Final day

My favorite aspects of the class was the class discussion we had after we read the text. What I learned is to read and understand old English writing. What I still need to work on is to cite my writing sources.

Last day of class

The last day of class was really great. I enjoyed hearing everyone stories . English 102  was a difficult class how ever it was worth it. I left with a lot of knowledge. My favorite part of the class was the writing the blog post . I enjoyed the last two books that we read along with the movies .

Last day of Class

English 102 was a challenging class. I have learned many things, especially about the literature's genres. I enjoyed writing poems and was my first time writing a poem. the collection was the most difficult assignment since I started college. I did learn a lot about research papers, and the process to construct an essay. I need to keep practicing my writing and punctuation. My favorite text that was read on the last day of class was the collection about the history of Rock N' Roll. Thanks to professor Talbird for his help and patience.!

English 102, last day

Well, today was our last day of class and it's kind of bittersweet, I mean I'm happy the semester is over, and I'm glad we were all able to finish English 102. Yet,  I got to admit the class was challenging. And I for one am glad that it was so. And in a way, I'm going to miss this particular class, the assignments given were both educational and challenging. Challenging in the sense that we really had to read and understand so that we could have intelligent discussions of the readings in class. Also, so that the reviews we wrote about in the blog also made sense. In other words this class kept on us on our toes, it did me anyway. This English 102 class made me realize that I had a hidden likeness, or desire for reading, but I guess I was oppressing it.  The last time I read a book was because I had to, and it was many years ago in high school. Yet, reading the assigned books from class, I found myself getting deeper and deeper into the plots, and couldn't wait to have time to go back and continue where I had left off. This made me want to research other great novels, and literature, and even wrote a list of about 15 classic books I want to read within the next year or so, maybe two years.  I'm also thankful I had to take this class because it helped me improve my writing skills even more. I feel this course helped me sharpen my writing skills, and writing style via the books we read. I wouldn't just read, I would also pay attention to sentence structures, and the author's writing style, which I feel influenced some my recent writings.  Overall, I feel this class was a great learning experience for me. I have never written so much for one project. The longest papers I have written have been about seven pages including the bibliography and author's note. I'm proud of myself for stepping up to the challenge of writing this collection, I had never even heard of a collection in this sense before. Till now, the only collection I was familiar with was my collection of old records. I'm proud of the job I did on my collection, I learned a lot while writing it. Anyway, I'm glad that it's all over, but I am going to miss the class. Hope everyone did well.

Final Week

This week of the blog is optional. Anyone who posts will get extra credit. Some things you may want to write about:

• What were your favorite aspects of the class? What were your least favorite? What did you learn? What do you still need to work on? 
• What was your favorite text that was read on the last day of class? Give a shout out to your favorite fellow writers.
• How do you feel about your final collection? Have you ever written so much before? 

As we finished reading the book & Seeing the movie I enjoyed both , but reading the book made me think what would happen if we ever hit that situation ? And that epidemic , in my opinion I think I wouldn’t survive if I go months without eating. I’ll try my best to stay alive but there was a part in a film where I felt so sad and disgusted too when the dogs where eating the dead people body , The men raping the women in order to get food , do men have to do such atrocities just to fulfill their needs? Some people are born blind & some get blind by time and they learn how to cope with it and the book and the film showed that . This book was really interesting and reading out first novel with the professor Swenson was also fun , these two books made my English class different from the previous one I have had . My previous would always be about poem and boring autobiography and documentary , I for sure always felt asleeep !

blindness film

the movie was spectacular, was a good experience, because many scenes were exactly as how I imagined them when I was reading the book. when I started to read the book I was imaging how were physically the character to have an idea, but i never though the first blind man was an Asian person, and it was good because he did a good job in the movie, and my favorite character as in the book, was the Doctor, and enjoyable character. I would like to see the scene where the group of people commanded by the Doctor's wife find an old woman who was eating raw rabbits to survive, that didn't happen in the movie, I think it could have been a good scene.

page305 blindness

the relationship between the man with eye patch and the women the dark glasses make me think about what want to say the writer on this page, I think their relationship is real, I mean, at the beginning I think she just wanted to take advantage  of the situation and have someone to her side to protect her, but then, I think she really fell in love because there were blind and they couldn't see their defects each other, because we make judgment about other people from our perspective what we see on them, but if we were blind I think we could find or see the true love.

Blindness

I just wanted to give my opinion on the sex scene in the movie. I found  it very interesting how the wife walked in on the doctor cheating and consoled the blind woman. I felt like when the doctor wife caught the blind woman and she saw the guilt and regret on her face she felt bad and understood that they got caught in a moment. I was surprised with the out come because it could of really went any way. For instance what if the wife killed the blind woman, after everything she’s been through and seen it what have not been shocking if she cracked and did the unthinkable. Secondly I thought she just might leave the blind girl behind and refuse to help her anymore. But I guess after all the  senseless  Killing the wife saw her outlook on life has changed.

Blindness the movie

Today in class we finished watching Blindness.  Through the movie I was able to put real images to what I had only imagined while reading the book.  One of my favorite scenes from the movie was when the woman with the cigarette lighter set fire to the third ward, which housed the hoodlums, because this signaled the end of their abuse towards the women, as well as their own demise for the horrible acts they committed against fellow humans. At a time when everyone should unite and try and find the best solution to such an unimaginable ordeal, these guys are planning how to use and abuse the other weaker folks. They got exactly what they deserved, starting with their perverted self made leader, because he wielded a gun.  Also, without realizing it the woman with the cigarette lighter saved all their lives.  I don't think the doctor's wife and her group would have endured another month of such abuse, as it was they had already gone four days without food, before the upheaval. The intimate scene between the doctor and the girl with dark glasses was also portrayed tastefully by the director, I thought.  It showed two people not engaging in an act of pure animalistic lust, but rather, two people seeking comfort in each other's arms, for a problem they both think has no solution. Immediately, after the act was over, the director did a great job showing how the doctor and the girl with the dark glasses were having feelings of guilt and regret. Especially, after the doctor's wife made her presence known.  And she, instead of being incredibly hurt and feeling betrayed, she understood that these two people were just trying if only for one moment to escape the unbelievable torment their lives had become. I would have liked to see the director develop the scenes a little more before showing their climax.  Yet, overall, I enjoyed the film.

Pages 305-307

During these pages it shows that the old man and young woman would never be together in reality but are brought together by the “blindness”. Their love affair shows that an scenario like that can make people put their differences aside. Because for example if everyone hadn’t went blind, none of this would have happened.

Blindness

Today for class we finished watching the movie Blindness. The film adaptation of the book blindness both includes and excludes some aspects of the novel. One change that occurred in the movie was that the women who set her self on fire was an associate of the Doctor's wife.. In the novel the women who sets herself one fire was from a different ward and had no association with the Doctor's wife. This change was a positive in my book because it wasn't necessary to introduce another character only to have to kill her off. However one change that I didn't particularly like was when the film excluded the crazy neighbor who resides at the girl with the brown glasses home. This change takes away some of the cruelty of the situation. The crazy lady is also one of the few people we get to witness closely after the group leaves the mental hospital. Also I felt that the relationship between the one eyed old man and the girl with the brown glasses wasn't as developed in the film version.

Blindness the movie

I didn't really like the film. From reading the book, I was expecting a lot more creativity and more scenery. The movie felt rushed and absolutely dry. What I did notice is that towards the ending when the guy got his vision back, They showed the doctor's wife staring at the sky for a real long time and it was beginning to felt like she was going blind. Then they show her looking down and she see's the city.

Blindness

i think the scene that stood out to me the most was towards the ending of the film when the first blind man was in the table asking for coffee had slowly started to see stuff. In the film it shows his perspective as to how the white cloudiness slowly starts to fade and shows the doctors wife and the kitchen. He later starts to yell that he can see and at first no one believed until he started describing his surroundings. And when everyone started to believe him they all got excited and happy knowing that maybe the blindness isn't permanent but it also gives a negative feeling because yeah they are happy but they can never know if they will or will not get their vision back. But, I felt that if the first man that went blind can finally see i believe that the rest of the group members would slowly start to see as well but it would take its time for all the members to finally see.

