Maria’s Comments (group member since Oct 13, 2015)

Maria’s comments from the Last but not Least group.

I agree with syd, I don't understand this element of the authors writing

I think that Ruby was the most important person for Eddie to meet. She taught him closure and that you can't move on until you have achieved it. She told him things he never would have know about his father and this changed his perspective. This helped him to forgive his father and learn to let go of his grudge.

I personally believe that the captain was right to shoot Eddie. I think that he acted quickly in a time of need and wanted Eddie to live. He knew very well that Eddie was starting to struggle from being in the war for so long and he didn't want him to die there. Although I guess I can see that being where they were, he may not have gotten medical attention in time and could have died anyway.

I think that the Blue Man is a vital element to the central theme. I would have to say that his significance is simply to support the theme and the idea that each action leads to another even if you aren't directly aware of it.

I think that the flashbacks are set up the way that they are to show the reader the importance of each one of the events on "Eddie's Birthday." For example, there is a section that explains how Eddie felt when he went to the funeral for the then unknown man. The reader is able to easily make the connection of events which helps the development of the theme that each and every action has a consequence and is related to another one.

I agree. I believe that the war played a large part in his change because of the way he spoke of it

Eddie seems to be a selfless man who is devoted to his job. He is older, has been diagnosed with shingles, and can barely walk, but maintains work at a job full of people that he can only half stand. I think that the tone is going to be more somber, however, because the audience already knows that Eddie's life sadly ends before the book is over.

I can see Sydney's side but do u think there is a side to this that lacks pathos because she was optimistic about it and didn't want to make it seem like it was all that bad?

In the beginning of the story, Jeannette is very optimistic about her life and her future. She sees a bit of adventure behind the life on the road. She feels strong after her accident, when she burnt herself, and likes the nurses. They give her chewing gum and treat her well. After this she still has hope, believing that one day her dad is going to find them a place and build them a castle made of glass all for themselves. But when she gets to Welch and begins to grow up she has a tone that is more skeptical and disbelieving because she knows how many times her parents have let her down and how they weren't always they for her. They were so uninvolved in her life always satisfying their person desires and when Jeannette noticed this, her tone changed.

The glass castle, being one of the major symbols in the memoir, represents nearly non-conformity, self-sufficiency, and responsibility. This is because no one has ever had a castle, or even a home for that matter, made entirely of glass. Self-sufficiency is present because Rex Walls was going to build it himself and it was going to belong to his family. Finally it represents responsibility because once it was completed, he and his family would be responsible to care for it. This reflects Jeannette's life because she was taught not to conform with other people of society, she lived a nomadic life without a permanent home. Jeannette had to be self-sufficient from an early age, she had to cook for herself and maintain a life without the full presence of her parents. She had to be responsible for herself by providing for herself and being responsible for what she did.

For one example, the author appeals to pathos when she speaks about her pets. When she was very young, about five, she watched her father toss her beloved cat out the window by the scruff. Not only did this incident cause the reader to feel a sense of sadness, it relates again to when she spoke of how she felt when her dad got mad. She felt like he could do the same to her and this again makes the reader feel upset and bad for the author.

I can say that I do agree with the fact that Jeanette's parent must have loved the kids but they also had an undying love for the nomadic lifestyle that they lived and I think that this caused trouble for them.

When the book begins with "A Woman on the Street," Jeannette's mother is found picking through a dumpster for food. I think that this section opens the readers thought of how the author feels about her mother. She feels that she is a scavenger doing the bare minimum to survive, just meeting the required needs to have room for desire. Which connects back to the theme of being mistreated and neglected as a child. The mother was always feeding her desires to live a carefree, artistic life that she did the bare minimum for her kids, and even that may be a stretch.

I agree with Allison and Sydney. This child has had to take care of herself from an age way before double digits and I think that this will lead her to future issues however I think that they will make her stronger and lead her to be a well rounded, independent woman. Even though that sounds like I'm saying neglect will get you success, which is not the case, I think that Jeannette will learn to be a capable adult.

In agreement with everyone else, there is obvious American patriotism in the fact that they were trying to top Eiffel. But similarly to a previous one of my posts, I believe that there is an amount of American patriotism prominent in the idea that no one questioned the safety of Chicago. I had mentioned before that it could have been greed however there was a sense of underlying pride in the fact that no American could believe that something that gruesome could happen in one of their beautiful and incredible cities.

I agree with Allison by saying that the use of sensory diction to create imagery is prominent in the story. However for my own example I saw that point of view added to the story line. In alternating chapters we see their story from two different sides, we get the history from the view of both men which is essential in trying to piece together a story like this. It prevents the reader from understanding a one-sided argument. Now I am not justifying the actions of Dr. H.H. Holmes however we do see how and why he did what he did from his perspective importantly enough.

Overall, "Evil's Imminent," has many purposes as does the overall novel. It compares and contrasts characters, proves to be a work of fact, not fiction, gives an image of the setting, and informs the reader of a meaning deeper than that of the retelling of a true story.

I have to say that I agree with the idea that the purpose of this is to prove to the reader that this is a true story however it also seems to put out a disclaimer about the purpose of the work of literature. He says "Beneath the gore and smoke and loan, this book is about the evanescence of life, and why some men choose to fill their brief allotment of time engaging the impossible, others manufacture of sorrow." It is to tell the reader to read deeper than face value to find that there is more than just telling the true story in this work.

All points mentioned here are reasonable and we find that the short section in the beginning does foreshadow death as well as opens the reader to the fact that Burnham is aware that his time is coming.

While each example exposed here is full of contrast, I further found that there is contrast between the thought of having the fair in Chicago and the reality of doing so. Citizens of Chicago saw that there was no reason NOT to have the fair in their city. There was divinity in having the fair and beginning the race of America to beat Eiffel's tower in Paris. This alludes to the White City. But they are almost greedy of having the event for themselves, which shows greed and evil evident in the Black City aspect. In reality, the bustling city and unattended women allowed for a serial killer to emerge in a time of awe and naive Americans.