Alexander’s Blog

I thought that Nectar in a Sieve was a very moving story about the hardships in life.  Not everyone is lucky enough to be able to live a good, satisfying life, Rukmani is an example of this.  No matter how hard she tries, it is to no avail.  Just as her and her family were seeming to have success with the land and success with trade, the rains failed and Rukmani along with everyone else nearly starved to death.  The way in which Kamala Markandaya tells the story, simple and straight forward, allows the reader to better sympathize with Rukmani’s situation.  Also, by telling the story in a reflective manner, Rukmani is recounting the events, it felt to me that it made a stronger impression.  This novel accurately depicts and describes what many people go through, even today, all around the world.  

I believe that my best blog entry was my photostory because I feel that I put the most effort into it in order to make it perfect.  My least favorite entry was my first one.  Since I had never blogged before, I do not think that it is my best work, and I could have done better.  The blog that I thought was the most effective is Cynthia’s because it looks as if she put a lot of hard work into it, and it was very informative about the book she read, The Namesake.  By reading through others’ blogs I learnt a great deal about the other books, and about the different views on my own book.        

Tartuffe Photostory

Click on this link to view my photostory on Tartuffe.  It covers everything from characters to theme.  Enjoy!

I was not expecting for the play to end the way it did.  I thought that Tartuffe was going to take over Orgon’s home and family, and use the strongbox to blackmail him.  Instead, the king saw through his charade and realized that this was the person that had committed numerous crimes in the past.  When they arrived to Orgon’s house to have him evicted the bailiff arrested Tartuffe in place of Orgon.  In the end, Orgon was returned his strongbox, and the deed to his estate was invalidated.  To show his appreciation, Orgon goes to kneel before the throne.  

Orgon is very lucky that things did not turn out any worse for him.  Without thinking about the consequences of confiding in Tartuffe, Orgon gave him the strongbox and signed over his estate.  If the king had not been able to recognize that Tartuffe was an impostor then Orgon would have most likely lost his home and his prize possession, the strongbox.  That is not the only thing that he could have lost.  When Tartuffe came into his house he started to turn Orgon against his family.  If Elmire had given up on Orgon then his relationship between him and his family could have also been destroyed.  Orgon should be thankful for how things turned out.   

Finally, in act IV, Orgon realizes that Tartuffe is not what he seems to be.  Even though all this time the evidence was right in front of him it took four acts of convincing to get Orgon to believe what his family was telling him, and still he could not figure it out on his own.  Elmire needed to hide Orgon in order to let him hear what Tartuffe says when he is not around.  Nevertheless, at least Orgon found out the truth.  It will be interesting to see what he will do from here.

Up until now, there have been two opposing views of Tartuffe.  Orgon and Madame Pernelle think extremely highly of Tartuffe.  To them, everything he says and does is correct and is deserving of praise.  Orgon justifies this when he states, “He’s a man…who…a man…in short, a man.”  On the other hand, Elmire, Damis, Mariane, Valere, Cleante, and Dorine all think that he is a hypocrite and that he is only trying to take advantage of them.  Such is evident when Dorine says, “This beggar’s acting like a king, wanting to be obeyed in everything.  You will make him a saint, but I submit that he is nothing but a hypocrite.”

So far in the play, Orgon has been very naive and completely oblivious of the real Tartuffe.  It is easy to see that Tartuffe is not the perfect, devout person whom Orgon thinks he is.  All of Orgon’s family and friends are trying their hardest to make him realize this, but Orgon continues to be blind to the facts.  Even when his own son, Damis, tells him about Tartuffe and Elmire, Orgon still comes up with an excuse, saying that Damis is telling “a pack of lies.” 

The story of Tartuffe reminded me of the movie Meet the Parents.  In both, the fathers had different opinions than their daughters on who they should marry.  While the daughters loved this person the fathers preferred someone else.       

Dorine proves to be a very helpful and caring character in the play.  Instead of not bothering herself with other people’s problems, like many other maids would, she tries to assist in coming up with a solution to the problem.  A great example of this is when Orgon imposes on Mariane the marriage between her and Tartuffe.  Dorine realizes that this is not what Mariane wants, and decides to help her come up with a plan to save her engagement with Valere.  Even when Mariane starts to fight with Valere, Dorine does not give up hope.  She states that she is trying, “To bring you back to sense and to each other.  Fighting like that!  Are you out of your head?  You love each other better than you know.”