Jasper the Hound

~Blog Post 2~

Topic G
April 27, 2015

By Camden Wilkins

In the Book Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, the two dogs, younger and older cockerspaniels, are quite similar to other characters in the book. I think that the younger dog is alot like Max's sister, Beatrice, because both are accepting, and overly jovial people. The two are nearly parallel in the way they like to take care of the main character and make her happy. Along with this idea, Maxim introduces his grandmother, but she is never actually brought into the book. Maxim's grandmother is introduced as a blind, old, and is described almost as a crone. The other dog is much like the described grandmother, he is blind, and quite rude to the main character, making her seem as a lesser. The dog is quite  similar it seems to how the Maxims grandmother is described. Although she has not been introduced formally into the story yet, I feel as though his grandmother and sister, Beatrice, might have a larger role to play throughout the rest of the story.

Student-Led Discussion 2 led by Scott

What could Lady's new marriage symbolize?

Lexi: Being thrust into something she doesn't completely understand, which leads into a cycle of anxiety and not being able to live up to expectations.

Camden: Agrees with Lexi. She is sort of forced into this situation, and almost does it to herself

Do you think the other characters compare Lady to Rebecca?

Camden: It is obvious hat they treat Lady as some sort of "new Rebecca". 

Teresa: They don't see her as her own person and they don't even want her to live up to the hole she made by dying.

What do you think of the dogs?

Camden: The dogs may represent something

Teresa: Represent a form of consistancy. They are familiar with Rebecca, and they are aware that she is not her and will not be able to live up to her.

Summarize the relationship between Beatrice and Lady.

Teresa: Beatrice and Lady are almost foils of each other. Beatrice is outspoken, while Lady is quiet and meek. However, she opens up around Beatrice, which is rare. Talks to her as an equal rather than someone higher.

Talk about the writing desk scene.

Camden: Very creepy. 

Scott: Shows that she's a bit obsessive about Rebecca, and replacing her

Teresa: Felt guilty for intruding on Rebecca's house. She is the new Rebecca in a sense, but she can't possibly replace her, and she and everyone else knows it. She wants to almost delete the memory of the old Mrs. De Winter.

Spare Part

Spare Part

~Blog Post 2~

Topic A
April 24, 2015

By Teresa Fernandez

Lady fantasizes how comfortable and quiet life would be if she were someone who was placid, "someone who was never anxious, never tortured by doubt and indecision, someone who never stood as [she] did, hopeful, eager, frightened, tearing at bitten nails, uncertain which way to go, what star to follow"(80). Lady wishes to continue running the house as if Rebecca had never left, hoping to stay out of the limelight, but still desperate to live up to the expectations of her husband, his friends, family, and staff. Lady (this is the name we've given our nameless narrator) is trying to replace a cog with a role too great for such an unpracticed, shy second-rate girl. The new Mrs. De Winters often finds herself fumbling as she struggles to keep up appearances to satisfy her desire to please. She knows she can't fill Rebecca's shoes, or top her penmanship, but she's determined to prove her usefulness yet afraid to be herself. Lady wishes she were someone else, someone tactful and brave. Only ten chapters inside her story, hopefully Lady still has time to prove to herself, my self, and her new family exactly how strong she can be.

The Search for Her Identity

The Search for Her Identity

~Blog Post 2~

Topic B
April 24, 2015

By Scott Acker

     In Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca, the main character is unnamed for the beginning of the story. As the story is written in first person, this seems natural to a certain extent. Du Maurier glosses over introductions and formalities involving the name of the main character. It almost seems as if it is a coincidence that she goes without a name. However, this fact holds significance. The speaker lacks an identity of her own. Even from the start, she is only with someone else, never by herself. First it is Mrs. Van Hopper, to whom she is almost a servant. She is practically always in the older woman's shadow, never existing on her own. Even when the main character meets Maxim, she is only either seen next to him or Van Hopper. Then, events move along and the speaker is finally given a name: "(She is) to be Mrs. De Winter". (63) Finally, she has her own identity, even if it is given by another character. This signals a personal growth in the heroine. She is finally beginning to break free from other people and become her own person. Instead of simply sticking around others, she starts to travel her own path and create scenes where she is the only characters involves. Her search for an identity of her own begins, yet it is still overshadowed by Maxim's past with Rebecca. Not only must she find herself like everyone else must, but also while trying to escape the shadow of this mysterious late wife.

