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Research/Writing Post #3

As illustrated in my last post, the general intro was probably what I struggled with most. The overlap was really hard to avoid and like I said before, I definitely was wrapped up in the idea that I needed new information for my audience. However, another difficult part was viewing the general intro as the part before the intro to annotations. 

I’ve never written an essay out of order before, so this was definitely a new experience for me. At moments I found that it was hard to view things backwards. I thought the intro to annotations was fairly easy for me to write, but when it got to the point to write the general intro, it was definitely more difficult. However, writing the general intro last also proved helpful. Despite my efforts to avoid overlapping, the intro to annotations did provide beneficial guidelines. I knew what information I had to avoid but also what information I had to hint at.

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Research/Writing Post #2

When I was writing my general introduction, I knew that I had to capture the attention of the reader in a way that would make them excited for the rest of my project. However, my biggest issue was not repeating the information that I had already stated in my intro to annotations. I feel like I took a very broad route in my intro to annotations in the way that I mostly talked about Hellman’s successes through the language she chose. This made it very difficult to find a part of my research to talk about that didn’t overlap with my intro to annotations.

This was certainly the part that I was most frustrated on. I remember consulting everybody that I thought could help, including my friends, my mother and my father. Yet, it’s hard to ask for help on a project where only you have read a certain book, or studied it in depth. I sat at the computer for hours upon hours, and nothing would come to me because I was so wrapped up in the idea that I had to come up with something original. Then, one of my friends told me to just sit down and write without thinking. Strangely, it worked excellently. I had so many thoughts about the play that it was easy for me to get them all down on the paper. I was able to describe my shock; the feeling that kept me reading. The greedy mentality of the siblings was so despicable that I was stunned. As the characters were deteriorating, I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to see them fall or whether I was just curious to see who would win in the end. Hearing that a play’s characters were shocking in some way would build anyone’s enthusiasm because people are naturally curious. I also got to describe my admiration. Hellman’s story reflected parts of society from the past and the present. Like Margaret Atwood‘s The Handmaid‘s Tale, these aspects force you to think about what’s truly right in front of you in society. However, it also begs the question of how they might apply to your own life. I truly admire this aspect of both of these author’s works because sometimes we are all so wrapped up in our own issues that we fail to see such important things about ourselves or the world we live in.

When I was finished writing down my thoughts, I realized that the only thing that I needed to do was clean up some transitions and I was basically done. I believe that I owe it all to Hellman though because she expertly crafted her play to make readers feel a variety of different feelings that stick with you after the play.

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Reading/Writing Post #1

As I was reading The Little Foxes, I knew that I wouldn’t have trouble writing about the fantastic literary techniques and themes that drew me in and captured my attention. Honestly, what I thought I would have trouble with was deciding which techniques to talk about in my introduction to annotations. I really do applaud Hellman’s excellent and thorough uses of noticeable symbols and repetitive phrases in only a 79 page play. Because of these reasons, I had a fairly easy writing process. However, I did have a few struggles.

The first issue that appeared was trying to find a suitable critical file that fit together well with the research I had done already. After a bunch of research, I wasn’t satisfied with the criticism that I had found so I decided to write my essay by offering my own criticisms instead. Yet, this created a new problem: trying to balance my positive criticisms with my negative ones. I honestly didn’t think that I had any negative criticisms about The Little Foxes. I thought the story was extremely captivating as well as relevant to my life as a woman in an increasingly greedy world. I had the mindset that I SHOULD have negative thoughts about the play. And we all know from Mr. Kreinbring’s class that you can’t should on people. I realized that I only had to write what I think; and that was that I thought the play was incredible and extremely insightful.

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Reading the Book Post #5:

The End

At the end of the play, Regina ends up blackmailing her siblings into giving her a bigger share of the cotton mill deal. Horace was dead, so she finally had the freedom to do what she wanted with the deal. However, her daughter, Alexandra, a source of light through the blackness that was the Hubbards, saw her mother’s cruelty there and left the Hubbard family for good, despite Regina’s desperate pleas.

I think a line that really sums up the end would be, “What we once thought was everything, was really nothing.” Regina sacrificed and betrayed her own family just to accumulate wealth. The more I think about it the more I realize this play’s similarities to the book The Picture of Dorian Gray. In this book, the handsome character Dorian finds that he never ages and instead a picture of him does. This realization allows him to flaunt his good looks and commit greedy actions. The book ends with Dorian going crazy as he sees signs of his greed appearing on the picture and when he tries to stab it after reaching insanity, he actually stabs himself. Dorian is just like Regina in the way that they both let unimportant things in their life become the thing that controls them. At the end of the day though, both of these stories teach readers to realize what their true priorities should be and to remember what truly matters most in life.

