- What did you learn about the individuals present and who impressed you the most?
- What was your core statement? What idea would people come away with if they interacted with you?
And now the pictures:
The Great Gatsby and Virginia Woolf
The Grapes of Wrath
Sojourner Truth and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Catcher in the Rye and Arnold Friend from "WAYG? WHYB?"
The Things They Carried
Invisible Man
22 comments:
I learned that Greg was able to really transform into his character through his outfit. He did a great job of dressing as Jim would. It was also interesting to talk to Tanner because he seemed very knowledgeable about his character and knew information about Ralph Ellison that i would never have gotten from The Invisible Man. The character i enjoyed talking to the most was the Duke (Alex). I think he embodied his character well and made everyone laugh. Everyone in our class did a really good job of staying in character and incorporating humor into all of the conversations which made it really fun to be a part of. I am glad we did this activity because i got to know everyone a little bit better.
I hope that for my character people were able to see how depression affects an author's writing. Virginia Woolf was really depressed throughout her lifetime and i wanted people to see how her depression affected the content of her stories, such as the death of the moth. I also hope people could see how Woolf was passionate about certain things, such as her writing and the feminist movement and that she wanted to commit suicide.
-Ruba Raza
I learned that Madill has an unusual knack for laying his hands on many things and that he had the pocket space to hold them all and that Tabria is a phenomenal actor who should try out for the next theater production. I learned that Greg can really get into things when he wants to and that Ruba is depressed. The person that impressed me the most was Greg and his impersonation of Jim the slave from "HuckleBerry Finn".
My core statement was that I only cared about myself and that I would only be nice to people if they were going to do something for me. I also asked several females and Ayeman if they would care to join me in the back of Ed Bankys car, but only Ayeman said yes. Anyways, I liked tat activity and wouldnt have minded it if we had done it more throughout the year.
Ayemen Khan: Everyone's character had individuality and showed an uniqueness about that person. I learned that through their costume and acting skills, everyone was able to portray their character, and their role in their book with great detail. Tabria as Sojourner Truth was the best because her ability to talk like an abolitionist and women's rights activist was accurate, but funny at the same time. Alex Madill also did a great job of stealing different items from people, just as the Duke did in Huck Finn. Overall everyone in our class did a great job of representing a certain character, and through conversation, I learned a lot about them.
I wanted people to recognize the innocence of Allie Caulfield, and why Holden loved him the way he did. The quietness and timidness showed how innocent children are, and especially Allie. I also said some knowledgeable information, which I wanted people to see why Holden thought Allie was so intelligent. The look on my face was one of hope, showing the innocence of Allie even during the time he was sick of Leukemia. Through my actions and conversation, I wanted people to see the significance of children before they encounter the corrupt society, and how Allie is Holden's escape from reality.
Melissa Kennedy
I have never participated in a lesson like the one today and I thought it was a good way to review the books and have fun at the same time. Everyone was really impressive int heir own way; Alex
P was really creepy, Tabria was really in character, and Alaina had a really cool hat. The perosn who impressed me most though was Mr. Miller. He was definitely the most in character: he asked Cassidy the prostitute for a three dollar backseat hookup and asked if I wanted to drink breast milk since I was an old man...probably the wierdest things I have ever heard said by a teacher. Everyone was great at portraying their character and their purpose in whatever book they were from.
The core statement or idea that everyone should understand about Elroy is that he is a turning point for Tim O'Brien. He acts as O'Briens conscious almost, or a crutch, by just being quiet and letting O'Brien figure out how he felt about the war. He also represents Transcendentalism becasue O'Brien finds his answers away from society in an old fishing lodge on the Rainy River. Elroy is a guiding figure in TTTC.
sorry I accidentally posted twice thats why I deleted the second one
One thing I learned from the character cafe was that who each of the authors were. I did not know much about them before that, and it was interesting to learn more about them in that setting. Another thing I learned was that Mr. Miller is good at embarrassing me by asking the class if anyone was thirsty...because I was Rose of Sharon. I also learned that Tabria is great at staying in character and I thought she impressed me the most. Her voice, attitude, and outfit were all fitting to her character. My core statement involved my stillborn child and how my husband, Connie, left me. I wanted people to also see how kind Rose of Sharon was, as well as seeing how much Connie leaving her affected her.
