Response to Drawers, Chests, and Wardrobes

I have to admit I struggled through this reading. I have trouble finding interest in articles that convey wardrobes with their shelves and drawers and chests with their false bottoms have a quality of intimacy. But maybe that is just me.

"What dreams are reserved for us if we can recall, if we can return to, the land of tranquility!"

I have some boxes that I am rather fond of. One that was given to me by my grandfather in which I store my coin collection and polished rocks. Others that are simply cardboard boxes in which I store all kinds of belongings. I like to put stickers on these boxes and have them stacked in the corner with my TV on top. A type of entertainment center.

I guess that these boxes could represent the chests and drawers and wardrobes of which the author speaks so fondly. People tend to form emotional attachments to inanimate objects.

Outline to Kafka's the Metamorphosis

- Gregor wakes up from a dream he's a bug

-Armor-hard back

-Brown arched abdomen divided up into bow-like sections

-Tried sleeping but could not roll onto his right side

-Alarm clock on chest of drawers says quarter to 7

-His mother, father, and sister all begin knocking on his door

-He tries to move his legs but it proves difficult

-Realizes it was not a dream and his is really a bug

-His boss arrives at the door and Gregor makes his way to the door

-Manages to get the door open and everyone sees his horrible form

-His family and boss are terrified by him

-His father helps him to squeeze back into his bedroom

II

-Gregor wakes from his nap

-He realizes he had hurt one leg getting in the door

-Finds a bowl of milk and bread on the floor, but doesn't like milk anymore

-His family was hiding from him so he spent the night thinking

-Gregor's sister began bringing him food every day

-Find out the father's business collapsed 5 years prior

-Gregor had been providing for the family and doing quite well

-His father is fat and old, mom has asthma, and sister is a priss

-One day, after about a month, when his sister came in the room Gregor was out and he startled her and he realized his appearance was still hideous to her

-He found pleasure in sitting on the ceiling

-His mother visited him

-They decided it would be good to clear all of Gregor's furniture out of the room so he could run around

-Gregor didn't want this because his furniture was all that made him feel human still

-He tried to save his picture of a woman

-Scared his mom and then sister who was getting spirits for her mother

-His father then arrived and tried to squash him

-He then began to throw apples at Gregor and one drove into his back

-Gregor's mother begged his father to spare his life

III

-The apple remained in Gregor's back and made getting around very difficult

-He could no longer climb up the walls

-His family would now leave his door open while they ate dinner so that he could watch and listen

-His family all had gotten jobs and were overworked

-They wanted to move to a smaller place but complained that Gregor could not be moved

-They began to resent Gregor and his treatment worsened

-They hired a new cleaning lady and she was not afraid of Gregor

-She called him dung beetle

-Three men started renting the extra rooms in the apartment so extra furniture started being tossed into Gregor's room

-He found pleasure in going through all the new stuff he found

-One day his sister was playing violin for the guests and Gregor ventured into the living room

-Gregor was memorized by his sister's playing and wanted to express this

-He ventured across the living room dreaming of how he would keep his sister in his room to play music for him and be appreciated

-The guests saw him and the father ushered them to their room 

-They were disgusted by this treatment and gave notice they are leaving without payment

-The sister expressed that they must get rid of the creature conveying that it was no longer Gregor

-The father agreed and the mother could not breathe

-Gregor painfully turned himself around and slowly made his way to his room

-Quickly his sister bolted the door shut

-He found himself immobile and lay there in reverie of his beloved family

-Then as the sun rose his head sunk and he breathed his last breath

-The cleaning lady found him in the morning and announced his death to the family

-Mr. Samsa kicked the three lodgers out of the apartment

-The father, mother, and daughter went out for a day of leisure and discussed future prospects

-Then the mother and father both realized how the daughter had blossomed over these past few months and decided it was time to find a good honest man for her

THE END

Poetic Metamorphosis

We had to read The Metamorphosis by Kafka and create a bed, a chest of drawers and a bug out of paper not using any tape or glue. Here is what I created:

 

I wanted to make the bed old fashioned looking, something like what I envision would come from the time period of the early 1900's. I used somewhat dreary colors which fit the way I interpreted the mood of the story. 

For the chest of drawers I made something similar to what sits next to my bed at home. In the story his alarm clock sits on the chest by his bed, just like mine, so this is what came to mind. I made it look like it is made of wood and not painted.      

The bug I made similar to a cockroach which is how I pictured him in the story. It talked about him trying to figure out how to use his many thin legs and not being able to roll on his side because of his awkward shape. I put a skull like head on top of his body to show that he is not entirely a bug but still retains some of his human form and it gives it a creepy undertone which I felt existed in the story.

Here is a photo of some of the unfinished pieces of my creation during the process:

Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!

:)

Memento

 Colonel Mustard Box

 

I created this box to represent my memories of the van my parents had when I was a child. We called the van Colonel Mustard because it was yellow. In the back of the van were two long wooden bench seats covered in golden yellow shag carpet. I have many fond memories of riding in this van. My souvenir I used is a little toy van that my mother gave me that looks quite similar to Colonel Mustard. 

So in order create my memento I wanted to make a box, both to represent the wooden box seats and the idea that a van is much like a box, a mobile box in which you sit and go from place to place. On the inside I made some shag carpet for the cover of the seats and also displaying the warm fuzzy memories of our family vehicle. I spray painted to box yellow because I wanted it to have a somewhat shiny finish similar to that of the van. 

Expressive 3D Forms

For this first assignment we had to create four different sculptures out of balsa wood, glue, and tape. Each sculpture had to convey a word chosen from a given list. This is some of the process:

Here are my creations:

Hopeful

To convey hope I created a tree. There is something about trees that I can find hope in. Like they are reaching to the sky for wisdom and peace. The trunk of my tree is formed by four triangles meeting in the center to create a type of pyramid base which the branches sprout from representing growth and hope in life.

Dangerous

To create a sense of danger I wanted to make some sort of cliff to nowhere, a precarious height. To do this I made a stand forming a rectangular frame with clear tape connecting the two sides. Then I created one half of the cliff on each side and made it so the two sides do not meet in the middle leaving the form hanging. I feel as thought being suspended by clear tape and the sharp edges not meeting instills a sense of danger in the beholder.

Angry

For angry I made a box with five of the six sides left open. And in the center I placed a form resembling the upper body of a human. I was attempting to create an idea of entrapment. As if the man were trapped in the the box. As much as he swings his stumpy little arms, he cannot escape his wooden cage.

Sad

My sadness is dripping. It seeps through the cracks between my fingers. I carry it with me. It is like a ball of ice cream in my hand on a hot summer day. Yes it's melting but it just won't go away.

Opening Blog Assignment

Books I Have Read:

The Freedom Manifesto by Tom Hodgkinson

Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden

Books I Want to Read:

Wild At Heart by John Eldredge

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

People I Find Inspiring:

Clayton Benjamin Merwin (My Grandfather)

M.C. Escher

Jesus

Bonus Category!

Things I collect:

Toy Cars

Pokemon Cards

Coins