Part 2

The theme, the plot, the purpose, or whatever you might call it of this novel is finally becoming apparent. Rather than being about Yossarian, which I wouldn’t mind, the novel is about everyone involved in a war. From the crazy high ranked officers such as Major Major Major Major all the way down to the lowly Ex-PFC Wintergreen and the Italian lover Luciana we are shown the ways of the war, even if through exaggerated caricatures.

Using all of the characters with any power at all Heller satires the mess of bureaucracy while at war. This also of course is where the title and invention of the term catch 22 comes in. Catch 22 is of course introduced by Doc Daneeka who explains that all of those crazy enough to be sent home are too crazy to ask and anyone able to ask is just not crazy enough.

Then there is the man that absolutely disgusts me. Captain Black. The “Glorious Loyalty Oath Crusade” is the kind of false patriotism that really angers me, especially when motivated by a reason such as jealousy. The Crusade is another catch 22 of sorts as you must either waste time signing all of the loyalty oaths or be considered an outsider. Instead of having any real purpose the Crusade was only for the sake of showing up Major Major Major Major. Rather than a crusade of loyalty this is really a crusade of fear, comparable to the ridiculous American flag lapel pin controversies of present time.

More of this bureaucratic trash seems to follow around my boy Yossarian. For instance rather than bringing about any trouble or criticism by punishing Yossarian for getting a pilot killed on a second unordered bombing run, they end up giving him a medal. What he did was brave, but my issue is that the medal was more to lessen any work the officers might have to do rather than to applaud his bravery one of the only times it appears. Then of course there is the time when Yossarian tricks the whole army into thinking Bologna has been taken. Rather than anyone questioning the movement board every officer just tries to take credit for what didn’t happen. Once again it is not just the initial action that puts me off it is each and every officer trying to impress those above with what they have very little information about.

Now this whole post could be pointless as I am talking about a bunch of fake satire. What is slightly saddening is that I believe that any of these things could happen in any war past or present. It is how humans act when given power over others and a structured business of promotion.
(456)

Part 1

Of course I didn’t know what to expect. I had heard it was unusual, but also that it was very good and thus worth reading even though it is a bit lengthy and must be finished before high school is.

At first I wasn’t quite sure if it was going to work for me. Hospitals are frightening, Yossarian is a pretty weird name, and why is the first chapter named The Texan when this Texan is not even the main character. Then I got past the first page and realized it would all work out. Yossarian is sort of an arse, just like me. Then I got to the second chapter. I was confused again. Clevinger, who is he and is he as unimportant as The Texan. Also why does everyone have such weird a weird name. They are Americans, and yet The Texan is about as regular as any name gets.

Few more chapters in and I realized how the novel was going to work(made sure by checking late in the book and yes the chapters were still named after people, lots of people). After getting over all of that I really started to enjoy the structure. Rather than going somewhere in a linear fashion the plot was more like a bunch of conjoined short stories. FUNNY STORIES. Not depressing, not emotional, not serious.

What is probably the most entertaining is how I am able to believe all these characters could exist. Whether it is someone such as Yossarian who is just trying to get by and get home with his life, or the drill sergeant lacking a life that is Lieutenant Scheisskopf the characters are satirical but I also see where they are coming from.

I personally, as previously stated, feel the most for Yossarian who is really just a boy thrust into a world of men. He would rather not be at war, trying to escape by medical means and by completing the tour initially promised, but while there he makes the best of it. While at boot camp he survives and enjoys himself along the way as he becomes quite close with Scheisskopf’s wife. Then when in service Yossarrian survives by screwing with people. Rather than flying for very long in dangerous airspace Yossarian drops all of his bombs as quickly as possible before getting out with his life. This seems to a great extent to be the way Yossarian lives his life as he gets into trouble, but then finds a way to escape, usually by bending the truth in half.


