AGENDA:
Continue to work on your Hours projects--short story, play, poetry cycle, etc.
DUE: Thursday, May 14
Catch up on Blog Posts:
#1---Discussion Questions 1-4
#2---Discussion questions 5-8
#3--Discussion Questions 9-16
HMWK: Finish reading The Hours, test on Thursday!
1. xavier lopezMay 6, 2015 at 8:59 AM
ReplyDelete1. I don’t think Clarissa wasn’t a normal woman because of her mentality and how she lived with herself. She always created a very glum atmosphere because of her negative outlooks on life. It is obvious throughout the linear show of the movie and her life, she is very discontent and goes about things differently than an ordinary woman would. Overall, she just didn’t have the urge and the want to live.
2. Flowers show a sense of symbolism; in a use that woman can have a way to hid their feelings and direct attitude toward life and there situation. In most cases, the flowers are used to hide feeling between all the female’s feminine emotions. Although flowers are used frequently and are very symbolic for different reasons, they all have the same motives.
3. Each character has a unique way of showing there sane. For example, some hear voices, others are severely living in a world where there mind constantly fights their emotions and tends to make them live days where they be weakened and consider ending their lives, for example.
4. Author tries to imply that no matter how different you try to be in life, you will always be seen through the choice of whoever’s lenses. This means that you can try to make a positive impression, seek change in your attitude and actions, but people will always see you based off of what they feel towards you or how they think about you.
5. At times it can be hard for a person with an emotional disorder and depression with negative outlooks to continue on in life as an ordinary person. It can be extremely hard and a battle between mind and heart and , surprisingly, as hard as somebody may try to see that person’s point of view, only that person knows the unexplainable battle they fight with themselves in their everyday life.
6. When Richard kisses Clarissa, it proves that he actually does have a sense of love and affection towards her; even though as an outside point of view, it may not have seem so to us or her as well.
7. This novel is very notorious for its versatile creativity within the different characters in the novel. The symbolism and motifs throughout the story are all different but somehow weave into each time period and lives of the characters the novel is a perfect example of creativity because it helps emphasize how one idea can stretch a long way in the stream of thought form.
8. Richard had a rough childhood due to his family issues. His mom didn’t exactly play her role in the family and his parents as a whole were very distant so he didn’t get a full experience and feel for an emotional connection between your parents and as a result he didn’t get much knowledge on affection due to the relationship that his parents had that eventually affected him as well.
9. Laura keeps her inner self separate from her outer self because she doesn’t want to show that she is unhappy in her marriage. She doesn’t want to seem improper at the time period.
ReplyDelete10. It is inevitable because there will always be someone that is better than you, and we can’t help but compare ourselves to them.
11. I think it is meant to show that we regret our youth and the choices that we did and did not make.
12. Their youthful selves were happier and full of life. Their middle aged selves are not happy with life. They are depressed. Clarissa is resisting. She does not just go along with the depression. She fights it.
13. Virginia wants to be free from the voices. Richard loves the idea of death because it is freedom. Laura does too at first because she wants to escape her marriage. She, however, finds another way to be free. The survivors are ready to deal with what comes next, while the suicides are not. They can’t take the constrictions any longer.
14. I have not read Mrs. Dalloway.
15. It changes the viewpoints of the characters as well as their actions.
16. I think he chose it because the entire book deals with having to deal with the hours after. He focuses on the future and not the present. Laura has to deal with the hours after almost killing herself in the hotel room. She has to deal with being in an unhappy marriage. Clarissa has to deal with the hours after Richard’s death.
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ReplyDelete1. It is very significant. Especially in the beginning when Virginia is walking to the river. She hears the sound of the bombers, but she doesn’t see any of them.
ReplyDelete3. She is not fully content with her past choices.