Blindness film

"Blindness" directed by Fernando Meirelles is a film based off the novel of the same title written by Jose Saramago. The film differs from the novel in both plot structure and in point of view. The novel is more descriptive and goes into depth concerning character thoughts. In particular the contrast most noticeable between my understanding of the doctor's wife. The book does a great job in providing us visual that encompass the horrors seen by the doctor's wife. The film on the other hand doesn't achieve the same effect because we often don't hear or see from within the character of the doctor's wife. Another glaring instance where this difference occurs is the reactions the characters have to sex. The first moment of sec between the doctor and the girl with the glasses is taken negatively by the wife in the film. While in the novel the event between the the doctor and girl is justified the film version just feels more erupt. Also the ending of the film is shot really well showing us the perspective of the first blind regaining his sight.

Blindness Movie

I enjoyed the movie Blindness. It was very straightforward, the director didn't drag it longer than it needed to be. Being blind brought everyone together to the point where they became a family. 

Blindness film

The film was interesting to me because it didn't talk about where the story took place. When reading the book you sometimes don't get a clear picture of what's happening. I feel like the film puts a lot of things into perspective when we realize what a blind person has to go through if they're on their own to fend for themselves. It showed how they were close to starving,they lived in really unsanitary conditions and were around people always plotting something bad. I think the government should have been more involved to help these people. The doctor's wife was immune to the virus so maybe others were as well.

Blindness

Watching the movie is a completely different experience than just reading the book. Although, while reading you can use your imagination to visualize what’s happening, whereas watching the movie i feel one could get a better understanding of the point the author is trying to get across. The scene where the first man to go blind gets his vision back is one of my favorites. This is because everyone seemed to be getting comfortable with the way life was, conforming to living blind. Their hopes and dreams had moved into other directions. Instead of hoping to get their vision back, they just simply wanted to live. The first blind man’s vision returning served as a symbol of hope, for everyone’s eyesight returning eventually.

blindness

Watching the movie in today class was pretty interesting! I enjoyed watching it which was two hours rather than reading the book but I noticed that many scene where cut off . Reading the book you can think about what might happen next but on the movie It goes straight to the point. Being inside of a convention filthy and dirty they started going crazy but as the movie continued they started getting comfortable with being blind. The part that I most like was when the man with the eyes patch said he doesn't wanna go back since they where all getting close. Also People fighting over food because that was there only way to survive for example when the doctor wife went inside the supermarket and came out smelling like meat and all those individuals jumped on top of her to take the food away , the dogs eating a dead man. And at last when the Japanese man got his eye sight back he was shocked but was happy and saying I love you guys, and the doctor wife looking up thinking she gonna lose her eye sight but she didn't.

Response to Blindness movie

In my opinion, it is good interpretation of a book. I have noticed whenever best sellers turn into movies, there are always a few differences. For example, when doctor's wife went out to look for food , in the book she went alone. And the scene in the church did not happen on the same day. However, I believe these differences have particular purpose in it because seeing on screen and reading book are two separate ways of art.

Response to the Film Blindness

I think the film was great. In the beginning I wasn’t expecting the first blind man to look like he did, when reading the book I thought he was a Caucasian man, taller. However, I believe the movie was well executed. I feel like the one scene that really got my attention was when the men that were in control of the food began to ask for the women. That whole scene of when the women were walking together to the place and were raped and abused by these men, that was so sad and actually hard to see. It kind of shows us to what extent people will go through when being in a very desperate state, they needed food and would do almost anything to have some and they worked together to feed everyone even when there wasn’t enough. Overall the movie was well executed, separating it from the book because there are a lot of scenes that were cut out from the movie that we read in the book but over all I think It did a good in showing us the position they were all placed in and left to figure things out. Also, it did and tried well at showing us their point of view and how it might be like to not be able to see so instead it would show us soft white scenes and instead we would hear what would be going on.

Blindness

the thing that was most interesting about the blindness film was the theory that god was punish them and were giving them a renewed life. Towards the end of the of the film, in the church, they were preaching on how god has punished us. Also the woman that wasn't blind was the care taker of all of them and almost seemed like she no sins. By the end of the movie, the man who blind first regained his vision after all them were happy together.

Blindness

One scene that I like in the movie was when the doctors protected his wife. I thought it showed him getting a sense of his manhood back in a way. What I mean by that is he felt useful . After he helped her off the floor he kisses he hand to kind of calm he down. I thought it was a big step for them considering when they went in the store . He said I know my place I will wait right here

Blindness

My favorite movie about the film is the part where the Japanese guy can see all the way at the end of the film. I just loved his reaction when he say everyone and kept mentioning how beautiful they are. I think this is impacting because I feel like he was so genuinely so happy and I felt like he called them beautiful because he knows them truly by heart and I just found this part so heart warming and a great way to finish the movie.

Blindness

One part of the movie that I found different was that the one person that could see stayed with the blind people and actually helped them try to live and kept them safe did matter how hard it was she was putting her self in harms way to help and keep a group of blind people alive. She went shopping for them to get food she even took them back to her house she went out her way to save people she didn’t even know. That was very different to see someone do if they are not blinded them self.

Blindness flim

The book and the film were basically the same story. Nothing major was changed from the book to the film. One thing that I found interesting in the film was the way they showed the mental hospital. When I read the book I pictured the mental hospital looking different. They also showed how dirty the hospital was.

Blindness Film

The film had a bigger effect on me than the book did. It’s one thing to imagine the circumstances these people had to live with but to see exactly what they experienced made it that more effective. This was a great movie overall. I kind of wish the ending would’ve showed maybe a “five years later..” part to it, just because the ending left me curious as to what happened with the rest of the people who hadn’t gotten their eyesight back. The movie made me understand the book a lot more.

Movie Blindness

Something that I noticed while watching the movie is the fact that the movie gives us a little more than the book does. In the sense where you see a person and you can specify them by their race. For example the first blind man is Chinese and it is funny because he is no longer to me the first blind guy he is the Chinese guy. And not only by race can you call them by, you can call them by their style of clothing and much more. Personally I liked not having an image to them because it just made it ten times more suspenseful and unknown for me. This is one of the main things I have noticed so far from the movie that have impacted me. 

Pages 305

The pages we have read in class for me made me think about the term that "love is blind" because of the love between the girl with the glasses and the old man with the patch. We sometimes try to find someone by their appearance and approach them first because of how they look and their style, but we never really give a chance to those who might not meet our standard based on their looks.  Also the term that "looks are deceiving" made me think of the girl with the glasses. Based on her actions we were quick to judge and not think about the reasons why she is the way that she is. I think this was also the most loving scene considering all the chaos we have seen throughout the novel and how we see that the girl with the glasses is still willing to look for love considering everything that has happened. This is also one of my favorite parts of the novel.

Thoughts for page 305

On this page, we read a conversation which was exchanged between the girl with dark glasses and the old man with black eye patch. To me, it seems like a wedding without cakes, flowers, candles, priest, suits, dresses, bride maids, best men, diamond rings, families, friends, etc. They did not have any of them but a group of blind witnesses surrounded them. Through this scene, we can also conclude that without vision, humans eliminate all possible excuses to refuse to fall in love with somebody. Surprisingly, our eyes play the most important role because without them, we don't judge people by their look but their heart. 

Scene between old man and girl with dark glasses/movie

The purpose of that sentimental scene between the old man with  the eyepatch and the girl with dark glasses, is to show how true the old saying: "love is blind" is.  In this scene the old man and the girl with dark glasses confess their love for each other. True, before they were blind the girl with the dark glasses would never even consider being with someone like the old man with the eyepatch. But then being blind allowed both of them to see beyond physical appearance. Now they are able to see the other person for who they really are.

