Sunday, April 26, 2009

Bel Canto. 6

5 Comments:

1. Mr. Hosokawa's first name is Katsumi.
2. Roxane Coss became in charge of the terrorists.
3. When Mr. Hosokawa heard Roxane singing to him, it brought tears to his eyes.
4. Roxane spends most of her days singing- she sings 3 hours in the morning, in the late afternoon, and before dinner.
5. All Roxane does is sing, when a gun is put to her head, she will just sing. "...the gun will end up looking like a lunatic..."

4 Questions:

1. What is Czechoslovakian?
2. How did Roxane became in charge of the terrorists?
3. Is Roxane like a personal singer for Mr. Hoskawa?
4. There was a lot of disasters that happened when Katsumi was still in Japan? There was a hurricane that took place when he was 19.

3 Vocabulary:

1. Aria - an air or melody
2. Diplomats - a person appointed by a national government to conduct official negotiations and maintain political, economic, and social relations with another country or countries
3. Solidarity - community of feelings

2 Literary Terms:

1. "The terrorist continued to block the doors and carry guns. but now Roxane Coss was in charge." [Irony pg. 162 - Roxane was a hostage and some years later she became the person in charge of the terrorist]
2. "If we put a gun to her head she would sing all day...the person holding the gun will only end up looking like a lunatic" [Irony pg. 165 - Roxane should be the one looking like a lunatic because she is singing when a gun is held to her head but instead the person holding the gun will look like a lunatic]

1 Overview:

This part of the novel is about how Roxane is right now after she was set free from being a hostage.

Bel Canto. 5

5 Comments:

1. Gen is a very busy man and often needed by Mr. Hosokawa.
2. The Europeans did not want to inform Gen about any plans that they are planning such as to kidnap the President.
3. Gen makes good impressions and is admired because of Gen's neat penmanship and his ability to type.
4. Gen is basically someone who knows many different languages and can translate to people. He knows Spanish, French, and Greek.
5. Carmen considered herself to be Roxane's body guard.

4 Questions:

1. Are Gen and Mr. Hosokawa like best friends?
2. Who is Carmen and where did she come from? Why does she consider herself Roxane's body guard?
3. Is Gen untrustworthy to some of the Europeans? If not, why do they want to keep Gen uninformed about their plans.
4. What was Gen's background like to have the ability of typing that impresses people?

3 Vocabulary:

1. Unformed - undeveloped crude
2. Penmanship - the art of handwriting
3. Discourse - the communication of thoughts by words

2 Literary Terms:

1. "...career with the Red Cross..." [Allusion pg. 139]
2. "...a small black tub" [Imagery pg 139]

1 Overview:

This part of the novel basically describes about Gen and his impressions on people.

Bel Canto. 4

5 Comments:

1. Father Arguedas is a young priest.
2. Someone hired the hostages to feel better because the hostages had been held captive from April to November already.
3. A week after Mr. Hosokawa's birthday party ended, he is beginning to learn to a new life.
4. Mr. Hosokawa's birthday party was not that exciting because most of the guest spent most of their times looking out the windows and some of them spent their times reading magazines.
5. Mr. Hosowaka is still thinking about his business because he wondered since his abduction, how are the stock prices doing.

4 Questions:

1. Is Nansei suppose to be Mr. Hosokawa's company in Japan?
2. Was Mr. Hosokawa trained to be a formal person when he was little?
3. What is the "other side of the wall" that Mr. Hosokawa wonders about?
4. Is the foreign place that Mr. Hosokawa is now at is Europe?

3 Vocabulary:

1. Coarseness - harsh, grating
2. Peculiar - strange, queer, odd
3. Upholstered - to furnish

2 Literary Terms:

1. "...a very nice television, color with twenty-eight-inch screen" [Imagery pg 116]
2. "...blankly staring Hello, Kitty..." [Allusion to Hello Kitty pg 117]

1 Overview:

Mr. Hosokawa is still thinking back about the time he got abducted by the Europeans from Japan but now he is back to his party and is trying to kind of start a new life in the foreign country.

Bel Canto. 3

5 Comments:

1. All women hostages were released except for one.
2. Mr. Hosokawa became one of the hostages.
3. The one women that did not leave was Roxanne Coss, she did not leave because she was looking back on a man, and that man was Mr. Hosokawa.
4. The hostages can be traded for money so the hostages would be able to go free.
5. Mr. Hosokawa gotr furious when he walked outside and someone said in Swedish that Roxanne Coss was not outside.

4 Questions:

1. How or why did Mr. Hosokawa became a hostage?
2. Did he become a hostage because he wants to be with Roxanne Coss?
3. What did General Alfred mean when he said "don't shoot her accidently"? Was Roxanne about to be shot?
4. Why are there tourist when people are being held hostages in Japan?

