3 Questions

6.) One passage that contains a scene of pivotal importance to the theme is when Desiree realizes that Daniel and Andrea are going to get married. This is an important scene because this is when Desiree gives up on trying to marry Daniel. It is a known fact to her that they will be married and she becomes filled with anger inside.

Staging
- red lights
- all of the lines would be said with an angry voice. Maybe some yelling towards the end of this scene such as "How could he even marry her!"
- empty stage accept for a knife on the ground.
- no other characters because Desire is by herself.
- spotlight on Desiree and on the other side of the stage a spotlight on the knife.
" Daniel Beauxhomme had betrayed her! He had sworn to love her. Now he had pledged himself to Andrea Galimar. Now his life was hers to take. As her anger rose, she saw beneath her window a knife gleaming."

5.) One passage that provides an an effective introduction of an important character is when Daniel's father Gabriel went to the peasant village to bring him home from his accident. Gabriel is a very rich and important man on the island. In this passage it shows how powerful he is over everyone especially the peasants. Everything that Gabriel does is easy for him because he is so rich.

Staging
- all of the peasants crowded together following Gabriel but not being too close.
- peasants bow their heads while Gabriel holds his head high
- peasants wearing old dirty colorful clothes
- Gabriel wearing a nice black and white suit
- bright lighting because it is the daytime outside
"It was a carrier - and it had come for him. The carrier landed and was surrounded by dozens of wet, curious men who had never before seen a helicopter. (after Gabriel picks up Daniel) He climbed in and then they were off. The visit had taken less than ten minutes."

8.) One passage in the book that deals with a fantasy or dream is when Desire is dreaming about leaving the peasant village and living with the Grande Hommes. In the beginning of the book, Desiree constantly daydreams because she is bored with where she lives. Her mother does not like it. It worries her.

Staging
- Bright lights because she is daydreaming
- other peasants work around her
- Mother Euralie constantly reminding Desiree to focus on her tasks
- props . would be things like shovels and rakes, buckets, hay, baskets full of fruits and vegetables
"The peasant girl blushed. She no longer knew what she had wished for. Had it been for rain? Or had her wish to do with the car that had just gone by? More and more her wishes, dreams - day and night - were tangled. She no longer knew where one began or the other ended."

Exam Practice Questions

5. Select a passage from a novel you have chosen to study which provides an effective introduction of an important character or characters. How would you use staging, design and acting to ensure that this introduction would have dramatic importance for the audience?

The most important introduction in this book is when Desiree is introduced to the audience. She is the main character in the book so it is important for her to be introduced to the audience in a meaningful way. The staging would very simple. Desiree would be laying on the ground in the center of the stage. Nobody would be around and there would be no props or set pieces.  The reason for this is because Desiree is in a dream. There would be a spot light on her. There would be a lot of sounds. One of them would be rolling thunder. The other would be big crashing waves. The reason why I would use these for her dream is because I would be trying to show the audience what happened to her when she was a child and she survived the big storm. For the lights I would want to have them flash to represent lighting. Desiree would be asleep but I would have her scream two or three times in this scene to show that she is scared. Then after a minute or two I would end this scene. The way that I would do this is while Desiree is dreaming is I would have all of this stuff going on and then at the end Mama Uralie would yell as loud as she could saying "Desiree wake up!" Then Desiree would get up and go with Mama Uralie. I think that doing these things would ensure that the character Desiree would have dramatic importance with the audience. 

Question #1

1.    Select a passage from a novel you have chosen to study where the appearance of a character in a specific setting raises unsettling questions for the reader. Outline how you would stage this appearance and setting for an audience, paying particular attention to elements of intrigue and/or surprise.

 

One passage from the book My Love My Love or the Peasant Girl, that shows a good example of when the appearance of a character in a specific setting raises unsettling questions for the reader when Papa Ge takes over the body of Lucifus. I would do many things to stage this appearance and setting for the audience. For the appearances I would start with Lucifus. Papa Ge has taken over his body so his eyes would be red. He would be wearing a trench coat and he would have a cigar in his mouth so that the audience would recognize him as papa ge. He would wear a black shirt and black jeans to resemble Papa Ge but he would not wear a robe the way that Papa Ge would is his own form. Lucifus would also have on black boots to complete his costume. For his appearance he would have a beard and he would have to be tall and strong so that it would be believeable for Desiree to be afraid of him. His preseance on the stage would be very strong and the audience would feel it as soon as he entered because of his size and his costume. His character is meant to be intimidating. 

