Indian Jones

This was a great film first of all. Secondly, I did like how Spielberg opened up with a young indy, and he did this for many reasons. He did this to show that the grail is a life long quest, that begins at a young age. Indy is in the boy scouts when his initial quest first begins. This is a good way of showing how the quest can take a lifetime. He also did this to give the viewers a chance to get to know Indy. He is a tough little guy with complete hope and desire for the good. This shows that he may be a knight, metaphorically speaking, who is entitled to the grail. He is out for the good, knowing the thing should be in a museum. This is a selfless act and we begin to know his character early. Also, the grail scene at the end. First, he is the only one able to get through first, the right way. He is a pure person. Not entirely, but the purest, best hearted, not pure like a virgin. He gets through and is able to guess the right grail because it is not for his own good. He loves his father, and much like Harry Potter got the stone for the betterment of everyone and not himself, Indy is able to retreave the grail to help is father. However, it is lost at the end. Indy only gets to use it to help his father. This again signifies that grail quests for forever. It is strategically not destroyed, but lost. Some how, some way, someone else could get it. But only the pure at heart etc etc.

Persse

1)Is Persse's grail ever finally achieved?
No I do not believe that it actually is. He thought that he was in love, when in reality he was in love with the thought of being in love, which we have seen in other works. Basically he lost his virginity and was willing to give it up because he thought he was doing it for love. He wasn't, so he never really met his goal. The sex was to basically land mark the love that he thought he shared with Angelica, but since it was with her sister, their was no actual love involved. Just sex. Lily then goes on to prove to him that he was not actually in love. He couldn't tell the difference between the two sisters, which means that he was never actually in love-soul connecting, deep rooted-love. His grail quest failed because he reached the wrong goal. Sure sex and what not but no love.

Small World: Day 3

1)Again, what is the emphisis on sex?
In this section of the book, one character has sex with his married secretary. Again this is showing how not all knights, metaphorically speaking, are just or good. He is doing this to get his own needs met and his own wants. Nowhere in chivarly is there room for a knight who is constantly having sex with married women. Also, the women is obviously not a very good person because she is ok with cheating on her husband. Obviously neither of these people are worthy of getting any grail or anything that they are working for, based on their morals.
2) What does the end of this section show us?
At the end of this section, phil does not tell his wife about his big news. I wonder why this is, and what significance it has. She is obviously excited about her new prospective job, but is he also? Probably not. He had big news and obviously is a bit upset that she was not more impressed and interested in his stuff. What does this have to do with chivalry? while caring for her, he does not worry about his own needs. Does this make him good? or simply moody?

Small World Day II

1)What is the reasoning for the emphasis on sex?
There are two particular parts in this book that emphasize sex. The one section involves one of the woman not being able to sleep. She then talks about using his vibrator, which seems out of the ordinary for the text and it was not something I saw coming. She also makes jokes about how the battery would die before she finshed, just like a man. She writes this down in her journal. Next, another man wants to join the mile high club. This is more like a party joke then anything else, but he really wants to. I wonder what all of this has to do with the book. What it means? Is sexual pleasure part of this journey?
2) What is it with time zones?
The second part of this book begins with people throughout different time zones. This is very much related to a journey. People have different travels, at different times in the world. but in reality, they might be having similar experiences at different places. In life, it doesn't actually matter what the time is, but what the experience is. Lodge is insinuating this a little.

Perceval: Day 3

2) Weeping is simply part of Perceval's repentence. He is very upset when he previously hears that his mother has passed away, and now he is even more upset because he realizes that her death was his own fault. He truly did care about his mother, yet was so caught up in his own self that he did not look out for her. Now, while he has time to ponder about her on his long journey, he realizes that he truly did care and that he wishes he could have prevented her death. Also he is constantly meeting new family members, people who loved his mother for how great of a person she was; this is disconcerning to him and he is quite upset about it. He is "looking in the mirror" and realizes that he was selfish and that he must repent for causing his mothers death. The weeping is his first true sign of caring.
5) The unfinished romance is trully quite annoying, yet may be one of the greatest tricks that Chritien ever pulled. In the begining he talks about how this is going to be his greatest romance yet, that he is highly accomplished, knows what he is doing, does it well, etc. Possibly, he meant to leave it like that because it creates millions of different possbile endings that people who read the text create. He accomplished people still reading and writing about his novel thousands of years later. Perhaps he did it on purpose to make sure that this one, his best and possibly his favorite, never died out. It is also his most popular, so I believe he knew exactly what he was doing.

Perceval Day 2

1)obviously this name signifies that this woman is pure at heart. White is a colored used to signify pure, virginity and sometimes even holiness. Her name is basically telling the reader that she is a good person, and she represents the true goodness still left in the world. Also, since it has to do with a flower, this could also elude to her virginity, having not been de-flowered or anything like this. She sleeps with Perceval and trusts him while she is sneeking into his bed. She is also weeping because she truly cares for his well being. Like in yvain, we see a damsel weeping over the one she loves because she is either scared of what is to come (foreshawdoing) or because she does not want to lose him.
2)Perceval is basically an onlooker in this procession, and is very unhelpful to the reader. One would assume that he would ask who the grail, which is glowing, showing noble, wisdom or magic...was being served to. He fails to bring light to a situation that is just steaming with mystery. Also, it is not every day that one sees a pure white lance bleeding. What does this mean? Possibly innocent blood spilt? Either way, Perceval should have asked what all this meant; not asking simply leads the reader to guess.

Percival Day I

1)He is leading us towards the Grail quest obviously. But a good natured one. He talks about how one should be a good person and charitable simply for the sake of being charitable and not because people will know about it. He tells you not to tell your left hand what your right hand is doing, and basically to do good deeds but not to boast about them. He wants people to watch him create this magical masterpiece. Again he is cocky and completely thrilled with his writing abilities.

2)This first scene is kind of like a funny scene. Percival is obviously a naive and unlearned human being. He has never heard of a knight and has no idea what any of the weapons that the knight is carrying are. However, he is very interested. He wants to know everything he can about the knights and their weapons. They are on a mission, yet they are nice and noble enough to answer his questions. They do look out for him a little bit, and they kind of think it is funny that he is so stupid. He is awed by them, they are kind of annoyed by him. This is obviously conflicting and Chretien does this to give the sense that Percival is on a quest and that he wants to be a knight.
3)This is an argument between a mother who thinks she knows what is best for her son, and a determined male. More often than not, the son is going to do what he thinks is right. Basically, she tries to tell him how his two older brothers died and were knights, and that he should do well to not become a knight because he will meet the same ending eventually. She also tells him to kiss women when he sees them and take their rings. I don't quite understand this because it seems to get him into trouble right off the bat.