Poets may arrange their material to encourage the reader to move rapidly through the lines or in a

way that encourages reflection. In the work of at least two poets you have studied, consider how

the pace of poems is created and its relation to the way meaning is delivered.

In poetry there are many ways to empathize a certain sentence or stanza. A way to do this is by using punctuations usually with a comma. However, Emily Dickinson took it to a new level instead of using the generic way like a period or a comma she did something different. She chose to use dashes which was a bold move at the time causing many people to hate it. But, when reflecting back on her poetry today you can realize that it is a very important part of her writing she uses it to change the pace of how the reader reads the poem.  By reading the poem with the dashes you pick up more on rhymes and patterns within the text that you could have missed. Pace is important to poetry because it makes you really thinking about what you read, and also makes the writing timeless. Always having to come up with more patterns and try to figure out the meaning behind the dashes.

When reading the poem “Hope” is the thing with feathers - it makes a lot of more sense when you read it the way Emily Dickinson wanted it to be read by stopping at the dashes. By doing this the poem rhymes more this is because of the pace of the poem and how it causes you to slow down to all of the pauses you need to do. Another way you can read this poem is by reading the last two words before the dashes, by doing this the reader almost is reading a poem inside a poem. Like in the second stanza “is heard - , the storm - , little Bird, many warm - “ these are the last two words before the dashes and when reading them it makes sense, this is one thing that the pace of the poem has to do with how it was written. The reason why the pace of the poem has to do with you being able to reflect on it is because with the punctuation it gives to time to think about that you just read. And it would be harder to do if there wasn't any.

Emily Dickinson took a chance by thinking outside of the box and instead of using the traditional way of writing poems she took a chance. An becuase of that chance she revived a lot of criticism of that time. But, reflecting on the work she has done today it still leaves people scratching their head in wonder what the dashe truly mean. Is it to change the pace of the poem to a slower speed to help you reflect on what you read. This is how the author wanted the poem to be delivered when the reader is reading, to think about that the words mean. These are things that are still talked about today creating a timeless feel to her writing.

     Poetry has many meanings to them making it sometimes difficult to figure all of them out. However, some common ones that are a major push for the author to create that certain poem you read is hope.  Hope, is something that you can be really passionate about and something that many people can relate to. That's a reason why it's used in many poets writing. Someone who embodies this as an author is Naomi Shihab Nye, to be more specific the poem My Father and The Fig Tree. Where a father is on a quest to find the sweetest and ripest fig. It's the hope that he has moving from home to home in his life in search for this fig that's been eluding him.

In the poem My Father and The Fig Tree there are a lot of connections and patterns throughout the poem. Specifically when the author describes hope in the form of a fig. Which symbolizes the hope the father has in finding the perfect fig. Within this poem there is repetition as well and is important to the theme of hope the author was trying to portray. An example of this is when the author says " about picking the largest, fattest, sweetest fig" it's used in the beginning of the poem to show the hope he had. And its busted at the end to show his dreams came to fruition.

The reasoning to why authors chose hope to write about is because everyone has dreams and goals for themselves. And because of that it makes it easy for people to connect with poems. This is something that Naomi Shihab Nye does a great job with in her writings. This is why poetry is known for connecting with people because the themes they have are so much more than what we think. And it's the meanings they have to every person is why people ignore the fact that poetry is confusing.

Here is a quote from Naomi Shihab Nye:

• Importance of literature and how it calms us and helps us relax from the world and takes a break on life
• We need it for comfort
• It's apart of us
• And how it connects to imagery and the ability for you to interpret your own point of view

Arabic Coffee

• Family that uses coffee like it's part of life
• How they prepare it like with the stove
• Coffee is a symbol of family because I know whenever I have family over my parents are always like want a cup of coffee
• A time where you can talk, and socialize

My Grandmother in the Stars

• It doesn't matter where you live because you never live in one place
• Flashback? To when his grandmother was alive
• They are telling the story from one that already happened
• Like how they look at the moon and how it flashes us
• Actually happened

My Father and the Fig Tree

• Father cares alot about the Figs
• It's a part of his childhood
• More talks about the figs
• When she goes to other places the figs aren't as good as they are used too
• There was never a fig where they moved
• Why don't they plant a fig tree

Blood

• Skin is peeling
• Very descriptive
• Catching flies with hands: all something that Arabs must know how to do
• Like a shooting star
• Confused on this poem

The Words Under the Words

• Allah
• Very important
• Religion very intertwined with the poem because of the presents of Allah
• Grandmother and main character

