Blog 13

How would you describe the ending? Use strong adjectives, creative interpretation. Use specific examples from text to back up ideas.

What lesson do you think it is trying to teach to readers? Explain answer.

After reading my love, my love or the peasant girl, I would say it’s a tragic ending I have predicted for a long time. That’s truly sad, and even more tragic than the little mermaid or Romeo and Juliet. For little mermaid, since the man has never loved the little mermaid, he didn’t give him any hope so that’s not that said when the little mermaid lost everything at last. For Romeo and Juliet, at least they have love so that their death is worthy. The peasant girl, Ti Moune, died with nothing: no love, no family nor friends. I would say that she’s too young and too naïve so that this tragic ending would happen to her.

Ti Moune tried hard to start a new life because she thought she’s special. However, all her wishes brought her to be hated by the rich states, “I don’t pay you good money to leave dead peasants in front of my hotel” (p. 168). Daniel’s dad didn’t hate her; he just ignored her because she’s a tiny peasant and they lived in a different world. Even Daniel saw her as a little pet more than a person, who was equal to Daniel. According to the book, when Andrea saw Ti Moune, she said, “Daniel, how lovely. Never have I seen such a beautiful black girl. Can we keep her?” (p.150). Andrea used “keep” instead of can we live with her. It seem like she’s just want to keep a pet instead of give her a good life. However, Ti Moune had never really notice about this and so that it cause the tragedy because she looked too high to herself.

Peasants were always peasants in this book, no matter how hard she tried. Well actually, I didn’t think she deserved to be rich because she wasn’t really paid anything. She didn’t spend any time to work nor study. The only thing that Ti Moune did was to imagine something when she has a better life. For example, when Daniel was sick and Mama wanted Ti Moune to work because she couldn’t help anything actually. Ti Moune just pretended to work but actually only think about her patient. She’s been not concentrated in her real life, so that this also caused the tragedy that she’s been hungry and died, alone.

Admittedly, I’m not sure about what the writer wanted to teach me, but what I learned is that people shouldn’t underestimate their power and all dreams should be brought by a dependable effort. Firstly, as I said before, because of Ti Moune thought she’s special and everybody should love her, she lost herself and she thought her power was too big. In fact, Ti Moune was just a little peasant girl whose mind was filled by fake imaginations. Indeed, she was beautiful, but she’s also different so that the rich people couldn’t accept him. Otherwise, for people who have dreams, they should really do things to make them rich instead of thinking about luckiness that they might be brought by a rich man. The only thing people could depend on is their self. Since Ti Moune gave all her mind to Daniel and decided not to work for her future anymore, she already caused her ending. Thus, by reading the book, I learned that we should understand ourselves better and self-strong.

Discussion questions

1. Why did Ti Moune fell in love with Daniel so easy?
2. Why did Ti Moune want to go to the big city? Does it because of her love or her desire to be rich?
3. Why did Tonton agree Ti Moune to leave?
4. Why would the Gods argued about Ti Moune?

Tonton Julian, the hidden wisdom

According to My love, my love, or the peasant girl, the story of the young Ti Moune included lots of interesting characters. Ti Moune always made me feel touched by her insistence even though I didn’t know why did she love Daniel. Mama was nice since she cared about her Ti Moune as their treasure so much. The Gods are livable since they appear to argue about Ti Moune’s future. However, the character I loved the most was Tonton Julian. Even though he was funny in the passages at first, the sentences he said were always extremely right and important among human’s philosophy. I like him, because of his love to Ti Moune, his philosophical sayings and his content in happiness.

Firstly, I knew that Tonton Julian actually loved Ti Moune so much. Even though he was being sarcastic to the Gods usually, he still agreed that Ti Moune was a treasure brought by the Gods. Since he loved Ti Moune so much, he would then agree to find Daniel’s father and went in to that dangerous forest and find his dad finally. Even he was offended or despised by Gabriel, Daniel’s dad, he still reached Ti Moune’s request. When Mama was surprised, “He didn’t ask you? And you gave him directions?” he wasn’t being angry to Daniel’s father but replied, “Mais oui. How was he to find the way?” (Guy. P54). He actually seen Ti Moune as the most important one and his emotion was strong and easily made me feeling moved.

