Too Many Mutha’uckas

The main plot of Merchant of Venice involves the dealings in money and love between Antonio, Shylock, Bassanio and Portia. Alongside this plot runs three subplots that tell the respective stories of the three caskets, the elopement of Lorenzo and Jessica, and the rings. Throughout the play, the plots weave into and out of one another, forming a conclusion applying to all.
As the play begins, the main plot is introduced along with Antonio and Bassanio, two of the story’s chief characters. By the end of the first act’s third scene, the other two characters, Portia and Shylock, are also introduced and the story’s central plotline is set. Bassanio wants to marry Portia, but needs to borrow money from his friend Antonio to do so. Antonio in turn borrows the money from Shylock the moneylender, who commands a disturbing penalty of flesh should the debt not be paid on time.
Meanwhile, Portia speaks ill of her many potential suitors, and recalls a past meeting with Bassanio quite fondly. While this scene helps to further set up the main plot, it also introduces the first subplot, regarding the will of her late father and the strange lottery of caskets that will decide whom Portia is to marry. This subplot is carried along as various hopeful suitors appear before her estate and make a vain attempt to guess at the right casket.
The second subplot pertains to Shylock’s unfaithful daughter Jessica, and her theft of his money and elopement to the Christian Lorenzo, who happens to be a good friend of Antonio. While this subplot does not directly affect the three main “heroes” of the story (Bassanio, Antonio and Portia), it adds large amounts of fuel to Shylock’s already foreboding fire.
The last subplot to be introduced is that of the rings Portia and Nerissa give their new husbands Bassanio and Gratiano. Soon afterwards the newlyweds are separated as Bassanio and Gratiano must get back to Venice after hearing of Antonio’s imminent death upon his inability to pay his debt to Shylock. Unbeknownst to them, however, Portia and Nerissa make their way to the trial and, disguised as men, save Antonio from almost certain death. This is where the plot and subplots at last come together to form a single climax. Antonio is on trial due to his initial dealings with Shylock, who is enraged with his daughter and the loss of his life’s worth, and it is Portia, the very person whose dowry incited the whole mess, who comes to fix it all. Still disguised, they request the rings from the two men as gifts for their work, which incites a rather paradoxical exchange of jewelry and broken promises.

Am I doing this right? :\ I’m still a little frazzled and behind…

Money and Love:

If Shylock were a real person and not an outdated Jewish stereotype, I doubt he would be screaming about “Christian ducats” after his daughter just went missing. Even so, losing a whole bunch of money would be a tragedy to anyone in any situation.

And as for Portia, her wealth and royalty are definitely driving factors in the mess of suitors showing up at her doorstep. Just like Shylock’s situation, money matters no matter what. She’s beautiful and has a great personality, and she’s rich, too. All these things are equally important.

A. The narrator briefly describes his past and his religious affiliations with Bokononism.

B.
Conveyance - communication
Calypso – a jazzy, improvizational musical form
Episcopalian – belonging to an episcopalian church

C.
What is Vonnegut’s intended effect in using such short paragraphs?
Exactly who is Bokonon?
Why does the lady scream when she sees worms?

In Apocalypse Now, Willard states several times that after his experiences in the Vietnam war, coming home and living a normal life was all but impossible. Marlow also mentions this dilemma in Heart of Darkness, a story taking place over seventy years before. The trend continues well into the reality of our modern war, as described and exemplified in the radio documentary What Killed Sergeant Gray. In the program, soldiers from Iraq recount the internal struggles brought upon, mostly, by a loss of self they each encountered. Much like the film and the novella, those involved in the particularly brutal aspects of the Iraq War found their moralities tested—and in most cases—broken. Iraqis suspected of killing American soldiers are detained and sometimes put under guard by the friends of the very men killed. Huge amounts of power are put into resentful hands, and the dehumanization of Iraqis is soon to follow in the form of torture—brutality that most soldiers had no idea they were capable of. This concept is reflected in the raid scene in Apocalypse Now, as well as scenes of violence towards the African natives in Heart of Darkness. Prejudice against “the others” leads to dehumanization, which leads to abuse, to power and guilt, and, in some cases, to madness.

Three definitions of plagiarism include: (1) displaying the ideas or opinions of another person without citing them as a source, (2) quoting without citation, and (3) paraphrasing whithout citation. Remember kids, even if you’re not directly quoting or paraphrasing another’s work, the ideas themselves belong to that person just as much as their words do.

