4) If you choose the following and answer the question well, you will receive 10 points extra credit:
In the early chapters of Pere Goriot by Honore Balzac (the same author that the guys read in the novel you are reading), the narrator describes the setting and conditions of early 19th century Paris where the main characters live.

"...in that famous valley of ever-peeling plaster and muddy black gutters, that valley where suffering is always real and joy very often false, and the everyday turmoil so grim that it is difficult to imagine any catastrophe producing more than a momentary sensation there... A Parisian losing his way here would see nothing but lodging houses and institutions, penury or boredom, old age declining into death, bright youth pressed into drudgery."

In what ways does Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress relate to this passage from Pere Goriot?

This quote is about suffering and coming of age, which is what the book "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress" is about. The "Pere Goriot" passage is similar to the tone of "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress". The tone of the passage describes the boys suffering and uses imagery to paint a vile picture of a nasty scene. This is ironic because the main characters in "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress" use the book to escape their harsh reality through imagination. The Little Seamstress becomes aware of the harsh reality through the words of Balzac and itches for the city. She becomes a "Parisian losing his way..." and through the words of Balzac, she is reborn.

The passage above describes the tone of the Little Chinese Seamstress from beginning to end. This quote, "...where suffering is always real and joy very often false," is a metaphor for true suffering and the imagination keeping a humans spirit alive. The two main characters have become numb because of the suffering they have faced. The boys have been forced to carry human and animal waste, and crawl under the ground like worms and risking their lives, "...the everyday turmoil so grim that it is difficult to imagine any catastrophe producing more than a momentary sensation...". Suffering is inevitable for the boys to be released. Every character suffers and the words of Balzac ease all the suffering, "I stayed in bed until nightfall, without food, completely wrapped up in the French story of love and miracles.".

The end of the book is a metaphor for life springing from the ashes; the equilibrium between life and death. The end of the passage is also a metaphor for the Little Seamstress leaving town. When the boys burn the books they are killing Balzac and the imagination they have taken refuge in from,"that valley where suffering is always real and joy very often false". The "Little Seamstress" rises from the ashes through the influence of Balzac's burned writings like a phoenix and escapes the mountain to the city; she is no longer, "bright youth pressed into drudgery.". Every death is accompanied by new life. With the death of her unborn baby girl, her life is able to continue and she is born again. In the city the Little Seamstress may begin a new life outside of "that famous valley of ever-peeling plaster". It is ironic that the city is the boy's home but they may not return and because the city is foreign to the seamstress she can go live a new life there.

The quote from Pere Goriot is similar in both tone and meaning to the book "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress". The boys use this book to escape from the bleak and miserable life they lead and use their imagination to sooth their soul. The end of the passage is highly symbolic as well as the end of the story. In the end, the boys and the Little Seamstress are all becoming independent. The tone of the passage relates to the suffering of the two boys. Their toil seems infinite and any hope of escaping seems unrealistic.

geography ;)

The tragic element of Shakespearean play Othello, are magnified by the tragic hero, The Moor. He suffers more than anyone else while having much more responsibility than the other characters. He is a perfect conductor to set all of Venice on fire. Iago sees a target and strikes him with deceptive a cunning. While Iago burns down the trunk of the great tree of Othello, the branches will be set ablaze as well.

Othello is the conductor of tragedy because Iago uses him to create turmoil in every ones lives. Targeting Othello is easy for Iago because Othello is connected with everyone in the play in some way. All of the people involved in Othello's life would be targets for Iago as well as to increase the suffering of Othello. Through Othello's suffering, Iago believes he will be happy, but ironically he causes his own suffering and the suffering of everyone he speaks to. Othello's good traits and the good traits of those around him are manipulated by Iago to be used for evil, and that is tragic.


Iago is the lighting strike to the great tree of Othello that destroys everyone. Othello has many branches that connects to tragedy of a characters in the play. Their lives crumble in more subtle ways, and Othello suffering is brought about from other's suffering. Othello questions Desdemona's devotion to him and Desdemona is thus destroyed. This is tragic because Desdemona is completely loyal to her husband and Cassio is nothing but loyal to Othello. Iago carefully calculates the effects of every one's actions that he controls. Iago's wife speaks of her husband with adoration, "Good madam, do: I warrant it grieves my husband, As if the case were his."(Shakespeare Act 3 Scene 3 lines 4-5), her husband is grieved by the case because he has become obsessed with destroying everyone.

Othello can not help that Iago has turned a good trait in to a flaw. Othello's love for his wife, his lieutenant, and for Iago has been turned against him for nothing but evil. The tragedy of the play is that love can be turned into hate so easily.

Shakespeare, William. Othello. 1st.

A clock work orange

There is a theory out there that everyone will tend to do good any given situation. A human will choose the right thing to do when given a task. Or something like that.