First impressions second and third will come. I apologize for the lateness but it will all be done.
(445)

POEM

A Theme for English B
In “A Theme for English B” Langston Hughes strays far from the norm in topic and structure. Relating very closely to Langston Hughes’s life, “A Theme for English B” tells of a young African American man at a predominantly white University. The “college on the hill above Harlem” refers to Columbia where Hughes spent one year. While at Columbia Hughes was the subjected to a great amount of racism, but also found his interest in the Harlem area while there.

The poem lacks much of any structure in rhyme or meter. Instead it is a rather free flowing speech that uses rhyme very unusually. The professor giving the assignment speaks in a very simple aabb rhythm that shows us he speaks in a educated and proper manner that may even be leaning towards condescending. The speaker however has a very different voice. Rhyme is still present, but is in no clear pattern. He speaks in free verse with rhymes hidden within lines, alliteration, and slant rhymes, in his borderline rant.

The speaker in the poem like Hughes has an unquestionably different college experience compared any of the white students at the time. The Instructor gives an assignment to “Go home and write a page tonight. And let that page come out of you—then, it will be true.” The speaker retorts, “I wonder if it’s that simple?” It is not the paper that the speaker is questioning it is life. Life itself is almost never simple for someone living in a hostile and prejudiced setting. Coming from communities almost sure to have had very large African American populations such as Winston-Salem and Durham, the speaker knows he is not going to be readily accepted at a white institution. Instead he looks to Harlem for support, “I hear you: hear you, hear me—we two—you, me, talk on this page.” Harlem stands for freedom. It is a place where African Americans are free to express themselves whether through music, art, or in the case of Hughes and the speaker writing.

The point of the paper the speaker is writing isn’t to bemoan fate, but instead to show the heart of a man who will not be dispirited. The speaker acknowledges that he is different, but focuses on what makes him just like any other man. Whether it is a function necessary to survive or just a luxury for personal enjoyment, he is very much as capable as any other person. He can do anything a white man can do, but no matter what he writes, “Being me, it will not be white.” What he does have that he stresses to his professor is the patriotism that all Americans share. Some would rather not be linked to a man of his color and he would rather not be linked to them, but patriotism is above that. People must learn from each other whether it is how to write an essay or how to accept another person as an equal.
(512)

Eric posted a poem and now gary will hit him

?o
baby
i

wouldn't like

Death if Death
were
good:for

when(instead of stopping to think)you

begin to feel of it,dying
's miraculous
why?be

cause dying is

perfectly natural;perfectly
putting
it mildly lively(but

Death

is strictly
scientific
& artificial &

evil & legal)

we thank thee
god
almighty for dying
(forgive us,o life!the sin of Death

ee cummings

I like feminists?

I usually find feminist writings to be over the top. They have men playing the bad guy rather than playing realistic men. In A Doll’s House Ibsen, whether on purpose or not, presents a realistic feminist story that is far more effective than any other feminist writing I have read.


At first I like most others found the marriage between Torvald and Nora to be unusual, but on the most part healthy and happy. Torvald doesn’t seemingly show respect to Nora in a regular way, but his love for her seems so strong that I believed he did respect her deep down in his heart. This stood up in my mind through most of the story until of course the revelations in the letter. The only thing before the revelation that I can now look back on and see as I sign of lack of true love and respect for Nora is that Torvald never noticed that there was something seriously troubling Nora.

I believe although cannot say for sure (due to lack of experience) that if the person you had been bound to in marriage was in such mental distress you would be able to see beyond the obvious. Torvald only could see that it was because Nora had promised to keep Krogstad’s job for him and Torvald had rejected that she was in a mood . Torvald is disconnected from the fact that Nora is a real person and can possibly have issues larger than those of the average housewife and mother. This disconnect is also apparent when looking at how he treats her regularly. The pet names Torvald constantly uses when speaking to Nora I believe are meant to belittle her rather than show love.


