I feel as if Atonement should not have even been included in the reading of this semesters class. I feel like we should have spread watchmen out over time. There were so many little things in watchmen that we missed from speeding through it. I also think we should have had more positive readings throughout the class. I feel everything we read was leaned more toward the negative side of things.

Watchmen

When the writer wrote about losing his comic book "virginity" when he read The Watchmen, I felt the exact same way. I've read comics before in the news paper, read a few random short comics that people have said were good reads, but never a complete graphic novel.

Watchmen was interesting, yet frustrating at the same time. If you didn't pay close attention, if you dozed off into "never never land", or if you didn't notice that one little detail in the scene, then you missed that crucial detail that clues you into whats about to happen.

Throughout this reading though, I agree with the writer when he says you anxiously wait what's going to happen next. When you put the book down, you can't wait to pick it back up the next day.

Overall I think this guy was an over dramatic person writing a review of a very good comic book.

Atonement

Although I truly feel no one achieved atonement in the novel "Atonement", I believe the closest person to achieving this is Briony. She never got to right what she did wrong, but the way both Robbie and Cecilia died and left Briony with all of the sorrow of what she had done might be her atonement.

I believe though, that no one truly achieved atonement. Briony was the catalyst in the "crimes" in the book, but she wasn't the only one who did wrong. Marshall and Lola had also done wrong. They knew that Robbie didn't rape Lola, yet they went along with what Briony. The only way in my opinion for them to reach atonement, would be for them to fail in their future, but obviously that doesn't happen.

I don't fully blame Briony for what Robbie and Cecilia went through, but I do not have sympathy for her. She could have easily realied earlier that she knew what she did was wrong, but she did not. She let it go too long, and it jumped up and bit her.

FREEEEEEEEEeeeee

I chose to write about a more broad subject than just one particular story. I don't quite understand why all of our stories have had such a negative connotation surrounding them. It seems like every story we read ends up negative in the end, or has some negative central plot. I guess this is just me being me, optimistic. I've always been an optimistic guy, and like seeing the glass half full instead of half empty. Don't get me wrong, every story can't be ra ra, yay yay, we win type of stories, but I would just like to see a little more mixture of happy stories and sad stories.

The Enemy

As I'm sitting in a trench waiting for the Germans to attack, I panic, thinking will I ever see my family again or will I ever see my country of America again. These are the same Germans that have been killing all of my friends in my battalion. We started at a full squad of 30, and now we're down to 15. The odds of me surviving are terrible. But I have to survive. I will not die. I'm fighting for my country, my freedom, my family. Before I storm forward, I say a quick prayer "God please grant me safety". In the blink of an eye, Germans are dead, they're dead all around me.

Cry for Help

I believe the song Cry for Help by Shinedown portrays Blanche almost perfect. Blanche goes through the book telling little lies about her past, but not expecting everyone to catch up to her lies. She also expects everyone to listen to what she says, and for everyone to believe what she says. The lyrics to this song portray this unbelievably.

The song begins with:

"You've been hanging out for quite awhile now
Livin' off of people you know
Trying to raise a little money
To pay off all the monkeys
That you met inside the rabbit hole"

Once Blanche lost "Belle Reve", she first moved to the hotel in Laural. Once she wore her welcome out there, she "visited" her sister in New Orleans. The part "You've been hanging out for quite awhile now, Livin' off of people you know" talks of Blanche wearing out her welcome, living of people because she's lost everything. The next part says, "To pay off all the monkeys, That you met inside the rabbit hole", talks of how Blanche went out with all the guys, and each one ended with them catching up to her stories.

The chorus of the song shows Blanche's personality :

"You better pray that theres another way out
You better pray that someones listening now
(and doesn't want to watch you drown)
'Cuz when you lie like the devil himself
No angels gonna hear your cry for help"

Blanche is always telling her stories, that aren't always the truth. After awhile this catches up to you and people never listen. Blanche is always trying to find another way to survive, whether it's finding different guys, or moving to New Olreans to be with her sister to try and "start over". The lines, "You better pray that theres another way out, You better pray that someones listening now" show how no one listens to Blanche, and how Blanche's past was so bad that it's gotten around to everyone and everyone knows of the things she's done. "'Cuz when you lie like the devil himself, No angels gonna hear your cry for help" talks of how Blanche keeps telling her sister stories, that stretch the truth. Once Stella finds out some of them might not be true, she stops believing Blanche, and then once Stanley rapes Blanche, and Blanche tries to tell Stella, Stella doesn't believe. She had too many lies, so no one is going to hear your cry for help.

Which Blanche Do I Believe?

In the two clips from Streetcar Named Desire, the two characters try to portray Blanche. The problem with the two clips is that each of them is at a different pace. The more frantic pace of the older video leads to the thought of her portraying a better Blanche than Jessica Lange according to Tennessee Williams. When he says it's easier to identify with characters who verge upon hysteria, that leans without a doubt to the older video. Blanche's motions in the older clip, lead to a sense of hysteria. She is constantly moving, thinking, and acting. In my opinion though, I believe they both do a credible job of portraying Blanche. The Jessica Lange version is a more sincere, heart felt scene in the book, that leads to less hysteria. So, to me, according to Tennessee Williams quote, the older video portrays Blanche the best, but the newer clip also portrays Blanche very well according to the mood of the scene.