meganb143's Journal

Odd
The last half of this book was very confusing to me, I didnt understand many parts of it. The one that irks me the most is when Nel visits Sula on her death bed and she's about to leave and Sula says maybe it wasn't you. Maybe it wasn't you that was good, maybe it was me? Is she talking about maybe Nel is actually evil and maybe Sula was the one doing good because she got the town back into order? Wives cherished their husbands more, mothers acted like mothers? Im thinking that's what shes talking about, but Im not really sure.

Care
Who do I care about right now? There are two people that come to mind, Chicken little and Nel. First of all I know sula killed chicken little by accident, but don't you think she could have tried to save him? Sula is a very selfish person and just keeps doing things for herself. She kills chicken little (a poor little boy who was just trying to have fun) she puts Eva in a nursing home (and Eva has raised her practically) and she steals Nel's husband. Nel is the second person I feel sorry for. Nel became good freinds with Sula and like all of Sula's relationships, this one goes to hell when she steals Nel's husband. Nel's best friend comes back after 10 years and ruins the life that she knows. That is a person I feel sorry for, no on should have to go through that! HORRIBLE BEST FRIEND!!!!

Final Act
Now I'm not quite sure what exactly is going on with Plum, all that I can sum up is that he's not doing well. He barely eats, he's a recluse and he must have some type of medical problem if there was a glass of bloody water in his room. I'm sure the war is having some effect on him that is just unbearable. His mother, Eva, out of a mother's love wants to end his pain for him. I think thats what it boils down to, his mother trying to relieve his suffering.

Ending
When Babette's father gives Jack the gun it is a really huge sign of forshadowing. You know SOMETHING is going to happen with Jack and his new gun. Also when Murry and Jack have the conversation about killers and diers thats also a premonition of whats to come. I thought it was hilarious that Mr. Gray ended up being alive and shooting Jack, what kind of person still leaves on bullet left in the gun? The whole thing with Wilder confused me... does it have to do with his non fear of death and the fact that he doesn't fear it is the reason he didn't die? I hope we go over this!

interesting
We talked about the concept of waste many times in this class. In this last section and the one after that (stupid me thought we had to read the whole last half) the concept of waste appeared I want to say 2 or 3 times. On page 222 the first paragraph on the top deals with Jack getting angry and throwing away junk, or as we like to call, waste. When I saw this the first time it didn't really phase me, when I saw this the second time a light bulb went off in my head. So waste is something that ties these books together somehow...

Passage
The passage in which the Jehova's witness is speaking with Jack is of interest to me. Why are these people so concerned with death? He says that everyone is either going to be saved or rot while they're walking, so then religion takes no part in what happens to people? Don't Christian/ Cathloic/ all the C religions believe that if you don't believe in Jesus Christ that you're going to hell? It was interesting to hear the armageddon that was coming to their world... do they really believe this? These people are way too paranoid!

Themes
There are many themes I've come across, most are listed in my notebook, but here is some of them:
Education, Society status, Money, Language, Family, Disfunctional family, Looks, Health, History, Culture, Death, Disease, Food, Privelige....

Problem
Okay, so wednesday I went to go look in my pile of books for this class and I couldn't find this book. But I figured in my mess of a room it must be somewhere, I'll look tomorrow. Soooo I looked today and looked, and looked some more and much to my dismay i can't find this boook!!!!!! So I haven't read the bicycle repairman, and I can't really write a journal on something I have not read. So instead you get this fine little piece of working explaining why I can't write a journal entry. Fun, yes fun indeed. Well I guess I'll talk to you in class tomorrow!

Ending
I am just a tiny bit confused. This book was actually written back in the day correct? If so, this guy really thought that humans know more than they do. Did he really think that we would be vacationing on venus and living on the moon? Also those weird looking kids that kept calling vic and ragle neckties, what the heck language were they speaking? I didn't understand a word they were saying. As well, now that ragle is traveling to the moon, I assume, what is he going to do there? I think that part went over my head. Maybe we can talk about this in class tomorrow. Oh one more question, is there any way to have a list of things like we did for the other long entry assignment?

Line
"...down there," the voice said. "Yes, you're looking down at Ragle Gumm himself. Okay, we have you. Let go."

This line struck me as a shock since it is the first true proof Ragle has been given to know that some type of conspiracy is going on about him. I read that and pretty much said wow, okay he's not imagining things. I'm not sure how I would react if I had heard that over a cheap, child made radio.

Science Fiction
Science fiction is actually a very interesting topic, it either deals with the unknown, the hypothetical situations, or the fate of the world as we know it. I myself am a science person, but still some of these book go way over my head. Science fiction usually captures my attention because when you deal with books that could possibly be real you learn so much from them, different machines, different possibilities... even if its fiction, who's to say it couldn't possibly happen one day? Sometimes technical information confuses me and thats why sometimes I have no tolerance for it, but most of the time when I read a book that's on my level I wind up loving it.

Computer fixed #3
So we have finally come to the ending of this book. To tell you the truth I actually didn't mind reading this book. I think since I was always asking myself wow I wonder what Arty will do next, or what strange thing is going to happen now, it kind of quenched my thirst for the oddness in life. My concluding thoughts were that this was definately a VERY odd book. Just all of the twists and turns were crazy, Arty was nuts and yet the whole time they acted like "normal" people. It was interesting to see how the book progressed and to see that most of the people in this novel end up dying anyway.. and the ones that dont die end up being the "normal" looking ones... Horst, Crazy Lil, and Miranda. I dont know what the woman was thinking when she was writing this book, but it was obvious she needed to escape into some out there world.