Two Countries

• Skin and how it resembles silk
• How it greys over time
• Like two countries

My vision for the play my love my love would be to modernize it since I think that as it is right now to transfer it to a stage would be way to confusing for the audience. I  would turn the play into a school and separate the two classes the poor side of the island and the rich part of the Island as different grades. Since in high school a senior has more power then a freshman because they are the oldest people at that school. And the Sundance can connect to that easier then having an elabeight idea I think. It would be set up like a school day would be like normally, and the Gods would be the teachers of the school because they have power over the people of the Island, just like how it is again making it easier for people to connect to it since it's a very complex play. However, doing this takes away the magical/ fantasy relation there is like in the novel. Again there will also be multiple encounters with the students and the teacher, but the main thing would be having a upperclassmen like a senior like a freshman which is weird since there is quite a big age difference however we are going to think it's normal for it. This will connect back to the novel, and make it better to comprehend. As for the devil of this school would be the principal because at the end of the day the teachers and expresses their option but it's the principles final say, kinda like how Papa Gé was in the novel. For the characters in this play I will have the main ones from the novel because I feel that they played an important role in the telling of the story and I feel it would be necessary to still have them in the play to further more tell the story. As for the lighting for the play I want to do something interesting because I feel like lights can be very helpful in switching scenes and showing different emotions. I was thinking it would be cool to have a black spot light on whenever Papa Gé to really symbolize and draw out the fact that he's like one with the shadows like in the novel. Another thing I will want to include in my play would be sound, because it is a great way to enhance the play. One thing I would be interested in doing would be when ever the Gods talk have a certain sound associated with them to almost give the audience a clue that there has to be more going on with these teachers. But, I haven't figured out what that should be because I want to make it low key. And maybe do the same thing with the students to show these ones are different then that one other than just going off of grade. This is what I would do if having to stage the play My love My love.

When reading the duality between Desiree and the community of villagers on page 60, I found that Desiree was so fixed on the idea of love. This blinded her and caused her to be oblivious to the situation at hand.  Monsieur Bienconnu tells Desiree that he doesn't love you and how fate won't allow you too to be together. Fate, seems to always follow Desiree like a shadow one that you can't shake. Her name means destiny and in the one she has, there is no love for that man in it. But, I don't believe in that I think you can be able to change your destiny. To free yourself from the imaginary strings pulling you in whatever direction they want you in.  However, after the duality between the two it left Desiree confused and wondering about her fate and what it entail for her. As she walks back she passed the villagers and felt as if she couldn't move. Getting slower and slower with each step. This is from the relationship that she has with the village and how they don't care about what she wants. Her opinion doesn't matter to them. This is what I think happened when re-reading the duality between the two.

Reflecting on my oral there were things that I did good on and then some that I can improve on. Things that I felt I did a good job was being organized and clear when I was speaking.  The first ten minutes of my presentation I felt as if they were really strong because I knew what I wanted to talk about and was able to do so fairly strongly. But I found myself scrambling towards the end of it, right around the conclusion when I needed to wrap everything together I struggled with that and I think that's a result of not preparing enough since I didn't make a first draft when we were suppose too and that set me back because if I submitted my draft I typed up then it could have been revised even more and would have put me in a better place. I would have been able to prepare and have more knowledge if i would have done that. Another thing I wish I did more off was talking about the performance part, I started to talk about it but then changed topics into something else and I forgot to go back and talk about it.  I would have liked to also talk more about my character and maybe how I chose to step into the role more and then talk about what I learned because of doing that. If I did that then It would have gave me more time, and also fill in the gaps that I had left vague. I felt that I did a good job talking about themes and the relationship the mother and son had. And symbolism, I gave the example of the curtain and how it shows the mother and how she covers him from the harsh realities of the world.

Hello my names Ethan Kornacki and me and my partner chose to recreate the story night woman from krick krack and transform it into a black box production. The story night woman is about a haitian family living in hadi. The mother is a prostitute and only works at night hence night woman. Her son is around 8 ish years old and during the story is the conflict the son has about what his mom does for work, he isn't old enough to know what she does exactly but he kinda gets the idea of it. And the mother fills his head with lies and stories and she thinks in her own head that he doesn't know and is oblivious to the fact that her son knows about her night job. Some themes you can take away from this is the sacrifice parents made for their children's and this was a big part in us coming up with the storyline for the play, because i think sometimes as kids we forget what are parents did to get us to where we are know. And we wanted to hone in on that. Because of that when we were creating our script we wanted to have the son be much older so we had it fast forward 10 years where he is now a senior in highschool and is going to college. With all of the thoughts and lies she plagued her son with as a child caused their relationship to be broken.