Otherwise, he was sometimes silly, but he also acted like a philosopher. When Ti Moune wanted to leave the small village and to go to the big city to find Daniel, Tonton Julian was actually the only one who agreed. He knew that he couldn’t stop Ti Moune since the young girl has a too strong desire to find a new life, but he still tell her that, “But remember, bravery can sometimes be the mark of a fool, ma petite. The stronger the swimmer, the faster he drowns” (Guy. P62). Maybe Ti Moune would feel angry about his saying since that’s kind of offensive, but Tonton just wanted to tell Ti Moune about the real thing in real life. Also, Mama asked, “Ti Moune is our treasure, Monsieur Julian. How can we live without her?” and didn’t agree at Ti Moune’s leaving (Guy. P63). Tonton answered, “My wife, treasures that need constant watching have already been lost” (Guy. P63). He already knew that there must be a day that Ti Moune was going to leave them. Also, he knew that a treasure couldn’t stay with them for her whole life. He was deadly clever that he already knew the end so he was just happy with what he already had.

Finally, in the musical adaptation of the book, Ti Moune described Tonton Julian, “Tonton accepts what he gets, happy for tea in their cups and no holes in their nets.” For Ti Moune, this might be a reason that she wanted to leave because she always wanted to have a new life. However, in my perspective, I would describe it as the wisdom of life since he couldn’t change his life that much so that he didn’t impose or over demand anything. I would say that he was having the best attitude to face the life.

Guy, Rosa. My Love, My Love, Or, The Peasant Girl. COFFEE HOUSE, 2001. Print.

Reading quiz, question 4

If you were to stage this novel as a play, how would you costume Desiree in order to show her as a member of the peasant village yet also an outsider, a dreamer who longs for something different? Would you show any connections to the God or the the rich and if so, how? Explain your answer.

If I were to stage the novel as a play, I would costume Desiree in a peasant's basic look. She would be in a grey shirt and pants and maybe a grey veil that covers her hair as a really simple peasant. However, the clothes should be really clean and tidy while other peasants' might be dirty and old. It showed that she was still different with those peasants with her dream see the city. Also, I might costume her with a yellow, bright flower on her head to separate her from the peasants. The peasants were ordinary and they care less about their out looking. Desiree was different that she did want to see the big cities and she had many different imaginations, so the flower on her head would represent her speciality.

Otherwise, for the rich and the Gods, I would dress them differently but both in fancy costumes. For the Gods, I would choose to let them in robes and dresses which people wore in medieval or early centuries. It's because they are the characters that based on myths, so they should wear ancient dress to show their difference. For the rich states, I would let them wear suit and be formal usually. It's because they are rich people in modern time and the should be in proper dress as "rich" in their identity. Suit and ancient clothes are both fancy and formal in some way but totally different due to the time line, so that they are proper clothes for rich people and the Gods.

Once upon the time, there were four Gods

My love, my love or the peasant girl, written by Rosa Guy, is an adaptation of the Little Mermaid. Even though I have only read 3 chapters for now, I saw many similarities to the Little Mermaid. The book told a story about a peasant girl, called Ti Moune, on a village of an island. There were four gods in the setting: Agwe, the God of water; Asaka, the God of Earth; Erzulie, the God of love; Papa Ge, the God of death. They were kind of opposite to each other in pairs and they all have different and interesting characteristics. Thus, I would decide to stage them in different costumes, colors and figures.

For Asaka, she’s a female figure who’s in charge of the Earth. I would make her to have yellow or green dress and golden hair. Yellow is the color that similar to flowers or earth and green represents lives and plants. There should be a wreath made by flowers and leaves on her head to show all the beauties of the Goddess. She should be kind and soft as the mother God for all the villagers. She should be white, bright and beautiful in case to be admired by the villagers and Agwe.

The opposite side of Asaka is Agwe, the male God of water and the ocean. From the book, he likes Asaka and he is also irritable. If I’m staging the play, I will settle him in a long blue robe and a trident as weapon, which might be similar to the other God of the ocean Poseidon. If it’s possible, I will also paint him light blue skin, which might be strange and pale. The ocean has a set of blue color so that the main color of Agwe is blue. Since his easy to feel angry, he would act exaggerated and continue waving his weapon to show his anger. When Asaka show up on the stage, Agwe should also show up in the opposite side to show the difference.

Then, for Erzulie, the Goddess of love, the book hasn’t mentioned her in the first three chapters yet. I assume that she will be in red and pink. Those are colors that represent passionate and love. She should be sometimes being confused like a little girl, sometimes being happy like a girl in love, and sometimes being sad like an elderly who knows the hard of people’s lives well. She’s not as kind as Asaka, who might play in a mother’s role, and even kind of playful in case to show the variable of people’s love.

Lastly, for Papa Ge, he’s the God of death and he should be serious and solemn in my imagination. He should be in black, a deep black that even covered his head. People shouldn’t see his face since his in charge of death because it’s ominous. He should have a mask on his face. His voice might be sharp and I would make him laugh a lot, not laugh because of happy, but gloat and sarcastic. Whenever he comes up to the stage, he should be in a dark corner with in no light while the other places are all bright.