Computer is fixed #2
"Sometime just looking at Al and Crystal Lil I wanted to bash their heads in with a tire iron". (Page 205) End paragraph

This line just struck me and made me say wow. We never really consider Olympia as a violent person and just the fact that she said that caught me off guard.

"I'm glad to see you again. I shot you in the parking lot ten years ago". (Page 210)- middle paragraph

Now this whole section was unbelievable to me. First of all, why the hell would he come back to see the people he shot? Second what the heck was Arty thinking when he hired him? I don't know just a little crazy to me.

Computer is fixed!!!
Geek Love 2nd Entry

"Then she introdced me to the garbage..... camp collection". (Page 122)
The fact that garbage is so important is crazy. Im assuming it says something about this woman. OCD maybe?

"So lets get the truth here... peace!" (Page 178)

This whole speech is shocking and it really does have truth in it and makes you think. I read that a good two times and eventually had to move on.

interesting
"I signed it that way so the people who find him will think that is the reason he was left. I said "unemployed" rather than "out of work" to give people the idea that his parents weren't illiterate, anyway. Maybe if they think he came from educated people they'll assume he's got good genetic stock. It might give him a better chance." (Chapter 6, 66)

This little passage was very ironic to me. This is the first place in the book where Lil ever admits to wondering what people might actually think of them and their family. Granted its to get her son a better home, but the "hes got good genetic stock" kind of hit me with a ton of bricks since theyve tried their hardest to make sure he had the most horrible genetic stock.

"Chick smiles and steps out of the van and walks around behind the generator truck, where he vomits painfully and tries to think of something besides what the cow said to him as he sliced her." (Chapter 9, 110).

This sentence just kind of shocked me, it gave me a deeper feeling into who Chick was. This just gives a better sentence into the capabilities of one of the characters and I like that.

Odd
Let me start this entry in saying that this book is ODD. First of all two people that want to make a family like that are rather (in your words) twisted. The themes that I have seen so far are love, belonging, money, place, abnormaility/ what is normal, family, want and age. I do have some questions about this book. What is a geek? Did the binewski parents really fight chickens and rip their heads off? Is Miranda Olympias daughter or sister? Where did Olympia get the money to support Miranda, and why is she doing so? What happened to their father? What the heck is a geek???

ending
The ending of this story does satisfy me but leaves me sad. I actually started to like Miss Amelia. In the beginning I think youre supposed to dislike her, but I don't think I ever did. She came off mean and stingy, but I think its because she never felt love. The fact that the hunchback won the fight for Marvin was not really a surprise. He was a shady character to begin with, the type who you just shouldn't trust. Didn't her mom teach her not to talk to strangers, let alone live with them?? Now I know there was no ghost in the building, it was just heart broken amelia. Although someone ought to have a word with her, life doesn't end when love does. Personally I think my moral of this story is do not open your house and heart to strangers!

Love
"It is for this reason that most of us would rather love than be loved."

It explains in the book that the lover needs to affect the beloved in some way, even if it causes the beloved pain. I am not really sure what the book means in this sense, because in my experience being loved is a wonderful experience. I feel that in all relationship dealing with love, when that love dies both people get hurt, not just one. So I dont feel as if being either the lover or the beloved has a better side to it, I think that they go hand in hand. If you are beloved you should be the lover to the other person and vice versa. I dont look at being beloved in a bad light, the lover shows just how much he/she loves you. I don't see any lover hurting their beloved, because a true lover never wants hurt for their beloved. They want to make them happy, they will do whatever it takes to make them happy. Being a lover is a great thing as long as your beloved in return.

Knowledge
I still am not sure that I have fully grasped the concept of agency but I will do my best to try and answer this question. When speaking about what knowledge this book gives you to resist the way of the world, it's all given by Marlowe. It seems as if he is the only character that resists the pull of the world. Marlowe does this by keeping a barrier between his work life and his private life. Although were not sure he even has a private life, one key points he makes sure not to do is mix business with pleasure. I believe thats a key piece of knowledge to resist the worlds temptations. Also he has taught us that trusting your instict, and going with your gut is the only way to go about life. The last couple of chapters proves this to be the way he survives his life. Marlowe trusted his gut feeling about Carmen and put blanks in her gun. If he hadn't gone with his instinct she would have shot him to death. Also in the end his gut feeling and instinct finally led him to close this case. He basically summed up everything he figured out by his own intuition. I feel like this book does teach you a great deal about the world. Sadly I do feel this is the way the world is. There are backstabbers everywhere and a lot of people that you can't trust. This happens in the work place and in personal life. Without knowing not to mix business with pleasure, without having inuition, going with your gut feeling and basing your thoughts on instinct (mized with knowledge) I don't feel like you could survive in this world today.

Marlowe
Philip Marlowe is an interesting character. He is a private detective, yet he goes deeper than the job entails. Usually private detectives (from what I know of) tail people from afar, take pictures, and get the job done. This detective involves himself so deeply in the case that he almost gets himself in trouble. This makes it seem as if a) he cares deeply about his job or b)he cares deeply about the people who hired him. It surprised me that he kissed Vivian, I got the impression from him that it was strictly business. He comes off as a "tough guy" but its an appealing trait. Obviously we don't have a picture of marlowe but he seems to be an attractive guy, if Vivian was attracted to him that has to mean something. Also we talked about the concept of "hero". Marlowe seems like the definition of a hero to me. This is one of the many definitions in the dictionary: A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life: soldiers and nurses who were heroes in an unpopular war. Marlowe risks his life with Eddie Mars, with guns pointed at him (Carol and Joe Brody) and by getting caught up in this mess. He "saves" Vivian and her money from the mugger (that was probably a set up anyway). Overall I think he does more than he has to and proves to be what a hero should be. Overall I like Philip Marlowe!

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