Reading Notes, Week 15, The Salve Trade

Reading Notes Part B The Salve Trade


-San Juan to Inglewood
-danced until they kicked off in the world
-a whistle sounded on the track
-loved people too much to be around them at school
-he hid under a tree to write a paper called Salve Trade
-fat women and helicopters
-danced everyday
-called him a simple MF'er-the Salve Trade

Reading Notes, Week 15, Maggie Nelson

Reading Notes Part A Maggie Nelson


-she aims her books towards her childhood
-her first book only took her 6 months to write
-it was called "The Red Parts"
-it was about a case that had gone undiscovered
-it touched on true crime
-she asked "is it possible to grieve successfully?"
-she also wrote The Argonauts
-wrote between fact and feeling
-she met Dodge the same year she wrote The Red Parts
-she called herself a formalist
-last year she was awarded a MacArthur Genius Fellowship
-

Project 3

Logan Huntze

8 May 2019

English 205

Ms. H

Project #3

For the third and final project, I have decided to choose the project topic that talks about theme and how it compares to the story and my life in general. I will be discussing and comparing the book called “About the House Girl” to a theme I relate to in my life. Patipir and Ifapi both use dedication in this story to better their lives as well as reach each other in the end. If it wasn't for this dedication, their lives would have been completely different. My life relates to this because the dedication and hard work I put into each day of my life is to reach a bigger goal and without this dedication my life and end goal would be different than what it is now. Without dedication in each individual's life, their goals and dreams for the future will not be accomplished.

Based on the topic I have chosen and the thesis I have stated about themes, I have decided to discuss dedication as the theme for “About the House Girl” as well as my life. In the beginning of this story, we were introduced to Patipir as a young man who lived alongside the river, and on his free time he enjoyed hunting, fishing, and playing his flute on the side of the river. However, when we were introduced to him it was clear that he was a responsible young boy who worked hard for the things he had. Some of the first words we learned about Patipir were, “He hunted and fished, he cut down trees and adzed and split the wood for the sweat house or other building, he carved and burned out his own canoe and made the long storage boxes to hold his accumulating treasure, he cut and carried ceremonial wood for sweat house fires, and he sweated himself and prayed.” This quote discusses all the hard work and dedication Patipir put into each day of his life, and how he not only did things for himself but others around him as well. This dedication continued throughout the story and Patipir continued to be a successful young man.

Patipir was never around woman, but a short way into the story he was introduced to a girl who was special to him from day 1. He never actually met this girl until a few times after encountering her, but she was all he wanted and her name was Ifapi. Ifapi was a young girl who was also very responsible, but her life consisted of things very different than Patipir’s. She was never outside, and she was held inside her Aunt’s house most of her life. Patipir first encountered Ifapi when he went to the “old ladies” house (Ifapi’s Aunt) to get fresh seaweed. He saw Ifapi there in the house, and he fell in love at first sight.

Days went on where all Patipir could think about was Ifapi. He was determined and dedicated to meet her and take her away to fall in love. Throughout the story, Patipir did everything he could to get to her, and it finally paid off. After the night Patipir and Ifapi saw each other at the dance party on the beach, Patipir rushed back to the Aunt’s house to find Ifapi and take her away. He refused to follow the Aunt’s orders to leave Ifapi alone, and as he explained his situation and what he was going to do with her the Aunt accepted it and let him take Ifapi away. All the hard work and dedication that Patipir had put into finding and taking Ifapi away had finally come true, and he wasted no time to marry her. That same day they went off and told Ifapi’s parents the situation and then the two of them left on a canoe out to the sea to go off and start their lives somewhere different with each other.