We started watching the movie version of the book yesterday in class, the two main characters are portrayed by actor's Mark Garofalo and Julianne Moore.  We got up to the part where the hoodlums from the third ward start to make trouble for everyone else in the ward.  So far I like the movie version. Although, I'm not sure if I agree with some of the choices the director made. Such as not developing the story more in terms of the characters. Not so much on a personal level, but showing how they arrive at certain points in the film. For example, the man who steals the car is stabbed in his leg by the girl with dark glasses after he tries to fondle her. She retaliates by kicking him in leg, she is wearing high heels and pierces the man's leg, causing a life threatening infection. All of a sudden the man is trying to find his way down the corridor that leads to the doors that lead outside. He is looking for some kind of aid from the soldiers outside but instead gets shot in the head.  I think the director should have spent a little more time on what caused the man that stole the car, such despair that he would want to venture outside on his own, knowing the soldiers had permission to shoot and kill.

Ekprhastic Cinematography

You all might not have been aware that several of the images in the film were inspired by painter Lucian Freud's work such as the painting below:

significant part in blindness

After reading the whole book i felt a lot of sympathy for the doctors wife. I felt some type of way when the doctor had sex with the women with glasses because after everything the doctors wife did for the doctor the least he could do is stay loyal to her. She stayed loyal to the doctor after he went blind and decided to go with him to the mental hospital to protect him. she stayed faithful to him and i found it messed up that he couldn't stay loyal.

blindness

This section of the book is more towards the end and it is somewhat of a brief summary of what happened throughout the whole book. It speaks about how the blindness affected them. They don't really think much of life and little things like having a book read to them is enough to keep them content.

blindness ending and review

After they left the ward, the doctors wife decided to take care of all of people she was with. The women with glasses, the man with the eye patch, the kid with the squint, the doctor and the doctors wife formed a group to survive in the outside world. After seeing that the oust side world was completely ruined, they decided to go to each of their homes one by one in search of food and shelter. The last place they ended up was at the doctor and the doctors wife home where they began to live. After a few days of living there the blindness has been lifted and the world started to regain their sight. While everyone gains their sight back, the doctors wife goes blind. I felt the author didn't put that much thought in the ending of the book. In reality i don't think you can go from blind to see again especially after being dirty and people don't take care of themselves.

Pg 305

The purpose of this scene is to provide the readers with some sense of hope that everything will return to normal. They get engaged which foreshadows that everything will go well and that there is still a hope for a “normal” life.

Pages 305

In this scene, the old man asked the girl with glasses to live together, but she was confused if he meant with all of them or just with her. When he says "with you". She was completely surprised because she mentioned that she never loved anyone. In this scene, I think the author wanted showed that they could fell in love no matter their ages or how different they were.

Response to pg 305

I believe this section of the reading is important because we are able to see how the conversation unfolds between the lady with dark glasses and the older man. They begging by kind of having a small argument because he mentions that all they are good for

Now is listening to another person read and then lead into hopes. We see that one of them has lost hope in being able to see which is probably where most of them are at as well. Those are hopes that have let go of at this point and because the older man seems to not want to let go or be alone he starts saying to move I together because two blind people is better than one. I believe this is kind of a representation of what most of the blind people feel at this point. And we learn that she was the one who washed his back. 

Blindness

The blind people are saying that they love each other but can’t even see each other. They are tryin to saying that love is blind, and people just really say that they love something or someone with out seeing who they are.

The purpose of this scene was that now that they have been living with each other for a while they started having personal issues with each other. The man with the eye patch is in love with the girl with the dark glasses. She doesn’t love him back and she is only with him because of the situation they are in. They all also understand that they are only together because of the situation.

Blindness

I think the purpose of this scene was to let the readers know who was washing the old mans back.It was the girl with black glasses

Blindness pages

The purpose of the scene was to show how they were all living together and how they are getting along with each other.

Blindness page 305

These few pages from the novel had such a strong impact on the novel, I think. It was the first time (in a while) that something so loving and good was occurring. The entire novel was very suspenseful and based on a concept of a “Will we survive” situation. So this was a great part and one of my favorite parts of the book. I think from here on after everything will fall into place.

Ending of the novel

As I kept reading finally reaching the end of the book, it did not fail to maintain my interest.  A lot of horrible things happened in this story. I think the author showed how easily a society can break down when faced with unthinkable tragedies and despair.  Once stripped of their daily comforts and comfort zones, human beings can become very erratic, at a very fast pace. The book shows that when   danger is imminent, and the threat of death becomes too real, most people will abandon all of societies protocol. Soon it becomes a "every man for himself" mentality, and survival of the fittest. It also shows how even when things are at their worst and gloomiest, there are still people that are so inhumane and deplorable that they would dare to do what the hoodlums from the third ward did.  But at least they paid the price for their disgusting crimes at the hands of the doctor's wife, and the woman with the cigarette lighter. The hoodlums got just what they deserved, and I was glad for it.
I'm also glad the book ended the way it did, although, I felt bad for the doctor's wife. After the horrific ordeal she went through, and now have to deal with that condition. But I imagine she also will soon be fine.

Blindness

As I continue to read the novel blindness by Saramago it makes me understand that humans tend to cheat , steal , lie to survive at any choice they have. When the lady husband that can see slept with the girl with the glasses I was shocked  why did he sleep with her or how did she even let that happen ? if the two women where becoming close like sister ? Wasn't the lady that can see gonna say anything to her husband did he do that because he thought if no one can see then he can do what ever he want. I guess the lady that can see had to stay shut because they would know she can see and everyone would be in back of her , they would come for her. Also the man with the radio when he was about to give out the news it turned off and didn't work that was the only thing he had left that helped him communicate with the outside world , also the. lady that can see knew where the food was hidden but she could've told eat but she decided not too because she will become a murder herself

Pictures

In Tuesday class the professor showed picture of famous paintings, we had to write down in our notebooks what we see, what is symbolizes. One famous painting that I noticed right away is the one with Leonardo Da Vinci where it illustrates Jesus Christ and his disciples having there last supper  prior to his arrest and crucifixion on a cross by the romans.

Blindness: Novel and Film

As we finish the novel and watch the film adaptation this week (dir. Fernando Meirelles, 2008), I would like you think about both the conclusion of the novel and also the film adaptation. Some specific questions I have:

• What role does the old woman who lives by herself and feeds on raw rabbit play in the novel? As the doctor's wife says, "I can assure you that not even where we were living before were things so repugnant" (251). How can her life we worse that the hell they have escaped from? 
• Why does the blind author write if there is no one to read his work?
• What role does the dog of tears play in the novel? 
• The doctor's wife says, "In a way, everything we eat has been stolen from the mouths of others and if we rob them of too much we are responsible for their death, one way or another we are all murderers" (314). Remember what I said about sci-fi: That it's always about our life here, now? What does this statement say about our world?
• Why have the eyes of all the images and sculptures in the church been covered with white bandages or swipes of paint?
• Why do you think that people start to regain their eyesight at the end of the novel?
• When Fernando Meirelles asked Jose Saramago if he could film his novel, Saramago said that he could as long as the setting wasn't any recognizable city. Why do you think he made that condition?
• Why are there so many ethnicities represented in the film? Why do you think the first blind man and his wife speak Japanese? 
• All adaptations are just some people's interpretation of a text. That's why Shakespeare still gets performed even though his plays are over five hundred years old. What do you think of Meirelles' interpretation of the novel? In what ways did he realize your idea of the book? What things would you have done different if it were your movie?

Writer's Showcase

On Friday in S-112 from 12-2, there will be the first-annual Writer's Showcase. Three published QCC professors will read from their work followed by a Q&A. If any of you wish to attend and write a 1-p response about the event, I will give you extra credit. More details below:

Blindness

The doctors wife is like any typical character. She is presented as the one character who could possibly save everybody it reminds me of the old slavery movies where every slave feels weak and vulnerable until that one character stands up and uplifts them to rebel. It made me thought of a what if scenario where the doctors wife was to try and rule over all the blind people instead of helping them.

Blindness 149-152

From what I read the oldman didn't want his radio taken because he wants to know what is happening in the outside world. The girl wants the radio to listen to it but the old man is worried that the batteries would die out.