And during are play we wanted them to go back in forth really talking about why the mother did what she did, and just didn't do what any other single mother would do and pick up extra shift. And the reason to justify her actions is hati is a huge male dominated country. Women get treated with little respect and don't get the same job opportunities that a man would be given. After coming up with a solid script we went over the staging of are scene. This part is really important because it's one thing if you talk about what's going on to the audience it doesn't sink in, however if they can see it it give them the insight to what maybe a similar familie would be going through. And we wanted to show that this family was struggling to get by so we chose to just have one wall separating the mother and the son, just too rooms. We wanted to use this wall to show the clear divide between the two. And with this there really isn't that much emotion since there was only 2 interaction scenes. A way to add that was when ever we felt has the actor or actress we would put our hands to the wall as a sign for love, and passion.

When performing this being the son was hard because you can never really know what he went through, you have and idea of emotions and colors to bring out but you can never know so it was tough to portray him and really stepping in his shoes, maybe because we didn't have anything in common. “Compared to some of my friends,I have lived a dreadful and miserable 18 years of my life hiding behind a curtain, living in poverty” this line is important and i think very powerful because being a broken and sheltered kid they don't like to talk about their struggles and this is himself finally trying to do that and living behind a curtain and get really deep you start to analysis it. It can symbol him and his mother is the certin that covers him up and tries to protect him from the truth.

Looking back on how I did somethings that I would like to improve would be bringing out different tones of voices, and example when i'm standing up for myself I should raise my voice and say it with pride and like you mean it. And when i say something about the mother and her night job i should lower my voice because i'm not suppose to know what she does. And that's hard to do when you're in the moment and you didn't memorize your lines like that so that's something in the future I would like to improve on. Because it's a great way to show emotion in such a low key way.

Bullet points, to practice not having a much of next and will help me be more prepared
-talk about what you did well

-what you can improve on

-did you like your finish product

-did you protect your character

-what line was your favorite

-what line was your lest favorite

I was confused on what this should be...and I was going to talk to you about it in class

When programming this play I felt that there was a lot of things that I could have done better, for one it was truly to remember most of my lines because a lot of the were similar to one another, this caused me to get them mixed up and intern having to improvise. So there wasn't a long enough gap in between and because of this it messed up my partner a couple of times I think because she was used to starting after one of the lines I did and because of this it really impacted it and cause some dysfunction within the play when we were performing. However I feel that we didn't do that bad because that was the first time we officially ran through are play, and i think it was somewhat noticeable. It would have been better if we were able to release one or two more times prior before doing are final. But that's just something to do later, down the road in the next play we do for this class. Another thing is the length of the play throughout this process of coming up with this scene we had a common struggle and that was not having enough time. Because of this we had to add another act,causing it to be harder to memorize are lines since we add another 5 mins worth of scene time. So that was a factor during this next time if we had that from the beginning it wouldn't have had us scrambling in the last week to go over that last scene.  One thing that when we ran through the first rough draft was allot of our classmates thought that we didn't show enough emotion throughout are scene. So a way we fixed that was we used the wall we have to portray emotion so throughout our play we would put are hands on the wall to show me being shy or worked or even scared. Another thing that we got with are feedback was that we didn't really have a climax in a scene and because of the they were confused because it was just narration. So a way we changed that was we added a climax part where the son that I played finally leaves the mother and because of this when we added it it made the scene more meaningful.  And the last thing that I feel that we did poorly was reflecting on the final performance was the blocking could have been little bit better . What I mean is since we were in are rooms the whole time we could have done more within the room was maybe like pace back and forth to create emotion at the same time. With this these would have been the things to  fix that are classmates had questions on and thought we had to work on.

After watching the School of Rock musical I couldn't have been more impressed. The students put on a remarkable performance. To make something of this complex work everyone needed to be on top of it and they all were from the stage crew, to the lights and of course the actors themselves. They all working in perfect sync. You can notice this when as soon as the scene is going to change you see everyone helping to get the stage ready and people are scrambling around and coming out of places I didn't know there even was a room there you can really take that for granite being in the audience. There where a lot of great things I have to say about this the fist on is Lexi did a amazing job portraying dewie finn from the actual movie, having the right combination of goofy and funny, but also knows what they are doing. That leads me into the other thing I really like was that all of the cast  reminded me exactly how the people in the movie where and it felt like i was watching the movie and i was just like wait I'm at school and not watching this in a movie theater. Every time  I come to one of these I also am very impressed on how everyone can memories there lines. Im having a hard time memorizing my lines for are in class play that we have to put on and its probably like one eight of the amount of lines lexi had. I mean the play was like 2 and half hours long and she was talking every time. And it crazy how she remembered all of them and just was so relaxed during it. I mean i could never do that.  I like how they recreated the movie in a small theater like the black box and i like how they added  songs within the script i mean obviously its a musical so there will be singing but the songs really like tied up what they were talking about and it just like tied everything up. Another thing that I liked is how the audience was like at a concert and it was just a really cool experience listening to all of this music it was great because at the end it was like you were actually at the battle of the bands and i don't know hoe to explain it. All i really need to say is it was a great experience and I'm glad we had to go for are class because i probably wouldn't have on my own.

