Blog: Mark Twain, Charles Chesnutt, and Fanny Fern

Dear All,

Here are a few prompts to consider for this week!  300-500 words of clear analysis, please:

1.  Mark Twain's "Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut" uses humor in order to suggest, playfully, that not all forms of guilt are natural and healthy.  As we laugh at the narrator killing his pestersome conscience and going on an insane rampage, we realize that a conscience is actually good for making people behave.  Why does Mark Twain turn this message into a joke? 
2.  In "The Goophered Grapevine,"  Uncle Julius tells John and Annie a story about witchcraft, acknowledging that "white folks" might not believe in it.  Who do you think believes in it, who does not?  Think about about how belief in conjuring is part of the humor of the story.
3.  At the time that Fanny Fern wrote "A Law More Nice than Just," it was illegal for women to "dress like men" (wear pants!).  People took this law very seriously.  Why, then, does it become so funny when Fern herself pulls on a pair of pants? 

Hunter Warren's Blog

4. Discuss what you believe to be the wittiest quote from the play. What makes it the best one? Is it a clever paradox? Does it reveal a deeper truth? Is it used in a particularly brilliant way?

According to the dictionary, witty means being amusingly clever in perception and expression. Under these circumstances I believe Cyrano wins the spot of being the wittiest character in the book. His personality and character make him the "badass" of the play. This play, Cyrano de Bergerac, presents the readers with many witty quotes to further express the personalities of the characters. My favorite character, Cyrano, expresses his witty personality in the long quote that starts on page thirty-five. This long quote is sparked by the Meddler's comment about Cyrano's nose and is continued by Valvert. Because of Valvert's comment, Cyrano makes fun of his absence of creativity, and continues with his witty joke by making fun of his own nose. I love this quote because it exhibits Cyrano's several qualities that make him such a great character of this play. It shows off his sense of humor, creativity, courage and. confidence. I think Cyrano is such a great character because he is able to make fun of himself by using other character's ignorance. In return, this insults the victim without violence, which further makes them feel like idiots. In a way I feel as though everyone should have qualities such as Cyrano because even though he would have loved to stab Valvert with his sword he held his world with Roxanne and didn't inflict any physical pain upon anyone because she asked him to keep Christian safe.

Although this may seem absurd to do in reality, Cyrano does a great job in expressing his dislike for Valvert without being violent. I feel as though Cyrano is the wittiest character of the play because he is able to stand his ground by ridiculing others with his biting, ironic criticism instead of using violence. I really like the way Rostand built Cyrano because he is a very brave man that doesn't really care what others have to say about him. If someone hates him, he seems to take it with pride. Because Cyrano is able to act this way without having any repercussions, I feel as though he is one of the strongest characters of the play. When something is on his mind he has no problem with being public about it. This shows deep down that he has no shame within his life and has no problem with people knowing how he feels. This is a great quality in a person because most people keep things bottled up, or use violence to solve their problems. I feel as though this quote expresses Cyrano's wit as a character in the play.

Readings for Week 12: Short Stories

Dear All,

For Monday, you will need to read Mark Twain's "The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut":


http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3183/3183-h/3183-h.htm

And for Wednesday, Charles Chesnutt's "The Goophered Grapevine":

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11666/11666-h/11666-h.htm#chap1

Please either print these out and bring them to class, or take careful notes on them that you can bring to class.

Best,
Jennifer

True Love

Of the three characters involved in the “love triangle”, Roxane is the only that displays the most pure love. In the early goings of the play, it seems that Roxane is only searching for a match on the exterior. She exclaims her love for Christian to Cyrano solely based on his looks. She really did not know much about who he was as a man. The thing that shows her pure love is her ability to change, and learn from her mistakes. When it becomes apparent that Christian is not the man that he appeared to be, she loses her feelings towards him. She shows that she is not the superficial woman she once was; it became much more important to her to find a man with a sound mind and heart. Roxane says that no matter the looks of the man who had been writing her the letters, she would still love him for what he had on the inside. This shows the most pure form of love; care for a true connection in another person. While the two men both show love for Roxane, a lack of confidence from both of them take away from the quality of their love. Christian had the woman’s heart, whether it be from only his looks or not. He could not express the way he felt to the woman he “loved”, so he confided in an outside source to do so. This shows cowardice and a lack of genuine love for Roxane. Cyrano shows a very pure love for Roxane, but due to no confidence in his appearance, he is too scared to pursue her. His hesitation towards the woman of his dreams shows weakness. The two men had opportunities to win the heart of Roxane, but neither had the courage to make an honest attempt. Even though Roxane is initially shallow, she shows change, and shows the purest love for the mystery man that is writing her.

Yes, some men are actually honorable

The play Cyrano De Bergerac, written by Edmond Rostand, portrays a character named Cyrano who is an honest, honorable man. Everything he does is to preserve his honor. This idea of honor to Cyrano is no more instilled into the audience then when Cyrano and De Guiche are having a conversation about war and how De Guiche got away from the Spaniards by taking off a white plume that shows his rank. Cyrano replies “I think that Henry the Fourth would have never given up his white plume, even when surrounded by the enemy… I don’t believe in declining the honor of being a target” (162). Cyrano then commences to put on this white plume. He is not only inspiring the troops, but he is also doing the honorable thing. He ends up wearing this white plume to keep honor, and show that he can not only say things, but he can also back them up.

As Cyrano’s life goes on, he stays true to his word and honor. Instead of focusing on using his skills to take from others, he attacks people who are dishonorable. According to Le Bret, Cyrano’s writings “constantly make new enemies for him! He attacks false noblemen, false saints, false heroes, plagiarists-everyone!”(204). Cyrano is indeed living up to his standards of honor by living his life this way. Another thing that is honorable about Cyrano is that he is true to his words. When the Duke asks Roxanne if Cyrano ever comes to see her, she says that he does, and in her reply she states, “I don’t even have to turn around to look for him, because I know I’ll hear his cane coming down the steps immediately after the last stroke.” This shows how people trust Cyrano and in order to be honorable, one must be trusted and dependable. The final thing that proves to me that Cyrano is truly honorable is that for fourteen years, he never tells Roxanne that he was the one who wrote all the letters. Roxanne finally finds out he was the one writing them, but he still adamantly denies it. He will be unhappy and go to his death to preserve Christians honor. Typically you would not believe that lieing is honorable at all, but if you’re protecting the honor of someone else, I think it is perfectly fine to lie as Cyrano does, and in fact even makes him more honorable. Thus the ending is inspiring, because Cyrano ultimately dies fighting for what he believes in,honor,and to me lives up to every bit of his white plume standards of honor.

...and the greatest of these, is love.

