21June 4, 1715: Margaret Gaulacher
Jill McDonough’s sonnet ‘Margaret Gaulacher’ in Habeas Corpus opened my eyes to injustice of capital punishment. Margaret Gaulcher was a women living in Boston Massachusetts whowas sentenced to death because she murdered her illegitimate child in 1715.
The first few lines of the sonnet do not relate to the Gaulacher case but to the feeding time of a lioness. At first glance there is no correlation between the description of the lioness eating and Gaulacher. I was confused to why McDonough would put that in the sonnet, but after reading if over and over again I began to understand why. McDonough’s description of the lioness at feeding time refers to Gaulacher murdering her own child. I do not agree with Gaulacher murdering her own child but I am sympathetic to why should do such a thing. She lived in a Puritanical society which not only frowned upon illegitimate children but which would probably force her out of the settlement. Gaulacher felt the pressure of the society and brought her child’s life to swift ending.
Many believed that what Gaulacher had done was cruel and an act against God but no one believed this more than the religious leader Cotton Mather. Mather believed that Gaulacher should seek council with him but she refused. Mather turns around and preaches against Gaulacher. McDonough uses the Mather’s words from his speech to emphasize how angry he was when she refused his council. “Cotton Mather preached against Hard-hearted Sinners, Hardness of Heart(ln 4-5),” his words painted Gaulacher in worse light than she already was. She betrayed Mather too, he had heard her confession but she did not repent for what she did. The tone of the sonnet reflects Gaulacher’s thoughts. She believed that she had done nothing wrong and she was not going to repent for it. Not repenting for her sins was worse for Mather than the actual sin. “Now hers is a Stony Heart, of flint(ln 9),” this line shows that Gaulacher had no intention of feeling sorry from her crimes and her mind could not be changed. Her lack of penance added made it easier for them to execute her for her crimes. If she was not going to repent, the she should be sent to the gallows. At the end of the poem, the congregation is calling for her to be executed and no one has any sympathy for her; however, Mather(I am assuming) want her to still repent so when she does die she will not end up at hells gates or “The Mouths of Dragons, (13). “
The poem about Margaret Gaulacher is both disturbing and inspiring. It is disturbing because of her crime and it is inspiring because she refused the most influential man of that time council. McDonough does a great job at both praising and criticizing Gaulacher by using words from Mather’s speech against Gaulacher. For example, she describes Gaulacher’ as a “Stony Heart, of Flint(ln 9). She is being strong and fighting against the norms of society. McDonough makes her seem like a true heroine and I slightly over look the fact she killed her child. But at the same time, she reminds me what she did with the line “Poor Margaret, behold: the congregation calls for your wondrous Industry, Agony, your death four days off(ln 10-12). Gaulacher might be sticking it to Mather but she is still going to be executed.
The Twilight Phenomena: I Don’t Get It
The first time I read Twilight,I was sixteen years old. It peaked my interest because it was about vampires and I am a bit of a fantasy geek. I have read all of the Harry Potterseries waited for the midnight showings of Lord of the Rings, watched all the Star Wars films multiple times and maybe even quote some of the lines from the film. So when Twilightcame out I thought it would not be a bad read. Vampires and maybe the prospect of werewolves, this book has some potential. I read it and it was not that bad. It was quick read and entertaining. Then I got a hold of the second book New Moon, I did not love but it was ok. I read the third, Eclipse and I was like awesome vampires and werewolves in this one and a showdown between Victoria and her army of newborn vampires verses the Cullens and the Werewolves. I would have to say out of the four books Eclipse was my favorite. The fourth installment came out and since I had read the first three I might as well finish the series. Except I did not finish reading Breaking Dawn. It was not the fact that I did not have the time to but I could not bring myself to read it after Jacob realizes that his soul mate is Bella’s daughter Renesmee. Up to that point I had no qualms about the series it was just a book after all and it had no real effect on how people lived their lives. How wrong I was. I began reading articles and seeing the effect this book actually had. I had read articles about how girls were looking for boyfriends like Edward and wanting to be like Bella. At first, I thought it was just innocent but then when I was reading fmlife.com a girl had kissed her iced over window she could know what it was like to kiss Edward Cullen. Here is the actual story: “Today, I kissed my iced over window to know what kissing Edward Cullen would be like. My neighbor saw. My first reaction was to come up with a cover story. I licked the window and wiped my sleeve over it to look like I was cleaning it. My neighbor came over later and gave me an early Christmas gift. Windex. FML.(http://www.fmylife.com/search/result?texte=4bcf95069edcc&article=1&from=top)”At first I thought it was funny but then I realized how sad the story is. This women wants to be with a fictional character rather than a real person.
