In the comments for this section, I invite you to share any quotations that strike your fancy. I'll go first.
Not only was Aaron so cool that he could afford to drive the world's most uncool vehicle, but he'd made it seem so cool that other kids had started asking their moms for their hand-me-down, high-mileage vans.
If you want to, add a little explanation of why it appeals to you.
[By the way -- and I may be one of the few people in America to whom this matters -- but "quote" is a verb. "Quotation" is the noun form. You find a passage that you'd like to quote from -- then put the quotation into the yearbook.]
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| Be the first to guess the location of this famous quotation and win a non-descript prize! |
Taylor Hammeke- I just finished reading Goldengrove. I really liked it because the plot went super fast, and the characters were relatable/normal plot. I didn't really read the summary on the back, so I was surprised when Margaret drowned so suddenly. It just seemed like such an ordinary day, and the tragedy that occured seemed like it could happen to anyone. Even though there was a lot about mourning after Margaret's death, I thought that was normal. All of Nico's familiy took to different things/outlets to cope. I thought Aaron's intentions with Nico were genuine at first, however, I predicted that Aaron would eventualy "use" Nico, just because she reminded him of Margaret. Throughout the book, I could feel Nico's lonliness-the way something happened, and the only person she wanted to tell was Margaret, when obviously that was impossible. She had no choice but to turn to Aaron, because they were the only ones who understood. She was going through an extremly difficult summer, especially after what happened with Aaron, and I thought that overall she was very strong to get through it by herself (with all those lies... without a psychologist). I thought that mostly all of Aaron's actions after the first few meetings were to re-create Margaret. I'm not sure if he was doing it conciously, or it was just a part of his grieving process. I defidently don't approve of what he did, it played with Nico's mind too much. I knew that his kiss wasn't love to Nico- but for Margaret. I'm glad, though, that the family moved to Boston, where they could recover easier (being able to look out the window, and walk around town without being constantly reminded of Margaret). I'm also glad that she never saw Aaron again- I think it would've been too emotionally painful. Overall, I admired the way Prose allowed the characters to be normal-have flaws and have large emotional responses to horrific events. I thought that the plot was very beleivable, because sadly life can be as unexpectantly upsetting as Nico's was.
ReplyDelete"I told myself it was nothing I hadn't done before. I'd lied to my parents every time I'd pretended to go to the movies with Margaret."
ReplyDeleteThis quotation appeals to me because it identifies the uncomfortable feeling Nico was experiencing when she was around Aaron in the beginning, just as I was feeling apprehensive about their meetings. If she had listned to this gut reaction she would never have put her self in the position of being hurt by his actions.
And the location of the quotation on the statue is in Concard, Mass.
I agree, Emily. It also gived it away when Aaron kept telling Nico,
ReplyDelete"Don't talk"
I mean when they were listening to the music, it made sense, but when he was feeding her the pistachio ice cream, he clearly just wanted Nico to be transformed into Margaret, and not ruin it by talking.
"Like me, they had learned nothing from Margaret's death" p.197 ch.13
This quote made me stop and think for a while. I thought that Nico did learn something from Margaret's death. For instance, she learned how to greive deeper than she ever had before, how to cope with her parent's behavior, she learned what it was like to be an only child....
woops! sorry, i put my Goldengrove post in the quote area....
ReplyDeleteIn 'A Moon for the Misbegotten', Jim said, "And I began hoping she'd never come out of the coma and see I was drinking again." Act 3 p.98
ReplyDeleteI think this is a powerful quote.
To start, it reveals that Jim trusts Josie to tell her this very personal fact.
I found it shockig that he would rather her die than to see him drinking alcohol. I know that she hated him drinking, and he didn't want his mother to wake up and be unhappy, however to hope that someone would die... I think it is very extreme. I would probably rather be able to communicate with my loved one and have them see my fault, than never be able to talk to them again. However, you jeapordize that that person wouldn't rest in peace, knowing your fault. It's a hard bargain.
I liked the quotation, "Even the trees looked uncomfortable, naked and embarrassed, as if they were all simultaneously having that dream in which you look down and realize you've forgotten to put on your clothes." This was on page 2 of Goldengrove. While this was not a very meaningful quote by any means, I thought it was quite comical, and it gave me a good mental picture of the scenery.
ReplyDeleteCristina
There are several quotations that refer to Nico as the "girl with the dead sister", such as: "Better not to talk, better not to call attention to a girl with a bad haircut wearing her dead sister's shirt" (101). All of those quotations are great, because they show how Nico constantly considers herself not individually, but in relation to her sister. Even when Margaret dies, Nico is not "Nico", she's "Nico with the dead sister".
