Elias' Blog

1: Read the story Edison, New Jersey. You can skip  Boyfriend . Take Reading Notes.  In your response notes... ·        Consider his description of the pool table as an objective correlative (page 128).    What stands out to you about the way he describes the pool tables?  So what?  If this is an objective correlative, then what does this show you about him, about what he wants, or who he is? ·        Identify at least 1 other objective correlatives in the story.  In the narrator's description of pool tables he mentions that the pool tables are very sophisticated. He then goes on to say how that pool table has bolts and staples but its mostly built and is good because of how well they are built and gravity. He then connects this to a relationship because he might want a relationship like the pool table with a strong base and is built nice and strong and won't break. Also, this suggests that he wants a lover because he is comparing it to a pool table and mos

·        Define in your own words what an “objective correlative”  does . ·        Think of an example or two of an objective correlative that you’ve seen in a book, movie, song, play, tv show, poem... A.Your job is to describe how  you  are feeling now at this moment in the midst of the pandemic.   Instead, look outside your window and describe something you see outside – maybe a tree, a cat, a cloud, the sky, an airplane, the river.Whatever you choose, capture the way you feel  through  the way you describe that thing outside.   B.Now do it again.  But this time, imagine you are someone else living through this moment in time.   You can choose anyone.   Your little brother.  Your grandmother.  The rude guy down the block.  Governor Cuomo.  A sick patient in the hospital.  Use the description to create the emotion you imagine this person feels. What do your experiences help you to see about why a writer would use an objective correlative?    What advantage might they

1.What does he say is ABOVE the water?   How does he describe it?  In the text, Yunior says that above the water it is loud and bright.  The swimming pool served as an old hangout space that brings back many memories . He also mentions that there is a risk of cops, searchlights, and other things that relate to panic and being frightened. 2.What is BELOW the surface of the pool water.    How does he describe it?  Yunior says that underneath the water it feels good and you can only hear whispers. This shows that is is very quiet and there are no distractions. This then to shift the mood to calm and soft or quiet. It also makes it seem like drowning serves as a sensational experience.  3.What do you notice about the way he likes to swim?    How does he describe it?    (Can you make a connection here to the title of the story and the book?) When he swins, Yunior says that he likes to go to the bottom of the pool and just "glide" near the floor of the pool. If

  Go back to the beginning. What’s interesting or ironic about the way the narrator calls Beto a “pato” (offensive term for homosexuals)? What does it suggest to you about this narrator?        What do you notice about the way the narrator narrates the past and present?  For example, skim back over the first 1.5 pages.  What is his mind doing as his body gets up and goes outside?      Where do you see Diaz repeat the visual motif of people seated beside each other (it comes up at least twice in this story)? So what?  How do you find yourself responding to it? FFW:  When  the narrator calls Beto a “pato”,which is an offesive term for homosexuals,what does it suggests to me about the narrator is that the narrator might be homophobic so he refers to homosexuals with his slur, "pato."Additionally, Beto might have said something to the narrator that set him off causing him to utilize this slur. Additionally, I researched the word, "pato" and it appare

1.What does Yunior imagine papa touches? So what? In this paragraph, Yunior  imagines Papi touches his mother and him. He thinks about his father slowly touching his face and moving up and down on his scars. This is peculiar because after he was molested, he is fine with being touched and slowly touched especially by a man. Additionally, I feel like in a way, he might believe that papa might relieve pain from himself or make him feel better. 2.What does he imagine when papa touches him? So what? Yunior imagines that Papi would would be saying his own name. Maybe Yunior thinks that because he and his father share a name they will have a better connection. Yunior has a very hard time finding his identity and himself. I feel like it is almost as if he thinks when his father comes back he will fix this. He will give Yunior an identity and Yunior seems to think his father will fix all his problems. 