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Reading the Book Post #4:

Regina’s Love

What kind of person just lets another person die? Regina. I guess the human heart in me thought that Regina might feel some type of guilt after not acting to save her own husband’s life. However, the small signs of guilt that I was looking for never appeared. Any normal person would feel some type of guilt if they had let an innocent person die, but Regina isn’t normal. This tells me that her greed and need for money overpowered any type of kindness in her heart by the end of the book. However, when the play ended on Alexandra leaving Regina, we could actually hear fear in Regina’s words. Sure, she still didn’t feel guilty about her betrayal, but there was finally an emotion that we didn’t normally see with Regina when it came to her daughter. Was she scared to lose Alexandra?

Throughout the book, it seemed obvious to me that Regina didn’t care for Alexandra. She even took advantage of her to get Horace home so she could get money for the cotton mill deal. Yet her reaction to Alexandra’s departure at the end tells readers a different story. She tried to get Alexandra to stay by asking her if she wanted to sleep in her room that night. I had thought that Regina lost all the kindness and love in her heart but maybe she still has some for her sweet and pure daughter, Alexandra. This means that maybe Regina was trying to make room in her heart for both her wants and her daughter. However, the more likely explanation would be that Regina finally realized how alone she would be when Alexandra announced her departure. She wanted her daughter to stay just so that she didn’t need to suffer through the pains of loneliness. I wish this wasn’t the answer because I am sympathetic for Alexandra who has a mother who doesn’t put her first, but sadly, Regina got lost in her greed and most likely will never find a way out.

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Reading the Book Post #3:

Piano

In The Little Foxes, many of the scenes were in the main living room. As I was reading these scenes, I realized that Hellman repetitively mentioned the piano in both the dialogue and in stage directions. Only Birdie and Alexandra could play the instrument, but I didn’t know why the piano was so important to the story. After half of the play’s demonstration of how corrupting and cruel the Hubbards can be, I finally realized why the piano is important.

The piano is significant to the story because only the characters outside of the Hubbard’s black hole can play. Sure, Birdie was affected and even corrupted by the Hubbard trio, yet she still has a sensitive and caring heart shown through her love and consideration for Alexandra. Alexandra as well has a caring heart shown through her worry for Birdie and her care for Horace. Even Horace is revealed to have played before. They are the only characters who have the capability to care for others, so they are therefore the only characters who can play the calming and beautiful instrument that is the piano. The large contrast between the cruel and uncaring hearts of the Hubbards and the kind and considerate hearts of Birdie, Alexandra, and Horace tells readers the severity of the Hubbard’s greed. However, the contrast between the Hubbards’ hearts and Birdie’s heart especially tells readers that even a black hole as large as theirs can’t diminish a caring and sensitive personality such as Birdie’s, despite their corruption of her life.

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Reading the Book Post #2:

Significance of Birdie

Birdie, Oscar’s wife, is a character in the book who is not present very often, as Hellman very rarely integrates her character into the acts and dialogues. However, like Emilia in Romeo and Juliet or even Alberta in Fences, Birdie is essential to the storyline and the development of its themes.

Before her marriage to Oscar, Birdie was a happy woman whose family owned a large and wealthy plantation in the south called Lionnet. Of course, Oscar was immediately drawn to this wealthy plantation and married Birdie in order to establish a connection to this large source of wealth. Because Birdie wasn’t the thing that mattered to him in the marriage, Oscar treated her as a nuisance and became abusive. So Birdie turned to alcohol and suffered from major “headaches” constantly.

At this point, Birdie doesn’t really seem like she could be important at all to the storyline. However, she contributes to two major themes in the play: corruption and women’s oppression. Birdie used to be happy living at Lionnet, her beautiful plantation. However, when Oscar entered her life, the land wilted and died along with her happiness. The Hubbards truly corrupted her life and turned her into an alcoholic who is abused by her husband. She is the biggest symbol of what the evil that is the Hubbards can do to things and people. She is also the biggest symbol that contributes to the theme of women’s oppression. All the women in the play are somehow oppressed or treated differently than men, but Birdie has it the worst. She is constantly ignored and treated as a nuisance. Even Regina ignores Birdie. I can’t help but think of the women oppressing other women in The Handmaid’s Tale. In both situations, women oppress other women for power, which is exactly what Regina and the Aunts sought.

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Annotation #3:

The Little Foxes

In this passage at the end of the book, Regina has just gained the upper hand in the cotton mill deal and is trying to blackmail her siblings into giving her a larger share in the investment. We’ve already seen the siblings turn against each other, but this is the first time that the whole trio structure falls apart completely. Regina is in control instead of Ben, Ben is struggling for once in his life to regain that control, and Oscar is finally seeing the flaws of the sibling he looks up to - Ben.