But what about those moral gray areas? Like when you trick your younger brother into drinking his own pee. IS that evil? Or when you want the last m&m in the bag your sharing with your friend. Do you eat it or not? What is evil and what is good.

I guess evil people are really evil, what ever that means. I think we all have a little evil in us. A little part of us that will lash out and scar someone emotionaly for life.

Who could be considered an evil person? Is it that bitch who started a rumor? Is it that kid you thought was gay and ended up hiting you when you asked? Is it that boy that just wanted to fuck? Is it your mom? Is it Adof Hitler?

I think an evil person is a person who acts like the majority. Who adopts the belifes of another because they can not make a decision on their own. One who follows blindly and makes no real judgements. One who has no idea who they are. Sounds like every teenager. And teenagers are evil but they do grow out of it.

Yeah, life is sketchy. It your ancestors fault

With knowlege does come suffering. In so many ways. My Dads side of the family is evil and plot their revenge according to their infamous knowledge, but i know that i, at 16, am more wise than my grandmother on my fathers side. I am more wise because i dont let little bits of information slip to my 10 year old grand daughter to make her think she is less part of the family than any of the other cousins. Those crazy fuckers are so tightly knit, the family is all that is important to them, and its because no one will put up with their bullshit.

Well all i can say is that i can understand a small portion of having a messed up family because my family is not all peaches and cream. My family is all midevil and shit.

love is like a heartattack

I tell so many of people i love them. I tell my boyfriend, my best friend, my momma, i tell almost everyone i know that i love them. I get along with everyone i meet and i love them. If i don't love someone i don't associate myself with them. Or i am i just bitter to them.

Love seems like the words that everyone wants to hear come out of another persons mouth, talking about them. Love gives someone purpose in life. If you have someone to love you atomaticaly have something to do or something to think about. Love is complex because everyone loves differently. Love causes different emotions for everybody and the individual uses those emotions to make crazy decisions. When your love is taken away from you, you may feel like there is no purpose in your life anymore. But its just a mind set your mind puts you in, nobody can escape the I have no life feeling but it should not last long. I belive it is unhealthy to get to attached to anything, but you can still love without getting to attached.

God i love the flaming lips, and its all because of my love.

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I love my family with all my heart and soul; my mothers side of the family anyway. The whole family lives where the stars fell, Alabama. I love my chain smoking, romantic novel reading, perm haired, red lipstick wearing step grandmother, and she loves me back. I'm getting a little lump in the back of my throat cause writing this makes me miss her so much, and no shes not dead. Ever since I was little, i have remembered my grandmother for carrying a big red purse, taking me on adventures and spoiling me more than the other cousins. I would go to war with this woman. Shes an interesting lady. She taught herself photography and now has an obsession/hobby. She enjoys gambling and always walks out of a casino with more than she went in with. She recently went to Africa with my grandpa but he went to hunt and she went to take pictures of lions, zebras, monkey type things and other various critters. She grew up on a rural farm in the middle of Nebraska where times could get tough. She broke in horses. She doesn't really tell me about her teen aged/growing up life much though.She's not like a crazy old grandmother who rambles on about how back in her day, life was like this and blah blah blah, and i had to walk to school barefoot in the snow and eat my food with moldy bread, even though i would believe her. I like to call her and just chat and be silly and tell her how when i get my licenses i will visit her all the time. I really love that woman. The fist word i can ever remember spelling right was her name.

Now my uncle... where to begin... Ok so in highschool he was a skrate player, and he was in love with my moms best friend. He had a fine fine car and the best sound system in the south. He won contests for instaling sound systems in cars. Hes an elecrticion now. Of course my mom, my uncle, my pawpaw, and nanny lived in a house on Calioca road in the sticks of Alabama. Calioca road was only paved about 10 years ago. Well he was a typical red neck, tearing up the front yard with his bike, building ramps with dirt and flying off of them. Once he even made my nanny lay down in a ditch and take a picture of him soaring over her. He came home drunk but was always awake befor the crack of dawn to do god only knows what. But hes always been that way, the get up early no matter what type. He would run out side butt ass naked to get the mail. I wish i could go into more detail but people might throw up. That was just highschool for him.

Blog #8

Honestly, now that i have seen stranger than fiction, i feel like a horrible person.

He takes all the responsibility of the world on his shoulders and i dont even want to be responsible for school. Harold is the nicest person you would ever meet, i can only wish to be half as nice. I am basicaly at the same place in my feeling about fate and free will. see my blog last week, severly confused.

There are so many factros that determine our fate. Fate is something we create in our minds for our selves to have purpose in life. The only reason Harold survived his fate was because he found out about it and excepted it. Perhaps if Oedipus had excepted his fate, he would have avoided it. I guess death is easier to except than banging your mom and popping a cap in your dad.