Overall, I wish those for characters will be really interesting by staging in this way. Also, I would like to watch some of the plays of the book to see if others come up with the same ideas.

Flowers

Written Coursework

Written Coursework

Chosen Extract: Act 2 scene 1 and Act 3 scene 5

Word count: 1880

Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, is a play that tells the love story between Romeo and Juliet. The first balcony scene, act 2 scene1, was extremely beautiful; it seems great to see Romeo and Juliet exchange their love. However, since Romeo and Juliet were so young, I first started to doubt about their love to each other. After reading the second balcony scene, which is Act 3 scene 5, I found that Romeo and Juliet’s love wasn’t so stable that it was changed by Romeo’s banishment and their desperation. Thus, I acted in Romeo’s perspective and used intensive emotion, opposite tones, two music styles and contrasting color costumes to stage the balcony scenes to show how desperation changed Romeo and Juliet's love and ultimately caused the tragedy.

In Act 2 scene 1, I used optimistic settings such as colors and objects and acted tenderly to show Romeo and Juliet’s new young love. The first part of the whole scene was bright. There was a big table with some red and yellow artificial flowers. We set the table as the balcony. Behind the table, there was a window also decorated by some flowers to be the room. The flowers were significant because I wanted to imply that their love was similar to those flowers, which were extremely beautiful at first, but then perished and died. It meant that Romeo and Juliet’s love would be vivid in the first balcony scene. Juliet was standing behind the window and I was coming from another door on the left of the window. Both characters were wearing red because it’s a passionate color. It told the audiences about how they dropped in love deeply and it would be obvious when the costumes changed in the second scene. Then, it would show the comparison clearly. Also, the background music was relaxed and lively to suit a background based on happiness. The settings in Act 2 scene 1 helped to emphasize the brightness of Romeo and Juliet’s love at first.

In the start of the scene, the two lovers show that their love was much more important than everything, such as their identity and their family. Romeo says, “It is the east and Juliet is the sun” (2.1.3). It shows that he is faithful to Juliet at first in case to show the difference in the second balcony scene. Then, Romeo swears how he loved Juliet, “Lady, by yonder blessed moon I vow” (2.1.112). However, Juliet was anxious by the variable of the inconstant moon. Then, Romeo starts to promise again and again tirelessly. Swearing for several times doesn’t bother him at all. It’s a clear contrast to the second part that Romeo asks to leave when Juliet begs him to promise. He has been so patient in this part, when his love to Juliet hasn’t turned sour yet. In term to show how Romeo’s yearn for Juliet’s love, I hold my hand, and pointed to Juliet’s window to seen her as my god. When Juliet asked Romeo to banish his identity as a Montague, I was anxious and rushed to Juliet’s sight to say, “I take thee at thy word” to show Romeo’s attention on Juliet’s sweet request (2.1.53). When Juliet wanted me to pray and swear, I pretended there’s the moon on my left and turned to it to bless. Then, I turned back to Juliet and stared at her to praise her beauty and asked for the exchanging of love. The first balcony scene was truly beautiful for both characters at this point.

Towards the close of Act 2 scene 1, Romeo and Juliet have slanged so long together even Romeo were about to leave; I began to create a contrast to the ending of the second scene through the dialogue and action as well.

Juliet has heard some voice and leaves. Then, Romeo says, “Being in night, all this is but a dream” (2.1.147) to show how happy he is to find that the generous night brought him Juliet’s love and how much he was afraid that it doesn’t truly happens, Then, Juliet returns; an interesting point in this part is Juliet leaves and returns to Romeo for several times. When Juliet leaves, Romeo just stays and waits for Juliet’s returning quietly. When Juliet returns, he continues expressing his love. In the whole process, he has never been out of patience. Even after Juliet totally leaves the stage, Romeo still remains staying under Juliet’s window and loathed to leave. He even doesn’t want to have any sleep and rushes to Friar Lawrence’s cell to make sure that Juliet would marry him instead. However, how Romeo behaves in the second part of the scene shows how unstable his patient and love is. To perform Romeo’s sentimental love, I acted exaggerated by holding Juliet’s hand and stared at Juliet every time that she’s about to leave. I felt shorted-winded. By showing his happiness to notice Juliet’s love, I walked around, kept whispered and use my hand to show how excited Romeo was exaggeratedly. I also touched my heart to show how it speeded up when Romeo thought he find his “true” love. Even though Romeo doesn’t speak a line to ask Juliet to stay, I expressed he wasn’t willing to see Juliet’s left. By returning to balcony again and again, Juliet also shows that she’s not willing to leave. I emphasized the line “A thousand times the worse to want thy light” (2.1.165) to show how much Romeo wanted to stay with Juliet. I acted extremely exciting and talked as a stammer person. It helped me to show that Romeo is too emotional and happy that he even lost his ability to talk. I moved around quickly and keep scratching my hair to show that Romeo was thinking about what he should do next could help him to marry Juliet the fasted. The first balcony scene ends with full of sweetness and love, and then, the desperation destroys them in the second balcony scene.