I believe the character who loves most truly is Cyrano. Even though he may seem rough around the edges to some people and his is unfortunate when it comes to good looks, he still finds the courage to go beyond all that criticism and build a strong heart. His intentions and desires are admirable and his heart is truly in the right place. His character comes out and the true Cyrano is revealed. Even though he can sometimes throw up a front and have a rough appearance to some, he is still honest with himself and stays true to who he really is, no matter who accepts it or not. There is a very short amount of people like that today in our society. People are either fake to themselves/others or they are rude/crude when attacked by others. Cyrano seems to have every intention of loving people and caring for them. When Christian is trying to profess his love to Roxane, he gets tongue tied and finds an extreme lack of words to describe what he is actually feeling. He acquires help from his good friend Cyrano who basically spoon feeds him words and produces a beautiful arrangement of words that cut deep to her heart. His hidden stance under the balcony in the movie provided him the opportunity to give Christian every word he needed to capture the attention of his love. This example goes to show how dedicated he was to his friends and how thoughtful he could be. He not only provided a beautiful arrangement of words that demonstrated how thoughtful and loving he could be, but also he went the extreme effort of helping out his good friend. We see a soft side of Cyrano behind that big nose of his and how caring he could really be. He showed not only a love for the other gender and his friend, but also a love for love itself.

Its ladies' night!

Wezly Barnard

I think the most obvious characters to compare are Roxane from Cyrano de Bergerac and Cecily from The Importance of Being Earnest. The obvious ways in which these two characters are similar is their beauty, intelligence, and their need for romance. Both ladies are chased by the opposite sex and thoroughly enjoy it. Both characters’ beauty becomes a constant means for stirring up drama. In Roxane’s place her beauty drives men to run over each other to get to her side. “Count de Guiche. Enamored of her. But wedded to the niece of Armand de Richelieu. Would fain marry Roxane to a certain sorry fellow, one Monsieur de Valvert, a viscount--and--accommodating!” Cecily’s beauty causes her love to try and change his name. “Our Christian names! Is that all? But we are going to be Christened this afternoon.” The women are also alike in the way that they both are involved in a sort of fantasy and romantic life. Roxane has many men interested in her and chasing her constantly, which could be considered a fantasy. Cecily has created a false and romantic idea of love through her own day dreams, journal entries, and pretend pen pal. The greatest difference between the two is definitely that Roxane never actually speaks or has dialogue during the play. She is only referred to by other characters, which ends up making her character even more intriguing. Cecily, however; plays a huge role when it comes to dialogue. In the beginning she is referenced by other characters similar to the way Roxane is in Rostand’s play, but when we meet Cecily she has a lot to say. In this way it easier to understand her character since I can get direct insight from her, whereas it is sometimes difficult to completely understand Roxane fully.

Michael's Blog

In “Cyrano de Bergerac” there are many situations where the characters show their love for one another. I think that the character who shows their love the best is Cyrano. Cyrano unlike Christian can tell a girl what they want to hear, instead of telling them their beautiful. Cyrano sounds more truthful and more romantic than Christian. Also, Cyrano goes out of the way by writing her love letters (outside writing them for Christian) and sending them to her atleast two times a day. He even lies to Christian by saying he would only write Roxanne once every couple of weeks so he wouldn’t think anything was up. Roxanne also tells Christian that she basically loves Cyrano because she like the way he’s passionate and respects her. She says that she was in love with the words that comes out of his mouth not just looks. Most girls that I have known always love someone who is romantic and can say the right things not someone who just does the ordinary things. Because Cyrano is so good at these things he gets Roxanne to fall in love with him for his words not his looks like most girls. If Christian felt more confident and instead of asking for Cyrano’s help writing her letters he would’ve got Roxanne by just his looks but he asked for help and it changed her mind. Cyrano shows that his love is more passionate and truthful than that of Christian.

confusing love...wait, its all confusing. Raterman's Blog

I truly and fully believe that Cyrano loves most truly in the book “Cyrano de Bergerac”. There are very few people who would be able to write love letters to a person who they do not truly love. The letters are a way Cyrano shows his love for the woman he is madly in love with without him saying it to her directly. The woman he is writing letters to is Roxane. Cyrano starts out by telling his friend, Christian that he can write letters to Roxane for him but then Cyrano writes Roxane without telling Christian. He is telling Roxane whatever he wants and is putting Christian’s name on the note. This has him get his feelings “out”. He is just saying the words he feels by signing another person’s name to it. He is using his words but is having another person’s name on the work.
As Cyrano is trying to express his friend’s (Christian) strong and love feelings for Roxane by writing letters to Roxane, he finds himself falling him in love with her. There is no possible way Cyrano would be able to write such passionate and heartfelt letters to this woman without feeling some strong feelings toward her.
When Roxane tells Christian she is not in love with only his face but also with the words he wrote to her, it is then that he knows then that Roxane is in love with Cyrano. Christian knew that Roxane was not in love with him anymore when she said, “ I would love you even if you weren’t beautiful”. She was saying that although she was at first shallow and was just in love with his looks, after hearing “his” words he wrote to her, she was in love with the words he wrote and his heart. Even though Roxane might not even know that he is in love with Cyrano, it is true. She is in love with Cyrano because Roxane is in love with the heart that wrote the beautiful words which she read and those beautiful words were written by Cyrano.

Drew Bowers - Question 1

I believe the question who loves most truly throughout the play is Roxane. Although in the beginning she seems to only go off the good looks of the men who are trying to woo her, at the end she says she truly loves Christian for who he is on the inside.

Roxane's sexuality is probably one reason why appearance is a main impact on her view of others. She is the main object of the men's sexual 'desires,' and those feelings can be reflected back on Roxane, making her only interested in their outward looks. She also has quite an outgoing personality; she knows what she wants in life and in men, so she is picky and does not want to just settle down with one person. However, she does have her flaws. She admits that at first she was very shallow about her feelings towards the men and admits that it was wrong. She is also blind that Cyrano is trying to win her over, not Christian.

Besides her initial interest being the good looks of the men interested in her, she eventually admits that she loves Christian for who he is inside. However, this is an main turning point in the play. This is where two opinions can be made of Roxane. Although it is hard to just believe that what she says is true and how she really feels, she says she is in love with Cyrano, who is deformed. This shows, however, that her power of love is true and she has more pure love than other characters since she loves someone who is not attractive. Her kindness never changes throughout the play, showing her sincere power of love over attraction.