After reading what my classmates had to say in response to the play we programmed most off them had concerns about emotions. This is understandable because there is two separate monologues. And so the person is isolated and because of this there isn't almost any reaction and is hard to express emotion. Also since we didn't have the lines memorized and we were just reading it thats why it also sounded like we were just reading it. This will be solved when we have are lines memorized and when we go through are script and go over what line should show this and that. Also we need to go over are blocking little more because we need to face different ways in different parts of the script so maybe when I'm saying something about how I want to leave this place I can shift my position and have my back facing the wall because I feel bad for leaving my mother. Another thing we will be doing is using the wall to are advantaged what I mean by this is also to bring out more emotions we can maybe put are hands on the wall for certain parts of the script again. The main feedback we got was that. Also another thing is since are play was only 7 is minus people suggested that we added another scene and I think that is what we will be dong. Just so we can have another scene where we can interact and have emotions almost like when we did it in the beginning. If we do all of this then I think we will be in a really good place. Some scenes I was thinking that we could add was the mother saying her finally good byes to her son as he leave s to go to colleges this I think has the potential to be very powerful and speck volumes to the audience. This is going to be the climate bemuses that was another thing that are classmates had some confusion about because there wasn't really atoning that happened it was jus them talking back and forth nothing happened so this is one way we can change it. I think that  this scene if we choose to do it can really tie up all lose ends within the story. Having the mother who holding her son down and she finally get the strength to let him go because she knows that there int anything for him here. And then they can hug and the son can say something like i know you did the best you could do since your a single mom, and just like accept her so who she is and what she did for him and just not care about her "night job".  So yeah I think if we do all of this then it will put us in a really  great place and also make the play flow more, have more meaning and more emotion.

Narration: In the depths of despair one can lean on someone else,family always has your back no matter the situation.However,you can’t hold them down and let them sink with you…..The lives of the mother and son didn't progress much. They still live in poverty but the son has grown up and  is going to college soon, the mother still has her night job and is slowly losing it.

Beginning of the scene

Mother is sitting on her bed counting a stack of money and both her and her son are slowly getting ready for bed

The son is reading the newspaper and the mother comes in

Mother (to herself): under her breath:6,7,8,9,10…...I finally have enough

Son(to himself): I wonder what 17 Across is…

Mother:Hey son?I have something to tell you

Son:Oh what is it mother?

Mother: Since you’re all grown up and this is your senior year I payed for all of your college textbook in advance!

Son:What?? Are for real? Mother do you know how mad expensive those are? We could never possible afford them! Why? And where did you get the money from

Mother: I was just thinking about it and I thought it would be nice to have my son go to college with everything provided,plus it is my treat since you got the full scholarship….so I worked a little extra shifts at my
job. I just want you to be happy

Son: Extra shifts…You mean at your “Night job”

Mother: Yes Son at my night job. You know that we live in a hard period of time

Son * Turns around away from her on the mat* : Whatever.

Mother * Stands there doubtfully for a second longer,sighs and leaves to her side*

Son* As soon as she leaves,sits back up*

Silence in both rooms for about 3 seconds

Son: If… if only the angels would actually come

Mother: If only we lived somewhere far far away

Son:There’s really nothing that could be done, even I know that. I just want to have a stable life I’m sick of living like this…

Mother: If I only I could do something about this,our country is falling apart and I’m worried about my son’s future…

Son:All the kids at my school laugh at me,calling my
mother words like slut or whore. I just act oblivious and ignore them. I need to focus on my studies so I could have a better tomorrow

Mother: All of my friends have left me a long time ago,they obviously didn’t approve of my choice of career. at least I still have my baby who will always stay. I see them pass with their baskets of self-made fabric,they make as much as I do yet still stuck up their noses as if they are royalty……….who’s the scum now

Son: I can’t stay here any longer I have to leave.. I want to but I really can’t because that woman is going to die without me. Also she did raise me after all. I’m worried about her she is actually insane

Mother: Just remembering  the angels makes me forget about this nightmare,also Emanuel brings me flowers and treats my like the most intimate of lovers,My son’s old man used to be like that too

Son: I’m going to study so hard in college,go abroad and become a politician and stop this whole mess

Mother: I already acknowledged the fact that I’ll live like this forever but that is okay,as long as my baby is with me

Son: I’m nearly 18,I’ll finally be going into college. Adulthood!

