Tuesday, December 10, 2013
My Big Future
while I was writing to myself I kept thinking about every thing that could be happening in my life in the future. I focused on talking about my current self, and gave myself reminders of things that make me happy and motivational things. I like doing things like this because you do forget that you sent yourself something and then when you receive it, a smile rushes to your face when you remember writing it. I think this is a super fun activity that really has an impact on your future self! I also reminded myself of my blog, so I can go back and remember everything I posted on it!
Sunday, December 1, 2013
practice essay
We walk into the room knowing we are in for a new experience, we are told to step outside of our comfort zone and accept these new ways of learning. Just like in "The Allegory of the Cave" we 'prisoners' or as we call it students have a set way in the classroom, but in AP English we are asked to become free and think outside the box.
In "The Allegory of the Cave" we see prisoners that are satisfied with their lives, and don't want to see the light beyond the cave. In our new environment of the AP English class we all choose to be "free" and see the light or the new ways of learning things through collaboration. It takes a lot of convincing and time for all of us prisoners to become free, it also takes the freed past students coming in and telling us about the course before we fully accept this new environment. In a sense the cave can be described as a classroom with many desks and posters and writing on the walls.
We students reflect Plato's meaning of the Allegory because we are breaking free and taking charge of our education, we are becoming the individuals he wanted the prisoners to become. Plato stated in the Allegory that knowledge was a key factor to becoming free and seeing the light, and being in the classroom gives us a unique education that we have never had before. We relate to the theme of the Allegory, to see the light and become unique. We gain a sense of this theme through all the literary devices Plato uses in the story. The use of metaphors allows us to imagine what the cave would look like, and how people may want to break free of it when given the opportunity. We know what the average classroom consists of, and we willingly took on a course that would change all of that.
If a character from " No Exit" were to be in this classroom they would probably try to get out and not understand why it felt like Hell to them. They wouldn't understand the way we all try and bring our thoughts together and help each other through collaboration. Because in "No Exit" Sartre describes Hell as the people around you the characters in "No Exit" would surely not like this classroom environment at all.
Thinking outside the box isn't just something we strive to do on our own, something inspires us to do so. We get a clear picture of this through the prisoners, they are content with their lives until they get a sense of what it is like outside of the cave. In both "The Allegory of the Cave" and "No Exit" we see through characterization and metaphors how each author wants to portray individuals changing their ways and thoughts about certain situations. Being inside this classroom would allow the prisoner a new perspective, and make the characters from " No Exit" want to leave because they don't like the people they are with.
In "The Allegory of the Cave" we see prisoners that are satisfied with their lives, and don't want to see the light beyond the cave. In our new environment of the AP English class we all choose to be "free" and see the light or the new ways of learning things through collaboration. It takes a lot of convincing and time for all of us prisoners to become free, it also takes the freed past students coming in and telling us about the course before we fully accept this new environment. In a sense the cave can be described as a classroom with many desks and posters and writing on the walls.
We students reflect Plato's meaning of the Allegory because we are breaking free and taking charge of our education, we are becoming the individuals he wanted the prisoners to become. Plato stated in the Allegory that knowledge was a key factor to becoming free and seeing the light, and being in the classroom gives us a unique education that we have never had before. We relate to the theme of the Allegory, to see the light and become unique. We gain a sense of this theme through all the literary devices Plato uses in the story. The use of metaphors allows us to imagine what the cave would look like, and how people may want to break free of it when given the opportunity. We know what the average classroom consists of, and we willingly took on a course that would change all of that.
If a character from " No Exit" were to be in this classroom they would probably try to get out and not understand why it felt like Hell to them. They wouldn't understand the way we all try and bring our thoughts together and help each other through collaboration. Because in "No Exit" Sartre describes Hell as the people around you the characters in "No Exit" would surely not like this classroom environment at all.
Thinking outside the box isn't just something we strive to do on our own, something inspires us to do so. We get a clear picture of this through the prisoners, they are content with their lives until they get a sense of what it is like outside of the cave. In both "The Allegory of the Cave" and "No Exit" we see through characterization and metaphors how each author wants to portray individuals changing their ways and thoughts about certain situations. Being inside this classroom would allow the prisoner a new perspective, and make the characters from " No Exit" want to leave because they don't like the people they are with.
Literature Analysis "A Tale of Two Cities" By Charles Dickens
We did this as a group so for the questions I will post a link to their blogs.
1. and 2. Kylie Sagisi
3. Lindsey Wong
4. Jacob Fowler
Characterization:
1. Direct characterization
-" A woman of orderly and industrious appearance rose from her knees in a corner, with sufficient haste and trepidation to show that she was the person referred to." page 66
This is a clear example of direct characterization because Dickens is stating what the woman appears to look like and how she acts as the others are talking about her.
-" With wonderful quickness, and with a strength both of will and action, that appeared quite supernatural, he forced all these changes upon him. The prisoner was like a young child in his hands."page 431
This is another example of direct characterization because Dickens is describing what the prisoner ( Darnay) is acting like as Carton is asking him about an escape.
Indirect Characterization
-" In this age . he would have been a professor, in that age, he was a tutor" page 159
This is an example of indirect characterization because they are describing Darnay and how he is intelligent, but the author lets us conclude this by the professions he said Darnay should be or is.
-" No. I am accidentally in possession of a power over one of the keepers here, and in virtue of it I stand before you." page 430
This is another example because Carton is going to trick Darnay into an escape, so he is tricking him as they speak about why he is here. From this passage in the novel we can conclude that Carton is helpful, and passionate about helping Darnay and his family.
2. Charles Dickens syntax does change with the dialogue of certain characters, this is because some appear more educated than others so they speak better then when a drunk person is talking. I think that Dickens uses syntax and diction to help improve the characterization of each character. It also allows the readers to gain a better understanding of the characters with the different syntax's and diction's throughout the novel.
3. Lindsey Wong
4. Kendall Villa
1. and 2. Kylie Sagisi
3. Lindsey Wong
4. Jacob Fowler
Characterization:
1. Direct characterization
-" A woman of orderly and industrious appearance rose from her knees in a corner, with sufficient haste and trepidation to show that she was the person referred to." page 66
This is a clear example of direct characterization because Dickens is stating what the woman appears to look like and how she acts as the others are talking about her.
-" With wonderful quickness, and with a strength both of will and action, that appeared quite supernatural, he forced all these changes upon him. The prisoner was like a young child in his hands."page 431
This is another example of direct characterization because Dickens is describing what the prisoner ( Darnay) is acting like as Carton is asking him about an escape.
Indirect Characterization
-" In this age . he would have been a professor, in that age, he was a tutor" page 159
This is an example of indirect characterization because they are describing Darnay and how he is intelligent, but the author lets us conclude this by the professions he said Darnay should be or is.
-" No. I am accidentally in possession of a power over one of the keepers here, and in virtue of it I stand before you." page 430
This is another example because Carton is going to trick Darnay into an escape, so he is tricking him as they speak about why he is here. From this passage in the novel we can conclude that Carton is helpful, and passionate about helping Darnay and his family.
2. Charles Dickens syntax does change with the dialogue of certain characters, this is because some appear more educated than others so they speak better then when a drunk person is talking. I think that Dickens uses syntax and diction to help improve the characterization of each character. It also allows the readers to gain a better understanding of the characters with the different syntax's and diction's throughout the novel.
3. Lindsey Wong
4. Kendall Villa
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Happy Thanksgiving!
There are so many things to be thankful for in life, let today be the day you spend time with family and friends and Cherish the time you have with them! Have a happy thanksgiving! :)
Monday, November 25, 2013
thinking outside the box
Notes:
-there are 4 characters trapped in "hell" but Hell isn't described as the place you are in, but more of the people you are surrounded by.
-Valet, Garcin, Estelle, and Inez
-they all desperately want out of the well decorated room.
- Hell would be a place where no matter how hard I try I can never succeed. This place could look ordinary like college, or a work place. I think that Hell is something that you as an individual create, if you are constantly down about certain places, or people then yes you are going to feel "in Hell" when you are in the presence of those things. I fear failure to succeed in life,which is why I am stressing about college so much, so living in a place where I can't succeed night and day would ultimately make me go insane. I think that this is what drives many people to believe their lives are hell.
2.Could hell be described as too much of anything without a break? Are variety,
-Varietys offer change, and options rather then just having the same thing for a long period of time. I think that if you endure anything for a long amount of time you will begin not to feel the same about it. Everyone needs a blanance in life or they will begin to question things and may begin to not get the joys out of life and feel as if they are in Hell.
3. How does Sartre create a sense of place through dialogue? Can you imagine what it feels
-Garcin didnt take my classes seriously that I would be in my personal Hell. Hell would be where I easily get annoyed with myself for letting myself be there.
4. Compare how Plato and Sartre describe the limitations of our thinking and imply solutions to the problem.
-The ability to learn and educate yourself is the main focus of both. In "The Allegory of the Cave" Plato describes how one must gain the knowledge to leave the cave and become free, while in "No Exit" Sartre wants his characters to learn that they are not happy and to change things. They both want their characters to take learning things and gain knowledge to better themselves. I feel that both authors believe eduacation is the key to becoming a better person and overcoming being a prisoner or being in Hell.
They both use lots of literary devices throughout their pieces.
Characterization is a big one in "No Exit" since the whole play is in dialouge.
Imagery is a commonly used element in both of the pieces because Plato uses imagery to describe the cave and the light, and Sartre decribes the room and the people.
Irony is another used element. They both use irony because they both are talking about somewhat ironic things.
-there are 4 characters trapped in "hell" but Hell isn't described as the place you are in, but more of the people you are surrounded by.
-Valet, Garcin, Estelle, and Inez
-they all desperately want out of the well decorated room.
1.Think about the place you have chosen as your hell. Does it look ordinary and bourgeois,
like Sartre's drawing room, or is it equipped with literal instruments of torture like
Dante's Inferno? Can the mind be in hell in a beautiful place? Is there a way to find peace
in a hellish physical environment? Enter Sartre's space more fully and imagine how it
would feel to live there endlessly, night and day:- Hell would be a place where no matter how hard I try I can never succeed. This place could look ordinary like college, or a work place. I think that Hell is something that you as an individual create, if you are constantly down about certain places, or people then yes you are going to feel "in Hell" when you are in the presence of those things. I fear failure to succeed in life,which is why I am stressing about college so much, so living in a place where I can't succeed night and day would ultimately make me go insane. I think that this is what drives many people to believe their lives are hell.
2.Could hell be described as too much of anything without a break? Are variety,
moderation and balance instruments we use to keep us from boiling in any inferno of
excess,' whether it be cheesecake or ravenous sex?-Varietys offer change, and options rather then just having the same thing for a long period of time. I think that if you endure anything for a long amount of time you will begin not to feel the same about it. Everyone needs a blanance in life or they will begin to question things and may begin to not get the joys out of life and feel as if they are in Hell.
3. How does Sartre create a sense of place through dialogue? Can you imagine what it feels
like to stay awake all the time with the lights on with no hope of leaving a specific place?
How does GARCIN react to this hell? How could you twist your daily activities around
so that everyday habits become hell? Is there a pattern of circumstances that reinforces
the experience of hell?-Garcin didnt take my classes seriously that I would be in my personal Hell. Hell would be where I easily get annoyed with myself for letting myself be there.
4. Compare how Plato and Sartre describe the limitations of our thinking and imply solutions to the problem.
-The ability to learn and educate yourself is the main focus of both. In "The Allegory of the Cave" Plato describes how one must gain the knowledge to leave the cave and become free, while in "No Exit" Sartre wants his characters to learn that they are not happy and to change things. They both want their characters to take learning things and gain knowledge to better themselves. I feel that both authors believe eduacation is the key to becoming a better person and overcoming being a prisoner or being in Hell.
They both use lots of literary devices throughout their pieces.
Characterization is a big one in "No Exit" since the whole play is in dialouge.
Imagery is a commonly used element in both of the pieces because Plato uses imagery to describe the cave and the light, and Sartre decribes the room and the people.
