PROMPT #1
Chapters 1-3
Due Saturday, July 1, 2017
Choose ONE of the following prompts to respond to. See the instructions on my homework page for details about what your response should include and look like in order to receive full credit.
A. Compare and contrast the towns of Gravesend, NH and Weatherly, PA. Explain the differences and similarities, including the residents and their outlooks on life and one another, the physical landscape, and the atmosphere (feeling or vibe) that you would say dominates in each of the towns.
B. Choose a passage or quote that was memorable for you in these chapters. Type the quote at the beginning of your response, or, if it's longer than two sentences, give the page number, the first sentence, ellipses (...), and the last sentence. Explain what the quote means in context, and what it means to you/the reader in general.
Due Saturday, July 1, 2017
Choose ONE of the following prompts to respond to. See the instructions on my homework page for details about what your response should include and look like in order to receive full credit.
A. Compare and contrast the towns of Gravesend, NH and Weatherly, PA. Explain the differences and similarities, including the residents and their outlooks on life and one another, the physical landscape, and the atmosphere (feeling or vibe) that you would say dominates in each of the towns.
B. Choose a passage or quote that was memorable for you in these chapters. Type the quote at the beginning of your response, or, if it's longer than two sentences, give the page number, the first sentence, ellipses (...), and the last sentence. Explain what the quote means in context, and what it means to you/the reader in general.
“Your memory is a monster; you forget-it doesn’t… You think you have a memory; but it has you!”(Page 34) A lot of things happen in your lifetime. Some are good, and some are not so good. You experience so much, and unfortunatly, what you remember is not your choice. For some reason the human mind can not seem to forget the bad things that happen in life. Perhaps it is because the bad moments leave such an impact on your life. In the book, Johnny lost his mom, and even witnessed her death. Something like that will impact his life greatly, because he now has to live out the rest of his life without a mom. It is terrible to lose a loved one, and even more terrible to witness their death. Witnessing something like that can scar you for the rest of your life. Johnny says he remembers everything from that day, and that is because it was the most horrifing and impacting moment in his life.
ReplyDeleteJesse
ReplyDeleteBoth Weatherly and Gravesend have things in common and different. First off, the 2 towns are compared at different times; Gravesend from the 40's to the 60's and Weatherly currently in 2017. Second, Gravesend is in New Hampshire and Weatherly is in Pennsylvania. Due to that, the landscape is different in the different states, such as, in the book, Gravesend is described as having"white and drab houses, except for the house on 80 Front Street, which was made of brick." Although both are small towns, Weatherly at least has some color with various buildings and landmarks, such as the park. The atmosphere for both towns and everywhere else depend on the times, such as there was happy times during the 50's, but a much different tone during the 60's due to the Vietnam War. Currently in Weatherly in the year 2017, it is fair-good times. I wont say about trump, but I will mention that there is now a wood ice cream shop in the plaza. Also, there is always the counter cultures, like the guys that hang out at the park on bikes vs. the kids who love to play baseball. On the same note, there are in both towns the different sorts of people, like the grandmother's "friends". There are different families that have lived there for ages, along with newcomers, like Johnny and Owen. For example, my mother's side (Hoffman) has always lived in town , while my father's side (Gehman) came from the Allentown area. In disregard to our differences and in both towns, people all know each other and are very friendly to each other, except for a family feud, but that is very rare. Also, there are older people with older discriminatory views, like the grandmother's disregard for stone workers, but that is shared with our town. Last thing, both towns have different types of churches, with different views of scripture.
ReplyDeletePROMPT B
"You're memory is a monster; you forget- it doesn't. It simply flies things away. It keeps things for you, or hides things from you - and summons them to your recall with a will of its own. You think you have a memory; but it has you!" (Irving 34)
Owen Meany accidentally killed his best friend John's mother. John Wheelwright remembers everything from that day, whether he wants to or not. From the people in the stand to what his mother was wearing, John can recall the entire event. The most tragic moments of our lives can stick with us more closely than the pleasant ones. Sometimes we can't recall them at all because It traumatizes us. Our minds can choose to hide from us, but the littlest things can creep up on you. A memory that has hidden itself away for years can pop up at us at the most random of times. Although this had happened a few decades ago, John recalls the specifics of the event because it had such a dramatic impact on his life. His monster of a memory does not allow him to choose whether to suppress it or keep it, for it makes that choice for him. That's the thing with memories, we may beg for them to be taken away, but without a memory- good or bad- we wouldn't be who we are today. Our memories can haunt us but they also can shape us.