Mother: I’ll never let him go

Son: But of course I really wish the situation was different,that things weren’t this way

Mother: Nothing can be don’t

Son:I love my mother Mother: I love my son

*Both turn around as if heard each other* lights go out.

When coming up with the set for “Night Woman” we wanted to bring out where the mother and son rank in social class. They are very poor, and to symbolize this we have the play open and they both are in there rooms, and are lying on mats. They will be separated by a wall, and will both go back and forth talking to themselves.The lighting is also important because it isolates them, nothing is in the way, just their two sides and their beds.


Lighting description:Dark at the beginning of the narration, after the narration is the done the two spotlights go on (narration ending is the cue) focused on each side of the wall, darkness surrounding everything else. The lights are on during the whole show but then go out in the end.

Set props: Wall, two mats, two pillows

Possession props: Newspaper,Money, Pen

Mother costume: Spaghetti strap tank, shorts/skirt + the red scarf

Son costume: plain sweatshirt/t shirt, plain sweatpants

Night Women

Two different sides divided by a wall, dark stage but light focused on one person on each side.
The mother & son are preparing to go to bed after their daily routine

Mother just had a customer is counting a stack of bills after he left
Son is reading,closes the book and goes lies in bed,sighing.
Most of the conversation is melancholic, doubtful and should give clues to what the story is about


Story starting off with a narration that gives a setting for our adaptation, the lights are off and moments after the narration is done the lights go on and the scene begins.

Themes of the adaptation: family,hope, motivation etc

Narration: In the depths of despair one can lean on someone else,family always has your back no matter the situation.However,you can’t hold them down and let them sink with you…..The lives of the mother and son didn't progress much. They still live in poverty but the son has grown up and  is going to college soon, the mother still has her night job and is slowly losing it.

Beginning of the scene

Mother is sitting on her bed counting a stack of money and both her and her son are slowly getting ready for bed

The son is reading the newspaper and the mother comes in

Mother (to herself): under her breath:6,7,8,9,10…...I finally have enough

Son(to himself): I wonder what 17 Across is…

Mother:Hey son?I have something to tell you

Son:Oh what is it mother?

I will portray the Night Women son around 8 years later from where it begins in the book, he will be around the age of 17. He will appear to be a normal teen but will be broken inside from his childhood. With all of the constant lies his mother said to him making him be social awkward. He will behave as a good son. Doesn't get into trouble, smart and compassionate only to a extend meaning he doesn't truly forgive his mother 100 percent for what she does. However he still doesn't really know what his mother does. So he assumes to the worse possible thing and doesn't try to talk to his mother about it. The motivation that he has it is want to get the best grades possible to make it out of Haiti and give his family a better life then he had, he needs to make it out. But, the one thing standing in his way is his mother she keeps pulling him back in and still talks about the angles making the on think she's crazy so he can't leave her all alone. Whats important to know about my character before hand is he pretends a lot, he's very creative with his mind and the main reason for this is because of all the things his mother said to him at a young age to cover the fact that she's a prostitution. And because of this his social skills lack a lot and he doesn't have a lot of friends maybe like 2 or 3 and he puts on a act to his mother that everything is okay but it isn't. So he day dreams a lot and usually stays up very late at night think about anything. And its because of this that he soon starts to realize who his mother really is.

My group group and I decided on the idea of having two characters the mother and son from Nigjt woman. They will both be going over there nightly routine, however we have this take place almost 5 years later. the mother will just be finisheimg up with a  client  and the son will be going his homework. My character the son will be at the age when he realizes that the angles his mother says come at night aren't really angles. There will be a good amount of dialogue and we will be going back and forth. It's important to know that there will be a wall or something dividing us. We doing know what yet but there will be something to show the audience that there are two sides. And will be hinting at the audience that the mothers real job is a prostitue by using a lot of critical thinking and this will make people really wonder what she actually does. Also my partner will portray the mothe as a little crazy but driven to make her son have a better life.