Notes: -Yunior's family isn't doing well when it comes to financially, so he cannot buy uniform. -His mom received a letter from his dad -His father told him that he is coming back -Rafa discuses with Yunior about their father Title FFW:    The title is  Aguantando and the definition of the word  in Spanish means to hold on. This connects to the text because in a way, Yunior is trying to hold on to his dad even though he left and how his hopes are up because of the letter, regardless how poor he is or anything else going on around him.  What gives away that the last paragraph didn't really happen? In the final paragraph, Yunior sort of describes a fantasy of his brother. Additionally, it sounds a bit too good to be true and Yunior is just imagining and letting his imagination take over. It shows a hard ship because it demonstrates how they are struggling financially and imagining about their father because of the letter that he wrote to them.  When it comes to ho

-So far this week I have had a good amount of work to catch up to and I was pretty successful with it. Also, my classes have been going well and I have developed a better understanding of the book we are reading, Drown. I also was able to hand in all of my tasks.

1. Dawn  is what happens when the sun appears in the beginning of the day. It is t he first appearance of light in the sky before sunrise and it gives the sky a wonderful color to look at. When it comes to dawn, it also doesn't last very long until the sun fully rises. 2. Dawn is an example of a cycle and it basically portrays Lucero's relationship with Aurora. In their relationship something that is consistent is abuse. Something else that they are usually doing is drugs considering Lucero is a drug dealer and Aurora is addicted to them. Their relationship is also pretty romantic because they usually have sexual contact when they meet up. Overall, what Diaz is trying to say is that the cycle is like the sun, it will keep rising and setting just like their relationship.

FFW: Being able to write on my own without much help from my peers or interactions with my teachers allowed me to use the previous comments on my essay that Professor Kiley and Professor Mirwis gave to me. Also, I also got my mom to sort of spell check my essay and help me with corrections. FFW: As I read this book, Drown, I can compare it to this book I have called The Adventures of Tom Sawyer because in this book, the suspense builds up over time and then something unexpected happens just like in Drowned. An example would be when Ysrael removed his mask. FFW 1: To add on to what Samer said about losing motivation to work, I believe that over this lock down, it has been harder for me to be able to complete what needs to be done. Usually, I am really lost and I don't really know where to start. FFW 2: Some kinds of "mirrors" that may represent people on a cultural level could be any form of art such as music, dance, art, etc. Media is very important nowadays and it

a)       What is the narrator DOING and NOT doing? b)      Where is the narrator’s attention? c)       What do you notice about how the narrator speaks and refers to things? Notice his language, slang, and/or dialogue...you might even pay attention to his commas and what they do to his sentence flow.  So far, how is the narrator teaching us to read him?  What should we expect?  How will he make us feel?    The narrator  and Rafa seem particularly focused on Ysrael’s face.  I say this because throughout the rest of the story there are few things he tends to look at and describe for  this  long, with this amount of attention.  But let’s dig in.  What about Ysrael’s face does the narrator focus on? Be specific.  Flesh out your thinking. What is Rafa doing while the narrator looks on?  Be specific.  How does it compare to what the narrator is doing? What does this scene continue to teach us about how to read this narrator?  What it suggesting to us about how he’ll

What strikes you about how the older narrator-Yunior narrates this scene?  What do you notice about what he tells us and what he doesn’t? Make at least 3 observations   What parallel’s do you see between Ysrael and nine-year old Yunior?       Now compare the perpetrators:  what stands out when you hold side by side the pig that tore off Ysrael’s face and the man who molested Yunior?  How are they similar?  How are they different?  How about when you add Rafa and Yunior into the mix as perpetrators?     What sorts of “scars” do we have in the bus-scene?  How do they compare with the scars Ysrael keeps below his mask?  How does the narrator handle them, and how does that compare to Ysrael’s mask? 1. As I read, one thing that I noticed was that Diaz is utilizing a misconception in the text about Ysrael in order to pull in the reader or really hook them on to the current situation. In the story, the author seems to blend how the characters speak  into the other words in

