Character Analysis

It is very hard for me to describe exactly who my character is. She is a religious figure, but she is also a person, symbol, and guide for the two other characters in our scene. Therefore, I don't picture her as an exact age. All I think of when I characterize her is the air. I think of her as a pure symbol, so I imagine her as wearing all white. However, because this scene is going to be very abstract, I am not sure how we are going to actually portray her. Today in class, we focused more on what we wanted the scene to be, the plot, time period, lighting, and what our characters are going to wear. Consequently, we did not spend that much time on discussing who our characters are and how they are going to affect others in the scene. When I think of the Madonna, I think of a guiding light. However, Sam may have a very different idea for her scene and how she wants my character to be presented. Overall, I think it is too early for me to fully describe the Madonna. Once we develop our scene more, I will be able to know exactly who she is, down to the way she speaks, walks, and her mannerisms.

As far as her relationships, it should be evident that she is not actually related to any of the other characters. Today in class, Sam said that she wanted the Madonna to be like a doll who comes to life, and helps lead her and her daughter to safety. I asked her if she wanted the Madonna to be acknowledged by anyone other than the mother, but we have not come to a solid conclusion. I know these important details will help me to discover who the Madonna really is and how I can properly act while on stage.

Krik? Krak! Scene Review

Looking back on my group’s performance and written scene, I wish we could have done better. Overall, I think our scene was too short and unorganized. While I understood it’s intentions, we should have executed our ideas in a more efficient idea. While I really enjoy being in a class with Kathleen and Kat, I believe we don’t exactly work that well together; we tended to get distracted, and therefore, it was difficult to collaborate and create what was asked of us, especially because our first draft did not fit the project’s description. What made it even more difficult was the fact that our group had trouble communicating with one another, so we were never on the same page with our project. You may have noticed when we started our scene, I set up two chairs, thinking Kathleen and Kat would be sitting during their conversation. It was not until the performance that I was corrected, and it caused for unsure blocking- mostly us crammed in the corner. Another difficulty was that we had to perform it a lot later after the other groups, so we had forgotten what we discussed about the scene, and no one had the exact same script.

If I could redo our scene, I would have explored the letter more. I would follow where it went, and in the second half of our presentation, I would introduce who she took blame for and why. I feel as though this was the most important, as well interesting, part of the scene, and I feel it got neglected. If we explored this, it would have allowed us to become more creative by exploring a self-created ending.

Our scene showed a lot of potential, so I know that if my group were to focus more and think about how we could expand on our material, it would greatly improve.

Top Five Scene Choices

My top five choices are as follows (in no particular order):

Nadya’s

Julia’s

Abigail’s

Betty’s

Nancy’s

A common link in all of these the theme of relationship. In Nadya’s, I would love to explore how each story affects another character in the book club. In Julia’s I am very curious as to how the audience will see how and why each character is effected by other charactes story (do they tell the other characters about how and why they are effected? Or do they keep it to themselves? Why?). I like the idea of Betty’s. I think her scene will be emotional, as now we have a different perspective and a more personal view of a child growing up and moving on. In Nancy’s I really thought understanding cultural difference through a family is a creative and complex idea that would be challenging but ultimately rewarding. I included mine on the list because I really want to explore the theme of relationships, but also female empowerment, and the defiance of an overpowering government. I also think creating an ending with my group would make the scene more shared and creative. 

Endgame Review

I was really excited to see Endgame. To be honest, seeing pictures of the set online before going made me really interested in the play. I thought it was going to be very creative (which it was), but seeing the garbage bags, the bland, limited furniture, and trash around the stage made me curious as to what the play was about.

When the play started, I was really thrown off guard by the music. It made for a very tense and dramatic entrance, which I would later find out, carried throughout the duration of the play. That being said, one thing that really stood out to me about the play was how capable the actors on stage were able to create tension, as well as deep emotions for one another. Although they wanted to be away from one another, they all had no choice but to rely on one another to survive and for companionship. This was especially evident when Nell died, and Nagg was left helpless; when his wife died, and his son stopped acknowledging him, it left him, and Hamm completely alone.

My favorite part of the play was Nell’s performance. After her one short part, I wanted to see more of her, as she was the one character who was still in touch with her natural emotions. We could instantly tell that she was full of love and sadness, and that she still cared for her family tremendously.  This made it especially hard to watch when she asked her husband, “Do you have anything else to say to me?” and he went on to telling a useless story, instead of what she wanted to hear.

Obviously, her character was completely different than that of Hamm’s. While she was in touch with her emotions and easily able to express them, he was not. Hamm was verbally abusive to Clove, the one person that he relied so much on. Instead of treating him with kindness, he was nasty. I believe he did this because he wanted not only to be in control, but because he did not want Clove to leave him. If he scared him enough, Clove would stay, but of he allowed him to have independence and know that he was of value, he could easily leave Hamm, leaving him helpless.

I believe the topic of relationships, and the ultimate end of life, were the two main themes in this play. While they are sometimes difficult themes to fully express, I believe this play did an excellent job. This play clearly showed the reliance one person will ultimately have on another, and how important having others in your life is. I believe this is why I enjoyed the play so much. It dealt with complicated and difficult problems, some that people do not generally like to think or talk about. It brought them to light, in an unusual way, and for this reason, I believe every person should see Endgame at some point in their life. It is important theater that expresses ideas and emotions that are not foreign to people, but that are not normally expressed, even though they should be.