Information obtained by http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml

Conrad’s impressionistic style is greatly exemplified in the way that he characterizes the peppy young Russian man at the end of second chapter. A lot of description is given to his rather odd appearance, ultimately equating his identity to that of a patchwork harlequin; a court jester with unquestioning loyalty to his king. He carries an air of loopiness, characterized by a constant change from smiles to frowns. “His face,” Marlow observes with awe, “was like the autumn sky, overcast one moment and bright the next” (51). An unsettling image.
The young man seems consistantly overwhelmed with a dog-like enthusiasm, as hinted at when he “[turns] his little pug nose up at [Marlow]” (51) He speaks quickly and brightly, and it’s safe to assume that if he did have a tail, it would be wagging with abandon—except, of course, during those sudden moments of dejection brought about by his own incessant discourse.
Through impressionism, Conrad constructs a full image of this whimsically troubling character, as well as the unbridled admiration he holds for Mr. Kurtz. He is implicitly described as being both doglike and jesterlike; both of these images conjure ideas of an enthusiastic sort of worship. Thus in mere description of the character’s appearance, action and dialogue, the reader is made fully aware of this character’s identity and place in the story—all without ever actually having to be told of it.

Haven’t had a chance to sift through all of these yet, but…

Dave Kehr. “A George Lucas Far, Far Away. ” New York Times [New York, N.Y.] 5 Sep. 2004, Late Edition (East Coast): 2.15. ProQuest National Newspapers Core. ProQuest. ***INSERT Library name or system, City, State***. 27 Oct. 2008 <http://www.proquest.com/>
Grahm, John. “EXCESSIVE FORCE: The real Star Wars myth is that the films were ever respectable in the first place. ” Rev. of: title_of_work_reviewed_in_italics, clarifying_information. Santa Fe Reporter : SFR’s SUMMER GUIDE: The Locals’ Guide to Summer in Santa Fe [Santa Fe, N.M.] 18 Jun 2002,68. Alt-Press Watch (APW). ProQuest. ***INSERT Library name or system, City, State***. 27 Oct. 2008 <http://www.proquest.com/>
Henry Fountain. “Episode VII: Revenge of the Writers. ” New York Times [New York, N.Y.] 1 May 2005, Late Edition (East Coast): 4.5. ProQuest National Newspapers Core. ProQuest. ***INSERT Library name or system, City, State***. 27 Oct. 2008 <http://www.proquest.com/>
Jeff Jensen. “DEFENDING GEORGE LUCAS AND HIS CRITICALLY TRASHED ‘WARS’. ” Entertainment Weekly 19 Sep. 2008: 12. Platinum Full Text Periodicals. ProQuest. ***INSERT Library name or system, City, State***. 27 Oct. 2008 <http://www.proquest.com/>
John Podhoretz. “Star Wars VI. ” Rev. of: title_of_work_reviewed_in_italics, clarifying_information. The Weekly Standard 23 May 2005: 37-38. Platinum Full Text Periodicals. ProQuest. ***INSERT Library name or system, City, State***. 27 Oct. 2008 <http://www.proquest.com/>
Kate Kelly. “Tough Sithuation: ‘Star Wars’ Fanatics Loathe the Prequels; But They Still Watch Them Over and Over and Over; ‘Hope Springs Eternal’. ” Wall Street Journal [New York, N.Y.] 19 May 2005, Eastern edition: A.1. ProQuest National Newspapers Core. ProQuest. ***INSERT Library name or system, City, State***. 27 Oct. 2008 <http://www.proquest.com/>
Ken Tucker. “So Long, and Thanks for All the Droids. ” Rev. of: title_of_work_reviewed_in_italics, clarifying_information. New York 23 May 2005: 67-68. Platinum Full Text Periodicals. ProQuest. ***INSERT Library name or system, City, State***. 27 Oct. 2008 <http://www.proquest.com/>
Maslin, Janet. “FILM VIEW; GIMMICKS ALONE CAN’T MAKE A SEQUEL FLY. ” New York Times [New York, N.Y.] 26 Jun 1983, Late Edition (East Coast): A.1. ProQuest National Newspapers Core. ProQuest. ***INSERT Library name or system, City, State***. 27 Oct. 2008 <http://www.proquest.com/>
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I got some books from the library in order to have some variety of sources. One of them brings up the topic of female priests, which hadn’t been discussed in other sources I’ve obtained thus far. It’s an interesting bit of information and I’ll try to incorporate it into the essay.

A.
Okonkwo and the other five men are released from imprisonment and return to Umuofia. The village meets the next morning and Okonkwo is excited about the war he is sure will unfold agains the Christians. When his village decides against going to war, Okonkwo murders a court messanger. Later, when the District Commissioner arrives to arrest him, he finds that Okonkwo has hanged himself from a tree branch.

B.
Pacification - appeasement
Superfluous - unneccessary
Tumult – violent commotion

C.
Why does Achebe use the same statement, “so many people that if one threw up a grain of sand it would not find its way to earth again” that he did in an earlier chapter to describe the bustling marketplace?

Why did one of the messangers shout at Obierika when was speaking of Okonkwo’s suicide?

Why did Umuofia decide not to go to war?

I’ve decided to focus on the importance of duality in Egyptian Royalty using examples from Dr. Zahi Hawass’s article about Hatshepsut. I’ll also use evidence of women in the middle and lower class to provide the idea of stability due to stronger inclusion of members of the population who would otherwise go ignored due to their gender.