I learned about each individual character. Our class did a great jog of highlighting the different character traits of characters from each book. You could really get a feel for each character if they were in the real world. Greg and Alex impressed me the most. Greg was able to transform into what Jim would have most likely looked like. He captured Jim's character very well. Alex was able to reenact the Duke very accurately. Walking around stealing things really highlighted the Duke.
For my character, I really wanted to show the mental and physical toll the Vietnam War took on the soilders. Having to see their fellow comrades die in their arms, forced the soilders to carry a burden on their heart. Some could not handle the war, so their best option was to escape the reality, such as my character did.
Alex Madill, Tabria, and Greg impressed me the most. Alex because he got so in character with the stealing, Tabria because she is a great actress and seemed to really embody Soujourner Truth, and Greg because he went all-out with the costume. However, Tanner and Alex Patmore helped me best to recall what their pieces were about.
I learned that actually talking to the characters and seeing how they interacted with characters from other books helped me get a better grasp on what we've read this year. I also discovered that learning the background of the authors (Alaina, Tanner, Ruba, and Tabria as Fitzgerald, Ellison, Wolfe, and Truth respectively) helps to understand their works.
Ma's core statement would be that family can get you through even the hardest economic times. Family is the reason to keep going.
--Meagan Raviele
One of the main points I learned from the class was the significance of class divisions promoted or denied by either the authors or characters. Fitzgerald and characters of the Great Gatsby emphasized their higher status while characters of Huckleberry Finn and Grapes of Wrath saw the class divisions as a burden. The characters each emphasized throughout identity using different ideas or costumes to define their own. This ranged from simple defining characteristics like Ted Lavender and the tranquilizers or more complex like Sojourner Truth’s determination and speech to promote equality among women and African-Americans. It was nice to connect with characters from other novels like Sunny or Cathleen (who encouraged our conversation with questions and ‘whys?’) as well as characters from the Grapes of Wrath like Ma Joad where we could discuss unity and other themes. I found that Sojourner Truth was the most impressive for Tabria completely embraced her character through the costume, attitude, and speech. She really pushed her ideas and not simple facts that occurred in the novels or texts.
The core statement that I promoted was the idea of the human spirit (or the oversoul in Emerson’s terms) how everyone is connected and authority rests with the people, not god or Jesus, to establish unity.
-Meg Bittle
All of the characters were very impressive; each person was able to embody who they were trying to be very convincingly. The person who impressed me the most was Greg as Jim from Huckleberry Finn. He had a great costume, appropriate accent, and his actions were both funny and accurate. He followed Dusty (Huck) around wherever she went. I learned that Jim was a very loyal friend and father figure to Huck. Alex Madill was also amusing as the Duke from Huck Finn. He was very sneaky when stealing people's things. I also learned that Stradlader is a jerk, Ted Lavender loves to smoke, Sunny is very promiscuous, and Sojourner Truth is old and southern.
I wanted people to understand that Tom Buchanan at first acts polite and gentlemanly, but once you get to know him he is actually snobby, arrogant, sexist, and racist. He does whatever he needs to get what he wants.
-Ben Chesnut
I thought it was very interesting to see exactly how everyone got into their character, some people more by costume, and others more by what they said. I think that the best two characters were Tabria as Sojourner Truth and Alex Madill as the Duke. There wasn't a single time that I looked at Tabria and saw that she was out of character; she was consistently talking in a super southern accent and hunched over(which had to get a little bit painful.) Midall was very impressive due to how involved with his character he got- by the end of the breakfast, I'm pretty sure he had stolen something from everyone.
