For my midterm paper, I’ve been juggling with the idea of writing about my long journey through cancer. It was like my own monomythic journey, it had all of the parts, some may not have been what they seemed either. Like my straying from the path was almost deciding not to continue chemo. Most of the things may have been little, but in the end, it was a terrible, long journey that I hope I never have to go through again. (and I hope no one else has to go through it ever either.)
I want to write about this because it does apply to our course – the monomyth. And I’ve never really talked about it in much depth before. I know it’s going to be a hard paper to write, but in the end I know it’s going to be a good piece. My main sources will be Heroes of History (the monomyth on the website) for each steps of my journey, my friends that went through it with me (i’m still good friends with most of them to this day), my family, and my inner most self (you know, the part you like seal away after something bad happens? yeah, that person’s gonna have to come out for this paper).
blog #10 October 6, 2009
poem #13 October 6, 2009
the temptress is seductive and strong,
travel along.
she’s enticing,
seems warm — she’s like ice.
she’ll suck you in and then spit you out,
there is no doubt.
seems sexy, outside,
inside, she is snide.
ignore her call and keep on going
you’ll be growing.
eyes on the prize,
go till sunrise.
minute poetry.
quiz via phone October 5, 2009
1. why the woods? what do they represent? what other stories take place in the woods?
in the woods, anything can happen. they are dark and mysterious. Danger lurks around every corner. They represent mystery && Little Red Riding Hood takes place in the woods, so does parts of Shrek.
2. some of the charaters in into the woods are driven by uncontrollable, characters fit this desc.? what kinds of desires drive them? what happens as a result as a failure of desires?
Jack is driven by uncontrollable desires and so is the baker. Jack is driven by greed — of wanting gold from the giants. the baker wants a child for his wife. Jack’s failure is when the giant comes down and attacks the stage and the baker and his wife get in a fight, and she ends up dying (not his fault, though) and he leaves his kid behind, but ends up coming back for him. The witch wants to be beautiful, and as a result loses her powers.
3. what was fav song, character and scene of into the woods? describe in detail & why?
favorite song was agony by the two princes. They sing about agony of not being able to find the ones they want to (princesses). I liked this song because i thought it was funny and it was a good song. my favorite character was Little Red Riding Hood, she was hilarious. She reminded me of myself because i’m just a pessimest sometimes, and i just state really weird things like “you can talk to birds?” and i’d be like wtf. who can talk to birds?!
my favorite scene was probably when Little Red Riding Hood and the grandmother came out of the wolf after being “eaten” because it kinda did look real, even though we all know they knealed beside the bed and waited for the wolf to make horrible noises. .
4. the closing songs of into the woods are, no one is alone & children will listen, what is significance of songs when transfered to second half of watership. draw parallels to into the woods & watership.
No one is alone goes along with watership down because of the fact that in the end, none of them are alone, none of them were left behind & they all waited for each other. Children will listen is when everyone listened to Friver and Hazel, so they wouldn’t get left behind. The woods and watership down are similar because they are all going on a journey and they all are afraid when they start that journey, but they realize that in the end, they’re all together, going after one thing, so they fight together and accomplish their goal. They all live safe and sound (well, minus a select few from Into the Woods, but they just got killed by a giant. gotta watch out for them!)
PS. I PROMSIE NOT TO CHANGE MY QUIZ!
blog #9 October 5, 2009
Into the Woods was a great musical comedy, in my opinion. It smashed together five fairy tales: Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Baker and his Wife, Rapunzel, and Little Red Riding Hood.
There were an array of characters, but the ones that stuck out the most to me were Jack (from Jack and the Beanstalk) and the baker (from the Baker and his Wife). Jack, naturally, represents the fool. He goes through life with all the happiness in the world, with his best friend, Milkywhite, the cow, by his side. Then his mother tells him he must sell Milkywhite so they could have food. Jack wanders off into the woods, and comes across the baker, sells Milkywhite for five magical beans. (He sold Milkywhite with all intentions of getting him back.) Jack went and planted the beans, and a beanstalk grew out of the ground and into the sky. Jack climbs said beanstalk, finds giants, and starts stealing from them, thinking nothing bad would happen. (and we all know how that turned out, don’t we?)
The baker is the warrior. He goes into the woods looking for ridiculous items that no one in their right mind would ever find in three days, and yet, somehow, he manages. He is only looking out for his wife, who really wants to have a child, and so does he. So he sets off into the woods looking for a cow as white as milk, a shoe as good as gold, hair as yellow as corn, and a cape as red as blood. In the end, he finds them all, feeds them to a cow, and gets his wish. Throughout the entire musical, his wife is following him, and he keeps telling her to go back to the house. He is trying to protect her and do what is right — find these ridiculous items so that they can lift the curse brought on by his father, so they could start a family.
The use of music in Into the Woods really kept it moving. If this didn’t have music, the play would have taken forever to finish. When a character sang, they didn’t only say what they were doing, or trying to accomplish, they were also expressing how they were feeling. You could tell that the witch was sad when she was singing to Rapunzel, trying to get her to stay with her and not venture off into the world. It also transitioned the play very well, from act to act and scene to scene. You often saw one person end a song, another person run out and start a song, while the one who just finished the song ran off backstage.
