Ceremony Summary and Analysis

Main info:

• Leslie Marmon Silko
• Novel (with poetry)
• Genre:  postmodern, Native American story

 Setting:

• Time: mid-1970s
• United States (New Mexico - main place, California), Phillipines
• Set in New Mexico, Laguna-Pueblo territory
• Auntie and Josiah's home
• Where Tayo spent his later childhood, grew up in culture clash, shunned by Auntie, loved /taught by Josiah, surrounded by Western influence
• Cattle Plains
• Where Tayo and Josiah raise cattle, where Tayo travels to find them 
• Mountains
• Where Tayo meets T-seh, the Night Swan, hides from Emo, undergoes the ceremony with Beunito
• Phillipine jungle
• The war, where Rocky dies, source of Tayo's psychological trauma
• Gallup bars
• Stage of melding of western influence - alcohol, women, drinking, Native American stereotypes, etc.

• Social environment: 
• Power structure/struggles: 
• Laguna Pueblo vs. Western - Western cultures oppressing and infrginring on LP's cultures, rights, traditions, etc.
• Tayo vs. Emo - basic physical dislike and confrontation (Tayo stabbing Emo at the bar)
• Tayo vs. witches - whether taken for face value (Tayo vs. Emo, Pinkie, Leroy, etc.) of for a larger, metaphorical sense of all witches, Tayo definitely faces opposition in the sense of Western people and regulations
• Yellow women - all three yellow women (Bentoine's ancestor), Night Swan (...maybe not T'seh) have faced opposition in the face of society. Outcast in one way or another, they are adventurous, bold, and daring in the face of their kin
• Christianity/witchcraft vs. Laguna Puebo tradition - in the old poetry stories and present day, the forces are always clashing against one another
• Vulnerability: characters (Tayo especially) are vulnerable emotionally & physically - sometimes one affects the other (like when something prompts Tayo and he throws up/feels ill)

• Passage of time:
• So confusing! There is the present and "flashbacks" (Tayo living in another moment)
• Present time takes place over a span of 1-2 years

Plot: 

• Freytag's Pyramid: The Elements of Plot
• Status Quo: intro of characters, setting, & conflict at the beginning
• Introduce Tayo - setting, sickness, war, flashbacks, intro poem (sets up traditions and the Laguna Pueblo vs. Western culture)
• Rising Action: events that complicate/intensify the conflict
• Meet other characters/times - Night Swan, Josiah, Laura, Rocky, etc. - learn about Tayo's  childhood, history, Laguna Pueblo traditional stories
• Looking for cattle, meet T'seh, undergo ceremony, etc.
• Climax: point of greatest tension
• When Tayo hides/runs from Emo and the other witches
• Resolution: where conflict may/may not be resolved
• finishes ceremony, goes home, and returns to T'seh
•  What conflicts does it dramatize? 
• Identity, fate, tradition, etc.
•  Qualities of protagonist & antagonist:
• Protagonist: Tayo - sincere, confused, traditional, solitary, learning/growing, Father Sun
• Antagonist: Emo - temperamental, violent, alcolohlic, reckless (witches)
• External/Internal conflicts
• External: physical sickness, alchoholism/greed/sex/power (Western influences), war
• Internal: sick minds, conformity, "death spirits" (chased out in the ceremony)

Significant Characters: 

• Tayo - dynamic, depressed, "internal", clash of cultures/demon-spirits/witchcraft. Starts off weak, slowly learns, adapts, grows stronger. Ties to culture/conflict
• Josiah - static, stable. Tayo's father figure/teacher/rock. Brings traditional LP culture to forefront, teaches Tayo
• Auntie - static. martyr conflict, Rocky over Tayo, religious
• Rocky - static, wants Western success, Auntie's planned "success", 
• Bentoine - static, doesn't change himself, but serves as an incentive for change within Tayo
• Yellow Women - ...both?, Bentoine's ancestor, Night Swan, T'seh serve as the white women in the story, With their sexuality and aura they draw the main male characters (especially Tayo) towards them. Serving as advice and root for change they bring about a difference.

Narrative voice/author's style:

• Point of view:
• mostly third person limited
• Tone: (I'm a bit confused about this bit.)
• Serious
• Hopeful
• Imagery/Symbolism
• repeated images/symbols: colors (yellow), directions (N/S/E/W), 

Quotes

• "Nothing was all good or all bad either it all depended."

