Anya's Light Bulb Finally Came On!

While we read the play I didn't realize any situations in which a character went through anagnorisis (when a character in a book or a play makes a critical discovery.) When I read the description of what the next blog was to be about I HAD NO IDEA WHAT TO DO! I thought I was going to have to reread the whole play again just to find one scene where it occurred! Thank goodness for the presentation we all had to do of the play! It just so happened that in the scene I had to present, Anya realized that she needed to get rid of the Cherry Orchard and all the strings attached to it or she would never come out of the debt or it would be a long time before she did. This happens as the family is out and leaves Anya and Trofimov alone to talk about the fate of the orchard, and she finally tells him that she must get rid of all ties she has with it and why it will cause her much grief if she stays with it. Of course during our presentation, we adapted the scene to a modern day in Plantation, Florida, but the moral and lesson stayed the same.

Talk About Spastic!

In Act 3 (actually throughout the whole play), the characters in "The Cherry Orchard" are extremely spastic. I meant to point this out in earlier blogs, because it happens all of the time in the play, but I would begin discussing a different topic and then completely forget about it. I found the play extremely confusing due to this odd feature Chekov decided to add to his play. As I read, I feel my brain trying to sort out 20 different stories that belong to 20 different characters which somehow need to mesh together and come out to one ending and make sense; therefore, successfully creating and finishing the play.

Thank goodness for youtube!!!!! The videos of the play helped to keep track of the many different paths which each character tended to follow. The video also made the play seem like more of an extremely dramatic movie, which made it easier to follow and remember. Sometimes when you read, you tend to misread words or entire phrases, or you can misinterpret what the author is trying to portray through his characters. The video made sure that through facial expressions and actions the watcher would receive the exact message the author was trying to give in the book (that is if the director received the right message and creates the movie giving the right message.)

The play also helped me understand the characters and what happened in the play (particularly our scene.) Having to act out a character is a hard task, not only do you have to memorize lines and dress as the person, but you also must enter into that characters mind set. You have to understand why he/she did what he/she did and must be able to portray the scene in a way that makes sense and can relate to the persons way of thinking.

Blonde Moments

While reading Act 2, I could not believe how most of the characters related to me during my blonde moments (sorry Rachel and all others who are blonde.) Most of the people in the play find an odd way to incorporate something about them at a time where it has nothing to do with the subject taking place. This could be seen as being an airhead, or simply not paying attention and wanting to take part in a conversation.

BERTHA: (with a frowned face) Ahh I told your father he would not be ready. That indolent old man. Did my granddaughters come?

CLAUDIA: yes, they must be in the kitchen. (sits down on the couch, looks closely at some reading glasses on the table) I remember when my grandfather first bought those, it was such along time ago. Do you remember mother?

This "blonde moment" should be an art! How can people take a perfectly ordered and normal conversation and turn it in a random and completely different direction? This is where I see the difference between real life and the play. In real life, you can only really do this one or two times in a conversation, while in the play, it happens in almost every other sentence. When someone begins to do this in a real conversation, being that it is a somewhat intelligent conversation and taking place with somewhat intelligent people, the other people will see that person as a "blonde" or they will just stop the conversation after that spontaneous comment. I found the play hard to follow due to the random comments of the people and the many turns in the conversations, but I continued to watch the BBC production and follow along with the book, which helped tremendously.

Slowly but Surely, Social Class is Improving

In Act 1 of The Cherry Orchard, we see a slight improvement in the social class issue. I did not read the book version of the play, because when I saw all of the names and etc, I decided to watch the BBC video version instead. From what I saw in the video, the "help" or maids were extremely outspoken and self-centered. Usually, and from what we have read about in Pride and Prejudice and Huckleberry Finn, the "help" is very quiet and does not give an opinion unless asked or spoken to. They do not disagree with anything their "masters" say, and if they do, then they do it in a way, in which it does not seem as if they are contradicting you but rather somehow agreeing with whatever you are saying.

The first act shows quite a few of these instances of abruptness from the maids. When Anya is telling Dunyasha about her trip, she cuts her off and does not let her finish. She then begins telling her about her own problems and what had been happening in her absence. Although they still had to be respectful, and whatever the masters did was "the law," they had more freedom than that of the maids in the previous works of literature that we have read.

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.