1. Mine-I like mine because it's a interesting idea and can be very nicely made if done right
2. Jack- different ending because the son never finds out and I think that's interesting
3. Gia's #2- i like the idea and it's something other then night woman
4. James- creative way having it be in a letter
5. yichen- same as James pretty much

I really enjoyed the play Endgame, for many reasons one the acting was great and they really stepped into the roles of the characters that they needed to portray. This made it so much more interesting for the audicance to follow and also kept me toned into the play for the whole 90 minutes it really made the time fly. I would want to try and do even half the job that ham or Colv did when we try to recreate scenes from the book we read and turn it into a staged production. Another thing I liked about it was the theme overall, I love the setting having it take place after like the end of the world almost and these people are the one ones left. It's very interesting and I really liked that. The plot was weird in a way because the writer used a lot of metaphors and because of this you really needed to pay close attention because of you miss something you can't just rewind it like on tv so you really need to pay attention, which in this case it was easy to because of the great cast and the overall great written script from the author. I will try and go to more plays with my family because it's a great expericance, it's hard to use words to explain it you just need to go and see it for your self.

The scene that I want to turn into a staged play would be Night Women. I like this play a lot because of how it shows a theme of being strong and having the ability to overcome obstacles that are in your way. The main character, the mother is a Haitian women and because wasn't able to get a job as easy it would have been if she was a white man. Also there is only two characters in the play, the mother and the child. However maybe we could add another one and that would be the men that she sleeps with. And the whole play could be one night of the week and on the stage they could go through there routine. However maybe we could change it and the boy would be awake and see what happens. When doing this you would need to be very serious and mature about it because the mother is a pro statue and so you need to be very professional. I think that this is a good scene to make into a play because there are a lot of unanswered questions that the readers of this may have. Some examples of this would be does the son know the whole time, does the mother ever stop doing what she does at night. And so I would like to use that for inspiration in the play. So the play would be set up as the apartment and it would look very messy. And a way to make it seem that they are poor I would have the clothes the son wear look New because she is providing for him and I would have the mother just look run down and tired. I want her to look like this because she works all day then does what she does when the night time comes. Another play that I would be interested in to do would be 1937 this one I think could be very interesting to turn into a play and really bring out the mystery that surrounds witchcraft and instead of having it take place in prison maybe we could change it into something I don't know yet but something that would make it less confusing to people. And I think also that if this was turned into a staged play we can really bring of the theme of love and even though you may disagree with someone's choices you still love them, like the daughter with the mother because she was charged with kill a baby due to witchcraft. And maybe we could make the scene what actually happened when the baby died. And how she went to jail in the first place, I think that could be very cool. These are the two story's that I would like to turn into a staged play. Both of them I'm fine with recreating, it's just I think both of them and think that they would be very intersecting to set up and act out and preform, they would tie up the lose string that the author created when she was writing the story's.

Endgame- chess term/also "the end"

Samuel Beckett- theater of absurd- explore meaninglessness of live- why are you alive?, what is the purpose?
Influence- witnessed a lot of death,  family members died
setting- concrete bunker- takes place after world disaster- post-apocalyptic
Characters;
Hamm- blind, cannot walk
Clov-adopted son, also servant
Hamms parents- very old, lives in trash cans

When writing are play we made it 10 years in the future, and we changed some of the ending of the story from the book. Like, in the first story that boy who didn't survive the boat he lived on. And in the story with lil guy and Lillie. Lil Guy stayed in school just like his mom wanted him to and he was able to move them both out of Haiti using college as a way out. So, a common theme would be freedom. Louis was finally freed by getting of off the boat. And Lillie finally did what she wanted to do 10 years earlier before Guy killed himself.  However to know what stories are connected with what we left the audience a little confused maybe, but thats just how we set it up because you really need to listen and pay close attention  and think about it. We gave clues like in the setting for example, in the story with the wedding they mention something about them finding a ship off of the coast of florida by Miami. We chose to make that be the ship the boy was on, Louis. Also we talked about him having a radio show, something that was mentioned very beefy in the story. And thats the reason why we didn't tell the people who he was in the beginning because we want to make it a mystery. Exploring the theme of freedom was important to us because most off the story are so negative and someone usually dies, all in all not that happy. But we thought that the Haitians should get a break and make it would of Haiti. To live on there lives, to still continue to tell stories to there children.  This is what I think about the dialogue that me and my group mates made.

 Ethan- Little Guy (18) College Student
Zoni- Louis (35) Office Job
Gia- Lili (33) Tailor/Seamstress
Setting- Miami, Florida. Coffee Shop.

Gia: “Guy, I don’t want you paying for me this time.”

