Students- Really nice job on the last post. I am impressed! There were new and innovative insights shared. It seems to work well when you reply to a message for your response. Again, nice job.
#2- Discuss the positive and negative attributes of a dynamic (developed and well-rounded) character from Oedipus, Candide, Dante's, Book of Lost Things, or Glass Menagerie. You may not have read all of these, but there are students taking AP by arrangement who may have. Why do you find that character interesting? What subject from the work do they support? This needs to be 100 words. Then, you must respond to another student's thoughts. Your response should be 50 words. This is due Monday by 11:59 P.M.
I believe Laura is a very well-rounded and complex character from The Glass Menagerie.When I think of Laura I think of the subject misunderstood. Her mother has raised her to be very shy and self conscious. Her limp gives her many problems psychologically, making her believe she is inferior to others.Her glass figurines bring her a sense of comfort, and the records she listens to that her father left behind make her content. When O'Connor comes around he brings out a different side of Laura. She is very happy and more outgoing around him. She dances and smiles when he is there. Even though Laura is very shy, when someone gets close to her they can bring out the best side of her.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your description of Laura. I see how she's held back from her mother sheltering her due to her limp. Amanda makes a huge deal about Laura's "disability" and her daughter ends up developing a mental disability for herself. It's neat how O'Connor comes around and is able to help her overcome both limitations.
DeleteI agree with you both, Laura is my favorite character. Mr. O'Conner does bring out a different side of her, but only after she faints at the sight of him due to her social problems and her high school crush on him. I like that O'Conner sees past her social awkwardness and limp.
DeleteI like what you said about Laura. She is a good girl that is kept uptight by her mother. You described her very well. O'Connor does bring out the better in her. Even though she's shy she is my favorite character. I feel like she would be a better person if she wasn't with her mother so much.
DeleteTom Wingfield from The Glass Menagerie is an interesting and relatable character. I admire his thirst for adventure and love for literature. I don't believe that he should be looked down upon for his want to leave the family or for not paying the light bills. Instead, my view is that he should be praised for staying with his family for so long and supporting them his entire life when he could have been chasing his dreams. To me, Tom represents society's need for freedom and adventure, as well as our desire to discover the world. There's a little bit of Tom in all of us.
ReplyDeleteI feel that too. I agree with everything you said. Tom could easily be relatable to almost everyone in society these days. He is an interesting character with longing to leave his family and yet you know he still cares so much for them. I definitely feel pity for Tom, along with his sister, and mother.
DeleteI agree with what you said. Tom almost feels obligated to stay with his family because his father abandoned them and he is caught between staying with the family he loves or chasing his dreams. It isn't very fair of Amanda to make him feel like he has to stay and ten call him selfish. I pity Tom.
DeleteI think that Pangloss from Candide is a well-rounded character. The subject dedication comes to mind when I think of Pangloss. The fact that after all the experiences he goes through with Candide he still sticks to his philosophy; this life is "the best of all possible worlds" is enough to think of his dedication. I admire the fact that he sticks to this philosophy after all the hardships. The thing I don't like about his dedication, is that his philosophy is easily contradicted. I think there were many ways to avoid some of the situations that they went through in the book Candide.
ReplyDeleteI agree. It is always important to truly mean and stick to what you say. Even in this case when Pangloss's philosophy is utterly absurd after all the experiences and hardships that they have walked into and brought upon themselves. I think that ultimately Voltaire wasn't against a philosophy or religion that required complete blind faith, but more of one that had no logic and evidence to back it up.
