Never forget who you are

  To me, the ending is rather miserable. The peasant girl had beautiful dreams, of being free and loved. But in the end, none of them are true, her life falls apart and finally destroyed her. She was so in love with Daniel, "Desiree cried, I am Daniel and Daniel is Desiree.", while Madame Mathilde had already told her the truth, "What peasant girl can boast of such luck that the patron keeps her when he no longer has need for her?". Desiree was paralyzed, blinded by her untrustworthy love. Daniel has been always the angel to her, "Were it not for his limp, he'd be the most perfect of men." But he indeed betrayed her, and even hurts her, "It is this life that brings me joy. It is this life that I have pledge to Andrea Galimar." Desiree, at that moment thought he belonged to her but he said the life that desiree saved is bonded to Andrea Galimar, which indirectly excluded the peasant girl out. He sees her as a life saver but not a lover. It's really miserable to finally see the truth when one believes in her own story for too long. This part is even more tragic than the moment when she died. All of her beliefs, hearts were trampled on the floor, by this ignorant, selfish young man. 

  The story illustrates an idea of how one should not forget her identity and really self-recognize better. Ever since Desiree crossed through that gate, she never belonged there. That's not who she is, she is just a peasant, who's from thousands miles away. "In the room she stood looking at her own reflection in the mirror. And not understanding the reason for fear." It's not surprising that she has fear, she not a part of the aristocrats, she sees herself in the mirror and still find a peasant girl. Madame Mathilde had told her the truth for hundreds of times, she never listens, never believes. "Stupid girl. The dirt at the bottom of our feet belongs to us alone. Yet water washes it away." And we, the story witnesses should realized, don't overextending our dreams if they make us think of ourselves as someone else. Always seek for truth and be who we are.

Discussion Questions

1. To what extent, does the city give Desiree a new perspective to the world? Use specific examples from the book.

2. When Desiree enters the city by herself, how do people treat her and why is that? Use specific examples from the book. 

3. To what extent, does the gap between languages brings the lovers trouble? Use specific examples from the book.

4. At the end of Chapter 13, Lucifus was possessed by the death god - PaPa Ge, what effect does this turning point make on the whole story?

Beauty within life

  My favorite character from the book is Desiree. She is such a dream pursuer and fabulous girl. I also like her personalities.
  Desiree has been always a special existence. At the beginning of the play, we can tell that she differs from other peasants, such as this line:" They obeyed a wordless command of M. Galimar, or feared his vicious overseer-or both. Only the peasant girl used the brook." I found it really amazing for her to ignore the vicious power. Plus, she just doesn't feel like she is part of the peasant group, she seeks for her own world and freedom. "While all the other tired peasants rested before going up to the hills to the Vaudun ceremony, the peasant girl slipped away and came here." I found myself similar to Desiree. Sometimes, everyone can have a little space to enjoy themselves.
  Also, according to the descriptions, she is a really attractive young lady. "She had the smoothest skin, the peasant girl. Black. Silk at the calves, satin on her thighs, changing to a velvet blackness as it spread up her shoulders, her neck, her face." This line is a complete description of her general appearance, and it actually makes a contrast with the next line: "The white of her eyes sparkled and the black pupils shone like jewels." The descriptions provide readers a vivid image of Desiree. I was impressed by her because she is so special and outstanding even when she's a peasant girl.
  Her persistance on love surprised me. She makes so much effort to defend, treasure the strange young man even when they've never met before. She might not be an obedient girl but that's what I like about her. "He must not die, Desiree said, I shall not let him die." Her words are just so strong and staunch. She is similar to Romeo in some degrees: as a comparison, Romeo persist in going to the Capulet feast without an invitation. "Everyday, Desiree rushed from the hut, through the woods, across the road, and up the hill to the cabin. Then she rushed back, fearing that in her absence something might happen to her young patient." We can tell that Desiree really cares about people, she not only cares about gods, her parents, but, most importantly, she cares about that one breaking point in her life. The young man's existence definitely changes her life, he is free and handsome, she becomes his biggest admirer. That love force grants her unbelievable courage to chase after him later. Her journey is the most impressive portion of the whole book, she pays everything to search for her love. I really like the scene when she is in the city all by herself, all of her emotions are written. "Even in the dark she sensed the vitality beating like a force. What excitement! Cars raced toward her. Headlights blinded her, forcing her into ditches." I feel like I'm Desiree at that moment.
  Desiree is my favorite character, her life attitude and characteristics are the main reason. This book gives me a brighter perspective to life. I hope I can be just like her, pursuing dream, fearlessly.
 

