Bastard Out of Carolina

After completing this book, I felt saddened by the life Bones had. Since she was young, she has been physically, verbally, and sexually abused by Glen. Glen took all of his frustrations out on Bones, and I couldn't imagine living my life like she had to. I wish she would have had the courage to tell her mother the first time it happened, then maybe she could have lived a better life. But she didn't say anything to anyone about the abuse because she was scare and blamed herself for what Glen was doing to her. I think that Glen abused Bones because he was verbally and psychologically abused by his father. His father would constantly talk about his failures, and I believe that this is where all of Glens problems began. On page 99 there is an example of what Glen's father thought of him, "his father had delivered his lecture on all things Glen had done wrong in his life of failure and disappointment." I feel that Bones mother, blinded by her love for Glen, ignores the signs of abuse.

As Bones gets older, and the abuse gets more frequent and intense, she begins to show signs of an abused child. Sexual fantasies, masturbating to visions of abuse, and the horrible stories she tells are all signs of something seriously wrong. On page 112 Bones said, "my fantasies got more violent and more complicated as daddy Glen continued to beat me with the same two or three belts he'd set aside for me." Bones will probably be scarred by her mistreatment for the rest of her life.

I found the ending to be very disturbing. Glen showed up at the house to talk to Bones about getting back with her mother, and when Bones tells him what she really thinks about him she gets severely beaten and raped. I thought glen was a disgusting character, and I was glad when Anney caught him in the act of sexually abusing and beating Bones because maybe now she will wake up and truly see Glen for what he is. Then Bones can finally be free of his abuse. After Anney put Bones in the car to bring her to the hospital, I couldn't believe that she began to comfort Glen after he hurt himself by banging his own head on the door. On page 291 I read, "She was holding him, his head pressed to her belly." This is a perfect example of how blinded Anney was by her love for Glen. If I were in her shoes, I could care less about Glen hurting himself, all I would care about was bringing my daughter to the hospital to get medical care and having him arrested. I think Anney should have never went back to Glen after she first caught him abusing Bones. Then maybe Bones would have lived a better childhood. The one thing that really bothered me about this book was that Anney ignored all of the signs of abuse that Bones had.

Bastard Out of Carolina

When I first read the title of the book, A Bastard Out of Carolina, I thought it would be about a disobedient child. As I began reading, I quickly realized that the book was about a women and her two children strugging to make it in life. It seems like nothing can go smooth for Anney Boatwright. When ever she begins to feel a sence of happiness and comfort, something goes wrong. She is an attractive woman who is from a large family who are all very close to one another. She shares close relationships with each family member, and their family is known for drinking and fighting. Her mother chased away the father of her first child called Bone, and I can't help but wonder if things would have turned out differently for Anney and her two girls if he had been allowed to stay in their lives. It seems like Anneys mother made a wrong choice by not wanting him in their lifes because he messed with her daughter when they weren't married. Thats where the name "bastard" comes from in the title. "Bastard" refers to an illegitimate child. In chapter 1 on page 3 Bone says, "there I was-certified a bastard by the state of South Carolina."

I was happy to see that Anney quickly found happiness with her first husband Lyle. She referred to him as gentle and caring in the book, and they soon had a child together who they named Reese. Everything was going well with her Anney and her two children until the deadly accedent occured. She lost her husband and began crying herself to sleep at night. I couldn't imagine going through something like that. Having someone you love so much taken away from you unexpectadly like that. If that accedient never occured, Anney and her two children would have probably led a happy life, free from all of the abuse which will soon take place with her second husband Glen.

When Anney married her second husband Glen, it seemed that she finally found love again. Things soon began to go horribly wrong for Anney and her two girls. Poverty is a constant problem. I think it was Glen's inability to be successful in life like his brothers, and not having gained the respect of his father that led him to be so frustrated, jealous, and emotionaly disturbed. Glen seems like he is trying to hide his full character behind his love for Anney. He is fully dependent on her and violently possessive of her.

I couldn't believe it when I read chapter 4, Glen actually sexualy abused Bone. I found that part very hard to read because I didn't want to picture that happening. I think the real struggles in Bone's life begin once her mother married Glen. Bone was so young, and all of Glen's frustrations seemed to be taken out on her while her mother turns her head. After the sexual encounter with Glen, sexual fantasies begin to arise. On page 63 Bone said, "Sex. Was that what daddy Glen had been doing to me in the parking lot? Was it what I had started doing to myself whenever I was alone in the afternoons?" I couldn't belive it when she began to describe her sexual fantasy. I have a feeling that when I continue reading this book I'm going to see a lot more abuse given by Glen on Bone. It's so sad that Bone has to be subjected to that.

The Heaven of Animals

My favorite James Dickey poem in the packet was tittled, The Heaven of Animals. I especially liked this poem because I myself, am an animal lover. The title of this poem is what first caught my attention because I love to read anything about animals. After I finished reading it, which I had to read a few times to make sense of some of the verses, I realized that Dickey was describing what a paradise for animals would look like. This poem takes a look into the paradise and afterlife awaiting all animals.

