Summer reading assignment: A Streetcar Named Desire Journal #3-- Anthony

After reading this book a second time, I realized I hadn't asked a certain question the first time around, why did Stanley rape Blanche? At first I thought the answer was clear. She was being a brat so Stanley gave her what he thought she deserved. Then another option popped into my head. On page 130 Stanley says "We've had this date with each other from the beginning!" to Blanche right before he rapes her. It made me wonder is it possible that the rape wasn't a spur of the moment act caused by his drunkenness? Was the rape perhaps something he really did plan on doing from the beginning? The answer to this question can totally change a persons perception of Stanley. If you believe he raped her because he was drunk and all his angry feeling came to a head at that moment, it still leaves room for a compassionate, sensitive side in Stanley to exist. He exhibited this after striking Stella, and feeling bad about it and wanting her back. If however, you choose to believe that Stanley had chosen to rape Blanche ahead of time, and that when the opportunity presented itself he capitalized, then that leaves no room for compassion in him. It means he really is animalistic, and his whole apology to Stella is fake. If in fact you choose this choice, it also means Blanche was right in characterizing Stanley the way she did meaning he really was a caveman.

Now there's no doubt Blanche really was a little insane. What she went through was a bit traumatizing and undoubtedly had some effect on her, however, Stella her own sister, who the entire play was a suck up, chose not to believe her this one time when it counted. The irony here served to add a highly dramatic effect, but also it made me as a reader want there to be another part to the story describing whether Stella ever found out the truth. Now I have a sister, and I know she's lied to me before. I always wonder though whether she's telling the truth or not and I'm sure Stella went through the same thing here. It would pain me if I ever found out that I let my sister down the one time she needed me most, it would almost be better if I didn't find out which is what happened here with Stella. She would never forgive herself for knowingly sentencing her sister to life in the asylum when she wasn't totally crazy. And it would have meant that she'd have to leave Stanley which wasn't a good option since she had just given birth. Unfortunately sacrificing Blanche, even though it wasn't totally necessary, was probably the best option here so that Stella could go on with her kid and be provided with food and shelter and live with Stanley who I think did genuinely love her, even if it was only in a minute way.

Summer Reading assignment: Journal #1 A Streetcar Named Desire--Anthony M.

In the first scenes of "Street Car Named Desire" there were quite a few things that seemed a bit fishy especially with regard to Blanche. First off Blanche says on page 19 that Stella shouldn't worry about her being a drunkard, but if you look at what she asked to have as a chaser for her liquor, it was water. Water helps get you drunk faster, especially if it's on an empty stomach. This came off as a bit of a contradiction to me and made me wonder what type of condition Blanche was in especially since she had already snuck a few drinks before Stella even got home. Worst of all though was the sheer rudeness of Blanche considering the situation she's in. First off if anyone were to come into my house and have the audacity to start asking questions like "What are you doing in a place like this?" as Blanche does on page 19, I'd be not upset but put off by them family or not! To top it off on the following page Blanche starts insulting the conditions under which Stella lives. Now when I first read this I thought to myself that Blanche must be like the spoiled one of the two sisters and that something must've happened to drive them apart. But having read this once already, and knowing how traumatized Blanche is from her past experiences in life, this was yet further evidence that she really is somewhat crazy. Her sister volunteered to provide her with shelter and Blanche quite honestly bit the hand that was going to be feeding her by coming in and insulting Stella's way of life.

Now when Blanche posed the question "Will Stanley like me, or will I just be a visiting in-law, Stella? I couldn't stand that." I had to laugh aloud. The reason being, that even if I have a friend stay overnight or I'm hanging out with them for a few days, or hell even when my own family comes up, after a week I'm done. I'm exhausted from having to entertain them and having to be around all the time and having to take them with me when I go places. It's a burden a real burden after the first couple days. The thing of it is, based on Blanche's past lifestyle it would lead one to believe that she would already know this. Think about it, she had money and a plantation and all sorts of nice clothes. I'm sure she entertained guests and she must've known that eventually it gets annoying. This line itself in hindsight was almost a bit of foreshadowing because any guest in your house whether it be family or friend becomes a burden especially if all they are doing is mooching off of you as Blanche does in the story.