In acting as my character, Jordan Baker, I hoped to show to people how self-centered she was, and how focused she was on petty things, like winning and money. Jordan Baker is not a very deep character, but her lack of morals definitely is what defines her.
I learned that Alex Madill who dressed as the Duke from The Adventures of Huck Finn, was really good at playing the part, especially since he actively socialized and was still able to steal from people. Greg also did a great job by dressing the part of Jim really well and attempting to speak in a accent that would seem accurate for the setting. I also felt that both Ben Chesnut and Nathan Cerpial did a good job as Gatsby and Tom, by talking to each other about things that were mentioned in the novel and encorporating some of that into a more realistic conversation.
The idea that I wanted people to understand about my character is that he is very "fake" person. Dr. Bledsoe is also does not have a normal moral attitude about African-Americans in society. And that he played an important part in the development of the narrator in the Invisible Man and contributed to the motif of power in the novel. Anyways, I liked this get-together that we had and it did help with remembering some of the characters that would be mentioned in the final.
I have one thing to say first of all. Everyone sucks. Except for that Gatsby guy, he's alright. But man, that Tom fellow really got on my nerves. I mean, I'm not a moral guy, but cheating on your wife isn't right. I just wanted to punch him in the face. But instead, stupid Stradlater was there, & he punched ME in the face.
But what scared me was that I kept seeing my dead brother. No matter what, I kept seeing him. Luckily, that stupid singing blueprint salesman with that phony hat would snap me out of it. Someone else I couldn't stand was that "duke" guy who stole from everyone, well except from me, so I guess I don't really mind.
Evan Jaynes
Alex, Tabria, and Greg were the most impressive characters in my opinion. They both came totally prepared with their costumes and remained in character the entire time. Beyond beyond the acting, however, I was especially impressed with Megan and Ben. A lot of the assignment was oriented towards acting, but Megan and Ben both made sure that throughout the exercise they were always informing people about who their character really was on a deeper level.
As for my character, it was important to me that I made clear the distinction between the nature of Ralph Ellison and that of the Invisible Man. While the Invisible Man is portrayed as a naive, ambitious individual struggling to make an impact in Harlem, Ellison was a much more complex character. While he shares many things with the invisible man, his lifestyle is more representative of the corrupt and misguided character he demonized in his book.
Tanner Lockhead
I learned that everyone in our class really did come away learning something new from the whole year. I was mostly impressed with Greg and Tabria because they really transformed into their character. Tabria did a lot of research on her character enabling her to act just like Ms. Truth. I was also really impressed at how our class was able to use the literature to make conversation. One particular example would be with Tabria. She would start off talking about African-Americans and women obtaining equal rights and drop in the phrase "Ain't I A Woman?" allowing others to identify her character and her characters literature. My core statement was that I was rich and above everyone else. I loved material things but I was also very secretive. If people were to interact with me they would come away with the impression that I was one of the richest women in America. They would also call me "snooty" and "stuck-up" because that is the direction that I took my character Daisy in.
The most interesting characters for me to interact with were definitely the authors. It was weird to play the part of a character in one of their books while talking to them. I felt like i learned a great deal about the author's personality types while talking with them and watching how they were responding to my banter. It was also easy to see the tensions when trying to interact with characters from different areas of life and time periods, there were awkward moments when trying to find out what both characters could talk about.
The person that impressed me the most today would definitely be Tabria. While i walked around the room mindlessly spouting lies and stealing without many people noticing she was hilarious and stayed in character while not letting me get away. It was hard at times to keep in character because she was too funny!
Core Statement: The Duke will lie to anyones face, for both personal benefit and pure pleasure, stealing all the while. Yet underneath his evil, a good mind helps him out.
Alex Madill 1B
Sorry this is late....I miscalcuated the 24 hours....Math is hard guys. Sorry Miller!