Iris Murdoch once said "we can only learn to love by loving". This is certaintley true about Rostrand's charactrer Roxanne in the play Cyrano De Breger. Roxanne understands the true meaning of love through a series of unfortunate events that happen in this play. Roxanne is a round character that loses her husband in war, only to relize that her true love is alive. Though Roxanne can never be with her true love, she has suffered the most thus, makes her the character that has loved most truely. Rostrand writes this play with two male actors, Christan and Cyrano. Roxanne loves Christan for his physical beauty and Cyrano for his inner soul. Roxanne marries Christian and learns a hard lesson that loves comes from within. In Act Three, Roxanne learns that her love for Christan is shallow but the love she feels for Cyrano is true. Thus, makes her the character that loves most truely.

Matthew Peeler's Blog

In both Oscar Wilde’s and Edmond Rostand’s plays, there is a particular character that tends to run the course a little differently than many people. In both of these plays there is a character that lies, in one way or another, in hopes of getting the interest of a particular lady. In both of these plays these lies turn into truths at the end and though they end in quite a different manner, there is a similar principle involved. In Wilde’s play, Jack has hopes of entering a relationship with Gwendolen and in order to increase his chances, he lies to her about his name and tells her it is Earnest simple because she is fascinated by this particular name. To make a long story short, in the end it turns out that these lies turn into truths and everything works out in Jack’s favor. In Rostand’s play, Cyrano plays a similar role. Cyrano wrote Roxanne letters years before from a man name “Christian”. At the end of the play, Roxanne realizes that it was Cyrano that wrote the letters as she recognizes that the voice reading the farewell letter was the one she heard years ago. Though Cyrano dies quickly after this takes place, his lying to a woman in order to get closer to her works out in the end, even if it is only for a short time. Though these two story lines have a very different ending, they begin and transpire in a very similar way. Both Jack and Cyrano are characters that are interested in a lady that they believe are going to be difficult to get. Both of these men go under a false name in order to grow closer to the woman that they have feelings for. Despite the ending of the two stories, Jack and Cyrano have taken a similar path to their ladies, making them very comparable characters.

Blog Prompt: Cyrano de Bergerac

Dear All,

Below are a few questions to choose from for your blog.  Per usual, strive for 300-450 words of grammatical, clear, analytical prose!

1.  Which of the characters do you believe loves most truly:  Cyrano, Christian, or Roxane?  Strive to go well beyond the obvious.

2.  Compare one character in Rostrand's play to a character in Wilde's.

3.  Is the ending of the play tragic, inspiring, or somehow both?  Has Cyrano lived up to his standards of honor, his "white plume"?

4.  Discuss what you believe to be the wittiest quote from the play.  What makes it the best one?  Is it a clever paradox?  Does it reveal a deeper truth?  Is it used in a particularly brilliant way? 

A Greater Understanding and Appriciation Based Upon Satire

H.F.’s review on the play The Importance of being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde, is short, informative, and straight to the point. After watching the play, H.F. expresses his fondness for the play and the decadence era. His criticism is very positive, and he begins it by writing this: “Oscar Wilde may be said to have at last, and by a single stroke, put his enemies under his feet” (99). This indicates that H.F. understands Wilde and the period of decadence, because he understands the fact that Wilde intention of the play was to satirically portray the rich, fashionable, upper class group of people (Wilde’s” enemy”) as hypocritical and immoral, and in doing this, Wilde was able to portray his perception of this group of people to the audience. When H.F. watched the play, he also realized that other people were able to relate to Wilde’s humor and presentation of the upper class because according to H.F., he has “not [never] heard such unrestrained, incessant laughter from all parts of the theatre” (99). The play was able to bring people together from all parts of the theatre in a common laughter, because people could laugh about the Victorian era and how immoral the people were. It does not tell the exact year that H.F. wrote this review, so it is unclear when he saw the play, but the positive way in which he writes indicates that it must have been quite a few years after the actual Victorian period, because it is easy for people to look back and laugh at how things were. I believe that H.F. would not have been able to appreciate the play or watch as many people laugh throughout the audience had the audience actually lived in the Victorian era. In conclusion, H.F. leaves the readers of his review with this: “It [the play] will remain on the boards here for an indefinitely extended period” (99). H.F. believes that people will continue to appreciate this play for its willingness to go against the culture of the time and be different, and I think this prediction has come true, because I as well as my classmates were able to appreciate the humor of this play over 110 years later.

Age Isn't Just a Number

Throughout Oscar Wilde’s play, The Importance of Being Earnest, the characters display many immoral actions. One would think that during the Victorian time period it would be a high priority to obtain moral values. Wilde portrays his characters as having the rebellious attitude toward the Victorian culture. This dialogue between Cecily and Lady Bracknell is one of many examples of the immorality exposed during this play.

Cecily: Well, I am really only eighteen, but I always admit to twenty when I go to evening parties. Lady Bracknell: You are perfectly right in making some slight alteration. Indeed, no woman should ever be quite accurate about her age. It looks so calculating….Eighteen, but admitting to twenty at evening parties. Well, it will not be very long before you are of age and free from the restraints of tutelage. So I don’t think your guardian’s consent is, after all, a matter of any importance.

The dialogue between these two characters epitomizes the way people believed and acted in Decadent culture. Cecily believes it is okay to lie about her age at times when she thinks it is appropriate. I would have expected Lady Bracknell to speak up and say something to Cecily about lying about her age, but she, like Cecily, believes there is nothing wrong with it. Of course Lady Bracknell would say that she didn’t need her guardian’s consent to say she was two years older than what she really is because it wouldn’t matter anyways. Her ward or guardian is John Worthing, and he is the one that calls himself Ernest in the city and Jack in the country. There were some really great role models during this time period. I think this is humorous because Lady Bracknell should be someone that helps distinguish between what is right and wrong, but even she thinks there is no harm in lying. Lying about anything is, without a doubt, under the category of immortality. In our society today, lying leads to nothing good. If I were to admit to lying about my age, it would not go unnoticed. I would be punished. In the Decadent culture, it seems to be there are no consequences for the actions people take. The only way a person learns from his or her mistakes is by being punished or having consequences. Wilde took a step away from showing how the characteristics of being honest and trustworthy are of great importance in not just the Victorian culture but in life as well. There is no point in time when lying should be accepted as being moral.

Callie Holloway

Hunter Warren

Jack: You don't think there is any chance Gwendolen becoming like her mother in about a hundred and fifty years, do you Algy?

Algernon: All women become like their mothers. That is their trajedy. No man does. Thats his.

Jack: Is that clever?

Algernon: It is perfectly phrased! and quite as true as any observation in civilized life should be.