If "Blindness" is written in 2019

The more pages I have reached, the more curious I am. What if "Blindness" is written in recent years or in 2019, what things will be changed. For example, like radio of old man, nowadays, that device will be replaced by mobile phones or tablets. Are Siri or Alexa might help you? Maybe, as long as their batteries last but not more than 24 hours. What about super computers, what about Nuclear Power stations, what about Planes in the sky, submarines in the oceans, what about soldiers in front line, what about people in North pole. I picture myself how people's reaction to the moment the first man went blind could be completely altered. Some might stop and record what is going on right there and post it on social media, or tweet about it, or snap chat about it or stream live video. Some might even think this is a joke. Other might post on Instagram with title "#stuck in traffic#some guy went blind" because it is fact that nowadays people more cares about their life on social media than their life outside. That makes me think that are we blind already like Saramago said, aren't we? Every time we go online, everything we see, we listen to, we watch is mostly likely fake. The news, photos and videos on social media, if we don't look carefully, tens of, hundreds of them might not even accurate. It is so ironic that I remember people proudly said when Internet first was invented. They said the world is shrinking and globalization is happening, yet is it in a good way. What about the side effects? Are we having too much to chew on? I am not sure about it. Right now, I want to appreciate whatever good things we have because we don't know how things will turn out sooner or later. Overall, "Blindness" left me important message to think about and that message is really deep. Frankly, I am trying to catch up what he wanted to say. Hopefully, I will come around the right conclusion.

Research Parties!

For those who need help on research for your annotated bibliographies, you might want to take advantage of the Library's Research Parties.

These five, drop-in Research Parties are designed to help students with end-of-semester research assignments.

 

Librarians will be on hand to help with topics, citations, article searching etc. And free snacks will be served!

 

Dates and times are as follows, and all will be held in L302:

 

5pm-7pm on Wednesday 5/8/19

11am-1pm on Thursday 5/9/19

11am-1pm on Friday 5/10/19

11am-1pm on Monday 5/13/19

5pm-7pm on Tuesday 5/14/19

As you can see, only the Wed. session is before the due date of the Collection. However, I will take Collections up until class time of 5/14. So obviously the very last session won't be useful for this class, but maybe you've got research in other classes you're doing.

Group Critique

Coming to an end we had our last group critique of the semester and it was bitter sweet. Through group critique we have the time to chat with our classmates about our work. This has been essential because people help you and enlighten you with other ideas that you may not have thought about. Also you make friends that can help you not only in this class but throughout life. Group critique has also allowed us to speak to our professor one and one and really just get up to date with everything if we have fallen behind. We have had the ability to catch up on our readings and even on the blog.

Blindness

Right now in the book the group decided the best thing to do was to stay together.The group is now looking for the doctors house .The doctors wife finds everyone some clean clothes and bedding.It was at night when it began to rain . The doctors wife gathered all the women up outside to wash up .The three women was themselves in the rain and collect water for the men to wash. The doctors wife runs a bath for the old man with the black patch eye. When he gets in the bath he finds a woman in the tub who washes his back.

Last Group Critique

Today was the last group critique of the semester. I met with Khine and another person whose name I don't recall. We read each other's works and gave suggestions. My last submission called "Spring Break" was the piece I presented. This piece will likely also be included in my collection. Within  the piece I write about a character that closely resembles my own life. Its essentially a memoir under a different name. Given the suggestions made by my group members its likely that I will exaggerate some details. For my story to make more sense and for a better cohesion with my theme it is a necessary task. Overall I am looking forward to the end result and hopefully it doesn't become too controversial. Often times when we write about sadness and hopelessness we invite pity and that isn't the goal of my last work. For that piece my objective is to tell a story and whether the reader feels pity or gratitude is solely dependent on their own views and outlooks on life.

Blindness

Jose Saramago's book "Blindness" a reoccurring theme is objects and their purpose. Within the contents of the novel the characters often met with using objects for utilitarians purposes. For examples, the doctors wife carried with her a pair of scissors with the purpose of trimming her husband's beard. We the readers however never see her use the scissors for this aesthetic/hygiene purpose instead it is used to carry out a murder. Another instance is the radio that the eye patch man carries. The radio an object that can be used both for entertainment and for information is instead solely used to gather information. As readers we see these small instances multiple times throughout the book and over the course of the story they added up. Saramago is intentional in putting these instances in so that the realism of the situation is more acceptable to the reader. Of course these object would be used in these ways in situations of emergency. Furthermore other objects like paintings and statures are defiled driving home that message that under certain circumstances our ability to appreciate objects diminishes to the point of their simplest utility for our survival.

Group critique

Today was the last group critique and my group went over how our collections compare and contrast from one another’s. We discussed the three genres we picked and what inspired us to write them. We went over any writing grammar and spelling errors

Group Critque

Unfortunately this is our last Group Critique. My group discussed our drafts and gave each other great pointers. The three of us are almost finished with our papers. I really enjoyed this class and all of the things I learned being in this class. Amazing professor

Open Mic Followup: Extra Credit

Anyone who reads at the open mic next Wed (see 5/01 for details) and then writes a 1-p response about the experience will get extra credit. Responses are due in class by the last day (5/14). Let me know if you have questions.

Blindness

Right now in blindness the group of people are looking for some new shoes and also for the blind girl with dark sun glasses home. The group is moving Very slowly because they are starved . Eventually they find the girls building and find that no one is in the building. They come in contact with a old woman in a flat on the first floor who seems to have gone crazy .she tells the group that she has been living off rabbits from the coop in her back yard . She catches them breaks their necks and eats them raw. The group gets into the blind girl apartment through an open window and stays there for the night.

Open Mic Poetry

I wanted you all to know about the Open Mic Multicultural Poetry Event. It's next Wednesday during club hours and all can participate. I know a lot of you have written some great poetry this term and you might be interested in reading your work to your peers. Even if not, it's always a good event and worth it to listen (esp. if the weather is nice!). It takes place in the Quad in front of the Humanities Bldg. See below for more info and write one of the sponsors if you'd like to get on the reading list (though you can probably just show up and read if you'd prefer).

Page 149

On page the old man with the eye patch decides that his portable radio will not be used as goods in exchange for food, from the hoodlums in the third ward.  The girl with the dark glasses asks the old man if she can listen to music, but the old man says no, he says "if anyone wants to listen to music they could hear it in their own heads."  The old man with the eye patch knows his little radio is the only link he and the others have to the outside world.  Also, in the following pages the old man with the eye patch  noticed that the only radio station he was able to get on his portable radio, had gone silent.  He listened attentively, waiting for the announcers voice to come back, only it never came back.  The old man with the eye patch new instinctively that the announcer and everyone else at that studio had gone blind.  The old man with the eye patch then dropped the radio and covered his head, and wept in silence.

In this book the author shows how in times of great distress and pandemonium, some people will surely lose their humanity and compassion.  We can see this with the thugs from the third ward. We don't know if they were already hoodlums, so it's safe to assume that they swayed that way given the horrific situation they were in.  I have a feeling things will get much worse before they get better.  I hope I'm wrong.

Response to Ekphrasis

Last year, I went to MET as a class field trip. We were at French painters section on second floor, among those famous paintings, I paid a lot of attention on one particular art piece. It was Joan D'arc (Joan of Arc)French heroine by Jules Bastien-Lepage in 1879. In this painting, Joan of Arc was in her  parent's garden, standing, gazing somewhere far far away and her body was slightly leaning towards a tree which she was holding. At her back, there were two angels floating in the air, who were probably attempting to guide her to protect her town and her people from enemy. Unlike other painters who usually picture her as brave war hero dressing her with heavy armors and sword, Jules Bastien-Lepage's version of Joan of Arc was just a normal peasant girl who had no idea of her huge breakout to mark her as legend for generations. As for me, this is my favorite art of all time because it always seems to make me think of how future is unpredictable. Because nobody knows what that future might hold and what that future might bring, like in Blindness, nobody expected to go blind, nobody foresaw how messy and ugly humans could be, nobody wanted to be killed, abandoned, starved or neglected. I was terrified to read all those cruelty in the book and at the same time, I also wondered how did Saramago write all in details like he had been experienced before. How could all inhumanity actions in asylum were perfectly crafted? Now I understand why this book won Nobel prize because it was a complete master piece.

