Assignment #4

The play “POOF!”, is a one act play so there is only one important scene in the play. An important turning point of this play is when Loureen finally comes to terms with the sudden death of her husband Samuel, after she damned him to Hell and all that was left of him was a big pile of ashes and his pair of glasses. To help Loureen come to terms with her husband death at her own hands, or maybe I should say voice, is Loureen’s best friend Florence that happens to also  leave in the house above her. This scene is significant because both Loureen and Florence  are both victims of domestic violence from their husbands and they have actually talked about murdering their husbands if things ever got too bad, they even joked about how they would do it “Florence: How many times have I heard you talk about being rid of him. How many times have we sat at this very table and laughed about the many ways we could do it...” After it happens to Loureen, however, she can not believe it and is scared as to what the future may hold for her.

The opening  of the play reveals that Loureen, although she gets beat by her husband, did not ever plan on him disappearing. “Samuel? Uh! Don’t fool with me now. I’m not in the mood. Samuel? I didn’t mean it really. I’ll be good if you come back...” This proving that she wasn’t ready for him to just up and disappear on her. It also reveals that Loureen is not good at handling extreme situations like the death of a person as she is portrayed later to have snapped slightly. “She breaks down. Florence moves to console her friend, then realizes that Loureen is actually laughing hysterically.” This is explained through the messages to the actors that the audience would have to see performed to know what is happening. That aside (haha acting joke), most people would have been too much in shock to be laughing at the death of someone that they knew.
The scene also reveals that Florence is a supportive character, by trying to help Florence cope with what just happened. By looking at the previous quote Florence makes the effort of try to console Loureen even though it doesn’t work out like that. She is also depicted similar to Loureen in the aspect that she is also abused by her husband by saying that she wants to get rid of her husband.

Florence: You Bitch!
Loureen: What?
Florence: We made a pact.
Loureen: I know.
Florence: You’ve broken it...We agreed that when things got real bad for both of us we’d... you know... together... Do I have to go upstairs to that?... What next?

This quote not only depicts that she is abused by her husband as well, but that she is also willing to get rid of him as a possible if they are given the chance.

The author of this play depicts the main characters as women who stay with their husbands even though they are being abused by them, irony of it all is that they also wanted to kill their husbands if they ever got “too abusive,” which is weird statement because being abused even a little by your significant other is “too abusive.”

Assignment #1

The first half of my book, The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor, takes place in the world of Wonderland 12 years after a civil war; it is the year 1859 and happens to be the seventh birthday of the young princess Alyss Heart. While also her birthday, a large celebration known as Inventors' Parade is going on, where all the inventors in the land present their inventions in front of the entire queendom, Genevieve Heart.

During the festivities, Alyss' father, King Nolan is out on a quest to make treaty with the King Arch, the king of the neighboring nation of Borderland because the queens sister, Redd Heart, is trying to take the throne and rule all of Wonderland with the use of her Black Imagination which opposes the queendoms current use of White Imagination. Back at Heart palace in wonderland, Alyss gets restless and decides to play with her childhood friend Dodge Anders who after a little scuffle with Jack of Diamonds, lead Alyss outside of the palace where they found a cat with ta bow tie that read "Happy Birthday, Alyss".

While that was happening the negotiations with King Arch was not going so good and it ended with King Arch telling King Nolan that he would think about the negotiation some more. While on the way back King Nolan and his company are ambushed by Redd and they are killed. Back at Heart palace the cat that Alyss had picked up jumps out Alyss' hands and heads for the security room where the Cat transforms into a humanoid cat and slaughters everyone in the security room and lowers the defenses in to Heart Palace, allowing Redd and her army to enter Heart Palace allowing her to overthrow the Palace. During the battle Queen Genevieve entrust Alyss to her most trusted body guard, Hatter Madigan, who takes Alyss to the Pool of Tears where there is a legend that states all who jump into the pool never return, being chased by The Cat, Hatter has little choice but jump into the Pool of tears with Alyss where they appear in London.

I believe that Frank Beddor’s purpose of writing this book was to give the reader a different way of viewing the old story of Alice in Wonderland. He wanted to give his own spin of the story and tell the story a way that it has never been written before, similar to the way the story, “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs,” which is the story told by the wolf and is said by him, “What really happened.” This story provides the same thing which is said to be the “true story” of Alice in Wonderland, or maybe I should say “Alyss in Wonderland.”

Giving his own unique spin to the story is spectacular because it shows the authors creativity with a subject that has already written upon. It draws parallels with the original story of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, but only with the bare minimum such as the name some of the characters and the realm of Wonderland. It really is a story on its own that is an amazing read. My reaction to Frank Beddor’s purpose was and still is, he did a great job on taking the children’s tale of Alice in Wonderland and spinning it into a newly created work of his own that stands alone form the works of Lewis Carroll. 

The Looking Glass Wars 3

Passage:
"'Off with your head,' Redd ordered, pulling the energy bolt out of the floor. 'No!' Genevieve struggled against the stems of the roses. Her people abandoned to Redd. And Alyss... just a child. Redd swung the bolt hard. Genevieve's head went one way, her body another, and her crowned rolled along the floor like a dropped coin. Redd picked up the crown and put it on her own head. 'The queen is dead. Long live the queen...me.'"

Pages:
66 to 67

Comment and Response:
(R) This passage creates strong imagery by giving details on how Queen Genevieve struggles in her last moments and by narrating to the reader what her final thoughts are right before her sister decapitates her. Strong character development is also created when it shows that Redd is so bent on revenge and power that she is willing to kill her own sister, and even worse she does so by decapitating her. Redd's character is further developed by showing she has a complete absence of emotion beside anger, hate, and greed by taking the crown and placing it on her own head and saying "The queen is dead. Long live the queen...me." This depiction alone gives the character, that is Redd, a very rich image of her and tells how she is willing to operate, by letting no one get in her way.

The Looking Glass Wars 2

Passage:

"Alice held out her hand for the prince to kiss. He seemed reluctant to let it go. 'I'm afraid you can't keep it Your Highness,' she said. And when he did not understand: 'My hand. I may have use for it still.'" 

Page:

166

Comment and Response:

(R) In the passage the author used humor to get the characters through an awkward situation. By the prince being reluctant to let go of Alice's hand it created a awkward moment. Alice then eases the awkwardness between the prince and herself by making a lighthearted joke that doesn't make the prince feel bad. I can relate to that because when I get into awkward situations I use a joke to usually ease the awkwardness, although it does not always work. 

The Looking Glass Wars

Passage:
"Alyss didn't get along with the other children living at the foundling hospital..."

"Alice worked hard to enter into the world in which she found herself..."

Pages: 

123 and 162

Comment and Questions:

The entire quote itself is not what is important in this journal but the name in both quotes, Alyss and Alice,  which are two ways to spell the same name for the same person. In the first quote the young ladies name is spelled Alyss, which I believe the author left that way to symbolize her struggle against the new world that she had traveled to and she that she had not succumbed to the ways of that society and new world. Later on in the book however, the author changes the spelling of Alyss' name to "Alice" to symbolize her finally being broken and conforming to the ways of the new world and accepting the way that they do things instead of keeping to her traditional ways of her old world. Through theses two examples the author shows that a person can only resist society as a whole for so long until they finally yield to the pressure and conform to the ways or norms of society.