Shannon Frye
ReplyDeleteWhen Owen Meany says "Faith moves at its own pace" he states this BEFORE he accidentally kills Johnny's mom. I think in the book this is foreshadowing the fact that johnny is soon going to have a life event that strengthens his faith. As he says in the beginning of the chapter, Owen is the reason his faith grew. The first chapter heavily revolves around religion and faith, scrutinized and also praised. This makes you think about your own faith and personal view of god and religion. When I think of my view on it all I compare myself and my mother. I'm not religious whatsoever as a teenager and neither was my mother at my age, fast forward some years for my mom, and she's a pastor at the church in town, she went back to school and got her qualifications. This fact alone makes me wonder if maybe one day I'll have a form of faith to put my heart into or if I'll always be a realist who doesn't quite believe in a god. I don't yet know what pace my own faith moves, nor do i know when I'll find out.
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ReplyDeleteDeanna Stolpe
ReplyDeletePrompt B.
“Owen and I couldn’t have talked about those things -- at least not then. So we gave each other our best-loved possessions and hoped to get them back.”
After Owen’s foul ball accidentally killed Johnny’s mother, Johnny and Owen did not speak about it. Johnny was confused when Owen dropped off his precious baseball cards and didn’t know what he was expected to do with them. Johnny was glad that Owen left without coming to talk to him because he knew that they weren’t ready to talk about it and there would be tears if they tried. Dan, Johnny’s mother’s husband, told johnny that Owen would want the baseball cards back, despite the fact that neither of the boys would ever play baseball again and Owen’s love for the game could never be the same. The two boys had such a strong friendship and trust before the accident that would last even afterwards. Owen loved Johnny’s mother almost as much as Johnny. They were both absolutely devastated by her death. Dan told Johnny to give Owen something that means a lot to both of them and Johnny knew he should give him the armadillo but he was worried that Owen might not give it back. He accepted the possible sacrifice he could be making and gave the baseball cards back along with the armadillo. Johnny did get the armadillo back after 2 nights, which seemed too long to him.
This quote and the meaning of it was memorable to me because It really shows how strong of a friendship, love, and understanding of one another that Johnny and Owen have. I can relate this to my best friends. To me, in a close friendship, no one owes the other anything. The gifts given and received will balance out, no matter what the gift may be. The things that are borrowed, whether returned or not, will balance out when you have a friendship with such strength and a great amount of trust. I loved this part of the novel so far for the reason that I can relate to the equal amounts of love traded between best friends, even when they aren’t speaking.
Cheyenne Weston
ReplyDeletePrompt B.
""You let me drown" Owen said. "You didn't do anything! You just watched me drown! I'm already dead! he told us. "Remember that: you let me die.""
(Page 21)
John and Owen go swimming in Owens fathers quarry. They don't know how deep the water is so they tie ropes to themselves so they don't drown and only one person is aloud in the water at a time. It's Owens turn to go into the water but when he goes in he doesn't come back up. But that's only what he wants them to think, he was just trying to prank them. When Owen realizes that no one is trying to safe him and everyone is just standing there he comes up and starts screaming at them. He got angry because no one went in after him. They just stood there because they were in such shock and didn't know what was even happening. That's when Owen goes onto say the quote and that's what he means when he says he is already dead because if Owen wasn't playing a prank hypothetically he would have been dead. I believe this quote is important because it shows you that the choices you don't think matter could have a huge effect on you and the people around you. John and Owen were best friends but when it came down to Owen needing Johns help he wasn't there for him. In life, sometimes the people we rely on most aren't there when we need them the most.
Sami Knepper
ReplyDeletePrompt A.
In Gravesend and Weatherly there are similarities and differences in all aspects from the people to the landscape and atmosphere. In both towns there is a very strong religious tie. There are many churches mentioned in Gravesend and Johnny switches churches and religions a few times. Weatherly also has many churches in town. In both towns religion is very important to the residents and seems to influence everyone's actions. Gravesend and Weatherly are both places where people either grow up and can't wait to leave or plan staying forever. Now Johnny had a valid reason, the tragedy of his mother, for moving once he was older, but as he mentioned kids from the baseball team they wanted to leave too. While others wanted to stay. One wanted to leave and couldn't wait to register for the Draft while another did everything he could to avoid it. Owen Meany seemed very content with his town. He never really seemed like he wanted to leave. Just like Gravesend Weatherly has people who want to leave and get out of here. I myself want to leave, but not to the extreme of others. I want to stay close, but not in Weatherly. While others want to stay and live their whole life here. In both cases neither is better or worse it is what is best for each person. Another similarity is how their is also a historical feel to Gravesend and Weatherly. They both pride themselves on it. Nothing changes too much because they want to remain historical and reminded of how wonderful they are. There is always the one family that feels like they are better than the others for no apparent reason. In Gravesend and Weatherly this occurs. They feel that they are better mainly because they have been there longer than others or are related to very important people. With all the similarities there are some differences. One would be how Gravesend has the Academy. At the Academy boys would receive a "higher/better" education than at the regular high school. Weatherly does not have anything "higher/better" than our high school. Yes we have MMI or Marian, but they are not in town like the academy. Being someone who has shadowed at MMI I personally I do not think there is a better education there. At Weatherly if you take all the advantages offered to you there is no reason why you won't succeed. Another difference would be how no one really knows who is Johnny's father. Many people wonder and have speculations, but no one is sure. In Weatherly if something like that happened people would most likely know who the father is. In Weatherly everyone knows everyone's business.