Blog #2 Prompt C

In these chapters, the narrators relationship with Maxim change drastically. It begins with them just being companions, but he decides to tell her that he actually thinks she makes him feel more alive. We can begin to see their relationship transition when he says this. Their trip to Monte Carlo continue, and the relationship continues to grow. Maxim eventually proposes to her at the end of the trip when she and Ms. Van Hopper plan on returning to New York by boat. We can see how their relationship dramatically changed from just friendly to married. Although she's happy, Ms. Van Hopper tell ours narrator that he's simply marrying her because he can't stay at Manderley all alone. We begin to see that although the relationship seems happy and loving, the underlying truth is that it is moving uncomfortably fast and the narrator even states that "suddenly I realized that it would all happen; I would be his wife," (pg 40 PDF) implying that even she is just now suddenly realizing how quickly and drastically her relationship with Maxim has truly changed in such a short period of time. 

Student Led Discussion

Led by: Teresa Fernandez

Date: 4.20.15

Chapters: 1-5

What does the setting establish?

Camden: The setting establishes a reflective mood. Her home is lost and she misses it.

Scott: Her home is old and burned down and the setting sets that old feeling.

Teresa: It sets a very desolate mood.

Lexi: Her past is dead and the setting establishes views as a ghost.

Scott: It has a sense of a bad memory but also that she misses her old home. So it's still good in a way.

What is the general mood of the book?

Lexi: Very dramatic and soap opera-y.

Teresa: Definitely soap opera-y and seems to have a possible romance novel type of feel.

What do you think caused Manderley to burn down and how does the main character feel about it?

Teresa: She is relieved that she can leave that memory behind but she also wishes that she could somehow remember it positively.

Lexi: I think that because of the dramatic feeling of the book already that perhaps Manderley was burned down to cover up some sort of murder or tragedy.

Camden: Maybe we are introduced to the murderer already.

Teresa: Maybe somebody wanted revenge and burned down Manderley because of that.

What do you think of Van Hopper?

Teresa: She introduced our character whom we don't know very quickly. She makes it seem as if we are not supposed to know who she is at all.

Lexi: She seems to have a connection to the woman we don't know in some way. 

What do you think about her relationship with De Winter?

Scott: It seems more of like a backhanded comments type of relationship.

Teresa: No, I think he's very chivalrous and is more of a brotherly type figure.

Camden: I also don't think it's a backhanded comment type of relationship. It would be more like Beatrice and Benedick if it was like that.

Lexi: She goes into much detail about his appearance but doesn't give us any real information at all. It's almost like she's just infatuated with the idea of him.

Camden: The book almost makes De Winter sound kind of like a murderer.

Lexi: Yeah, it definitely seems like there's something about him we don't know yet and maybe he has a direct connection to the burning down of Manderley. 

What were you expecting out of this book?

Teresa: I was honestly expecting paranormal with all the ghost talk.

Camden: I feel like it's going to be heading in the paranormal direction with all this talk about old and decrepit things and ghosts.

Lexi: It seems as though her past can't leave her alone and maybe there will be something paranormal with that.

Scott: She seems to really miss Manderley and it does haunt her but I don't think they're going to make it a literal haunting.

What about the symbolism of flowers?

Lexi: Flowers allude to her missing Manderley which is now dead and gone. De Winter talks about how he hates picking flowers because they are the first to die and maybe its referencing to how she continues to pick at her memories and eventually she is going to kill any chance of them being truly lef tbehind and her moving on. 

Prophetic Dreams

Prophetic Dreams

~Blog post #1~

Topic E

April 17, 2015

by Teresa Fernandez

Chapter One opens with a poignant dream beginning on the lawn of Manderly, a setting which haunts the characters' past (Mr. de Winter's avoidance of the topic in the restaurant), present (the narrator is very curious about it), and future (our main character, whose name seems to have been left out, continues to dream of it), and we don't yet know why! The dream was unsettling at the least as her future-self struggles to remember how it "might have been, could [she] have lived there without fear"( Du Maurier 3). Why is the narrator so haunted by this place, what secrets are buried beneath this "sepulcher" of a house (3)? Why is it that when "the leaves rustle, they sound very much like the stealthy movement of a woman in an evening dress... the patter of a women's hurrying footsteps"(9)? Lastly, why does she seem relieved as she describes this once beautiful place as a "desolate shell, soulless at last, unhaunted"(3)? Introducing Manderly in this nightmarish context only adds to the mystery. We know something happened here that forced Mr. and Mrs. Maxim de Winter to abandon the house, and it sets a theme of foreboding and suspense for what's to come. 

