The Smallest Muscle in the Human Body - Jessica Martinez

Alberto Rios creates insightful meanings through his poetry collections in his book, The Smallest Muscle in the Human Body. He combines childhood memories along with culture and family legends to provide the reader with a sense of awe and wonder once they've completed any selected poem. Alberto is very passionate when it comes to family matters and this is clearly viewed throughout his collection. He describes the situation, or better yet, his memory using vivid language and imagery and lets the reader come to their own conclusions. Rios leaves the ending open so that one may figure it out for ourselves. He never comes out and says, "This is what happened," he shows you. Good poetry always contains a hidden message, a moral that is intertwined within the words waiting to be discovered with thought and effort. All of Alberto's poems succeed in doing this. There were times while I was reading certain poems in this collection that I just couldn't decipher the meaning, then suddenly I would understand. Some poems were so intense I never comprehended them. Others, were so simple yet so complicated that I got hundreds of different possible meanings, each one viable in their own way. The Smallest Muscle in the Human Body, raises questions but also creates answers that based on opinion, can or cannot be helpful when it comes to life situations. Alberto Rios is a great author and his work of writing is even greater.

REFUGIO'S HAIR
By: Alberto Rios
In the old days of our family,
My grandmother was a young woman
Whose hair was as long as the river.
She lived with her sisters on the ranch
La Calera- The Land of the Lime-
And her days were happy.
But her uncle Carlos lived there too,
Carlos whose soul had the edge of a knife.
One day, to teach her to ride a horse,
He made her climb on the fastest one,
Bareback, and sit there
As he held its long face in his arms.
And then he did the unspeakable deed
For which he would always be remembered:
He called for the handsome baby Pirrin
And he placed the baby in his arms.
With that picture of a Madonna on horseback
He slapped the shank of the horse's rear leg.
The horse did what a horse must,
Racing full towards the bright horizon.
But first he ran under the alamo trees
To rid his back of this unfair weight:
This woman full of tears
And this baby full of love.
When they reached the trees and went under,
Her hair, which had trailed her,
Equal in its magnificence to the tail of the horse,
That hair rose up and flew into the branches
As if it were a thousand arms,
All of them trying to save her.
The horse ran off and left her,
The baby still in her arms,
The two of them hanging from her hair.
The baby looked only at her
And did not cry, so steady was her cradle.
Her sisters came running to save them.
But the hair would not let go.
From its fear it held on and had to be cut,
All of it, from her head.
From that day on, my grandmother
Wore her hair short like a scream,
But it was long like a river in her sleep.

Ariel Taylor Johnson

Slyvia Plath committed suicide on February 11, 1963 and left the world one last manuscript of forty poems later to be produced into her book ‘Ariel’ put together by her husband Ted Hughes. The theme for Ariel possessed many different options for discussion and while all have been accurately presented in her work; the theme of freedom seemed to really be heavily backed up by her interesting vocabulary, voice, and other various literary devices to show us what she may have wanted us to discover.
The name itself is the name of a horse she used to ride often. On the title poem she wrote, “Another horse back riding poem, this one called ‘Ariel’ after a horse I am especially fond of.” Noted by her daughter Frieda Hughes. Horse back riding and her horse Ariel symbolize the sort of freedom she grasped momentarily before her suicide, and before she believed that nothing could complete her again. So this poem all about her journeys horse back riding gave a detailed picture about the sort of freedom she gained and to just get away from the world. This was Slyvia Plath’s freedom. This gave her true joy and something that would never betray her, this is freedom.
This poem was written in between her depressive state and the edge she was pushed to (suicide), which was her way to freedom. Slyvia Plath really put her emotions to work and it showed more and more as her poem Ariel developed a new tone. It consisted of a tone of urgency, freedom, and force. She seemed to newly expose herself about her life, depression, and hobbies. She dug up everything she must shed in order to move on. And this poem as well as the rest of the collection showed the world her anger at the divorce with her husband, the fights she fought within herself to be happy again.

