TRIFLES_Susan Glaspell

EXPLORATIONS OF THE TEXT

2. What clues lead the women to conclude that Minnie Wright killed her husband? 

There were many clues that lead the women to conclude that Minnie Wright killed her husband. The clues are the quilt which was nervously sewn, the empty birdcage and the dead bird. These clues indicate that something has happened to Mrs Wright and she felt uneasy with something. Mrs Peter and Mrs Hale also talks about how cheerful Mrs Wright was before she got married. It shows Mrs Wright was not happy with her married life.

3. How do the men differ from the women? from each other? 

The men in Trifles are considered as having the typical men’s attitude where they always look down on women and overlooked trifle or trivial things. They make fun of women characters in the story as they were talking about trivial things which the men thought were not important and did not relate to the investigation.

Women, however, are different from men where they are very sensitive towards surroundings and even sensitive towards trivial things. The evidence in the story could support my statement where the women were actually solving the mystery and doing the investigation unexpectedly by discovered all the clues hidden which considered as trifles by men characters.

Men were mostly possessed the same attitudes or characters. They did not differ much from each other except for their physical appearance and age. The men in the story share the same thought of looking down on women and making fun of trivial stuffs. They were also egoist as they were denying women’s ability.

 4. What do the men discover? Why do they conclude "Nothing here but kitchen things"?

The men looking around the house for evidence and motif of the murder but they did not discover anything because of their egoist attitude that made them overlooked the trivial things which turned out to be the evidence found by women instead of men. They conclude “Nothing here but kitchen things” and overlook them because the underestimate women and thought that the kitchen was meant for women only. They conclude that nothing could come out from searching for evidence in the kitchen. The different of sexes was clearly shown in the story by Susan Glaspell where men underestimated women’s ability in the society.

~Major Playwrights~

MAJOR PLAYWRIGHTS

ARTHUR MILLER

            Arthur Asher Miller, also known as Arthur Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was born on October 17, 1915 in Harlem, New York. He was a prominent figure in American theatre and best known for bitting criticism of societal problems. His best known play is Death of a Salesman. He received notable awards such as Pullitzer Prize for Drama (1949), Kennedy Center Honors (1984), Praemium Imperiale (2001) and other awards.

            He was raised in a moderate affluent household until his family lost almost everything in the Wall Street Crash of 1929.  After graduating high school, he worked few jobs to save money in order to attend University of Michigan. He has married three times, which was to Mary Slattery and had two children. His second wife, Marilyn Monroe had two miscarriages and he had another two children with his third wife Inge Morth. Miller begins his career with inspiration from his playwright professor, Kenneth Rowe’s approach. He died on February 10, 2005 in Roxbury, Connecticut at the age of 89.

WORKS:-

~ Death of a Salesman (1940)

~ All My Sons (1947)

~ The Crucible (1952)

~ A View from the Bridge (1955)…

"The structure of a play is always the story of how the birds came home to roost."

– Arthur Miller

  

SUSAN GLASPELL

Susan Keating Glaspell or mostly known as Susan Glaspell was an American playwright, actress, director, novelist, biographer and journalist. She was born on July 1, 1876 in Davenport, Iowa to Elmer Glaspell and Alice Keating. She received her education in Davenport High School, Drake University and University of Chicago. In 1899, she graduated with a philosophy degree from Drake University in Des Moines and worked as a journalist with Des Moines Daily News.

Glaspell with her husband, George Cram Cook was the founder of the Provincetown Players (1916-1920), the Little Theatre that promotes American dramatists. Her diplomacy and energy held the group together for seven years. Glaspell is well known as the author of Trifles, one of her famous plays. The play is about two women’s secret discovery of a wife’s murder of her husband. Glaspell is famous for her feminist view in her works. In 1931, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her play Alison’s House. She died on July 27, 1948 in Provincetown, Massachusetts at the age of 72.

Work cited:-

http://www.biography.com/people/arthur-miller-9408335

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jglaspell.htm

http://blogs.shu.edu/glaspellsociety/sample-page/

~A Date With A Literary Scholar~

A DATE WITH A LITERARY SCHOLAR

~REFAAT ALAREER~

           Our lecturer, Dr. Haslina has given a chance for us to spend a session with Mr. Refaat Alareer, a poet from Gaza, Palestine. Most of his poems revolve around the issues of war that happens in Palestine.