Christine is a contrast to Nora. She may be out of luck at the moment she is reintroduced to Nora’s life, but she is composed and on the rise due to her independence. Her independence also allows her to see how deprived Nora is of respect from Torvald. This is what causes her to present the opportunity for Torvald to redeem himself. Krogstad although very prominent in the “plot” has very little to do with the purpose of the story. His main effect is to show how a man can rely on a woman and accept her back even after being hurt substantially.

On to the climax. It is quite obvious what happens and why. Torvald makes the decision that changes everything. Nora responds in a way that many might see as an overreaction, but is essentially the only possible way to be happy ever again. He abandons her mentally and she abandons him physically.

It is not a story about equality. It is a story about respect and love. How people should treat each other under circumstances that are regular and out of the usual.


and no

hhhhhhhhhhhhammmmmmmmmmm

Enter Lord of all beings Eric and POLONIUS

LORD POLONIUS

He will come straight. Look you lay home to him:
Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,
And that your grace hath screen'd and stood between
Much heat and him. I'll sconce me even here.
Pray you, be round with him.
Polonius speaks hurriedly and straightly as Hamlet is expected at any moment.
HAMLET

[Within] Mother, mother, mother!

QUEEN GERTRUDE

I'll warrant you,
Fear me not: withdraw, I hear him coming.

POLONIUS hides behind the arras

Enter HAMLET

HAMLET

Now, mother, what's the matter?
Hamlet in a less than serious manner
QUEEN GERTRUDE

Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.

HAMLET

Mother, you have my father much offended.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.

HAMLET

Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
Spurring his mother on with a spite filled mouth
QUEEN GERTRUDE

Why, how now, Hamlet!
Acting as innocent as possible
HAMLET

What's the matter now?

QUEEN GERTRUDE

Have you forgot me?

HAMLET

No, by the rood, not so:
You are the queen, your husband's brother's wife;
And--would it were not so!--you are my mother.

Reveals hatred toward mother even though he must not do her damage

QUEEN GERTRUDE

Nay, then, I'll set those to you that can speak.
Starting to get worried
HAMLET

Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge;
You go not till I set you up a glass
Where you may see the inmost part of you.
Showing that he is the one controlling the situation at this point
QUEEN GERTRUDE

What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me?
Help, help, ho!
With a shattered will feels as if Hamlet will kill her for the sins she has comitted
LORD POLONIUS

[Behind] What, ho! help, help, help!

HAMLET

[Drawing] How now! a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead!

Makes a pass through the arras
Obviously, stabs Polonius believing it to be Claudius
LORD POLONIUS

[Behind] O, I am slain!

Falls and dies

QUEEN GERTRUDE

O me, what hast thou done?

HAMLET

Nay, I know not:
Is it the king?
Surprised at what he has finally been able to do
QUEEN GERTRUDE

O, what a rash and bloody deed is this!
terrified
HAMLET

A bloody deed! almost as bad, good mother,
As kill a king, and marry with his brother.
Throwing the Blame back to gertrude
QUEEN GERTRUDE

As kill a king!

HAMLET

Ay, lady, 'twas my word.

Lifts up the array and discovers POLONIUS
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell!
I took thee for thy better: take thy fortune;
Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger.
Leave wringing of your hands: peace! sit you down,
And let me wring your heart; for so I shall,
If it be made of penetrable stuff,
If damned custom have not brass'd it so
That it is proof and bulwark against sense.
Paying brief attention to the man he has murdered before returning his full attention to his mother
QUEEN GERTRUDE

What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue
In noise so rude against me?

HAMLET

Such an act
That blurs the grace and blush of modesty,
Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose
From the fair forehead of an innocent love
And sets a blister there, makes marriage-vows
As false as dicers' oaths: O, such a deed
As from the body of contraction plucks
The very soul, and sweet religion makes
A rhapsody of words: heaven's face doth glow:
Yea, this solidity and compound mass,
With tristful visage, as against the doom,
Is thought-sick at the act.
Ranting madly
QUEEN GERTRUDE

Ay me, what act,
That roars so loud, and thunders in the index?

