A DOLL'S HOUSE

A Doll's House 

Feminist Criticism

Welcome :)

For today we have a Feminist Criticism about the play "A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen. The play is significant for its critical attitude toward 19th-century marriage norms. It aroused great controversy at the time, as it concludes with the protagonist, Nora, leaving her husband and children because she wants to discover herself. Ibsen was inspired by the belief that "a woman cannot be herself in modern society," since it is "an exclusively male society, with laws made by men and with prosecutors and judges who assess feminine conduct from a masculine standpoint." That was a little of information about the story. We know women back then were very criticized, they were not able to do what they want, they were treated as the tittle says "Dolls". 

From my point of view Nora wanted to be herself because she was never allow to be and to act as she wanted, she had to please her father and also her husband. Not being able do be just yourself is a torture, you want to express yourself and give a point of view about everything as a normal person but unfortunately women back then had to be quiet and accept their lives. Nowadays women are let's say equal that men, even some people say women are minority and the only ones that has the power or control of everything are the men. We have to be open mind and understand that we all are humans with the same rights, no matter if you are a man or a woman. In Doll's House we could see that how brave was Nora to take the desicion of leave her husband and children, women at that moment were so docile and submissive that they could not even think in that idea because they were made supposedly to be at home taking care of the family giving her life for other and not to think about herself. In this Case Nora realizes her life was like a performace, she was never happy and the only way to get to happiness was leaving everything behind, no matter what people will think.

If you have not read the play here is a summary. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i-Egphv7nE
What would you do if you were Nora? Would you leave the house or what would you do? 
Please make a comment.
bye!

CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Structuralist Criticism

Hello everybody!

Today we are going to talk about a good story "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl. If you have not read the book, you can watch the movie, it is similar to the book, the point is that you get an idea of what is the story about. The story was originally inspired by Roald Dahl's experience of chocolate companies during his schooldays. There were companies that send to the children chocolates for them to taste it and give them their opinions about it. So we can say that Roald Dahl's imagined how could be a experience of being inside of a Chocolate Factory. It is interesting how writers write their stories base on their experiences, and that catch the attention of the reader. I really like this story and also the movie. 

In this story we could see how Willy Wonka's life was through his flashbacks. In every flashback his life was shown, and in those moment we could see how he was as a child and the problems he had with his father, that was a Dentist, and Dentist do not like candies or chocolates at all. So we can say that Willy Wonka was unhappy. The way Willy Wonka talked was funny, also some of his phrases had no sense but he tried to be kind with the 5 children even they were rude, disrespectful, selfish, ungrateful and many other words that if I continue I will never end. Every child has different characteristics, but the one that was totally different was Charlie.He was totally the opposite from the rest children, and the only one that Wonka liked to be the next owner of the factory. The message or theme of these story is the power of love and how grateful we have to be in life, also hope. This story is excellent for children and parents, it gives a good lesson to appreciate what we have, the family. 

Please, watch the link and tell me what do you think about Veruca's behavior. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBi9tJAABGM

Make a comment! bye. 

WHERE ARE YOU GOING, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?

Where are you going, Where have you been? 

                                                              Psychoanalytic Criticism 

                                                        Hi! 

Today I am going to do a Psychoanalytic Criticism about the story Where are you going, Where have you been? by Joyce Carol Oates.  This story was inspired by four Tucson, Arizona murders committed by Charles Schmid. Oates said that she dedicated the story to Bob Dylan because she was inspired to write it after listening to his song "It's All Over Now,Baby Blue". I have to say this is a very interesting story full of suspense, and it makes the reader want to continues reading to know what is going to happen next. It is very common in this kind of stories to think that something bad is going to happen at the end acording to every event that happens in the story. In this case the story let's the reader imaginate what would happen at the end. The story does not say if the girl decided to stay or go with Arnold Friend, so it leaves in readers imagination. In this story the most common aspects are, rebellion, sexuality, also the protagonist is a teenagerr and at that phase of life the moods, feelings and emotions constantly change. The hormones are crazy. 