Blindness page 149-151

so far in the book they are talking about the old man with the eyepatch radio being excluded from the list of valuables they had to hand over .The old man was saying the radio is important because it lets them know what’s going on in the outside world . The music on the radio caused painful memories . They were worrying about the batteries in the radio dying but instead the speaker went blind first ,

Pages 149-152 of blindness

The two pages we have read so far I kind felt bad that this man also went blind out of nowhere too. I feel that after he went blind he felt that the radio was the only thing that he had left and was with him for a very long time and then after it died it just seemed like it was just worthless. It turned to be a emotional connection with this radio.

Pgs 149-151

The man with the black eyepatch has a radio but doesn’t know how long it will last him so he only uses the radio to hear what’s happening in the outside. He doesn’t want to share his radio because he fears it will run out of battery and he won’t be able to hear what’s happening on the outside. The radio is the last link to the outside world

page 149-151

The old man has a portable radio go listen to the news. He wants to keep up with the news so he can be knowledge of what’s going on. The news caster eventually goes blind and the man with the eyepatch doesn’t have anything. He weeps under his pillow.

In this part of the story the man with the eye patch is listening to the news and he is hoping that the radio’s battery doesn’t die so he can listen to the news. It’s ironic that the news stops broadcasting before the radio dies. Even  the people doing the news goes blind and the radio then becomes useless. Also the man with the eye patch was very important for the people in the hospital because only he knew what was going on in the outside world.

149-151

In this part of the book, the man with the black eyepatch has held onto a portable radio, refusing to give it away he listened to it everyday. But one night the announcer suddenly said “I’m
Blind!” And then the station shut off. This made the man very emotional and upset, almost as if the radio was his last piece of hope

page 149

I think that the radio is going to become useful to them later on. The man with the eye-patch doesn't give it up as one of the valuables, so it seems like they'll continue needing it. Most of the ward is happy to know that they have some sort of connection to the outside world somehow.

Pictures

The first image on the blog seems to be with a group of blind people. The second image shows a female standing on top of the bodies of dead war men all while holding up a flag, which seems to look like the flag of France. The third image depicts a scenery of a sky. The fourth image seems to be a little animal. The fifth image seems to be in the country side with a lot of trees, a little house, etc. The sixth image is the Last Supper. The seventh image is the Birth of Venus.

Picture description

In the first painting there is a line of blind people and I feel like the person in the front are killing them. The second painting symbolizes how women are strong. I feel like this painting wants to show that women can be leaders as well. I notice that there is only one women in this painting  the rest are men but what is most significant about this painting is that the women is above the men which to me, symbolizes power. The third painting is a painting of a farm and the sunset. The fourth painting is just the head of a dog and the background is brown. The fifth painting I see a wooden house and a person riding in a horse carriage in the lake. The sixth painting is the last supper in which Jesus and his disciple have supper for the last time. There are all sitting next to each other and they seem to be discussing something. In the seventh painting there is a women in the center and she is naked with a couple coming out of the water and another women coming from the woods both trying to get the women in the middle.

Identifying images

In the first image I see a couple of men pushing one of the mens to the ground in where theres another man already in the ground. The second image seems like victory during some kind of war. The women is standing on top of dead bodies. This painting reminds me if landscape with all the bright colors popping out with yellows and greens and blues and browns. The fourth image just seems to be a ground and with a rock sitting. The fifth image seems to be a painting of a house with horses and a carriage. The sixth image I remeber from my art history class in which it's by the painter leanardo de Vinci in which he painted this in the late 1500's. This painting is actually oil paint on tempra if I'm not mistaken and it's called the last super. The seventh image kinda reminds me of the virgin Mary on the shell with Angel's on the left side and another women on the right side. 

Picture.

This picture was in the colonial times. A bunch of men in a single file line, pushing each other off of something of they’re in a rush to go somewhere. They all have their hands on the backs of the person in front of them. 

The second image is France wining the war. The lady is a symbol of victory for France. Everyone praises her. She’s the “ Statue of Liberty “ of France. 

In the third image, I see a bunch of crows in crop field, eating all of the crops at night. 

The Fourth image takes place in the Midwest. The dog is on a hill and he  is looking at something in front of him or in the sky. 

The fifth image takes place a little city. Maybe Italy. It’s a beautiful day and there two men directing their cattle. Probably to another city. 

The sixth image is a picture of the Last Supper. Jesus had supper with his followers( disciples) before his death. Everyone’s in their groups talking amongst each other. The man in the blue on right has his hands in Jesus’ direction indicating their conversation is about him. 

The seventh picture is kind of Feminist picture. The lady is in an oyster. Pearls are in oysters, so she represent purity and rebellion. Shes also independent and doesn’t need a male significant other. She’s not intimidated by what other think. For example, the woman on the right giving her a cloth to wrap herself in or the woman that’s dependent on the man. 

In this image I see a person leading other people and it looks like the other people can’t see. It looks like the people following the leader are blind because they are holding sticks and their facial expression looks like they can’t see where they are going.  In the second image I see a women with her breath about to pop out. She is on top of what it looks like to be dead people surrounded by soldiers. In the third image I see a road surrounded by a field of crop or corn. I also see birds flying over the field with a blue sky. In the fourth I see two shades of brown with a dogs head in between both of the shades. In the fifth image I see an old house by a lake which is surrounded by tress. I see a carriage in the water being dragged by a horse. In the sixth picture I see a picture of the last supper, which is Jesus in the middle surrounded by his followers sitting at a table. In the seventh image I see a naked women standing a sea shell. She is standing on the ocean and is surrounded by a women and what it looks like to be a angel holding another women.

Photos

The first two photos shown in class seem to show despair and chaos ,in these photos you can see people on the ground either dead because of war or on the verge of dying because of disease.


Some of the photos are more plain in terms of the amount of colors shown and the clarity of the photo. Although they may seem plain, they could possibly have a deep meaning resonating behind the design. The color can depict an emotion or something that is personal to the artist.

While other photos have great detail. One that stood out in particular to me as the lake house photo. You can clearly see the color of the sky, the trees, some animals around , the water and some people by the water. It makes you feel a certain way, like if you've been there before.

The picture of the last supper has many different things going on. It seems like some of the disciples are talking about Jesus, while others are talking among themselves. I think that they are expecting something to happen.

I believe that the photo showing a naked woman covering herself with her own hair is a picture of the Garden of Eden, where Eve was tempted by Satan/the Serpent. The photo shows the lady being covered by clothing from another lady that is dressed but also seems to look like herself.  Then to her left there is an angel of some kind flying while holding the naked woman in his arms. The angel has black wings and he has a serpent wrapped around the lady.

The picture

What I see in the first pic is people working together to reach their destination. The second pic shows a woman standing on a rock Raising a flag with dead people surrounding him . I believe they just finished fighting a war . The third pic is of nature you see the sky and birds . The fourth pick looks like a Bear traveling up a mountain or a rock . The fifth shows people traveling on a boat with two men. In the sixth picture you see people feasting together. And talking. The last picture shows naked people with their partner or some kind of love triangle . Very vivid colors with a lot of details.

Ekphrasis

Ekphrasis is when you write in response to art. Saramago uses real-world art in his novel in several places.

