Indiana Jones

8. They have to choose the correct grail because only people of true faith in Jesus and the Cristian religion can be able to pick the correct grail. People who are just looking for it for immortality are finding it for all the wrong reasons.

9. I think the grail is to remain behind the seal because if it got out then everyone would be able to get their hands on it. The quest for the grail would not exist anymore. People would rob and kill whoever possessed the grail and many would use it for personal gains. The grail ends up lost because once it left the seal the temple started to collapse. Either no one was getting out or the grail would have to remain behind. It will always be that unnobtainable object.

Small World day 4

Has Perrse completed his quest?

Persse's ending to the story is just upsetting. The fact that he ended up sleeping with Lily instead of Angelica just shows all he saw was an image. If he had gotten to know either one of them he would have had a clue on who is Angelica and who is Lily when he heard they were twins. He never really progresses throughout the story. Once he finds out that Angelica is engaged to the man he replaced for the teaching job, he decides he should go around chasing Cheryl Summerbee. He has the same train of thought through the whole story even though he is the main focus. He seems to be on a continuous quest for relations with women though he is supposed to be an educator. It seems that his life will just keep repeating the same storyline even beyond the novel.

small world day 3

Will Persse's quest to find Angelica be completed or is she just the mystery grail that can only be persued and never found?

While the story relatesto the grail quest I do not think that Angelica is a impossible character to reach. If Persse is trying this hard he is bound to come up and find her somewhere. Unlike Chretien's story David Lodge has completed his story so there has to be an ending. I think Persse will find Angelica but I dont think he is going to come up with the answers he wants to find. The grail is just an object and as far as Persse knows so is Angelica. Without getting to know her he will not really end his quest.

How do you feel about the affair between Swallow's affair with Joy?

I think the relationship between these to though real should have been put to rest along with the plane crash. All the emotions of being reunited after all this time has fueled Swallow to cheat plus being all over the world going to conferences can keep it alive. I feel he is in it for all the wrong reasons.

Small World Day 1

2. Persse is a person who thinks before he speaks and tries to be careful what he says. He reflects David Lodge and his opinions being the main character. He is the new guy he wants to fit in but he isn't just going to put himself out there he is going to get comfortable and try not to embarrass himself.



4. Angelica is the woman who every man wants to get. She is beautiful and a little flirty and a younger character. Everyone likes her based on her looks and she is like all the maidens in the medieval stories. Everyone looks at her and thinks she is the most wonderful person and Perrse even falls in 'love" with her. Her character even represents romance in the story and unlike medieval women she is allowed to be outspoken and use her speech more effectively.

Perceval day 1

1. It seems Chretien is sending us down a path of nobility and honor. He is pretty much dedicating the story to this Count Philip who can do no wrong and is a great crusader. This shows that we are about to embark on a virtuous journey for things as justice and loyalty. It doesn't really seem like a romance in a literal sense since there is no mention of a woman in this prologue. It seems just about the quest and the heroic knights of the times.

2. Perceval seems as such a naive young person the way he is always asking questions in return to a question. It shows the way that knights dress themselves and how they look but Perceval is never told about what they do. He falls in awe to how the knights look and the shields and lances and armor that he instantly wants to be a knight. He knows nothing about all the fighting and competing that comes with knighthood. I think this is because it's about a great knight who growing up never even knew what a knight was and that anyone can become a great knight.

3. Perceval's mother tried to warn him in how the life of a knight can be dangerous and how bad te times are. She tells a story of her husband and two other sons who died and she has now been living a life of grief and Perceval is all she has left. Perceval though was just too intent on being a knight and doesn't really pay his mother no mind at all. Even when he looks back and sees her lying on the ground he doesn't go back to see what is wrong or anything he just carries on to find King Arthur.

Movie Responses

1. I think the obscure object in the movie is women. I think the continuous miexed emotions of Conchita was showing how hard it is to always know what is going on with a womans mind. Women are also objects of desire to men that we pursue, playing the games, chasing them around, just in hopes to get what we want. The way Conchita appeared bipolar and how Matthieu would always take her back when she left shows that our desire increases as the game gets tougher to understand.