•  This quote is in the middle of Tayo's being surrounded by rain in the jungle. It explains that not everything can be just one thing or the other. It goes along with the idea of BALANCE. A cycle.

•  "It seems like I already heard these stories before - only thing is, the names sound different."
•  After Tayo comes home and tells his story Grandma shares this sentence, applying to his whole journey. Comparing to Father Sun, showing that Tayo has, in a sense, saved them all.

Course Response (4/14/13)

Once upon a time there was an class...an AP Lit class...a quiet AP Lit class. When they discussed, a hush fell over the room. So tangible was this quiet, that one could hear the hum of the lights, and the crinkle of granola bar wrappers. Some half-hearted attempts at conversation were made, tossed back and forth between the few individuals who dared to break the strain of silence. Half BS, half founded theory, these wisps floated across the room, held aloft by long pauses. Ms. Holmes sat at the back of the classroom, wondering how these lazy second semester seniors would pull it together in time for the AP exam.
Suddenly, a voice pierced the haze of hesitation, "So...maybe it's just me...but I have no clue what all the different directions are supposed to represent."
The class stirred, spurred into motion by mutual frustration.
"I know, right?"
"And the colors!"
"And the animals!"
"Oh my gosh, yes."
"Different types of yellow are good -"
" - and some are bad, right?"
"Isn't water supposed to be good?"
"Yeah, but it brings bad omens too."
"How are we supposed to know the difference?"
"What about the clouds captured by the Gambler?"
"Is Emo really supposed to be a witch?"
"What about the fly?"
"Isn't that Josiah?"
"Who are the other animals then?"
"I don't know!"
"I know, right? There's all this stuff but it's so confusing."
"I can't keep it straight."

"Wait!...Guys, connection. All these different symbols, and stories, colors, and directions, and stuff? They're all connected on so many different levels. Kind of intertwined....like a spiderweb!"

And that is the story of my AP Lit epiphany. That pretty much sums it all up.
Oh! And thinking about the exam is stressful.
And I'm excited for our t shirts.

R&G Are Dead Summary/Analysis

Main info:

• Tom Stoppard
• Play
• Genre:  tragedy, drama, comedy, absurdism

 Setting:

• Time: never says it outright, but assuming around... 1400? 1500? (same time as Hamlet)
• Kingdom of Denmark
• Set in the castle, area immediately surrounding it
• Tavern
• In a nondescript tavern in a blank area R & G open with why they have been summoned to Denmark, and go over the time/coin flipping
• Forest
• Beginning (and in film, the ending place). Meet the players
• Castle - player's performance, confrontation with Hamlet, etc.
• Wandering the rooms and grounds of the castle R & G interact with other characters and conundrums. Specific rooms and areas of the castle are not usually specified, but R &G seem to "float" through the castle
• Boat
• Where R & G travel with Hamlet, are captured, in the brig, meet the players, and play out their last scene (and die)

• Stage/setting boundaries -while it has the premise classic, traditional portrayal of a Shakespeare play, setting doesn't seem to have much affect of R & G. As mentioned earlier they wander in and out of rooms and scenes almost like their in their own world.
• Action: actors observe confines of a castle, walk across, around, interact with other actors the stage normally
• Exception: off-stage implied scenes, R & G breaking the fourth wall, shouting into rooms and to people offstage

• Social environment: 
• Power structure/struggles: 
• Rosencrantz & Guildenstern - Part of what makes these two so relatable and realistic is that they each have their own distinct personalities and traits. Playing off the dynamic, Rosencrantz is the more "ditzy, child-like" one, while Guildenstern is the more "calculating, grown-up" of the two. In a sense has the upper hand when he always cuts down 's musings, and, in the film he is always ignoring or destroying R's inventions and discoveries.
• Hamlet & R&G - Both do a sort of word play/power dance, trying too see what the other is getting at, and sometimes getting the upper hand
• Claudius & R&G - illustrating the social hierarchy of the time, Claudius (the king) obviously has power of R&G and shows it in his orders and instructions regarding R&G's relationship with Hamlet
• Women in society - the main female roles, Ophelia and "Alfred" are depicted as objects of ridicule and downfall. Ophelia caught up and tossed around in Hamlet's game  Alfred used abused by the players.
• The Player King & his troupe - the Player King not only seems to control R&G's outcome & comings & goings, but he also shows his power as the leader of the acting troupe. With this troupe at his command he provides entertainment, live action role play, and possibly...death
• Vulnerability: characters are vulnerable emotionally & physically
• Physically vulnerable: threat of death: Claudius --> Hamlet, Hamlet --> Claudius// R&G --> Hamlet, Hamlet --> R&G, Player King/fate --> R&G//Alfred being vulnerable as well
• Emotionally vulnerable: Ophelia & Hamlet's feelings for one another make them vulnerable to manipulation, as do R&G's close friendship with one another and their double-sided betrayal involving Hamlet

