Romeo and Juliet

I do not like this book.
That's it. No more, no less. I just don't enjoy Shakespeare's most famous tragedy.
Maybe the reason I don't like Romeo and Juliet is because of the language and the writing style. Half the time he speaks in 3rd person, like an onlooker, but then he speaks from the point of view of Romeo and Benevolio. And then there's Emotional Romeo. He's such an whiner! And for a guy who's roughly 17, he's really talkative about his emotions.
I like Juliet though. She seems leveled headed and has her little priorities straight. I think she doesn't want to marry any time soon, especially to her cousin, COUNTY PARIS,  but she sort of agrees to because she's an obedient child. I don't like her Nurse either. She talks ways to much and clings to Juliet a lot. It almost seems like she wants to replace the image of Susan, her dead daughter, with Juliet.

The Night Thoreau Spent In Jail: Act Two

Irony, you say? Well, an aspects of irony I see in this part of the book is how Henry sees Bailey as this kind of genius, when he's really not. I think he just seems like a genius to Henry because he's so honest and simple. Like a child even. Since he's not so educated and have so many things clouding his thoughts, his reactions are pure and come from the heart. And I guess, in his own way, Bailey is a genius.

The main three characters I believe are Henry David, Bailey and John. I think these guys are pretty important to the story because they all influence Henry a bit. John's death deeply impacts Henry's view on the world, and Bailey sort of let's Henry just spew out all of his feelings and thoughts on him. Henry seems to really have an attachment with his brother, John, and by the end of the book, he has made one with Bailey too.

As for actors who would make good characters.......I don't know, really. For Henry, I sort of see the guy who plays Mr. Tumnus in The Chronicles of Narnia, James McAvoy. He seems like a wise person, but still young. For John, I think James Franco would fit the part. He also seems like someone's playful brother. As for dear Bailey, he's rather difficult to find an actor. The authors really don't dwell on what he looks like, but I imagines him being rather old, around his 30-40. So my conclusion is that Sean Penn would make a good Bailey, from around the era when he did 'I Am Sam'. Though he plays a father with development disabilities, sort of like that but not quite to the extent of him acting like a 7 year old. In the movie, Sean Penn does a great job of acting a simple and honest dad who just wants to be with his daughter, this sort of reminds me of how Bailey also seems honest and simple. He just wants to get out of jail, and calmly sits and listens to Henry talk.

I think in the end, Henry's protest didn't fulfill Henry's hopes and expectations. He seemed to expect an uproar, whether it was against him or with him. But people just turned their heads and didn't listen to him. Maybe if he had talked about his opinions sooner, there might of been more of a reaction. I mean, in the end, his aunt got him out of jail! So staying in jail for that time truly made him reflect on what he had done, and what he should do next.

A Perfect Day for Bananafish by J.D. Salinger

This was a.....twisted and confusing short story. At first I thought Seymour was going to be like Holden, but he just seems overly lost in his own world. Even more than Holden. I think Muriel seems more like rebellious Holden. She seemed young in the beginning but as she talked over the phone with her mother, she sounded older and older. This sort of reminds me of how Holden seems to want to act like a grown-up but at the same time acts like a kid.
They both don't want to come home, but in the end they both will have to. Holden because he promised Phoebe, and Muriel will probably go home because Seymour shot himself after coming from the beach.

The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail

    "Don't just remember what I said. Remember what I'm talking about" 
                                                                                        -Henry David Thoreau


      As I sit here, typing this out and slurping on some lime Jell-O (delicious!) I think that Henry David must of been a man who wanted people to understand him more than anything. I think this quote demonstrates, or transcends, transcendentalism by showing how remembering opposed to actually knowing and understanding something are two separate things. When you understand something, you get the whole message, the content of what it is about. But when you simple remember, you could just be spewing out what you heard and not truly get the concept. This shows transcendentalism because transcendentalism is believing that everything is connected somehow. Maybe the way you view something once you get to understand what their talking about leads to thinking broader about the whole picture. Not just memorizing and repeating someones thoughts.