2. I think the background was terrorism because once Conchita came into his life it was like an attack on his way of life. Now he's handing out money and spending all his time with Oonchita or finding her when she dissapears. She manipulates him and is in a way attacking his thougts. She does damage to him and no matter how many times he fights back, she comes back to mess with his head again. As much as people would like to get rid of terrorism it never really goes away.

3. I think the two diffferent actresses represented the more lustful Conchita and the more reserved Conchita. The spanish woman came in more where she expressed her feelings more. She was the dancer in the club, she was there when Matthieu made his first move, and the one who used her as an affair type character. She also returns at the end when they get off the train togethor. These parts in the scene also make me feel that is why she is the one who gets slapped upside the face pretty well. She is also the shorter and more curvacious actress which i feel is a more desirable figure. The french girl was more of a reserved and shy like character. She was the one who was working in the restaurant and doing maidwork when she worked for Matthieu, had those weird pants on when they were in bed together. She never goes through with the sexual promises she gives him.

Celestina Day 5

Question 2. Melibea may have felt it was love but Calisto was just looking for a woman to have sex with. Being a woman she's more emotional and might actually be looking for a close relationship. Calisto was the hunter and he's chasing her around trying to get what he wants and Melibea is the one who's been evading and playing hard to get at times. I feel she was more confused about what love is and recognizing mens desires since she is still so young. I feel her suicide was genuinely over grief and maybe guilt over what happened. Though she makes it seem as though her honor was taken away she wanted to have sex with Calisto in the first place.

Question 3. Calisto and Melibea's death was like their downfall in this whole plan that was being worked out by Celestina. There is a lot of falling in this book and I think it's when people get to their lowest point. Calisto pursued Melibea so much and in the end he wasn't satisfied with what became of it. He figures he will just try and try again until it becomes the way he wants it to. Calisto's true colors show after hiding his false love so long and he is no longer the noble person he tries to be. Celestina is down emotionally and mentally after Calisto's falland she mimics this in her suicide. Celestina was really the manifest of their "love" together so when she died the love ended up dying with her.

Celestina Day 4

1. The way Calisto was talking it felt that he was so upset about Sempronio and Parmeno that his love for Melibea came second. All the love he said he had for her just ended up being lust and the desire to sleep with her. He embraces her and starts unclothing her and she doesn't really enjoy it. He then responds saying "Mistress, i have risked my life to earn this favor. What sense would there be in rejecting it now. He took complete advantage of her claiming he couldn't hold back his desire and he couldn't go through his suffering. Once he had what he wanted he was like a predator catching its prey.

The quote i picked was Melibea saying " Ive planned my death so well! How comforted to think that my beloved Calisto and I shall soon be united!" This quote shows just how much love is more true and non artificial for women than men. She commits suicide over someone who acted like he really loved her just to take advantage over her. No matter how hard to get she played her love ran deep for Calisto while he was just looking for a one night affair. A good portion of this book was setting up Calisto and Melibea togethor just for it to end in tragedy.

Celestina day 2

1. celestina seems to be lacking in confidence after both Sempronio and Elicia both talk to her and don't sound so confident. Sempronio keeps telling her to be cautious with Melibea's family. Elicia goes to fetch something for Celestina and she comes back telling her that it is not there. She also states that Celestina is always forgetting where she puts things. Celestina ends up praying to Pluto, the god of the underworld, that her plan with Melibea goes according to plan. Everyone is usually confident in her and that she will get the job done. When people start being skeptical she gets a little nervous.

3. I think Melibea doesn't like the fact that Calisto is sending this sneaky old prostitute to talk to her about his love. i don't think that she is completely uninterested in him but dissapointed that he wouldn't try again himself. Celestina has a bad reputation and for Celestina to be in her presence is an insult. She is still playing hard to get.