It’s interesting to finally see Ben seem nervous. Throughout the book, Hellman made Ben use unique metaphors and phrases to display his greater intelligence and therefore his control over the trio. However, in this passage, Ben’s metaphor like, “Horace has already clipped your wings and very wittingly. Do I have to clip them, too?” displays Ben’s attempt to regain his power and dominance over his siblings. Yet, this is a failed attempt, as Regina has learned her brother’s ways and will not relinquish her power in the situation. We even see now that Hellman begins using em dashes at the end of Ben’s sentences to show how Regina feels comfortable and powerful enough to interrupt her siblings - something she has been reluctant to do in previous scenes of the play.

Another important aspect of the play that I have already discussed in other annotations is Hellman’s use of repetition. In this passage, Hellman uses the repetition of smiling in both the dialogue and the stage directions. Smiling is used by Hellman in this passage not to represent happy moments, but to hide nervousness (for Ben) or to flaunt power (for Regina). I think this is important to consider because now that I think of it, there was never a time where smiling was used to symbolize a happy moment throughout this play. An action that is supposed to represent happiness or joy was transformed by the Hubbards into an action that represents power and greed.

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Annotation #2:

The Little Foxes

In this passage in the middle of the book, Oscar and Ben in the Hubbard trio realize that they can steal Horace’s money in order to complete the deal for the cotton mill. However, they have to convince Oscar’s son, Leo, to do it for them with his job at the bank.

This passage is a good example of Hellman’s large use of em dashes to establish inferiority. The em dashes symbolize a character being interrupted as if they aren’t worth the time. This is powerful punctuation for Hellman because it represents the ignorance of some characters and inferiority of others. In this passage, the only character who experiences this is Leo. Readers regularly see em dashes with Leo because he is constantly ignored throughout the play, treated as a simple child. Yet, as seen in this passage, he is even ignored in a matter that involves him such as the idea for him to steal the money. Hellman did this to show Ben and Oscar’s complete self-absorption for their own gain and how inferior and useless Leo is in their minds, even though the conversation is about him.

Another important idea that is represented through repetition in this passage is corruption. Oscar is asking his own son to commit illegal acts for Oscar’s own gain. Hellman makes Oscar repeat the phrase “wouldn’t even miss them” in order to show how he’s corrupting Leo by convincing him that taking Horace’s money is okay. It’s like he’s trying to brainwash Leo with a mantra that he repeats over and over. Hellman also makes Oscar repeat the word “you” in order to make it seem to Leo like he is truly being involved, which is a clear corruption of the truth.

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Annotation #1: The Little Foxes

This passage from The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman is near the beginning of the book. The Hubbard trio, Regina, Oscar, and Ben, have just entered into a deal to build a cotton mill that will accumulate large profits. I think this passage is a pivotal moment in the book because it’s the first example where readers see the siblings’ greed overpowering the trio itself and pits the powerful siblings against each other. Hellman wanted to translate to readers how chaotic and dangerous this clash of powers was, so she therefore structured the passage in a chaotic way. Readers are constantly switched between two different conversations: one between Regina and Ben about unequal profits, and one between Oscar and his wife, Birdie, about Birdie’s attitude. This crazy and fast-paced structure alone helps the reader see what happens when the siblings turn against each other and creates a clear picture of the scene and how each character is feeling in the reader’s mind.

Also, Hellman’s language in the passage establishes a theme of control in the book. Ben is obviously the controlling leader of the trio, as he is the mastermind behind the plans to scam his siblings. He was also able to tame the chaos that was the separate conversations in the passage. However, we can also see Ben’s control through Oscar’s submission. Hellman constantly makes Oscar repeat the phrases, “Ben means that…,” in order to establish Oscar’s need to be included, validated, and approved by Ben. Oscar is always searching for approval. Also, in the stage directions, Hellman makes Oscar’s interactions with Ben seem anxious and hesitant. These nervous interactions deeply contrast Oscar’s attitude with Birdie. With Birdie, Hellman ensures that he seems very controlling and abusive. In the passage, Oscar uses the words “chattering” and “excited” to describe how Birdie is acting. Hellman’s choice of words in this situation makes me think that Birdie is treated as how a dog might be treated. She is obviously undermined when it comes to her husband. This adds to the theme of control; Oscar needs some kind of control in order to compensate for his lack of it in the Hubbard trio.