On p. 123, Saramago writes of "...the blind people in the painting, walking together, falling together and dying together." This the the painting that Saramago is referring to, by Bruegel from the 16th Century:

And on p. 233, after the doctor's wife and the others are free from the mental institution and she leads her band of survivors, the narrators says, "...this was not liberty leading the people, the bags fortunately full, are too heavy for her to carry them aloft like a flag." This is a reference to French 19th century painter Eugene Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, commemorating the French Revolution of 1830:

On pp. 128-129, the "unknown voice" in the ward tells of the painting that he was looking at when he went blind. This painting is actually several very famous paintings. He describes "a picture of a cornfield w/ crows and cypress trees and a sun that gave the impression of having been made up of the fragments of other suns." This is probably a reference to Wheat Field with Crows by the Dutch painting Vincent Van Gogh:

Then he describes "...a drowning dog...already half-submerged, poor creature..." This is probably Spanish painter Francisco Goya's The Dog:

And then "there was a cart laden with hay, drawn by horses and crossing a stream," with "a house on the left." This is probably Hay Wain by British painting John Constable:

The "thirteen men" eating is probably Italian painter Leonardo Da Vinci's The Last Supper:

And finally, a naked woman with fair hair, inside a conch that was floating on the sea, and masses of flowers around her" is obviously Sandro Botticelli's The Birth of Venus:

The unknown voice describes all these paintings as being a part of the same painting. The paintings are painted by different painters, exist in different museums in different countries. What do you make about this experience in the context of the novel?

Blindness

The doctor wife found a church where she could rest .while inside the church the doctor wife notices that all of the statues and paintings have their eyes covered with white. The people from the church are very upset when they hear the news and go home without food . The little boy was the only one to eat that night . The first blind man was about to fall asleep when he noticed that he was seeing black even tho he was awake . He open his eyes and has regained his sight.

Blindness

Right now in the book . The doctor wife tells him that they are running out of food. They have to make another trip to the underground food store.when the reach the supermarket they notice that they do not here anyone fighting for food .The doctor wife  thought they might be to late but still decides to look inside and notices . In the cellular there was a huge mass of  rotten bodies .

Blindness

It talks about the chaos of missing food, supplies, etc. There is a lot of complain because they are being abandoned by the government. There are new arrivals in the quarantine, and it makes more difficult for other blind people that were there because it is more craw in. I think they gonna became crazy and it would make them to act different. For example, now that there won't be any food left, they  would became cannibals. The pages we discuss in class also talks about the doctor wife.  She is describing what is happening in the quarantine. I think she is really important in there because she is the only who can see and it is with some purposes that could revealed as we read the book.

Post Apocalyptic Series

The series Game of Thrones by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss is post apocalyptic in a sense. I say this because usually in a typical post apocalyptic movie, series, or book there are often the dead rising up and killing the living, which are also known as zombies. In Game of Thrones there are these creatures that are called “wights”, which are very similar to a zombie. A wight is an undead being and to infect another they could either be turned by the Night King or by the white walkers, which are the Night King’s henchmen, I’d say. But throughout the series the only thing that was stopping the white walkers from invading the seven kingdoms was the wall, which eventually was torn down. The main goal of the Night King and white walkers are to march South and take over the realm and make everyone his minions.

Pages 66-69

During this scene it talks about some challenges the people in the ward may face, the chaos within the ward, etc. The chaos refers to the guards shooting people due to the fact that they don’t want to get infected. But some of the guards eventually went blind. It stalks on how the first blind man’s wife almost gets caught by the guards but it seems like she doesn’t care. Eventually someone steals the food. Everything just started going more and more downhill.

Blindness

Now new arrivals are starting to come to the mental institution. There are some of the infected which have become blind and were forced to go to the side of the people who are blind. The situation just keeps getting more desperate for everyone at the wards.  They are hungry and scared, because the army is proving to be very tardy with the food, and very quick to shoot and kill. Their sanitary conditions are also worsening, the doctor tried going to the toilet, only to find their was no paper to clean himself, and to make matters worse he stepped on some excrement of someone who had missed the toilet altogether.  It's deplorable and disgusting the way the government is treating them. The army is killing people at will, and apparently no one is about to come to their aid.  These people are in a nightmarish situation with no one there to help except the doctor's wife, who still, inexplicably, still has her sight. Yet, she can not let anyone know she can see, with the exception of the doctor. This limits her capability to help. These people are truly in dire straits, I hope the government starts to show some compassion and help them while a solution is found. 

Blindness

The people in the mental hospital have been abandoned and deceived. They were promised doctors who’d help cure their disease but instead all they have are the same announcements day after day. Causing anxiety among them, being that they begin to think how are they going to be able to survive. The first man to go blind begins to contemplate all of the things that could go wrong, for instance he says that if one of the lavatories were to get blocked the place would immediately turn into a sewer.

From book to screen

I posted yesterday about my favorite post-apocalyptic book "Mortal Engines" by Philip Reeves. Here is the movie trailer that came out a few months ago.

In the reading of today pg 66 we read that are complaints , what the government had promised have yet not being offered or given. There are more people joining the mental facility , that means there will be left with less bed and less food and material they need in order to survive. They are being treated as if they where are already dead , they wished they had their eye sight at least if it was with faint shadows to see there face. The doctor feels useless because he is blind and he can’t do nothing , he wished he can cure this people but his hands are alone and is not enough.

Blindness

The blind people are all in a ward together & they are getting confused because their are new blind people coming into the ward & they are bumping into each other no space & some of the others are getting step on and over because of the lack of space, & they’re are more new people coming in every day so it is get confusing for the others 

Blindness pages 67

The doctor and his wife only recently arrived in the mental hospital. Within these few paragraphs we are given insight into the doctor's concerns. In particular the doctor is certain he is unable to accommodate the medical needs of everyone. The issue isn't due to manpower but more so with his inability to see. Diagnosing illnesses and injuries require sight and without it greatly hinders a doctor's ability to be a doctor. The reality of the situation undermines the doctor's identity as someone who is relied upon. We can expect the doctor's wife to take on a larger role being the only person with sight.

In class response 66-69

In this section of the book, the new internees arrive and all have a relationship with the ones that are already there. We know this is contagious because it seems that everyone except the doctors wife is blind. I simply think the wife is immune to this infection and that is why she is not blind. We also see how the government is not sending someone to help or actually investigate what is going on. I find it pretty amusing because how can you put people in a ward that cannot see and expect them to do everything they usually do by themselves. At this point we see how they start to protest and also they mention the fact about sending doctors and we see how the doctor doesn't say anything. He knows that at this moment for once he isn't a doctor and cant provide help for them in any way. The doctor also starts to question about how will they all be there and what if something goes wrong who will go help them out. He knows his wife can but he doesn't want to say anything because then everyone will want her help and he won't have her there. I think it is good that they dont say anything because people will also get furious knowing that she can see and just lash at her because they cant. This is important because it makes you think about what will eventually happen and how will they go about it.

Blindness pg 66-69

In this part of the book the doctor is realizing  that the people inside the ward will turn into animals because it has only been a few days and the wards are already packed and it has an odor to it. I predict that they will turn into savages because of the lack of food and lack of hygiene.

Blindness pg 66-69

The doctor is now settled in and his wife still has her vision. However the arrival of more blind people has hindered her ability to help her husband. For example he says that he can’t have his wife help him shave because then the others would know someone has the ability to see. Also the arrival of the new blind people show how hard life is without vision. We don’t think what life would be like without it, even though if we lost it life would become much harder to navigate through.

Blindness page 68

In this part of the book I feel like the author wants to let the reader feel what the blind people are feeling. He begins to describe the terrible conditions in the ward, how they're separated, not taken care of and just left to fend for themselves. This is ridiculous considering they're blind, the government basically left them for dead. They all begin questioning whether they're really going to get help or not. The author talks about the personal disadvantages that come with suddenly becoming blind. Every persons life changes drastically, they're all just living in despair. He talks about the weeping everyone does .

Blindness

  So far in the book everyone is fighting for a bed or a corner where they can feel safe . The room is over crowded. A group of people wander out the door to find some where to go . In the book it stated that they didn’t want to fall down the stairs or something happening and then it’s to late before they realized . I think it’s pretty sad that the first blind man who has his wife with him  can’t even ask for her help to shave his beard because then someone will realize she can see .