Celestina Day 1

3. My first impressions of Celestina is that she's a cunning woman who finds ways to get what she wants through persuasion. She immediately wants to get as much money out of calisto as she can knowing his situation. Parmeno also knows she has a bad reputation and describes how everything she does is through lies and mockery. Celestina hears this and upon recognizing Parmeno uses their past against them. Parmeno wants to be loyal as a servant, but Celestina was like a mother to him for quite some time. She also uses her age as a scapegoat for having wisdom and that Parmeno is still too young to understand the world around him.


1. I think the setting took place in a garden because a garden is usually a romantic place. Here we have a man confessing to a woman his love in a garden which is a beautiful setting. The only problem is it doesn't turn out good for Calisto. Melibea rejects his love since he does it out in the open and puts her above a seat in heaven.

Decameron day 6

9.2 answer - The nuns reflect the church being corrupt and succumbing to sins that people who aren't in high positions in the church. Men and women who are even nuns and priests feel the emotions of lust and jealousy and greed. People are people they are just expected to carry out more responsibility than others.

9.3) I feel Calandrino's friends are guilty because a person should be able to do with their money whatever they want. If Calandrino wants to buy land then he should be able to. Its also bad enough they convinced a doctor, a professional, to go along with the plan. the way Calandrino was talking to and about his wife was a little scary. He openly commented on killing her but everyone just laughed it off like it was he reward of playing such a good prank. hitting women i guess is acceptable in some ways to these people as we see abuse of women in past stories.

Decameron Day 4

story 5.8) Why does Nastagio feel he has to bring the Traversari girl to the forest? Is her decision to marry him a suprise?

Nastagio feels he has to bring lady Traversari to the forest to witness for herself the slaughter of the cruel woman. This way it will scare her in not acting in a sinful way. I dont feel any suprise in her running to Nastagio after witnessing the spectacle. It scared her so much that she didn't want to end up the same way. She would be lucky to take anyone after seeing the girl get slaughtered by a knight, who are supposed to be noble people.

story 5.10) Does the irony of the story strike you as odd?

I feel that the story was pretty entertaining. The fact that the man is talking about a woman cheating on her husband and hiding in a chicken coop while its actually going on is so out of the ordinary. The fact that people have the same idea in such short time periods of each other as almost abnormal.

Decameron Day 2

1. I think Andreuccio got a little bit smarter during the story, but he was always getting stuck in the same situations. He always meets somebody who in general is not respected in society. First he meets the woman who is a whore, then the grave robbers. He is also always getting trapped in some dark and gloomy place where he can't get out. I feel he caught on financial wise though. After gettting tricked the first time out of his moneyhe realized that the grave robbers would do the same to him the moment he stole all the stuff from the tomb. He also learned to think more like people who actually go out in the world and try to make a decent living. If he's around the wicked enough then he will start to understand them. Considering he never left his town before he is used to the same kind of people and the same environment day in and day out. Now that he is out and in a new city where life is different, he gets overwhelmed by everyones cunning and deceit. I think the story is trying to get at people shouldn't stick to social norms. Doing the same thing day in and day out is not good for you. The person telling the story continuosly calls Andreuccio a fool for how he is so trusting of people. Everyone isn't as friendly as who you know. The fact he got out of each situation was sheer luck and so was him claiming the ring.

3. I think in the story being feminine was just looking really pretty. Its not until about three quarters into the story that Alatiel is even mentioned speaking. Because she speaks a different language from everyone else she gives up on communication all togethor. The men were so overcome by her beauty that they couldn't help themselves in trying to win her love. By only looking at her they fell in love. They went as far as to stab their brothers and best friends in the back pretty literally just to have her. I think the author feels that love is blind. Every man knew nothing about Alatiel yet they are supposedly in love with her. All they ever did was end up having sex with her over and over again. It took an old man who spoke her language to finally ave a legitimate reason to actually love her. His friend also did not betray him in stealing her away. Women once again are thetrophies that men compete for so they look their best. With a beautiful lady on your side your easily the top dog in the competition. Alatiel is also a little at fault in this story to. While they lusted for her she enjoyed their company as well. After she lost her virginity it was just good time after good time for her. She would grieve for a short while when one of her lovers was killed and then just move on all the same after a while. The gender roles still are in place. The men are just being men while she is to me dim witted and has a very bad sense of morals.