This sounds cheesy, but Patipir truly was dedicated to get to Ifapi. When he was in her Aunt’s house, he said “I am taking this little one with me, aunty.” These were his last words to show that his goal and dream were accomplished and he had finally reached Ifapi and had the opportunity to take her with him. I’ve talked a lot about how Patipir was dedicated to find Ifapi, but in the end Ifapi was very dedicated as well. She was at a point in her life where she felt comfortable to go off with a man she had just met to start a new life. This takes courage for a young woman, and also dedication. She was dedicated to go off and start a life with a man she had fallen in love with and she was happy to make her father proud. Both of these characters not only had dedication throughout the story, but they continued it when they sailed off to the ocean to start their new lives.

I can relate this theme to my life because I have been dedicated in everything I have done up until now in my life. It all started with sports and me being dedicated to be the best player I could be. This dedication carried into my schooling and future career choices that I have worked for to this day. My dedication with sports paid off a ton in high school with baseball, and I ended my senior year feeling like I was the best player I could have been. During high school, I made my decision that I wanted to be a firefighter like my father, and my dedication to get there started when I was 14 years old. I have continued that hard work and dedication to achieve my career dream up until this day, and it has all paid off. I recently was just offered a job as a firefighter at my dream Fire Department which humbled me and made me understand that hard work and dedication truly does pay off for whatever you are working towards.

My dedication and end goal was very different than Patipir and Ifapi, but it ultimatlely proves the same point. With hard work and dedication towards something you want, it can always be achieved. Patipir’s dedication to get to Ifapi and marry her came true, and Ifapi’s dedication to find the right man and live a good life also came true. My hard work and dedication paid off for me as well, so in the end the main point I took away from this was no matter what the situation is or the goal is you want to accomplish, it can always happen with dedication.

Week 14, Analysis, The Big Sleep

       For week 14, I have decided to do a close reading on the last third of the book I read called "The Big Sleep." A lot happened in the last third of this book and some of it was confusing at first, but then made sense at the end. A passage in this story that I was confused with was when Phillip Marlo (Riley) took Carmen Sternwood out to the sumps in the middle of no where near her house. The whole reason behind this was so Riley could teach her how to shoot a gun. However, he was one step ahead of her. The moment she got her hands on the gun, she aimed for Riley. Riley had put 5 blanks in the gun though so when she shot at him intending to kill him, nothing came out. From there, Riley was able to get ahold of her and get her under control.
       This scene to me was sort of a break in action but also a resolution to the story. Because this happened, Riley found out that what he thought about Carmen was true but he was also able to tell this info to Vivian, her sister, in hopes that she could provide some help. The events that had happened previously in the story line up to this one and how things almost went bad, however I was not expecting that at first until I thought about it more deeply. This scene is very important in understanding our characters. It proves that Riley was the smartest character throughout the whole story and it shows what Carmen's true intentions were towards him. He outsmarted her like he did to many characters in the story. The only other moments in the text like this one is when Geiger and Brady got killed. However, this situation wasn't as bad since nobody got killed.

Reading Notes, Week 14, The Big Sleep

Part B reading notes


Chapter 28
-he was in the room with Agnus
-he told Agnus what he knew about Canino
-she says she loves Eddie still
-her and Riley got in an argument
-she says Eddie didn't kill Rusty Reagan
-they kissed
Chapter 29
-Riley knew Canino's plan
Chapter 30
-Riley was at Harry's house
-there were cops and investigators all over
-the found Canino's prints at the scene
-the general wanted to talk to Riley
-he walked into General Sternwoods room
-he told Marlo he didn't want him to look for his son in law
-the general confronted him about the things he did
-Marlo explained why he did everything he did
-Riley told the general the truth about who he was and the general was still mad
-the general said he would pay Riley 1000 dollars to find Rusty
Chapter 31
-he found a girl playing darts-it was Carmen
-he gave her gun to her
-she wanted Riley to teach her how to shoot
-they left the house to go look for a place to shoot
-they found a place that was lonely
-Riley set up a target for Carmen to shoot
-she turned and pointed the gun at Riley
-she was mad, and had become an animal
-she started to shoot
-she passed out and he threw her in the car
Chapter 32
-Vivian came in the room he was in
-Vivian was angry and asked what Riley did to Carmen
-Riley told her the story
-Riley asked if she knew a man named Canino
-Riley had investigated the whole murder and knew every detail-he told Vivian
-Riley had loaded the gun with blanks
-Vivian said he was a horrible man
-Vivian offered Riley 15 thousand dollars
-he asked Vivian to take Carmen away a long way
-she knew she was wrong by being with Eddie Mars
-she admitted to why she did some of the things she did
-Riley gave her three days to get Carmen out of here
-Riley said he will handle Eddie
-it ended and they "slept the big sleep"

