Act of Resistance

Now that i think of it and since it didn't have to be a public act of resistance... I have done several things over the weekend alone. However the thing i was intentionally doing was boycotting shopping completely on Black Friday, as well as the sales that followed on Saturday and Sunday (these were at places like Macy's, Boston Store, Kohls, and Target) So although usually throughout the past 4 years of my life that weekend and Friday especially were the days i did all of my holiday shopping as well as shopping in general i decided to take a stand this year and wait until a little later.

At first i didn't think that i would be able to pull this off mainly because of the fact that everyone else in my family was doing shopping but i managed to stay home and avoid all temptaions of deals too good to be true. I feel good about being able to make a stand and break away from conformity and the trend. I also believe that by protesting this it was a way of saying the stores couldn't control my lifestyle and i found better things to do with my time on the weekend. Many of my friends and people i am aquainted with thought i was crazy for not taking advantage of the sales but respected my opinion and choice of "sticking it to the man" or (womyn)

If i did this again i would probably write a letter to a manager or maybe even to Herb Kohl himself since he owns the stores, and explain my side and rationale for my protest. otherwise if i did this again i would most likely just Boycott all of the major stores in order to help the smaller businesses out and support them and help stimulate the economy on a microeconomic level.

I don't believe that me alone especially since I am only a high Schooler without a good paying job and because i wasn't able to persuade my family to boycott the companies that i made a significant impact but by writing this for anyone who desires to read and by at least putting the idea out there, that i did do a small part to protesting somthing much higher beyond me at the moment at least.

Final Lysistrata Blog

This blog will just be my reflections on how i felt about this play.

I am definately glad that i got to read this play for many reasons. the first is that i learn another great tale and i can use it as an example in an intellectual discourse i may have in the future. Another reason is that this revolt really did work and i am glad that it did because it just shows that it doesn't take violence, or being famous just to be heard, and that anyone can make a difference if they all stand strong together. It is this point that i believe the modern play was refering to a UWM ... if we all recycled just a little bit more, or stopped to pick things up off the ground then maybe just maybe we would stand a chance at doing something bigger than us something even as big as helping the world... and with that I will step away for Lysistrata leaving all those to read this blog to reflect on everything we as single human beings can do.......

BLOG 9!!!!!!!

its blog numero nine and i am feeling fine!!!

Another theme in this play is the uncanny Power of Women

This play along with the House of Bernarda Alba, and Hedda Gabler all show the power of women... IB must really be focused on a message they want to convey to the students about equality... anyways I feel that this play superceeds the other plays we have read when it comes to the power of women because this what the entire play is about from start to finish and it isn't just one or two women that have power, it is every single women in the book... and without every women doing their share, it wouldn't have been a succesfull revolt.

Lysistrata Blog 8

Its about this time where im almost blogged out of my mind, but i feel as though it is my duty as an american to finish this quest of bloggage.

The setting of this play as i alluded to earlier is maintained in one general area, and the props used were interesting ... the cup of wine that the women drank from literally could have been a cup of wine but if you would like to know the symbolic way of seeing this look at Jmag's blog about this because i must give her credit otherwise i wouldn't have thought of it.

Lysistrata Blog 7

This play is famous for its overwhelming use of puns. Because of the puns i found this play to be extremely punny. It was so funny that i will provide a few examples for you. One example is when a man is expecting his wife to sleep with him and instead she runs and he makes a remark about the only one getting laid is the table. Other funny puns i found were just little subtle remarks throughout the play such as people exclaiming "its getting harder" or something to that accord. Never the less this play was both emotionally loaded and pun filled.

Lysistrata Blog 6

Wheew over half way done now!!!!

Dialectic Dialogue

This play has very interesting dialogue and what fastinated me the most about the dialogue was the different dialects in which the people spoke... for example Lysistrata spoke very proper and formal to all of the people throughout the play, however there was a character by the name of Lampito i believe that spoke with a very mountainous southern drawl and that helped me to form opinions on both of the characters and how they act. I pictured Lampito to be not as educated as Lysistrata, but certainly as brave as her ... i pictured her as the strong farmer woman type that would fight for a cause she believed noble and that is just what she did through the play

Lysistrata Blog 5

Make love, not war

This theme is essential to the play and although the theme make love, not war sounds so cleshy, it is exactly in line with what is occuring in the play. The play is a lack of making love in the attempt to end war and in the end the theme of this play holds true because both the women and men end up deciding on making love and ending the war with Sparta.

Lysistrata Blog 4

Characters Part 2

On the otherside of the gender pool or gender spectrum if you will there is our main man the commissioner. This guy deserves almost as much credit as Lysistrata does for 2 main reasons. The first reason is that he is representing the other men and doing his best to put the protest down and at the same time keep the women happy. The second reason is that he is a good sport about being humiliated by the women but getting a veil put on his head and also because in the end he begins to see the womens point and asks questions. Also he helps to reach a peace agreement with the women so the Abstinance Plan can end but also so that he can help to ensure that the strike won't occur again. Whether this will be successful or not, I believe that when we left the play the situation was looking good between the men and the women.