4. It calms her. She can connect to Virginia Woolf.
5. It makes it seem believable like Laura is only doing these things because Virginia wrote it.
1-8 answered April 21 and April 27 on "END OF MARKING PERIOD 3" post
ReplyDelete9. The woman who keeps her inner self separate is certainly Laura Brown. She experiences an immense unhappiness with the life of domesticity which society, the time period in which she lives, and her family expects from her. Virginia expresses her inner self in that she it is obvious that she struggles with depression and mental illness. Clarissa keeps her inner self only slightly hidden as she is haunted by a past in which she seemingly reached her "peak" of joy.
10.Each of the novel’s characters sees himself or herself, most of the time, as a failure. The characters are not unusual for viewing themselves this way as doubt and self- doubt are significant faults and parts of human life.
11.Toward the end of Clarissa’s day, she realizes that kissing Richard beside the pond in Wellfleet was the high point, the culmination, of her life. Richard, apparently, feels the same. It can be said that Cunningham was implying that as we age we inevitably feel regret for some lost chance. Things have a way of appearing better or different from how they were after the fact.
12.The Hours could on one level be said to be a novel about middle age, the final relinquishment of youth and the youthful self. Each of the characters are forced to accept a certain aspect of their lives that they wished were different.
13. Death can be seen as the answer to both Virginia and Richard as they "live" troubled and are disenchanted with whats left for them. Laura Brown feels similarly but then acts differently. Clarissa does not see death as a positive thing and she urges Richard to keep fighting.
14. N/A
15.The gender-bending affected and changed the situations, the relationships, and the people as it thickened the plot and offered Cunningham the freedom to connect the plot lines between the three women.
16. Cunningham chose the title the book "The Hours" because the entire story is just a couple of hours in the lives of the three women, a glimpse into their realities and struggles. It can also be said that the hours are a torment to both Virginia and Richard as they look forward to death as an escape.
Jaymee and Austin
ReplyDelete10. I feel like yes. Such feelings of failure are a part of the human condition. Humans will always regret things that they could have done, or could have done better
11.I feel like yeah. Cunningham implies that they characters regret their youth and the choices they have to make.
12. It means its the end of their lives. They all, now that they are adults, are significantly less happy with their lives.
13.Laura wants to die, Richard wanted to die, Virginia loves certain elements of life but still wants to die. Clarissa is basically the only character that clings to certain aspects of life, like her love for Richard.
14.I've never read Mrs. Dalloway but reading The Hours has made me interested in picking it up. But, if I had to guess I'd say its more of I dialogue and discussion about the elements of Mrs. Dalloway.
15.I don't think the "gender-bending" in The Hours changes any situations or relationships because it all ties back to the same human elements that everyone feels.
9. Most of the characters in the story are very self-conscious and as the reader we get a close perspective on their inner thoughts. Laura, for example, has a motive for hiding her conscious because she doesn’t want to show that she is not happy in her marriage. She hides the fact that things aren’t how they used to be and doesn’t want to reveal that feeling because it will only lead to more problems.
ReplyDelete10. Such feelings are part of the human condition, mentally and emotionally. Things that happen in one’s life can impact their lives critically. It’s all about their attitude and how somebody views obstacles and failure either negatively or positively. These things are never inevitable because everyone in life is born with a plethora of opportunities that all depend on their attitude and actions.
11. I think Cunningham was trying to imply the regret most people feel towards their childhood after aging and looking bad in their lives.
12. In a Person’s younger days, they are always happier and content; younger generations have nothing to worry about and they are care free. However, older and middle generations tend to be more glum and depressed due to the simple facts that they face obstacles every day and their lives become more and more challenging
13. Virginia absolutely despises the voices, and tries her hardest to avoid them and ignore them. Death eventually becomes a factor because she is mentally in distress and tired of the everyday battle she has with herself.
14.
15. It affects the point of views of characters and the change in their attitudes and feeling towards things are a significant.
16. The author titled the book “hours” because in the plot of the story, everything happens in the span of a day. And everything that happens in the day is significate because they are linear as to how they all tie into the characters in the book towards the end and throughout the movie.
1. I do not believe that Clarissa Vaughan was a normal woman just because of the way she went throughout her life. She was in love with a gay man with AIDS, while being in a relationship with another woman. She lives her life through other people, which wouldn't constitute being a normal woman.
