Fun Home 3

The mother and father in Fun Home have an interesting relationship.  In my opinion I think that they are together just for the sake of their children.  I do not believe that they love each other. At least not in a romantic sense.  The father is gay, so obviously he have no attraction to the mother, and she just kind of goes through the motions of life.  Also, another thing I've noticed about their relationship is that they don't seem to respect each other.  The way they talk to each other in their arguments shows a lack of respect The father says, "get back in here!" and he also calls her a 'crazy bitch.' It's just not the way you would expect a husband and wife to communicate with one another.  Another thing that shows the father's lack of respect towards the mother are his affairs.  Not only is it wrong to have sexual relationships with others while you are married, he also deceives her and doesn't tell her that he is really attracted to men.  I think that's a double fault.  He has lied to her throughout the course of their marriage and that is a huge wrong.  The lack of affection shown by the mother and father towards each other affects the children greatly.  They don't really have a sense for what a relationship is supposed to be like.  They know that moms and dads are supposed to love each other and show affection but they do not get to witness it.  They also have weird relationships with their parents, more so with their dad than with their mom.  One of the kids mentions trying to give their dad a kiss goodnight and failing awkwardly and it's because growing up they didn't experience these things and I think that is going to hurt their future relationships.  I think that kids will be unable to show affection in their own relationships when they grow.

Fun Home 2

 After finishing my last post a bit confused I continued to read a bit more of the book to try and become less confused, but as I should have expected this book keeps me guessing.  At the end of the first chapter the father dies/commits suicide, but at the beginning of chapter two we see that it's not so clear cut.  People are unsure as to if it was an accident or a suicide gone wrong/right depending on how you look at it.  Some of the people at the funeral were raving about how good a man the father was but they were only going off what they saw on the outside.  The man who restored houses and had a perfect family.  They didn't get to see the hard times the children went through, dealing with his need for perfection, his lack of affection, and his abuse.  In chapter two it is mentioned that they refer to the funeral home that the family owns as the 'fun home,' I think that the funeral home got it's name because that was the only place where the children were allowed to be children.  The father was so structured and fun sucking that the kids could only have fun at the 'fun home,' there they could escape the grasp of their father and let their imaginations run free. I truly believe the father comes off as coldhearted because that's all he knows from growing up, and a line in chapter two confirms my thoughts, 'maybe this was the same his own notoriously cold father had shown him his first cadaver.' The father is so cold because he was probably treated the same way when he was growing up.  

Fun Home 1

I wasn't too sure what to expect when I bought the book, when I opened the book I was surprised to see a comic book like format. I wasn't sure if it would stay that way throughout the whole book so I flipped through the pages to see that I should expect this style throughout the whole book.  I found the book a little difficult to read at times.  I forgot my dictionary at school (joke) so I had a little trouble understanding some of the words.  I also found the book to be kind of funny. I liked the little box when the son and the dad talk about the curtains for his room.  So far I'm not a fan of the father in this story.  He is too anal for my liking, I also don't like the tone he uses with his children. It seems to always be his way or the highway.  I'm not sure if I am reading it the right way but he seems physically abusive as well so that was a big turnoff in regards to his character. 'I grew to resent the way my father treated his furniture like children, and his children like furniture,' I think that the father has some serious issues. Growing up something must have gone terribly wrong for him to be such a perfectionist in one aspect of his life and not others.  All he cares about is his house being perfect but he doesn't care about being perfect for his children.  He seems to be all about the material. What I've managed to read of this book so far has me quite confused.  There is mention of the father having sex with young boys but it was only mentioned once and not again, so it makes me wonder if it really happened or not or it the kids are just being overdramatic about things.  I look forward to reading more and decoding this mysterious but interesting book.