Irony is another used element. They both use irony because they both are talking about somewhat ironic things.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Allegory of the Cave sonnet
Shackles and chains keep us here
staying here forever without a care
we see the light but won't go near
for we are prisoners and cannot bare
the tangles and struggles of common things
the free come and speak
content with life we don't hear the rings
and we don't listen because we are to weak
but something changed
for now we see
the ways the freed have managed
and we too want to be free
knowledge is all the power you need
so just take the lead
staying here forever without a care
we see the light but won't go near
for we are prisoners and cannot bare
the tangles and struggles of common things
the free come and speak
content with life we don't hear the rings
and we don't listen because we are to weak
but something changed
for now we see
the ways the freed have managed
and we too want to be free
knowledge is all the power you need
so just take the lead
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Brain with 5 legs
My group is going to collaborate in and out of class. We plan to be on a reading schedule so we can stay on task and discuss things. We also plan on breaking up certain tasks so we can all gain a good understanding of the book!
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Allegory of the Cave study questions
1. According to Socrates, what does the Allegory of the Cave represent?
-The cave is something that restricts freedom, and it is a metaphor for the things that are reality.
2. What are the key elements in the imagery used in the allegory?
-The prisoners, the chains, and the cave are all main elements of imagery. These things bring a dark feel to the story but give you a vivid image of what is there.
3. What are some things the allegory suggests about the process of enlightenment or education?
- Plato suggest that everyone has the potential to do great things, he thinks people should take opportunities.
4. What do the imagery of "shackles" and the "cave" suggest about the perspective of the cave dwellers or prisoners?
- Shackles represent the restrictions we have and how we can’t break free from them. The Cave is the reality of it all.
5. In society today or in your own life, what sorts of things shackle the mind?
- In today’s society many things shackle people’s minds. For me I think I care to much about judgment, so I limit myself with the things I do, because of the way I think it may be perceived.
6. Compare the perspective of the freed prisoner with the cave prisoners?
-The freed prisoner is confused why the cave prisoner doesn't care he is limited. The freed prisoner is living "real life" while the cave prisoner is just in the shadows of the cave.
7. According to the allegory, lack of clarity or intellectual confusion can occur in two distinct ways or contexts. What are they?
-The prisoners not being able to see they are being limited by the cave, and then refusing to listen to the freed prisoner when told about the realties outside the cave are the two way of lack of clarity.
8. According to the allegory, how do cave prisoners get free? What does this suggest about intellectual freedom?
-Going outside the box and breaking away from structure allows a prisoner to become free. This suggests that they can only be enlightened by others who have already been freed.
9. The allegory presupposes that there is a distinction between appearances and reality. Do you agree? Why or why not?
-Yes I agree, this is because people can put up a front to disguise the way they really are around certain people. If one sees a scary looking person walking down the street no one will approach them, although in reality they could be one of the nicest and most trustworthy person ever. I think that you must learn to distinguish appearances and reality in order to really get to know people.
10. If Socrates is incorrect in his assumption that there is a distinction between reality and appearances, what are the two alternative metaphysical assumptions?
-Everyone can have their own version of a reality, one could see something and would believe something without any thing to back it up, these would be the alternatives of having a difference between appearances and reality.
-The cave is something that restricts freedom, and it is a metaphor for the things that are reality.
2. What are the key elements in the imagery used in the allegory?
-The prisoners, the chains, and the cave are all main elements of imagery. These things bring a dark feel to the story but give you a vivid image of what is there.
3. What are some things the allegory suggests about the process of enlightenment or education?
- Plato suggest that everyone has the potential to do great things, he thinks people should take opportunities.
4. What do the imagery of "shackles" and the "cave" suggest about the perspective of the cave dwellers or prisoners?
- Shackles represent the restrictions we have and how we can’t break free from them. The Cave is the reality of it all.
5. In society today or in your own life, what sorts of things shackle the mind?
- In today’s society many things shackle people’s minds. For me I think I care to much about judgment, so I limit myself with the things I do, because of the way I think it may be perceived.
6. Compare the perspective of the freed prisoner with the cave prisoners?
-The freed prisoner is confused why the cave prisoner doesn't care he is limited. The freed prisoner is living "real life" while the cave prisoner is just in the shadows of the cave.
7. According to the allegory, lack of clarity or intellectual confusion can occur in two distinct ways or contexts. What are they?
-The prisoners not being able to see they are being limited by the cave, and then refusing to listen to the freed prisoner when told about the realties outside the cave are the two way of lack of clarity.
8. According to the allegory, how do cave prisoners get free? What does this suggest about intellectual freedom?
-Going outside the box and breaking away from structure allows a prisoner to become free. This suggests that they can only be enlightened by others who have already been freed.
9. The allegory presupposes that there is a distinction between appearances and reality. Do you agree? Why or why not?
-Yes I agree, this is because people can put up a front to disguise the way they really are around certain people. If one sees a scary looking person walking down the street no one will approach them, although in reality they could be one of the nicest and most trustworthy person ever. I think that you must learn to distinguish appearances and reality in order to really get to know people.
10. If Socrates is incorrect in his assumption that there is a distinction between reality and appearances, what are the two alternative metaphysical assumptions?
-Everyone can have their own version of a reality, one could see something and would believe something without any thing to back it up, these would be the alternatives of having a difference between appearances and reality.
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
brain with 200 legs 2.0: mindmaps & strategy
3. I feel that a mind map is a very neat and creative way for ideas to be passed around. I feel that a mind map would be a real project because it seems quite confusing, and by the looks of some of them if you want a good one it would take a lot of time. I think that if we all contributed as a class that we could create a good mind map. I know that the mind map that is for the literature analysis was pretty cool, it allows a quick and easy way to see who is reading the same things I am interested in.
4. I liked many of the concept maps because of the organization, I am not really sure how to search for different ones but I like the way the home page is set up, Each is a step that you follow, its almost like following a recipe.
5. This article is so crazy! I mean I figure by the time you are older you have read many books, but this is something much different! 7 hours of sleep and 4 hours of reading a day? Even when I am reading a book and cant put it down I don't think I spend 4 hours reading it in one day. I think that this is very interesting, this person is obviously addicted to reading. I wonder if they ever go to a movie premiere for a book, and read a different book while watching the movie? I think this is crazy, but I mean reading is a good thing, I just don't know if I would be able to keep all the different titles and characters separate from each other after reading so many books!
4. I liked many of the concept maps because of the organization, I am not really sure how to search for different ones but I like the way the home page is set up, Each is a step that you follow, its almost like following a recipe.
5. This article is so crazy! I mean I figure by the time you are older you have read many books, but this is something much different! 7 hours of sleep and 4 hours of reading a day? Even when I am reading a book and cant put it down I don't think I spend 4 hours reading it in one day. I think that this is very interesting, this person is obviously addicted to reading. I wonder if they ever go to a movie premiere for a book, and read a different book while watching the movie? I think this is crazy, but I mean reading is a good thing, I just don't know if I would be able to keep all the different titles and characters separate from each other after reading so many books!
We hang together
I like to take active reading notes, so writing them out is easier then continuously switching tabs..
Monday, November 11, 2013
Hamlet remix
-the meaning of something said.
-a speech act.
-voicing words to someone, for them just to hear.
-the comic strip above is a perfect example because she is telling him something and he is listening.
Illocutionary:
-is the act performed by a speaker.
-represents a state of affairs.
-"I pronounce you man and wife" is another example.
- The picture above represents it because the man is saying not to litter and he is putting trash into the garbage. He is speaking and doing actions at the same time.
Prelocutionary:
-Persuading, frightening, convincing, or annoying are all examples.
- the consequence for saying something.
-people get a certain effect or feeling from someone saying something.
-The example above is good because it shows that as everyone is saying something someone is thinking and understanding in their own ways.
These all relate to Hamlet because as a character he uses all these of ways of speaking and acting. With certain characters he would act upon his actions, but then with others he would just say something to get a reaction out of them, like he did often with King Claudius.
A POETIC INQUIRY
If we all lived in a "perfect" world would there be such a thing as true happiness, or would it just be considered the normal day-to-day feeling? Would life be boring if nothing went wrong, and there was no excitement? Does having rough patches in life truly help us become better and wiser individuals?
here is a sonnet that I feel relates to my big question, I think that it relates because it is about emptiness, and if we all lived in a perfect world we would all feel empty. I think that Wilson captures this image in his sonnet, which is why I chose it. Although he describes a world that sounds peaceful, and nothing could go wrong, I think that if we lived in that world we would just be bored and not really have any emotions about anything.
Emptiness
by : Jim Wilson
I hear the wind chimes in the summer breeze,
Calm and clear, I perceive appearances,
The river flowing swiftly past my home,
Child like, my mind provides an answer,
A dog barks, the leaves rustle, clouds go by,
The cornucopia of emptiness
here is a sonnet that I feel relates to my big question, I think that it relates because it is about emptiness, and if we all lived in a perfect world we would all feel empty. I think that Wilson captures this image in his sonnet, which is why I chose it. Although he describes a world that sounds peaceful, and nothing could go wrong, I think that if we lived in that world we would just be bored and not really have any emotions about anything.
Emptiness
by : Jim Wilson
I hear the wind chimes in the summer breeze,
a gentle wind triggers the melody,
a curious jay pausing on the chimes,
a mid-day thief so cautious he’s clumsy.
Calm and clear, I perceive appearances,
as the dance and display of my own mind.
The river flowing swiftly past my home,
where does it come from, whither does it go?
Child like, my mind provides an answer,
dust dancing in rays of summer sunlight.
A dog barks, the leaves rustle, clouds go by,
a shimmering wind in a field of dreams.
The cornucopia of emptiness
endlessly manifesting her mercy.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Hamlet essay
Hamlet essay
In the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare creates complex characters that are at first difficult to decipher. Through close examination of each character we can conclude there is a method to Shakespeare’s madness, and we all are more like Hamlet then we could have expected. Many sites, that are meant to help people read Hamlet easily, just wind up giving us the answer that Hamlet himself is crazy. Instead of just taking their word for it us, as a class, questioned it and decided that maybe Hamlet isn’t crazy, his character is just misread constantly throughout the play.
In the “Performative Utterance” by de Boer we learn that Hamlets “madness” is something that can be easily questioned. Hamlet makes quick witty reactions to things, which lead us to believe he is sane, and can make logical decisions. De Boer questions whether or not Hamlet has problems with his locutionary force (unable to act on an action). When we relate this back to the play we begin to realize that maybe Hamlet just had an odd way of expressing himself. Today we don’t call the people with locutionary force problems insane, we just classify them as shy and reserved individuals. It is difficult to believe Hamlet to be “mad” when you think about his character in this way. Believing Hamlet to be “mad” would almost be like calling every individual mad who ever had a problem expressing themselves.
Speech is something that doesn’t portray Hamlet as crazy in any way. When we read his soliloquies they are full of emotion and depth. In “to be or not to be” he is fully aware of everything and we can really see how sane he is in it. Memorizing this soliloquy allowed us to see Hamlet as a different character for the first time. It gave us a better understanding that the things going on in his mind aren’t “mad” they are just normal thoughts everyone may have on the matter.
Comparing Hamlet to people today allows us to see that although Hamlet is hundreds of years old he is a complex character that is very relatable to everyone. My thoughts run me back to the question of did Shakespeare want Hamlet to be relatable to the common people for generations to come? I think the answer is yes, and no. Hamlet is a man who wants to get revenge for his father’s death, which any person would rightly want to accomplish if their father was poisoned. On the other hand Hamlet is a Prince, and it is pointed out many times throughout the play, which makes me skeptical whether he meant to be relatable or not. Hamlet is meant for the audience to be wondering and maybe even be confused at the end, and Shakespeare does a good job at confusing his audience as the play goes on, which allows you to remain thinking about the play even when you aren’t watching/reading.
Hamlet, and Hamlet the character are both very complex, and it takes looking back a couple times to try and understand certain characters actions. Even though this play took place so many years ago, many character’s, especially Hamlet, are relatable to aspects of people’s lives. Through discussions, essays/articles, Sparknotes, and reading the play itself we can gain many different perceptions of the character Hamlet. My understanding of Hamlet is that he is just a man who doesn’t know how to express himself, and this is why many people perceive him as mad. In the end we can all be considered mad if we think about it, we aren’t much different from Hamlet himself.