Reading Quiz 12/7 Question 4

  Desiree is girl with decisive and stubborn personalities, she really resist in her own thoughts and has been always trying to find her own world. For example, she has a strong first sight love with the young stranger even when they had never met before, and she used all her power to take good care of him, regardless Mama Euralie's persuading. In order to show her characteristics, I would pick white costumes to show her pureness and it can also make a contrast with other peasants residents, who will be dressed in grey and brown. It shows that she is such a special existence.
  In the beginning of the book, she always has good imaginations of the nature and also spend times with it. In the book's description of Desiree, she is a young, beautiful African girl, but still being a peasant. As a peasant girl, she is not able to afford too much of luxuries and decorations. So, I would select a good amount of decorations of nature including leaves and flowers to put on her. This way, it not only presents her good appearance, but also shows her love to the nature.
  It would be a great idea to show her connection to the gods too. Peasants in the story are really religious and worship the gods a lot, especially Agwe and Asaka. As a part of the peasant members, she also prays and has faith in the gods. I believe it's necessary to show her religious side because that's part of who she is. As I mentioned, I would use some green decorations on her to show her love in nature, but it can also work as a connection to Asaka, who is the goddess of earth and growing things. In additional, I would use the blue spotlight on her when she is praying to Agwe to provide a atmosphere.

Staging of specials

  If I'm staging the play for My love, my love or the peasant girl, I would make the gods have exaggerated appearance and special expressions. In the original novel, gods played extremely important roles in the story. People worshipped them, peasants prayed to them all the time. The religion, culture elements should be huge portions of the stage play. In the book, four gods existed and each of them deserves a distinctive character. In my opinion, costumes and masks are the keys to make the characters special. And colors can be used to distinguish gods from each other.
  The costumes should correspond to the god's identities. For example, the god of death should have a depressed image. It can be shown by dark color costume or even weapons like sickle. Also, Mask would be a great fit for a god. When people talk about gods, they always show up in imaginations because every individual can have a different impression of gods. Masks can be strong illustrations for gods, because they express different things than human faces. For example, the mask can be blue with conch and carving waves on it, that would be a great presence for the god of ocean; it can be made of wood with leafs and roots for the god of plants. Masks effectively show the gods' characteristics by visual representation. Of course, the play will also work without the mask, but the make up must be explicit enough to reflect the god's impression. I used to perform in a middle school play. I can still remember the fire god in that play had flamboyant fire patterns drawn on his arm. The make up was successful because it attract audience's eyes. That's what I will do.
  Colors are what best distinguish the gods from each other. For Asaka, the god of earth and growing, his theme color should be green and brown, these two colors represent plants and nature. In order to show more of his identity, there can be green stage light shining on Asaka. Agwe is the god of water and sea, so his color should be blue. Papage and Erzulie are the gods of death and love. They are kind of the opposite of each other so I would use strong contrasting colors on them, such as black and white. It's also a good idea to give Erzulie the color pink, or peach to show the love's sweetness. Besides the colors, decorations can be an important element to make the gods special. For example, gods can have wings while humans can't. Unrealistic decorations distinguish them from human beings. A decoration varies along the personalities of a character. For example, the god of death can have scary decorations on him such as bones and skulls.
  In conclusion, gods are different existence than human beings and there are all sorts of ways to make them special. The colors distinguish them from each other. Costumes, masks and decorations distinguish them from humans. They can be really outstanding in the play.

