Artist of the Beautiful - (Reading Response)

     Artist of the Beautiful is a short story which emphasizes on beauty and what the word "beautiful" really means to each individual.
     We get two different perspectives from two very different characters in the story. One is Peter. He is a hardworking man who has toiled all his life to create and fix watches. So much that he has gone nearly blind from viewing the intricate detail of the tiny watches. He has come to detest his choice of career, saying that it is foolish, and it would indeed be a wonderful thing to be a blacksmith. His view of being a blacksmith is that it is a "wholesome thing to depend on main strength and reality, and to earn one's bread with (his own) bare and brawny arm ... did you ever hear of a blacksmith being a fool?" So clearly he thinks that it would be a beautiful thing to have the qualities of a blacksmith.
      Then we have Owen, a young fellow who has had a deep connection with nature and all that is beautiful in it, since he was just a little child. He sees beauty as something that is not utilitarian, but natural in every sense. He even became physically ill from seeing a steam engine, because it was so unnatural, and he just could not grasp it within his soul. His view of beautiful is something that God made with his very fingers, and created from his very soul. So, to do this he tries to recreate the beautiful...

Merchant of Venice Reading Journal: Act Two, Scene Five

Firstly, I want to give a summary of the scene. This is Act Two, Scene Five of the Merchant of Venice.

Preparing to leave for Bassanio's dinner party, Shylock meets Lancelot, who is delivering Lorenzo's reply to Jessica. Shylock ridicules his former servant and says that in Lancelot's new job with Bassanio, Lancelot will no longer be able to "sleep and snore" as he was (supposedly) able to do with Shylock. When Jessica finally enters, Shylock gives her the keys to the house and tells her that he is going to  Bassanio's dinner party. He says that he accepted the invitation "in hate". He makes it very clear that he is not excited about attending this dinner. Lancelot urges his former master to go. He has a "feeling" that Bassanio is preparing an elaborate masque as part of the evening's entertainment. Shylock is horrified at the suggestion. He insists that if Jessica hears any sounds of the masque, she is to keep inside.  Despite everything, Shylock finally decides to set out for Bassanio's dinner party, but not before repeating one final warning for Jessica to stay inside. Shylock exits without realizing that Lancelot whispered a word of advice to Jessica before he left: She is to be on watch for "a Christian" who will be "worth a Jewess' eye", Who is obviously Lorenzo.

Alone on the stage, Jessica anticipates her elopement and closes the scene.

If you ask me, there is great importance in this scene. We hear about Jessica and Lorenzo's impending elopement, and we continue to add little pieces to Shylock's character.

I believe that Jessica and Lorenzo's elopement will add greatly to this story. However, I have to ask myself...Is it right? I think that it is not. Especially since her father is so anti-Christian. Although he is very much wrong in his hatred of the Christian faith, she has no buisness tainting his already stained reputation by marrying a Christian against the will of her father. It is a very wrong action on both parts, thus adding to the characters of both and adding to the suspense and action of the play.

In My Father's House, by Brock and Brodie Thoene

The book I am reading, (and will be reading consistently from now on), is called In My Father's House and it is written by Brock and Bodie Thoene. Right now, it is focusing on three young men on the front lines towards the end of World War I.

The beginning chapter introduces them, where they are and what they are doing. They are in Belleau Wood, France in the year 1918. The characters are Max Meyer - a Jew from New York, Ellis Warne - an Irish doctors' son from Ohio, Birch Tucker - an Arkansas farm boy, and Jefferson Canfield - the son of a black sharecropper.
It starts out when Max, Ellis and Birch make a bet while chasing a German plane. Birch bets that the German will die, and Max and Ellis bet that he will live to see another day. Birch shoots and does not miss. As the plane spirals downward, Birch regrets his action of selfishness, and wills the German to get back up and fly.

Birch made a really bad decision, by putting the life of another human on a bet. Birch realizes this only after he shoots. Sometimes, when we make bad choices, we make them in haste and don't think of the end result. This was the case with Birch.

So the action intensifies as Birch watches the German plane spiral. Max and Ellis are willing the pilot to get back up so they could win the bet, while Birch wills him to get up because he feels guilty. The plane crashes. Max and Ellis are sure that he must be dead, and they hand over their money to Birch. He takes the money, and goes to see if the German is all right, hoping that he indeed did live. He finds the man painfully trying to get out of the plane which had now caught on fire. Birch helps him get out, and takes him to the nearest hospital.