In the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare creates complex characters that are at first difficult to decipher. Through close examination of each character we can conclude there is a method to Shakespeare’s madness, and we all are more like Hamlet then we could have expected. Many sites, that are meant to help people read Hamlet easily, just wind up giving us the answer that Hamlet himself is crazy. Instead of just taking their word for it us, as a class, questioned it and decided that maybe Hamlet isn’t crazy, his character is just misread constantly throughout the play.
In the “Performative Utterance” by de Boer we learn that Hamlets “madness” is something that can be easily questioned. Hamlet makes quick witty reactions to things, which lead us to believe he is sane, and can make logical decisions. De Boer questions whether or not Hamlet has problems with his locutionary force (unable to act on an action). When we relate this back to the play we begin to realize that maybe Hamlet just had an odd way of expressing himself. Today we don’t call the people with locutionary force problems insane, we just classify them as shy and reserved individuals. It is difficult to believe Hamlet to be “mad” when you think about his character in this way. Believing Hamlet to be “mad” would almost be like calling every individual mad who ever had a problem expressing themselves.
Speech is something that doesn’t portray Hamlet as crazy in any way. When we read his soliloquies they are full of emotion and depth. In “to be or not to be” he is fully aware of everything and we can really see how sane he is in it. Memorizing this soliloquy allowed us to see Hamlet as a different character for the first time. It gave us a better understanding that the things going on in his mind aren’t “mad” they are just normal thoughts everyone may have on the matter.
Comparing Hamlet to people today allows us to see that although Hamlet is hundreds of years old he is a complex character that is very relatable to everyone. My thoughts run me back to the question of did Shakespeare want Hamlet to be relatable to the common people for generations to come? I think the answer is yes, and no. Hamlet is a man who wants to get revenge for his father’s death, which any person would rightly want to accomplish if their father was poisoned. On the other hand Hamlet is a Prince, and it is pointed out many times throughout the play, which makes me skeptical whether he meant to be relatable or not. Hamlet is meant for the audience to be wondering and maybe even be confused at the end, and Shakespeare does a good job at confusing his audience as the play goes on, which allows you to remain thinking about the play even when you aren’t watching/reading.
Hamlet, and Hamlet the character are both very complex, and it takes looking back a couple times to try and understand certain characters actions. Even though this play took place so many years ago, many character’s, especially Hamlet, are relatable to aspects of people’s lives. Through discussions, essays/articles, Sparknotes, and reading the play itself we can gain many different perceptions of the character Hamlet. My understanding of Hamlet is that he is just a man who doesn’t know how to express himself, and this is why many people perceive him as mad. In the end we can all be considered mad if we think about it, we aren’t much different from Hamlet himself.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
tools that change the way we think
Technology and Internet has changed the way this generation thinks, learns, and acts. We all hide behind the Internet for tough assignments, avoiding confrontation, and many other things in life. In my opinion technology has greatly improved the knowledge we want to seek. If we are unsure about something we simply pull out our smart phones and look up anything we want. On the other hand this may be toying with our ability to memorize or remember things, this is because we rely on technology and or smart phones for remembering things. I think it is a toss up whether or not relying on technology is a good or bad thing. There is pros and cons to both. I think it is interesting to look back at old times and think about how they didn't have the ability to search things on the Internet, this seems so strange since if I am confused even slightly I usually google search and figure out my question. I think it must have been very different back then. Using the Internet opens up many more opportunities that we are just now gaining.
Vocab #9
1. Aficionado (noun): a person who likes, knows about and apreciates a persued interests or activity.
- I am and aficionado, because I want to be teacher and I volunteer at alicshaw.
2. Browbeat (verb): to intimidate or disconcert by a stern manner or arrogant speech.
- If you browbeat then you need the bully button pressed on you.
3. Commensurate (adjective): equal in measure or extent.
- Most of the speeches are commensurate.
4. Diaphanous (adjective): vague, insubstantial.
- The speech was very diaphanous.
5. Emolument (noun): the returns arising from office or employment in the form of compensation.
-The actor gets emoluments for working.
6. Foray (verb): to ravage in search of spoils.
-During the war the soldiers foray.
7. Genre: a category of music, art, or literary work that is based on style or form.
- Country music is my favorite genre.
8. Homily (noun): a usually short sermon.
-Church is a homily.
9. Immure (verb): to imprison.
- When you lie you feel immure in your own words.
10. Insouciant (adjective): lighthearted unconcern.
-My mom is insouciant when I ask her to do things.
11. Matrix (noun): something that something else originates from.
-you make history matrixes off of the work in class.
12. Obsequies (noun): a funeral of burial rite.
- Familes always cry at obsequies.
13. Panache (noun): dash in style and action.
- We ware panache things everyday.
14. Persona (noun): the personality that a person projects.
-Stephanie has a bad persona and you see it through her adittude.
15. Philippic (noun): a discourse or declamation full of bitter condemnation.
- We got into a philippic after the game.
16. Prurient (adjective): marked by arousing an unwholesome interests or desire.
-We prurient things when we are sad.
17. Sacrosanct (adjective): most sacrad or holy.
-Things in church or sacrosanct.
18. Systemic (adjective): of relating to or common to a system.
- In class we are systemic everyday with routine.
19. Tendentious (adjective): marked by a tendency in favor of a particular point of view.
- during speeches politicans are alway tendentious.
20. Vicissitude (noun): the state of being changeable.
- Open source learning alows vicissitude in the classroom.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
The Performative Utterance in Hamlet
-Locutionary force, illocutionary force, perlocutionary force.
-Hamlet is trapped by his own actions and thoughts maybe even going a little crazy because of it.
-Hamlet is a great schemer who can make everyone around him obvilious to his crazy thought out plans.
-The play is meant to be acted which is why there is a couple soliloquies throughout.
-Talks about Hamlet having fake madness and the ways he expresses it in the certain acts.
-Hamlet becomes the man of actions instead of the man of words.
-Hamlet is trapped by his own actions and thoughts maybe even going a little crazy because of it.
-Hamlet is a great schemer who can make everyone around him obvilious to his crazy thought out plans.
-The play is meant to be acted which is why there is a couple soliloquies throughout.
-Talks about Hamlet having fake madness and the ways he expresses it in the certain acts.
-Hamlet becomes the man of actions instead of the man of words.
THOUGHTS ON HAMLET (IN PROGRESS)
When we began reading Hamlet I wasn't sure how I felt about Hamlet as a character. I felt as we began reading the first couple of scenes that we all thought Hamlet was insane and crazy. We now know that Hamlet is a very complex character who is very thoughtful with the things he does. We have seen him plot many schemes that aren't something a crazy person would be able to uphold. We also have been seeing Hamlet shows us his many different sides, which he has been getting away with because he is tricky and intelligent.
Filter Bubbles
1) I learned that even though I searching my own things, the things I am searching are filtered based on certain things. I had an idea that something like this was happening, but this now confirmed my thoughts. 2)This makes me think that when I find things on Google there might be so many better sites that just arent available to me. I aslo think that It is weird to think that we can google search on two computers and come up with many different options.
3)This makes me wonder why there is filters. I also feel like it might be a helpful tool, since it might filter out the sites you would otherwise waste your time on.
4)I think that making certain accounts for certain searches would allow me to go around these filters, keeping the school searches on the school account, and the personal ones on a personal account.
3)This makes me wonder why there is filters. I also feel like it might be a helpful tool, since it might filter out the sites you would otherwise waste your time on.
4)I think that making certain accounts for certain searches would allow me to go around these filters, keeping the school searches on the school account, and the personal ones on a personal account.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Literature Analysis #3 Heart of Darkness
" Heart of Darkness" by: Joseph Conrad
1.This novel is about Marlow who is a sailor, the story begins in the Congo and he is on his way to meet a man name Kurtz. Marlow begins to see a variety of horrors such as torture and near-slavery within the African culture. Marlows boat has something unfortunate happen to it and the trip is delayed by a couple months, Marlow still is anxious to speak to Kurtz. Finally they get the boat fixed and continue their journey. Marlow soon realizes that Kurtz left his European thoughts and ways behind for human kind. Later on in the novel we find out that Kurtz ordered the Natives to attack the boat when they first arrived. Kurtz is very ill and entrusts his thoughts and legacies to Marlow. Shortly after that Kurtz dies, this causes Marlows already ill state to keep getting worse. The whole point of this short novel is to show how people were losing their humanity and how Marlow wanted to achieve a better lifestyle through Kurtz ways.
2. The major theme of this novel is the absurdity of evil. We see this throughout the novel by the crazy things Marlow sees the workers doing. We can conclude that none of this is actually necessary.
3. The tone of the author is wondering.
-"he kept on looking out past me with fiery, longing eyes, with a mingled expression of wistfulness and hate. He made no answer, but I saw a smile, a smile of indefinable meaning, appear on his colorless lips in that moment." page 151
-" I declare it looked as though he would presently put to us some question in an understandable language." page 123
-"Then I began to look for a ship- I should think the hardest work on earth." page 71
4. Imagery: " the Nellie, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails, and was at rest. The flood had made, the wind was nearly calm, and being bound down the river."
Similes: " The sea-reach if the Thames stretched before us like the beginning of an interminable waterway." page 65
Descriptive setting: " The sun set; the dusk fell on the stream, and lights began to appear along the shore." page 67
Biblical references: are throughout the whole entire book.
Symbolism: " But there was in it one river especially, a mighty big river, that you could see on the map, resembling an immense Snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea.." page 70
Tone: Marlow has many scenes where he is admiring Kurtz throughout the novel.
Rhetorical questions:" Do you see him? Do you see the story? Do you see anything?" page 97
Flashback:" Going up the river was like traveling back to the earliest beginnings of the world,when the revegitation rioted on the earth and the big trees were kings." page 105
Personification: "death sulking in the air, in the water, in the bush." page 69
Metaphor:" I flew around like mad to get ready, and before forty-eight hours I was crossing the channel to show my employers." page 73
Characterization
1. Direct: In the novel Marlow is described in detail that he is very skeptical of everything around him. In the novel we know that Kurtz is a man of many talents and aspirations.
indirect: In the novel readers can conclude that marlow feels sorrow for the people around him when he sees them in danger or in harms way. Another example is how we can conclude that Kurtz is a very successful man that had a lot of power.
2. This novel is told mainly in dialogue so the syntax and diction doesn't change a lot throughout the novel. The only times where we can see a little change in the syntax and diction is when Marlow and Kurtz are in a conversation, but other then that not much.
3. Marlow the main character (also the protagonist) is a dynamic character. He changes his views and feelings throughout the novel. We see him grow as a character from the beginning and change into someone a little different then from the beginning of the novel. He is considered round because he ultimately changes his views.
4. I felt that I didn't connect with this book to well. I never felt like I wanted to actually meet Marlow or Kurtz or any of the characters presented in this novel. I just feel that I would of liked this book better if it was wrote in a different way, because I personally liked the meaning behind the book. " Marlow ceased and sat apart insisting on silence. The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under the overcast sky- seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness." This is the last quote of the novel and I feel it really shows the kind of man Marlow is, respectful and mindful.
1.This novel is about Marlow who is a sailor, the story begins in the Congo and he is on his way to meet a man name Kurtz. Marlow begins to see a variety of horrors such as torture and near-slavery within the African culture. Marlows boat has something unfortunate happen to it and the trip is delayed by a couple months, Marlow still is anxious to speak to Kurtz. Finally they get the boat fixed and continue their journey. Marlow soon realizes that Kurtz left his European thoughts and ways behind for human kind. Later on in the novel we find out that Kurtz ordered the Natives to attack the boat when they first arrived. Kurtz is very ill and entrusts his thoughts and legacies to Marlow. Shortly after that Kurtz dies, this causes Marlows already ill state to keep getting worse. The whole point of this short novel is to show how people were losing their humanity and how Marlow wanted to achieve a better lifestyle through Kurtz ways.
2. The major theme of this novel is the absurdity of evil. We see this throughout the novel by the crazy things Marlow sees the workers doing. We can conclude that none of this is actually necessary.