Lysistrata Blog 3

Characters Part 1

In this edition of my blog i would like to look into the two main characters on both sides of the gender spectrum. The first character is of course the one that the play was named after, Lysistrata. She acts strong and very bold to defend everything that she believes in and wants the women to have beter lives. She comes up with the idea of abstinance which demonstrates her creativity and thinking that is way ahead of her time. She also sees the big picture and is a good "arguer" or in other words very persuasive i believe that if it weren't for her appeal, persuasion, and leadership skills that Plan Abstinance would have failed. Some of the women werent as strong and daring as her and it was her that saved the women and ended the feud between the the waring countries. Lysistrata may have only been looking to help her and her fellow women keep their families together but she also did something much bigger by having the two sides come together in peace. BASICALLY the bottom line is that if you take Lysistrata out of the equation you take the entire revolt or strike out of the picture and nothing happens, and life just keeps going the way it always has.

Lysistrata Blog 2 Abstinance Risky Choice????

Before i move onto the Characterization of the play I wanted to delve into the whole idea of abstinance and how it could have been a potientally risky choice. I am glad that Plan Abstinance was a success but i believe that it could have gone in the opposite direction especially in society today. The women were lucky that they had a bold and courageous leader like Lysistrata to lead them because I could have imagined that the abstinance could have gone down as a joke because the men could have treated the women like dirt and I could see the very sensitive women breaking down and quitting just to have a happy marriage and family and even though that is all that the women wanted all along i believe that some of the men wouldn't have put up with their protest especially if it would have lasted longer than 24 hours.

Lysistrata Blog 1

Plot Development

The plot held true to one main story line throughout this play and moved rapidly, but also progressed just slow enough to establish they key characters and concepts that were occuring. The play remained in one general setting throughout the play. To help provide an example or explanation of the plot moving fast but slow at the same time is that the play began with the two characters of Lysistrata and Kleonike having discourse about why Lysistrata was so angry and impatient. But exactly 5 pages later the other ladies begin to show up and the rising action begins to proceed rather quickly. I guess what I am trying to say about the plot is that upon reading the first 5 pages it appears to be moving slowly but but after the basic set up to the play it moves much quicker and we can see everything that is happening.

FINAL BLOG!!!!!!!!!!

well this is the final blog for the play Hedda Gabler and i am going to miss doing this dearly ... nvm i get to do it right away again for Lysistrata!!!!!!!!!!!!

In this blog i thought i would wrap things up by making another of my famous lists of similiarities!!!!! This list will be focusing on the similiarites between the 2 plays we have read but i will not go into much details on the characters seeing as i have done that extensively already in previous blogs.

1. The setting in both plays never really moves and is in a house. In Hedda Gabler it is in one room for most of the time, and for Bernarda Alba the play is in one house.

2. As the play commences the color change is vital. The colors start of dark in the beginning and get light in the end of Bernarda Alba as if to suggest a freedom from oppression for Adela, and the colors go from light to dark in the play Hedda Gabler as if to show potiential for happiness to death and misery in the end.

3. For my final point, both plays involve a love triangle or quadrangle or whatever you prefer. In Bernarda Alba there is a love connection between Angustias, Adela, and Pepe el Romano. In Hedda Gabler there is a love connection between Hedda Gabler, Brack, and Lovborg, and possibly George if you just want to throw him into the mix because of the fact that he is Hedda's husband.

Georgie

Georgie is what i shall call Mr. Tesman because he obviously does not deserve any other title. He is very book smart and focused on only one thing in life and that is History. Other than history, George is very clueless as to what is going on in this play. He is clueless to Hedda's pregnancy, he is clueless to Brack's advances, and he is even clueless to Hedda's build up before she kills herself. Poor poor little georgie when will he ever face reality????????? Hopefully Hedda's death was a big enough wake up call for him to stop doubting himself, tighten his pants and opening his eyes just a bit wider.

Adela VS> Hedda

One of my questions to an assesment earlier was: Compare and contrast the roles of Hedda Gabler and Adela.

I thought of a surprising number of similarities between the two characters that i discovered and would like to share.
1. Both of the two young ladies are pregnat or at least become pregnat throughout the course of there respective plays.

2. The two ladies are oppressed by a male dominated society. If we put on our feminist lens we can clearly see that the men still dominate society and hold women back from reaching their full potiental of being whatever they want to be in life.

3. Both Adela and Hedda are going to get or are already married to a man that they do not love... if Adela would have had more options in her life she most likely would have realized that she had much more in common with another man than that of Pepe El Romano who she only claimed to love because he was her way out. And in Hedda's case it isn't hard to see that Hedda doesn't love George and only married him out of convinience.

4. The final major thing that the two have in common is that they both end up commiting suicide.

BANG BANG PISTOLS TELL ALL

Now for my next blog i will be demonstrating the use of pistols..... in the play Hedda Gabler that is!