Scene Idea

I have a few ideas for the IB IA of Krik? Krak! What I found most interesting in these stories was the idea of courage. In Children of the Sea, I was curious as to what might have happened if the narrator's mother would have stood up to the guards. Could she have actually saved her neighbor's life? Would she have been in trouble by the guards? My idea, although open to change, is to portray that scene, but to have the mother actually go and stand up to the guards. Why I want to do this is to show a strong theme of unity. Throughout all of these stories, every character has either had, or needed, someone else to rely on. Therefore, I wanted to make a scene where the one character who does not have someone,  gets someone to help her. In order to complete this scene, I believe it would need three people. One for the guard, the neighbor, and one for the mother. As to changing the physical location of the scene,  I thought it might be interesting to put the scene into modern day with modern issues while still keeping the reason for why she is being prosecuted.  I am not entirely sure at the moment how to properly show this, but I would love if maybe we could incorporate modern day costumes and setting. I feel as though this would be a good idea because we could show a major theme that exists throughout the novel, but we would also be able to expand on a minor detail (that of what happened to the neighbor) and make it more eye opening and interesting to the audience. The lead character would be the neighbor, so that in addition to the new story/plot, we would have a new focal point and perspective. While this may be hard to execute, I think the scene would be really captivating. In addition to the theme of courage, we would also be able to see the theme of women helping women. Throughout the novel, there is motherly affection, and close friendship among women. Because this scene in the book lacks this, I think it would be a big change to incorporate this alternate ending.

Even if we decide not to do this scene, I would love to participate in one that reflects some of the bigger themes in the book. Whether it ends up being courage, friendship, or unity, I really enjoy being a part of it. I hope that our class is able to come up with some unique ideas that incorporate the themes of the novel and perhaps even establishes alternate endings. If we are able to do this, it would give a new perspective and feeling to the stories of the novel. In addition, I believe this scene will teach the audience as to why it is so important to help others. We already know the ending that happened, but this new ending is the what could have been.

Endgame Notes

Endgame Notes:

• Written by Samuel Beckett. Samuel Beckett was born in 1906 of Irish descent and died in 1989. Novelist, poet, playwright and director, Beckett lived mostly in Paris, and wrote his works in either English or French. He attended Trinity College in Dublin and his writings were influenced by World War Two and The French Resistance. He wrote mostly dark comedy. During his life, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. His most well known works are as follows: Murphy, Molloy, The Unnameable, Watt, Endgame, Krapp’s Last Tape and How It Is.
• It first premiered in London in 1957 and one of Beckett's most well known and accomplished works.
• One act (no intermission)
• Cast of four characters: Hamm(main character. He is unable to see or walk.), Clov(Hamm’s servant), Nagg(father of Hamm), and Nell (mother of Hamm)
• It is Theatre of the Absurd, or tragicomedy, meaning it combines these two genres.
• The play follows the story of Hamm, who acts out. In the end, he is left alone in a room where he has been trapped for the duration of the play and for many years.
  The cast includes: Reg E. Cathey, Lynn Cohen, Brian Dennehy, and Joe Grifasi.
  
  

Blog Number 8

I believe that storytelling, in relation to Krik? Krak! Is very important. By having her short stories be part of story that is being told, allows the reader to embrace the story with an understanding that it took place perhaps in Danticat’s family.  That being said, there is a lot of sentiment behind each story, and a gentle way in which it reads. By having storytelling be a part of them, the reader is able to sense the impact each story has/had on their family. Many address struggles, happiness, sadness, hope, etc., so to know that they (the characters) may have been part of the author’s family, gives it a deeper, more heavier feeling.

One story that comes to mind when I think of this is “Nineteen-Thirtyseven”. Out of all of the stories we have read, including the epilogue, I found this one to be most heartbreaking and emotional. Because the main character literally watches her mother be abused by the prison, suffer, and die, it makes her realization of how strong her mother was even more genuine to the reader. Like the narrator, we (the reader) can feel as though we went through it with her; we read about her mistreatment, we read about her difficulties, and we read about her death. We as a reader were able to conclude how strong of a woman she already was, so when the narrator comes to that conclusion on her own, it is very powerful to herself, and to us. Then, in addition, if this a true story, we can realize that Danticat had many of the same feelings as we did. If it is not a true story, but rather just a tale, it still teaches us strong morals. Her story telling allows us to read and view the story from our own perspectives and to feel as though we truly know the characters as well as recognize the emotions that the narrator is going through, despite whether we have been in their shoes or not. We learn how their emotions feel through the telling of the story.

In the epilogue, it was hard for me to think that the writer was any but Danticat. Assuming it was her, it was inspiring to read about her desire to write about the women in her family. Not only that, but looking back on the stories, I find them to be even more compelling and gripping. When I first thought it was her, it taught and showed me all of the appreciation she has for the women in family, the different paths they took in their lives, the struggles they faced as well as their successes. If it truly was her who decided to write about her female ancestors, than I believe, at least for me, that she has done such a marvelous job at showing readers how much you can learn from your own family and their personal experiences. Then, by sharing it, she proved how much other, outside people can benefit and learn from them.