Kayla Bates-The "Ariel" Poems by Sylvia Plath

“Ariel”, the title of a detailed collection of poems written by Sylvia Plath, tells of a few experiences and even uses illusion through imagery and definitions. The meaning of the title has three meanings, which are all referred to by Plath. The most obvious meaning would come from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, meaning being “airy spirit”. “Ariel was also, in fact, the author’s horse, of which she would ride occasionally. The Hebrew meaning of “ariel” is “lion of God”. In the poem “Ariel”, she mentions “God’s lioness”. The poems are fixed to rhyme at only certain stanzas. This sets different settings and feelings based on how often the lines rhyme and where they rhyme. She also uses imagery in terms of Biblical settings. She also refers to herself as the “cauldron of morning”. The line says, “Eye, the cauldron of morning,” but could really mean “I, the cauldron of mourning.” This could mean the author feels as though she is the mix or creator of mourning. A. Alvarez said, “The difficulty with this poem lies in separating one element from another. Yet that is also its theme."
The many poems in “Ariel” associate with feeling of hurt and depression, in my opinion. “Lady Lazarus” seems to talk about attempts to suicide. The title “Lady” refers to herself and “Lazarus” is an illusion to the Biblical figure, where Lazarus is resurrected by God. This poem is about her third attempt at suicide, where the doctors save her from death and for this, she sees them as her enemies. In real, after writing the “Ariel” collection, Plath succeeded at suicide after a few attempts at thirty. “Lesbos” describes a mistress as being evil. She talks about two women being completely different and she also mentions a husband. She talks about two women who are not lovers, but rivals (Therresa Kennedy). I believe she is talking about herself in this poem, “her shadow rival” as Paul Brodie said it. Aside from poems about herself, Plath did write some poems in “Ariel” about people she knew. In “The Rival”, I believe she is talking about her mother. She wrote, “Your dissatisfactions, on the other hand, arrive through the mailslot with loving regularity…no day is safe from news of you…” Sylvia’s mother did write a book about her letters home, and her high expectations of her daughter probably worsened her suicidal tendencies, as Annie Chen tells us. “Daddy” could be talking about Ted Hughes, Plath’s husband. She was married to him for seven years, and one year he wasn’t very faithful to her, as she found out he was cheating on her. Some even say that this could be a confessional poetry, just like “Lesbos”. Some even say this was actually about her dad, dying when she was only eight.
The “Ariel” poems were all written during the hard times of Sylvia Plath, around her suicidal attempts. Her poems are basically about her life situations and experiences. Sylvia’s death took place shortly after these poems were written. She used many techniques such as allusion, imagery, irony, and so forth in her many complicated and mysterious poems. I find these poems very interesting because of the rhyming differences in each poem and stanza of each poem. She bases her poems off of times and events and even places, but mostly off of emotions.

Changes to the Reading Schedule

For those of you who have completed the June post, I will be responding by the end of next week. Thank you! I look forward to reading your thoughts...

I am canceling the last assignment for the summer, as I have made some changes to the school year syllabus. Please disregard and do NOT complete the following assignment:
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
~Post a thorough blog entry and respond to 2 other students by August 11th ; be sure to specify which collection of poems you are responding to in your post.

Happy Summer!

Richard Folsom- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

To be honest, I have not read a novel longer than 100 pages in a while, and I thought that this book would be lame and boring just because most of the ones I have read were actually lame and boring. I started reading it and was hooked after the first ten pages.

It was really interesting in how the author put the story together. A bunch of conflicts leading to another that one conflict started. Hassan had great qualities that made him... Hassan, and no one could destroy those qualities. He stood by Amir's side despite the many difficulties he had gone through his entire life; even after he moved to America which gives him the quality of integrity. Hassan was the definition of loyalty. When Hassan was beat up and raped by Assef and his buddies, Amir did not talk to him for a while. Hassan probably knew he was there watching for a bit, but he stilled remained loyal. Until death, he was loyal to Amir. He did not even have to take care of his house while Baba and Amir were gone, but he did anyways. If Hassan did not take care of the house, he would have been still alive along with his wife and have a happy family. Hassan was just too extremely loyal. Hassan was tested by Amir many times, and it did not make Hassan one bit less loyal to Amir. He was also a forgiving person. Hassan forgave his long-lost mother for deserting him before he could remember what she looked like.

pg. 219
"They told Hassan they would be moving in to supposedly keep it safe until I return. Hassan protested again. So they took him to the street."

