The Cider House Rules(#8)

Recently, I have read a novel called The Cider House Rules by John Irving. It is for most of the story, a great experience and a great in-depth character study that deals with tough issues like abortion, orphans, racism, sexual abuse, and love. It was the movie that was adapted from the novel that inspired me to read the book.

The Cider House Rules is about an orphanage in St. Cloud's, Maine. Specifically, it is about Homer Wells, an orphan from there and seemingly cursed to have to stay there. After being repeatedly adopted and then returning, the orphanage decides to keep him until he can leave on his own. The orphanage is also a hospital and houses the director of both, Dr. Larch. Dr. Larch is a obstetrician who delivers the orphans from the mothers who come to St. Cloud's, but also secretly performs abortions at a time when they were illegal and, in Maine, could result in the death penalty to anyone who performs them.

The novel is extensive about Dr. Larch, showing his life in a span of 60 pages or so, before getting anywhere to the main character, Homer. However, Dr. Larch is the best character in the novel and probably the most mature and well-rounded of all the characters also. The novel depicts his rise from son of a alcoholic father and pro-Prohibition mother to becoming a doctor, to his final choice to help women with abortions after seeing two women he knew die after getting abortions on the streets, and his arrival at the orphanage in St. Cloud's.

Homer Wells does eventually leave the orphanage with two new friends, Wally and his girlfriend
Candy. He works with them on Wally's family vast apple orchard. Thus begins a love triangle that isn't really much of a triangle. Wally seems too naive to notice Homer is falling for Candy, and when Wally leaves for World War II, Candy falls in love with Homer. Soon after, Candy gets pregnant and has the child, Angel Wells, that she and Homer pass off as the adopted son of Homer.  Soon after, Wally arrives back home after he shot down and lost his legs. Candy marries Wally instead of Homer, and the lies they've told are stretched over fifteen years.

This is point in the novel where Irving loses the audience. The novel jumps fifteen years forward to a time when Homer, Wally, Candy, and Angel are living together under the assumption that Candy and Wally are married and Angel is the adopted son of Homer. Irving constructed a weak chair to sit on with this, and we later on in fact see that basically everyone knew Angel was the product of Candy and Homer.

There was another problem. There comes point when Homer tells Angel that his mother is Candy and Candy tells Wally. This happens in the closing pages and the what ensues is basically nothing. Everything basically stays the same. There are no reactions and we are told of nothing that was said and done in response to this news. Eventually Homer becomes a doctor and takes over for Dr. Larch at St. Cloud's, but by this time the story has lost credibility and just seemed to be pushing it.

The first 400-500 pages are great, with characters that have so many different sides of their personality that come into conflict with each other. We also see the history of many of the major characters that are provide great depth to where they are now. However, when the novel jumps fifteen years forward, the characters magically become one-dimensional and naive. Dr. Larch is the only character who doesn't succumb to this tragedy, but he comes very close. Eventually, the novel  ends in a very unsatisfying way, and it seems like the entire novel was just a way to show how Homer Wells overcame his fear of abortions and became a doctor who performs them. The novel discards Wally, Candy, and Angel in the final pages. The majestic sweep of the beginning where all the characters are talked about in depth ultimately becomes a straight road by the end of the novel. To me, the character of Homer Wells changes significantly over the fifteen years. Before, he is a complex person who does good and bad things, but seems like a true person. After fifteen years, Homer becomes a naive and stupid man who reminded me of sitcom dads of the 90s. It nearly killed the book, but the saving grace is the half, which is one of the best stories I've ever read.

Also, it provides us with a great quote that I will never forget: "Goodnight, you Princes of Maine, You Kings of New England."

Art/Cultural Opportunity: The Lives of Others(#7)

For our self-chosen art/cultural opportunity, I decided to go see a movie that was being shown by Penn State at the State Theatre. The movie was called The Lives of Others.

The Lives of Others is a film about East Germany under the police state and dictatorship that they lived with a little more than two decades ago. The film is specifically about the East German secret police, the Stasi, who spy on people they view suspicious to their government. The main character is one of the Stasi who convinces a superior to allow him to spy on a celebrated East German playwright and his actress girlfriend. The Stasi is middle-aged and lonely and, at first, his spying and eavesdropping into their lives is all business, but eventually he seems to like to manipulate them. However, he soon starts to care for these people and some of their friends, and when the government attempts to stamp down the playwright, the Stasi is able to protect from any harm.