3. The tone of the author is wondering.
-"he kept on looking out past me with fiery, longing eyes, with a mingled expression of wistfulness and hate. He made no answer, but I saw a smile, a smile of indefinable meaning, appear on his colorless lips in that moment." page 151
-" I declare it looked as though he would presently put to us some question in an understandable language." page 123
-"Then I began to look for a ship- I should think the hardest work on earth." page 71
4. Imagery: " the Nellie, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails, and was at rest. The flood had made, the wind was nearly calm, and being bound down the river."
Similes: " The sea-reach if the Thames stretched before us like the beginning of an interminable waterway." page 65
Descriptive setting: " The sun set; the dusk fell on the stream, and lights began to appear along the shore." page 67
Biblical references: are throughout the whole entire book.
Symbolism: " But there was in it one river especially, a mighty big river, that you could see on the map, resembling an immense Snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea.." page 70
Tone: Marlow has many scenes where he is admiring Kurtz throughout the novel.
Rhetorical questions:" Do you see him? Do you see the story? Do you see anything?" page 97
Flashback:" Going up the river was like traveling back to the earliest beginnings of the world,when the revegitation rioted on the earth and the big trees were kings." page 105
Personification: "death sulking in the air, in the water, in the bush." page 69
Metaphor:" I flew around like mad to get ready, and before forty-eight hours I was crossing the channel to show my employers." page 73
Characterization
1. Direct: In the novel Marlow is described in detail that he is very skeptical of everything around him. In the novel we know that Kurtz is a man of many talents and aspirations.
indirect: In the novel readers can conclude that marlow feels sorrow for the people around him when he sees them in danger or in harms way. Another example is how we can conclude that Kurtz is a very successful man that had a lot of power.
2. This novel is told mainly in dialogue so the syntax and diction doesn't change a lot throughout the novel. The only times where we can see a little change in the syntax and diction is when Marlow and Kurtz are in a conversation, but other then that not much.
3. Marlow the main character (also the protagonist) is a dynamic character. He changes his views and feelings throughout the novel. We see him grow as a character from the beginning and change into someone a little different then from the beginning of the novel. He is considered round because he ultimately changes his views.
4. I felt that I didn't connect with this book to well. I never felt like I wanted to actually meet Marlow or Kurtz or any of the characters presented in this novel. I just feel that I would of liked this book better if it was wrote in a different way, because I personally liked the meaning behind the book. " Marlow ceased and sat apart insisting on silence. The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under the overcast sky- seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness." This is the last quote of the novel and I feel it really shows the kind of man Marlow is, respectful and mindful.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Vocabulary #8
1. Abase (verb): to lower in rank.
- When the employee did something wrong he was abased in his job responsibilities.
2. Abdicate (verb): to relinquish (especially power) formally.
- The King abdicated the thrown to the new Prince.
3. Abomination (noun): Anything greatly disliked, disgust.
- The monster is an abomination to the whole entire town, it destroys everything.
4. Brusque (adjective): blunt in speech, Abrupt in manner.
- Sally was being very brusque at the dinner party because her parents forced her to go.
5. Saboteur (noun): one who commits sabotage.
- The ghosts in horror movies are always the saboteurs.
6. Debauchery (noun): extreme indulgence in sensual pleasures.
- Getting into the hot tub after a long day can be a great debauchery.
7. Proliferate (Verb): to cause to grow or develop rapidly.
- Going to preschool allows children to proliferate, at early stages in education.
8. Anachronism (noun): The representation of someone as existing or something as happening in other than chronological, proper, or historical order.
- Many brands use anachronism in their names.
9. Nomenclature (Noun): name designation.
- At birth your mother is asked to give you a name, which is nomenclature.
10. Expurgate (verb): To remove erroneous, vulgar, obscene, or otherwise objectionable material.
- Editors expurgate books before they allow authors to publish their work.
11. Bellicose (adjective): Hostile, or warlike manner.
- People with anger issues are very bellicose.
12. Gauche (Adjective): lacking social grace.
- People become uncomfortable when they are gauche at places they aren't familiar with.
13. Rapacious (adjective): greedy, taking by force.
- On Christmas, some children become very rapacious.
14. Paradox (noun): A seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true.
- Paradox's are used by many authors to create a more unique style to their writing.
15. Conundrum (noun): a puzzle or difficult riddle, a dilemma.
- Figuring out the Chemistry equation was quite a conundrum for the students.
16. Anomaly (noun): One that is peculiar, irregular, abnormal, or difficult to classify.
- Hamlet is an anomaly, he acts very differently with certain people, which is difficult to classify.
17. Ephemeral (noun): Marked by a brief amount of time.
- The sunset only lasts for an ephemeral amount of time at night.
18. Rancorous (adjective): full of rancor, unforgiveness, bitterness.
- The old lady was rancorous towards her sister, after they had a falling out years before.
19. Churlish (Adjective): difficult to work with.
- Some people can be considered churlish, because they never get along with anyone.
20. Precipitous (adjective): impassably steep.
- When backpacking there is no way to avoid the precipitous mountains in front of your path.
- When the employee did something wrong he was abased in his job responsibilities.
2. Abdicate (verb): to relinquish (especially power) formally.
- The King abdicated the thrown to the new Prince.
3. Abomination (noun): Anything greatly disliked, disgust.
- The monster is an abomination to the whole entire town, it destroys everything.
4. Brusque (adjective): blunt in speech, Abrupt in manner.
- Sally was being very brusque at the dinner party because her parents forced her to go.
5. Saboteur (noun): one who commits sabotage.
- The ghosts in horror movies are always the saboteurs.
6. Debauchery (noun): extreme indulgence in sensual pleasures.
- Getting into the hot tub after a long day can be a great debauchery.
7. Proliferate (Verb): to cause to grow or develop rapidly.
- Going to preschool allows children to proliferate, at early stages in education.
8. Anachronism (noun): The representation of someone as existing or something as happening in other than chronological, proper, or historical order.
- Many brands use anachronism in their names.
9. Nomenclature (Noun): name designation.
- At birth your mother is asked to give you a name, which is nomenclature.
10. Expurgate (verb): To remove erroneous, vulgar, obscene, or otherwise objectionable material.
- Editors expurgate books before they allow authors to publish their work.
11. Bellicose (adjective): Hostile, or warlike manner.
- People with anger issues are very bellicose.
12. Gauche (Adjective): lacking social grace.
- People become uncomfortable when they are gauche at places they aren't familiar with.
13. Rapacious (adjective): greedy, taking by force.
- On Christmas, some children become very rapacious.
14. Paradox (noun): A seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true.
- Paradox's are used by many authors to create a more unique style to their writing.
15. Conundrum (noun): a puzzle or difficult riddle, a dilemma.
- Figuring out the Chemistry equation was quite a conundrum for the students.
16. Anomaly (noun): One that is peculiar, irregular, abnormal, or difficult to classify.
- Hamlet is an anomaly, he acts very differently with certain people, which is difficult to classify.
17. Ephemeral (noun): Marked by a brief amount of time.
- The sunset only lasts for an ephemeral amount of time at night.
18. Rancorous (adjective): full of rancor, unforgiveness, bitterness.
- The old lady was rancorous towards her sister, after they had a falling out years before.
19. Churlish (Adjective): difficult to work with.
- Some people can be considered churlish, because they never get along with anyone.
20. Precipitous (adjective): impassably steep.
- When backpacking there is no way to avoid the precipitous mountains in front of your path.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
DEAR OPHELIA
Dear O,
You have found yourself quite a big predicament with this situation. I may even call this problem a conundrum. I think that you should go with what ever you feel personally is the right thing to do. In this situation someone is going to get hurt, and the decision you must make is who is it that is going to be hurt. Your brother and father must be very important to you because they are family, but your love must also be very strong if you have to think so strongly about this subject. Go with your gut decision in this situation, I feel that is the only way you are going to be happy. You may also want to contemplate whether or not you are okay leaving your family for a lover, they may never trust you again if you do a thing like that. The best advice that can be given for this situation, is just to go with your intuition, and only do the thing that will make you the happiest in life. Good luck O!
Sincerely,
Kristen
You have found yourself quite a big predicament with this situation. I may even call this problem a conundrum. I think that you should go with what ever you feel personally is the right thing to do. In this situation someone is going to get hurt, and the decision you must make is who is it that is going to be hurt. Your brother and father must be very important to you because they are family, but your love must also be very strong if you have to think so strongly about this subject. Go with your gut decision in this situation, I feel that is the only way you are going to be happy. You may also want to contemplate whether or not you are okay leaving your family for a lover, they may never trust you again if you do a thing like that. The best advice that can be given for this situation, is just to go with your intuition, and only do the thing that will make you the happiest in life. Good luck O!
Sincerely,
Kristen
Thursday, October 10, 2013
LITERARY FICTION & EMPATHY
How can reading fiction help you understand others?
Fiction novels allow imagination, and creativity to run through the brain. I really found this article intriguing because I know that when I read some books I feel that I have a major connection to the characters as if I know them face to face. Reading fiction allows people to be more open minded about others and their reasonings for doing certain things, almost as if you can see inside their minds as you read it. Some people may be characterized as "fake" but maybe they are just trying to resemble a character they are currently reading about. I feel that reading fiction allows one to imagine themselves in different situations, and I dont find that at all a bad thing.
Use Hamlet as an example to explore your own thinking process and reactions to a character's innermost thoughts/struggles?
Characters thoughts allow you to have direct insight to what the character is feeling, and you dont have to try and figure it out on your own. In Hamlets silioque you could imediately tell that Hamlet was upset and confused at his mothers actions and his fathers death. Personally I like to be told how the character is feeling, that way I am not confused later on if I imagined the wrong feeling. You get a totally better insight when told directly how that character is feeling, even if it is a little difficult to comprehend.
Fiction novels allow imagination, and creativity to run through the brain. I really found this article intriguing because I know that when I read some books I feel that I have a major connection to the characters as if I know them face to face. Reading fiction allows people to be more open minded about others and their reasonings for doing certain things, almost as if you can see inside their minds as you read it. Some people may be characterized as "fake" but maybe they are just trying to resemble a character they are currently reading about. I feel that reading fiction allows one to imagine themselves in different situations, and I dont find that at all a bad thing.
Use Hamlet as an example to explore your own thinking process and reactions to a character's innermost thoughts/struggles?
Characters thoughts allow you to have direct insight to what the character is feeling, and you dont have to try and figure it out on your own. In Hamlets silioque you could imediately tell that Hamlet was upset and confused at his mothers actions and his fathers death. Personally I like to be told how the character is feeling, that way I am not confused later on if I imagined the wrong feeling. You get a totally better insight when told directly how that character is feeling, even if it is a little difficult to comprehend.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
EXPERIENCE: The Art of Hosting Good Conversations Online
Finding a blog post that was current was pretty difficult, and by difficult I mean I was not successful. I found a lot of blogs that were posted back in 2010 and I checked and the bloggers were not active, so I did not post a comment to their blogs. I did however like seeing the different assignments that each student I visited had, made me wonder if we will be doing some of the same assignments or not! I think I need to improve my google searching skills in order to find active blogs I could of posted to!
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Green eggs and Hamlet
1. What do you know about Hamlet, the "Melancholy Dane"?
- I know pretty much nothing about Hamlet, I know that English teachers constantly reference it so it must have a very good meaning behind it. I know that Dr. Preston had to memorize it as a student and he is going to make us as well.
2. What do you know about Shakespeare?
- I know that Shakespeare is famously known for Romeo and Juliet, I read Romeo and Juliet my freshman year and also watched many movies and videos that related to it. I don't know a ton about Shakespeare at all other then the fact that high school students are required to read a couple of this novels.
3. Why do so many students involuntarily frown when they hear the name "Shakespeare"?
- Many students frown upon the work he has created because it is wrote in a way that is difficult to understand or comprehend. This year us AP students know that we are going to be memorizing, so that is another reason as to why we would frown upon the name.
4.What can we do to make studying this play an amazing experience we'll never forget?
- If we could make the play into some sort of game then I think it would be more memorable. Maybe if we each got a scene and then had to make it into a satire of some sort we may remember it because it would be humorous. I think there are many ways and with all our brain power we can find a way to make it memorable.
- I know pretty much nothing about Hamlet, I know that English teachers constantly reference it so it must have a very good meaning behind it. I know that Dr. Preston had to memorize it as a student and he is going to make us as well.
