EAS

=Twitter- Elisabeth Stewart=

Been walkin alot to find new work. Belly is empty an George an I been fightin. Guess I should stop unless I wanna end up alone.
= Discuss Desiree's, Armand's or Madame Valmonde's knowledge of the situation through the story and how it affects their actions or lack of action. You may like to consider the following: = = - When Armand reads the letter at the end, is this new knowledge? How can you explain his changing attitudes towards Desiree and the slaves? = = - What does Madame Valmonde realise about the child's origins? Why would she not take action early on? = = - Is it likely that Desiree had realised that her child was of mixed race before seeing the quadroon boy fanning the baby? = = = __On Desiree:__ Desiree had no knowledge of her baby being mixed. Since her baby was only a quarter black, he probably didn't even start to show color until a few months after he was born. Since Desiree knew that she wasn't biracial, and didn't think that her husband was, the color of her babys skin didn't really ring much of a bell when he was first born. Since the baby boy was light skinned, the last thing on her mind and probably everyoen elses mind was the fact that he could infact be partially black.

__On Madame Valamonde:__ Being a mother to someone who's just given birth I think that Madame Valamonde was more excited and proud to be a grandmother than the color of her grandson's skin color. When she did infact realize that her newborn grandson could be colored, she tried hint it to Desiree. **"Madame Valmonde had never removed her eyes from the child. She lifted it and walked with it over to the window that was lightest. She scanned the baby narrowly, then looked as searchingly at Zandrine, whose face was turned to gaze across the fields. "Yes, the child has grown, has changed," said Madame Valmonde, slowly, as she replaced it beside its mother. "What does Armand say?" "** By doing this, it shows that she does noticed that there is something different about the baby. After asking what Armand has said she realizes that neither of the two have noticed the babys skin color. __On Armand:__ I believe Armand did know the baby would be partially black all along. I don't know how he could have gone his whole life not knowing or seeing what his mother looked like and what he really was. I think that the fact that he did treat his slaves with so much harshness is because he was upset at the fact that he himself would be one of those if his mother hadn't run off from his father. I don't think he thought that Desiree would ever notice, and that's why when she does finally notcie he already has a plan to make her believe she is the colored one. = = = =

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 * Why does Tom go to the movies so often? Does he go to the movies, as he says, or does he go somewhere else? If so- where?**

"I don't believe that you go every night to the movies. Nobody goes to the movies night after night. Nobody in their right mind goes to the movies as often as you pretend to. People don't go to the movies at nearly midnight, and movies don't let out at two a.m. Come in stumbling. Muttering to yourself like a maniac!" Act 1, Scene 3

Going to the movies is Tom's getaway from his family. Not only does he go to the movies, but he drinks, and these are both an escape from reality for him. The drinking is what causes him to forget about his problems with his mother and sister, and the movies are what help Tom dream about how he should be living his life. Tom talks about all of the adventures that characters have in movies and plans himself to embark on one. Much like his father, Tom is impatient and wants to start his own adventure.

Elisabeth -- Look at the irony between Tom going to the movies and what he says in scene 6 about people who go to the movies. What are his specific problems with his mother and sister? Mrs. S 

Erica's Response: I agree that Tom goes to the movies a lot to escape from his situation at home. Movies can have any setting or situation, even if it's fantasy. He wants to leave his family, like he does at the end of the play, and he can leave them for a short-time at the movies. From the quote you gave from the play, it’s obvious that from his stumbling and muttering he’s also drinking. Like his father, Tom wants adventures that are like the ones in the movies. Drinking and the movies help Tom forget about his own reality and live how he wants- what his father’s doing presently.  = =

Hillary's Response: I agree that Tom goes to the movies and drinks to get away from the real world, he pictures life as a movie, a fantasy. thats how he wants to live but he has to go back to reality.

** I don’t believe that Tom goes to the movies every night. I believe that he just walks around town drinking and coming home drunk when he feels like it. He could go to the movies every once in a while to get his sense of adventure that he needs, but mostly he needs to realize that drinking is not an escape for his problems. He always comes home anyway, and in the morning he will have to deal with the problems he has, and being drunk.
 * Response from Ashley W:

I agree with this response because every time he went out he was trying to find a way out of his boring day to day life. He used the movies to help him imagine what his life could be if he was the star of the movie. **Josh Spence**

Kellie D's response- I believe that, like his sister, Tom does not always go where he says he is going. He just uses the movies as his excuse just like when his sister always said she was going to school. I am pretty sure that Tom goes to the bar most of the nights and drinks, just like his father always did. The reason that he says he goes to the movies is because his mother is against drinking and going to the bar and she is afraid he will leave him just like his father did. After all the pressure his mother put on him about not drinking, he ended up leaving anyway.

I do not think Tom goes to the movies because he says: “People go to the movies instead of moving!” (1.6) If he did go to the movies, he did not want to anymore because he wanted to make something more of his life. He did not want to be trapped into the life he was living because he was unhappy. He wanted to be one of the people who actually live their lives instead of pretending the movies are enough. I agree that he uses the “movies” (or wherever he //does// go) as an escape.--Julia H.

I am Holden

Son of two loving, yet disappointed parents. Brother of Allie, D.B, Phoebe Who needs cigarettes, money, and someone to talk too Who loves being a badass, memories, and talking Who sees the world as it really is, good in things Who hates hotshots, Pency, dirty morons Who fears failure, telling his parents the truth, being alone Who dreams of his parents accepting his failures, his dead brother Allie, a girlfriend Who wonders about the future, about the past, where the ducks in central park go Resident of New York City

Caulfield

Elisabeth Stewart