Ethan: “Nonsense mom, it’s the least I can do for you. Now what are you getting this time?”

Zoni: “I suggest the Caramel Dark Roast, best one in Miami.”

Gia: “Oooh, that does sound good. Thank you for the suggestion…”

Zoni: “Louis.”

Gia: “Lili”

They shake hands

Gia: “Thank you Loius.”

Ethan: to the cashier “Two Caramel Dark Roasts please.”

Gia sits down with Louis.

Gia: “Best coffee in Miami, eh?”

Zoni: “Yeah, I’ve been here long enough to know what’s good and authentic.”

Gia: “Where did you come from then?”

Zoni: “Haiti, moved here 10 years ago.”

Gia: “I thought you were haitian, your accent is depreciating. My son and I moved here last year for his college.”

Ethan: “Graduated second best in my class in high school. Heres your coffee.”

Gia: “Thank you. He really made quite the effort to get us over here. So what do you do for work?”

Zoni: “I work at a radio station, I take the early morning shift for the show.”

Ethan: “That sounds like an interesting job, did it require a lot of experience?”

Zoni: “Yeah, back in Haiti I had my own show on the radio, mostly political rants.”

Gia: “My cousin used to listen to the radio all the time, she absolutely loved it.”

Zoni: “We had a lot of listeners from all over the place.”

Gia: “That’s so fascinating.”

Ethan: “Mom, I should really get you to work; it’s getting late.”

Gia: “Okay, Guy. It was nice talking to you, Loius.”

Zoni: “It was my pleasure.

Storytelling is very important in Krik Krack because since its a book of short stories you need to make them have some sort of connection or there won't be a point in reading. The author has to be very creative in the way she writes to make all of these stories flow as if they could be one. For example in the first story about the boy who was on a boat that was sinking and he died trying to escape. Later you find out in the most recent one we read that there was a boat found by Miami. So it leaves it up to you, the reader if this is connected or not. Another example of this is by her titles they give you and idea about what you will be reading about and if you really analyze it there are a lot of clues she leaves. Like in the book Night Woman, she choose this title to make you think that this will be about a woman who doe something in the night time maybe. As you come to find out when reading the book you realize that the woman has a secret, during the day she is a worker just earning minimum wage and at nigh she is a prostate. Also another thing that is common in her stories is that she makes them all in the low class. They are very poor and are beryl getting by. And one person in the family dies, they either kill themselves because they can't stand living like that anymore or something bad happens to them. Another book that I think also is a great example of storytelling is 1937 in this its a mother and daughter the mother was thrown in prison because she was accused with using witchcraft to kill a baby. In prison she's treated like dirt and is horrible beaten. Also the guards pour buckets of water on the woman so they don't grow wings of fire and escape. I liked this story lot because I really got a sense of the characters and I just thought it was interesting how the guards acted toward the woman almost like they actually had powers. And the last book I think showed a great deal of storytelling was the one about the family in Haiti who's father dies when trying to fly with the balloon. This one was very interesting during the whole story the father Guy wanted to fly to escape his horrible life only making a dollar a day. And a way to be free was to fly away and at his job they had this big balloon one day he took it and tried to fly but fell to a horrible death. This story connects back with the common theme of death and poverty. This is why I think that storytelling is important in the story she writes because they are separate but when you read them all you can see the connections that they all make to eachother other.

 In the story's woman's life in Haiti was horrible. They didn't have the ability to work in the same job places that men could work at, and because of this mostly had to stay home and care for the children and figure out what would be for dinner. Thus, making the woman give into the stereotype  that that's all they are good for. There husbands if there's were alive, since a lot of the either died while working, or committed suicide. Anyway, the men mostly worked in factories where the working conditions where awful. And they would only be making like $1 a day. So if you can image how living off of $1 a day would be like. It would be almost impossible because everything is so expensive here.  Then to connect it back to real life and how it's very similar. And because it's so similar I think that it's great to see how well the author portrayed life in a place that's so foreign to people in America. Like for example I never knew that Haiti was that back, I kinda though as it of a vacation spot where people can bring there family and have a good time. I couldn't have been more wrong. The world that they live in is so remote to the one that we have. And it makes you think of all the things we take for granted and we should be more thankful for what we have because someone can have I a lot worse. Also another thing that happens in the stories is that all these woman have such a strong bond with there children you can see it in a number of stories for example in "Night Woman" the mother made sure to never have here work interfere with here son because she never wants him to find out how she is providing for him. Also in the story about the family in Haiti and the father was fixed on getting a balloon and flying away from all of his problems. Anyway in that one the mom wanted here son to stay and school and get good grades of that he could maybe make it into a University and make it out of this place and poverty. However thats a lot of pressure to put on a 8 year old boy, but thats the way it is to make it out of that unstable country.  And in real life I don't think that that bond isn't as strong because its not that easy to have such a strong trust at such a young age. And this affects the well being of there family. 