In this scene it is forshadowed that Gwendolen will in fact turn out like her mother. She is already overbearing like her mother as it is now, and with time she will turn out to be a product of Lady Bracknell. I feel as though this can be taken either way depending on whether the mother of the "bride" is good or bad. In this case, Jack got screwed! Jack is completely sabatoged by Lady Bracknell because he has no ancestry. He was found in a bag, and all of his family is deceased. Is that his fault? No this is not his fault at all, but he is stabbed with questioning because of the cirucumstances. Because of this the mother finds it hard to accept the fact that he could be Gwendolens future husband. In those times money was everything, but not since Jack is alone with nothing but a brother. He is set at another disadvantage because there is nothing to build off of or inherit. I feel that in todays society people focus too much on the family of the spouse rather than solely on the spouse. Because of this, relationships are put off, or never reach their full capacity. In this case, the relationship that Jack wanted more than anything was immediately questioned. It is obvious that Jack loves Gwendolen, but he is obviously not secure in his beliefs about the family that may fall into. I think that because Gwendolen may turn out to be just like her mother Jack is set back once again. He will have to deal with her being overbearing in his future life. In this play Jack is put at a level way below everyone else just because he has no ancestors and is "alone". This is very immoral becuase someone was put down for something they have no control over.

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde’s humour in the play The Importance of Being Earnest is overall very witty and brought up in a “smartass” fashion. To me the character that plays the part of Algernon appears to be the wittiest character in the play, followed by Jack. To play the part of Algernon, you have to be a very high class character, have an enormous ego, and be clever.
Algernon from the start displays very high intelligence by outsmarting Jack when they talk about the double-character business. He’s always right on top of his game and seems to be one step ahead of the opposition. The tone in which he would talk would be slowly and very obnoxious in the sense that if he commented on anything you said at all, you would already know he was going to be a smartass. I can picture Algernon to be a fancy, rich character that is very luxurious.
The one person I picture right away to be comparable to Algernon is Michael Cane in the movie “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”. Michael Cane and Steve Martin in this movie bet for a woman’s money. Whoever steals all her money first, wins. Cane as his character is a high class, luxurious living person who will never show frustration, only appreciation for a challenge, just like Algernon. They have too much pride in their own being that they are almost ignorant of what is actually happening.
The personality for the person playing the part of Algernon should be a very polite, intelligent, and extraordinarily proper man. He will make no social mistake and will always make sure he’s being polite but is able to let people know they are inferior to him. He does show his ego by constantly outsmarting others and being proud of his “victories”.

Matthew Peeler's Blog

Money typically gives people a different attitude about things. Though it may not seem like it, money is a powerful object that can very easily have a negative effect on people even though they personally feel like they are doing well. This personal thought is usually where the bad begins. The individual begins to believe that they are somewhat “bullet proof” and that they can get away with anything. In my opinion, this situation is very apparent in Oscar Wilde’s play. Throughout the play, the characters take place in several particular actions that are completely immoral. One of these actions in particular stands out to me; this is the fact that Jack is living a life of lies. He says that he has a brother and that he is a man that has very little moral stature. He also says that his name is “Earnest” just to impress Gwendolen. Each of these things are very immoral actions. With some individuals believing that Wilde enjoys the fact that the rich members of the upper class can get away with anything, it raises the point that the play itself is immoral. This statement, in my opinion is very true. When someone of a higher social class gets into a difficult situation, they often believe that they can get out of it simply because of their stature, and sadly enough, this is oftentimes the case. This was the exact thing that happened the entire play for Jack. As I mentioned, Jack lives the life of a lie the entire book and just when things become difficult, the situation works out in his favor. At the end of the book, Jack finds out that his lies are actually true and he plays along like he knew the entire time. This is completely immoral and a true example of the hypocrisy that people in the upper class oftentimes show. Though this hypocrisy and immorality is what makes this poem funny, it does not make the situations in the poem right. So in conclusion, my thoughts are the same as many others as I believe that this poem is completely immoral.

Whhen Lies Become the Truth

In the past, social status was everything, people in the upper class could get away with anything; they could pay the lie of with money, or in some cases, such as the play “The Importance of Being Earnest,” be accepted for their lies. During this play, it seems apparent that the women expect the men to lie and this is something they have to deal with and accept. For Jack, his lies ended up as the truth, but then he lied about knowing that he knew he had a brother this entire time. However, Jack actually contradicts himself about having a brother, in the conversation right before talking with Aunt Augusta, he proclaimed to Algernon, “I have no brother, that I never had a brother, and that I don't intend to have a brother, not even of any kind. I distinctly told him so myself yesterday afternoon." In today’s society, people would have a hard time trusting Jack after this statement and then behaving as he does later, however, the women during this time seem to thrive on drama. The women in this play seem infatuated with the name Earnest, however, the name Earnest does not necessarily mean that whoever the man is will truly be Earnest. Earnest does not mean honesty, its real meaning is deep sincerity, which anyone can be sincere while lying. The both the women claim that they could not love these two men if they had different names; the name is everything to them. Perhaps for women of that time in the upper class did not care much about how their men behaved, therefore idolizing their names, because it was the only truth they knew, however, this was not the case in this play. The men during this play would say what was on their mind and then quickly cover it up by saying what they actually meant to say. For instance, when Jack is asking Gwendolen to marry him, he slips and says “I must get christened at once,” and Gwendolen acts as she never heard his slip and just ignores it like the rest of his lies. People in the upper class had an unusual way of living their lives, several of their ideals are not morally correct with today’s standards. For example, if a woman caught her future husband in a simple lie such as his name, she would deny him the marriage. This just shows how little input the women had back then and how their “proper” way had turned them almost senseless.

Question 3

In the play The Importance of Being Earnest, I could say that there are no morals anywhere. But as the reader looks deeper into the play they can see that all the rich people are horribly hypocritical, and that the moral is that these people can really just get away with anything. Overall is that really a moral? I mean there are some people today who can get away with anything if they have enough money. I think this is totally immoral, in an ideal world everyone would be treated equally and if someone gets in trouble then they would have to pay the prize. It is of course never really like this though, people are going to be treated different either from how much money they have to what kind of car they drive. It is something that is inescapable. When I think of this play I hate it, and I feel this way because I love a good moral and this play has nothing of the kind. As long as these people have enough money then everything is just fine. Also Jack even admits to never being caught in a lie almost his whole life until this event.

Jack: (slowly and hesitatingly.) Gwendolen-Cecily- it is very painful for me to be forced to speak the truth. It is the first time in my life that I have ever been reduced to such a painful position, and I am really quite inexperienced in doing anything of the kind.

In this play the people think that they should get married without even really know each other and they even say that they are in love. This is another reason why I do not like this play, These characters just throw words around and say whatever they feel they want to at that point in the play. All in all I believe that this play is something that is meant to not even have a moral and this play was written for the pure enjoyment of the reader and nothing more.