3 Vocabulary:

1. Extravagant - spending much time than neccessary
2. Vestments - ceremonial robe
3. Insulin - a polypeptide hormone, produced by the beta cells of the islets of Langerhans of the pancreas, that regulates the metabolism of glucose and other nutrients

2 Literary Terms:

1. "...chalk-white ear..." [Imagery pg. 78]
2. "...his fine blond hair..." [Imagery pg. 79]

1 Overview:

This chapter is about Mr. Hosokawa becoming a hostage and things kind of went wrong when he was let free and found out that the people had hid Roxanne Coss somewhere else when she is suppose to be outside waiting by the wall.

Bel Canto. 2

5 Comments:

1. Mr. Hosokawa is still having memories back in Japan, but this time the memories are not as pleasant as the ones he had earlier.
2. These memories takes place back when Japan was being invaded and people were taken as hostages, and there were many man holding guns.
3. The hostage that pained Mr. Hosokawa the most is Roxanne Coss.
4. It pained Mr. Hosokawa to see that Roxanne Coss is a hostage because Kiyomi bought a Roxanne Coss record for Mr. Hosokawa's 11th birthday and he loves listening to her sing and he doesn't want her to go away.
5. Mr. Hosokawa was part of large corporations and companies like banks back in Japan.

4 Questions:

1. How did Mr. Hosokawa get bribed into a foreign country if he was part of these wealthy corporations and companies back in Japan? (Oh...probably an exchange from the Japanese to have the French and Spanish set the Japanese hostages free..)
2. What country did Mr. Hosokawa get transported to anyways? O_o
3. Why are people whispering about "Toilets, bathroom, WC." to each other?
4. Cesar is a French soldier or someone from France invading Japan? (Oh! I found out that the French are terrorists...haha) In his pass time he is humming something in French to himself...

3 Vocabulary:

1. Seminar - a small group of students
2. Medicore - of only ordinary or moderate quality
3. Tentative - unsure

2 Literary Terms:

1. "...skidded and sped" [Consonance pg. 29]
2. "slowly, slowly..." [Repetition pg. 39]

1 Overview:

People in Japan became hostages to the French and Spanish and it is up to Mr. Hosokawa and his other business partners to reason with the French and Spanish to find a way to set the hostages free.

Bel Canto. 1

5 Comments:

1. The Japanese man gave a "strong and passionate" kiss to the girl and took her by surprise.
2. The French and Italians liked that kiss the man gave so they were all yelling "Brava! Brava!".
3. I think the Japanese man was shy to kiss the girl with the lights on because page 1 says the man and the girl kissed when the lights were out. Then there was a follow up question that asked if the man would of kissed the girl in a strong and passionate way if the lights were lit.
4. Roxanne Coss is like a celebrity (she is the girl that the Japanese man kissed).
5. Mr. Hosokawa (the Japanese man) and Roxanne Coss shares something in common is that they both came from a different country - they are foreigners.

4 Questions:

1. What year did the novel take place in? This is the time when Japan is poor because of the chairman of Nasei bribing people.
2. Is Mr. Hosokawa beginning to be a bit more comfortable in the new country? Pg 3 says he would not be celebrating his birthday with people he doesn't know, and yet he is doing that right now.
3. Did Mr. Hosokawa come from a wealthy family when he was young? On his 11th birthday his father took him to the opera in Tokyo and back in 1954, operas were unimaginable things - money was precious.
4. Does Kiyomi have low self-esteem about herself?

3 Vocabulary:

1. Repertoire - the list of dramas, parts, peices, opera, etc.
2. Achingly - causing physical pain or distress
3. Bourbon - a member of a French royal family that ruled in France 1589–1792, Spain 1700–1931, and Naples 1735–1806, 1815–60.

2 Literary Terms:

1. "White asparagus in hollandaise, a fish course of turbot with crispy sweet onions, tiny chops, only three or four bites apeice. in a cranberry demiglaze" [Imagery pg. 9]
2. "...wiping the dust from the leathery leaves with damp cloths, picking up the fallen blossoms of bougainvillea that rotted beneath the hedges" [Imagery pg. 9]

1 Overview:

This part of the novel takes place at Mr. Hosakawa's birthday party in a foreign country and he is having memories of the time he had when he was younger and more fortunate back in Japan.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Wild Sargasso Sea. 1

5 Comments:

1. Mr. Luttrell's house was left deserted - haunted.
2. Around the house, there are a lot of plants.
3. The speaker says some customs are better dead and buried...such as Christmas.
4. The speaker had to wear Tia's dress for her mom's wedding because she didn't have any clean dresses.
5. Mom and her new husband, Mr. Maso went to Trinidad for their honeymoon.

4 Questions:

1. Who is the speaker of the book?
2. Is Jean Rhyes the speaker because the book uses "I" or is it Annette?
3. Why does the speaker think customs are better left "dead and buried"?
4. Does the speaker hate that her mother married Mr. Mason? ("their eyes slid away from my hating face")

3 Vocabulary:

1. Glacis - a gentle slope
2. Adieu - good-bye; farewell
3. Frivolous - a lack of seriousness or sense

2 Litery Terms:

1. "...straight narrow back, her carefully coiled hair..." [imagery]
2. "...better than people..." [simile]

1 Overview:

This chapter is an introduction to the speakers life - her family, and what she likes and dislikes.