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Reading the Book Post #1: Sibling Characterization

The first thing that I noticed about my book The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman was the characterization of the three siblings: Regina, Ben and Oscar. The book and play centers around the Hubbard trio (as you could call the three) entering into a business deal that would earn all three of them a large amount of money. The three have a perfect family facade, but on the inside, it is anything but perfect. Based on Hellman’s characterization of the three, I learned this information:

Ben is the leader of the trio; the mastermind behind the deal. He is smart and cunning, and I suspect he has ulterior motives with the business deal that don’t include his siblings. Oscar is the second in command in the trio; constantly seeking Ben’s approval. He doesn’t have control of the trio like Ben does, so I think he seeks some type of control by abusing his alcoholic wife, Birdie. Finally, Regina is the only woman in the trio, so she is already at a disadvantage when compared to the boys. However, she compensates for this disadvantage with a fierce determination for wealth. Regina is the greediest of them all, and married her currently unhealthy husband, Horace, for his money. These characters make for an extremely interesting character dynamic.

Even though this post doesn’t make many connections, I think it’s important to understand this sibling dynamic because at some point in the book, there will surely be a crack in the perfect family facade and everything will come crashing down. Understanding the characters will help me analyze their motives and reactions and what it means for the purpose of the book.

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Research Project: BOOK CHOICE

I chose a book called The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman. It’s a play of three acts about the struggle for control of a family business. It definitely took me a while to come to this conclusion, and there were certainly other books that I was considering. However, after days of research, I found this story and I believe it works perfectly for me.

The first thing that I did was search up “AP literature level fiction books” and it gave me a huge long list of books to choose from. I scrolled the list and researched books written by authors I had heard of or that had interesting titles. Books like No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre and Old School by Tobias Wolff immediately grabbed my attention because both of their plots sounded very intriguing and something that I could write about in the future. I wanted a book that was more near the fiction side because I love fantasy and sci-fi books. So I decided to make a list on my phone to save ideas. Then I ran them all by my humble instructor, Mr. Kreinbring, and he told me some intriguing things. Apparently all my books were extremely depressing for some reason so... But besides that, he also pointed out that all the books I chose were by male authors. I was very suprised, so I went to my second round of research.

In this round, I readjusted my search and tried looking for more books by female authors. After Mr. Kreinbring pointed out the male domination in my previous book choices, I realized that I might be able to relate more to a book written by a female author. So I found the books The Awakening by Kate Chopin and The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman. The two books both have female protagonists and have enough criticism for research. So, I figured that I would have to choose between these two books.

While I would have loved to read about female enlightenment and a search for fulfillment in The Awakening, yet the tension and greed between sibling characters in The Little Foxes pulled me farther in. I can definitely relate as I am a female with several siblings, so I wonder if I can compare my struggles with those in the book. Also, the theme of greed is something that is very interesting to me, even more so when it is seen on an isolated farm between family members in The Little Foxes.

I’m excited to read this book because it was completely my choice. I just hope that I made the right one.

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I definitely agree with you when you say that this poem isn’t like the others that you’ve annotated. This poem speaks of the deep religion of Hinduism, and no other poem that you have posted about references the religion this directly. One question that I have is why do you think Krishna decided to make his mother forget the incident?

“Krishna Denies Eating Mud” - Elizabeth Alexander

“Blue boy, the apple

of his mother’s ravenous eye.

Blue as the noon sky,

Blue as the sea,

Beautiful Krishna

Come to me!”

Although Krisna’s mother is unknowing that her son is a god, she loves her son dearly.

Krishna’s mother calls to Krishna dearly. But she finds him eating mud, rocks, and nails. Filled with worry and concern, she looks inside her son’s mouth to see the whole universe. Then, she faints in shock of what she saw. Krishna’s mother does not know that her son is a god and the creator of the universe. At Krishna’s wish, his mother forgets what she had seen, and endearingly calls to her son like before.

I wasn’t really expecting to see this poem in my book. This story, with Krishna and his mother is famous throughout Hinduism. I can relate to this poem because my family is Hindu. We even have pictures of Krishna hanging up in our house.

This picture depicts the god Krishna as a baby with his mother.

(http://indian-gods-and-goddesses.blogspot.com/2009/11/lord-krishna.html?m=1)

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Mentor Poet Post #6: Natasha Trethewey’s “Family Portrait”

When I was reading through this poem, I had assumed that the theme was recognizing the luck that many families don’t realize they have when compared with others. The man who lost his legs would help Trethewey’s younger self realize that she has a very lucky life despite the many difficulties we see highlighted in her other poems. However, as she watches the man itch at the legs that aren’t there, she ends the poem with the line, “Years later - I’d itch for what’s not there.” This line made me believe that I was wrong with my original assumption. While the poem might have some meaning with recognizing your luck in life, Trethewey actually loses something in her life similar to the man who had no legs and this is the main idea of the poem.