ReplyDelete2. Flowers play a major role in The Hours, symbolizing the woman's discomfort and independence. They come up when the women are feeling unsure about something. For example, when Clarissa is buying flowers for Richard's party, she doesn't know how Richard will react to her.
3. The novel implies that insanity is something, that once contracted, is something you cannot get rid of. Things like rest cures do not work. I would not classify Richard as insane, just suffering from dementia and paranoia. I believe that Virginia is suffering from extreme depression, not insanity.
4. The author tries to imply that no matter how you try to express yourself, people will still hold their judgments against you. Even though Clarissa has the freedom to express herself the way she wants to, she is still stuck in the past.
atmospheres she became depressed and felt as though she has no importance.
ReplyDelete2. Flowers was a way the woman symbolize their emotions and feelings towards people and the outside. But since the women hide their feelings its a sense of irony when the flowers are presented. but this is still the same motif as the characters switched over.
3. Personally I think that the characters have skitzo. That's because they constantly hear voices and battle with decisions forgetting that the outside world exist as hey are stuck within the boundaries of their mind.
4.
1) I don't believe Clarissa is an ordinary woman, despite the efforts to make her seem so. She doesn't seem very happy with her lifestyle. Being ordinary means going with the normality of society, implying that she is deviating from this by being discontent with her way of living and seeking change. This, by contrast, makes her extraordinary.
ReplyDelete2) The flowers are often associated with feelings of purity and discomfort. They may serve to hide the underlying feelings that the women, whilst giving a sense of independence. Clarissa uses the flowers to congratulate Richard and mask the passionate feeling towards her. Virginia also uses a flower with the dead bird, while appearing indifferent about its death.
3) Each of the characters demonstrate some sort of hyper-awareness of their reality, which I believe would be the way Cunningham portrays "insanity". I would not classify Richard as insane, since the sickness rather induces ideals of pessimism, rather than an awareness of his effects on the world and people around him. Virginia would be viewed as insane, by the novel's definition, as she appears insensitive towards others, but is able to see people for who they truly are, and is fully aware of the reality before her, no matter how much she detaches herself from it.
4) The author seems to imply that society will continuously attempt to impose its restrictions upon those within it. No matter how hard one may attempt to stand out, you will still succumb to the opinion of the majority.
5) The feeling would be a universal one, as society tends to reject those who are unable to adapt to the normality that it imposes. This results in the feelings of detachment that each of the women feel throughout the novel. Richard refuses to play his role of society, likely feeling as though it is forced upon him, resulting in his death.
6) Richard kisses Clarissa, which demonstrated the underlying feelings they held for one another, that suddenly resurface, then disappear just as quickly
7) The creative process of each character seems to be influenced by the various experiences they endure. The various pasts and details of the characters seem to be connected by an underlying sense of despair, which backtrack to one reoccurring issue in their life, such as Virginia with her book, or Clarissa caring for Richard.
8) Richard's abandonment by her mother and the discomfort at he felt living with her from time to time. This may have damaged him mentally, as he was always very fond of his mother and tired his best to be the center of her attention.
9) All three women, in some way, seem to keep their inner selves desperate from their outer ones. Virginia keeps her inner self contained as she evidently deals with mental issues and near-psychotic episodes. Clarissa keeps her feelings tucked away, mostly because she wants to care for Richard, and recapture the moment of her past where she achieved the greatest sense of happiness she had ever felt.
10) The characters are not unusual for viewing themselves as failures. Its natural for any individual to reflect upon their past and notice the mistakes they have made. The overwhelming sense of self-doubt is essential for improving oneself and moving past these failures.
11) I don't believe that Richard and Clarissa were meant to have stayed together. Both of the characters become bi-sexual and Clarissa appears somewhat content in her relationship, but still slightly attached to her past where she felt happier. Despite being exposed to a longer lasting relationship, Cunningham seems to illustrate that the past is unforgettable and will always have regrets that we will make.