Summer Reading Assignment: Crime and Punishment Journal #2-- Anthony

Well I guess I should have known that Marmeladov would be back, and this time he served a purpose. Unlike our first encounter where he played the role of a loud and regretful drunk, this time he barely said any words at all. However, despite his quietness due to his death, he seemed to have a profound impact on our buddy Raskolnikov. This is because only just before the accident, on page 164, Raskolnikov had made up his mind that he was going to the police station and that "it would all soon be over" because he was going to confess. By page 176 however Raskolnikov's whole outlook on things had changed. As Dostoevsky writes, Raskolnikov was overcome by a sensation. "This sensation might be compared to that of a man condemned to death who has suddenly been pardoned." That is to say, Raskolnikov was happy and guilt free for the moment when just moments earlier he had felt so guilty that he had decided it was time to turn himself in. This defies that old saying of "One good deed doesn't make up for a lifetime of evil" because Raskolnikov has suddenly let himself off the hook because he did one nice thing by helping Marmeladov and his wife Katerina Ivanovna. This puzzles me somewhat because for a man who at times is utterly brilliant, his reasoning in other situations is just garbage as it was in this case.

Just as before, Dostoevsky has inserted some various bits of wisdom throughout the book. One of the ones I liked Ebenezer mentioned regarding who commits crime, but I also liked Raskolnikov's line on page 178 regarding strength. "Strength, strength is what one wants, you can get nothing without it, and strength must be won by strength..." This bit of wisdom applies to much in life. One example is a guy trying to summon the courage or strength to walk up to a pretty girl he sees and ask her out on a date. At first glance he may not have the strength. In fact in his mind he most likely begins to talk himself out of it believing she is out of his league. But soon most guys will find strength in their past accomplishments to justify their worthiness of asking this girl out and soon enough he'll make a pass. Whether or not he'll be successful is another story, but it demonstrates how true this line is. In Raskolnikov's case, at first he didn't even believe he could carry out the murder of the pawnbroker. He soon however, found the strength within himself to carry it out by eliminating the emotional side to his decision making. You didn't see him in the book saying he felt sorry for her but it was a necessary evil, instead the only variables that played a role in his decision to kill her were whether or not he could get away with it. By using his ability to quiet his emotional take on the issue, Raskolnikov was able to gain the strength to actually carry out the murder itself.

Crime and Punishment Summer reading assignment: Journal #1 --Anthony

The beginning of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky has already peaked my interest in several ways. The first thing is that after reading the introduction and seeing who the characters would be based on I figured that this book would be fairly straight forward, but I seem to have been wrong in that assumption. The reason for this being the whole tavern scene involving the main character Raskolnikov and the man he meets there, Marmeladov. At first, this seemed like the perfect opportunity for Dostevsky to reveal some character traits about the protagonist such as whether or not he's caring, kind, thoughtful etc... I soon realized however that this was not the purpose of the scene, in fact the purpose of the scene still illudes me which is why i'm including it in this post. This is because Dostoevsky revealed absolutely nothing about Raskolnikov in this scene. While I was hoping for Raskolnikov to get a little drunk and start revealing his conspiracy plans, I was instead greated by a boisterous rant from Marmeladov that was no doubt saddening but to me seemed unnecessary for the sake of the story. Only when Raskolnikov helps Marmeladov return to his wife do we learn that he is caring, especially when he leaves some money for Katerina Ivanovna knowing full well Marveladov might take that money as well for drinks. All in all though the fact that we learned so little about Raskolnikov and his plans in such a big scene really makes me question its importance, and even its relevance to the story. Hopefully someone can enlighten me with a reason as to why it was significant and why Dostoevsky included it. Aside from this there was one other thing that really peaked my interest in the beginning of ther story.
The reason I was hopeful that this book was going to be very interesting was the point about fear Raskolnikov makes on page two of the story. The line "...all is in a man's hands and he lets it all slip from cowardice, that's an axiom." really stood out to me. This is because you hear about people all the time in life that had great opportunities before them, but failed to take them out of fear. And the thing that they fear is the unkown that would follow if they seized those opportunites. I know I have been the victim of such indecision and i'm sure almost everyone has had atleast one incidence of it. The fact that Dostoevsky included such a provacative and very philosophical thought in the story is what had me hoping that this book would be highly entertaining. The other thing it did though was show that Raskolnikov is a very smart man. For him to be pointing out something that is such an axiom and so true in life has left me anticipating that whatever his full plans are regarding the Murder of Alyona Ivanovna that they will be almost flawless. I'm also antcipating that there will be philosophical remarks in the story which I find highly entertaining. Aside from these two things though nothing else seemed to interest me much in the beginning of the book, I just hope it unfolds a bit more straight forwardly than it has already.