Another thing that music did for the play was foreshadow, just a little bit, and you had to think about it too. Like when Jack first announced that there were giants in the sky, you almost got the feeling that this wasn’t the last you were going to see or hear about the giants. And when the baker and the Witch sang about the beans, you knew that they were very important for the duration of the play.
I think that Into the Woods offers many lessons. One of them is that not every story will have a ‘happily ever after’ just like they do in most fairytales or movies that we see on television. Not everyone is going to find a ‘happily ever after.’ I know it’s not what people want to hear, but i’m sorry, it’s true.
It also tells you to stay straight and narrow on the path (Little Red Riding Hood’s song actually became a lesson!) If you don’t, you’re probably going to lose your way, someone probably will get hurt, and it might take you awhile to get back on track.
Don’t get greedy and don’t take what isn’t yours is another lesson Into the Woods teaches the kiddies. We all saw the consequences that Jack had to face after he stole things from the giants, but he also made everyone else suffer from his mistakes. If you take something that’s not yours, you’ll probably get caught, and you’ll end up dragging the people you love the most into it, and then they’ll get pissed off, and people will fight, and it’s just not pretty. Just stick to what’s yours, or ask to borrow it, or something. Just don’t resort to stealing.
One of the last ones that stuck out to me was brought by the baker. If you stick things out, no matter how hard they are, they’re going to be okay in the end. Maybe not great or ‘happily ever after,’ but you’re going to make it.
The poem that I found that went along with the lessons learned was Still here by Langston Hughes. It talks about a person who has been through hell, has been broken and battered, but he’s still there. Just like the baker was after his wife died. At first he ran from his son, but then he realized that he needed to be there for his son, and he went back and stuck it out.
email quiz. September 30, 2009
Into the Woods, Watership Down, and the Odyssey are all alike in some way, mostly according to the monomyth. Some of the similarities are obvious, and some are not so obvious.
They’re all answering a call of some sort: Odysseus is going to fight in the war, Friver and Hazel are going to find a new home, Little Red Riding Hood is going to see her grandmother, the baker is trying to lift a curse, and Jack is trying to sell a cow to get some food. And if they’re answering a call, they’re all going to face a journey. Odysseus’ is the whole story pretty much, so is Friver and Hazels. Little Red Riding Hood has to deal with the wolf and trying not to stray from her path, the baker has to find the cow as white as milk, the cloak as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn, and the slipper as pure as gold. Jack is trying to get food for his mother and himself, and trying to buy back his only friend — the cow.
“For every hero there stands a villan. For if there is good, there also must be evil.” (Star Wars – The Legacy Revealed Part 6 – Opening sentence) In Into the Woods, Watership Down, and the Odyssey, there is a villan for every hero. In Into the Woods Little Red Riding hood has the wolf, the baker has the witch, and Jack has the Giants. In Watership Down there are humans, and cult rabbits for Friver and Hazel and the rest of the new warren. In the Odyssey, Posiden is the villan for Odysseus.
If you look for similiarites, you’re going to find some in all fairytales — because of the monomyth. Some may be obvious, and some you may have to think and think and rack your brain about, but they’re there.
PS. I PROMISE NOT TO CHANGE MY QUIZ.
poem #12 September 30, 2009
temptation –
deviate
from norm.
bad idea.
stick to your path,don’t let people tempt you –
no matter how hard, it’ll all be okay.
tyburn poem.
poem #11 September 30, 2009
sticking
to my path.
don’t stray.
some people would love
to see you fail.
septolet poem.
blog #8 September 24, 2009
The belly of the whale is when something (or someone) blocks you from accomplishing your goal. It could be physical or mental.
In the Odyssey, the whole book Odysseus is in the belly of the whale. The war, trying to get home, losing his men, having to prove himself to his wife, everything Odysseus did prevented him from his goal — getting home to his wife and son. It took him the whole time to get back to his wife and son, and when he did, he had to prove that it was him. How bad would that suck, having to prove it’s you to your loved ones?
In Watership Down, the new warren is in the belly of the whale the whole book. They’re looking for a new home, and on their way they encounter a lot: a fox, a crow, some rivers, roads, bridges, strangers, cult rabbits, traps, cats, dogs, birds, mice, a farm, railroad tracks, storms, rain, and last but not least, the insane cult rabbits. To humans, all those listed above seem like nothing (except maybe the insane cult rabbits, those might draw your attention or something) but to rabbits, that’s some scary shit. They finally find safety and they come out of the belly, together.
In Pinocchio, the dad is literally in a belly of a whale, and Pinocchio has to save him to become a real boy. Pinocchio overcomes a lot in the movie, and I don’t remember them all, I just remember seeing the movie and wondering if people could literally live in the belly of a whale and catch fish like he did, my mom didn’t like that question and just laughed at me and told me NOT to try it. In 101 Great American Poems, Fog, by Carl Sandburg, is sort of like the belly of the whale. It keeps people from moving slow, sometimes it even stops people. It’s dark and mysterious, and it sucks when you’re trying to drive.
poem #9 September 24, 2009
my name is kate tuttle,
cancer and i had a huge scuffle.
but i won, and now i’m cancer free,
and that’s the way i like to be.
clerihew poem.
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