Decameron part 1.

In the first day second story the jew abraham says after visiting Rome "And since I have observed that in spite of all this, they do not succeed but, on the contrary, that your religion continuosly grows and becomes brighter and more illustrious". i find this in a way the author mocking both the jewish religion and the cristian church. The fact that the Jewish person feels that because the catholic church is so sinful yet thrives is gods will is so ridiculous. And for someone to portray the church like this in this time is definetely not normal. To openly say that the church sodomises children is something you would expect to hear now not all the way back from the middle ages. It shows that the church had problems way back then even though it may not have been thought of.

"Intelligence can rescue the wise man from the gravest of dangers and restore him to his secure state". I felt that this was a pretty nice quote from the text. The way he uses intelligence sounds deeper than what you would imagine. For one you would figure a wise man is allready intelligent. It's sort of a pen defeats the sword type of statement. I believe highly in the idea that if your smart enough you can work your way out of any situation you like without losing your head or using force.

Tristan and Isolde

1. The battle scene in the movie is different because it starts off with Tristan as a young boy. I think the film opened up this way as a more dramatic beginning and tying in how Tristan ended up living with his uncle Mark. It sets the tone to draw the viewer in and starts the story off in a more appropriate way. I think it gives you more of a feel for Tristan's life and you connect with him more than in the story.

2. I dont think the lack of a love potion was really persuasive in the movie. Events pretty much played out how they did in the novel. They got rid of the idea that the love potion was the whole centerpoint of the story which I think is a good idea. the blame on the potion got to be a bit much. Even after the effects wore off Tristan and Isolde were still blaming it for their troubles. I felt the movie portrayal made more sense in a way and developed the story better.

Knight with the Lion 3

1. I think that Yvain takes up the identity as the knight with the lion because he wants to start a new life. He went through so much grief after Laudine wouldn't take him back after his manly adventure. With his new identity he was more of a noble knight instead of when he was Yvain and going around jousting every knight he met and engaging in tons of tournaments. This will also make sure that he wont be recognized since he isn't giving his true name to anyone.

3. Laudine and Yvain's meeting at the end of the story is good fortune for Yvain and a complete shock for Laudine. Laudine greets him knowing him by his new title, the knight with the lion. Yvain is obviously happy to hear that Laudine will make up with him and they will be togethor once again. Laudine though gets tricked by Lunete to swear that she will make sure the knight with the lion will be in good favor with his lady again. Lunete tells her that the knight with the lion is none other than her husband Yvain and she accepts him back in reluctance. This shows me how important someones oath was. Even though she wasn't planning on taking Yvain back she does because of her word and because she would be a sinner herself if she didn't try to make it work between them. It was a very ackward reconciliation and didn't seem to deal with love at all. She makes it seem like its her duty to take Yvain back.

The Knight with the Lion

1. Gawain's speech in a nutshell is very masculine. Gawain basically tells Yvain to man up, stop being depressed and sad, and go out and fight and reclaim your honor. He doesn't like how he lets a woman run his life when he is supposed to be such a great knight. So as a result of this Yvain asks Laudine if he can leave or not. She promises to let him leave on the condition that he can't be gone no longer than one year. She said if he didn't return by then that he would be banished from her love. To me a year seems lke a long time to just go out and joust and fight in tournaments and such. That is a lot of time to fight battles and get worn out and tired. I don't see why she feels she needs to put a leash on him but i feel the deal is pretty safe for Yvain to do what he needs and comes back.

4. The lion usually represents good things such as strength, courage, and leadership. The snake is more cunning, and trickery. I think what Yvain is facing in the challenge to choose what side he picks is to either pick the lion and reclaim some of his strength in getting over his sad feelings and return to power as a knight. If he had chosen the snake I think his journey would have been tougher. A lion is a companion that will be loyal while the snake i think would be more of a burden. The snake is more or less going to keep him down in the dumps and would result in him turning back and cutting his adventure short or maybe even harming himself in a way. I feel his choice to save the lion shows that he's willing to deal with his problems and realize who he is and that he hasn't been much of a night lately.