HAMLET

Look here, upon this picture, and on this,
The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.
See, what a grace was seated on this brow;
Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself;
An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;
A station like the herald Mercury
New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill;
A combination and a form indeed,
Where every god did seem to set his seal,
To give the world assurance of a man:
This was your husband. Look you now, what follows:
Here is your husband; like a mildew'd ear,
Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,
And batten on this moor? Ha! have you eyes?
You cannot call it love; for at your age
The hey-day in the blood is tame, it's humble,
And waits upon the judgment: and what judgment
Would step from this to this? Sense, sure, you have,
Else could you not have motion; but sure, that sense
Is apoplex'd; for madness would not err,
Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thrall'd
But it reserved some quantity of choice,
To serve in such a difference. What devil was't
That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind?
Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,
Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all,
Or but a sickly part of one true sense
Could not so mope.
O shame! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell,
If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,
To flaming youth let virtue be as wax,
And melt in her own fire: proclaim no shame
When the compulsive ardour gives the charge,
Since frost itself as actively doth burn
And reason panders will.
Another rant of madness where he even speaks of madness and repeats himself.
QUEEN GERTRUDE

O Hamlet, speak no more:
Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul;
And there I see such black and grained spots
As will not leave their tinct.
Attempting to end the confrontation
HAMLET

Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,
Stew'd in corruption, honeying and making love
Over the nasty sty,--

QUEEN GERTRUDE

O, speak to me no more;
These words, like daggers, enter in mine ears;
No more, sweet Hamlet!
Almost in tears barely holding herself together
HAMLET

A murderer and a villain;
A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe
Of your precedent lord; a vice of kings;
A cutpurse of the empire and the rule,
That from a shelf the precious diadem stole,
And put it in his pocket!

QUEEN GERTRUDE

No more!
with hands over ears and no longer willing to listen before having her attention drawn back by Hamlet speaking to seemingly nothing showing once again his madness.
HAMLET

A king of shreds and patches,--

Enter Ghost
Save me, and hover o'er me with your wings,
You heavenly guards! What would your gracious figure?

QUEEN GERTRUDE

Alas, he's mad!

HAMLET

Do you not come your tardy son to chide,
That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go by
The important acting of your dread command? O, say!
Wilting as he believes he has to this point failed
Ghost

Do not forget: this visitation
Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.
But, look, amazement on thy mother sits:
O, step between her and her fighting soul:
Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works:
Speak to her, Hamlet.
Calming hamlet while straightening out his objectives
HAMLET

How is it with you, lady?
Returns attention to Gertrude in a completely different manner
QUEEN GERTRUDE

Alas, how is't with you,
That you do bend your eye on vacancy
And with the incorporal air do hold discourse?
Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep;
And, as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm,
Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,
Starts up, and stands on end. O gentle son,
Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper
Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?
Almost in a motherly manner she is truthfully concerned that her son has gone compeltly nuts
HAMLET

On him, on him! Look you, how pale he glares!
His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones,
Would make them capable. Do not look upon me;
Lest with this piteous action you convert
My stern effects: then what I have to do
Will want true colour; tears perchance for blood.
Completely mad with obsession
QUEEN GERTRUDE

To whom do you speak this?

HAMLET

Do you see nothing there?
surprised
QUEEN GERTRUDE

Nothing at all; yet all that is I see.

HAMLET

Nor did you nothing hear?
concerned
QUEEN GERTRUDE

No, nothing but ourselves.

