Journal Entry for Planning the Vineyard
For my first move I decided to do some research on the history of Wine Making in the Eastern United States. I found it interesting that he was investing in this type of agriculture in the story, and seemed like a topic that outside of the text, John would likely be exploring more and taking about frequently. I also hoped to capture the John’s naiveté and burgeoning knowledge on the wine industry as a sort of ironic note since he often comes off as condescending towards Annie and Julius. I hoped that in looking into an area he is invested in, but not yet a master of, it would create an ironic play on his tend to patronize others in the stories.
I felt that in addressing John’s first blurb about wine making instead of about Julius’ stories or Annie it would be in character with his dismissiveness to the stories Julius tells and his seeming lack of attention he pays towards Annie’s needs. I noticed that in Kaela’s biography for Annie (in our game) she plays up the point that it took some convincing for John to agree to move South reflecting his lack of attention toward Annie, which I hoped to play out subtly in my post. This is not to say John neglects Annie or is necessarily a fully bad character, he just appears bit condescending and without time for any funny business. Furthermore, I decided not to have John interacting with anyone directly in this note because of this sense of self-involvement I got from reading his character in Chesnutt’s work.