https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56 Each day you meet in your literary circles, you will document your discussions and pose a discussion question at the end of the session. During the breakout sessions with your common role, each individual will post on this platform the following pieces of information: what difficulties did you come across; where did you find your successes; what epiphanies did you have; post a question for the person in your role. en-us 2017-10-16 12:17:34 UTC 2017-10-16 15:47:30 UTC hello@padlet.com jill_allen1 https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197300547 2017-10-16 12:26:04 UTC https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197300547 jill_allen1 https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197300694 2017-10-16 12:26:28 UTC https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197300694 jill_allen1 https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197301077 2017-10-16 12:27:14 UTC https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197301077 jill_allen1 https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197301679 2017-10-16 12:28:42 UTC https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197301679 jill_allen1 https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197301826 2017-10-16 12:28:57 UTC https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197301826 https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197330587 So I found two themes: One about Ester's desire to be different, and another about Ester's dissatisfaction. I may have found something big: I realized that Ladies' day probably made Ester and her fellow ladies sick because they were not following standard "convention" about how women were feeling. When she comes back from the dinner, aka her experience with being a "normal woman", she and her other fellow women become sick. This is because what society expects of the ladies LITERALLY sickens these independent women. Unlike the stereotypical woman caring for the children at home, the ones who are living in the Amazon are alot more independent. However, I am not sure that the women besides Ester are trying to be greatly different from society's expectations. What do you guys think about this? To me, Ladies' Day may be a metaphor for society's expectations. This may be the most successful thing I found. I also focused on Ester's experience with Jay Cee. Jay Cee sounds like an unstereotypical girl name. What do you guys think about this? What influence does Jay Cee have and what's the significance of her name? Also, I like Chicken. ]]> 2017-10-16 13:27:47 UTC https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197330587 https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197333921 Clearly, there are many significant passages in this book but I found one that especially stuck out to me. One being the passage where Esther is describing what people would say about her being a country girl getting scholarships to a big college and moving to the city. This passage is quite contrary in the sense that everyone thinks she is on a terrific path to happiness and wealth but truly inside, Esther feels empty and useless in New York. She feels like she is a passenger to her existence. I guess the biggest difficulty was re scanning the first 6 chapters to find the most significant passages because I didn't mark them the first time. I found my successes in analyzing those passages once I found them. It came easily to draw the conclusions between the passages and overarching ideas. I know our role is to focus on events strictly based on the text, however; I found this passage too significant not to mention. When Esther talks about her baby in chapter 1, it provides us with a rare glimpse into her life after all the events that are to apparently happen. How many different things are we able to infer from this short passage? 


(The passage reads, "Later, when I was all right again, I brought [the toys] out, and I still have them around the house (...) last week I cut the plastic starfish off the sunglasses case for the baby to play with.") ]]> 2017-10-16 13:33:42 UTC https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197333921 https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197335249 I did not find many difficulties to understand how the characters really were and who they were as people. Some characters were only in the first six chapters for a brief moment, so I did not learn much about them, but I did get a feel for who they were. I know the most about who Esther is and her background, and I can also infer a lot about who Buddy Willard is. I had a lot of epiphanies when reading the chapters, especially when major experiences happened in Esther's life. Who do you think was the most complex character in the novel?]]> 2017-10-16 13:35:57 UTC https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197335249 https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197363498 Explain the significance of dissatisfaction in the eyes of society and in the eyes of Esther.]]> 2017-10-16 14:15:30 UTC https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197363498 https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197402588 Throughout the first six chapters, mostly in the first chapter and the sixth chapter. The first chapter described the setting of the novel and described the roles of women in the setting, how they were most likely going to be secretaries and go to secretarial schools. However, the first chapter also described the social aspect of living a life in this setting how they were "waiting to get married to some career man or other" and are just sex-objects waiting to be picked by and used by men (4). More specifically, in Esther's case in chapter 6 with Buddy, Esther was being used by Buddy where he says," 'I have been saving myself for when I get married to somebody pure and a virgin like you." (70). How else do feminist views enter the novel?]]> 2017-10-16 15:17:06 UTC https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197402588 https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197402951 I didn't find many difficulties in finding media of that time period to reflect the social norms such as advertisements as it was then that they become more popular and it became the consumers' age. It was also obvious that this time period was full of sexism, however this was the societal norm. This was most prominent in advertisements, showing that men are more dominant and that they should be able to do what they want with their wife or with women in general while women should just be submissive. Women were also supposed to be in the house and maintaining it while the men are the breadwinners. How do you think these societal norms affected Esther?]]> 2017-10-16 15:17:41 UTC https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197402951 https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197403201 In the first six chapters, I learned the most about Esther through her actions, decisions, and her memories. Esther confuses me because she has earned the opportunity to be living a great life in the city, and she gets to attend all these great events, yet she has a pessimistic attitude and just seems unsatisfied all the time. I feel like Doreen, Betsy, and Jay Cee have the ability to change Esther's character and influence the way she feels, but I also feel like Esther is going to become even more pessimistic. How do you think the setting of the novel impacts the attitudes and actions of the characters]]> 2017-10-16 15:18:05 UTC https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197403201 https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197403612 I found 5 questions but the ones I feel are substantial to the books meaning are: 1.Why did Esther choose the story about "The Figg Tree" to share, besides the fact that she had a similar experience with Buddy? 2. When she received the call from that man, why did she wish her date with him to not work out? I think its very interesting she makes a big deal about knowing and dating lots of men when they are the reason for her uncertain mindset/personality. ]]> 2017-10-16 15:18:42 UTC https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197403612 https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197408365 It was quite difficult to choose the right passage to discuss that  would help the reader to fully understand the book because there were so many to choose from with various themes that were addressed. I focused on the characterization of Esther and how society was, the norms. It was quite easy to actually find the passages as it wasn't difficult to see past what she was saying to see the deeper meaning of. The passage I found was about her not really having it all and this particular passage held a lot of information about Esther's characterization. How much can one infer from that passage?]]> 2017-10-16 15:27:17 UTC https://padlet.com/jill_allen1/jdi11vve9y56/wish/197408365