Desiree's appearance is very important in this scene because she is so beautiful that Lucifus would not touch her. So for this scene she would be wearing a white gown and her hair would be nice and she would look very pretty. Her facial expressions would have to be very good because she is deathly afraid of Papa Ge. She might scream when she sees him because he is trying to attack her. There is no dialogue in this passage of the book so the actors would have to do a good job of stage directions, facial expressions and silent communication so that the audience will understand. 

The way that I would stage this is Desiree would be running around in the garden and pool trying to find a butterfly. Then the lights would dim and Lucifus would enter onto the stage. Desiree would be facing the audience while he walked up behind her. In the scene I would add some sound such as a drumb beat every time the Lucifus walked closer to Desiree. I think that he should walk slowly behind her so that the audience gets more time to understand who it is that is on the stage with Desiree. This should get the audience interested into whats about to happen. Some questions that I think this would raise are, is Desiree going to die now? Is Papa Ge here for her soul because she said that she would give it up for Daniel? 

This scene is so important in the book because it shows that Papa Ge can find her and get her at anytime in any place. This should let the audience know that Papa Ge is going to get his promise no matter what. The keys to raising these questions in the audience's head are the lighting and the sound. These are two elements that create a feeling. If the lights dim, the audience should get that feeling of what is going to happen. The music should let them know for sure that something bad will happen. These are some of the thingd that I would do to stage this appearance in a play.

Chapters 12-14

Chapter 12-

- Desiree is able to stay with Daniel untill he gets better.

- they start to really fall in love.

-Daniel is getting stronger and healthier. 

-his father is away in France so Desiree is worried when be comes back.

-people are jealous of her because Daniel is in love with her.

-at the end of the chapter Desiree sees Papa ge in the garden.

Chapter 13-

- Daniels father comes back home from France and Daniel throws a ball for him.

-Desiree dresses up very beautifully and many people want to marry her but she stay loyal to Daniel.

- Madame Mathilde warns her that she should leave so that she should leave and marry somebody else because the island people cannot handle their love because of the past where there is deep hate between the rich and poor.

- Then she sees Papa Ge again at the pool when Daniel left to see old friends. 

- he tries to grab her but the body that he took over would not touch her because she is so beautiful.

Chapter 14-

- Andrea comes home and Daniel is invited to her coming home party. 

-Desiree only hears about her from Daniel's stories untill she sees her when they come back to the hotel.

- She meets Desiree and talks about how pretty she is for a black girl. 

- Desiree knows that Andrea and Daniel will get married.

The 4 Gods 500 words

One of the biggest scenes in this book that represent the gods and their characteristics is on page 72 -79. These passages give a good idea of the type of personalities and relationships that the gods have with each other and the peasants. The biggest conflict between all of the gods is between Erzulie and Agwe. Agwe says that the peasants are very weak. "Oh, but how they love to blame the gods for their weaknesses. They spend their lives on it." Erzulie agrues back saying "The blameless peasants must carry the burden of your guilt? For the floods and destruction you cause?" In this agruement Erzulie seems to care a lot about the peasants whereas Agwe sees them as a weakness and does not care about them at all. Agwe says to Erzulie "Its they who destroy her(Asaka). They and their greed." I would describe Agwe as selfish and uncaring because he thinks that everything is about himself and nothing else matters. Erzulie is very full of herself as well and she thinks that she is always right. She is very arguementative as well as Agwe. Asaka is not really present in this scene but she is being talked about and it seems like she is sad and angry because of what Agwe has done to her. This is important because Erzulie says that all of the storms that have happened is because Agwe is mad and guilty about his relationship with her. Even though Agwe is selfish he is still techincally a good god compared to papa ge. Papa Ge is the god of death and he goes around and gets people who are dying and takes them away. "I came to make certain that vows given in trust be kept in trust." This is what papa ge said to Agwe when they were discussing Desiree's promise to trade her soul for Daniel. He is an evil demon and looks for any way to get what he wants. 
For the costume of Agwe they would be wearing all blue robe because he is the god of water. He would talk loud all the time and he would act very prideful. Erzulie is the god of love. She would be very pretty and wear a violet dress and she would talk kindly and calm. Asaka would wear all green. She would be very quiet and sad because of what Agwe has done to her. If she talks it would be very quiet. Papa Ge would wear all black. He would talk in a very deep voice and would be hunched over when he walked. He would always have an evil grin on his face. These things would be very important for their characters because it would help the audience to know who they are and what they are the God of. On stage they would be on a platform together above everyone else to show that they are gods. This is how I would describe the gods, create their costumes and have them act.