Immoral, Unworthy, Lying...Bastard

Oscar Wilde used puns and witty dialogue throughout the entire drama, The Importance of Being Earnest. These comical lines allowed the audience to laugh their way through the unfolding story he has created to disprove Victorian social standards and culture. One specific joke that is immoral seems to justify the actions of Jack and Algernon. In the following dialogue Algernon is speaking to Jack-

Algernon: “Nothing will induce me to part with Bunbury, and if you ever get married, which seems to me extremely problematic, you will be very glad to know Bunbury. A man who marries without knowing Bunbury has a very tedious time of it.”

The interpretation of this sarcasm and satire states nothing can stop him from “Bunbury” (or living a double life) and if one were to get married he better know how to deceive his wife and “Bunbury”. He is saying husbands should know how to fool their own wife that they are going somewhere on important business, when really they are just going on a mini vacation for their pleasure. Along with the falseness of their absences, it suggests there is nothing wrong with the fact they are neglecting their personal duties. The corruption of this joke is within the context that he is treating such “behavior” and deceit with moral approval. There seems to be no importance placed on the value of truthful honesty inside the covenant of marriage. In contrast the joke suggests that marriage means the end of freedom, pleasure, wickedness, and the beginning of duty and following through with what is expected. Wilde probably used this dialogue to mock Victorian marriages suggesting that most husbands were living double lives and disregarding the importance of integrity in their marriage. No matter what the purpose of this wittiness, marriage should never be subjected to such humor. It is wicked to think before he even got married he had plans to be a lying bastard. The spectators of this play can clearly notice the immorality of the characters from the very beginning.

Upper Class vs Lower Class

Wezly barnard
Society today is broken up into different levels when it comes to the status of a persons finacial backround. People are classed into lower class, middle class, and upper class in order with how much money they have. Oscar Wilde illustrates his play The importance of being earnest how those people who are part of upper class society believe they can get away with anything. This is evident in the characters of Jack and Algy who try to be someone they are not in oder to be accepted at dinning tables and when traveling to town.
ALGERNON I believe it is customary in good society to take some slight refreshments at five o’ clock
This indicates how Algy feels about people who are part of the upper class as he refers to “good society.” Algy becomes what he refers to as a Bunburyist, which is a person who is pretending to be someone els.
ALGERNON I have invented an ivaluable permanent invalid called Bunbury.
Algy invents this character to be able to dine with those people of the upper class in oder to feel a part of them or be accepted amost fashionable people. Jack also creates a character by the name of Earnest, who he explains is his brother. Jack uses this character to try and win the heart of Gwendolen and believes the only way to win her is by being Earnest.
JACK If Gwendolen accepts me , I am going to kill my brother.
Gwendolen comes from a rich backround and is looked after by Lady Bracknel who most illustrates how rich people can be hypocritical. Lady Bracknel does not approve of Jack and Gwendolen because Jack is not a high class man.
LADY BRACKNEL I feel bound to tell you that you are not down on my list of eligible young men…., do you smoke?
JACK Well, yes, I admit I smoke
LADY BRACKNEL Im glad to hear it.
This part of the play shows how rich people class themselves as better than people of o lower class. Lady Bracknel is asking questions to see if she will approve of Jack and what he has or does, but does not worry about what type of person he might be. This can even be related to in society today. In reality people do see themselves as better than other if they have more financialy. If a person has a lot of money, they will have a better house, car, and socialise in places for higher class people. Rich people can even get away with more when it comes to breaking the law. These people then start to believe they are better than those who do not have money.The ending of the play is unexpected and everything falls into place after a lot of lying between characters. Jack wins Gwendolen and Algy wins Cecily and Jack finds out that Lady Bracknel is actualy his aunt. This illustrates the hypocritical character of Lady Bracknel as she also is part of the lying that goes on in the play.it proves that just because a person might have more than someone els, does not mean they are better or more powerful than that person.

A Little Fun!

Link to the Muppets singing "O Danny Boy" for St. Patty's Day

Blog: Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest

Dear All,

Per usual, I'll be looking for a clear, interesting, grammatical response (of 300-600 words) to one of the following prompts:

1.  Discuss the morality or immorality of one joke (or one short joking dialogue) from the play.  (Do discuss something different from what you wrote about in your in-class essay.)

2.  Discuss how you think an actor or actress should perform a specific character.  Be specific.  How should they deliver the lines, dress, and move?  You might speculate on what it would be like to have characters perform in drag!

3.  Some people believe this is a play that satirizes the immorality of the upper classes, and that one lesson we learn while laughing is that rich people are hypocrites.  Some think that Wilde enjoys the fact that rich, fashionable people can get away with anything, and therefore the play itself is immoral.  What do you think? 

4.  Discuss one of the reviews of the play.  What does the reviewer value or dislike about the performance?  What does the review tell us about the values of Decadent or Victorian culture?

In Conclusion

Douglas Adams writes Last Chance to See with an amazing ending to an absurd novel. Adams describes his travels through the world while seeking endangered animals. He discovers that the humans are the reason for extinct animals. Throughout the novel Adams explains the different ways humans harm animals. Humans are the dominate species and destroy nature and the other species sharing the world with us. Lemurs, dragons, gorillas, birds, dolphins and bats all have one thing in common, human ignorance. We are destroying what God gave us and it takes a pompous idiot like Douglas Adams to make it a reality. This ending makes the book almost worth reading but in reality, endangered animals need human help in order to survive. In conclusion, Douglas Adams reveals to readers that the reality of endangered animals is truly human ignorance.

Ecology, War, and how you should consider opposing viewpoints

War is not something people usually associate with animals. They usually associate it with the brutalization or killing of the human race. Douglas Adams, though, takes on what others usually will not, and goes there. In his book, Last Chance to see, Adams Writes, “Ecologically speaking, Mauritius is a war zone and Carl, Richard, and others – including Wendy Strahm… are like surgeons working just behind the front line”(183). He is comparing the area with which the conservations work, Mauritius, to a war zone, and the conservationists working there to soldiers. Adams does this to prove a point. Many people see things with blinders on and only see what is straight ahead of them. They do not take time to think about other cultures or animals, and only consider the human race. Adams wants you to be more like the soldiers though, or conservationists. He wants you to see the “enormity of the problems facing them, and the speed with which these problems are escalating”(183). That is why he is blatantly putting it out there like that. He wants you to consider the lives of animals, and take the blinder off and see a side of animals and people you have never seen before. In another chapter he talks about the assumptions people make. Now he wants people to get rid of these assumptions and see things from a different perspective. Adams knows that his readers might think it is absolutely ridiculous to save birds such as the Philippines’ Monkey-eating eagle, who “you would more readily expect to see coming into land on an aircraft carrier than nesting in a tree,”(183) yet Adams still wants his readers to see that the people helping this bird, such as Richard, are just soldiers doing what they are trained to do, and that you should support them in this, even if you will not even consider changing your viewpoint on these animals who are going extinct. His view point is probably a little extreme, but it is so that people will realize the dire problem facing these ecologists, and hopefully at least think about their views. If people do, they can potentially stop the next animal from going extinct, and stop humans from brining the same problem we face in Mauritius to America.