Edward Cullen became the standard for women and I could not believe. I read the books and did not think he was that great of guy and for a moment I thought I was wrong until I reread the books. After I reread them I realized that Edward was a stalker. It scared me to think that this was the guy that women were dumping their boyfriends for or wanting boyfriends to be like him. I could not believe that I did not catch this when first reading but then again I was sixteen when I had read it, I had grown up a bit since then. It also freaked me out that he would sneak into Bella’s room and watch her sleep. I do not know how anyone in their right mind could find that attractive. Also he would give Bella cryptic warning about how he was dangerous and should keep away from him even though he was the one following her around constantly. It sounded like a bad Lifetime movie except Bella was into the fact that Edward could kill her at any moment and stalked her. Her attraction reminded me of Stockholm syndrome except she is not hostage. If I had to give a name her attraction it would “Stalker syndrome”.
At that point, the series was losing credibility. I was completely lost to the idea why someone would want a boyfriend to stalk them. Then realization hit me, it was not only Edward who I thought was way out of the ordinary but also Bella.
Bella Swan is not a character I would say that I would want to be like. It is not because of her stalker boyfriend because she has low self-esteem and is mentally disturbed. Through out the series, Bella complains that she is not pretty enough to be with Edward and that she should not be with him because there are much prettier girls out there who deserve him. (But I do not think that any sane girl/woman would see that Edward breaking into their house to watch her sleep as romantic. More than likely they would have called the police and have a restraining order against him.)After all of her complaints and doubts, Edward does leave Bella in the second book. Edward comes to his senses and realizes that not only is the relationship between them unhealthy but he is too dangerous for her to be around. When he leaves Bella falls into a deep depression and alienates herself. She does not talk and she cries herself to sleep every night all over a guy. The clip bellow shows Bella’s depression( note that she is wearing the same clothes which probably means she has not showered for that long)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd28sxdZmEc&feature=related
She fights her depression when she hangs out with Jacob. She realizes that when she does dangerous activities like cliff diving that Edwards voice comes into her head. Bella becomes more reckless to hear his voice. If this was not fiction, I am almost certain that she would have institutionalized. But it was not of Bella’s antics and Edward’s predatory ways that sent me over the edge, it was Jacob(yes,Jacob).
Jacob Black seemed to be a harmless character in the begin and the voice of reason when Bella was crazy. I was rooting for him in the love triangle. He was not creepy. He was lovable, funny and Taylor Lautner plays him. But Stephanie Meyer had to ruin it.
Jacob became a pedophile.
He falls in love with Bella and Edward’s daughter Renesmee which he means that he was not in love with Bella but in love with one of Bella’s unborn children. I this horrified me. I guess you can argue that I am being ridiculous but am? If I had a daughter and I found out that my best guy friend is in love with her and will wait till she is older so that they could be together, I would move. I might have watched way too many ‘Catch a Pretator’ episodes but I think I perfectly justified in thinking that it is wrong for a teenage boy to admit to loving an infant in a sexual way. Meyer may not have intended for it come off that way but I read it and that is how I interpreted it. After this incident, I coud not read any further of Breaking Dawn. At that point I could careless what happened to the characters or how the series ended. Although I refuse to finish the series and think that it is overrated, I have seen the first two movies.
Curiosity has got the best of me, when it come to the Twilight movies. I admit to seeing both movies but only to see if the potral of the characters are accurate. I am happy to report that the movies are indeed accurate in the portral of Bella and Edward. In the movie, you can really pick up on how ridiculous Bella really is and Edward’s creepiness. I felt justified in thinking that this relationship was unhealthy;however, not everyone thinks the same way I do. Since the movie opened in theaters in 2008, the Twilight phenomena seems to have reached an all time high. Girls and women are even more in love with characters since they have come to life on the silver screen. It seems to me that Hollywood has gone Twilight crazy and I do not understand why.