Pics of plants

Revised Final

  The performance of my group is based on a tragic play written by William Shakespeare - Romeo and Juliet. William Shakespeare was definitely one of the most successful English playwrights in history. A lot of his pieces reflect his personal experiences. Romeo and Juliet is a classic demonstration of immature, naive love. The play basically illustrates a story-line which develops upon the feud between the two families - Montague and Capulet, and ends with a grieving scene in which both of the young lovers died. Every Acts of the play are closely connected in Romeo and Juliet, a substantial amount of elements in the early parts of the playoffs foreshadow the tragic ending. The performance of my group demonstrates the hatred between the families, by showing the easy-irritating emotions of the two families, plus fighting and death. Hate is a type of extreme emotion, viewing things or people with hatred always gets negative results. In Romeo and Juliet, the theme of feud has been always a huge portion of the play. The young lovers were kept away from each other because of the intense relationship between Montague and Capulet. This hatred grants the inability of the families to treat the young lovers fairly. The pressure to the lovers from that atmosphere led to the final tragedy in the play, because their personality and thoughts were really affected by it. There are plenty of scenes that show the hatred of the families clearly. My group picked Act 1 Scene 1 and 5, Act 3 Scene 1, which best strengthen the idea. My performance used different colors' costumes to distinguish the two families, while the fight actions and language adaptations to present the theme of hostility. 


  The first scene I chose was shortened and adapted from Act 1 Scene 1. The setting of this scene was located among the Verona Streets. The two Capulet members, Gregory and Sampson entered the scene with weapons and started showing discrimination against the Montague family. In my performance, the Capulets were in black and white costumes, while the Montague was in green clothing, so the audience are able to recognize the difference between the two families. Next, one of the Montague member, Abram came in and began arguing with the two Capulets. It ended up with a fight. Abram died from the Capulet's blades. In the original play, there isn't any instruction that shows Abram died during the fight. So his death is one of the adaptations in our performance - in order to show the overflowing rage. Another significant adaptation is that the fight stopped right after the two Capulet stabbed Abram. So the later scene in which the prince conciliates the fight disappeared. Every adaptations that we did was with the purpose of maximizing the expression of their feud. There are a good amount of lines that are straight clues of the insolvable conflict between the characters. In the beginning of the scene. Gregory and Sampson started the conversation in this way:" I mean, an we be in choler, we'll draw."(Act 1 Scene 1, line 3) So their obvious willingness of fighting is shown right at the beginning. Also, the line by Sampson:"A dog of that house shall move me to stand. I will take the wall of any man of or maid of Montague's"(Act 1 Scene 1, line 12-13) is another perfect example of their discrimination to the Montague. The analogy of Montague members to the dog shows their attitude toward the other family. Followed by those provoking judgments, Abram responded to the "thumb biting" action of Sampson. " Do you bite your thumb at us sir?" (Act 1 Scene 1, line 45) Noticing that Abram here used the term "us" instead of "me", there were supposed to have more than one Montague members, but we decided to cut other characters except Abram, so the Capulet were able to overpopulate and then kill him. And finally, after the line"Draw if you be man"(Act 1 Scene 1 line 63), Abram died under Sampson's sword. This first scene might looks non-related to the two lovers - Romeo and Juliet, but it actually plays an important role of setting up the background and establishing the tone for the entire play. This fight is only the beginning, performing the beginning part efficiently shows how the feud covers the entire play. Shakespeare really made an effort to introduce the story background at the beginning. As I mentioned above, Romeo and Juliet weren't able to be together because the opposing family relationship. The fightings make people ruthless and blind. During the prince's speech, he expresses that:"If ever you disturb our streets again, Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace ."(Act 1 Scene 1 line 98-99). This line becomes a metaphor for the later incidents. The idea is always: No matter how deep Romeo and Juliet's love is, the feud is always going to cause a dead end in this story. The end is already settled at the beginning, a really complicated and vague connection.