This is a very deep film that examines different perspectives. The playwright is initially dissatisfied with his government, but believe it isn't worth it to go against them. This changes when a friend of his is blacklisted and subsequently commits suicide. In turn, the playwright pens an article that is secretly smuggled into a West German magazine about the suicide rates increasing in East Germany and how the government has stopped counting them.

The Stasi is a hard man to like at the beginning. He is cold and dispassionate, and his job is simply that, a job. He eventually leads the operation to spy on the playwright and manipulates him, such as when he purposely rings the doorbell when his girlfriend is coming home with another man. However, he begins to slowly feel compassion for the subjects he is listening to, which starts out creepy, but eventually ends rather sweet. For one, he allows one of the playwright's friends to escape East Germany to the West even though he knows he's doing hours beforehand. The friend never escaped, but the fact that he turned away from it shows he is beginning to show compassion. Eventually, the government attempts to put the playwright in prison for good, but the Stasi successfully hides all the evidence against him, and he gets away. It's rather ironic that the Stasi was like a businessman because his superiors were anything but business. They had petty jealousies that they dealt with through using the spy.

In real life, much of this couldn't have happened. The Security arm of the government was probably the most repressive authority in the history of the world. They had thousands of spies everywhere, so you had to extremely secretive about anything the government didn't approve of. Also, the Stasi couldn't have helped the playwright, because, in reality, the spies were also being spied on as well.

However, that doesn't affect the powerful film that made from this repressive regime. I think its a quietly optimistic film showing how people can change from what they've been they're entire life and how good can come through even in the repressive environments.

Self Evaluation(#6)

1)The semester is now coming to close, and it's time to look back over the past few months to see what the progress and change that I've made.

Over the course of the past few months in English 15s, I've learned the obvious things such as the appeals, which are ethos, pathos and logos. But the most important that I've learned in class is becoming a better writer and writing correctly to get to the audience you've been looking to find. The individual papers, such as the memoir and visual analysis, were great ways to put into practice the concepts, such as the appeals, and to identify them in our own writing and in others' writing. I don't believe I've thoroughly put in the time to accurately portray all of those, but they are still there for me to do better.

The other part of English 15s is, of course, the arts at Penn State. Throughout the semester, I've been going to look at the art and experiences at Penn State with and without my classmates. I've found that Penn State is a strange place to me. To me, it is at once insular, but also broad and open to the world outside. This is shown through its arts, from the Arboretum to the play. It all seems so sweeping in the gigantic scope of the campus and people, but it also feels like your experiencing the world.

This semester has showed me a lot about my personality. I'm a quiet person, and do not talk much around people that I don't know very well. This semester has showed me that it's harder for me to break out of that than I first thought. For one thing, I wished I would've participated in class more. I think it will take time, but I believe I can continue on and become a better and more involved student in the classroom.

English 15s has also opened up to me more possibilities about art. Although the course brought me what it could and couldn't possibly take all the arts and throw it at us, that little bit which was shown to me made it evident I hadn't fully comprehended art and my feelings towards it. For one thing, I had never been to an art museum before, so I had never much feeling towards paintings or sculptures that weren't gigantic and weren't known around the world. The visit solidified in me an appreciation for that kind of art, but also amazement that the Palmer is small compared to many other art museums. It opened me up to the possibilities of art.

Overall, this semester and class has been an important to me. It has opened up new thinking outside the classroom and learning new things that can applied now and later in life. I think it was good semester, even if I'm slightly disappointed in myself for not actively trying to engage in it. It came to me and the possibilities opened up and I enjoyed it.

2)
   1. http://the1meltingpot.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-palmer-museum-visitation.html#comment-form

   2. http://knaviello.blogspot.com/2012/11/exit-through-gift-shop.html#comment-form

   3. http://www.cheddarbread.blogspot.com/2012/09/after-walking-once-through-
palmer.html#comment-form

   4. http://dcbornandraised.blogspot.com/2012/11/in-red-and-brown-water.html#comment-form

   5. http://quirkyconfessional.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-social-network.html#comment-form

   6. http://rfatherly.blogspot.com/2012/09/arboretum-experience.html#comment-form

   7. http://daniellegordonmartin.blogspot.com/2012/11/in-red-and-brown-water_15.html#comment-form

   8. http://dkeilpsu.blogspot.com/2012/09/palmer-as-seen-through-lens.html#comment-form

   9. http://contemplationsoacck.blogspot.com/2012/11/like-wind-acbp5.html#comment-form

   10. http://15snmpy-y.blogspot.com/2012/09/so-you-think-you-know-art.html#comment-form

3)Hi, Ms. S--I completed my SRTEs!