Blog Post 1: Symbol

Rebecca Blog Post 1: Developing Symbol

Upon the first chapter of Rebecca, there is a sense of longing for a place called Manderley. Rebecca dreams that she is a ghost, entering the charred ruins of her old mansion Manderley and envisions herself in it. Her being a ghost may not just be the fact that she can't actually enter Manderley anymore, it could be a symbol of how that is her dead past. It's as if she left a whole other her back in Manderley and she is envisioning herself as the ghost of what she used to be. The destruction of Manderley lingers in her mind, and when she says that "Manderley was ours no longer. Manderley was no more" she is stating how that is now a ghost left behind. She misses Manderley and that is why she is having dreams of how she used to be a part of that world. Now seeing herself as just a ghost is symbolizing how Manderley is no longer there and is just a ghost in her memory. 

Ghost in a shell

Ghost in a Shell

~Blog Post 1~

Topic F
April 17, 2015
By Camden Wilkins

In the chapters in the beginning of Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, the main character describes her old house in Manderly in great detail, but she describes it as a ghost would. She seems to drift slowly from the outer gates to the inner sanctums of the house. The main character (name not specified) is but a wisp of her self, she seems almost supernatural in her dream, as the pieces of her life come back to her slowly and steadily but in a strange and foreign way to her.  She drifts through "the empty shell of what used to be" (2), and through its empty halls she wanders, like a ghost, reliving the memories that she had once held there. The main character recounts many things that were out of place in her dream, she seems to go to through Manderly and slowly describe and pick out all the things that were out of place throughout the mansion that she once lived in. Her dream is lucid and quite vivid, she seems to be in a dream that she herself is guided through, but at the same time she is also controlling her thoughts and actions. The main character seems to suddenly stop after a small while and she just suddenly wakes up in the middle of a ride across the country with her traveling compainion, and all she is left knowing is that "Manderly was no more" (4).

A Ghost in Fading Memory

A Ghost in Fading Memory

~Blog Post 1~

Topic F
April 17, 2015
By Scott Acker

During the first few chapters of Maurier's Rebecca, almost every moment is a flowery description of Manderley in the main character's dream. From the gate to the plants surrounding the house, vivid details create its image. The speaker remembers the house and surrounding property well. Her memories of the place are lucid, even though it is a dream. However, a deep problem pervades the atmosphere. Manderley is overgrown with weeds and vegetation. "Nature had come into her own again" and slowly takes over the lawn and house (1). The forest that is described as troublesome in the past is slowly edging its way back into the property. The speaker's bewilderment over this leads to the conclusion that the vegetation is a sort of blank spot in her memory. She has not been to Manderley in a long time, which is why her mind supplies the vines and weeds overrunning the house. However, this vegetation also shows that she is beginning to lose her memory of the place. Her memories are still vivid and lucid, but are also starting to fade slightly. They have become overwritten by new ones, much like how the house is overrun with new plants. The speaker is trying to grasp onto her fading memories of Manderly, despite no longer belonging there. She is truly a ghost, floating through her fading memories.

Reading Reflection

Performative Literacy Reflection

The strategies that apply to me are a tolerance to failure and a willingness to take risk apply to me. I don't get frusturates with myself easily and I am patient with myself but I am willing to try something different if what I do doesn't work. What makes me a good reader is being able to note everything and analyze while I read but my focus makes me a weak reader. Unless I am throughly interested, it's very difficult for me to continuously read without getting restless or agitated. I would like to be able to focus more and am working on this to improve my reading for the future. Annotating is not new to me and I have been doing it since 5th grade but I don't like to annotate all the time. I prefer to fully engage and imagine what I am reading to help myself understand it and "messing with the flow" of my reading can sometimes make that difficult to annotate. In the future I will instead go back and annotate after I am done reading through the material and enjoying it. 

Reading Article Reflection

Freshman year was my first experience in proper annotation; before that, I only used pens and highlighters to mark my favorite quotes! Although it took a while to adjust to purposeful annotations, I feel it doesn't interrupt the flow of thought if you're constantly thinking about what's being read. Sometimes my notes are just sarcastic comments about individual characters or authors whose actions or opinions upset me, which so happens to be an example of performative literacy in action regarding my willingness to respond honestly.