ReplyDeleteI like the quotation on page 213, that reads, "Why was I lying under the ceiling, and whose ceiling was it?". It's not vital to the plot or anything, but it helps you relate a little to Nico because everyone has had that brief moment of panic when you wake up at someone else's house and think, "This isn't my room!"
Nina Barbero
"I wondered if the newly dead were allowed to control the weather as a consolation for never again feeling it on their faces." Goldengrove page 24. I thought this was a powerful, out of the box kind of thought. I think a lot of people have wondered whether the dead have control over the weather but I like how she gave it a reason-a powerful reason, at that.
ReplyDeleteHaven't decided on my own quotation to post yet, but reading through these, I really like Cristina's that's right above this post. I know I've thought about what "powers" the dead may have more than once or twice. Sometimes I'll see a shooting star on a night I'm thinking about a deceased loved one and I'll wonder if he/she knew I was thinking of them and sort of sent the star as a sign to me or something like that.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn Sireci
"1. No cookies. They smelled like my sister."
ReplyDelete"2. No lake"
"3. No Margaret's room"
"4. No music."
"5. No old films. No movies of any kind."
"6. No Photographs."
(pg. 38-44)
I liked when Nico made the list of things that she couldn't do because they would remind her of Margaret. Nico's reaction to Margaret's death reminded me of one of my close friends after a break up. She constantly named the things she couldn't do or the places she couldn't go due to the memories she had with her boyfriend. This attachment to a loved one after a sudden death is similar to the feeling after a breakup. As time went on, Aaron helped Nico to be able to do the things that reminded her of Margaret such as going to the Dairy Divine, watching old movies, and listening to My Funny Valentine. Overtime, the shock of Margaret's death got easier and easier because Nico began to focus on the good memories she had with Margaret rather than the pain of her death. I was able to connect the plot of this story to my own life as well. Both my uncles as well as my Grandfather pasted away unexpected due to tragic events as Margaret did. For months after their death, every family gather focused on the sorrow that everyone felt towards our grieving family. As Nico and her family felt, the continuous questions of "How have you been?" as well as "I'm so sorry about what happened" became endless. Although our piers felt that these words were necessary and polite, overtime they began remind us of the grief that was slowly passing. At the end of the novel, Nico went back to school in the fall. She was no longer the dead girl's sister. Eventually, my family and I had also come to the point where the death was not constantly stated in casual conversation. I enjoyed Goldengrove because I was able to connect to it in many different ways.
Amanda Landry
"Hence she hated Sundays when all was at rest, and often said they would be the death of her." p.76 'The Return of the Native'
ReplyDeleteI noticed that 'Goldengrove' and 'The Return of the Native' both refer to how Sundays are lazy days. I always thought Sundays were very lathargic and slow moving, and it really stood out to me that both these books discussed this day of the week. It showed me that even in different time periods and locations, Sundays shed this certain feel that no other day can match.
"What magical machines these little things be, Mr. Wildeve" p.228 'Return of the Native'
I just thought it was humorous how fascinated Christian was with the dice. This entire scene was my favorite in the book because it was fast moving and I was eager to see who would end up with the money. This scene had an addicting feel to it that was contagious. I was very releived when Venn won the money back from Wildeve because I really wanted Thomasin in posession of it.
Nina--One of the things that I noticed the most in this book was the way that Nico always referred to herself as the "dead-girls sister". These offhand comments seemed like such harsh ways for her to say things. I felt that when she was saying those things, she was admitting how she had changed. She was now the dead girls sister.
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm reading, I find myself putting post-it notes on pages with quotes and lines that stick out to me (I can't bring myself to write in my book!) So I will share some of the ones that really stood out from Goldengrove. First was when Nico goes to get her hair cut and looks in a mirror. "Who was that person across the sink? A taller, thinner version of me, a stranger who needed a haircut" (69). In this instance, you see how Nico doesn't really know herself anymore. She has become lost after Margaret's death. She is so lost that she doesn't really recognize herself anymore. She no longer knows who she is.
Another quote that stood out to me was an instance when Nico described her relationship with Aaron. "It wasn't love, not in the usual sense. Both of us had loved Margaret. But someone who didn't know about our hopeless love triangle with the dead might easily have mistaken it for ordinary love" (135). I think in this instance, Nico is admitting how strange the situation is, and she puts it into perspective. She has feelings towards her dead sister's boyfriend. However these aren't normal circumstances. Margaret's death has brought Aaron and Nico closer together. Because this is the catalyst for their closeness, it is not, as she describes, "ordinary love". Most of all, I really like the quote because of the way it is worded and written. It is a great opening to a chapter, and an excellently written quote.
