Blues of Pecola

     Blues is different than any other type of music. In blues, notes aren't played at the pitch you would expect. Also, blues has this distinctive solid but plaintive sound. This sound resonates from the use of a minor-based scale over the top of a major-based chord. Pecola's life worked in this way. Her story in the book is solid from the beginning. You know what is going to happen to her and that the book tells how it will happen. It is also very plaintive. No one is happy when thinking about the troubles that Pecola had to go through. Her story is a sad and mournful one that isn't hidden but is set up to where you know her life is crummy. Her miserable life comes from people trying to do things that they shouldn't be. Just as these minor-based scales are put on major-based chords, people in her life, which in a usual situation, are put in things that they normally shouldn't be. Like her father for example. Dad's don't normally rape their daughters when they see them washing dishes and look miserable. They don't think about harming her in a gentle way. They don't think he way that Pecola's dad did in a normal situation. Yet, because of what her father did that isn't normal, it created this new misery in her life. 

      What is conflicting is the part about notes played at the pitch you wouldn't expect. In Pecola's situation, you would expect a little girl that presumes she is ugly to want blue eyes to fit in and be beautiful. She is young and thinks that by having this thing that is unimaginable would cause her problems to be fixed. But, Pecola's life is full of parts that aren't expected. I know that I was surprised by all that happened in this book to her. She goes through so much that you wouldn't expect a little girl to go through. The bullying and teasing are expected since everyone thought she was ugly but a boy tricking her into his house and her harming a cat. That is unexpected. Her life isn't predictable at all. Yes, we know she will be raped and the baby will die. But the stuff that leads up to that is so unexpected. 

     This could very much contradict with the statement said before that her life is solid. If it's solid then you would know what to expect, but you don't. What is to happen to her is solid but her life getting here isn't really so. So in a way, Cat Moses is right. Pecola's life resembles a blues song in how the distinct sounds are made in a blues song and the plaintive, unexpected nature of it.

Brand for the Wealthy? Or for My Family Too?

    Every family is different. Yet, with all families, nothing is perfect. There is always a problem or conflict that the family must solve. Knowing that families aren't perfect, Dolce and Gabbana tries to use that aspect to sell to middle class families. By having seven children playing around in what seems to be the parent's room, Dolce and Gabbana tries to show that they understand about families. But come on, what real family can afford Dolce and Gabbana? They would much rather focus on food and their house before buying this brand. It shows, even in this ad, that only families of wealth or can afford what Dolce and Gabbana is selling. 

     The heavenly colors of gold and beige shows off wealth and perfection. Nothing homely or bright is shown. Even the reds of the fruits and flowers aren't bright but dulled down. The colors worn by the children aren't bright either. Their clothes show no real differentiation  but instead causes them to be similar. In all this, it shows that Dolce and Gabbana only really reach out to families that aren't different in huge ways but instead are the same in their high wealthy statuses. 

     Looking at the mother, it is evident that their clothes only reach out to model like mothers. Her pearly white teeth, curvy body, and perfectly fixed hair isn't the first thing someone thinks of when thinking of a mother with seven children. Her black dress hugs onto her tightly and slims her down more than she already is. The position of her body is away from the playing children. This shows that she has no real concern for being with her children but instead looking beautiful. Even the child in her lap doesn't look to happy to be with her. This image of a mother is more of a wealthy mother than one of a moderate income. When thinking of wealthy mother, we usually think of mother who are thin, beautiful, and don't take too much time to think of their children. Dolce and Gabbana shows that type of mother her perfectly. 

     Even with all these aspects, there is the father. His face is scrunched up into a hilarious way and his outfit isn't really one thought to be worn by a wealthy man. Most of the children are crowded around him and he seems to be interacting with them in a childish fashion. His plain white shirt, black pants, and bare feet don't really shout out wealth but instead a hard working man. By Dolce and Gabbana putting in the father like this, it still in a way reaches out to the working families instead of the wealthy families that actually buy their products. 

     But still, everything else put in the ad doesn't agree with the families they are trying to reach out to. The spacious room, huge bed, and long brightly lit windows show off wealth more than a moderate family. Though they tried, it is evident that they didn't really succeed. 

"Normal" Family and Dolce&Gabbanna

     In a Dolce and Gabbanna ad marketing there new line for 2014, it is full of pictures that show "average" scenarios in a hectic life of average people. In one picture particular, it shows a family in a bedroom. There is seven children playing around in the room happily with one being held by an overly cheerful grandfather, two either sitting or holding onto their father who is making an outragious face, and one sitting innocently on their mother. Though Dolce and Gabbanna are trying to appeal to the family man and women, many already know (who may possibly be in this situation of having so many kids) that they are unable to be close to afford Dolce and Gabbanna for themselved much less all seven of their kids, their partner, and their father. Besides this aspect, the mother portrayed in this picture doesn't look like she had seven kids. She looks like a model instead of a mother which so many kids. Her thin, curvy body is slimmed very more with the black dress she is wearing. This makes women feel that they must reach this figure after having kids though it is one of a model and not one of normalcy. This whole picture moves far away from the realities of real life that Dolce and Gabbanna is trying to sell. If they wanted to reach this state of a normal life, they would have made the room much more messier since all these children are playing in it. The mother and father wouldn't look as perfect as they do in this picture. The grandfather as well wouldn't look as kept together and happy as he does. Yet, this false reality is pushed into our minds to be reachable and we don't stop to notice that this is not what a "normal" life looks like.