            In the beginning of the talk, Mr. Refaat showed a geographical map on the disappearance of Palestine. He told us about the difficulties that the citizen of Palestine and Gaza had, to go out from or even move inside their own country where Israel is guarding the whole places. According to him, the only place for people in Gaza to go out from the city is through Egypt.

He said that most poems there were written in Arabic. There were also poems written in English as written by Mr Refaat himself and other poets.

Ø  Famous Palestinian poets writing in Arabic:-
    1)      Mahmoud Darwish
    2)      Tamim Bargouti

Ø  Famous Palestinian poets writing in English:-
     1)      Rafeef Ziadah
     2)      Susan Abdulhawa
     3)      Remi Kanazi

Other than these poets, young people often use blog to express their resistance against war or injustice through poetry, articles, diary and others. He said that those who express themselves through blogs were mostly young females. He also shared with us about how it all started with; him and poetry. To be a poet we must have the passion to write and to explore the world. These are some tips that he gave us:-

·         Read a lot of good and high quality poetry.

·         Believe that you can write good stuff.

·         Have the will to do so.

·         Scribble your thought. Always.

·         Imitate.

·         Be yourself.

Mr. Refaat also encourages his students to create their own blog in order for them to scribble their thoughts. He wanted them to express themselves by making diaries in blog and share with other people in order for him to know how they see things around them. He also said that a poet needs to prepare a small notebook and write everything that comes to mind. We to treasure the ideas while it still last. There is this one sentence that I quote from his speech;

“Noticing is a skill developed by time”

This sentence shows that he is the kind of person that likes to explore the world and treasure it in his mind or notebook. He is also encouraging others to explore the world and noticing every single thing that happens around us. 

Q & A Session:-

1) Who are your favourite poets?
  - John Dunne and other romantic poets.

2) How was poetry before the war?
  - The poetry were more to personal view or experience that were usually wrote by young poets.

3) How do you take other people's experiences and put it in your writing?
  - He was moved by the reality that happen to others and emotionally wrote it in his work. For example, the story of his student's house that was destroyed two times. He also said that "You don't have to be a mom to write about mom".

4) How is the education in Palestine?
  - Education is good and it is compulsary.
  - There are five universities
  - However there are discrimination in male student where most students are female.

5) How does Palestine or Gaza was before the war?
  - Life was simple.
  - Most people were farmers.
  - Education = outside of the country (in Egypt and around the world).

6) What do the pictures (olive) in the blog symbolize?
  - Olive and olive oil are important to Palestinian.
  - It was rooted between men and land.
  - Olive symbolizes Palestine itself.
  - Mr Refaat spent most of his childhood times around the olive trees. It is very meaningful to him as it gives a lot of memories.

~War Poems~

~WAR POEMS~

War has been a theme in poetry for a long time since the World War I. Under pressure of war, people are more capable than ever to express their feelings through poetry. Many poems were produced during war periods. Poems were written through people’s experiences and emotions during the war.

WORLD WAR I

When you see millions of the

mouthless dead

by Charles Hamilton Sorley (c. 1915)

When you see millions of the mouthless dead

Across your dreams in pale battalions go,

Say not soft things as other men have said,

That you'll remember. For you need not so.

Give them not praise. For deaf, how should they know

It is not curses heaped on each gashed head?

Nor tears. Their blind eyes see not your tears flow.

Nor honour. It is easy to be dead.

Say only this, 'They are dead.' Then add thereto,

'Yet many a better one has died before.'

Then scanning all the o'ercrowded mass, should you

Perceive one face that you loved heretofore,

It is a spook. None wears the face you knew.

Great death has made all his forevermore.

WORLD WAR II (1939-1945)

The Lonely Hill

- RA Harris

Wild grow the poppies in Tunisian vale

Gracing the green of a fertile land

And here comes "Peace" to lay her veil

On the hill of the foes last stand. .

Out of the Plain reared the lonely hill

Like a breast bared to the sky

Its slopes clasped the fallen ever still

And its bosom echoed the swallow's cry. .

Small sanctuary of a fallen dream

Last bastion to Enfidaville

Your crumbled fort is a desolate scene

Where all but the winds are still. .