The other part of the performance is Act 3 scene 5, the second balcony scene. In this scene, the tone was totally changed that I acted truly depressed and frustrated. This part of the scene was dark; even though the over all setting of the balcony didn’t change at all, the performers changed their color. Both characters were inside the room when the scene started, and I was going to leave to another door when the scene about to end. I wore in black while Juliet wore in white. Both of them are grave colors to imply their dark future. Black also showed constrain and the strong indefinite of his future with banishment. The unchanged background can show the difference between costumes more clear. For music, I put a slow music and it’s lifeless to emphasize the desperation in case to give a big contrast in comparing the first and second balcony scene. The cold and dark settings of Act 3 scene 5 could bring the audience a sense of desperate and then cause the contrasting.

The desperation brought by the banishment changed Romeo to be angry and impatient very soon, and I acted impatiently as well. In the start of Act 3 scene 5, Juliet asks Romeo to stay by telling him the day hasn’t come yet. However, Romeo should be frustrated and he soon says, “It was the lark, the herald of the morn, No nightingale” (3.5.6-7). It showed that Romeo wouldn’t say any words sweet any more but tell the cruel truth. Their love has changed that Romeo cared less about Juliet’s feeling than his own future. Then, when Romeo says, “Come death and welcome. Juliet wills it so. How is ’t, my soul? Let’s talk. It is not day”, it means that he’s being ironically to show his anger and he thinks Juliet doesn’t care about his life or she will let him go (3.5.24-25). Then Romeo says” More light and light, more dark and dark our woes” (3.5.36). It means that Romeo was desperate with his future since he could only feel the darkness even the light is coming; it also implies when Romeo leaves the balcony, their actions will lead them to the final tragedy. I was holding Juliet’s hand when the scene started, but then I shook her hands away to show that I was tired to please her. I raised my voice when I said it was the lark to show the audience that what Juliet thought was childish and Romeo wouldn’t change his mind to leave. To show Romeo’s anger after Juliet’s retaining, I was nearly roaring to my partner and I was speaking extremely loudly and the actress of Juliet showed like the crazy Romeo scared her a lot. When I asked for more light, I opened the window to let light in and then used my hand to cover my eyes to show I cannot afford the harm that the light would brought me in the ending of the story. Compare to the first balcony scene with full of love voice and sweet, the start of the second balcony scene was darker and full of quarrel and desperation.

Then, when Romeo leaves Juliet, the condition is really similar to the first time with his language, but also with different attitude that I became desperate and impatient to comfort Juliet and became confused about the future. They have been saying a thousand times of goodbye in the first balcony scene, and they also say thousands of times of goodbye in the second balcony scene as well. Romeo is keep-saying goodbye in this scene: “Farewell, farewell. One kiss and I’ll descend” (3.5.42); “Farewell. I will omit no opportunity” (3.5.47-48); “Dry sorrow drinks our blood. Adieu, adieu” (3.5.59). However, it’s not showing their love, but tells how Romeo wants to leave Juliet in a hurry. Juliet asks Romeo to stay and asks to hear love all the time, but Romeo just talks briefly to cope with her. Then, I acted like I was totally bored by Juliet and I was impatient to interrupt her some times even. When I said to give her the last kiss, she moved her lips to me. However, I actually just held her hand and put it down even without touching it by my lips. I wanted to emphasize that Romeo’s mind was already took by the desperation and it wasn’t left any space to think about Juliet. Thus, the difference in the attitude of the second balcony scene showed how desperation changed both Romeo and Juliet’s love.

To conclude, since the desperation changed Romeo and Juliet, it made them to be crazy and depressed. Then it forced them to do crazy things such as drink the poison or double suicide. If Romeo has show his care more about Juliet more about the second scene, then they wouldn’t be so desperate or feel guilty about each other. Then, it wouldn’t force them to die. In summary of the whole scene, I tried hard to think in a young man’s perspective and showed his frivolous and frustration. I think I did a good job in showing how desperation causes the tragedy by performing Romeo. Admittedly, desperation can change people, not just for love, but the whole life.