Assume makes ass+u+me

Sometimes it’s hard for people to imagine what life is like beyond what we are used to. After being surrounded by a certain environment for an extended period of time, it can be harder to picture what life is like beyond the walls you see every day. Douglas Adams goes into detail about how his assumptions were changed after some experiences during his travels. During the first section of the Blind Panic chapter, he describes the differences between the western and eastern hemispheres. He was impressed with the water spiraling down the drain the opposite way in Australia and how it caught him off guard at first. Another example is how the telephone dials in New Zealand are the completely different. It is just a habit to jump to the conclusion that everything is going to be the same as you’re used to it being so when you’re faced with something completely different, it takes awhile for you to concentrate on what you’re having to do and to reverse the whole process. He goes on to explain on page 144, “The habit of telephone dials is so deep that it has become an assumption, and you don’t even know you’re making it.” Even though the water drained the same way and the telephone dials were the same in China, some of their other traditions or habits were different. He expands upon the fact that he grew an obsession with aftershave and bought cans wherever he went. While in China, he attempted to get rid of some of these cans but failed due to the maid who cleaned his room. He also had a hard time attaining clean, cold water to brush his teeth. It becomes humorous to both him and the readers that he has such a hard time getting rid of his new obsession of aftershaves and can’t find a way to cool the boiling water without the maid revoking it from its hiding place. No matter where he tries to hide the cooling cup of water or the can of aftershave, it’s always found and stored perfectly in place with the other items. I thought this was humorous because I could semi relate. I went with my mom and sister to Italy in the summer of 2006 and our stops was Venice, Florence, then Rome. Whenever we traveled, especially through the trains from location to location, we would save some of the food we gained or was given for if we ever got hungry in between meals or while walking around. In our hotel room we set the food out but evidently the maid thought it was trash because she threw the food away. Different cultures have different ways of doing things and thinking, and one can't help but laugh when faced with awkward or difficult situations through assumptions.

When you make assumptions...

Throughout the chapter Blind Panic, Douglas Adams is forced to confront many of the assumptions that he has within his mind. The majority of them lie within differences between his own Western customs and those of the places around the world. These disparities start in the first paragraph of the chapter when Adams talks about New Zealand. He explains how jarring it was when he first “[took] the plug out of a wash-basin in Australia and see the water spiraling down the hole the other way around. Next he explains how the numbers on a telephone are dialed anti-clockwise in New Zealand. All through the chapter he informs the reader about unusual practices of the foreign countries he visits on his trip. One main point is the calamity that occurs on the streets of China. Practically no people in China own private vehicles, so Adams sees hundreds of bicyclist weaving through buses and streets, with the incessant sound of the bicycle bell resonating in the city. He also talks about the other sound that is common to every street corner: spitting. The Chinese people spit into small “spittoons” on the corner of every street. Seeing these things first hand is a sort of rude awakening for Adams, which exposes him to things he would have never expected. The most challenging passage of the chapter is a conversation between Adams and a Japanese guide. Adams was visiting the “Gold Pavilion Temple” in Kyoto, Japan, a building originally built in the fourteenth century. When he first sees the great shape the building is in, he is skeptical of its age. He is then informed that it had in fact been burned down quite a few times in its long history. Adams asks his guide, “So how can it be the same building?”.
“It is always the same building” the guide replied. What the guide meant is that even though the building had been reconstructed many times, the intention behind it is and always was the same. Adams says he is not comfortable with that idea, as it “fought against [his] basic Western assumptions”. Western views rely heavily on materialistic value, so the burning down of a building would ruin it in essence. Adams feels that “assumptions are the things you don’t know you’re making”. In his travels things he considers staples in everyday life are contradicted on a regular basis. Adams describes this feeling as “disorienting”, and one he certainly does not enjoy. When a person’s assumptions are challenged, often times an irrational reaction can be the result. However, it may be spun in a positive light, as also many times may have a more open mind from that sort of experience.

conservationists vs soldiers

In the chapter “Rare or Medium Rare?”, Adams describes the obsessive passion of the conservationists of Mauritius in the terms of war. These people, who are described as “passionately obsessed”, are described this way because they love the animals so much. They connect it to the terms of war when they say they are “They loved them with an extraordinary fervour, and had devoted their entire adult lives to working in the field, often in awful conditions and on horribly low budgets, to save rare birds, and the environments they live in, from extinction.” They make this connection saying it is like war because people who fight in a war have to love what they are doing. The conservationists love the work that they do as well because a person who would not like this field of work would never go into this work.
The connections these two work fields have in common vary. They both require long hours of hard work. They both require being away from their family. They both earn horribly low budgets for the work they do. The environments each of these people work in are very extreme and extremely dangerous at different times.
The effects this comment may have on a reader include more respect for soldiers, if they are more educated about the conservationists of Mauritius. On the other side of this, a person may have more respect for the conservationists of Mauritius if they are more educated about the soldiers that fight in war. The persons respect for the conservationists or the soldiers increased because they realize how much hard work, total dedication, and love for the activity is needed.
In conclusion, the reason Adams described the obsessive passion of the conservationists of Mauritius the way he does is because he is trying to make a point that both are hard fields of work and they both require a love for the job they have.

The Unexpected

In the chapter Blind Panic, in Douglas Adams Last Chance To See, Adams deals with the disorientations of another place besides his home. It is a challenge for many people to venture out into places that are unfamiliar to them because they can’t handle getting out of their regular routines. Adams says, “Assumptions are the things you don’t know your making” (143). When we travel to different places, we assume that everything will be just like it is at “home.” This false hope is a bit mind-boggling to us because we figure out that people live a lot differently than we do. Adams goes through many experiences that he was not expecting. Being around a lot of people that you don’t know in large crowds can be very overwhelming. When you add a lot of people plus a lot of bicycles it can be a little scary. It is very uncommon to see many people riding bikes everywhere, unless there is a bike race. We are used to seeing people drive cars everywhere we go. Adams says, “Everyone in China rides bicycles. Private cars are virtually unheard of, so the traffic in Shanghai consists of trolley buses, taxis, vans, trucks, and tidal waves of bicycles” (158). Adams was not accustomed to seeing all the different types of transportation such as trolley buses and bicycles. China’s population causes major traffic issues when seeing it from a pedestrian perception. “The first time you stand at a major intersection and watch, you are convinced that you are about to witness a major carnage” (158). When driving on the road, we don’t usually think about how there is going to be a wreck because we don’t normally have to worry about there being a huge number of people driving bicycles through intersections.