Prompt B
ReplyDelete"Your memory is a monster; you forget - it doesn't. It simply flies things away. It keeps things for you, or hides things from you - and summons them to your recall with a will of its own. You think you have a memory; but it has you!" (page 34)
John remembers everything from the day that his mother was killed. Whether he wants to have those pictures in his head or not, he always will. There will be days when he's sitting down watching a show on television and he'll hear an actor or actress say something that his mom used to say, and it will hit him harder than a freight train. Human minds are very powerful things, and the tool of memory is their greatest asset. No matter how much good can come from our memories, we all have bad ones as well. Whether its a drink that an ex-girlfriend or boyfriend used to order at a restaurant, or the smell of a perfume that someone you once loved used to wear, there is no escaping the things that we try to bury deep into our pockets. You can be overcome with a tsunami of emotions in the blink of an eye. The key to the safe that has you locked in your past experiences is the way that you deal with these emotions when they hit you. Instead of dwelling over the events and feelings that haunt you from your past, look back on them and use them to ameliorate yourself into the person you wish to be in the future.
Prompt B
ReplyDelete"God has taken your mother. My hands were the instrument. God has taken my hands. I am the instrument."
To me this quote shows how you can't control the things that happen in life. It explains how no one can change whats bound to happen. Sometimes in life we blame ourselves for silly things and say that we should've seen it coming or should've done this or that. However, this can be true, I think there is a bigger picture or more complex plan or picture that's already formed and waiting to be played out. This quote was used to explain Owen Meany's feelings towards his part in the death of Tabetha. He believed that it was fate, and that God was using his hands to help in the death. By realizing Owen has a destiny he gained confidence. He was happy that God was controlling his life and guiding him in the right direction. There was nothing that could stop her death. I believe it was destined to happen and Owen Meany was just chosen to complete that task. So in the end it's like Owen is in a play where he's playing his part but someone is telling him what to say and what to do. God is using him as a part of other characters' fates.
Prompt B.
ReplyDelete"Although he did not (at the time) delineate the plot of this Divine Narrative to me, I know that's what he believed: he, Owen Meany, had interrupted the Angel of Death at her holy work; she had reassigned the task — she had given it to him."
In context, the quote is very straightforward. It tells the reader of what Owen was thinking at the time, that he wanted to protect Tabitha, but that in the process of doing so he had ultimately doomed her. The passage also tells of his underlying guilt about the accident, that it was his fault from the beginning and that he was predetermined from the start to take her life because of his mistakes. This literal symbolism of death taking physical form is then highlighted by his parallel from the grandmother to the Irish banshee. The logic is as follows: he saw an Angel and accidentally interfered, so the penalty was for her to die at his hands. Then the banshee walked in and screamed at the sight of Owen, who she had percieved for a moment to be a tiny devil all on his own. On some deeper level, she understood that he was going to be her daughter's harbinger of death.
What I personally take from this is that, when looking to the past for answers, you may just find them for the express purpose of hurting yourself, or further justifying your mistakes with the concept of fate. Even if that hadn't happened, in my opinion, he still would look to other times and events to be thinly disguised warnings, and he still would have blamed himself about it. Which I personally don't blame him for, by any means! A kid like that at that age shouldn't have to go through so much, nonetheless look to symbolism for answers. But that's just how he dealt with the complicated issue that is the death of a loved one.
The town, Gravesend, New, Hampshire and our town has some similarities and many differences. Some of the similarities would include how the town of Gravesend is a tightly woven community where everyone knows everyone, just like Weatherly. Another similarity would be that the kids have to chose whether they would like to go to private school or stay in private school. In the book Tabby tries to convince Owen to apply for the Academy, just like how some parents encourage their children at Weatherly to go to MMI or Marian Catholic. Some differences Gravesend has with Weatherly is that there isn't as much of a gap between household income. In Weatherly it seems that most people make around the same amount as their neighbor, but in the book there are characters that base themselves on wealth and education and think lower to anyone that doesn't have the same as they do. In Weatherly there is nobody that acts that way. The Atmosphere in the book is much different in Gravesend compared to Weatherly in the book. In gravesend the atmosphere is dark and not everyone is friendly to one another. Another aspect that makes Gravesend have a darker atmosphere is how everyone is being drafted into war. From people being drafted into way many killed themselves, some became so addicted to drugs they were unrecognizable. In Weatherly there is a safe feeling knowing that most of the town is friendly and even if two people are not in the same financial situation nobody announces it just to make it known.
ReplyDelete