Once an animal dies, it goes into animal heaven. In animal heaven, there are no humans controlling and abusing animals, and there is plenty of food and water. In the beginning of the poem Dickey writes, "If they have lived in a wood, It is a wood, If they have lived on plains, It is grass rolling under their feet forever." Here, Dickey is describing the perfect habitat of each animal. If it were a tiger it would be free to roam the plains, and if it were a squirrel it would be free to run around the woods in the animal heaven. Each animal would be free in it's appropriate environment.

Dickey also writes, "The landscape flowers, outdoing, desperately, outdoing what is required: The richest wood, the deepest field. For some of these, It could not be the place it is without blood, These hunt, as they have done, But with claws and teeth grown perfect." This means that the environments in which the animals will live in will be perfect, which is why I call it a paradise for animals. Even though it is a paradise for animals in heaven, hunting is still present because some animals like lions and tigers need to hunt to survive, it is in their nature. Their perfect paradise would be hunting other animals. When I first read that part I was a little surprised because if animals were hunted, how is it a paradise for them? Animal heaven was supposed to be a paradise for all animals. Then I read, "And those that are hunted, Know this as their life, Their reward: to walk. I loved that part. To me, it sounded like Dickey was saying that when an animal was hunted and killed in animal heaven, they are reincarnated into a human.

A Streetcar Named Desire, Play vs. Film

I enjoyed watching the movie because it brought the play to life. I was able to see what the characters looked like in life, and see what the small apartment looked like. While reading the play I had to use my imagination. During the movie, I noticed similarities to the play, along with some differences.

One of the similarities between the movie and play that I noticed were the use of words used by the characters. The words in the movie seemed to be identical in the play. Another similarity was the plot. The plot of the movie followed the structure of the play. Blanche and Stanley also had the same characteristics in the play as they had in the movie. Stanley being muscular, unpredictable, quick to the point, controlling, and violent. Blanche being lonely, desperate for attention, dramatic, and unrealistic. All of these characteristics showed in the movie just like in the play. But the movie showed their characteristics better because I was able to see the use of body language and facial expressions. I was able to see how Stanley and Stella's relationship was based on physical attraction just by watching how they used their body language after the fight they had during poker night. When Stella went upstairs to Eunice's place to get away from Stanley, Stanley began screaming her name outside to get her attention because he missed her and he was sorry. In the movie I was able to see the body language and facial expressions of Stella and Stanley after the fight. They looked at each other seductively and you can tell that they were very physically attracted to one another. I knew right away what they were going to do next. The book describes this scene on page 653, "They stare at each other. Then they come together with low, animal moans. He falls to his knees on the steps and presses his face to her belly, curving a little with maternity. Her eyes go blind with tenderness as she catches his head and raises him level with her. He snatches the screen door open and lifts her off her feet and bears her into the dark flat." In the book it sounded like they were being very gentle with each other and making up, but when I watched that scene in the movie I could clearly see the sexuality between the two.

In the movie I was able to see places that were only mentioned briefly or not at all in the play. For example, in the beginning of the play I read that Stanley was at the bowling alley, but I was never brought there by the reading. Blanche waited in the house for Stanley and her sister Stella to return. But in the movie, Blanche went to the bowling alley to find her sister Stella. In the bowling alley I was able to see Stanley and the guys arguing, while Stella ran up to Blanche and greeted her so happily. Another example is the "dance place" in the movie where Blanche told Mitch about what happened to her husband. This scene wasn't even mentioned in the play. Another scene that was in the movie but not in the play was the factory scene. In the factory scene Stanley tells Mitch about Blanche's past. This scene portrays Mitch's shock and disbelief towards the rumor, then we witness a fight between the two. Another difference that I noticed between the play and movie was the scene where Mitch turns the light on and studies Blanch's face. In the book Mitch says, "I don't mind you being older than what I thought." The same line is said in the movie but we were able to see Blanche's face , rather than just picturing it in our mind. We were able to see the winkles in her face.

The rape scene was also very different in the movie than in the play. I thought that it sounded more violent in the play, than in the movie. In the movie they didn't show Blanche getting thrown on the bed by Stanley, they just showed Stanley grabbing Blanche's arm, then it cut to a different scene. They probably had to cut a lot of that out in the movie because in the time that the movie was made people had different views about violence being portrayed in movies, which is also probably why their was no talk about homosexuality in the movie like there was in the play.

The ending was different from the movie too, and I like this ending a lot better. Instead of Stella taking Stanley back like what happened in the play, she didn't in the movie. When Stanley went to grab Stella to bring her back in the house Stella said, "don't you touch me, don't you ever touch me again. I'm never going back in there again, not this time." I was so happy when she said that. When I read the play I couldn't believe that Stella took Stanley back after he did something so violent. But in the movie she realized that it was wrong for Stanley to push himself onto Blanche and rape her, and she ended up making it known that she believed her sister over Stanley. In the play she made it clear that she didn't believe her sister so she could stay with Stanley, even though deep inside she knew she was wrong. I definately like the movie better than the play because of that last scene.