Adams comments, “Next time you keep your eyes open and try to see how the trick’s done; but however closely you watch you can’t untangle the dancing, weaving patterns the bikes make as they seem to pass insubstantially through one another, all ringing their bells” (158).

By referring to the mass chaos of the intersection as a trick, I think Adams is finding humor in the situation. He knows that it is very dangerous, but I think he looks at it as pretty funny because they are all so good at not crashing. Another thing he realizes about China is that sound is a major part of communicating. He says, “In the Western world, to ring a bell or sound a horn is usually an aggressive thing to do. It carries a warning or an instruction: “Get out of the way,” “Get a move on,” or “What the hell kind of idiot are you, anyway?” He is saying we use sound as a meaning of warning someone; we don’t try to look after anybody but ourselves.“In China, you gradually realise, the sound means something else entirely. It doesn’t mean, “Get out of my way, asshole,” it just means a cheerful “Here I am.” (159). He is not used to using sound as a pleasant communication tool, but he accepts how they use it and embraces it. I think that Adams deals with the “disorientations “of China very well because he found humor in them. If you can laugh at a situation you are uncomfortable with, then it makes the situation seem bearable.

Callie Holloway

Michael Squires

In the book, “Last Chance to See”, Douglas Adams talks a lot about obsessive conservationists. I think they are so obsessive because they love what they do and no matter what happens their going to keep doing what they love to do. In the first chapter, Here Be Chickens, Adams describes Melbourne who knows anything and everything about poisonous snakes than anyone. Melbourne doesn’t like his job but he does it anyways because someone has to watch out for the researchers who get bit by them. He also has an obsession about hydroponics which he would rather talk about than snakes. These so called “obsessive” people are out trying to save the endangered species of animals so they will be living and will hopefully one day come off the endangered lists. If these people weren’t out there then some of the most extraordinary animals we have on earth won’t be living anymore. If we didn’t have obsessive people in the world then everything would be ruined, imagine if we did stop being so obsessive then we would have trash all over our streets or no animals for us to research. We can all to this in some way if you really think about it. We all have that one thing we admire, for me its baseball. I have to be obsessive about baseball if I want to be successful at it. Just like these guys have to be obsessive for the animals they are trying to save. They go out in the worst condition, for long periods of time, and for nothing at all, just the love of what their doing.

Hunter Warren

On page 183, Adams describes the obsessive passion of the conservationists of Mauritius in the terms of war. What is the potential effect on the reader? Why does Adams do this?

Rare, or medium rare? In the first few pages of this chapter, one may see the conservationists as extremely over the top. In reality, they are no crazier than a person that is passionate about a sport they love. They simply care about what they are trying to fix, and poor pay and nasty outdoor conditions aren't going to stop them. Because of this, it is easy to see the dedication behind these conservationists. In the beginning of the chapter, Adams plays Richard off to be some crazy moron that shouldn't even be driving a land rover. As a matter of fact, he says Richard is so crazy that he finds the owner of the car crazy in letting Richard borrow the car. Although Richard may be a "crazy" man, his dedication to helping animals is nothing short of amazing and necessary. Richard and I have some ideas of conservation in common. When I think about the planet I wonder what it will look like in forty years if I don't do something about it now. Whenever I can recycle, I recycle. Whenever I am not using a light, I turn the light off. You get the idea. Where I am conserving the planet's aesthetics and functions, the conservationists in this chapter are conserving the planet's kingdom of animals.

Adams describes the obsessive passion of the conservationists of Mauritius in terms of war. Although the problems of extinction are going to come, the conservationists in this novel do whatever they can to help revive the lives lost. Although the outdoors is at war due to animals being at the verge of extinction, the conservationists "make treaties" within nature to help ward off this "war of extinction" the best they can. The reason for Adams making the conservationists seem crazy is to show the readers how dedicated and motivated they are to solving the problems of extinction. If Adams made the characters "normal", the reader may think they are simply doing their job instead of going above and beyond what they have to do. Because the characters in this passage are so determined to fulfill their duties, it is possible that the reader may be encouraged to work harder and create higher goals in their own line of work or interest. Adams does an excellent job in securing within the reader that the conservationists in the novel do every damn thing they can to help save the jungle!

I have a great example as to why conservation is important! At my hunting camp you can't shoot a deer unless it has a rack of eight points or bigger. What if I wasn't a conservationist in regards to this belief? Most likely the bucks on my land would have small, inconsistent racks. This would disrupt the genetics of the deer on my hunting land, and the hunting wouldn't be very enjoyable. Whether you are building up the gene pool in a species or saving it from extinction, conservation is a key element to success.

Endangered due to ignorance.

Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams is a book that is able to humor readers as they go through the adventures of traveling abroad to find endangered species. More importantly it makes readers question, why is this animal important to me, whether it survives or not? Initially, I was quite oblivious to the way this book would impact me. I immediately began to recognize my own ignorance as I realized in the beginning the fact that species were endangered or extinct did not bother me. It was people like me who caused these irreversible actions that led to the loss of the uniqueness of the planet. As Adams captured my attention in presenting a variety of species throughout the book and why they were beginning to be on the brink of extinction I saw the underlying common factor, humans. Humans tend to use land and resources that were once sacred habitats as means of whatever is most useful, or more likely what is most valuable for them. We make decisions to interrupt the natural roles of areas, which then impact multiple species on several ecological levels. The damage is done but we have gotten what was in our best interest. Adams suggested in the last part of the book that because of the extinction of the dodo we are “sadder and wiser” (204). On the next page Adams says “…we are now sadder and wiser but there’s a lot of evidence to suggest that we are merely sadder and better informed” (205). There is a valid point in these statements; we should have become wise because of the extinction, but as usual we failed to gain knowledge from a devastating loss. Although everyone’s passion might not be to save endangered species, the ones that do obtain that needed passion should not have to work alone. Others need to become aware of ways they can help also. It is only when people like Mark and Douglas take time to bring our attention to the numerous species that are endangered, do we even realize that we have created a problem. Adams make intrigues readers with his last statement “I have a terrible feeling that we are in trouble” (206). Adams leaves us with this remark to say that even after he has talked about so many different animals in danger we are really the ones in danger. We have to become more wise and aware of what we are losing. He thinks that humans’ destructive nature is more dangerous than anything else because the lack of understanding the uniqueness in the world we are losing. Our human mentality will be more difficult to change than preserving the last of any species. And Adams concluded this book best in his epilogue when he states why anyone should care, “And it is simply this: the world would be a poorer, darker, lonelier place without them”(213). Only wisdom on our behalf could see the importance every animal and plant has in our world. We should help in any way possible to keep them all in existence.