HAMLET

Why, look you there! look, how it steals away!
My father, in his habit as he lived!
Look, where he goes, even now, out at the portal!
Eager in speech as he frantically trys to get his mother to see what he is sure she should be able to see pointing, moving quickly and such
Exit Ghost

QUEEN GERTRUDE

This the very coinage of your brain:
This bodiless creation ecstasy
Is very cunning in.
Rationalizing all that has been said
HAMLET

Ecstasy!
My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time,
And makes as healthful music: it is not madness
That I have utter'd: bring me to the test,
And I the matter will re-word; which madness
Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,
Lay not that mattering unction to your soul,
That not your trespass, but my madness speaks:
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place,
Whilst rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven;
Repent what's past; avoid what is to come;
And do not spread the compost on the weeds,
To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue;
For in the fatness of these pursy times
Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg,
Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good.
For the first time speaking in a sane manner and putting forth his message clearly.
QUEEN GERTRUDE

O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.
Hit hard by his frankness
HAMLET

O, throw away the worser part of it,
And live the purer with the other half.
Good night: but go not to mine uncle's bed;
Assume a virtue, if you have it not.
That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,
Of habits devil, is angel yet in this,
That to the use of actions fair and good
He likewise gives a frock or livery,
That aptly is put on. Refrain to-night,
And that shall lend a kind of easiness
To the next abstinence: the next more easy;
For use almost can change the stamp of nature,
And either [ ] the devil, or throw him out
With wondrous potency. Once more, good night:
And when you are desirous to be bless'd,
I'll blessing beg of you. For this same lord,
Calmed and almost begging of his mother
Pointing to POLONIUS
I do repent: but heaven hath pleased it so,
To punish me with this and this with me,
That I must be their scourge and minister.
I will bestow him, and will answer well
The death I gave him. So, again, good night.
I must be cruel, only to be kind:
Thus bad begins and worse remains behind.
One word more, good lady.
In pain but in no way sorry for what has conspired
QUEEN GERTRUDE

What shall I do?
Truly flustered as what has come of the meeting
HAMLET

Not this, by no means, that I bid you do:
Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed;
Pinch wanton on your cheek; call you his mouse;
And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses,
Or paddling in your neck with his damn'd fingers,
Make you to ravel all this matter out,
That I essentially am not in madness,
But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know;
For who, that's but a queen, fair, sober, wise,
Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib,
Such dear concernings hide? who would do so?
No, in despite of sense and secrecy,
Unpeg the basket on the house's top.
Let the birds fly, and, like the famous ape,
To try conclusions, in the basket creep,
And break your own neck down.
Calm and assuring of what will go down
QUEEN GERTRUDE

Be thou assured, if words be made of breath,
And breath of life, I have no life to breathe
What thou hast said to me.
Trying her best to show loyalty to hamlet but obviously a lie frightened out of her

China

I’m not exactly sure about what shape or form I should write about an experience such as this. Too late for a diary. An essay would be to formal. Instead I think I will just go from start to finish, maybe hop around a bit when I get distracted.

Flying isn't ever fun, but I found the perfect way to make it just that much worse. Through the 12 hour flight I decided to stay awake. First four hours were fine as I made my way through Star Wars a New Hope and the first half of Empire Strikes Back. Then my computer died. Sitting in the window seat and suffering from a cold I was constantly draining liquid out of my nose, pouring water into my water and along the way filling my bladder. The window is nice for somewhere to lean against but when you need to pee and the two people sitting next to you are knocked out sleeping it doesn't help much. I made It though.

Arriving after 24 hours of travel is amazing. It is also nice to recognize someone when you reach a final destination, which I of course wasn't expecting, but when we walked out of baggage claim standing there was the teddy bear man Steven, who I had hosted and even though I had only known him for one week about a year ago seeing him waiting there for me made me feel like I was somewhere familiar.

My host for the first two week, Tony, is a very kind and very awkward boy with a bottomless stomach. He is a stick very much like myself and I consider myself to be quite the eater but I am but a fly in comparison to the beast he is when in comes to inhaling all that shows up on the table. I had my first meal right before bed the night we arrived and it was spicy as expected, delicious as expected, and too much as expected.

I probably slept for 18 of the next 24 hours after arriving. This of course was Christmas day that I slept through. In the few hours of consciousness I ate good food, spicy food, and too much food.

