a snooty, mean, and selfish person who would cause much hardship in the "fairytale."

I really enjoyed reading this book and I hope we read more books with this type of storyline. Thank you Rachel for suggesting it :) .

Boys wont stop until they get what they want (no matter how they do it)

In these pages, Mr. Collins finally gives up his chase for Elizabeth, but he is not satisfied. Luckily for him, Miss Lucas came by to visit her dear friend and caught sight of him. As a woman, she is very agreeable and nice; however, she is very plain and is in the same financial state as the Bennet family. Any marriage that could provide her with a comfortable home would be a wish, or in this case, chance she would be willing to take. The fact that Mr. Collins would choose Elizabeth's best friend could only mean one of three things: 1) it was love at first sight [not likely], 2) he was so desperate to be married that he chose anyone else who was likely to have him, 3) as revenge to Elizabeth for refusing his proposal. Which of these motives led him to be with Charlotte we will never know, but we can each make inferences from the following information of the novel.

The couple united soon after Lizzy's rejection of Mr. Collins, and they married almost immediately after. Of course the whole Bennet family was invited to the wedding, but was it a slap in the face to Elizabeth that her friend was marrying the man that had proposed to her not much time before? Could they continue to have the same inseparable relationship? Im sure if Elizabeth really did not like the man, then she would have no problem with her best friend marrying him, and if she really loved her friend then she would want whats best for her which would clearly be to marry, seeing as to how she was already beginning to age.

Mrs. Bennet was furious with the matter. She felt ultimate jealousy which took over her body whenever they came to visit, "she regarded her with jealous abhorrence. Whenever Charlotte came to see them she concluded her to be anticipating the hour of possession; and whenever she spoke in a low voice to Mr. Collins, was convinced that they were talking of the Longbourne estate." The book mentions many times, and it is quite obvious by her actions, that Mrs. Bennet worries about the time of her and Mr. Bennet's death. Where would her children go? Where would they stay? Would they be ruined? Would they be married? Would they have any other chance to be married? These question would haunt her for the rest of her life until she saw each of her daughters happily married and settled.

Ohhhhh! Rejected!!

In pages 75-90, we see women in power. Men have many weaknesses. They would never admit to any of them, and they would and will do anything to fix or hide their weaknesses; however, it seems that they still haven't found a cure to one of their worst weaknesses...women. In this part of the book, Mr. Collin's nears the end of his stay at Longbourne. He feels he must act know in order to fulfill his patroness' wishes as well as his own to marry and to settle the long dispute between his family and the Bennet family. There is only one small problem; he needs to find a woman to fulfill this must. At first, he selects Jane, the eldest and most beautiful of the Bennet girls. Once he informs Mrs. Bennet of this selection, she tells him at once that Jane is very near having a proposal of her own from another admirer. He immediately takes this into consideration and opens his eyes for another woman who would be suitable to play the role of his wife, and who would satisfy Lady Catherine's judgements. Next in line came the fair Elizabeth Bennet.

Elizabeth has never been one to not follow her heart. She has a feminist attitude and cannot dream of ever making a choice, such as to marry Mr. Collins, that would effect her the rest of her life and surely make her miserable and regret her decision. The proposal came to Elizabeth, "before she had time for anything but a blush of surprise." (page 79) This only added to the graveness of her tone when she responded to his "over the top" flattery. She answered him as politely as possible saying, "you are too hasty sir, you forget that I have made no answer. Let me do it without further loss of time. Accept my thanks for the compliment you are paying me. I am very sensible of the honour of your proposals, but it is impossible for me to do otherwise than decline them... you could not make me happy, and I am convinced that I am the last woman in the world who would make you so." (pages 81-82) With this, Elizabeth tried to make her opinion/ refusal known, but Mr. Collins would not hear of it. He was charmed by everything about her. Her refusal only made him more persistent. Women usually have this effect on men. With the right acts and gestures, they can have men do just about anything for them.

At the end of the book, this womanly strength presents itself again. Mr. Darcy finally makes it known that he is deeply in love with Elizabeth. He even proposes to her "against his better judgement." Elizabeth; however, refuses his offer seeing as to how she cannot even imagine being with the one person who tore her sister and Mr. Bingley apart, along with destroying officer Wickham's life. The reasons were unknown to her, making her refusal as valid and agreeable to the reader as possible, but later on in the novel, Mr. Darcy provides her with a note explaining what really happened and why it occurred in that way. Being away from Elizabeth made Darcy sad, mad, and with many other mixed emotions. He felt he had to be near her in order to be happy. He did everything he could to help her family and to show Elizabeth that he could be worthy of her love if she let him. Like mentioned before, women have this effect on men. Men are very competitive. This is for the sole reason that they want to impress and win over women so that they may have a successful life and a grand partner to share it with (grand partner in each persons particular eyes.) Women will always have a leading reign on men. Men are like animals, they many times cannot control themselves when they find someone they like and might even love. This makes women on a pedestal compared to men, and it will always be like this. There is nothing in the world that could change this.

My Movie!

Just to start off, I must inform everyone that I own and love this movie! Although, I could not understand why Mr. Tangen would only assign the first 10 minutes of the whole movie, when we are in the middle of the book. Apparently he's "cool like my juice." (people in my class would understand that statement) This movie portrays Mr. Bingley as a popular but somewhat shy man, and it certainly does not do Mr. Darcy any justice.

Before studying the book in class, I had already seen the movie and read a version of the book meant for children in middle school. Yes, it had some pictures and medium letters. With all of this, I pretty much knew the whole story by heart, but it was missing details and a few of the characters that don't come up very often in the novel. The movie portrays Darcy as prideful, but not nearly to the extent that the book depicts. This does not allow the watcher to feel the hatred for the character that Jane Austen is trying to describe. The point of the story is for the reader to loathe Mr. Darcy as deeply as Elizabeth does throughout most of the novel. Only until she reads the letter and becomes aware of many other circumstances is that supposed to change. The scene from the link shows the first impression the reader/ watcher receives when Darcy is first introduced. Pride, the definition of this age, shows itself very strongly in this character. Darcy refuses all invitations to dance and barely glances at Elizabeth, whom he says, "she is tolerable but not enough to tempt me." Ironically, Mr. Darcy is subconsciously captivated by Elizabeths grand and dark eyes. This raises the questions, "Will their be a turn in the story? Will Mr. Darcy show a side to him that is not expected?"

The character of Mr. Bingley does not have a dramatic difference from the book to the movie. In both, he is shown as a weak person who has his decisions made for him. His sisters easily convince him to leave what he loves and to move on. When someone loves something, they should be adamant about having and doing everything to have that, in this case, person. They should not be easily persuaded into leaving all behind. In the novel, due to Mr. Darcy's influence in his dear friend's life, he does end up coming back, but can barely keep his grips in the situation. He must face what he left behind without reason, and he must make amends to those whom he hurt in his absence.