The winds will rise and the tall grass bend

To ripple like waves of the sea

And time will take the scars to mend

On the lonely hill of the free.

References:-

http://world-war-2.info/poems/

http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/FWW_index.html

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5890

~DRAMA~

What is Drama?

Drama is an art of performing a story on stage for live audience. The word drama comes from Greek word “dran” which means to do. It was then the history of drama started.

Elements of Drama:-

There are three types of drama elements:-

Ø  Literary

Ø  Technical

Ø  Performance

Literary elements consist of what are needed to write a script or story:-

·         Script

·         Plot

·         Character

·         Story Organization

·         Dialogue

·         Monologue/soliloquy/aside

·         Conflict

Technical elements are needed to produce a play:-

·         Scenery

·         Costume

·         Props (properties)

·         Sound and Music

·         Make-up

Performance elements are what an actor needed to make a character alive:-

·         Acting

·         Speaking

·         Non-verbal Expression

These elements are important to make a good production.

Types of Play

The ancient Greek developed drama, making two basic types of play:-

Ø  A Tragedy = a play that ends unhappily.

Ø  A Comedy = a play that ends happily.



References:-

http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/secondary/creativearts/assets/drama/pdf/dramaelements.pdf

http://www.eluprogram.com/Elements_of_Drama.pdf

~POETRY~

What is Poetry?

Poetry can be defined as literary works or arts which involve expression of feelings and thought by using many different styles of writing. Wordsworth defined poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”. Meanwhile, Dylan Thomas said that “Poetry is what makes me laugh or cry or yawn, what makes my toenails twinkle, what makes me want to do this or that or nothing”. It can also be defined as the arrangement of words in a rhythmic pattern which are carefully selected to express ideas and emotions.

The Structure of Poetry

Different types of poetry use various structural elements include:

-          Line, couplet, strophe and stanza.

Types of Poetry

There are many different types of poem, such as:-

-          Haiku = an ancient Japanese form with no rhyme.

-          Free verse

-          Cinquains = a five-line poem inspired by Japanese haiku’s.

-          Epic

-          Ballad ; eg= The Mermaid

-          Sonnet = poems of 14 lines that begin with three quatrains and end with a couplet.

-          Couplet = two-line poems.

Elements of Poetry

Several elements are needed in producing poetry. For example:-

-          Rhythm

-          Melody

-          Imagery

-          Comparisons

-          Substitutions

-          Ambiguities

Poetry without the touch of these elements would not be a complete poetry. Thus, these elements play vital roles in completing well-constructed and meaningful poems.

References (links):-

http://mseffie.com/assignments/poem-a-day/Poetry_Terminology.pdf

http://www.laits.utexas.edu/farrell/documents/Mill_What%20Is%20Poetry.pdf

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june00/poetryboxformexamples.html

Turtle Soup by Marilyn Chin

Turtle Soup

You go home one evening tired from work,
and your mother boils you turtle soup.
Twelve hours hunched over the hearth
(who knows what else is in that cauldron).

You say, "Ma, you've poached the symbol of long life;
that turtle lived four thousand years, swam
the Wet, up the Yellow, over the Yangtze.
Witnessed the Bronze Age, the High Tang,
grazed on splendid sericulture."
(So, she boils the life out of him.)

"All our ancestors have been fools.
Remember Uncle Wu who rode ten thousand miles
to kill a famous Manchu and ended up
with his head on a pole? Eat, child,
its liver will make you strong."

"Sometimes you're the life, sometimes the sacrifice."
Her sobbing is inconsolable.
So, you spread that gentle napkin
over your lap in decorous Pasadena.

Baby, some high priestess has got it wrong.
The golden decal on the green underbelly
says "Made in Hong Kong."

Is there nothing left but the shell
and humanity's strange inscriptions,
the songs, the rites, the oracles?

Explorations of the Text

1)      Notice the author’s choice of the word “cauldron” in line 4. What images or connections does this word evoke? Why might the author have chosen “cauldron” rather than “pot”?

The word “cauldron” evokes a bad image which usually involve with witchcraft in fairytales. According to this poem, that word connects the emotion between the mother and the speaker. The author chose “cauldron” instead of “pot” perhaps to point out the mother’s action of cooking the turtle to be considered as bad action.