·        Where         ·        When?          ·        What happens…          ·        **Signs that it’s the same narrator as Story 1 Response notes --Explain 1-2 of the signs that suggest to you that this is the same narrator. --There are two story lines in this story.  What are they, and how do you feel yourself responding to them? -his dads Vw -NYC, in the bronx -party for aunt and uncle -his father didn't let him eat at the party -his mother gave him food but the dad didn't know - he though that he was cursed -his dad basically tortures him -Yunior -Rafa 1.Something that interests me or what I would like to point out is how Papa abuses Rafa and Yunior, both mentally and physically. Every time Yunior does something wrong no matter how small it is, his dad would threaten him and how he describes it makes it seem like he is used to it or as if it isn't a big deal. One thing for example was when he tried to eat, and his dad threatened him. Thi

FFW 1 ·         One reason people throw up is if the sight, smell, or taste of something disgusts them. What are 3-4 other reasons why people might vomit? ?   ·         Is it voluntary?  ·         Vomit passes out through the mouth. What else, aside from vomit, flows out of the mouth?  FFW 2 (post to blog): ·         describe what happens in that moment (some great places to look might be p. 34 in the scene with the Puerto Rican woman or p. 42 when Mami asks Yunior what is wrong. ·         and then make a connection to the way Yunior vomits in the van.  What does his vomiting suggest about what emotions might lurking unsaid in one of these moments? FFW 3 (and post to Blog...) ·        What associations does  Fiesta, 1980  give us for THIS van?  Notice specific details from the story. ·        What associations does the first story,  Ysrael , give us about vans? What happens in that story that might still be on this kid’s mind? FFW 4:

If your last name begins with letters M-Z, respond to the following.  If not, go to prompt 2A. Let’s think about Yunior’s name. We know he is called “Yunior.”  We first see him called this on page 19 in the first story.  Then we see the name repeated in  Fiesta, 1980. But although he is  called  “Yunior,” we know that Yunior is NOT his name.  “Yunior” is a Spanish pronunciation of the word Junior, which is what we call a boy when he shares the name of his father.  So, if we want this kid’s name, we need the name of his father.  And we get it on page 26 when Mami calls Papi Ramon. This seems like classic Yunior narrative style: he doesn’t directly tell us his name. He just slips it quietly into the narrative. Let’s think about that name some more.  Please respond to the following: ·         What sort of associations or symbolic weight would Yunior feel when he is called “Yunior?”  What does it suggest? ·         So what? Connect this back to the writing we’ve been

1. Where does the narrator live? The narrator lives in an apartment with his friend Cut, but was kicked out of his old apartment.  2. How old does he seem to be? When it comes to how old the narrator may be, it was never indicated in the text but since he is a drug dealer, he is a man that is between 20-40, but it can be older than this. 3. Whats his job? His job is drug dealing and he does it with Cut, which is his friend that he lives with. They don't mainly focus on drug dealing or invest too much time into it but they make a good amount of money.  4.What kind of relationships does he have? For relationships, he has multiple of them: -girl on basketball team -  Auror a, a girl who just got out of juvie -other younger girls When it comes to  Auror a though, she is the most vital or close to him especially because of how romantically involved they are. Also, their relationship is also unhealthy because it has a lot of ups and downs. In their relationship, it is very

1.Who's kid is this? When it comes to whose kid it is, it is Cut's kid. Also the kids father is missing . 2. What does Lucero do for the kid? Lucero gives the kid 2 hamburgers to eat. 3. What are the other guys doing while he is eating? They are peeing on the guy, Eggie, while he is knocked out and just fool around the whole time. 4.  What do you notice Lucero doing at the end of the scene while the kid eats? As the kid is eating I noticed that Lucero was just watching him, and not just looking at him but making it a priority to stare at him as he eats. For example, the boy goes to hide as he eats and Lucero watches over him as he goes to either reassure his well-being or to just stare at him. Something else that I observed was that although he bought the burgers for the kids and was watching him, he doesn't really express any emotion throughout his actions.  5. So what? What does this suggest to us about Lucero? What does it help us to see might be lurking

1. One thing that helped me be successful in terms of organizing time was sleeping at a specific time and waking up at a certain time. Also, to organize time, I have this white board that I write on telling me all of my classes. 2.One thing that I did this week that I enjoyed was reading this book called The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. When I read the book, it just helps me relax and de-stress. motif: speaking, not sharing feelings, turmoil in your body-- goes into revolt