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.

Obscure Object

1) The title of the movie, The Obscure Object of Desire is a difficult title to seperate in to meaning. The obscure object is sex. Throughout the movie, Matt is driven by the great desire to have Conchitta, to have sex with her and to simply physically posses her. He pretty much does anything for her and for her family. He gives them loads and loads of money and buys her a house and treats them with the greatest compassion. He is patient and just tries to remember that he really really wants to have sex with her. This is kind of obscure only because it is so powerful and it is something that he can not get out of his mind. Nothing else really will do that to a person.
3) The director probably uses two actresses for a few different reasons. However, if I remember correctly, one of the actress was the one that was nude, the other one did the dialouge scenes. Perhaps theses actresses are just both good at different things. Dancing for instance, was a neccessity for one of the characters. It could have been simply a logical, movie making decision.
6) There is deffinelty some themes of Celestina floating throughout this movie. For instance, the love versus lust factor. Matt does not actually love her, yet he is in love her with her body and her sex. He wants her in the physical sense, not the emotional sense. She knows this and uses it very well. She also pretends that she does not want him in any way through her dialouge, but it is apparent through her actions that she does want him. These are tell tale Celestina trademarks. Lastly, we see that there is some sewing in the film, which is a big part of Celestina. It is symbology, sewing up the virgin, etc etc.

Celestina-Last Day

1) The fact that they meet in the dead of night is very important. These "lovers" are keeping there love a secret which tells you that it is not accepted by society. They meet in the dead of night, signifying that it may not be ture love. People who are in love always talk about screaming it off the moutain top and telling everyone about it. However, these people, who are in a false love, keep it concealed from everyone. This is much more of a love for sex and desire than an actual love for another person. There more "star struck" or in awe of images of eachother. They just love the thought of the beauty and magnificent being of the other in the dark night, with stars shining. It sets a nice mood.
2)Melibea actually loves Calisto. Calisto does not love her but loves having sex with her. However, Melbea may really be in love with him. She kills herself after he is dead, and she is so young it is not that she is simply miserable. She either is love or thinks she is in love with Calisto. Either way, Calisto did not love her, he would not have killed himself. And no one really loves in this book. The prostitutes don't thats for sure. Maybe Pleberio's loved his daughter. He speaks of death when she kills herself. He honestly did care, but a fatherly love is different than being in love, No one was in love in this book.
6) Obviously there is some wrong going on here. Melibea is not allowed to show how she truly feels because of the patriachial society that she is living in. She loves sex and is totally incompassed by this as any human being would be. However, she finally gives in to her sexual urges, meaning that she realizes her matriachal, impowering role actually. She is torn between these two worlds, and eventually it leads to her suicide.

The Celestina-Day 4

Calisto's long speech does not reflect the predicted happiness. He is actually a complete mess and all over the place. At first he is mad at himself. He feels shameful that he succumbed to such desires and feels stupid that he has risked his whole reputation on the love of a mistress. He is madd that he risked everything, and know that he has come down from his high, he is seeing clearly how stupid his "love" was. Then, after going through that, and arguing in his own head, he realizes that he really did enjoy himself. And that he plans on going back, even if it seems supid. He realizes that she really does like him and that he can't wait to go back and see her, as long as no one finds out. The risk is worth the reward to him.
"did anyone ever do so well for himself?"- This is a quote said by Parmeno and I think it is really important because it basically sums up this book. All of the characters in this book really only look out for themselves and they are all completely consumed by greed. From Celestina to Calisto, these characters simply trick eachother, or attempt to decieve eachother in order to get what they happen to want at the time. No character really steps outside of this greed, so this quote sums up these characters in a few short words.