On the other hand, while in America, Amir created the illusion that his problems were gone at his original homeland. Everything was going well for him. He feared that he might screw up stuff with his father and everything else if he told the whole truth of what happened with Hassan. Amir was on a the guild-trip in most of the story. Towards the end of the novel, Amir prays to his God that he had not prayed to for a while because of his father's beliefs which makes me think that Amir probably thought he had no one else to turn to, so screw it, if God is there, then I hope he hears this prayer. He eventually learned how to forgive people and how to forgive himself, but he was pretty old by the time he did. Despite what Amir went through, Amir still received the better end of the deal between him and Hassan. Amir was still alive.

Then, that brings the thought; What if Amir did not frame Hassan making him and his father leave? Maybe Baba would have told Amir and Hassan the whole story of how things went down, and a happy melancholic song would mark the end of the story with a happily ever after cliche after that. Things would have not been so dramatic, and everyone involved could be relieved that there were no more secrets. That would be an alternate fantasy side of it though because it was difficult to tell the truth.

Kayla Bates - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

A journey of lies, hatred, betrayal, and death is explained with great detail in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. The life of Liesel Meminger, during the reign of Hilter, is told by the narrator, Death. Irony and foreshadow is also presented. Guilt and abandonment, the two main themes in this novel, as Liesel is "abandoned" by family members, friends, acquaintances, and her close foster parents. Guilt fills the heart and mind of Hans Hubermann, Liesel's foster dad, after he survived World War I and the rest died. He wonders why he had been the one to survive and feels very guilty. This guilt moves him to help others in need. "Living is living. The price was guilt and shame" (page 208).

On their way to the fosters, Liesel and her mom and brother sit and wait upon arrival, not knowing that Liesel's brother was greeting Death. When they notice he is dead, the train is stopped and the train guards buried him the snow. The Book Thief finds and steals her first book, The Grave Digger's Handbook, hidden in snow. Expecting two children, Hans and Rosa Hubermann are told about the boy's death and welcome in only Liesel to her new home. Liesel has a hard time going in but somehow Hans coaxed her to go in without even saying a word. This brings them close together later on. Hans is an accordionist now, after he was shown how to play by a friend of his in the army who had been one to die along with everyone else, Eric Vandenberg. Rosa does laundry for various people and is more of a grouchy person than anything else. Her favorite insult name would be, "filthy pig."

Then Liesel meets her future best friend, Rudy. He begins to like her but Liesel won't have anything to do with him, as far as kissing goes. Death mentions, "The only thing worse than a boy who hates you [is] a boy who loves you" (page 52). As Liesel is forced to take laundry to Rosa's costumers, Liesel meets Ilsa Hermann, the mayor's wife. Isla finds out that Liesel likes to read and shows Liesel her library. She is overwhelmed by all the books and continues to go to Ilsa's house to read. As her last costumer, Ilsa Hermann has lay off Rosa with doing her laundry because of money issues going around. Liesel doesn't take it to well and instead off getting books from Ilsa for free, she crawls in a window and occasionally steals books from her library. Ilsa knows about it but continues to allow her thievery and gives Liesel a dictionary with a letter in it. From this point, Ilsa and Liesel become closer.

During all this, in the basement of the Hubermann household hides a Jew by the name of Max Vandenberg, the son of Eric Vandenberg. The Hubermanns have decided to allow this man to hide away from the Nazis and struggle to keep him hidden in occasional obstacles. The girl and Max gain a friendship that draws them together. All goes well until Jews walking to a concentration camp were passing by. Hans saw a man who was desperately in need of food and rest. Without thinking, Hans grabbed some bread and gave the man the bread. A Nazi came and whipped both men. Hans realized that the Nazi would come to his house and take him. He thought about Max. This lead to Max's departure. Nazis never came.