At this point in the game, I feel lost to why any girl or woman finds the story attractive but then again can understand why it might appeal to them. The appeal of getting lost in the life of Bella can be fascinating, Edward is not a bad guy if you over look the fact that he is a stalker and Jacob is not really a pedophile because he will never age and he and Renesmee will look the same age when they are finally together. But who am I kidding, I do not see Twilight in that light. I see it as a book about girl named Bella who whines because she good looking boyfriend Edward who stalks her and Jacob who is in love with their baby Renesmee, so how did this book get so big?
Cultural Event
Having no idea what to do for my Cultural event, I decided to go with my friends to the celebrate the Japanese tradition of Setsubun. I had no idea what I was getting myself into but I knew there was sushi involved so I went to check it out. We arrived a little late but thankfully we did not miss anything too important.
Japanese professor Dr. Leslie Williams gave a great presentation on Setsubun. Setsubun is the day before the beginning of spring according to the lunar calendar. It is also the last day of the old year. On Setsubun, it is customary to hold events to exorcise evil influences and bring about happiness in the New Year. The practice exorcising of demons called oni originated in China not Japan. The exorcising of oni was a ritual of the emperor’s court in China since the Chin dynasty. The ani were believed to cause epidemics, misfortune and also cold weather. The practices of Setsubun were first observed by the emperor’s court in Kyoto, Japan. During the Ming Dynasty in China, roasted soybeans were thrown about the house to drive oni while chanting the phrase “Fukuwachi, oniwasoto” or “In with good fortune, out with all the demons.” It is also customary to eat the number of roasted soybeans of one’s age plus one as means to exorcise the oni that might be in the body. This ritual is thought to bring good luck, health and prosperity in the new year.
On Setsubun, at famous shirnes and temples all over Japan, celebrities stand on th front veranda and throw lucky charms to crowds waiting below, the people below surge to catch the lucky items.
Today we had our own bean-throwing rite with little shimmery puff balls instead of roasted soybeans. Two of the Japanese Club members dressed up as oni and we got to pelt them with the shimmery puff balls while chanting “Fukuwachi, oniwasoto,” over and over again. It was a lot of fun and I guess I felt my like I was purging my own oni. Then we sat down and the “oni” threw candy to as long as we chanted “Fukuwachi, oniwasoto.” It was very wild and new but a lot of fun. I felt as if I was little kid again.
Then it was snack time but the catch was we had to make our snack. With the assistance of other Japanese club member we made our own sushi from scratch. First, you got a piece of seaweed and place it on a straw mat. Then you get some rice and coat the seaweed with the rice. Then there was the choice of what you wanted in your sushi of eggs, tuna, crab, avocado, and cucumber. After you put in what you wanted you take the straw mat and roll the sushi. After your sushi is perfectly rolled you do not cut it because it tradition to eat it whole. While eating the sushi you could not talk until you finish eating it and you also had to eat it facing west. It was very interesting to see everyone facing one direction eating sushi. If someone walked in on us it would be hard to explain to them what we were doing because were unable to talk.
All in all, Setsubun was a lot of fun. It is new and interesting and more than likely I am probably going to celebrate it next year.
Allow Me To Reintroduce Myself
Name: Janine Katrina Nicole Cannick
Major:English
Hometown: Mount Vernon, NY(15mins out of Manhattan)
Favorite Books: Choke by Chuck Palahniuk, Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk, The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Favorite Movies: 28 Days Later, Inglorious Bastards, Godfather Trilogy, A Clockwork Orange, Donnie Darko, The Prestige, Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, Snatch, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, RocknRolla, The Professional, Pulp Fiction, Friday, and Children of Men
Favorite Band/Musician: Jay-Z, Jimi Hendrix, Fall Out Boy, Michael Jackson, Kanye West, My Chemical Romance, Marvin Gaye, Tiziano Ferro, Daft Punk, Lady GaGa