Throughout the lavender room activity, I obtained a better understanding of the character types which existed in each of the novels. In The Great Gatsby, I received some insight into the relationship between Tom and Gatsby and how they were very much against each other. In the Catcher in the Rye, I got a good glimpse into Phoebe’s character and the insight and maturity which she possessed. Further, I also learned a lot about Stardladder, seeing as there was two of him. In the Grapes of Wrath, I got a better understanding of Jim Casey and his philosophy. I also think that Ma jode’s character became a bit more clear. In Huck Finn and The Invisible Man, I understood more about black’s struggles during this time period, as illustrated through Truth’s character. In the Things They Carried, I got a better understanding and learned more about Rat Kiley and his internal struggle with war. I think that Meg Bittle impressed me the most because she really had a good grasp of Jim Casey’s character and his philosophies and her little rant about Jesus and the over soul was a good review.
Core Statement: I tried to expose the flaws of a materialistic and corrupt society in my writing of The Great Gatsby; however, this is slightly ironic for I myself lived a corrupted and elitist life.
Alaina B. 1B
Sorry this is massively overdue. It completely escaped my mind. I truly apologize.
I was very impressed by Tabria and Alex M. They both did a marvelous job of remaining in character for the duration of The Lavender Room assignment. They were so good, one could easily tell which characters they were without many hints. They brought the characters to life.
As entertaining as the assignment was, I felt that many of us, including myself, probably did not utilize the activity as well as we should have. In most of the discussions, I noticed that people mainly asked general questions such as, "Where are you from?" and "Are you from [insert title of novel here]?" rather than exploring the deeper function of the characters. The only people one could truly get to know were the authors. The individuals who portrayed the authors did their research and educated everyone about that author's life. One such individual was Tanner, who was Ralph Ellison. Without his dedication to being Ellison, we would never have known how Ellison was once on a path to becoming a musician.
Core statement: Replacing reality with fantasy may lead to one's undoing. Beware of the Arnold Friends in your life. You too may end up like Connie.
From the characters in the room, I learned a lot about them that wasn’t necessarily in the books. I learned what it would be like to actually interact with some of the characters, like when we talked to Alex about Connors hat, he was very slick and I imagine that the duke would also know just what to say. It was also interesting to talk to some of the authors that brought the characters to life, especially Tanner who gave a different perspective on the Invisible Man. I think that Greg had the best costume but Cassidy was the most convincing and it was a bit off-putting. When I was talking to her, most of the time I was too shock by what she was saying to respond. The main thing that I wanted to get across with Gatsby is that he was very wealthy and somewhat snobby and pompous but at the same time he had a very big heart. I think that people would think he was smooth yet approachable and likeable, but also a little distant because he was still obsessed with Daisy.
I felt like this activity really helped me learn a lot more about the characters than I did by just reading the books. Having the chance to actually be a character and interact with the others, even if (especially if) they weren't from my own book, helped me and everyone else to have a deeper understanding of the characters in the books. It was cool to see how everyone interacted with each other and responded to everything in the way that they thought their character would respond. The people who impressed me the most were Tabria, Alex M., Cassidy, and Evan J. I thought that they did the best job of really embracing the personality of their person and staying in character the whole time. They didn't hold back and they always knew exactly how their character would respond to everything. The idea that I wanted people to come away with when they interacted with me was that Sally was really just a normal girl, even though Holden made her seem stupid and "phony." She just wanted to enjoy life and she was always very optimistic.
I learned a lot about how characters from different books might react in real life. For example, the Duke (Alex) would offend many people such as Jordan Baker (Morgan) by stealing their most prized possessions. By interacting with characters from other books, I felt that I was really challenged to discover my character's true personality.
My core statement was that Jane was really an emotionally injured girl who became very socially awkward. She caused Holden to think a lot about the past, but she actually was not all that affected by him.
Julia Larson
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