The Rabbit Hole

1. Character Summaries

Buttercup

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  • The greatest factor in her decision making process is life over death
  • Examples: she would rather marry Humperdink than be killed and she would rather swim for her life than have her throat slit.
  • However, after losing Wesley she doesn’t feel she has a reason to live. Odd…
  • She is the ‘most beautiful’.

Wesley

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  • His sole motivation in life is his love for Buttercup.
  • Not even ‘death’ can stop him from attaining her.
  • He is the ‘best at surviving’.

Inigo

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  • Became a lame drunk after losing the count
  • Sole purpose in life is to find and kill count out of revenge.
  • He is the ‘best swordsman’.

Fezzik

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  • Only drive in life is fear of being alone.
  • Doesn’t like fighting but does it to please others.
  • Is the ‘strongest’.

1. Themes Etc (relating to post-modernism)

Disrupting the Illusion

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  • The author uses exaggeration to ensure the audience believes the story is fictitious.
  • The story is constantly interrupted and commented on by the boy for the same reason.

Black Humor

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  • Too many instances to count

Arbitrariness of Time

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  • Things are ranked (best kiss out of 5 kisses)
  • Interruptions
  • Etc.

A Streetcar Named Desire: Class Notes

Two Key Ideas:

1) Guilt of abandonment

2) Binary opposites

Various Themes:

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  • Blanche’s delusions vs. reality
  • Mitch’s delusions vs. reality
  • Progress vs. stagnation
  • Death vs. life
  • Illusion vs. reality
  • Cruelty vs. kindness
  • Superiority vs. inferiority
  • Desperation
  • Stella’s love for Blanche vs. her dependency on Stanley
  • Blanche’s need to feel superior vs. Stanley’s need for power

A bit about Blanche…

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  • Her lies come from an inability to confront the truth
  • She sees things as they ought be to…but aren’t
  • She uses fantasy to protect herself from tragedy
  • Her defenses are shattered by Stanley
  • She came from the old south called “Belle Rêve” or ‘Good Dream”

How Cruel!

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  • Blanche sees deliberate cruelty as the only thing that is unforgivable
  • Stanley is intentionally cruel

How Primitive…

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  • Stanley is often compared to an ape or primitive man
  • He is the romantic idea of a man untouched by civilization, which allures Stella
  • Stanley has no problem with driving Blanche mad and possibly raping her

Desire

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  • Central theme
  • Desire is at the heart of Stanley and Stella’s relationship
  • Stella is either surprising it or pursuing it without abandon

So Lonely

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  • comparative theme that is the extreme opposite of desire
  • Blanche seeks protection from this from strangers

Questions to think about

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  • Which character do you have the most sympathy for?
  • Why do women stay with abusive men?
  • Why are women attracted to bad boys?
  • Based on scenes of Stanley bowling or playing cards, what are his views on life?
  • Did Mitch love Blanche?
  • Would your first loyalty be to your spouse or best friend?
  • Would you tell your friend if you found out something terrible about their spouse?
  • Why does Blanche drink?
  • Why does Blanche lie to ShepHuntleigh in the letter?
  • Why did Blanche flirt with the newspaper boy?
  • How does Blanch affect Stanley and Stella’s Marriage and why does he want Blanche to leave?
  • How does Stanley and Stella’s relationship change?
  • How does Stanley and Blanche’s relationship change?
  • How does Mitch compare to Stanley?
  • What does the Mexican woman selling flowers for the dead symbolize?
  • What does light and the paper lantern symbolize?
  • What does the music symbolize?

• the noise of whistling is associated with Blanche being lost
• the flashy and bright lighting of the bowling alley are fitting for the joy felt between the two sisters during their reunion
• clear contrast between ideals of both sisters; Blanche seems to prefer to live in higher status (proved to be untrue through historical detail)
• dramatic and soft lighting used on the faces of the characters in two instances:
  • when talking about the past (ex: Blanche talked about the death of the boy)
  • when being seductive (ex: Blanche talking to Stanley’s friend)
• alcoholism refers to sadness and anger; Stanley is angry when drunk and Blanche drinks when she’s depressed
• Stanley is representative of the streetcar named desire as they both bumble down the road
• silence or subtle music used when Blanche talks about past
• seductive music used when Blanche interacts with men
• music accentuates or represents many emotions; at one point even anger when Stanley get angry because of the radio
• abuse against women is accepted in the time of the movie as Stanley often hits Stella and has dominance over both Stella and Blanche
• rain used when Blanche talks about morbid past

Impressions:

I enjoy black and white movies from the 50’s actually. Not particularly because the story is good (though sometimes it is) but because the women in it have such nice hair and wear pretty dresses. I like it. I really like the dramatic lighting used at some parts in the movie. When a director makes things look more artistic that’s always a plus. When shadow and light is used to play up Blanche’s cheekbones it’s very nice. Story wise, it doesn’t really seem to be going anywhere right now. The character dynamics are interesting right now, but I’m hoping the story picks up. Now I know where “Stella!” is from. :]

So, why not incorporate it into my second ISU in order to give myself a reason to read it right away?

This is what I am planning on doing. My first ISU looks at both philosophy and literature and so my second will look at biology and literature. It creates a nice mix of view points and ideas, and gives you a lot more to draw from then just a book.

Stranger in a strange land focuses a lot of how Mike is an alien, or a stranger as it can be debatable as to whether or not he is a human or a Martian. It draws upon customs from both the human and Martian world and often refers to both species as ‘savage’ depending on the situation. It also provides many situations, which lead the reader to believe that one culture is lesser then, the other. Sure Martians can make things ‘go away’ but they have difficulty tying their shoes, so who is the more advanced here?

Thus, my rough thesis for my second ISU is that the people of mars in their entirety are not a new species at all, but are simply the evolution of the human species. I will add more onto that and go into scientific details, but that’s all I’m telling you for now.

Good day.