Blindness pg 66-69

In the reading for this week a lot has happened in Blindness. But the most interesting is the fact that there are more groups of people joining the quarantine. This may seem like a good idea because maybe they can help eachother out to understand what’s going on and maybe try to figure a way out. But the people who are keeping them there aren’t providing the necessities they need to live. Especially the man with the infected leg, he is in need of medicine but is not given any. I believe it’ll end badly for him. They are also not given enough food, which can be such a serious health issue that can also lead to death. I believe that they’re all alone on this, no one will help them or listen to what they have to say. It’s kind of scary to think that this could happen in real life. I don’t know what I’d do!

Blindness pg 66-68

In these pages the book shows how more people are coming in and all the beds have been taken up. People have started to fight over supplies. The hospital has become very dirty and nasty. The doctor wonders how things would look like in a week if things continue like this.

Group Critique

Group critique 

So for my group critique I spoke about my feedback given by the professor I told my classmates that I have to make it more enganging by putting memoirs about life situations. In order to do this i will explain my life in the two countries separately and more thoroughly. Hence, allowing the reader to grasp a better view of the different enviorments i come from. 

Blindness

In the reading that tends to follow the first chapter the epidemia of the “White Blindness” left to anxiety, isolation they had around 14 rules that’s all seem like a death trap , how can someone blind know where there walking to without guidance. My question is how is the blind man who was driving the car wife not blind ? She is the only one in the mental hospital that has been lucky yet. The author doesn’t give names but does describe them in a way maybe because this sickness is gonna be world wide ( the end of the world ) like the movies that I have watched 2013 like natural causes earthquakes , sunami & etc. But this blindness is close to extinction of humans a horror. This chapter goes into showing how humans tend to do what’s in there hands to survive a portrait of human sacrifice to hurt or kill. I think it will show how there dum and smart people , patience is used for example the man who stoled the car was in so much pain when the girl with the glasses kick him with her heels and injured him leaving him in a urge to have antibiotics he went outside and screamed and was shot in the head. As the chapter goes by around two hundred or more are in the mental hospital making it cluster where is the government gonna put the rest ?

Blindness and the End of the World

As you read Blindness, I'd like you to make connections to other post-apocalyptic films, TV shows, novels, comic books, myths, video games etc. What is your favorite posts-apocalyptic story? Or, if you've never seen one or never seen one you liked, why not? Why do you thinks these stories have been with us for thousands of years? What do they speak to? (Feel free to use the link/image/video buttons above to link to internet images and/or video.)

Here's a clip from one of my favorite post-apocalyptic films, George Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978):

As you continue to read the novel, what do you imagine will happen? What have you been surprised by? What questions do you have?

Blindness

From reading this book it is very hard to understand what the book is about. There are no characters no plot and each sce me keeps on shifting. I feel like the meaning of this book is gonna be revealing of human characteristics we tend to follow.

End of the world

I have so many conspiracy theories on how the world will end but what I think will happen is all animals will rebel against humans and will kill them all we find out they know how to talk and they are just as smart as humans. They want their environment back and would work together will different species of animals to eliminate all humans

Blindness

so right now in the book the guy who stole the first blind man car was kicked in the leg by another women in the building who he was touching inappropriately. The lady injured the blind man leg really bad to the point it started getting infected. The doctors and his wife asked the guards for Antibiotics and was threaten with death if they did anything . The theif who stole the car infection was getting worse. He went outside and started screaming for help and was shot in the face . Also the theif and the blind man got into a fight while he interviewed together when they realized who each other was .

End of world

The blue sky no longer existed overhead, now it was a red one. Scientist say that the sky was red because of the lack of large bodies of water. Others say that our ancestors cursed us by leaving the blue skied world behind. This curse turned our new home into hell thence the red sky. Personally I just think that we're too close to the sun. I am martian have been all my life. Its not all what it is cracked up to be honestly. My ancestors came because they could. On earth they had made their wealth mining petroleum and when the planet died from it they ran. Now I am here stuck on this planet with the descendants of other earth notabilities. My family doesn't socialize much with the other inhabitants. Its hard to talk about anything other than background and lineage on this planet. What else would we have to compare each other to then the past prestige of our ancestors. Fortunately after the world ended no one bothered to take the internet with them to mars with them. Imagine the power that person would have. The sole owner of the collective knowledge of the human race within one persons hands. I shuttered at the thought of an all knowing dictator with access to the crimes my grandparents committed.

to be continued...

Group critique (Friday April 12)

Today was group critique day, and as always I had a fun, instructive time with my group. We went over everyone's draft and all offered constructive criticism to each other. It seems everyone's collection is right on schedule. I don't foresee any of us having any real difficulties completing the collection, as we near the deadline to hand in the project. 

"The end of the world" scenario

"The end of the world," something people have been saying, writing about, waiting for, and visualizing for thousands of years.  What would you do if one day you turn on the t.v., and there, on CNN, a video of an incoming meteor or comet. A live video, you are watching this in real time. You change the channel because you were not in the mood for gloomy "end of the world" scenarios. Yet, in the middle of your favorite soap opera, all of a sudden, "breaking news" appears on your t.v. screen. Your heart starts pounding like a beating drum at the sight of the same video of the meteor you saw a few minutes ago on CNN, but dismissed it as a "what if this were to happen" segment. You try to pull yourself together, and try to convince yourself that "nah, this can't be happening," and once more you change the channel, still trying to convince yourself that this has to be some kind of hoax. And for a few seconds you succeed, because you remember hearing or reading somewhere how in the 1930's an actor named Orson Welles, did a radio broadcast entitled "The War Of The Worlds," which caused widespread panic, because the listeners believed a real invasion by aliens from outer space was really happening. Yet, when you change the channel no such luck. There on your 52' Panasonic high definition smart t.v. is an image of an incoming meteor the size of Texas, and the NASA scientists and physicists all agree that if the speed of the meteor remains constant and or does not change its trajectory. It will slam into the earth in 38 hours; nowhere near enough time to figure out a solution. Now what? What do you do? Where do you go? Who do you call? Who do you see.

Group critique

Today in class out grouped talked our collections. We discussed how to cite our sources in our annotated bibliographies and what to write for the summary. My group also read at least one piece of each others collection.

group critique

Today in class, we discussed our drafts with our groups. I was able to receive positive feedback on my writing and some constructive criticism. For my draft, I submitted a revised foreword for my collection, I now know to include more details about the three genres of writing I wish to include. Since the foreword is sort of like an argument I may include a counter argument here.

Blindness

Blind 

Reading the beginning of this book made me think about a movie that I recently watched called bird box. This move is very similar to what’s happening in the book. Where in order to survive in thre movie people had to have their eyes covered. If they decided to look the spirit or whatever it was that was in the air made them want to kill themselves or kill someone else if they praise It . In the beginning of this novel I found it so strange that few characters ended up blind first the man who was driving and then the one who tried to be a good samataerian like the book say  why driving the blind man , the eye doctor also end up blind , what is it that they end up blind ? What is going on this is making me wonder is there a disease ? Or maybe is their something in the air that is affecting them.  By being isolated by the government, is everyone else safe or will they eventually be affected?

Blindness

I’m really enjoying the book, Blindness. Although there are many unique writing techniques, for examples, low usage of quotes and run on sentences. Besides that, I feel as if the book is very straightforward but also has you thinking at the same time. It’s only the beginning of the book and I’m already interested. I am looking forward to reading more into it.

Response to reading on 4/9

In class we read pages 16-18 and in this section we learned about the second man that goes blind. This excerpt is pretty ironic because as the man is driving he is imagining the first guy who went blind in the exact same car while driving. I don't know exactly why this is happening and what the "plague" is about and how people can get it. But it seemed to me a little like karma. After this we see the scene in which the first man that went blind goes to the doctor and how eventually the doctor becomes blind. I think Jose Samargo uses a lot of irony in his writing and long sentences that can be exhausting to read without a pause.
The one thing that I like about this book is that I work at a Optometrist and know most of the health conditions there talking about. (irrelevant but...) 