-Emily Howard
Taylor Hammeke had the best psychology project ever. It was a test in which the directions said to leave all of the questions blank. Obviously I did not learn from that test, and I only skimmed through the message that Mr. MacArthur left for us at the top of the page. On that note and because I can't edit my previous post, please disregard every time I said "quote" and replace it with "quotation" :)
ReplyDeleteEmily, first of all I also really like the love triangle quotation. I agree that it was Nico's way of admitting that her situation was far from ordinary. I think that the quotations where Nico is being herself (not the Margaret version of herself) are really important to the book and to her finding her real identity at the end. Secondly I like your last post...haha. GO TAYLOR!
ReplyDeleteThe Return of the Native, page 387, "But I am getting used to the horror of my existence."
ReplyDeleteNina Barbero
When Eustacia first saw Cym, The Return of the Native, page 150.
ReplyDelete"She loved him partly because he was exceptional in this scene, partly because she had determined to love him, chiefly because she was in desperate need of loving somebody after wearying of Wildeve."
I like this because it explains Eustacia's intense desire to be with Clym even when she had not even met yet.
-Kelsey Gallant
I liked the quote "She had determined to love him, chiefly because she was in desperate need of loving somebody after wearying of Wildeve." I found the plot compelling when Eustacia overheard the conversation about the arrival of Clym. Although she had never met him, she went through the effort to follow him under various circumstances. I also found the first conversation between Clym and Eustacia intriguing. The few words they exchanged left me curious to see what sort of relationship the two would have later on in the novel. Due to her situation with Wildeve, Eustacia made herself find another man to love; I believe as a replacement for Wildeve in his absence. Not only did I enjoy this quote, I also found it humorous that Eustacia had such a strong desire to have a relationship with Clym although she had never met him.
ReplyDelete-Amanda Landry
(Quote on page 144)
ReplyDeleteEustacia met Clym on page 147
Amanda Landry
"You be bound to dance at Christmas because 'tis the time of year; you must dance at weddings because 'tis the time of life." Return of the Native, page 26.
ReplyDeleteOne of the villagers, I think it's Timothy Fairway, says this. I just liked the quotation because it's the kind of neat turn of phrase that Hardy uses a lot in this book.
Fairway goes on to say that he prefers a nice funeral because the food is just as good and you don't tire yourself out from dancing. That's just funny to me that he finds funerals more enjoyable than weddings.
I also think this quotation is kind of funny because it depicts weddings as joyous and momentous occasions and none of the marriages in Return of the Native (besides Diggory and Thomasin's) turned out to be particularly happy. I also noticed how the novel glosses over all the weddings. The narrator never allows the reader to be present at any of the weddings - we hear about them secondhand from the characters.
I thought that this quotation was just funny, but it's also an interesting contrast between how the characters feel about weddings and how Hardy treats the occasions in his writing.
Nikki Halliday:
ReplyDelete"I wanted to ask Elaine if it was normal to get your first kiss from a guy who made you eat ice cream so that your mouth would taste like your sister's." Nico, pg. 228
Goldengrove is one of my favorite reads of the summer. i feel that this story shows the different ways that people can grieve. Aaron tries to recreate Nico in Margaret's image, while Nico at first tries to avoid Margaret, and freaks a bit when she realizes she looks like her. Nico's mom begins to look to painkillers, while her father looses himself in work.
One of the things that i find most interesting is that even though Nico knew that Aaron was trying to make her into Margaret, she kept going back to him. The quote above shows her comfusion about this, as well as the desire to find someone who has been through this situation.
I also find the story interesting because it is about what happens if the older sister dies. I myself have a younger sister, and was immediatly curious as to what my family's reaction would be if i drowned suddenly. Granted, my sister and i aren't nearly as close as Margaret and Nico are, but it was an interesting thought.
The end of the book was one of the best parts for me. It shows how Nico got past the harshest part of Margaret's death, and how it influenced her life. I kept wondering that if Margaret hadn't drowned, but maybe was killed in a car accident, would Nico still have wanted to become a geologist. It also shows that even years later, Margaret still had just as big an impact on Nico as she did before her death.
"You may come again to Rainbarrow if yo ulike, but you won't see me; and you may call, but I shall not listen; and you may tempt me, but I won't give myself to you anymore."
ReplyDelete-Return of the Native 68-69
I loved this line as soon as I read it. I was sitting on the beach and went all the way back to the place we were staying to find a notebook to write it down to post here when I got home. So now I am home, and here it is. This quotation struck me I think because it reminds me of a lot of songs. The one I found the biggest connection to is called Broken Angel by Boyce Avenue. The song at first seems to be about a relationship but the chorus reveals that it is about young child who was abandonded by her father and cannot let go. The singer (from the "narrator's" point of view) wants the girl to see that what happened wasn't her fault and never let her father back into her life. The quotation above reminded me of the song because it is saying exactly what the singer wants the girl to be able to do about her father. It's a sad song, but it's meaningful, and to me, connects to this quotation.