Trethewey has had no relevant physical obstacles in her life, so the only other possibility is that she lost someone important to her. Many people believe that she is referring to her mother who died at 41. I completely agree that this is a logical assumption because Trethewey begins this very poem by talking about a beautiful moment with her mother. It is obvious that her mother is very important to her, as she also makes references to wonderful times with her mother in several other poems. In this way, I believe that the man without legs is a physical manifestation of Trethewey’s emotions years later. She lost someone who was a very big part of who she was, exactly like losing a limb. (260)

Young Natasha Trethewey and her mother

(I decided to bring back this picture because it is extremely relevant to the poem)

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I really like how you made so many observations about the poem with just those two words. “Impermanent” and “flowers” speak so much to the themes of the poem. The only thing that I’m confused about is the reference to delphiniums in the beginning. What relationship is there between this flower mentioned along with all of the grandfather’s belongings and the flowers outside?

“Cleaning Out Your Apartment” - Elizabeth Alexander

“I keep your wicker sewing kit,

your balsa cufflink box. There’s

only my framed photograph to say,

you were my grandfather.”

Alexander keeps her late grandfather’s wicker sewing kit and balsa cufflink box to remember him by. Similarly, Alexander’s grandfather kept Alexander’s photograph to remember Alexander by when he was alive.

In these following lines, Alexander makes many references to flowers:

“Outside, flowers everywhere,

the bus stop, santería shop.

Red and blue, violet lavender.

Impatiens, impermanent, swarm.”

Flowers are often associated with funerals, which implies that Alexander’s grandfather had passed. Alexander also describes the flowers as impermanent. While alive and blooming, flowers bring people joy, but they unfortunately don’t last and die at some point. Similarly, people are also impermanent. We enjoy the company of our friends and loved ones until they must leave us.

There is one shift in this poem between the third stanza and the fourth stanza. Alexander describes all of the items in her grandfather’s apartment in the first three stanzas. Then, she switches to observations she finds of flowers outside.

The following picture is of one of the types of flowers mentioned in the poem, delphiniums.

(From https://www.ftd.com/blog/share/delphinium-meaning-and-symbolism)

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I loved these observations by both of you guys. I think you are correct in saying this poem speaks largely to the phrase “ignorance is bliss.” Some people choose not to witness the horrors of a certain event on the news because it is simply too terrible. The author of this poem, Sara Holbrook, questions whether this ignorance is wronging the already dead victim. Choosing to skip the part of the news that talks about these victims is definitely complete ignorance for some because they choose not to acknowledge the truly sad deaths that occur every day in our country. This is the only instance that I think there would be true ignorance or a “second death” for the victim.

Cheating: Sara Holbrook

I was really interested by Jenna’s mentor poet, Sara Holobrook, especially by the poem “SCREAM BLOODY MURDER.” I felt like this poem reflected the same feelings I have had in the past while watching tradgedies that have happened on the news.

Here are Jenna’s annotations on the poem:

Just like my mentor poet, Elizabeth Alexander, Sara Holbrook seems to write poetry that is personal to her life. However, a lot of Alexander’s poetry is about Alexander’s experiences involving racism.

This poem really reminded me of the proverb, “ignorance is bliss.” When something horrible has happened, people are usually happier when they don’t know anything about it or just ignore it. People watch the news to just move on with their lives afterward so that they are happier in the long run. Jenna mentioned that the narrator was like a child “crying for help to end violence.” I thought that was ironic because usually we associate children to being carefree and ignorant.

Jenna said that this poem reminded her a lot of shootings that have happened, especially in recent years. This is poem reminded me a lot of tragic events on the news in general. I don’t think I’ve ever watched the news or heard the news on the radio to not be informed of someone dying.

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Mentor Poet Post #5: Natasha Trethewey’s “Early Evening, Frankfort, Kentucky”

This is another one of Trethewey’s poems that highlights the positive times in the past lives of black people. She expertly utilizes descriptive imagery once again to describe her parents, who are completely in love, on an evening walk. The tone and imagery of the poem is quite beautiful and provides a very clear picture of the scenery and quaintness of their walk. However, in the second to last stanza, Trethewey references her mother’s death before reaching the age of 41, which brings a more sorrowful tone to the poem. She then uses contrasting words like “sweet” and “dead” in the last stanza of the poem. An explanation for this could probably be that Trethewey wanted to highlight the important and beautiful moments that shouldn’t be taken for granted in a person’s life, because our lives could end at any moment. (141)