So, after making such a horrible decision, he tries to fix it. This is what we all should aim for. When we make a mistake, we should do everything in our power to try and fix it.
However, Birch is helping a German! A German officer, who had probably killed more American men than they could ever imagine! Why would he want to help him? Because it was the right thing to do, and Birch knew it. He created a problem, this was the result, he felt guilty, and in spite of the man's race, he helped him get to a hospital. 


So, at the end of the first chapter, (which is as far as I got), they just got him to the hospital, and got him in, in spite of resistance because the man was a German officer.

And that is my blog for this week!!

Lindsey

The book I'm reading is called Hartford and it is by Angela Elwell Hunt. The story line is the following:

     Daniel hated his brother. He knew it was wrong; he knew his parents, Fallon and Gilda Bailie, would be grieved if they discovered what was in his heart. But he had had his fill living in Taregan's (his brother's) shadow... Taregan the bold, the athletic, the courageous. How Daniel despised him! His only hope was to somehow escape Taregan and the life he'd always known. Then the British soldiers arrive, bringing with them the perfect opportunity, which Daniel accepts ... never dreaming his choices will lead them all into danger, betrayal, and the greatest trial they have ever faced.

     So the story starts out with twin brothers, about twenty, scrambling to be at the top. Their mother, Gilda Bailie favors Taregan. While Fallon doesn't seem to hold this favoritism, he certainly does not favour Daniel. So in this blog, I want to talk about parents favoring a child.
     Obviously, as we see in Genesis, it is wrong. Esau was favoured by his father, and Jacob by his mother. Jacob, then, did not learn his lesson, and favoured Joseph above all of his other sons. The story of Joseph being favoured is a sad one. We see all of the problems that could have been prevented if only Jacob had not favoured Joseph.
    So, I believe that it is wrong to favour a child. Gilda loves Taregan more because he is older, stronger and more cunning, and Jacob favoured Joseph because he was born from his favorite wife. In the end, the other sibling(s) became extremely jealous to the point of doing crazy things, and the favoured child becomes a spoiled brat. Taregan is always told that he is better, and he does not have a problem putting Daniel down because of it. I do not know why some parents do this, but I sincerely insist that it is wrong. It just causes problems, and God created us in his own image, so why would a mother love one son more than the other?

- Lindsey Luna

The Official Summary of A Love to Last Forever

This is the official summary of the book I am reading.

All Beth Gallatin has really wanted out of life is to settle down in one town, with one man, and raise a family. But with her father's roaming ways, she's always been denied that dream; instead, she found solace in reading romantic books. With her father's passing, she can, for the first time, dare to claim the rugged Montana frontier as her home.
Nick Lassiter has loved Beth since she first came to town, but she's always seemed to think of him more as a brother. Just when he finally gets Beth to consider him, however, a challenger threatens the affection growing between them. But neither Nick nor Beth is prepared when they must face the consequences of Nick's complicated past.

Book Two in the Brides of Gallatin County Series

This is the book I will be reading is called A Love to Last Forever, and it's by Tracie Peterson. It is the continuation of A Promise To Believe In.

The END

Gwen Gallatin, who has been thinking that she is cursed, goes to God with her struggles, and gives her life to the Lord. She then later married Hank Bishop. =)

Beth Gallatin, calls a truce with Hank after he ask for her sisters' hand, and stops her childish games. There was no resolution with Nick, but I believe that it will be solved in the next book of this series. Also, she was not able to find any solution to the problems that the girls at the saloon have, but, again, I believe she will find the answer in books two or three.

Lacy Gallatin, after getting into a lot of trouble, makes an agreement with Gwen, that she will stop her foolish hunt for her father's "killer". Also, Dave Shepard, the deputy, declared his love for the wild Gallatin girl, but Lacy refused to even consider him. I am relatively sure that that will be solved in the third and final book in the series. 

Hank Bishop, found what he was looking for after Gwen found the stocks behind the wallpaper in the men's bathroom at the hotel. He then took them back to his mother, came back to the girls, opened a general store, and married Gwen Gallatin. 

This was a story about justice, faith and love. I think that Lacy, made the right choice by swearing to Gwen that she would give up her hunt. I have a hunch however, that the problem is not totally under control. Lacy is known for being pig-headed, and I wouldn't be surprised if Lacy Gallatin still has a long way to go.

        - Lindsey Luna