Carolyn Sireci
"There she stood still, around her stretching the vast night atmosphere, whose incomplete darkness in comparison with the total darkness of the heath below it might have represented a venial beside a mortal sin."
ReplyDelete-Return of the Native 58
I teach CCD to kids at St. Matthew's and it's always been difficult to explain the difference between venial and mortal sins to them. They don't comprehend the definitions and examples don't really do the trick either. When I read this quotation, I immediately thought of my kids, and I'm definitely going to save it to use as a teaching tool next year. Incomplete versus total darkness. It makes perfect sense to me that way. Glad to see my summer reading is benefitting me in some way besides for school :)
Carolyn Sireci
In The Return of The Native, I found myself really liking Hardy's writing style. At some points, his style can be long and dry. However his writing style is one that is pleasing to the ear, and takes on the qualities of a piece of art. He words things and works with language in a very unique way. I found myself noting some sentences that I just really liked in the story for their style and humor. They are here as follows:
ReplyDelete"When a woman in such a situation, neither old, deaf, crazed, nor whimsical, takes upon herself to sob and soliloquize aloud there is something grievous the matter" (349).
"Next day she went her ways as usual, and continued her custom of walking in the heath with no other companion than little Eustacia, now of the age when it is a matter of doubt with such characters whether they are intended to walk through the world on their hands or on their feet; so that they get into painful complications by trying both" (385).
"They sat down to a lunch in the midst of their work, feathers around, above, and below them; the original owners of which occasionally came to the open door and cackled begrudgingly at sight of such a quantity of their old clothes" (395).
I found countless more examples, but these are probably my favorites. I love how when you read all of his long wording carefully, you found a lot of humor.
I agree with Emily, Hardy's writing style is very unique. I just finished The Return of the Native and found it to be interesting once I read between the lines. At the beginning of the novel, I found the opening chapters to be uninteresting but once I became more engaged in the plot, I can't disagree that it was an interesting story. The relationship between Eustacia and Wildeve was very unpredictable and I enjoyed seeing which direction their relationship took. I was shocked when Eustacia and Wildeve both pasted away. After their death, I was surprised to see that Clym and Thamosin became closer. Their growing closness reminded me of the relationship between Aaron and Nico. They both relied on one another to deal with the grief that they faced after the death of a loved one.
ReplyDelete-Amanda Landry
"Nothing can ensure the continuance of love. It will evaporate like a spirit."
ReplyDelete-Native p. 199
I don't know exactly why, but when I read this for the first time, it almost gave me chills. I feel like it just is a really relatable statement and it was one of the few things I found I could relate to in the entire book, so that was a bonus too I guess hah.
"'Oh honey, I keep telling myself how important it is to remember the difference between a tragedy and an inconvenience.'"
ReplyDelete-Goldengrove p. 61 (Elaine)
I thought Elaine was so smart telling Nico this one. As "typical" high school teenagers, we occasionally tend to overdramatize things that don't really make a huge difference in the big picture of our lives. I admit to doing it too, we all do sometimes. Seeing the situation Nico dealt with and how truly amazingly she acted in public, I feel silly for some of the things I've gotten upset over that I can recall. Elaine's quotation here just made me go back and think about my life and others in it. Every little thing doesn't go right in anyone's life. If it did, that'd be perfect, and perfect isn't real. It's not always a tragedy, it's just an inconvenience. Loved this line.
"I did not come to bow, I came to conqueror" - Bob Marley
ReplyDeletethis means alot to mean because it defines the way I live. Everything I do, I do it to be the best at it.
Colton Bridge
Forgot it had to be from the books lol my bad
ReplyDeleteColton Bridge
A quotation that I really like from A Moon for the Misbegotten is something right in the beginning. After Mike says, "Your're two of a kind, and a bad kind" Josie responds with "I'm proud of it. And I didn't hit you, or you'd be flat on the ground. It was only a love tap to waken your wits, so you'll use them" (7). I think I like this quotation so much because it seems to embody who Josie is as a character. It shows her toughness, and reflects the control she exercises over her brother as well as her father. The quotation has humor, and really just shows you who Josie is.
ReplyDeleteOne part in particular interested me (in Return of the Native) when Hardy wrote, "Everything Eustacia hated about the heath Clym loved," (or something like that). It reminded me of the saying "Opposites attract and then they attack." I believed their marriage was not going to last from the beginning; they're just too different of personalities.
ReplyDeleteJenna Lovett
Is the quotation from Concord, Mass? On that minuteman statue?
ReplyDelete