05.08 Free Choice Blog.

I read the first part of the play Death of a Salesman. The play begins on a Monday evening at the Loman family home in Brooklyn. Willy, a sixty-three-year-old traveling salesman, returns home early from a trip, apparently exhausted. His wife Linda is worried about him and asked if he has been in an accident since he was in one once before. Linda begs him to ask his employer, Howard Wagner, for a non-traveling job in New York City since she is worried about him. Willy’s two adult sons, Biff and Happy, are visiting. Willy thinks that Biff is lazy and not a hard worker. Willy talks to himself and hallucinates. Willy is in search of the American dream, which he thinks is about having a lot of money. He thinks the only way to make it in life is to be well like by many people.

My personal reaction to this reading was that Willy has all his priorities wrong and life should not be all about how much money you have but rather how many people you love and love you back.

I think the author's intent was to show what Americans perceive the American dream to be and why many people are unhappy. The organizational pattern that I observed was chronological order.

04.08 Free Choice Blog

I read the third act of the play A Doll's House. In this act Kristine tells Krogstad that she only married her husband because she had no other means to support her sick mother and young siblings. Al so that she has come back because she loves him. Krogstad is moved and offers to take back his letter to Torvald. However, Kristine decides that Torvald should know the truth for the sake of his and Nora's marriage. After Torvald and Nora come home from the party, Dr. Rank follows them and tells them that he thinks his death is near. Then Torvald looks at the mail and reads Krogstad's letter. Then Torvald berates Nora, calling her a dishonest and immoral woman and telling her she is unfit to raise their children. He says that from now on their marriage will be only a matter of appearances. Then krogstad says that he is sorry and that he takes it back so Torvald told Nora he forgives her. Nora tells Torvald that she is leaving him to live alone so she can find out who she is and what she believes and decide what to do with her life. She says she has been treated like a doll to play with, first by her father and then by him.

 My personal reaction to this reading is that I was happy that Nora finally stood up for herself. Torvald should have never reacted that way towards her becasue she was only doing it because she loved him. He should have only been mad at Krogstad.

I think the authors intent was to show how strong really are, and all the things they have to do for the people that they love and what they are will to do and go through. The patterns of organization that I observed was chronological order.

03.07 Free Choice Blog

I read the second act of A Doll's House. In this act Kristine arrives to help Nora repair a dress for a costume party she and Torvald are going to tomorrow. When Torvald came home from work Nora begged for him to give Krogstad back his job. She lies and says that she is afraid that Krogstad will publish lies about him in an article, but he dismisses her notion. Dr. Rank, a family friend, announces that  that he has entered the terminal stage of tuberculosis. Now Krogstad is asking for more than just his job back, but a promotion. 
Krogstad informs Nora that he has written a letter detailing her crime and puts it in Torvald's mailbox, which is locked. Nora tells Kristine of her predicament. Kristine says that she and Krogstad were in love before she married, and promises that she will try to convince him to relent.

My personal reaction to this reading is that Nora should just come clean to what she has done, because there should be honesty in a relationship. I also think that Torvald should be understanding because she was only trying to help him. I think the author's intent was to show how hard women had it back in that time. The organizational pattern that i see is that the events in the play are presented in chronological order.

02.07 Free Choice Blog

In my reading of the first act of the play A Doll's House, it was comprised of Nora, the main character, being talked down upon as if she were a child by her husband, Torvald. The setting is Christmas time and she just  came back from Christmas shopping. In the beginning of the play the audience finds out that the Helmer family recently struggled with financial troubles, but things are starting to look up since, Torvald has a new job as a bank manager. Then an old friend of Nora's comes by to visit, Kristine Linde. Nora confides to Kristine that she once secretly borrowed money from a disgraced lawyer, Nils Krogstad, to save Torvald's life when he was very ill, but she has not told him in order to protect his pride. She told everyone that the money came from her father, who died at about the same time. Krogstad arrives and tells Nora that he is worried he will be fired. He asks her to help him keep his job. Since Nora was hesitant to help Krogstad, he blackmails Nora and says that he will tell Torvald about the money if she does not.

My personal reaction to this play was that, I thought it was sad the way women were treated during this time period. They were looked down upon, they had to hide their strength in order for the mad to feel good about themselves. In the play Nora had to hide the fact that she was the one who got the money in order to save her husbands wife. Then after doing all of that she was then talked down upon.

If I were to create notes to help me remember the most important points from my reading, I would do a double- entry journal, so that I could write my reaction and make connections to the literature.