Timeline: Minerva

1938

- smack's her pet rabbit to leave her pen (Symbolizes desire for freedom and stubbornness)

-goes to boarding school at Immaculada Concepcion (after she convinces her dad)

-becomes close friends with Sinita at school who tells her about Trujillo and the bad things he has done

1941

-schoolmate Lina, also her role model, becomes pregnant with Trujillo's baby, and is sent away as one of his many mistresses

1944

-performs a skit for Trujillo at his celebration where Sinita points a bow and arrow at Trujillo and gets them in trouble

-Minerva starts to believe in the movement and resistance against Trujillo

1949

-Graduated from boarding school and wants to go to law school but family wants her at home

-Meets Lio and finds letters he has written her in her father's pocket

-discovered that her father has been cheating on her mother and has a separate family (very, very angry and hurt)

-At the Discovery Day Dance, she dances with Trujillo who asks her about Lio which she denies and also is inappropriate, so she slaps him and leaves without her purse containing Lio's letters (scared of becoming one of his many mistresses)

-her father is arrested because of her actions and Minerva goes in for questioning

-makes a bet with Trujillo, wins, and Trujillo allows her to attend law school

1954-57

-her father dies as a result of being tortured while in prison

-gets married to Manolo

-finishes law school but Trujillo denies her license to practice

1960

-Minerva is on house arrest from recently being in prison for the past 7 months (prison changes her and she is no longer the same strong independent woman she once was)

-sisters want to write a letter to Trujillo and show the public of his wrongdoings but Minerva says no 

-her and her sisters (except for Dede who is against it) go to try and save the men but die trying

EC 2

I chose to do my blog on the monologue hunger. The first thing that drew me to it was the title. I knew it was going to be about someone who struggled with eating. Before I began reading I wasn't sure if it would be about an over eater or someone who doesn't eat.  Something else that also caught my attention was the way it was written. I enjoyed the blog style. It reminded me of journal entries.  The main character in Hunger struggles with body image, and even though these monologues may not be based off of one person's story they are things that really happen in our world.  Many, many teenage girls and teenage boys struggle with body image and go through similar things that this character goes through.  The character in this story continues to tell herself that she will look beautiful 'soon'. She's almost there but she's gotta see all of the bones in her body to be happy. She talks about how she tries to model herself after a cow, because they graze.  All of these things sound completely insane to me, but to her they make sense and they're her vision of perfect.  It's really sad how some people really live their life like this. "can't stop crying. disgust myself. family forced me to eat a meal 'cause it's christmas eve. now i'm gross. putrid. foul." The holidays are supposed to be a time of celebration, happiness, and just overall family time. Instead of this young lady enjoying the fact that she has a happy, healthy family, she's too worried about being forced to eat. It's disgusting no one should feel gross 24/7, everyone should be able to see some sort of beauty in themselves. There isn't a perfect image, and no one should ever go after a goal so hard that they hurt themselves.

i am an emotional creature 1

I chose to write my analysis on the monologue "Let Me In."  Although these monologues may be fiction I believe this one embodies some of the middle/high school world that is real.  Many girls are truly as fake and as vicious as the girls in this monologue and it is a sad sad thing to see.  I think this book would be a great read for middle schoolers.  A lot of it focuses on young women but I think even boys can relate to monologues like this one.  I think almost every student has gone through the range of emotions that the main character in this  monologue goes through.  She creeps into the 'in crowd' and then quickly finds out that one false mood gets you kicked out.  This monologue is a great way to show young girls that clicks are vicious, the main character manages to find herself passed out and waking up in the room of a friend, but it could have really ended up worse.  These kind of monologues could be used for role play situations, which is a great way to learn how to deal with bad situations in a safe environment.  Let me in is a great title for this monologue because at one point or another most kids find themselves on the outside looking in and willing to do anything they can just to fit in or be let into the 'cool' crowd.  The main character wants a pair of boots that her mother cannot afford. "She's constantly jeopardizing my position," she doesn't even think of all her mother would have to sacrifice for the boots she just thinks about what people at school will think.  What she needs to realize is that material things don't define a person someone's personality and the things they do in life matter.