• Passage of time:
• Time...so umm....there is the potential of time standing still (cion flips) and it the basic confines of time and place are not clear

Plot: 

• Freytag's Pyramid: The Elements of Plot
• Status Quo: intro of characters, setting, & conflict at the beginning
• Introduce R&G - in tavern, coin flipping, travel, meet players, trade money, travel to castle
• Rising Action: events that complicate/intensify the conflict
• R&G wander the castle, discovering things about hierarchy, betrayal, and power, while pondering identity, fate, etc. The payers arrive and put on their "premonition" performance, more interaction, conflict and wordplay with Hamlet/Claudius, they embark on their sea voyage
• Climax: point of greatest tension
• The pirates storm the ship and R&G are taken captive(?), the Players emerge, there is a fight...
• Resolution: where conflict may/may not be resolved
• ...darkness, R&G discuss death...and "die"
•  What conflicts does it dramatize? 
• Identity, fate, time, reality, etc.
•  Qualities of protagonist & antagonist:
• Protagonist (physical): R&G - team, friends, confused, desperate, vulnerable/out of control
• Antagonist (physical): n/a?
• Antagonist (metaphorical): Fate? R&G struggle with this concept the whole play. With their potential unknowing role play with the players, power struggle w/Hamlet & Claudius, and their questionings of the physical and metaphorical confines of this world as we know it
• External/Internal conflicts
• External: civil unrest/power in the kingdom
• Internal: R&G's minds/ponderings - paranoia, cynicism, hope, ideals, confines of their own minds

Significant Characters: 

• Hamlet - dynamic, depressed, "internal", holds people to certain ideals/standards - and is often unfair/cruel when they don't meet his preconceived ideas, focused, intelligent
• Claudius - static, Hamlet's uncle/Gertrude's old husband's brother, murderer, manipulative/resourceful
• Ophelia - dynamic. Gertrude's lady-in-waiting, Hamlet's love interest, subservient to her father, bows to pressures, "fragile" - Madonna vs. Whore (?), goes insane, commits suicide
• Polonius - static, stays manipulative throughout the whole play, controls/manipulates his children, power play w/them & Claudius, watches out for himself - likes to be on the winning side
• Player King - static, although he comes and goes his mindset and ideas/ideals remain the same. He does not change.
• Rosencrantz & Guildenstern - ...both?, although they are still unclear at the end of the play they have learned much about themselves and their surroundings. At the same time they are both almost running in circles. I think their small discoveries and final death speech put me at more of a "dynamic"

Narrative voice/author's style:

• Point of view:
• Following R & G we see what they see, hear what they hear, and learn what they learn. At the same time the audience is aware of things R & G are not (their death, and depending on how familiar they are with the play, the smaller themes and hidden meanings - "never stop acting", "time on  off stage", fate, etc.)
• Tone: (I'm a bit confused about this bit.)
• Nonsensical
• Absurd
• Dramatic...
• Layered meanings
• Imagery/Symbolism
• repeated images/symbols: coins, life & stage, confusion of the world, Our Father, gambling

Quotes

• "Audiences know what to expect, and that is all they are prepared to believe in."

•  This quote has several layers of meaning. (Then again the whole play has several layers of meaning!) Literally this deals with R&G seeing the actors act out their own deaths, and the Player King's response to their reactions. It deals with control because in a sense we control what we see and choose to believe. It also pokes at the idea of how we view the world as a whole, and the dangers and "ignorance is bliss" that can be lost and gained through this mindset - something woven throughout the entire play.

•  "Words, words. They're all we have to go on."
•  This kind of covers the duality of language. There's playing with words, and the falsehoods represented through words. Shown through their own confusion with words the the intentions and actions of those around them, this line sums up the multiples aspects and motives and reliabilities that R&G - and the reader - deals with.