  The next scene was originated from Act 1 Scene 5, it was picked under a tough discussion. The scene took place in the feast held by the Capulet. In this scene, Romeo first met his "true love"- Juliet and everything started at that point. However, one of the main character - Juliet did not appear in this scene in my performance, because it was adapted to show Tybalt's discrimination to Romeo. In our performance, the scene started with the entering of Romeo to the party After a relatively short monologue, Tybalt appeared and began pouring vicious words to the young man behind his back. Following that is the conversation between Tybalt and his uncle - Capulet, the head of family. At the end, Tybalt leaves with unsatisfied and envious emotions. In Romeo's monologue, he just simply praised the girl and expressed his overflowing love. "O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night"(Act 1 Scene 5, line 51-52). His personalities cause a lot of troubles for him, including taking risk to go to enemy's banquet without invitation. What happened next is another foreshadow of the later fight. Our performance erased everything before Romeo's monologue to directly show this close connection to the next scene. When Tybalt noticed Romeo's appearance, the fury blinds his eyes, my performance kept all his lines. "Come hither covered with an antic face to fleer and scorn at our solemnity ? Now, by the stock and honor of my kin, To strike him dead I hold it not a sin."(Act 1 Scene 5, line 64-67), this line clearly indicates Tybalt's willingness to fight Romeo. The relationship between Romeo and Tybalt has been always the biggest person-to-person conflict in the play, their destinies are binding together, only one can survive. From the scene, we can tell that Tybalt's personalities are extremely different from Romeo's. Romeo is a young man that put too much focus on his love, his language is poetic and gentle. On the other hand, Tybalt is the representative of hatred. He just doesn't care, takes whatever he needs to slain his enemy. By performing Act 1 Scene 5, I not only established a straight link between this scene and Act 3 Scene 1, but also indicates how much trouble Tybalt will bring to Romeo and change him. Under the pressure, Romeo finally changed and revealed the dark side of him which will be shown in the next scene.

   In my point of view, Romeo is neither a virtuous nor peaceable young man. He is kind of a unstable and tragic protagonist. At the beginning of the play, he's language brings readers an impression of innocent character, the young man is so overwhelmed by his love and life, that he is not possibly able to commit such murder in the later scene. However, showing the drastic change of Romeo is exactly my goal in the last scene, the extraction of Act 3 Scene 1. The scene begins with the dialogue between Mercutio and Benvolio. These two characters have really different personalities: Mercutio is an emotional young man, and he loves to fight. "thou wilt quarrel with a man that hath a hair more or a hair less in his beard than thou hast. Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts."(Act 3 Scene 1 line 18-20) These lines perfectly demonstrate Mercutio's personalities; Although he uses the word "thou", he is still talking about himself, how he will not tolerate others. On the other hand, Benvolio is more like a peacemaker, the first sentence "I pray thee, good Mercutio, let’s retire."(Act 3 Scene 1 line 1) straightly expresses his stand in the play. Benvolio is just not a representative of hatred, that's why we cut his line later in the scene. Again, in order to fully show the perspective of feud, a lot of adaptations needed to be established and utilized well. With the entering of Romeo, Tybalt was totally provoked, he started to arguing with Benvolio and finally started fighting with him. At that moment, Romeo was still being himself, an innocent, peaceful young man, my performance highlighted this whole line, "I do protest I never injured thee But love thee better than thou canst devise Till thou shalt know the reason of my love. And so, good Capulet, which name I tender as dearly as mine own, be satisfied."(Act 3 Scene 1 line 69-73)by letting Romeo standing alone while speaking. Our group believes it's the best example of Romeo's original characteristic. Next, he was still being that part of himself during the fight, "Gentle Mercutio, put thy rapier up."(Act 3 Scene 1 line 85), trying to break down the fight, but that was the last moment of him being calm. My performance strongly focused on the scene when Romeo was talking to the dying Mercutio. The audience will have a deeper understanding of Romeo's change, from the hatred. Anger and sadness are the types of extremely strong emotions, they can really change a person, especially to someone like Romeo, young and vulnerable. With the effect from anger, he became a killer. At the end of the scene, he challenged Tybalt, and slashed the enemy that took away his best friend from him. It doesn't matter whether the murder is right or wrong, the impact to him was substantial. The action of killing someone brings huge panic to him, and makes the later murder of Count Paris seems not that surprising. Again, this scene exists as a demonstration of how the feud changes Romeo, affects his later relationship, and led to the final tragedy.

  Romeo and Juliet is just an fabulous, irreplaceable existance in English literature history. The complication of teenage love makes readers think about the process and cause of the storyline. The hatred between Montague and Capulet is just an outstanding factor which affects not only the lovers but the love itself. My group has been always trying to achieve the goal of showing the feud. The adaptations in the performance such as distinctive costume and killing provides the audience a strong sense of hostility. This atmosphere is what makes the performance colorful and fluent. The selection of language shows the essance of the hatred theme, such as the discrimination from Tybalt to Romeo. Tybalt's effect on Romeo totally makes him a different person, the anger blinds his eyes so he became more arbitrary. In the end, the hatred's effect ripped through the lovers' heart and just left nothing behind.