2. What do you know about Shakespeare?
- I know that Shakespeare is famously known for Romeo and Juliet, I read Romeo and Juliet my freshman year and also watched many movies and videos that related to it. I don't know a ton about Shakespeare at all other then the fact that high school students are required to read a couple of this novels.
3. Why do so many students involuntarily frown when they hear the name "Shakespeare"?
- Many students frown upon the work he has created because it is wrote in a way that is difficult to understand or comprehend. This year us AP students know that we are going to be memorizing, so that is another reason as to why we would frown upon the name.
4.What can we do to make studying this play an amazing experience we'll never forget?
- If we could make the play into some sort of game then I think it would be more memorable. Maybe if we each got a scene and then had to make it into a satire of some sort we may remember it because it would be humorous. I think there are many ways and with all our brain power we can find a way to make it memorable.
Vocabulary #7 / group tale
We all began to realize Quatro's shenanigans, so we all confronted him as to why he was acting so strange and taking us in circles over and over. He became enraged with us and he became garrulous in his harangue about what he did to Xmus. We could barely understand his codswallop, but then all of a sudden we hear a shriek and realized Kendall was standing wonkily at the trunk of the taxi cab. Jacob being super perspicacious realized something was wrong. We all rushed to the back of the cab and found Xmus's body in the trunk.
The time between then and the time we woke up in Egypt seemed ephemeral. Quatro is very capricious, and so we try to ask him in a sly way why we are in Egypt and why he killed Xmus. He became ebullient and didn't try to eschew the the subject at all. Quatro went on about how he couldn't let us stay at the University because he refuses to go to jail for what he did. He flew us on a private plane of his so he knew we had no way of getting home. He became very loquacious and told us that if we ever tried to leave Egypt he would kill all of us as well.
When he was done telling us the consequences of leaving Egypt, he hopped on his plane and flew off back to the place we were forbidden to go. We were all in shock and just stood in place not knowing what to do next, we knew we couldn't have a schism because we needed to stick together to keep safe. We didn't have a plethora of anything, all we had was the clothes on our backs, and here we are, in Egypt all alone.
The time between then and the time we woke up in Egypt seemed ephemeral. Quatro is very capricious, and so we try to ask him in a sly way why we are in Egypt and why he killed Xmus. He became ebullient and didn't try to eschew the the subject at all. Quatro went on about how he couldn't let us stay at the University because he refuses to go to jail for what he did. He flew us on a private plane of his so he knew we had no way of getting home. He became very loquacious and told us that if we ever tried to leave Egypt he would kill all of us as well.
When he was done telling us the consequences of leaving Egypt, he hopped on his plane and flew off back to the place we were forbidden to go. We were all in shock and just stood in place not knowing what to do next, we knew we couldn't have a schism because we needed to stick together to keep safe. We didn't have a plethora of anything, all we had was the clothes on our backs, and here we are, in Egypt all alone.
VOCABULARY #7
1. Shenanigans (noun): mischief, trickery, deceitful trick.
-The class clowns are always doing shenanigans, we can never get anything done in class.
2. Ricochet (verb): to rebound at least once from a surface.
- The basket ball ricochets when it is thrown.
3. Schism: to spilt into two mutually opposing groups.
- The 4H group had so much drama that the parents decided that a schism was necessary.
4. Eschew (verb) : to avoid, or shun.
- We decided to eschew sally because she never participates within the group.
5. Plethora (noun): a super abundance of, excess.
- The man has a plethora of energy in the morning, he must drink a lot of coffee.
6. Ebullient (adjective): zestfully enthusiastic.
- During the interview the man was completely ebullient, the interviewer was captivated by his energy.
7. Garrulous ( adjective): a trivial rambling talk.
- The woman got nervous during her speech, so her well thought out words became garrulous.
8. Harangue (noun) : a speech characterized with strong expressions and feelings.
- The advocate for breast cancer awareness gave a harangue, this was because she was a survivor and had strong feelings about the matter.
9. Interdependence: every member is dependent on each other.
- In Dr. Preston's class we are interdependent and need each others thoughts and advice to get through tough assignments.
10. Capricious (adjective): impulsive, and unpredictable.
- You never know what Johny may do next, he is very capricious.
11. Loquacious (adjective): very talkative.
- I am very quiet in class, but when I am with my friends I am loquacious.
12. Ephemeral (adjective): lasting for only a brief time.
- When you get a scratch on you leg it is only there for an ephemeral amount of time.
13. Inchoate (adjective): Imperfectly formed or developed.
- Children with dwarfism can be considered to be inchoate.
14. Juxtapose (adjective): to place near or next to each other, for comparison or contrast.
- Authors constantly juxtapose phrases for emphasis on something.
15. Perspicacious (adjective): someone who is very observant.
- Teachers are very perspicacious when it comes to mischievous students.
16. Codswallop (noun): Nonsense.
- Sometimes I feel that my essays are just completely codswallop.
17. Mungo (noun): low quality wool.
-Some sheep at the fair would produce mungo.
18. Sesquipedalian (noun): a long word.
- sesquipedalian is a long word itself, which is ironic.
19. Wonky (adjective): unsteady, or shaky.
- Kendall is very wonk when trying to accomplish something under pressure.
20. Dipthong (noun): a complex speech sound or glide that begins with one vowel and gradually changes to another vowel within the same syllable
- The man gave a dipthong as a response.
-The class clowns are always doing shenanigans, we can never get anything done in class.
2. Ricochet (verb): to rebound at least once from a surface.
- The basket ball ricochets when it is thrown.
3. Schism: to spilt into two mutually opposing groups.
- The 4H group had so much drama that the parents decided that a schism was necessary.
4. Eschew (verb) : to avoid, or shun.
- We decided to eschew sally because she never participates within the group.
5. Plethora (noun): a super abundance of, excess.
- The man has a plethora of energy in the morning, he must drink a lot of coffee.
6. Ebullient (adjective): zestfully enthusiastic.
- During the interview the man was completely ebullient, the interviewer was captivated by his energy.
7. Garrulous ( adjective): a trivial rambling talk.
- The woman got nervous during her speech, so her well thought out words became garrulous.
8. Harangue (noun) : a speech characterized with strong expressions and feelings.
- The advocate for breast cancer awareness gave a harangue, this was because she was a survivor and had strong feelings about the matter.
9. Interdependence: every member is dependent on each other.
- In Dr. Preston's class we are interdependent and need each others thoughts and advice to get through tough assignments.
10. Capricious (adjective): impulsive, and unpredictable.
- You never know what Johny may do next, he is very capricious.
11. Loquacious (adjective): very talkative.
- I am very quiet in class, but when I am with my friends I am loquacious.
12. Ephemeral (adjective): lasting for only a brief time.
- When you get a scratch on you leg it is only there for an ephemeral amount of time.
13. Inchoate (adjective): Imperfectly formed or developed.
- Children with dwarfism can be considered to be inchoate.
14. Juxtapose (adjective): to place near or next to each other, for comparison or contrast.
- Authors constantly juxtapose phrases for emphasis on something.
15. Perspicacious (adjective): someone who is very observant.
- Teachers are very perspicacious when it comes to mischievous students.
16. Codswallop (noun): Nonsense.
- Sometimes I feel that my essays are just completely codswallop.
17. Mungo (noun): low quality wool.
-Some sheep at the fair would produce mungo.
18. Sesquipedalian (noun): a long word.
- sesquipedalian is a long word itself, which is ironic.
19. Wonky (adjective): unsteady, or shaky.
- Kendall is very wonk when trying to accomplish something under pressure.
20. Dipthong (noun): a complex speech sound or glide that begins with one vowel and gradually changes to another vowel within the same syllable
- The man gave a dipthong as a response.
Friday, October 4, 2013
IF I JUST HAD MORE TIME
I think that the placement for this midterm was nice, but also unfortunate. I have been trying to find time to study for the SAT which is tomorrow and with the literature analysis and the midterm I didn't achieve the amount of studying I wanted to get accomplished. On the other hand I feel that if any of the words we studied popped up on the SAT I would know them ! I think that it would have been better if the literature analysis would of been due next week to make more time for studying for the SAT. Plus this week has been so stressful! Midterms, tests, the analysis, and then to top it all off the SAT. If I had more time I would be so happy. I never have enough time throughout each day to get everything I need to get done accomplished. I learned a couple of weeks ago from a stress relief doctor that focusing on the things you didn't get done doesn't change the fact that they still aren't done, so therefore stressing about it as you sleep doesn't change the obvious. She also taught us that watching a short funny video right before taking a test is provent to increase your score about 30% because it allows the test taker to calm down. (I will be using this technique tomorrow before the SAT!!)
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Literature analysis #2 Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
1. This novel is about two men (Lennie and George) who are starting a new job. They had to flee from the previous job they had because Lennie assaulted a lady and they were wanted for rape. George is the adult in the novel and he is always telling Lennie what is right from wrong. Once they get to the new work place Lennie and George meet Candy who they eventually make plans to own a dream house with. Lennie gets himself into some trouble because he kills his puppy, and a women. Lennie goes back to the "safe" spot George made for him, if any trouble ever came about. George finds Lennie at the spot by the river and retells him the story about the dream house they are going to have as George makes the decision to do something tragic. (I don't want to give away the ending of the book!)
2. One theme of the novel would be trust and another one would be acceptance. Throughout the novel Lennie trusts George with his life and keeping him safe. George has less trust in Lennie but that doesn't stop him from taking care of him for so many years, without a thing in return. Acceptance would be another theme because Lennie just wants to be accepted by George and the people he is around. Lennie has some sort of learning disability and doesn't comprehend things the way the other characters do and he knows this, he feels that because he does things that are bad he will not be accepted by George to raise the rabbits of their future house.
3. The authors tone is serious. "so you wasn't gonna say a word. You was just gonna leave your big flapper shut and leave me do the talkin'. Damn near lost us the job." (pg 25).This is a serious tone because their lives depend on getting the job, this is because they only have $10 from their previous job. Another example is " you George you stick with us so we don't think you got nothin to do with this" (pg 98) this is an example because in this part of the novel Lennie had just killed the mans wife and George has to decide who he is going to be loyal to. " you hadda, George. I swear you hadda. Come on with me now." (pg107). This is another example of a serious tone because George did something that he didn't really think through and at this point the reader can conclude that he is feeling sorrow and remorse for his actions.
4. Foreshadowing- The author foreshadows events when the gun is missing from Curleys room.
"Some one stole my gun, whata bastard. It aint in my room no more." pg 97"
Irony- The author uses irony because the man who is so strong wants to always handle the smallest of animals and always winds up killing them." You aint so little like a mouse, I didn't bounce you hard." pg85
Rhetorical questions- Lennie says many rhetorical questions to himself and the animals he kills, this is because he is mentally ill. " why do you go get killed? Why weren't you big enough for me?" pg86
Symbolism- The plan for their future house is the symbol of success and being well off. This is referenced to many times through out the novel.
similes-" A far rush of wind sounded and a gust drove through the tops of the trees like a wave." pg 99
setting- the setting is around a farm where the two men are hoping to be handy men. The setting is in a time period when working is essential for a person to be able to eat or support themselves in any way.
Flashback- " And he jus grabbed her red dress cuz he liked it and he didn't mean no harm. Then we had to spend the whole day in the ditch cuz she say he rape her." pg 74
Imagery- "The deep green pool of the Salinas River was still in the late afternoon." pg99
Conflict- the conflict in the novel is what causes Lennie and George to get into the sticky situation. " Come on ya big bastard. Get up on your feet. No bi son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me. Ill show you who's yella" pg 62
Characterization- the characters are developed in a short amount of time, yet still seem to be strong and relevant to the point the author is trying to get across through the novel, which is trust and acceptance.
CHARACTERIZATION:
1.Lennie is described a big bulky man because he is much larger then all the other men on the farm.
Lennie is described as nuts because he isn't fully aware of everything that is going on around him all the time.
George is respectful and kind, you can get this because he is like a father to Lennie and is always teaching him right from wrong and never treating him wrong.
George is also one to get the job done, this is showed at the end of the novel when he knows he must take care of the wrong doing of Lennie and fix the problems Lennie has caused.