Chapter 1-4 analysis

The book started with the first man going blind in his car while waiting for a traffic light. He came in contact with a thief that tried to help him. The thief took him home and stole his car. The thief then becomes blind just as the first man became blind. The first man sees and eye doctor and the doctor says that his eyes are perfectly fine. The doctor sees many patients that same day and they all become  hours later just how the first man and the thief become blind. The infection begins to spread rapidly and the government begins to create quarantine for the infected.

Group critique

In today’s class we went over how our entire collection will look like. In my group we discussed our writing and we went over each other’s grammar and punctuation. Some thing my group told me I needed to improve on was using more sophisticated words and work on my run on sentences.

Blindness Pgs. 16-19

From pages 16 to 19 in the novel Blindness, we meet a character that disguised as a good Samaritan, turns out to be a criminal.  The man offers the man who became blind while driving that he will be so kind as to drive him to his home. Which is exactly what the blind man was asking any kind person to do.  We later find that the volunteering man steals the blind man's car. I don't think that the volunteering man set out to steal the blind man's car. I think he genuinely wanted to help the blind man. Yet, when the opportunity to steal the car presented itself, it was more than the volunteering man could handle, because as I mentioned before the man was a criminal. And as it happens, his area of expertise is Grand Theft Auto.  The thief drives away, only to find some miles later that he too has gone blind.

Blindness first reading

Blindness is a story about a blindness disease that is spread to the general population. The people infected by the disease are quarantined in a mental hospital. It is at the mental hospital where the blind are expected to survive with no assistance. They are tasked with cleaning themselves and burying their dead and burning their waste. Doing any  of these three task would be a challenge but when blind they become ever more difficult. Initially the inhabitants of the hospital are those we are infected or those who are suspected of being infected. The number of residents grow steadily until the hospital is accommodating much more than it can possibly hold. Within this story I think the author is trying to showcase the animalistic nature of humans when confronted with fear. Fear is a major component to the treatment of the infected by the government and even by those who are suspected of being infected. In one case the suspected infected residents of the hospital forgo taking food out of fear of becoming blind. Fear in this case literally keeps them from satiating their hunger. In a later case guards don't even enter the building to deliver food out of fear. The guards in this case are refusing to do their duty out of fear. I think as the story continues there will be more examples of how fear plays into character's actions.

Thoughts for Blindness first pages

After reading these pages, I imagine myself being in this kind of situation, as victim of blindness. It shocked me that government put those people in mental asylum without investigating main cause of disease. If I were one of them, I might ask someone reliable to take me away from that city and find refuge somewhere safe. If government authority is not treating us right, why should we accept their ridiculous order in first place. It is their responsibility to find out probable cause of blindness and possible cure. Judging by their action in the book, they are going to let those poor people die like infected animals in that asylum. It makes me compare this scenario with getting rid of H1N1 flu infected pigs by burning and burying them. In contrast, in the book, eliminating sicked people this way will be so cruel to handle, so in place of killing them instantly, government takes them away from their families, leaves them in remote area and watches them wither and die. It makes me wonder why some people's morality fades away when hazardous disease outbreaks, like a thief, like a mother of squint eye kid. But there is also a bright side in this story, people like doctor's wife and the girl in dark glasses who don't lose their kindness and love in this despair. Hopefully, when this world ends,(we don't know when and how yet) we need more people like them. 

Blindness

In the first pages, the man suddenly went blind and everyone wonder what happened, People rushing to car thinking it was something was wrong with the car, but  person  open to see, and there was a man screaming "I am blind" people became concerned and worried wondering how someone suddenly went blind. The guy who open the door noticed that his eyes were white. Then another person yells that it could because  of nervous. The man asked to be taken home and a pedestrian says you should go to the hospital, but the man just wanted to go home and it is how a stranger offered to help. The man was so grateful with the stranger. He walked him to the door and insisted to go inside but  at that moment he remembered he could not let him get in he was a stranger. When his wife returned, she did not believe that his husband went blind, but when she saw his eyes, she got worried and concerned about how would it happened. After that they went to see the doctor and he says his eyes were perfect and there was not any lesion.

I think the false Samaritan took advantage of the situation stealing his car, but his conscience would not be the same after what he has done. He tried to be very careful about beat the being discovery by the police, but something worse happened to him when he went blind same as the poor man. 

The government intervened when they realize that the situation was really serious. The government set up a quarantine with strict rules such as if they leave the building, they would die and others strict rules. 

I enjoy reading the first pages even though it was complicated to understand because the characters do not have names and some of the sentences are really long, and I also noticed that this books does not have a dialogue like the Blue  Angel.

Pages 16-19

During this section the “good samaritan” had stole the blind man cars after dropping him home. The good samaritan starts driving in a rapid speed so he could always have a green light before him. Then he takes some back road where he knows there won’t be traffic lights. His nerves began to go crazy after a while. Moments later, he too eventually went blind after parking the car and walking off. I feel like this was karma in a way because the after the good samaritan helped the first blind man home, he took his car. So it might be a never ending cycle.

Blindness Sight

In the beginning of the book the man while driving his car loses his eye sight & then someone helps him but end up stealing his car. After the Good Samaritan feels guilty that’s something was gonna happened to him and then he steps of the car he right there loses his eyes sight. It seems that there something contagious with the touch or in the air

Blindness

In the beginning of the chapter there was a lot of internal thinking, and  thoughts going on. Because this character was talking about this blind man an how to steal those care. Then then it states that it is no difference between robbing a blind or helping him to rob him afterwords. Then he got scared that it was goin to happen to him become blind for what he did to the blind man.

First 55 pages.

After reading the first 55 pages, I was very interested in the book. From the first page, the book caught my attention. I wonder how or where the author got inspired by this topic. The epidemic of “blindness” is a unique main idea. This reminds me of the Netflix movie, Bird Box.

Blindness, In class response

In this section of the reading, this is the second person to go blind. Because of the circumstances under which he went bling, at first I believed he went blind for doing something morally wrong, a crime. He stole the other blind man’s car but it also gets me confused and thinking as to why the first man might’ve gone blind? Did he do something we do not know about yet?

Blindness

Page 16-19. The man who was supposed to be the good simartian stole the old mans car . After stealing the car the theif starts  to become uneasy. He started to let fear get the best of him which made him concentrate twice as hard on the traffic. The thief didn’t want to go back to prison . The thief rolled down his window for fresh air but it didn’t help him so he decided to park the car andgo outside for fresh air . He walked outside for about 30seconds before he went blind . The theif was skeptical of him going blind he said it’s not like a cold that you can catch .

Blindness Chapter 2

In this chapter of Blindness, in pages 16-19, we read about a man going blind. We get to read what happens to this man and we read that his blindness came while he was driving his car. Also a man who offered to help ended up robbing the blind man.

Blindness page 16

So far I'm really confused as to what the author is trying to do. The two people that have gone blind so far have been driving the same car. The first person was the owner of the car and he randomly went blind, so did the man who stole his car shortly after. I really don't know what it could be, maybe some pattern or from the beginning the car was stolen. I need to keep reading to sort of figure out what other things are making the characters go blind. Not even the doctor knew how the first man became blind.

Blindness Pg 16-18

The man who helped the first person to go blind to this disease seems to be at odds with himself. He is contemplating whether it was a stupid risk or a great opportunity. Once he steps out the car to gather himself the theif goes blind. This indicates that the blindness is a disease that can be transferred through touch alone. Also, the disease acts quickly and takes over within the next couple of hours.

Blindness

After reading the first 55 pages of “Blindness” I feel as though something very unusual is going on in this book. When the first man went blind I thought “maybe it’s a health issue.” After continuing to read the novel there were several other people who are now blind, and see only “milky white”  it’s kind of scary to think of this happening in real life. Once the government gets involved and they are asked to recruit all the people who have become blind in the same way the first man has, everything seems a little fishy to me. I think that the government is scared, scared that they are going to be “figured out” or scared that this blindness will spread to everyone in the country. The doctors wife is probably my favorite character so far. She’s very intelligent and sneaky, but in a good way.