The Knight with the Lion

1. The lack of a prologue in "The Knight With the Lion" may be an indicator that the plot is not determined by fate. The other story about Erec and Enide the author kind of knew what was going to happen so he kind of layed it out to let you get a feel for how the story would play out and the relationship they would have. This one is more of a story being told with him in it. I notice the word i is being thrown around in first person. So this is like him witnessing the story unfold.

2. I find the story confusing thus far. The relationship seems to be really strained and its hard to figure out where its goin. It seems to be too much arguing and all over the place.

Eric and Enide response

1. I think their relationship did change. Enide was more aware of the mistake she made before and once again she came to a point where she wasn't talking at all. They ended up happy together. She still has her inner thoughts here and there but for the most part she kind of eases back into how we saw her in the beginning of the text. Then they officially get married and have a big celebration and as far as we know everything ends up happy ever after.

4. I think the celebrations are so detailed because throughout the story its been all Erec and his adventure. Its the manly voyage where you go out and fight as many people as you can to prove your worth to everyone. Now that it's time to settle down and Erec and Enide are so deeply in love that their ceremonies kind of reflect the feelings they have for each other at this point of the story. They have been through quite a lot together and this is the point in the story everyone's been waiting for. Erec wins her to be his maiden and to eventually be his queen, and then they go on this fighting spree as a way to test her loyalty to him and get his macho status back. This is the happy ending that should have happened a long time ago. It should be detailed and show the reader just how the best of the best were treated.

Erer and Enide Response

1. For starters we see that Enide is finally speaking. Unfortunately for her she starts expressing her opinions around Erec who obviously doesn't really know what to make of it. She also starts to show her wisdom we've been hearing about but never witnessed until now. When she tricked the count into thinking that she was going to leave Erec for dead and leave with him. She also was kind of sneaky the way she sort of double crossed the count. When she's trying to protect Erec she always speaks out looking to do the right thing. When she warns Erec about the various thugs trying to rob and beat him despite his warnings not to speak. We get to see how she feels about the relationship that's going on right now and shows she actually cares for Erec on a certain level. Whether it's really love yet is debatable but she does have affection.

3. I think Erecs journey was about discovery. I think he's trying to prove Enide's relationship with him. When she says that he is unfortunate and being ridiculed because of her i think he gets suspicious in whether or not she's making up an excuse for crying in the bed and talking behind his back or if she's really there for him. I think he was trying to intimidate her or try to get her to play her role. When he keeps telling her to not speak unless spoken to, i feel as if it was a test of faithfulness to him. He loves her no matter what which is why he keeps forgiving her every time she speaks out of turn. He seems to be trying to put her back in her place.

ROT Day 3

2. The love was never meant to happen in the first place. Even though they still love each other after the effects of the potion wears off, Yseut is married to King Mark. She made an oath that their love was not wicked and wrongful. She implied that only the King had been between her legs(since she said the leper was the only other one though the leper is Tristan). At this point in the story it wouldn't be in their favor to just try to see each other. Instead of spending time in the woods roughing it they should have tried to find a way to leave the country and try to live a normal life. Personally I feel the killings were justified in a way because as long as the Kings barons were still around they probably would have never left Tristan and Yseut alone. The three barons were instigating everything putting their opinions in the Kings head. The relationship from the start between Tristan and Yseut was never meant to work out. They were forced into it and then they tried to force it to work. It was just painful reading about these two.

3. Tristans madness was a very confusing part of the story. He shaves his head and takes on a fake name using his skills of trickery again. He basically just waltzes in Cornwall and confesses that he's Tristan, but no one believes him because he pretends to be a jester. I felt this was a throwaway part of the story. Yseut doesn't even believe Tristan is Tristan for the most part of it. She's too disgusted by how he made a fool of her and how he looks completely different. This part of the story was just Tristan sneaking in to Cornwall to see Yseut and then leave.