First day of school was the first day of the experience that I came across the world for and it certainly was an experience. First thing we noticed when entering our classroom, it was very cold, about exactly as cold as it was outside. It was also a huge class room with only a few desks a few chairs and us. Our classes ranged from dull to humorous to entertaining.

The first week of class seemed very long. We had classes usually from 8-12 in the morning then had until 7:30 to do what we found to do. We read books mostly for this first week (wednesday-saturday). I got through The Chronology of Star Wars, a incredibly abridged version of Robin Hood, and Fortress Besieged a Chinese Epic of some sort. I love reading, but being cold and sitting in uncomfortable chairs and being sick along the way wasn't great, so we fixed it.

After a weekend with my host where I was taken to a nearby town (Leshan) where I visited a bathhouse, ate a lot, was cold some more, and was lucky enough to go to the day before party for a wedding, Ivy and I started to explore. First we just walked around nearby the school, which seemed to be in the hardware district. Later that week we went out to eat and shop with Samson, who was also back in Chengdu for his holiday break from Michigan State.

The third week we switched hosts. My new host, Hans, was richer and had a western style toilet, but was not as kind and caring as Tony had been. His mother also spoke 0 English so I used my meager Chinese skills along with gesticulations to communicate while Hans stayed at school until 11 most nights. This was the week that we discovered Starbucks. It was comfortable, it was warm, there was coffee, and sometimes there were even westerners to speak to. We lived here many afternoons, and one time even experienced the upscale restaurant next door that is Pizza Hut?

During the third and fourth weeks we were busy almost all of the time as our teachers took us out almost every afternoon. During this time the weather also made a few sharp turns. During the third week it actually was decently warm. Then for the last few days we were there is started to freeze. Coldest weather in 50 years, snow that isn't supposed to fall in this region, and the cause of many deaths as the temperatures dropped further after we left.

This is mostly narrative and rather boring in my opinion, but I just don't feel I can quite put down in words the amazing affect I believe this experience had on me. I have told the story behind the story a few times already so if you want to hear the way my outlook on life (especially my own) has changed just ask and I guess I can handle talking about myself again.

I have now decided that I am incredibly tired of Greek literature if you can even call it that. The Greeks were certainly interesting folks, but they wrote in a way so affected by their pagan ways that all of the writings of fiction came out to be almost exactly the same. There is a hero. There is a problem. Someone asks the oracle or Gods for help. The answer isn’t what everyone wants to hear. No one listens and then some stuff goes down. I found this interesting the first few times, although after freshman English, three years of Latin filled with numerous Greek and Roman stories, and finally this version of Oedipus I have had my fill.

In comparison to writings inspired by other religions such as Christianity and Judaism the stories of the Greeks are rather meaningless and devoid of moral value. I find that most of the Greek stories, unless retold by Disney, end up creating little connection at all between the readers, and the characters and gods who are unlikable, unrealistic, and lack the power to make their own decisions.

Oedipus I found to be interesting in 9th grade because I was a 9th grader. Now that I read it again in a form that I like even less I find very little to enjoy. Maybe as it is a tragedy there is not supposed to be any joy created. Instead all I get from the play is that Oedipus has many unfortunate things happen to him for no reason. I don’t even like him, but there is almost no one who deserves what he goes through or even to hear about it. Is the whole story just meant to show that destiny can’t be stopped, again, and that not only must Oedipus’s father be punished with death, but also his son and mother and many others must be punished to make up for one betrayal of the gods? The whole plot is unnecessary and recycled. The incest is just a tabloid headline like topic to pull in readers.

The only thing I see in a story such as this is brainwashing provided to the people to let them know what will happen if they don’t listen to what their leaders told their gods to tell their priests to tell them. This controlling probably worked do to the empty mindedness of most of the Greeks and the vulnerability to fear of all humans ever. Fear would keep the people docile. Fear would keep the poor, poor. Fear destroys governments and brings them about. I don’t see anything good about fear, but I also don’t have to lose what every leader always has, being one over all.