Depending on the task or subject, my reading performance varies. This is likely due to a lack of sustained focus, or the appropriate effort, required to thoroughly read or annotate a text. My Lord of the Rings book, for example, is full of underlined quotes and references and descriptive scenery notes. Marked in my copy of Fahrenheit 451 are symbolic lines and important plot points directed more towards assignment reading versus pleasure reading. Some of my assignment based nonfiction books, like In the Time of the Butterflies, would go a whole chapter without annotation; this is normally a sign indicating the need to reread the passage to understand it more thoroughly.

I enjoyed reading this assignment! Applying the seven examples to myself was fun and informative. I think what I'll have to keep in mind after reading Blau's article is example seven regarding the "capacity to monitor and direct one's own reading process: metacognitive awareness"(21). Reminding my self to be more aware of my performance and state of mind in relation to every example of performative literacy Sheridan's offered will be imperative if I wish to improve as a reader.

Reading Article Reflection

After reading the article and thinking about its ideas, I can see that I am a fairly strong reader by the standards mentioned in the article. I have many of the traits of strong readers mentioned, like the willingness to reread and to read things I am not familiar with. However, I lack some traits involved in performative literacy. For one, I don't have a very long attention span when reading material that does not interest me. I can only do so in short bursts. Only if I am interested can I truly pay attention to a writing piece for an extended period of time. I also do not really like to annotate or write down things I'm thinking, which is apparently a large part of metacognitive ability. I can usually remember what I was thinking, but I do not enjoy having to write it all down.

As mentioned before, I do not particularly like to annotate while I read. It is not a new concept to me. In fact, I have had to do it for years. I just do not prefer to stop every few seconds to comment on what I read. It breaks up the flow of reading for me and snaps me out of thoughts I would have had. Since I can usually recall my thoughts later, I never thought annotating was useful for me. I do it when I have to, but I prefer to read straight through text. This experience is just one of many, and I doubt I will be changing much when it comes to annotating.

This document did, however, bring to mind a few strategies I can use to improve my reading ability. The one that struck me most was the point about entertaining problems in understanding rather than dismissing them. When I read, I tend to skim over anything that is too complicated to understand at first glance. I often go back and reread, but it is more likely that I will skip over it. I suppose this has to do with the sustained concentration as well. I will be sure to really read over what I do not understand at first glance from now on.

Reflection on Class handout

When I read, I usually like to go back and read the text, for a clearer understanding of it, or a way to summarize everything that happened in the reading passage/section I'm reading. I like to really bring together what I already read, so I can play it almost as a movie in my mind, so if I miss the setting of a certain part, I really cant fully bring the scene or section together. I also like to predict and guess at what the author is trying to do throughout the book, its not so much a game as it is a puzzle that as I get more pieces, I can rearrange them to make sense in my "puzzle." Another Strategy i like to initiate in my reading is the use of managing my reading, letting there be time for what I had just read to set in and allow me to find the meaning and purpose in the last chapter.
I think my reading really is affected by the topic and subject I am working on, if its something I have to read for a science class, I can just usually skim or not read in depth, because there isn't a plot or anything of substance that isn't explained in depth somewhere else. I think that I am a good reader, its not that I can necessarily read quickly, but my ability to find meaning, especially in confusing books (such as those with Shakespearean language), that makes me a good reader I feel.
I think the biggest strategy I need to work on that was mentioned in this document, is the need to a sustained and uninterrupted reading time, because I cant absorb as much if I'm always distracted and or busy with something else.
Lastly, I neeeeeeeeeeddd to annotate, my annotating skills are near non-existent, I try to annotate sometimes, but I feel like I can never pick out the right stuff. Obviously I actively read in my mind and I evaluate and assess, but I digress, I think annotating is the next step for me to become a better reader overall, and help me grow and prosper in any other English class I take down the road.

Blog Prompts

Blog Post Topics (Respond to 1 of the prompts below each week):

A.            Select a significant quotation from your reading; explore the significance of that quotation to the development of characters, conflict, theme, etc.

B.            Explore a significant change in an important character.

C.           Explore a significant relationship’s conflicts or growth.

D.           Write about a motif you see developing--where have you noticed it? What does it seem to be revealing about characters or themes?

E.            Explore the significance of a particular setting (not of the whole novel--pick a specific scene).

F.            Explore the significance of a passage with a lot of imagery or description.

G.           Write about a symbol--how does it exist both literally and figuratively? What does it represent?

H.           Explore connections between your book and something you’ve read previously in English class.

I.              Explore connections between the text and your own life.

J.            What is the significance of the book’s title? What does it reveal about the main characters, conflicts, or themes?