Is Dust God?

What is the point of dust in Philip Pullman's trilogy? Did he write dust to be something in particular? From my research about the function of Dust in these novels, the general consensus is that Pullman wrote it making dust act as a godlike figure, saying that "Pullman has portrayed the true God, in the form of Dust. Dust is the unseen but always present representation of love, conscious thought, and free will. It is what makes us human beings." (http://www.facingthechallenge.org/ppfaq03.php) This idea is helpful for a better understanding of the novel. The fact that we know Pullman is unsure about God and his existence, however in his books, "he makes a clear connection between the God described in the Bible and 'the Author." The idea of dust in these books, in my opinion, does stand for some higher, all knowing, which in a way is what God is, but I don't think its meant to be a god. Dust is only one of the many confusing elements in this trilogy that can be tweaked, questioned, and defined with multiple definitions and ways of functioning....to each his own!

How to read the Alethiometer....

I found actual directions on how to read the alethiometer on one of the "His Dark Material" websites. Its all a little hard for me to grasp because after all, it doesn't really exist, and I have a hard time wrapping my head around trying to understand how something imaginary works....But I'm trying. So basically, any question can be found an answer which will be given by the close reading of three symbols. They gave the example of "Should I marry now, or wait for a year? would be expressed by means of the bird (third meaning, marriage, because birds mate for life), the hourglass (tenth meaning, a year), and the horse (fifth meaning, constancy)." The person asking the question will move the pointers until it points to a symbol. Then I start to lose grasp of using the tool because it is a mental process to complete the use of the tool. The directions described say that the "inquirer must endeavor to hold in his or her mind a clear picture of where each of the meanings comes in its range. Evoking the image of ladders with rungs extending downward is sometimes advised by skilled practitioners of alethiometry. Picture three ladders side by side, each rung being one meaning in the range, and mark distinctly the rungs corresponding to the meanings you intend - for example, by imagining a bright light shining on them, or ribbons tied around them, or by covering them in gold leaf." So...once you have this class system of questions and answers plotted out, the questioner must hold this image in their head while moving the pointers into their position (I'm not sure what position that is however.) As soon as the question is asked the "needle" will navigate around the dial while the questioner watches intently :) They need to be watching each and every stop the pointer makes on each symbol, and also how many times it stops on specific ones. This is because "the number of times corresponds to the place of the intended meaning in the symbol's range. For example, the question above might receive an answer in which the needle stopped at chameleon three times, walled garden seven times, baby five times, madonna nine times, sword six times, bull two times, ant ten times, and bird three times. By noting the pauses carefully and consulting the books of readings, the inquirer would discover the following meanings: "wait", "allow", "fail", "love", "not", "strong", "sustain", and "marriage." After the reader carefully notes all the symbols, then they must consult the book for the meanings and THEN figure out how to put together all of the random words to make an answer to the question asked. This tool reaches the answer immediately and also mostly only answers the questions asked one time. I don't think that I would be a good user of this tool, I'm not quick enough and I'm sure my memory would betray me with all of the stops the hand would make on multiple symbols, I would lose track, and my answer would not be what was meant to be. The web pages sums it up nicely, saying that the "alethiometer supplies the semantic content of a message, and the mind of the inquirer supplies the grammatical connections between the individual elements." You cant have one of those talents and not the other, they go hand in hand for success in using this tool. While thinking about the Alethiometer being real, I decided that I didn't like the idea of having something that answered questions, like an all knowing higher being...I think we're all better off being naive and I actually enjoy not knowing what's going to happen next. Besides, we can always just use the magic eight ball and Taylor's sheep bones for the really tough, life changing questions:)

Sexson Exam 2 Questions

ENDINGS:
Snow White: the wicked woman had to wear the heated iron slippers and danced until she dropped dead.
Sleeping Beauty: Everything and everybody awoke, she married the prince and they live out their days in happiness.
Rapunzel: She had twins, a boy and a girl. The prince followed her voice, she cried in happiness and her tears healed his eyes, they lived in happiness and good cheer.
The Frog Prince: The coach falling apart noise, but it was only the master, being set free
Rumpelstililtskin: They guessed his name, he stomped his foot into the floor, and ripped himself in two.
Jack and the Beanstalk: Jack and his mother showed the harp, sold the eggs, and became very rich, married a great princess, and lived happily ever after.

ALSO NEED TO KNOW THE CHAPTERS:
Humpty Dumpty:
Wool and Water:
Tweedles:
Caterpillar:
Moral of the Story:


