The Gathering Blog # 1

Please read 98 - 131 respond to the following prompts or questions.  Use quotes when stipulated.

1.  How does the reader see poverty through simple details on pg. 98?  Cite 3

2.  Whose memories does Veronica steal on pg. 99?

3.  How does the reader know Veronica and the kids have gone to Ada's before? (100)

4.  Give the names of three horses on pg. 108.  Where are they?  What are they doing?

5.  "...every choice is fatal" (110).  Why is this so true?

6.  We get an example of kitsch vs. reality on pg. 111.  Cite and explain.

7.  Cite an example of interesting syntax on pg. 114.

8.  "...false intensities" are mentioned on 120.  Have you ever experienced a false intensity?  I've never heard the expression but it says so much about so many of our experiences.

9.  On 121 we see Liam never finding a home.  Find a quote to support this idea.

10.  Why do Liam and Veronica's paths diverge?  Think of lifestyle.  (123)

11.  How is Liam summed up on pg. 124?

12.  How is our narrator like St. Veronica?

13.  What was St. Dympna the saint of?  Why?  (128)

14.  There are some excellent bits of Ireland and Irish Language.  Please look up the following:
a.  "drab days of Lent" (105)
b.  Guiness (107)
c. "happy as Larry" (113)
d.  "biro" (114)
e.  "red lemonade" (116)
f.  "chunter" (125)

Blog # 2 - The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Please read 175 - 209 and respond to the following prompts in complete sentences.  Use quotes when stipulated.


1. Paraphrase Tomas's theory about Oedipus and communism.

2.  What were the two possible reactions to his decision?  Use quotes a support.

3.  Agree or disagree: "How defenseless we are in the face of flattery!" (185)

4.  Explain the following: "It is a tragicomic fact that our proper upbringing has become an ally of the secret police" (187).

5.  Why did Tomas quit the hospital and become a "window washer"(192)?


Happy Reading!

The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Blog # 1

Based on your reading, please respond to the following prompts.  Write in complete sentences and use quotes when stipulated.


1.  Is it weight or lightness that makes Tomas return to Prague?  Do you think he made the right decision?

2.  Give 3 examples of things that are heavy and have value.   Do the same with 3 things that are light.  Which are better?  Is it possible to say?

3.  What do you think about the following quote?  Is it true?  Are there multiple possibilities for love out there, as this quote suggests, or do you disagree with this notion?  Please do tell.
"Aart from her consummated love for Tomas, there were, in the realm of possibility, an infinite number of unconsummated loves for other men" (34).

4.  What does "Ess muss sein" mean?  How does it apply to our novel?

5.  How is the word "happened" used to explain the love between Tomas and Tereza?

6.  What did Tomas feel he was immune to until Tereza infected him with it?

7.  Do we see Tomas get jealous at all in this section?

Lost Paradise Blog # 1

Please read Chapter 11 and respond to the following prompts.
1.  The first page does a great job of delineating between "book" learning and "life" learning.  How is this accomplished?  Ultimately though, does life bring understanding?  (use only pg. 48)

2.  Define "moiety."  Don't worry if you struggle with it, Mr. Kelly didn't know it either.

3.  What is a "Pom"?  Look it up.  Who does sit apply to in this chapter?

4.  On page 51 who is "you people" and what are they looking for?

5.  I think the following quote is really true.  What do you reckon?  "...I had not understood, just as I had not understood the words of the songs I had listened to this morning, though I would take them with me for all time" (52-53).  I guess what I like about is that we often think we take answers or truth with us.  But what really sticks with me is what I don't understand...  How about you?

6.  Who wrote the book?  Does this come as a surprise?

7.  Why is the Sickness Country called what it is?

8.  What piece of news really caught Almut's attention?

9.  Who are the Aborigines "hanging around the big cities" and why did they end up there?

10.  What has cured Alma?