The Gate to Women's Country: Chapters 14- pg. 160

Chapter 14 was all about Chernon, and what was going on inside his head. At the time, he was 15.
The idea of honor, at least how the warriors perceive it is played with. The warriors view the women as only worth protecting in order to have sons, as sons were everything to the warriors. Habby points out that "They want you to stay, so they call staying honorable." Using the idea of honor is one way in which the warriors are held together, when everything else seems to be a reason to return to Women's Country.
The warriors view several acts as dishonorable. The worst was returning to Women's country, however making a girl a gypsy is also dishonorable, despite the weird pride that Barten apparently got from it.
Chernon's view of Stavia as more than just an assignment is interesting. He is upset when she leaves for nine years for the medical program, and the hurt that he feels he blames on Stavia. Chernon wanted to get Stavia to get the rules, because without the ordinances, the women have to rely on the men. Chernon also imagined leaving the garrison, and traveling the world honorably with Stavia as his companion.
Corrig, who is a servitor in the time of present day Sstavia is introduced. Everyone views him as strange and crazy, with his ability to know things. It seems as though Corrig too has the long-feel.
The beginning of chapter 15 jumps to a new character, Septemius Bird. He meets Stavia, who is now a 22 year old medic. His nieces Kostia and Tonia, along with his father Bowough are all itinerants, who perform magic tricks. He seems to be a peculiar character, with eccentric views on his life via a metaphor of being a piece of flotsam while flowing through the river. Such thinking apparently arose when the numerous adults in his life all sought his approval.
The relationship between Septemius and Octobra has parallels with that of Chernon and Stavia. Both saw each other in a friendly, family, and slightly romantic light.

The Gate to Women's Country: Chapters 12-13

The play seems to be both important to adult Stavia, and her views on Dawid, along with young Stavia. Even at 13, Stavia knew alot about the impact of war on the women.

Morgot always seems calm and composed,  which she reveals to Stavia that is necessary when one is in a position of power. Much like the phrase fake it until you make it, Morgot points out it is more important to seem calm than do something frantically.

The explanation for a seemingly inexplicable war between Susantown and  Marthatown from Morgot is that as there are more food shortages, people as a whole become edgy, and eventually war breaks out.

The ordinances seem to regulate every part of life. Especially when it comes to war, and the interaction between warriors and the women.  Warriors are unable to be attended on by doctors while in battle, yet doctors treat the men if they get diseases from the gypsies, since Morgot says “they choose battle”. It seems to have parallels to the play in that the women are separated in order to not be harmed by the aftermath of any war. The warriors are required to fight at close range in order to see the blood and gore of battle, in order to make the choice of staying a warrior without a lot of responsibilities.
Barten's death came as a real shock. He no longer performed an important function with Myra, as she had already carried his baby. However, the fact that he was speared from the back, which Stavia calmly observes only occurs in two cases 1) Barten was fleeing the battle (making him a coward, or 2) Barten was so unpopular with his own garrison, that he was stabbed from behind.
Donal is the new servitor, who seems to have the function of revealing the inner workings of Women's country. While servitors are not part of the council, servitors can form fraternities which can give the council opinions.
Joshua seems to be using his long-feel more and more, at least more openly around Stavia. He senses the tensions between Chernon and Stavia, and gets Stavia to manipulate Chernon into giving the book back. Also, it is revealed that Habby chose/will choose to go to Women's country in Tabithatown.

The Gate to Women's Country: pg. 105- Chapter 11

Joshua’s true power is displayed in the chapter. Servitors were viewed as feminine and weak, however that is not the case. Morgot and Joshua decide to bait in a group of people, who Joshua can sense as following them. In a  seemingly peaceful society, at least in Women’s country, taking that sort of violent and tactical initiative seems at odds with the domestic calm of life in Marthatown. Stavia is forced to take an oath of never speaking of what occurred while Morgot and Joshua "baited" the men in. Joshua quickly and efficiently kills six of the seven men, using a blade connected to a long chain (perhaps similar to a nunchuck?). Morgot's crueler and calmer side comes out, when she rids the area of all evidence of the bodies, along with hiding the tracks and fires. It is scary that two adult were so easily able to commit murder and leave no incriminating evidence, and they both felt no emotion about the happenings.
Michael seems to have been extremely busy in this reading. First, he continues to coach Chernon into manipulating Stavia. Stavia refused to give Chernon books, which upsets Chernon. Michael tells Chernon to act hurt enough that Stavia feels like she needs to make it up to him. While spending time with Michael, a man, Besset enters the area.
Besset joined a group of gypsies, and his group was going to attack what turns out to have been Joshua, Morgot, and Stavia. Besset was scared that the women have a secret weapon, perhaps form preconvulsion times. Yet, the knife on a chain seems less like the weapon than the long-feel of the servitors, which allows them to anticipate attacks.
The story took a turn when Marthatown enters into a war with the Susantown garrison, despite the recently formed trade agreement. It is unclear whether the garrison exists purely for these type of wars, or if they also perform another function.
Barten will have to fight, since he is actually twenty-five. It seems that centuries of 100 men may sometimes have too many people, and are then moved down a century by age. Barten was in the 24 year old century, however he will still have to fight since he is actually 25. Morgot reveals that Myra is not Michael's daughter, making it more socially acceptable for her and Barten to be together. However, this brings up the question as to who the father is. Michael mentioned that he was the only one that Morgot had carnival with.
I am proud of Stavia at the end when she refused Chernon books. She put the ordinances before her own personal feelings for Chernon, going against what Michael predicted.