question 3

Anna Aycock

Question number 3

In this book, Last Chance to See, Douglas Adams shows us a lot of how conservationists act, as we see it as these people being a little bit crazy in some aspects. They are just so involved in their work that they forget about dealing with people almost. When Adams is talking to Carl Jones you can tell he is very strange in their first conversation when he sees their video camera, “ ‘Turn it on, quick, turn it on!’ we turned it on. ‘I really hate media people!’ he boomed at it. ‘Did you get that? Do you think it’ll come out all right?’” (182). The reader understands that he is a very strange man. Then he says that conservationists are , “like surgeons working just behind the front line” (183). Douglas makes these people sound very intense like they are working in a life and death situation. Which is true in many aspects they may not be fighting for the lives of humans but they are fighting for the lives of animals who are about to go extinct. He also says that they are , “ often exhausted by the demands that their caring” (183). When he characterizes conservationists like this it makes them sound like they are extremely noble people who are fighting for the good in the world and will not back down. Adams does this to help us understand that these people have a very difficult job; they have to fight for money so they can keep doing their job, and they have to fight for the animals themselves. You have to understand the hardships that these people go through on a day to day basis that we do not even understand as people who do not see these animals. Without the help of conservationists we would have no idea that these species of animals are going extinct.

Assumptions

Wezly Barnard

“Assumptions are things you don’t know you are making.” Douglas Adams, in his book Last Chance to see illustrates how making assumptions can be very disorientating. In the chapter Blind Panic, Adams uses a humorous technique to describe how certain things work differently in other countries, “the first time you take the plug out of a wash basin in Australia and see the water sprawling down the hole the other way round.” People who witness this for the first time would probably find it strange as it is something they are not used to. When a person sees something that is out of the norm, it tends to give a feeling that they are out of their comfort zone. “The very laws of physics are telling you how far you are from home.” Another example that Adams uses is how “in New Zealand even the telephone dials are numbered anticlockwise.” This will make it very difficult for people who are not from New Zealand to make a phone call. People are used to doing things in a way they are familiar with and almost feel lost when the same thing is done in a different way. “The shock is that it had never occurred to you that there was any other way of doing it.” It may even become humorous as it could feel like it’s the first time they are doing it even though in the past they have made many phone calls.“This has nothing to do with the law of physics – they just do it differently” It is interesting that the very same situation is done in a different way all over the world and things are not the way you expect it to be. “The ground slips” is a humorous way of describing being disorientated. Adams uses these words to create a feeling of being off balance. This is finding it difficult to stand which relates to how a person might feel when facing something different. “Try and do it quickly and you will inevitably misdial because your automatic habit jumps in and takes over before you have a chance to stop it.” The trip to China is going to be very different for Adams as all these assumptions will develop. In China most of what they do is different to what Adams is used to. “I had a kind of inkling that this would be the case from what little I knew of other people’s experiences in China.” Adams, through his words, gives the reader a feeling of what it might be like in a different country and what experiences a person could encounter.

Matthew Peeler's Blog

Extreme conservationists are truly a different breed of people. This however is not a bad thing as it takes a different kind of person to put in the effort required to be successful in their efforts. I personally consider myself a conservationist as every time I enter into the outdoors, I try to leave it better than I found it in some way; not just for a particular animal but for all animals. Whether it is simply picking up a small piece of trash or doing a major habitat improvement project, conservation efforts are conservation efforts. In the last chapter of his book, Last Chance to See, Douglas Adams talks about a pair of conservationists they meet on the Island of Mauritius by the names of Carl Jones and Richard Lewis. Adams proceeds to describe the “obsessive passion” that they have for the conservation of birds on the island. In my opinion, this passage has a strong effect on the reader from the standpoint of understanding what conservation is really all about. Like I mentioned earlier, conservationists are a different type of person and to an individual who is not familiar with conservation, a conservationist may seem a little crazy in the head. The passage on page 183 however sheds things into a different light. It explains how hard Carl and Richard had worked to try to help the birds in their area. The text sums their hard work ethic into one sentence by stating,

“They loved them with an extraordinary fervour, and had devoted their entire adult lives to working in the field, often in awful conditions and on horribly low budgets, to save rare birds, and the environments they live in, from extinction.”

This excerpt from the text puts what a true conservationist is into perspective. With this passage, the reader is able to understand the hard work that goes into conservation. It can be debated why Douglas put this passage into the book but I believe it is to prevent the reader from thinking conservationists are lunatics. On pages 179-182, when the reader is first introduced to Richard and Carl, it appears that these two individuals are simply crazy. One if the first conversations that takes place is about why Adams wants to stay for only two days and then fly to then island of Rodrigues to look for a rare fruit bat for ten days. Richard pesters him into staying by bugging and bugging him to stay there for ten days and opposed to going to Rodrigues for ten days. Adams finally gives in when Richard comes close to taking out another car while driving down the road due to the fact he was so adamant about Adams staying that he was not even paying attention to the road. Like I said, this simply appears crazy but with a further, more humanized explanation later in the text, the reader realizes that these conservationists are not really crazy but they are passionate about what they do, just like all conservationists.

Week 8 Blog: Douglas Adams

Dear All,

Below are four questions about Douglas Adams's Last Chance to See.  Please select one and answer it with a coherent, grammatical response of 300-600 words.

1. At the chapter "Blind Panic," Adams reminds us that "[a]ssumptions are the things you don't know you're making." This is a chapter about coping with disorientation, of having your assumptions challenged, of learning to realize that different assumptions could be at play. Choose a section of this chapter and discuss how humor is a way of coping with this sense of confusion.


2. Adams employs a literary humor technique called "the laughing return." In laughing returns, the author makes reference to something that he joked about in another part of the text, either reintroducing the joke or twisting how we laugh at it when we see it again. Find an example of a laughing return in the book and discuss how the humor evolves through its repetition.

3. On page 183, Adams describes the obsessive passion of the conservationists of Mauritius in the terms of war. What is the potential effect on the reader? Why does Adams do this?

4. Douglas Adams, for final words, expresses a concern not for the rare and endangered animals he has been seeking, but for "us." What, after finishing this book, does Adams think is endangered about human beings?