9. Winter

retrieved from http://www.desktopexchange.com/gallery/albums/Nature-Wallpapers/winter_pictures3.jpg


Yes, it was winter in the novel and wehave discussed this section.

The key characters in this section are Maureen Peal and Geraldine&her psyco son Junior.

Maureen Peal is really annoying. At the beginnig, because Claudia and Frieda stay away from her and avoid any contact with her, I didn't like her either. However, after the conversation with Claudia, I feel sympathy to her. She would be nice and neat, I thought. After the dispute among the girls I turned back to continue to dislike her again. So, my like/time plot seems to be like a sinus curve..

And yesterday, I googled what a "Meringue Pie" is, and I realised that it was really a dessert! (as if I wouldn't have guessed. But I really didn't guess that it could be A special dessert) Here goes a picture. Remember, C&P resembles Maureen to this dessert.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meringue

And the sexual awakening part was interesting. I didn't notice it. My presentation includes the theme "adolesence and coming of age" though..

The Geraldine and her nerd son Junior part is annoying. I just can call Junior stupid! Almost everyone of us thought at first that he was going to show her a cute little pussy, but he did everything except showing it. He is absolutely a psyco. He wants to hurt other people.

Geraldine is a stubborn and posh person. Through her, we face another ugly side of discrimination. And this time, it comes from a black person. I always thought that discrimination against black people were by white's; nevertheless, now, it is also in my mind that such lighter blacks commit it, too.

The last thing to say: I really begin to think that blacks kill English language :)
"Them people be home soon." p.78
"You was gonna tel?" p.79

But this is probably because of their accent..

8. Autumn

retrieved from http://vie-peopleplusplaces.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/autumn_tree.jpg

We have began reading The Bluest Eye and already read the first chapter, namely, Autumn. To start with a book is hard. The beginnings of the books are always difficult to read because there has to pass some time to adapt to the book properly. So, we have read the first chapter. We have had a general image of the book.

I like mostly the ironies in a book and Morrison also uses ironies in her book. En example for example: Frieda and Pecola start having a conversation about Shirley Temple, who was a child actress at that time. Claudia doesn't like her so she doesn't say something to join. Later, however, she feels like she has to say something to others and she says "I like Jane Withers." , who was also a child actress.
You know, they suffer having these beauty subject in their lives and from this part of the story we can conclude that media at that time (and also today and also for the future) affects their beauty understanding and image of beauty in their minds. Consequently, they feel inferior. That is unfair. Do they have to be the way society wants?

Except from these, I also want to express my first impression to the book. I think it is a little melancholic. It began with sadness. Frictions and alienation within the families, lonely kids, troubled people. In some parts, we can feel the being-blue of the characters.

Well, we'll see what comes next:)

By the way, we also learned how to use wiki. I find this WIKI a great idea! If this web site was used properly and effectively, it woud absolutely be very beneficial. However, everything depends on our work here again..

7. How Hollywood Vilifies a People

Retrieved from http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc50.2008/reelBadArabs/JCArabPix/17-Ali_BabaMad_Dog.jpg

For my research paper, I do some research on Muslim stereotyping in the US media. There is a documentary, which is called "Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People". This documentary is very impressive and it helped me much with my research paper.

As we all know, Hollywood has a great effect on the media all around the world. Only its produced movies are watched by a vast of people on Earth. Its effect on the media is undeniable.

There is much information about this kind of stereotyping in the documentary.

First of all, our Muslim stereotypes are familiar to us. Arabs(or let's say: Muslims, the east peoples)=a desert, a primitive people, brutal-extreme,violent actions. Nevertheless, as we all discussed it, every stereotype denies the truth, the real side.

I want to mention one point: Hollywood. Almost in every Hollywood production, we can see stereotypes and prejudices against Muslims.

In the documentary, a shocking statement is given to the viewers: "Washington and Hollywood spring from the same DNA". Who has said it? Jack Valenti, former President and CEO of the Motion Picture Assn. of America (an important person for the Hollywood world) So, here we clearly see that Hollywood works with some political intentions and aims.

I have once met a Turkish director. He also said to me that the movies awarded with Oscar prizes are awarded due to their political context (not always but often). I resisted: What about the movie "Slumdog Millionaire? It got a prize and it indeed shows the Indian people in a positive way."
He answered: "No, the main idea of the film was that: 'India, you don't need to make much effort for your lives. You all could have lives like Jamal's, you all could win something in life suddenly. It is not necessary to think about the bad conditions/circumstances under which you live. Luck might absolutely turn up for you'. It wants people to think that they shouldn't think over what to do to have better standards of living in their country. They might have a sudden luck which could change their lives entirely."

Ah, Hollywood.. You have a great effect.. You have the power to show something the way you want to show it.

By the way, what does Sonja think about Hollywood? All in all, she is more familiar with American culture and Hollywood than we are.

A Piece of Trivia

bctrivia by Raea, retrieved from Flickr


We have read the story "Hanife" by Sevgi Soysal. In the first sentence of this story includes "the poplar tree".

For the TLL, we should read Yenişehir'de Bir Öğle Vakti by Sevgi Soysal. Guess what? What is the first sentence of this novel?

"Sanki büyük bir gürültüyle devrilecekmişçesine sallandı kavak."

That is, "the poplar tree swung ... ".

Again the poplar tree, it catched my eye :)