2. I think that Steinbeck uses mainly diction throughout this novel. The novel is mainly in dialogue so therefore there isn't much of a narrator describing the way the characters are its just what the reader takes from the conversations the characters have with each other. From pages 98-105 the author uses a lot of diction while George is talking to Lennie before the tragic event happens at the end.
3. The protagonist is George, He is a dynamic character in the story. He starts off this man who is trying to keep himself and his friend Lennie safe and on track to owning land. Eventually things occur within the story that allow him to realize that Lennie is never going to be able to stop doing harmful things to people. George comes to the realization that the plan they came up with will never happen because they are not meant for it to go through, he also realizes that Lennie is dangerous and something needs to be done before he causes more harm.
4. The end of the book made me cry. Although Lennie was a grown man he acted like a child which allowed me to feel sorrow for him. I feel that the book does a great job of creating characters that are easy to latch onto and follow them through out the novel. One example of Lennie's character that made me feel the most sorrow for him is on the last page when George is telling him the plan for the future for the very last time. " No Lennie, I ain't mad. I never been mad, an i ain't now. That's the thing I want you to know right now." The end of the book is depressing and I wasn't expecting the book to end the way it did.
2. One theme of the novel would be trust and another one would be acceptance. Throughout the novel Lennie trusts George with his life and keeping him safe. George has less trust in Lennie but that doesn't stop him from taking care of him for so many years, without a thing in return. Acceptance would be another theme because Lennie just wants to be accepted by George and the people he is around. Lennie has some sort of learning disability and doesn't comprehend things the way the other characters do and he knows this, he feels that because he does things that are bad he will not be accepted by George to raise the rabbits of their future house.
3. The authors tone is serious. "so you wasn't gonna say a word. You was just gonna leave your big flapper shut and leave me do the talkin'. Damn near lost us the job." (pg 25).This is a serious tone because their lives depend on getting the job, this is because they only have $10 from their previous job. Another example is " you George you stick with us so we don't think you got nothin to do with this" (pg 98) this is an example because in this part of the novel Lennie had just killed the mans wife and George has to decide who he is going to be loyal to. " you hadda, George. I swear you hadda. Come on with me now." (pg107). This is another example of a serious tone because George did something that he didn't really think through and at this point the reader can conclude that he is feeling sorrow and remorse for his actions.
4. Foreshadowing- The author foreshadows events when the gun is missing from Curleys room.
"Some one stole my gun, whata bastard. It aint in my room no more." pg 97"
Irony- The author uses irony because the man who is so strong wants to always handle the smallest of animals and always winds up killing them." You aint so little like a mouse, I didn't bounce you hard." pg85
Rhetorical questions- Lennie says many rhetorical questions to himself and the animals he kills, this is because he is mentally ill. " why do you go get killed? Why weren't you big enough for me?" pg86
Symbolism- The plan for their future house is the symbol of success and being well off. This is referenced to many times through out the novel.
similes-" A far rush of wind sounded and a gust drove through the tops of the trees like a wave." pg 99
setting- the setting is around a farm where the two men are hoping to be handy men. The setting is in a time period when working is essential for a person to be able to eat or support themselves in any way.
Flashback- " And he jus grabbed her red dress cuz he liked it and he didn't mean no harm. Then we had to spend the whole day in the ditch cuz she say he rape her." pg 74
Imagery- "The deep green pool of the Salinas River was still in the late afternoon." pg99
Conflict- the conflict in the novel is what causes Lennie and George to get into the sticky situation. " Come on ya big bastard. Get up on your feet. No bi son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me. Ill show you who's yella" pg 62
Characterization- the characters are developed in a short amount of time, yet still seem to be strong and relevant to the point the author is trying to get across through the novel, which is trust and acceptance.
CHARACTERIZATION:
1.Lennie is described a big bulky man because he is much larger then all the other men on the farm.
Lennie is described as nuts because he isn't fully aware of everything that is going on around him all the time.
George is respectful and kind, you can get this because he is like a father to Lennie and is always teaching him right from wrong and never treating him wrong.
George is also one to get the job done, this is showed at the end of the novel when he knows he must take care of the wrong doing of Lennie and fix the problems Lennie has caused.
2. I think that Steinbeck uses mainly diction throughout this novel. The novel is mainly in dialogue so therefore there isn't much of a narrator describing the way the characters are its just what the reader takes from the conversations the characters have with each other. From pages 98-105 the author uses a lot of diction while George is talking to Lennie before the tragic event happens at the end.
3. The protagonist is George, He is a dynamic character in the story. He starts off this man who is trying to keep himself and his friend Lennie safe and on track to owning land. Eventually things occur within the story that allow him to realize that Lennie is never going to be able to stop doing harmful things to people. George comes to the realization that the plan they came up with will never happen because they are not meant for it to go through, he also realizes that Lennie is dangerous and something needs to be done before he causes more harm.
4. The end of the book made me cry. Although Lennie was a grown man he acted like a child which allowed me to feel sorrow for him. I feel that the book does a great job of creating characters that are easy to latch onto and follow them through out the novel. One example of Lennie's character that made me feel the most sorrow for him is on the last page when George is telling him the plan for the future for the very last time. " No Lennie, I ain't mad. I never been mad, an i ain't now. That's the thing I want you to know right now." The end of the book is depressing and I wasn't expecting the book to end the way it did.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
The comparison's tale
Chaucer uses irony in almost all of the tales, this was apparent as each group presented. The tales presented were the Miller, and the Monk. The Miller is ironic because he does crazy things and is a tricky man. The Monk seemed ironic in the prologue because he hunts and is adventurous unlike the way we portray monks today. My group read the Cook, and he was ironic because he is gross, and makes gross tasting food that no one wants to eat which is the opposite of a normal cook. I think that Chaucer also likes to have humorous situations, and events happen in each tale. In the presentations I learned that the Miller made a man kiss his butt and then got branded, and the Monk is made fun of and then states that everyone will get whats coming to them. I think that Chaucer's characters all have similar styles since he is the author and that is the way he wants to portray the characters in each tale.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Tale of a Canterbury Tale (The Cook)
The Cook:
Summary- The tale describes the way the cook feels about his apprentice, and the shop he uses. The cook is passionate about his work, but it is ironic because he doesn't keep a clean kitchen. The cook is very passionate about the shop/kitchen he works in, but his apprentice is more involved in having a good time at the tavern or party. The cook decides it is better to get rid of the apprentice because he may spoil all the other good workers in the shop. In the very last line of the tale it states that his wife is for the public view, but his shop is his true passion and love.
Characterization:
- In line 4405 he quotes the proverb, which makes him seem like a sensible, and logical man. It also gives reasoning to letting the apprentice go.
- In line 4365-4380 you can get a sense of hatred towards people who are free-willed and like to party. He must like people who are dedicated to work, and not play.
- In line 4421 you get the understanding that he is extremely dedicated to his work, he loves the shop more then his own wife.
-Throughout there is references to God or religion, which allows the reader to know the cook is religious.
-You can determine that the cook is confused, I believe this because he keeps a dirty shop, but dedicates his life to the shop. Another reason he can be confused is because he wants a shop more then he wants a wife or family.
Chaucer's purpose:
I think the purpose of this tale is to show how dedicated someone can be to their work. I think that Chaucer definitely uses satirical techniques in this tale! The flies in the kitchen, and the conditions of the kitchen are all very concerning, since we all want food from a clean kitchen. I think he is also showing how a simple man can have power over someone who he may not entirely like. (on a side note now-a-days this isn't very satirical because fast food restaurants are gross behind the scenes as well)
Summary- The tale describes the way the cook feels about his apprentice, and the shop he uses. The cook is passionate about his work, but it is ironic because he doesn't keep a clean kitchen. The cook is very passionate about the shop/kitchen he works in, but his apprentice is more involved in having a good time at the tavern or party. The cook decides it is better to get rid of the apprentice because he may spoil all the other good workers in the shop. In the very last line of the tale it states that his wife is for the public view, but his shop is his true passion and love.
Characterization:
- In line 4405 he quotes the proverb, which makes him seem like a sensible, and logical man. It also gives reasoning to letting the apprentice go.
- In line 4365-4380 you can get a sense of hatred towards people who are free-willed and like to party. He must like people who are dedicated to work, and not play.
- In line 4421 you get the understanding that he is extremely dedicated to his work, he loves the shop more then his own wife.
-Throughout there is references to God or religion, which allows the reader to know the cook is religious.
-You can determine that the cook is confused, I believe this because he keeps a dirty shop, but dedicates his life to the shop. Another reason he can be confused is because he wants a shop more then he wants a wife or family.
Chaucer's purpose:
I think the purpose of this tale is to show how dedicated someone can be to their work. I think that Chaucer definitely uses satirical techniques in this tale! The flies in the kitchen, and the conditions of the kitchen are all very concerning, since we all want food from a clean kitchen. I think he is also showing how a simple man can have power over someone who he may not entirely like. (on a side note now-a-days this isn't very satirical because fast food restaurants are gross behind the scenes as well)
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Character study #2 and #3
The plane landed and I got into the first taxi I laid my eyes on. Once I got settled into the taxi, the driver, a very bulky, brown haired man started talking. I thought to myself as he was talking that he looked as if he played football by the way his body was shaped. He went on, and on about how he attended Stanford University, but dropped out to become a taxi driver, and live a simpler lifestyle. After rambling on and on about himself he finally told me his name was Ozamataz Buckshank. I had never heard of a name so unique in my life, he had an interesting character and something about his persona made me invite him to the huge party Quatro-Quatro was throwing tonight.
We finally arrived at the college and I was thrilled to see my three best friends Kylie, Kendall, and Lindsey! I ran up to the dorms and met up with them. I introduced my new friend Ozamataz to them, he seemed to make the wrong impression on Kylie, But I refuse to let that ruin the night we are about to have. Eventually Kendall and her cousin Xmus Jackson Flaxon-Waxon arrive and we head out to the football game.
When we arrive the football game is about to end, But thats okay because we just want the party to begin. Once the game ended Jacob and his friend Quatro-Quatro (ironically number 44 on the football team) head towards us to take us to the Fraternity party! We are all super excited and nervous, none of us had ever been to a party before while we were in high school.
The party had already started before we arrived. It was insane, people were acting crazy and the smell of alcohol was overwhelming. Xmus is the first of our group to pick up a drink, he was getting out of control, and started drinking everything in sight! Then we all picked up drinks of our own but none of us seemed to be as into the drinking as Xmus. Quatro-Quatro leads all of us, but Xmus to another side of the Frat house to show us around and tell us about what it's like being a huge football star. After about 2 hours have passed Kendall started freaking out. She continuously kept saying she was in a hurry to get home, but she couldn't find Xmus anywhere. We all begin looking frantically for Xmus, we all know that at the state he is in he shouldn't be left along, let alone wondering the streets so late in the night. As a group we finally decide that getting in the car to go search for him is the best idea. All 7 of us crowd into Ozamataz small taxi. It dark, and cold outside, but we know that we must start the search for Xmus, and make sure he is safe.
We finally arrived at the college and I was thrilled to see my three best friends Kylie, Kendall, and Lindsey! I ran up to the dorms and met up with them. I introduced my new friend Ozamataz to them, he seemed to make the wrong impression on Kylie, But I refuse to let that ruin the night we are about to have. Eventually Kendall and her cousin Xmus Jackson Flaxon-Waxon arrive and we head out to the football game.
When we arrive the football game is about to end, But thats okay because we just want the party to begin. Once the game ended Jacob and his friend Quatro-Quatro (ironically number 44 on the football team) head towards us to take us to the Fraternity party! We are all super excited and nervous, none of us had ever been to a party before while we were in high school.