The Gate to Women's Country: Chapters 9- pg. 104

Details of the Society:

• the play was acted by the Councilwomen of the city
• servitors are clean shaven, warriors wear beards
• some women that leave the town do not join the gypsies, some become wanderers
• servitors know information
• Servitors are able to go to servitor school, and since they start later than the girls, they are allowed to specialize
• deer are bred and released annually after some survived the convulsions
• bleak devastation- lands where nothing grows, and are filled with radiation  made by a some people with "their evil weapons"

Myra develops as a character in the reading. Myra became upset once Marcus lost his resemblance to Barten (Marcus had blue eyes and black hair, but the hair fell out and his eyes turned hazel). Morgot becomes so fed up with Myra and Myra's belief in the opinions of Barten, that Morgot suggests that Myra moves into another house on her own. Myra seems needy and desperate for attention, when it is revealed that Myra participated in the carnival with Barten even when she was six months pregnant, just in the hopes of keeping him to herself. 

Joshua  truly becomes a person in this chapter. He shares his opinion that Myra will not change from her state of rebellion. Joshua shares the reason why he left his garrison and the warriors. Joshua's friend Cornus was killed in battle, and Joshua was able to feel Cornus's pain. He called it "long-feel/time-feel", and said that the warriors who have it tended to become servitors. Joshua was apparently amazing at the war game Battle-Ball, and as a result was treasured and kept safe for the game. However, Joshua found out that nothing changed based on the war games, and after a large battle between two garrisons for no real reason, Joshua made the choice to leave the warriors. Perhaps the thing that Joshua founded out while on messenger duty will play an important role later on in the story.

It seems like the women are currently going through hard times. The council plans to cut allotments (which seem to be rations , but only for those within the city, and not the garrison. The town needs more glass jars, however they lack the power from the watermills in order to do so along with all the other things which need to be produced. First of all, this would make Michael's wisdom on not taking on the city while in a time of hardship seem even wiser. Also, it is revealed that 200 babies were born in Marthatown in a year, yet not enough people died to balance out the population increase, leading to the food shortages.

What kind of men return to women's country? Why? When?

Men return to women's country when they are 15 and choose to, or if the lifestyle of a warrior becomes too much, the man can leave. Some of the men who return are into learning and knowledge, others have the long-feel like Joshua. 

The Gate to Women's Country: Chapter 8

How has this culture accounted for regeneration/children?
The culture accounted for children by hosting a twice yearly celebration, called carnival, in which the warriors and the women that choose to can have sex for basically all month for fun and perhaps in the hopes of future offspring.
What do you think about this solution?
The solution is a bit odd, with your family members knowing that you leave the house and go and just drink and have sex for a month. While a necessary part of the culture in order for them to survive as a community  your parents knowing that you have been planning to go out and lose your virginity to someone is a bit awkward from my point of view.
Why are boys denied books?
Boys are denied books since 1) they are unnecessary to the warrior lifestyle 2) may distract the men 3) the boys may wish to know more, or see the flaws in the warrior lifestyle
Who breaks this injunction and why?
Chernon breaks this injunction after he feels ignorant after talking about genetics, and he expresses his wish to read books about science or other women's studies.
Who helps him get books?
Stavia helps Chernon get books.
What value do women place on education? Why?
Women put a huge value on education, along with their jobs, women are constantly learning and studying. After the convulsions, a lot of books were gone and knowledge lost, so the women made it their mission to make knowledge widespread and common among the women and servitors.