Reading Notes, Week 14, The Big Sleep, Part A

Reading notes part A

Chapter 23

-encountered a man and women in the fog

-Riley knew who it was 

-they got in a scuffle but Riley scared him with the gun

-man came up in a smock

-Vivian Reagan was there with them, talking to the injured man

-Reagan and Riley Marlo left in Riley's car

-stopped for coffee and whiskey 

-Reagan called Riley a killer cop

-Riley and Reagan kissed in the car

-Reagan demanded Riley to take her home, she didn't speak at all

Chapter 24

-Riley smelled a perfume in the dark room

-Carmen Sternwood was in Riley's bed waiting for him

-she got in his house from the manager

-she says his real name is Phillip Marlo

-he demands Carmen to get dressed and get out of his house

-she finally left

Chapter 25

-Riley says he has a hangover from women

-he walked outside and found the grey sedan parked out there again

-he left, parked his car, and a guy from the grey sedan walked up to him

-Riley went off on him

-the guy tells him he is Harry Jones

-the guy offers Riley money 

-the guy spills a lot of info about the murder

-tells him about Canino-always wearing brown clothing 

-Riley liked this little guy who approached him with all the info

-Harry tells him to bring the money to a house and he will bring him to Agnus

Chapter 26

-he arrived to the building 

-it was nice but old and smelled like mold

-he found the door and heard Harry talking to Canino

-Riley was still outside listening to them talk about the murder

-Canino wanted to know where Agnus was

-Harry finally tells Canino where Agnus is

-Canino left Harry's house

-Harry looked like he was in shock

-Harry Jones had died-he drank cyanide that Canino gave him

-Canino was maybe on his way to kill Agnus next

-Harry had lied to Canino and fooled him

-Agnus called Harry's house

Chapter 27

-Riley met with Agnus 

-he wanted information from her

-Agnus told Riley the story of Canino and Eddie's wife

-Riley fled to another town

-Riley got 2 flat tires

-he knocked on a random persons shop to seek help

Analysis, Week 13

       For week 13 I have decided to do a literary analysis post about the story "The Big Sleep" I have chosen to read. This week, I completed the second third of the story. A lot happened in this portion of the reading and I have chosen Riley, one of the main characters to do my post on. Riley is his undercover name he uses while doing investigation work.

       This whole story has been about murder and the events that went down before and after a murder has taken place. Riley has been the main guy investigating this and using his tools to gain as much information about the case as he can. A theme I have chosen to describe Riley is Sneaky. From the beginning of the story until now, he has been sneaky with every move he has made but that is required from him by the kind of work he does. He has accomplished a lot and actually has helped a lot of people out in this story so far and although he was been doing undercover work, he has been a good guy to people. This means to me that he is a person who cares. His work that he does can be dirty but overall, he is doing the work for a reason. It is playing out in the story very well. He started out with some enemies and that was because of the kind of work he does. People didn't like him because he was investigating things undercover and being sneaky and they thought of him as a bad person. However, since the story has gone on, the people who first disliked him now enjoy him and respect him for who he is and what he does. He has gained "friends" that he did not have in the start of the story.

       This works well with what the author has done so far because at first he was a sneaky undercover cop. However, now he is respected for the things he has done. This is a metaphor emphasizing the saying "don't judge a book by its cover." I believe this metaphor is going to carry out throughout this story and I will be surprised if the direction of this story changes.