The party had already started before we arrived. It was insane, people were acting crazy and the smell of alcohol was overwhelming. Xmus is the first of our group to pick up a drink, he was getting out of control, and started drinking everything in sight! Then we all picked up drinks of our own but none of us seemed to be as into the drinking as Xmus. Quatro-Quatro leads all of us, but Xmus to another side of the Frat house to show us around and tell us about what it's like being a huge football star. After about 2 hours have passed Kendall started freaking out. She continuously kept saying she was in a hurry to get home, but she couldn't find Xmus anywhere. We all begin looking frantically for Xmus, we all know that at the state he is in he shouldn't be left along, let alone wondering the streets so late in the night. As a group we finally decide that getting in the car to go search for him is the best idea. All 7 of us crowd into Ozamataz small taxi. It dark, and cold outside, but we know that we must start the search for Xmus, and make sure he is safe.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Canterbury Tales #1
I didnt realize that Chaucer was using irony in all the characters until we discussed it in class. I like how Chaucer described every character, his humor is at first hard to read, but after reviewing the poem I understood the irony in most of the characters. I like how it is wrote for the common people and everyone is supposed to be able to relate to it, this is because not many older authors did this. I feel like there might be conflict between some of the characters as they continue on their journey, this is because there is always conflict when so many people come together. I found the monk most memorable, this is because monks are supposed to be innocent, and reserved. In The Canterbury Tales the monk is a hunter, who is easy going and laid back. This is just one example of the irony in the story. I feel that I understand the gist of the story, but mainly just from the discussion in class. I didnt understand a lot of the characterization meanings on my own. I would want to further read on either the monk, or the cook. This is because I understood the irony in these characters from the start.
Character study #1
I knew I would be leaving Friday morning to visit my friends who went away for college, but yet again I found myself waiting to pack until Thursday night. My family was going to take me to the airport early the next morning. I find myself packing all the things I feel are essential, and even over packing things that I will never need no matter where I am headed. I keep running over the questions in my head trying to decide what is best to pack.. Will it be hot or cold? Will I need fancy clothes, or casual clothes? I am so indecisive, choosing to bring 20 shirts when I am only going to be gone for 3 days. I look at the clock, and I know I need to get to bed soon, we are heading out early in the morning so I can get a start on the journey. I finish putting the final items into my suit case and zip it up, excited to get the packing out of the way. I lay in bed, listening to the tick of the clock and think about what me and my friends are possibly going to do when I arrive. Anxious to find out the specifics upon my arrival, I have difficulties falling asleep. I wake up eager to get started and see my friends after such a long time, we get in the car and in a couple of minutes arrive at the airport.
(this is different then my original story, I had to edit it to work better with our groups theme)
(this is different then my original story, I had to edit it to work better with our groups theme)
Creating a dashboard
I just created my dashboard on Netvibes. I didn't really care for the experience, I felt confused on what I should include on the dashboard. I posted my blog, and the weather and then after that I wasn't sure what else to put up. I was also confused about the part about making the dashboard public, or not. I have no idea if my dashboard is public. I dont see myself ever using this to help me stay organized, since I have an iPhone and all the apps available on my phone allow me to access this information but in a way I know how to operate.
Monday, September 23, 2013
Vocabulary #6
1. Obsequious (adjective) : obedient or attentive to and excessive or servile degree.
- The Sham wow salesman is very persistent and obsequious that you buy his product.
2. Beatitude (noun) : A state of utmost bliss, or happiness.
- After winning first in my class for market hogs I was filled with beatitude, and I felt like I was on top of the world.
3. Bete Noire (noun) : A person or thing strongly detested or avoided.
- When picking groups in psychology the bete noire's were the people that wouldn't accomplish much in the groups.
4. Bode (verb): to announce beforehand, to indicate by signs.
- Every morning the news reporters bode the weeks forecast.
5. Dank (adjective): unpleasantly wet or moist.
- The dank swamp scared everyone away, no one wanted to live in the wet enviroment.
6. Ecumenical (adjective): worldwide, or general in extent influence or application.
- The argument presented was ecumenical, people all over the world were discussing the same topics.
7. Fervid (adjective): very hot, or marked by extreme intensity.
- The child became very fervid, when the mom told him he couldn't have another cookie, he began throwing a temper tantrum.
8. Fetid (adjective): having a very heavy or offensive smell.
- Everyone covers their noses when a fetid smell comes across the room.
9. Gargantuan (adjective) : tremendous in size or volume.
- The wedding cake was so gargantuan the couple was eating cake for days.
10. Heyday (noun): high spirits, the period of ones greatest popularity.
- After the FFA competitions when our team one we were in great heyday, and celebrated for hours.
11. Incubus: a nightmarish burden.
- Studying for finals is an incubus, its hard to concentrate on all the things you have learned.
12. Infrastructure: the basic services needed for a functioning community.
- Skyscrapers are the infrastructure of New York city.
13. Inveigle (verb) : to win over by flattering, tempting, or persuading.
- Many people try inveigle their way into getting a better grade on school projects.
14. Kudos (noun) praise given for achievement.
- Kudos to all who have taken the SAT this year.
15. Lagniappe (noun) : something given as an extra.
- Many companies give lagniappes so you will buy more of a certain product.
16. Prolix (adjective) : unduly prolonged, drawn out.
- The speech was a bit prolix, the critic said it could be a little shorter to not bore the audience.
17. Protege (noun) : one who is protected or trained by a professional.
- Everyone in Dr. Preston's class is a protege of him.
18. Prototype (Noun): an original model on which something is patterned.
- When building new technology, scientists use prototypes to start inventions.
19. Sycophant (noun): a person who acts obsequiously towards someone in order to gain an advantage.
- Sycophant's, can be described as teacher pet's because they both try to gain an unfair advantage through flattering.
20. Tautology (noun): to restate something twice in different words.
- When teachers want to high light certain topics they use tautologies.
21. Truckle: to yield out to weakness.
- the man had a truckle personality, always giving in to peoples ways.
22. Accolade (noun): a ceremonial embrace, a mark or acknowledgement.
- The assembly is full of parents who accolade their children for a job well done.
23. Acerbity (noun) : the quality of being acerbic(sour, sharp mood or temper).
- The passengers on the airplane made their displeasure known with great acerbity.
24. Attrition: the act of weakening through constant bombardment.
- The students treated the teacher with such attrition he finally let them turn in their assignments a day late.
25. Bromide (noun): a common place, or hackneyed statements.
- Students in college are all bromides after taking their midterms.
26. Chauvinist: someone who displays fanatical devotion to something like race or gender.
- The chauvinist male activist, refused to let women have any more authority.
27. Chronic (adjective): marked by long duration of frequent recurrences.
- The parents are chronic liars, their children never know when they are telling the truth.
28. Expound ( verb): to set forth or to state, defend with argument.
- The sister expounded her brother when the parents began to blame him for something.
29. Factionalism: The splitting of two groups.
- In the book Divergent the characters practice factionalism.
30. Immaculate (adjective): having no stain, or flaw.
- The bedroom was immaculate, not a single thing was out of place.
31. Imprecation (noun): a curse.
- The witch put a imprecation on everyone who went against her wishes.
32. Ineluctable (adjective): not to be avoided, changed, or resisted.
- The SAT is ineluctable, one must take it in order to go to college.
33. Mercurial (adjective): characterized by rapid and unpredictable changeableness of mood.
- The pregnant woman was always mercurial, her husband never knew if she was happy or upset.
34. Palliate (verb): to reduce the violence of, to ease with out curing the underlying disease.
- After a long dispute the daughter palliated her reasoning's for sneaking out of the house.
35. Protocol (noun): the official procedure, or system or rules governing affairs of state of diplomatic occasions.
- It is protocol to read a book that is assigned in class.
36. Resplendent (adjective): splendid, or dazzling in appearance.
- Every one's senior pictures are resplendent, most people look their very best.
37. Stigmatize (verb) : to make something seem bad or disgraceful.
- One may stigmatize certain characteristics of a character in a book.
38. Sub rosa (adverb) : in private, secretly.
- lets have a conversation sub rosa, that way no one knows are plan for the party.
39. Vainglory (noun): excessive pride, especially in ones achievements.
- Articles wrote after war show lots of vainglory towards the winning side.
40. Vestige (noun): a trace, mark, or sign left by something.
- Graffiti is also known as vestige, you can find it on many buildings in the city.
41. Volition (noun): an act of making a choice or decision.
- The man made his choice of his own volition, no one else helped him decide.
- The Sham wow salesman is very persistent and obsequious that you buy his product.
2. Beatitude (noun) : A state of utmost bliss, or happiness.
- After winning first in my class for market hogs I was filled with beatitude, and I felt like I was on top of the world.
3. Bete Noire (noun) : A person or thing strongly detested or avoided.
- When picking groups in psychology the bete noire's were the people that wouldn't accomplish much in the groups.
4. Bode (verb): to announce beforehand, to indicate by signs.
- Every morning the news reporters bode the weeks forecast.
5. Dank (adjective): unpleasantly wet or moist.
- The dank swamp scared everyone away, no one wanted to live in the wet enviroment.
6. Ecumenical (adjective): worldwide, or general in extent influence or application.
- The argument presented was ecumenical, people all over the world were discussing the same topics.
7. Fervid (adjective): very hot, or marked by extreme intensity.
- The child became very fervid, when the mom told him he couldn't have another cookie, he began throwing a temper tantrum.
8. Fetid (adjective): having a very heavy or offensive smell.
- Everyone covers their noses when a fetid smell comes across the room.
9. Gargantuan (adjective) : tremendous in size or volume.
- The wedding cake was so gargantuan the couple was eating cake for days.
10. Heyday (noun): high spirits, the period of ones greatest popularity.
- After the FFA competitions when our team one we were in great heyday, and celebrated for hours.
11. Incubus: a nightmarish burden.
- Studying for finals is an incubus, its hard to concentrate on all the things you have learned.
12. Infrastructure: the basic services needed for a functioning community.
- Skyscrapers are the infrastructure of New York city.
13. Inveigle (verb) : to win over by flattering, tempting, or persuading.
- Many people try inveigle their way into getting a better grade on school projects.
14. Kudos (noun) praise given for achievement.
- Kudos to all who have taken the SAT this year.
15. Lagniappe (noun) : something given as an extra.
- Many companies give lagniappes so you will buy more of a certain product.
16. Prolix (adjective) : unduly prolonged, drawn out.
- The speech was a bit prolix, the critic said it could be a little shorter to not bore the audience.
17. Protege (noun) : one who is protected or trained by a professional.
- Everyone in Dr. Preston's class is a protege of him.
18. Prototype (Noun): an original model on which something is patterned.
- When building new technology, scientists use prototypes to start inventions.
19. Sycophant (noun): a person who acts obsequiously towards someone in order to gain an advantage.
- Sycophant's, can be described as teacher pet's because they both try to gain an unfair advantage through flattering.
20. Tautology (noun): to restate something twice in different words.
- When teachers want to high light certain topics they use tautologies.
21. Truckle: to yield out to weakness.
- the man had a truckle personality, always giving in to peoples ways.
22. Accolade (noun): a ceremonial embrace, a mark or acknowledgement.
- The assembly is full of parents who accolade their children for a job well done.
23. Acerbity (noun) : the quality of being acerbic(sour, sharp mood or temper).
- The passengers on the airplane made their displeasure known with great acerbity.
24. Attrition: the act of weakening through constant bombardment.
- The students treated the teacher with such attrition he finally let them turn in their assignments a day late.
25. Bromide (noun): a common place, or hackneyed statements.
- Students in college are all bromides after taking their midterms.
26. Chauvinist: someone who displays fanatical devotion to something like race or gender.
- The chauvinist male activist, refused to let women have any more authority.
27. Chronic (adjective): marked by long duration of frequent recurrences.
- The parents are chronic liars, their children never know when they are telling the truth.
28. Expound ( verb): to set forth or to state, defend with argument.
- The sister expounded her brother when the parents began to blame him for something.
29. Factionalism: The splitting of two groups.
- In the book Divergent the characters practice factionalism.
30. Immaculate (adjective): having no stain, or flaw.
- The bedroom was immaculate, not a single thing was out of place.
31. Imprecation (noun): a curse.
- The witch put a imprecation on everyone who went against her wishes.
32. Ineluctable (adjective): not to be avoided, changed, or resisted.
- The SAT is ineluctable, one must take it in order to go to college.
33. Mercurial (adjective): characterized by rapid and unpredictable changeableness of mood.
- The pregnant woman was always mercurial, her husband never knew if she was happy or upset.
34. Palliate (verb): to reduce the violence of, to ease with out curing the underlying disease.
- After a long dispute the daughter palliated her reasoning's for sneaking out of the house.