From my point of view the girl Connie has not decided how to be herself. She acted acording to how the other girls act. She was confuse and insecure of everything around her. Also her mother used to compare her with Connie's sister and that makes people wonder if they are good or in this case what is wrong with her. Physically talking, she was beautiful, that kind of beauty no matter how young or old the gir is, people would like her. Also talking about her ego, she knew she was beautiful, perfect and diferent from the rest of the girls. That type of people are always hiding something, maybe her true self. In my opinion Connie provoked Arnold Friend, but the think is that she did not know he was not a young guy but, at the end he got obsessed with her to the point of followed her and make her felt nervous and afraid about his presence. Compariingthis story with the real life, those cases actually happen. Nowadays we have all type of social media and a person can follow our stepsacording to what we post on internet. We have to be careful with the things we post, and also with the people we meet and talk to.

Here is a short video for you to watch it and tell me what you think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ih8UkxJqeQ

What would have happened if she had agreed to go with Arnold Friend? Also, what would happen if she had refused to go with him?

I'll be waiting for your answers!

THE ROCKING HORSE WINNER

The Rocking Horse Winner 

Formalistic Criticism 

Hi everybody!

Today we are going to do a formalistic criticism about "The Rocking Horse Winner" by David Herbert  Lawrence. If you guys have not read the story I'll tell you what it is about. The story is about of a little boy (I think he is a kid because it does not specify the age) that had a wooden horse. He liked horse races and every time he ride his wooden horse, he could guess what horse was goint to win the race.That is like his gift, let's say he was the only one in his family that was lucky. Her mother does not love him or even her family because she says her family did not have money because they were not lucky. The little boy got obsessed with the idea they were not lucky, so he started ride his wooden horse to guess what horse was going to win, and earn money that later he was going to give to his mother. At the end the boy dies because of a overthinking, stress and other aspects. 

From my point of view, this short story is good, I liked it, but I dont love it. I would like to know why the mother did not love them or Why she thought they were not lucky. Something that catch my atention was the idea of how old the boy was? because sometimes he spoke so mature and then he acted like a little kid. I was confuse when reading it. I think the end was so sad, it was not fair that Paul died. He was a boy with ilussions and dreams in life and I think his greatest desire was to help his mother giving her a lot of money to not suffer and say anymore that they were not lucky. The main character did a good participation, I liked how he acted and spoke in the story, everything was well conected to get to the end. the sad part of the story was that they were so obsessed with MONEY that they did not realize the damage they caused to Paul. Nowadays people see the happiness through the money and that deteriorates families and all kind of relationships. 

Here is one question: Why do you think the mother did not love her family? 

If you want to see a summary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w87wmT8EtW8

Please make a comment about your opinion of the story :)

Bye!

BEOWULF

Beowulf

Mythological criticism 

Beowulf is a story based on a poem in which people do not know who was the author. From my point of view it is a excellent story in which a warrior who attempts to defeat Grendel, a man-eating monster that is causing terror in the kingdom of Hrothgar.. I think the author had a incredible imagination when writing this long poem, maybe some of the events of the story happened in her or his life.  The story has incredible creatures as a dragon and another creature that I do not even know what it is and also some moments of suspense. If you see the movie you will notice all the events and conflicts that happen in the story. I recommend it. 

Based on the movie I have to say that the first thing that impacted me was the strange creature Grendel. I could not believe that creature ate people and his personal appearance was disgusting. Another interesting aspect is that how the people of the kingdom even having a King, they needed a strong person, lets say a warrior to feel safe. All people had faith that he could defeat the monster and he did it. I think that people for that moment were having society problems or some wars, because there were a lot of deaths. I really think that all those things represent somenthing, for example the dragon and Grendel, they could represent like demons or people's fears and the only person that could safe them from that was Beowulf, but nowadays people have their own beowulf to help them in case of problems.

what do you think of this scene from the movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0fFI0ziCs8