2)      Chin refers to “the Wei”, “the Yellow”, and “the Yangtze”. Why does she reference these rivers in China? Why not include the Nile, the Amazon, or the Mississippi?

She tries to make clear of the background of her mother where she is from China instead of using other places which she was not familiar of.

3)      What is the tone of this poem?

The tone of the poem is anger where the speaker was unsatisfied with her mother’s action by cooking the turtle that symbolizes longevity as stated in the first line of the second stanza, ‘You say, “Ma, you’ve poached the symbol of long life;’.

Ideas for Writing

1)      "Sometimes you're the life, sometimes the sacrifice." Write about this quote within the context of an immigrant family. What might a family gain or lose by moving to a new land?

The quote gives a deeper meaning in context of an immigrant family. It is not easy to live in a place where we are unfamiliar of. There were many reasons for the immigrant to travel to other places for example to follow their dreams, fulfill their needs and absolutely for a better life. The quote proposed that immigrants could live their life normally or to get a better life, they have to sacrifice either physically or mentally. False hopes and dreams were given to this kind of people by certain country such as United States. United States often called as “The Land of Hope” or “The Land of Dream” by those people who believe in the presence of opportunities in that country. However, a big country like this does not care about immigrants. Their own citizens were much more important to the country rather than people from other countries.

By moving to a new land, a family might gain or lose something that they have. Usually, they will gain a better living, a new beginning of life, and the second chance of improving their life. However, they might also lose something such as their motherland and their original culture. By moving to other places, it will be hard to adapt to the new surroundings where there is oppression by other people. People needs to keep their head up and be prepared mentally or physically of whatever things that might come into our life.

                                                                                                                                  

Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note by Amiri Baraka

PREFACE TO A TWENTY VOLUME SUICIDE NOTE

By: Amiri Baraka

Lately, I've become accustomed to the way
The ground opens up and envelopes me
Each time I go out to walk the dog.
Or the broad edged silly music the wind
Makes when I run for a bus...

Things have come to that.

And now, each night I count the stars.
And each night I get the same number.
And when they will not come to be counted,
I count the holes they leave.

Nobody sings anymore.

And then last night I tiptoed up
To my daughter's room and heard her
Talking to someone, and when I opened
The door, there was no one there...
Only she on her knees, peeking into

Her own clasped hands

Explorations of the Text

1.      What is the mood of the speaker in the opening lines? What images suggest his feelings?

The mood of the speaker in the opening lines is depression. He is suffering from depression and lack of spirit. From the first stanza, the line “Lately, I’ve become accustomed to the way”, and “Or the broad edged silly music the wind” show the speaker’s feeling of depression where he uses the nature element in a negative way. It shows that he is stressful by his life and surroundings.

2.      What is the significance of the daughter’s gesture of peeking into “her own clasped hands”?

The daughter’s gesture of peeking into “her own clasped hands” is signifying the childish act of the daughter or any children who peeks their clasped hands while pray for God. The pure of the children’s heart hoping for their prayers to be answered by God.

3.      What does the title mean? How does it explain the closing line?

The title “Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note” means that it was just an introduction for a very long suicide note where it supposed to be just a short one. The title explains that the speaker’s intention of suicide was drawn back by his awareness of his responsibilities as a father to his daughter as we can see from the last stanza where he visit his daughter’s room and saw his daughter was on her knees praying to God. The closing line shows that there is still a glimpse of light in the darkness (hope).

4.      Why does Baraka have three short lines, separated as stanzas? How do they convey the message of the poem?

Baraka separated the short lines as stanzas to point out the important message each stanzas have. He also tries to give a flow to his poem and to give a better understanding to the readers. With these stanzas, readers could follow the pace and received the message clearly.

5.      Why does Baraka begin stanzas with “Lately”, “And now” and “And then”? What do these transition words accomplish?

Baraka used the time transition words in the beginning of the stanzas to show the chronological order of events in his life. These transition words make the readers understand the reason he wanted to commit suicide, his feeling towards life and the incident that wake him up to the reality and responsibility which make him changed his intention.

6.      How does the speaker feel about his daughter? What does she represent to him?

The speaker feels responsible when he saw her daughter pray on that night. Her daughter needs someone to guide her to walk through this complicated life. She represents hope and love to the speaker which made him realize and wake up from his selfishness.



Source:-

http://michaelpotts.livejournal.com/5585.html