Things I found interesting:
In this chapter, Chernon mentions Vinsas forcing one of the boys, leading to the discussion about gay syndrome, and how for the most part, homosexuality was eradicated from the population. Such an idea helped contribute to this almost The Giver- like utopia, where everything including the small "imperfections" in society is removed. While I understand how homosexuality could cause problems in a society set up the way as the one in the current book, the idea never occurred to me that the women would go out of their way in order to prevent homosexuality.

Taming of the Shrew Act 4 Scene 3 to End

Act 4 Scene 3

• Katherine wants food
• planning on clothes to buy

This scene feels like the first true turning point for Katherine in her "taming". Katherine admits to being hungry and tired, and tries to get Grumio to get her food. Petruchio and Katherine meet with a tailor on some beautiful gowns, however Petruchio pretends to be disappointed with them, in order to manipulate Kate. Katherine begins to lose more and more control as Petruchio threatens not to go to Bianca's wedding and have them go in their current attire.

Act 4 Scene 4

Act 4 Scene 4 overall was long, and boring. There was little to no character development, no humor or interesting verbal wordplay. What occurred could have been summarized within a few lines of dialogue with "Vincentio" being introduced, and then Baptista going to meet with "Lucentio" and "Vincentio" over the dowry.

I felt like the whole scene with just Biondello and Lucentio was unnecessary to the plot, except for Biondello announcing that Lucentio could elope with Bianca, which could have been combined into Act 5 Scene 1. Otherwise, nothing interesting occurred.

Act 4 Scene 5

The humor of the play finally truly appeared in this scene. Katherine truly gives into Petruchio, allowing herself to admit to Petruchio's claim that the sun is actually the moon. When Lucentio's father, Vincentio appears, Katherine plays along with Petruchio's ploy. She greets the old man as if he were a young woman, who she hugs, after which Petruchio points out that Vincentio actually was an old man. All of this was confusing, yet undoubtedly humorous. 

Act 5 Scene 1

This scene speaks a lot about identity, and how it can easily be reaffirmed by those around us. The fake Vincentio was only truly believable after numerous people could attest to his being the real Vincentio, while the real Vincentio was almost arrested for impersonation due to his lack of support.

Act 5 Scene 2
The end of the book seemed rather sudden. The chapter only exists in order to prove that the shrew truly was tamed, and to such an extent that all other women are not as obedient or as loyal as Katherine. I was irritated by the fact that Katherine lost all of her personality and spunk, in exchange for a woman who looks up at everything that a man does. Since Shakespeare wrote this play, as a man in the time, he found obedience to be attractive. The viewpoint of the writer was definitely from a male, as men are portrayed as these fantastic god-like figures who know and do all, along with having wives who should essentially worship them. Basically, I hated the ending. 

The Gate to Women's Country: Chapters 6-7

What role do the servitors play?

• The servitors assist the women in Women’s country. They are placed in a certain household, and are both employee and friend to the women.

How do the women seem to feel about them?

• Usually the women see them as good confidantes and workers, who care for the family (such as carving the napkin rings). Some of the servitors are quite old, and have known the women since they were girls.

How do the other men feel about them?

• The other men look down on the servitors. As Myra recalls how Barten viewed the servitors “men who did come home were cowards and tit-suckers.”

These two chapters revealed more about the society

Men:

• they are not allowed to fight until they are 25, which brings up the question who/wwhat are the men fighting
• most fertile from 18-25

Women:

• some women give up and leave Women’s country, becoming a gypsy
• gypsies seem to be the equivalent of prostitutes
• warrirors from the men’s side visit these women, often giving them infections or diseases
• as a result, Morgot checks and swabs each gypsy, in order to check whether or not they have
• gives clean seal on forhead
• something, and whterh or not it’s curable
• if the disease is curable, the woman goes into quarantine
• if the disease is chronic, a woman cannot return back to women’s coutnry or stay near the city
• some girls become gypsies when a warrior takes them by convincing them
• ex: Tally and Barten

Mentions of the disaster:

• cannot cure cancer, got close once
• unable to treat things that were once curable before the convulsions

Why are these men and women so drawn to an ancient story and model?

• The story is used as a reminder for what would happen should they break the ordinances as a community. The characters are easily identificable. Dawid is compared to Achilles, when he decided to stay with the warriors, Iphighenia was killed, not a hind as is told. Achilles thought that Artemis would save Iphighenia, yet it only ended in her suffering. Also, the warriors look up to Telemachus and Odysseus, while in the play, Odysseus is one of the antagonists in a way, taking Hecuba away with him.