DeleteSurprisingly, one of the few characters that I have actually liked and found interesting is Cacambo from Candide. Cacambo sheds a different light on Candide's and Pangloss's theory of life. Unlike other characters in the novel, he is confident in himself, both in his intelligence and his moral uprightness. He knows different languages, and deals capably with all different sets of people. He suffers fewer troubles than any other character, less out of luck than because he is smart. He also lives up to Candide’s trust when Candide sends him to fetch Cunégonde. Cacambo is a solid and relatable character through and through. He provides optimism in the later part of the novel when dreadful thing after dreadful happens. Through hardships Cacambo remains a true friend to Candide and shows that not everything in life is as bad as it seems.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Cacambo is a relatable character. He is also one of my favorite characters in Candide. His intelligence keeps himself out of a lot of trouble, like you said. That's important to have in a life full of choices. It's also important to have moral uprightness; to stay positive not only can help yourself but also effect the people around you
DeleteOedipus is a very dynamic and well rounded character in Sophocles's play. Humility comes to mind when I think of his story. His pride at the beginning is very high, as expected since he is the king of Thebes. It fits for his position, but later on it's discovered that his pride is his greatest weakness. What is interesting to me is by at the end of the play his personality shifts. The events that he goes through help humble him in a way. His ability to followed through with his promises to banish King Laius's murderer, even after he realized it was himself, is admirable. This shows how he grew from his arrogance and does what's best for Thebes. Sure, he ends up finding out his wife's his mother, gouges his eyes out and is exiled from the city he once ruled, but his pride is leveled nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. Oedipus was extremely smart and prideful at the beginning of the play. You would think that he would be smart enough to not pursue something like the murder of the former king. But by Oedipus wanting to know who killed the former king he discovered things about himself that he needed to know. And you were totally right when you said that by the end of the play his pride was at an all time low.
DeleteAmanda is a dynamic character that, to me, has mostly negative effects on the other characters in the play. She knows what she wants her children to do abd she believes that they should act the way she acted during the days of the "old south." For example she believes that Laura should be married abd have men falling for her, and that Tom should provide for them until Laura finds someone that can support both Laura and herself.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Amanda supports the subject of some people not wanting to change their ways because she still believes in the "old south" ideology. While Tom and Laura support the idea of new ways being introduced into society and the don't away of the old ways.
Sorry for typos.
DeleteI agree with what you're saying. Amanda has more negative features than positive. She trys to make her kids live in the past like she did. Not moving forward with the current times. She thinks she knows what is best for Tom and Laura. While not, fully accepting them as individuals
DeleteI agree. But I also believe that because she is from the "old south" I think she truly just wants her children to have good lives. She also is frightened that her children are going to leave her just like her husband/ their father left them. Even though she might be kind of crazy I do think she has good intentions in her heart. Or at least she thinks she does.
DeleteA positive attribute to a dynamic character is how we get to see them change, grow, and develop into someone "new." An inward character change is very important to a story. However, there could be negative attributes to a dynamic character, such as when they change into a "bad" person, or simply change for the worse. Amanda Wingfield in the Glass Menagerie could be viewed as a dynamic character. She probably went through a change when her husband left her, and all she had left was her two kids. She doesn't want them to leave her even though they're grown adults now. This is why I find her as an interesting character because she still holds on to her children as if they would leave her and not ever come back to see her. Amanda probably doesn't recognize how she's hurting her kids and their futures because all she can think of is herself. I don't think she means to. I think she's just scared and concerned, as any mother should be. What's interesting is how she deals with the fear of losing her children, and that's also the entire subject of the story.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Amanda reacts to how most mothers act now days she wants whats best for her kids but she does it in such a forceful way that she is pushing them away from her. It seems as if she has a fear that her children will leave her and never come back so she hold on to tight to them.
DeleteI think Laura in the Glass managerie is a very well rounded dynamic character. A positive aspect of Laura is that she is loyal to Tom her brother. They have a close relationship that endures throughout. She encourages Tom to apologize for arguments with Amanada. All though Laura is weak and fragile she trys to get ahead in life but her shyness is the factor that keeps holding her back as it does in many young people today. Laura is delicate and beautiful in the eyes of O'Conner but to Laura she is a cripple and vulnerable person. She for all of shortcomings survives and continues to try to function in society.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement. I strongly agree with the positive aspect of her character being her loyalty to Tom. I think that Laura encouraging Tom to apologize to Amanda shows her fear of change and desire for peace, as well as her shyness that you mentioned. I also agree with the way you stated her perspective and opinion of her own self-worth verses O'Conner's perspective. Had she not had these opinions of herself, I think the story would have taken a different turn that what it has.
DeleteAmanda is a well rounded character in the fact that she has many wants and hopes for her children. She is hard on them to keep them from making the same mistakes that she made. She wants them to live the life way she thinks is best for them even though it is forced on them. Amanda can also have a sentimental side to her such as when it comes to her husband. I've noticed that she keep up the picture of him in the main room, talks about him to her children, and she still keep the wedding ring on her finger. Sometimes it seems as if she wishes her husband would come back so she can let go of her children and live the way they would like to live.