Chapter 11

Chapter 11
- Desiree wants to go inside the grounds of the hotel so that she can see Daniel.
- so she cleans herself up, puts on her blue dress and wears her shoes.
- now she is very pretty and the guards let her through without question.
- she stays there for a few nights and wants to see Daniel but is afraid that if she is caught that she will be thrown out of the hotel grounds.
- then one night she finally sees Daniel and he speaks to her in Creole because she does not understand French.
- he recognizes her from somewhere but does not remeber the time that she takes care of him. He is very weak and she helps him back to bed and lays there with him the whole night.

Chapters 8-10

Chapter 8
- Desiree starts to run away from her family and go to find Daniel.
- but she initially starts to run because papa ge was there when she talked to the gods.
- so she starts on her journey to the Black Mountains where Daniel lives.

Chapter 9
- She has now been on her journey for 2 or 3 days and she ends up in a village.
- she is very hungry but has no money.
- she learned that if you are patient and kind then people would help her by giving her food.
- she also meets an orphan that reminded me of what happened to her when she was rescued from the storm.

Chapter 10
- Desiree finally makes it to the city where all the rich people are.
-- but she is out of place because she has ripped clothing and no shoes so people think that she is crazy.
- she tries to go to the beauxhomme house but is not allowed to enter.
- people were making fun of her that she was a peasant and had no shoes.
- so she ends up trading a fruit for a pair of shoes and a dress because the person she traded with really valued the fruit that she had.

Chapters 6-7

Chapter 6-

- Dersire wants to leave and go to Daniels house.
- she is determined to do it and knows that he needs her.
- her father Tonton Julian agrees that she needs to follow her heart and go to him even though he is sad about it.
-Mama Euralie strongly disagrees and wants to force her to stay.

Chapter 7-
Mama Euralie wants to consult the gods about Desiree leaving to go find Daniel so they go to them.
- Erzulie who is the god of love says that Desiree does not need to go.
- but agwe says that she must because he has plans for her and demands that she leaves.
- So they start agrueing about this while Desiree sits there and watches.
-Agwe goes on about how he is the greatest god and will kill all if the peasants if he wants to.
-Erzulie yells at him in extreme anger and talks about how selfish he is.
- then Papa Ge shows up and starts talking to Agwe who does not want him there.
- Then Desiree runs away out of fear.

In Class Writing

If you were to stage this novel as a play how would you costume Desiree to show that she is a member of the peasant village but also an outsider as a dreamer? Would her costume connect with any of the characters?

The costume that I would pick for Desire is a long blue dress. The dress would be run down because she is a peasant. I think that there would be a lot of stiches on the dress because any time it ripped Desire woukd fix it. This shows that she cares about the things that she has and wants to stick out from the rest of the peasants. The dress would be a darker blue but not quite navy. The dress would always be clean once again because she wants to be presentable if somebody from the city were ever to show up. She would not have any makeup because she is very poor and that is probably too expensive for her but she would be prettier than all of the rich women who wear it to show that she stands out from the rest of the people around her. Her hair would be long probably down to the middle of her back maybe a little bit higher. She would not wear any shoes. She would be bare foot throughout the scenes where she is apart of the peasant group. She might carry a hairbrush around as an accessory prop because she would want to keep her hair nice and strait to try and stand out from the other peasant women who's hair might be shorter and curl.

The dress that she wears does connect to one of the characters in the book. The dress would represent her belief and love for Agwe who is the god of the waters in their religion. She has a connection with the water because of what happened to her when she was a young child. This dress would mean a lot to her. The hairbrush would be connected to the rich people in the city. She would want to keep it nice so that she could fit in with the rich people.

25 Pictures

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