War was arriving to Himmel Street, the street of the Hubermann household. Air raids would force everyone to run to nearest basements for shelter. Bombs weren't dropped near Himmel Street until one day. The air raids began and the usual sirens were too late. Himmel Street was still asleep and everything and everyone was destroyed, except Liesel Meminger, who slept in her basement. She had been rereading her life's story book she had written in a blank page book that was given to her by Ilsa Hermann. This book and this woman had saved her life. After being rescued by LSE men, Liesel walked Himmel Street, or what use to be Himmel Street. She was in shock and couldn't believe what was happening to her until she found the bodies laid out in the street. She went to her beaten friend and she who had refused to kiss him many times, kissed Rudy on his dead lips. "Rudy, please, wake up...don't you know I love you, wake up...," (page 535). She found her foster parents. She began to cry hysterically, especially when looking at Hans. Both bodies were still wrapped in the covers they were sleeping with. She held Hans and hugged him for the longest time. She dropped her life-saving book and forgot all about it. She did remember, however, her papa's accordion.

Liesel was taken to a police station, and the book giver walked in. Ilsa Hermann, who lived with her husband on Grand Strasse, came and took Liesel home. Liesel was still in shock, even after four days. Liesel feels abandoned because of circumstance that lead everyone she loved to Death.

As for Max, he was taken to a concentration camp and one day he came back to Liesel. They cried and held each other. He had survived the suffering and troubles. He even survived the long walk to Dachau. Liesel had seen him amongst what appeared to be the walking dead. She had run to Max and grabbed him in excitement. She was whipped with Max. But now, he was safe.

Himmel Street was being cleared of all the mess and was taken in a dump truck. Death was hanging around as usual, keeping track of Liesel's lives, when he saw Liesel's book being thrown into a dump truck. He ran and took the book and over the time of Liesel's life he had read it over and over. Liesel lived a long life until she was delivered into the hands of Death. They met and he gave her her long lost book. "I can't believe...," (page 549). Liesel was said to be the Book Thief but maybe it was really Death because he had stolen Liesel's book.

Foreshadowing is a main theme in this novel because throughout the whole book Death gives away future happenings. Colors are used to describe scenes and what they symbolize. Stealing occurs many times and not only with books. Music , guilt, abandonment, and dehumanization are also other main themes in The Book Thief. Irony also plays a part in the life of a little girl. She goes to live on Himmel Street, where everyone she loves dies. Himmel means heaven. I just can't forget the thought that Death is the actual book thief. He calls Liesel the book thief but ironically its him. The titles of the books she recieved and stolen were also very important. Of course there is a lot more to the book. I'm sure this is the main part of it all though. Markus Zusak sure did an amazing job.

The Kite Runner: By KHALED HOSSEINI

KYLE.M.
The kite runner was a very good book. One of the major themes the author represented was loyalty and friendship. One of the things that really got to me was the friendship between Amir and Hassan. Hassan was a loyal and true friend who would have done anything for Amir because he felt that much love and loyalty towards him but Amir didn’t feel the same way he did. for example when they were kids, Amir made fun of their friendship every time he had the chance but Hassan never took it personally and still thought of them as best friends. One very bad moment in the story led Amir to betray Hassan and make it look like he stole from him so he could leave that place. Being such a loyal friend Hassan took responsibility for it and Amir left with his father. This was a very sad moment I thought because how could Amir do something like that to his best friend that would of done anything for him it is just so backstabbing and horrid. Later in the story Amir got a call from babba that got him to leave his family and go there to see what he wanted to tell him. Another major part was when after v38 years he got told that him and Hassan were brother and his reaction was “I’m 38 years old and I’ve just found out that my whole life Is one big f*****g lie”(pg 223) this was a very big turning point I believe because after he found out that Hassan had created a life and had a son he decided to find the son and raise it in America and have a better life. By doing this he creates a relationship with the boy and learns to forgive himself and redeem himself. He realizes in the end if Hassan were still alive he would of done anything for him 1000 times over.