The Widows Transformation

Alex Lentz

ENG 131.01

Professor Lucas

12-7-16

In the last chapter of the book John Crows Devil by Marlon James. The excerpt shows the image and well being of power. The quote “As the wind whipped itself up and her dress blew like waves, the widow raised her right hand and pointed two fingers” can be seen as a very puzzling quote. The actions in this quote have me believing that this is an iconic image in the book. The widow in this quote is doing this as a way to show victory. The widow has gone through redemption as well as being rescued and now she is a symbol of hope that is depicted for other people.

In the text it says “She was dressed in a long, light blue dress and men’s work boots laced up to her calves. She wore a wide straw hat that blocked the glare of the sun, but not the view of her face.” (206) which is not sensing of why the widow was wearing men’s work boots but the only thing that the widow wore them for could be an image of authority and power which is related to symbolism. In the text it also mentions the widow was wearing the color light blue, and that color has been known to calm people down. So the widow could be seen as someone who could regain some ones composure. Earlier in the book the widow wore a black dress which is interesting in a sense that the widow shows change. Colors do have an effect on people and how people look at things, for example the color red reminding us of blood and heat and evil and the color blue looked at as peaceful thoughts.

The quote “The dove flew and they followed his flight, running along Brillo Road until they came to the fence, which was covered in greenery. The river roared as the bird flew over to the other side. Through the spaces between leaves they saw the other side as well. They saw judgement and redemption, rescue and damnation, despair and hope.” (205) This quote could go for people who are in search for hope in their lives. Because the dove does eventually find the being with hope (the widow) through out its journey of flying. The bird could also be portrayed as a follower to someone who has power. Maybe the bird has been searching for hope and redemption throughout its life and now it has finally found it.

The widow is a symbol of hope and transitioning.

People do go through amounts of hard times but it just depends on how much you can bear. For example people may suffer their whole life and they just want a glimpse or sample of hope to know that their future could possibly get better. Sometimes people get tired of fighting and they start to give up on things because it can be so overwhelming. People will look for an idol just to have a positive outlook, and the widow at the very end of the story could be interpreted as a person who offers that type of help. The widow could be trying to bury the pain and show that she is not weak at all.

Works Cited

“Color Psychology” http://www.infoplease.com/spot/colors1.html

“John Crows Devil” Marlon, James.

Othello

There are a lot of things that go terribly wrong when it comes to the marriage of Othello and Desdemona. The root to the problem would have to be Iago because he plans to destroy the happiness of Othello. I believe that this is the most viable in the story. I’m actually not sure about the exact reason why Iago wants to harm Othello but I think it could possibly be jealousy and Iago does say “O, you are well turned now, but I will set down the pegs that make this music, As honest as I am”. I think this means he wants to stop all the happiness that is coming towards Othello’s life. Iago is searching for revenge because Othello didn’t want him to be his Lieutenant. Iago says “knocking out his brains”(209). This shows his displeasure and Iago shows his mental thoughts on what he wants accomplished. Iago stabbing Roderigo (229) just shows the true rage of his self. It shows that his anger is built up in him and it’s eating at him. In the book it shows the fall of a very powerful man, a murder of an innocent and kind woman and the unreasonable amount of hate that a villain had, and the love tensions between people. This whole story is based off of a horrible feeling, and that is jealousy. Iago distorted Orthello’s thinking causing him ti kill the woman he loved.

Works Cited:

“Othello: Folger Shakespeare Library” by William Shakespeare

My class notes on the Othello book

Assassination Vacation

This book talks about the reasons of notorious and famous people. Why presidents got murdered. And crazy stories and facts of what happened in the murders. Vowell also mentions modern day examples to the murders and situations that happen in the book. Every once in a while she will try to add some humor in it.

Why does Vowell seem to be more interested in Garfield’s death than Lincoln’s? Garfield’s chapter is quite different from Lincoln’s chapter. It seems as if she was a bigger fan of Garfield’s murder than Lincoln’s. Vowell shows interest in Garfield’s death with “Garfield’s death is more interesting than the story of his life”(125) and doesn’t really say anything showing interest in Lincoln’s death like that. Vowell also mentions more facts about Garfield. It mentions what he served as, his family, and that’s about it. But when But when it came to his death Vowell seemed to be very excited to talk about it especially when she says “But back to his death” (125) right after mentioning some personal details about Garfield. When Sarah Vowell talked about Lincoln and the situation at the beginning of the chapter she did not seem very interested. It just seemed like a more heavier rant.

At the beginning of the first chapter Vowell didn’t seem to be as excited to talk about the death of Lincoln. It personally seemed more bland and boring. It seemed like she was just stating facts and not too much about her opinion. Rather in Garfield’s chapter she seemed to have more of an opinion based approach. I think maybe the affect of this is that maybe Sarah Vowell personally disliked Lincoln more than Garfield since she seems just to rant forever about Lincoln.

Works Cited:

My notes taken on the Assassination Vacation Book.

Assassination Vacation By: Sarah Vowell.

John Crow’s Devil

This whole passage basically talks about how the pastor is a crazy drunk trying to fix hisself. When the pastor says “Then lock the door. Please. Lock the door”(59). The pastor is trying to help himself from hurting others and is trying to help himself from hurting others and is trying to sober up. This is understandable because when you are not sober you can make very poor decisions and the priest realizes he’s not in a good state of mind. The pastor constantly said things like “rats, rats, rats, rats-“(59) and so on. It shows that the pastor is repeatedly getting drunk and is headed downwards. The pastor wanted to be locked in the room because he thought maybe something weird or bad would happen. Which it does get weird when it said “She straddled him and he unzipped his pants”.(60) The pastor probably had a feeling something like this would happen so he wanted to be isolated. This part of the book reveals that John Crow’s Devil is a very strange and odd book.