ReplyDeleteI agree. She keeps pushing her kids to be the best but she has also limited them in many ways. You can tell she loves and misses her husband. I think if her husband was still around her kids would be married and living their own lives. She just tries to do what she thinks is best. But maybe what she thinks is best is what is keeping her kids from what's best for them.
DeleteI find Tom Wingfield to be a dynamic and quite interesting character in The Glass Menagerie. He interests me most with the ambitions that he has but can't quite pursue yet, do to his need to take care of his mother and sister, as well as his many positive and negative attributes that he adds to the story. He has a positive side in that he has been willing to sacrifice his own hopes and dreams for the greater good of his family. He has a negative side in his contradicting personality and his desire to hastily rid himself of the situation he has been put into, even if it is for a good cause. Tom strongly supports the subject of sacrifice, in that he has given a lot to provide for his family, despite his annoyance toward his overbearing mother and socially awkward sister.
ReplyDeleteI like that you brought up the subject of sacrifice. I agree with you and think that Tom's entire life is, in one way or another, a sacrifice. Do you think he's wrong in wanting to leave? I think he's done more than his part and has every right to escape.
DeleteI think Tom Wingfield from The Glass Menagerie is a dynamic character. He has the positive attributes of staying with his family as long as he has, usually keeping his mother relatively happy, and working to support his mother and sister family. He has the negative attributes of sometimes being very selfish and short tempered, but that can be blamed a little on his mother being instantly watchful of both her children. He is a good brother to Laura but wants to leave his family like his absent father to live his own life full of adventure like in the movies.
ReplyDeleteI like that you point out that he maybe is the way he is because of his mother. She does have a huge impact in his life and he's definintly ready to get away from her, and to finally be his own person.
DeleteI think Laura from the Glass Menagerie is a well rounded dynamic character. She has been kept from society because she has a limp that she thinks weakens her and therefore she drops out of school because she is so shy because her mother kept her from the world. Her mother has made her socially awkward and Laura thinks every thing limits her. Laura is very loyal to her brother Tom. They have a very close relationship and always encouraging him to apologize to his mother because she does not want to upset her mother. She even hides the fact that she dropped out of school from her mother cause she does not want to disappoint her. But she goes through a change and embraces herself when her high school crush comes back into her life. He makes her realize it's not her defect that limits her but it's her that limits herself and if she stops looking at her defect she could be happy and not so closed up. We all have limits but sometimes they aren't as big as we think. We just have to overcome our weaknesses and live life and Laura does that even if it was only for a few minutes.
ReplyDeleteA character that stuck out to me with both positive and negative attributes was Tom. Him leaving to make something of his life is nothing to be looked down on. His new career could in time help better financially support his family; more than his factory job ever could.
ReplyDeleteBut I believe he is going about it the wrong way. No matter how much he dislikes his scatter brained mother, she doesn't deserve to be abandoned with nothing to support her. And if he really loved and cared about his sister he wouldn't just .eave her to fend for herself. He needs to at least tell them what his plans are instead of just leaving them in the dark about all of it. You just don't do those types of things to people you love.
I feel that The Old Woman from Candide is a well-rounded person. She has lived in times of poor and wealth. She has been a important person. She has also been a servant for Cunegonde. She also had been a very beautiful person back in the day before she got it all taken from her. I find her interesting because she has one butt cheek. She was also a good adviser telling Cunegonde and Candide the need to split up for the safety of Cunegonde. She was an honest person and she was well trusted by Cunegonde. Also playing important roll in Candide
ReplyDeleteI believe the character of Laura Wingfield from the Glass Menagerie is a well-rounded and dynamic character. I think her character represents a sort of fragile-ness in all of us. The way she cares for the little glass horses like they're the most precious thing in the world to her. I also think her innocence makes her well-rounded. You don't see that kind of innocence in many characters throughout literature today. I see her as a very fragile thing that could shatter at any moment. I think we might all have a little but of Laura in us.
ReplyDeleteDante is one of the most interesting characters I have read. He was both a lover and a hater. Dante was very compassionate to some of the sinners while he was in Hell, he could understand their pain and suffering for some little thing they have done. Which made him very confused on his set of morals. But on the other hand, as the story progresses he becomes also a hater. He had strong hate to some of the politicians we had encountered that had made where he lived a corrupt place. That makes him a quite interesting character he is very well rounded but at the same time the writer makes you have emotions for him.
ReplyDelete