- The illustrator of the Alice books? Tenniel
- The last word of the Tatar Beauty and the Beast? Virtue
- Who wins after death? The worm…triumph over the worm? Groucho Marx…inevitably
art wins mortality
- Oscar Wilde says, “Life imitates______? Art
- The 5 themes of class? Myth, Dreams, Coincidence, Art, and History
- Who is the white knight? Lewis Carroll
- What is the counter part to “how doth the little busy bee”? ___”how doth the crocodile”
- What beautiful food does the mock turtle sing to Alice about? Soup
- Why is a raven like a writing desk? “I haven’t the slightest idea
- Who is the most quoted after Shakespeare? Lewis Carroll
- ________ depersonalized __________. And __________ is a personalized _________
- Portmanteau? Who is Alice explained? Humpty Dumpty
- Who is the rudest of all the flowers? The violet
- The word animated contains what word meaning soul? Anime
- Who is the volcano? Alice
- Where does Alice live w/in all of us? Collective Unconscious (the dust)
- After 1st drink, what height does Alice shrink to? 10 inches tall
- The title of the deleted chpt. of “Through the Looking Glass”? The Wasp and the Wig
- How does Alice offend the mouse? Bringing up the subject of cats
- During protestant ref. what’s the main idea behind children’s lit? To teach moral values
- The 1st bible is published in what language? Algonquin
- Before Darwin, what 2 animals spark ideas about evolution? Mammoth and Monkey
- What invention had an impact on the protestant reformation? The Gutenberg
- Mad hatter mad b/c of mercury in their hat bands is ____? Misplaced concreteness
- What does the white rabbit drop that scares Alice? White gloves and Fan
- What do beauties tears in the film we watched in class turn into? Diamonds
- When reading, trust the _____ not the ______. Tale not the Teller.
- Lewis Carroll’s nickname inspired what character? He stuttered his last name “dodo”
- “I’m interested b/c its interesting” is the rhetorical form for ____? A Tautology
- Goodie 2 shoes is an emblem for ______ perfection that adults lack? Perfection
- Tweedels response to “If I’m a dream, what are you?” Ditti, ditto, ditto
- What causes the walrus and carpenter to leap? A pig with wings (rebecca’s dream)
- Main theme of English class is to look at the _____side of things? Dark
- Most prolific serial killer in 19th cent history? Mary Ann Cotton
- Who were the 2 prominent ghosts in Sunderland? Sid James, and the White Lady
- What legend does Talbot say the Jaberwocky poem comes from? The Lampton Worm
- What is the entire last line in Alice? “Life, what is it but a dream”?
- The 1st letters of the Alice poem spell a name, it’s an example of a? Acrostic
- Walter Pater said, “All art aspires to the condition of _______? Music
- From my book and heart film, “The text informs _______”? Reality

Alice related to Deams

In class today I was looking through my Alice in Wonderland book, just at random....it's interesting that this is the type of book that even though you have already read it, possibly many times, and you know what will come next, a reader can still start somewhere at random, and get sucked in to turning page after page, as if it is all very new.......I stumbled upon something in the very beginning of the story, and it reminded of the dreams that we have been discussing in class.

"There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself 'Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!' (When she thought it over afterwards it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural)"

This fact of seeing or experiencing something out of the ordinary and not thinking it strange at all.....is something that I live for. It depends on the profession. Sitting here at my work desk it would be extremely odd to see a man walk in the office with a bloody hand and the cut off finger in a plastic baggy of ice, however for the front desk clerk at the hospital, it would be just another day at the office.....and in a dream, a talking rabbit with a pocket watch seems natural, and in my dream blindness without it being blindness is just as normal as seeing, and when my sight returns, still nothing seems out of the ordinary. It is when we wake up that we think it strange, and the imagination/fun/horror/ new friend is gone. Moral of the story....sleep more, you can dream more, and not think the world is so strange!

Alice in Wonderland Chapter Pick

I know that the chapter I chose as my favorite is a very well known chapter, but it does not make it any less of my favorite. I have always loved the "Advice from a Caterpillar" chapter, but mostly because it was the one chapter that truly hit the core of my annoyance. I can relate to Alice in this chapter because I have met a person who responds and reacts to questions and a general conversation much like the caterpillar in this chapter. I think it is interesting how towards the end of their conversation, Alice's patience for waiting for him to stop smoking and hear what non sense he had to say grew.....mine with me encounter however, did not grow. The mere idea of someone asking the same question as you, or skirting around the question asked, or not even talking about the same thing you were.....drives me crazy. I like an absolute solution at the end of my encounters with people, there is not one with the caterpillar, he crawls off with a comment hanging in the air. All in all though, the chapter is important, and would not be the same book without it, however, it still drives me nuts!!! Answer a question without a question!!!! :)

Dream Land

There are many different theories as to why dreams happen....because its your inner want and desire, your deep down fears, something you read or saw right before you fell asleep....and my personal favorite, something you ate before climbing into bed. Alfred Alder says "...dreams were a way of addressing our insecurities. In a dream we can safely face things that would otherwise scare us. We can try out strategies for overcoming our shortcomings or simply compensate for them via wish-fulfillment." I have a dream interpreting book, which I almost never rely on because everything according to it is related back to sex. Climbing the stairs, mailing a letter, making your bed.....all sexual, it's entertaining to thumb through, but I don't trust it. Now, here is my dream:

I am walking around somewhere outside, I can tell it's day time and a nice day, however I cannot see. I'm not blind though, its a feeling of still being asleep but trying and trying to wake up...I'm walking around and my eyes wont open....in my dream this feeling was making me anxious, but at the same time seemed to be a normal occurrence. I was walking slowly beside the fence, with both my hands using the fence as a guide. Then I heard something behind me, the steps were brushing past the grass and the steps quickened. The foot steps were at a full run, I was scared and decided to start running to. I ran and let go of the fence, I dont remember the transgression or why or how it happened, but I was running up to the front doors of random peoples houses and I could see again, but it wasn't celebrated...almost like there was no difference between the before blindness and after....I was relentlessly banging and screaming on the door for them to let me in, but no one came. I ran in the back yard, over a fence and in the back door of another house, I just walked right in, crying and out of breath and begging the man to hide me and protect me, I cant place the man, but I do know that the sense I got from him was that in my dream he was familiar and I knew him, although I cant tell you who it was now that I'm awake. The chaser, man? animal? I never find out, but it finds me and we both start running, and we run to the bathroom and shut the door behind us, I lie panting on the bathroom floor, and wake up. This dream is odd for me, mostly because it was one of the most normal dreams I've ever had, and also because most of my dreams are about animals being abused, and almost never involve me, but I am a third person watching from some other place where the abusers cant hear or see me, and I am helpless.....fun huh? And just in case this contributes....I had a glass of chocolate milk and some spaghetti at 12:30 after I finished my homework. Dream on Dreamers!