small world pt. 2

1) What is the role of Cheryl Summerbee as matchmaker? where have we seen this before?

Cheryl Summerbee is a very interesting character in that she is very much like the matchmaker Celestina, the way that the two are connected is that they are almost opposites. This seems to be a theme of this story, clashing ideals such as the continuing conflict between deconstructionism and structuralism. In the text Cheryl plans on staying virtuous while Celestina plans out the opposite in every way. Cheryl also matches people based on the good and the bad while Celestina simply looks at the lust of each person and figures out how best to get them both in bed together.

2) We meet several new characters, almost all unfaithful, who may just be parallels between other characters we've met. Describe a couple of these new characters and their connection to the other texts we've read.

For one we have the silly, yet stupid, Howard Ringbaum who managed to get tricked into believing that he could join the mile high club by simply doing his wife in midair. There is also the greatly respected english teacher who (like the monks in the Decameron) is secretly doing a young girl even though he is old and really unable to do much in the way of love.

Perceval Day 3 (460-499)

4) We know of Chretien that he follows what he likes and what he believes the audience likes, therefore I believe that he realized that in order to make this story into a plausible and enjoyable story he needed to add the story of Gawain. Gawain is a recognizable name in that we see it repeated in many of Chretien's tales, it can almost be said that he is a more famous person and gives the people reading this a familiar face. But more than that I believe it adds credibility to Perceval and the grail quest because Gawain manages (we suspect we don't know as the story ends so abruptly) to introduce Kig Arthur and his court into the mix and really get them involved.
5) The thing that makes the least sense to me is that Chretien leaves off mid-sentence. It seems to me that any writer creating a work of art such as this would take the care to at least finish the sentence before stopping. It's for this reason that I believe that there is more of a reason behind his actions than just the fact he died, he did after all manage to complete his thought within the sentence. There may have been no ending but I believe that we can determine the ending based on the rest of Chretien's works. I think Chretien knew he was dying and left off here for that reason, he knew that he would not be able to give us the whole story so he instead gave us just enough to be able to give the story our own ending and little enough so that the ending is still determined for us.

Perceval Day 2 (419-460)

1) Blancheflor, or white flower, is a very symbolic type of person. Her name stands for two thing, white often stands for purity while the flower stands as something delicate or untouched, almost innocent in a way. She resists the knights advances and goes no further than a kiss and feeding the knight.

2) Perceval is literally shown the grail and yet he has no idea what he's looking at, he sits at the table with all of this magic and weirdness surrounding him and he says nothing. He asks not of the lord's injuries and he asks nothing of the bleed lance, but most importantly he asks nothing about the golden grail that is being passed around and nothing as to why it was carried into the room with an honor guard. There where a million white flags, and as we find out, if he had asked a question of the lord than he would have saved the lord and made him great once again.

Perceval Day 1 (381-419)

1) Chretien made several specific references to the Bible and "the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing". This may be foreshadowing the large part the church may be taking in the rest of the story and possibly the continuing use of the bible as justification for what is about to be done. The reference to the "right hand not knowing what the left is doing" is more clear in that one branch of characters in the upcoming story will probably be hiding what they are doing from the rest of the characters.
2) Perceval believes that the knights are at first devil's, and then he thinks them to be angels. He sees them as beautiful and worthy of wonder, to which he asks a great many questions although he fails to answer the knights questions. The knights who he meets seem fair enough but they continue ask their questions at the same time as answering those of young Perceval, they keep their patience while still pursuing their quest. This possibly foreshadowing Perceval's own quest for the grail, his curiosity will most definitely slow him down and may be his ultimate downfall.
3) Perceval ignores his mother for the most part, he simply asks her questions and only retains the information that he seeks. His mother tells him that all of his siblings and his father where all killed as knights but he ignores her. His mother freaks out but her son just seems to be this single minded child, once he gets his heart set on something there doesn't seem to be any way of moving him to another path.

That Obscure Object of Desire

1) An "obscure object" could refer to something small or hidden that is owned or possessed. It points to the fact that for this couple love is not the reason for what they do but it is instead lust and desire, the small thing that they both posses which eventually drives them both crazy. The love is possesed, never held or thought of pationately therefore it is not true love but is instead a desire for each other, a lust for want.
2) Terrorism is almost a parallel to the couples relationship, the act of blowing something up for political reasons is nothing more than a desire to reach an end. Both the couple and the terrorists would like to get that which they desire and are more than willing to fight for it. It is no mistake that the terrorists kill the couple in the end, because it isn't the terrorists that kill them it is the desire that both parties share.
3)Both of the actresses for Conchita bring a different attitude to the screen, one is the lusty love bird while the other seems almost reserved and reluctant to fulfill her desire.
8) The burlap sack seems to be a symbol that something is about to happen, each time we see it a main event occurs in the film such as traveling to meet Conchita "accidentally" or his taking her up to his secluded house in the country

Celestina Day 4 Act 18-21

2) The only real love we see is Pleberio's love for his daughter, he does reveal in his speech that he is sad because he can't sell his daughter as a wife to some guy but his words seem to reveal more than just his own desires. Melibea is saddest because she has so embarrassed her father and destroyed her own honor, not only that but she has no one to have sex with at night now. I find no love in her motives, only lust and stupidity.
3) As we see with the two servants who get their heads chopped of there is the obvious symbolism with the head standing for intelligence. None of the characters used their intelligence and therefore they all lost their heads in some way or another, also all of the dead characters suffered some kind of fall. A fall from grace, honor, or some other ailment but they all fell nonetheless, this fall was the thing that either killed them or immediately preceded their deaths.
5) The major victim in this tale are Melibea's parents, they may have been wrong in not paying more attention to their daughter and stopping this affair but I think they are the only ones who never really knew the truth. Melibea's father is not told of the entire business until right before his daughter kills herself and her mother isn't told until Pleberio tells her. The most blaim can be placed on Celestina, she's literally a pimp so it was no mistake on her part that the two lovers got together. She planned this sort of thing almost daily and it was really the publicity of the affair that got the couple killed , which was a result of Celestina's involvement.

Day four Celestina (12-17)

1) There are many complex feelings that I would expect someone in Calisto's position to be feeling. He just lost his two best servants, took his lovers virginity, and still has to contend with his own issues. He desires much that is reflected in his soliloquy as well, he desires longer nights with Melibea and revenge for what he considers the murder of his two companions. In about the middle of the soliloquy Calisto ties together his two ramblings about the murder of his companions and his love with Melibea. "Remember that the absent are never in the right, here both parties before you pronounce the sentence." (act 4 page 200) When taken out of context Calisto may arguably be talking about both main issues in one line, both the murderers and the prosecution pronounce the violant truth just as both Calisto and Melibea vocalize there specific crime.