Night Women

Woman (no name)- possible future/reality for lil and son
Son- 10-12
Men
Woman- working during day
Father
Angels

Plot- woman= prostitute (sex=money)
Night comes, she puts son to seep

New York Day Women

Characters- mother, daughter,

Plot-

Comparison- good relationship

I lost my other notes I had they were hand written and I lost the paper. So I uploaded the ones we all took in class. Hop that's okay

The tone in "Night Woman" is the will to do something that may not be right, but its the only thing you can do. The woman just wants the best for her son like every mom want the best for there children. And that will to get your child ahead of you either being more educated or more financially stable then you are is what everyone wants. I think that this is little extreme though maybe instead she could just pick up a job where the time she could work would be at night. And it will be a lot less risky then having your son find out what you actually do.

A common theme I think appears in both stories is freedom. There are different types of freedom, like freedom of religion.There are many examples and symbols that lead me to think this. In the first story "Wall of Fire Rising" flying is used multiple times to resemble freedom the ability to fly away from your problems. The main character in this talks about how he wants to get this balloon and fly and at the end of the story he goes to a bridge and jumps he tries to fly but this leads to his death.  Also freedom doesn't have to be related to flying it can also mean making it out of the horrible living conditions they are living in. So they have two options either send their son to go work now at a young age so when he gets to be the age of his father he will have and advantage then most people because he has been working instead of going to school. The other option that he has is to stay and school, his mother believes if he gets all As then he could maybe get into a University and be free from Hati and cut all ties he has to the school. In the other story "1937" this theme recurs in the symbolism of the words " fiery wings" the guards don't  want the inmates to grow wings and escape the prison and get their freedom back. In this case they had their freedom at one point so making them higher in social class then the family in the last book but they had it taken away because they practice voodoo. And at the end of this story when the main character gets beaten to death she goes to her afterlife, something that she believes in in her religion. At the end the daughter looks at the sun and says something along the lines so I hope I see you there as she was looking at the sun. She thinks that her mother got her freedom again and made it out of the prison and now is in a better place. Her mother gets charged with witchcraft. It happened when she tries to help a sick baby that would have died anyway, she gave it some herbs and it still died. Everyone then blamed her because she get the baby something that know one knew what it was and also because her religion is voodoo. I think that things would have turned out differently if she wasn't apart of that religion if she was like what normal people follow she wouldn't have lost here freedom. I think also that here daughter Josephine is jealous even though her mom died but that now she is finally free.  And she is still her trapped and now alone and she is hoping that when she dies she will be able to see her mother again so they can finally be together. This is the theme that I think appears in both of the stories.

The first quote about rain and how it's connected to love really make me think about the book, but don't in the sense of love but life. In the second story about the daughter with the mother in prison, when all that was going on it was like a the train so pouring she could still breath however so even though it was bad it could have been worse. Until her mother gets beaten to death in prison. That's when she gets swallowed up by life and drowns like what the quote says. She was grieving for a while until she looked at the sun and hoped that she would see her mother there one day. The other quote I like is also another one about water.  "The silent and calm water drowns you". I picked this because I think that you should always he aware and not get too comfortable because you never know what will happen next.

"1937" 

Josephine, is going to visit her mother at the prison. She meets a man on the street selling leeches and they then share a small conversation about her origin then he shows her a place where she can buy food for the inmates in the prison. Her mother was sentenced with charges of dabbling in the occult, and witch was giving life in prison. When she dies she will be burned and the remains will be spread out in the yard so her soul won't go to a new body. The guards don't treat them horribly she says. Also they get ice water poured on them so they don't grow there wings of fire and escape. Her mother gotten beaten to death because the guards didn't know how to heal the sickness she had. Then Josephine holds the doll and looks at the sun and in hope to one day see her mother again. 

"A wall of fire rising"

Family lives in a shack there is 3 children. All they eat is a cornmeal mush, it's better then not eating however. The only way the know what's going on outside of Haiti, is a TV that the governor decided to install in the center of town so the people could watch the state-sponsored news. They have a ritual before bed, he has to rub lemon over his wife's skin,  then he has memories of this father and how he was a poor man all his life. Guy remembers him as a man he never wants to be.