In my personal opinion, one of the single most important motif's in this play was the motif of Hedda Gabler's pistols. Pistols lead to power and power leads to corruption and Ibsen’s play Hedda Gabler is a prime example of power gone wrong. When you mix Hedda Gabler with boredom and power the outcome will not be pretty for anyone within a household of this woman. She is very unpredictable and when you add the pistols to her craziness you get chaos ... an example of this in the beginning of Act 2 where Hedda points the gun at the Judge and shoots into the sky. At that point in the story we as readers became a little more unaware of what Hedda was attempting to get at. This is when Brack comes inside and allows himself to take the gun right out of Hedda’s hand, and thus temporarily assuming power in the house. When Brack has the pistol he is in charge and nothing can really stand in his way. this is also yet another unpredictable move by Hedda to at one second pretend to be shooting at the Judge and another second allowing the Judge to take complete control of a situation and send Hedda into submission.

Marxist Lens

The play Hedda Gabler can best be associated with modern society and events in a few key ways. By knowing these ways we as readers can reach a new level of understanding vital to the play. The entire class system in this play is somewhat similar to the system we see today. The wealthy do not really need to work and the middle class do. Throughout the play we see George Tesman concerned with financial burdens, while we see characters such as Hedda on the other hand acting care free when it comes to money.

From what i see in this play Hedda loses interest in money and finances when the idea of power comes back into her mind. The very thought that Hedda could possibly control anyone at any time made her factinated and led her to ultimately controlling another human being's life and in this case the life was Lovborg's.

After this one only 5 left!!!!

Hopefully this blog makes sense but in this one i am going to talk about Lovborg... with several clarifying questions along the way.

So from what i understand, Lovborg used to be a crazy drunk that partied and hooked up with Hedda at one point and through that time, Hedda was able to cast a spell of control over him... then eventually after some amount of time, the two went their separate ways and somehow Lovborg overcame his alcohol problem with the help of Thea?????? and together they wrote a manuscript about the future????? and it was like Lovborg or Thea's child??? and then when Lovborg and Hedda began to talk again, Hedda managed to control him after some time and was able to convince him to kill his child/manuscript??? and later end his life (well that is unknown but assumed) is that all there is to know about our friend Lovborg????

Characters in Hedda Gabler

As promised previously here is yet another blog but this time it pertains to the characters and how they change or morph if you will as the play moves on through the acts.

Ultimately through the play all of the characters change significantly from the beginning of the story to the end. At least all but two. Generally in a play or story a character changes from the readers first impression.

For me, i found Hedda to be much more controlling then i anticipated especially at the end of the first act when she pulled out her pistols and completely caught me off guard with her cold mood.

The two characters that i found to not change from my first impressions what so ever were the two characters that can argueably be living most in the past.
George Tesman and his Aunt. The two began the play and never really changed... George was always innocent and couldn't really grasp reality, and his Aunt was just older and cared for people never really granting her a chance at adjusting herself to things.

Color Contrast in this Play

I am not sure as to whether or not the blogs are due by monday Morning or Monday by 12 midnight but im going to do one now and find out later.

The color scheme in this play is key to understanding Ibsen's contrast of tone and mood and how the mood changes through out various parts of the play.
I believe that the play begins innocent and at a point where the reader is just seeing the characters from a far, but as it commences we see the reality of each character and how they really are. (See my next blog on characters to learn more about this) The colors are very light and doors, and curtains are open in the beginning perhaps symbolizing the idea of happiness, or at least the potiental for it, and possibly freedom?!?!? yes i said it freedom ... i think that when this play is started the possiblilites for the couple of Hedda and George are endless but as we unveil their distinct personas we see how it is meant to be.
So to sum it all up ... in Act 1 the theme is light and cheery, Act 2 some of the cheery objects are removed, and in the end, Act 4, there is a overwhelming mood of a morbid sorrow and pessimism that fills the air with closed doors, and shut curtains.

First Section of Act 1

I am up to page 234 and that is just when Ms. Elvestad or however you spell it arrived and
currently i have am analysing the disscussion between Hedda, Aunt Tesman, and Tesman.
The characters appeared to be forcing themselves to get along aside from the two Tesman's.
Hedda and the Aunt didn't seem to get along all that well, and the fact that Hedda insulted the Aunt certainly did not make any of the matters better. Although some would say it was boring i believe that this conversation is curcial to the play and how it is set up. After just reading this section I have a good first impression on the three main characters and have several guesses on how the action will unfold but for now I will keep those ideas to myself and just keep watching on how this play unfolds. I see Ms. Tesman becoming a bit of an annoyance as the play progresses and she will definately be up to date on everything going on in the household because she strikes me as clever and persistant.

Everyones URL's

Since I feel like it im going to take the innitiative to start a list of everyones url's
so that way i can add more people to be critics of my fabulous bloggs....
so with that my url is

stephendub.blogspot.com (idk if i spelled blogspot right)

Hedda Gabbler more like Hedda ....

So far this story has a quintessential meaning that i have yet to figure out... in other words
not much has happened but then again I am only on page 11 so we shall see!