35. Protocol (noun): the official procedure, or system or rules governing affairs of state of diplomatic occasions.
- It is protocol to read a book that is assigned in class.
36. Resplendent (adjective): splendid, or dazzling in appearance.
- Every one's senior pictures are resplendent, most people look their very best.
37. Stigmatize (verb) : to make something seem bad or disgraceful.
- One may stigmatize certain characteristics of a character in a book.
38. Sub rosa (adverb) : in private, secretly.
- lets have a conversation sub rosa, that way no one knows are plan for the party.
39. Vainglory (noun): excessive pride, especially in ones achievements.
- Articles wrote after war show lots of vainglory towards the winning side.
40. Vestige (noun): a trace, mark, or sign left by something.
- Graffiti is also known as vestige, you can find it on many buildings in the city.
41. Volition (noun): an act of making a choice or decision.
- The man made his choice of his own volition, no one else helped him decide.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
WHAT A CHARACTER
A character that has stuck in my mind since reading the book is Tom Joad from The Grapes of Wrath. I find myself constantly relating things to him in essays prompts and to other characters in literature. Tom Joad is memorable to me because he is family orientated. He is constantly thinking about what would be best for his family, and even in the end he knows that if he keeps himself hidden that it will protect everyone, even though he doesn't want to lose his family. Tom Joad goes through so many hardships through out the novel, but he keeps motivated and knows the importance to keep going in order to make the family successful. He comes from a rocky past but only wants to move forward and forget about the mistakes people have made in the past. Tom Joad is a relateable character, which is why I find him intriguing. Symbolism, imagery, and metaphors are just a few ways that Tom Joad is expressed in the novel through literary techniques. I feel that if you haven't read The Grapes of Wrath that you definitely should, it is a moving book that keeps you intrigued and wanting to know what characters will do what next.
Monday, September 16, 2013
DECLARATION OF LEARNING INDEPENDENCE
Learning independence is something that we all eventually need to do, which is why creating goals can help us attain certain things in our lives. One of my SMART goals is to get accepted to the University of California Santa Cruz. I believe that this goal is measurable because there is a deadline to turn in the applications. This goal is attainable, I have been striving through out high school to keep up my GPA and so I hope that UC Santa Cruz will accept me. I think this goal is reinforceable because besides the admissions people it is totally in my control if I get in, this is because I need to study hard for the SAT and maintain my GPA. Timely, well considering there is a deadline for the applications to go in I know this goal is timely.
My big question: If we all lived in a "perfect" world would there be such a thing as true happiness, or would it just be considered the normal day-to-day feeling? Would life be boring if nothing went wrong, and there was no excitement? Does having rough patches in life truly help us become better and wiser individuals?
I think that thinking about my Big question can relate to learning independently. Independent learning for the most part is trial and error. One must try multiple things in order to see which options work the best for that unique individual. Once they find the perfect outcome they have figured out what works best for them. Because we don't live in a perfect world we all don't live independent learning lives, we are told what to learn and then we learn it.
My big question: If we all lived in a "perfect" world would there be such a thing as true happiness, or would it just be considered the normal day-to-day feeling? Would life be boring if nothing went wrong, and there was no excitement? Does having rough patches in life truly help us become better and wiser individuals?
I think that thinking about my Big question can relate to learning independently. Independent learning for the most part is trial and error. One must try multiple things in order to see which options work the best for that unique individual. Once they find the perfect outcome they have figured out what works best for them. Because we don't live in a perfect world we all don't live independent learning lives, we are told what to learn and then we learn it.
vocab #5
1. Obsequious (adjective): obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree.
- When you go to a car dealership you expect to deal with very obsequious people, who are persistent that you buy a car.
2. Beatitude (noun): A state of utmost bliss, or happiness.
- One can have all the items they could ever desire in the world, but they may not ever have beatitude.
3. Bete Noire (noun): A person or thing strongly detested or avoided.
- After the man killed his three children he was a Bete Noire and no longer had any friends or family on his side.
4. Bode (verb): to announce beforehand; to indicate by signs.
- Every morning the news reporters bode the forecast for events and weather, so the people of the community know what to expect.
5. Dank (adjective): unpleasantly wet or moist.
- Sarah was dared to go into the basement, but it look to creepy and dank so she refused.
6. Ecumenical( adjective): worldwide or general in extent influence or application.
- The argument presented was ecumenical, people all around the world were dealing with the same thing.
7. Fervid (adjective): very hot, marked by often extreme intensity.
- The man became very fervid when no one agreed with his proposal. He worked very hard on it and it made him very upset.
8. Fetid ( adjective): having a very heavy or offensive smell.
-When you drive by a dairy farm you get a very fetid smell, that makes everyone cover their noses.
9. Gargantuan (adjective): tremendous in size, volume, or degree.
- The gargantuan sized book scared everyone off, no one chose to read it for the literature analysis #2.
10. Heyday (noun): High spirits, the period of ones greatest popularity.
- The star football player can be having the best time of his life in high school, which can be considered his heyday.
11. Incubus (noun): an oppressive or nightmarish burden.
- The SAT can be an incubus, which makes studying for it near impossible at times.
12. inveigle ( verb) To win over by flattering, tempting, or persuading.
- During the interview the lady inveigle to her best ability, which evidently got her the job.
13. Kudos ( noun): praise given for achievement.
-Kudos to everyone who received a Golden Warrior award during their high school career!
14. Lagniappe (noun): something given as a bonus, or extra gift.
- Many companies give lagniappes if you buy so much of a specific product, that's their way of rewarding you.
15. Prolix (adjective): unduly prolonged, or drawn out to long.
- Sometimes at FFA meetings the length of the overall meeting can seem a bit prolix, maybe they should try and shorten it a little.
16. Protege (noun): one who is protected or trained, or whose career is furthered by a person of experience.
- A student teacher can be considered a protege, they study the ways that a professional teacher teaches and then applies it later on.
17. Prototype (noun): an original model on which something is patterned.
- When building new technology, scientist often use prototypes to help them start off with an idea.
18. Sycophant (noun): a person who acts obsequiously towards someone in order to gain an advantage.
- Teacher pets can also be called sycophants, because they both use flattering to get ahead.
19. Tautology ( noun): saying the same thing twice in different words , considered to be a fault in style.
- Some authors use tautology to emphasis certain aspects of their work.
20. Truckle: to yield out to weakness, or be submissive.
- The man had a truckle personality, always giving in to peoples ways.
- When you go to a car dealership you expect to deal with very obsequious people, who are persistent that you buy a car.
2. Beatitude (noun): A state of utmost bliss, or happiness.
- One can have all the items they could ever desire in the world, but they may not ever have beatitude.
3. Bete Noire (noun): A person or thing strongly detested or avoided.
- After the man killed his three children he was a Bete Noire and no longer had any friends or family on his side.
4. Bode (verb): to announce beforehand; to indicate by signs.
- Every morning the news reporters bode the forecast for events and weather, so the people of the community know what to expect.
5. Dank (adjective): unpleasantly wet or moist.
- Sarah was dared to go into the basement, but it look to creepy and dank so she refused.
6. Ecumenical( adjective): worldwide or general in extent influence or application.
- The argument presented was ecumenical, people all around the world were dealing with the same thing.
7. Fervid (adjective): very hot, marked by often extreme intensity.
- The man became very fervid when no one agreed with his proposal. He worked very hard on it and it made him very upset.
8. Fetid ( adjective): having a very heavy or offensive smell.
-When you drive by a dairy farm you get a very fetid smell, that makes everyone cover their noses.
9. Gargantuan (adjective): tremendous in size, volume, or degree.
- The gargantuan sized book scared everyone off, no one chose to read it for the literature analysis #2.
10. Heyday (noun): High spirits, the period of ones greatest popularity.
- The star football player can be having the best time of his life in high school, which can be considered his heyday.
11. Incubus (noun): an oppressive or nightmarish burden.
- The SAT can be an incubus, which makes studying for it near impossible at times.
12. inveigle ( verb) To win over by flattering, tempting, or persuading.
- During the interview the lady inveigle to her best ability, which evidently got her the job.
13. Kudos ( noun): praise given for achievement.
-Kudos to everyone who received a Golden Warrior award during their high school career!
14. Lagniappe (noun): something given as a bonus, or extra gift.
- Many companies give lagniappes if you buy so much of a specific product, that's their way of rewarding you.
15. Prolix (adjective): unduly prolonged, or drawn out to long.
- Sometimes at FFA meetings the length of the overall meeting can seem a bit prolix, maybe they should try and shorten it a little.
16. Protege (noun): one who is protected or trained, or whose career is furthered by a person of experience.
- A student teacher can be considered a protege, they study the ways that a professional teacher teaches and then applies it later on.
17. Prototype (noun): an original model on which something is patterned.
- When building new technology, scientist often use prototypes to help them start off with an idea.
18. Sycophant (noun): a person who acts obsequiously towards someone in order to gain an advantage.
- Teacher pets can also be called sycophants, because they both use flattering to get ahead.
19. Tautology ( noun): saying the same thing twice in different words , considered to be a fault in style.
- Some authors use tautology to emphasis certain aspects of their work.
20. Truckle: to yield out to weakness, or be submissive.
- The man had a truckle personality, always giving in to peoples ways.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Literature Analysis #1 A Bend in the Road by Nicholas Sparks
1. The book starts off with Miles (the main character) smoking and grieving for his wife who was killed two years ago in a hit and run car accident. Johan (miles son) later brings him a note to talk to his 1st grade teacher Sarah Andrews. Sarah and miles being going on dates and seeing each other more often, This would be the exposition of the story because it is leading up to the events yet to happen. Through out the exposition there are chapters were an anonymous character is talking about how guilty he feels for getting in the "accident" with Miles wife. This is the highest point of the story because you are trying to figure out who this character is that is responsible for so much pain for Miles. Eventually you find out who is responsible for the " accident" which is the climax of the story because the story has reached its turning point. After Miles finds out about who hit his wife he is furious and does many things to try to figure things out on what he should do about the situation. While Miles is figuring this out this is considered the falling action since all the events of the story are coming to an end and you know almost everything. The resolution is really shocking and his decisions made about the car accident are revealed and the story comes to a close.
2. The theme of A Bend in the Road is grief. Overall there are many themes in the romantic novel but the one that stuck with me most is the one about grief. Almost every character in the book was grieving for something and they all did it in many different ways. The book is meant to portray that even though we grieve in different ways we should always weigh the consequences of certain actions before we go about fulfilling them. Another theme would be about forgiveness, Miles learns to forgive the man who hits Missy with the car because he understands the new reasoning's behind how it happened. The readers are supposed to learn that forgiving people is important no matter what they did because you cant move on in life unless you forgive.
3. Nicholas Sparks's tone changes through out the novel. The first tone I caught was of sympathy “It's okay to be sad. Everyone gets sad now and then. Even me.” This quote is when Miles is taking to his son about his mothers death, every time he talks to him about her the tone becomes very sympathetic because you feel bad for the situation they are in.
"I couldn't escape the image of Missy Ryan, her eyes focused on nothing, and because of that, I became someone I'd never known before." This quote is from the person who hit Miles wife in the car accident. He throughout the book is saying things that reference back to that night that he killed her, and feels terrible for doing it.
Another tone in the book is mysterious. "There are some simple truths in life, and this is one of them: Whenever someone dies young and tragically, there's always interest in the story, especially in a small town, where everyone seems to know each other." I consider this part of a mysterious tone because the author is mentioning the fact that the person who hit Missy is most likely someone who Miles knows. Throughout the book characters are talking about who they think did it, and because it is such a small town everyone is curious who actually did the crime.
4. -Imagery: " Hours passed. Dark now. Outside the window, the winter sky was black and ominous." page 334 Imagery is used in this novel to help describe many events that occur, it helps bring the reader to visualize the event clearly.
-Symbolism: " He created a file, one concerning Missy's death, one that he created after her funeral to remind him of the work he still had to do." page 10 The file Miles has represents how he never wants to give up the past. He continuously keeps going back to the night Missy died and rehashing the event, in hope that he will find out who killed her.
-Flashback: " I remember turning the radio on and fiddling with the dial, but I didn't really take my eyes off the road, my mind was on the drive after that." page 187 This is when the man driving is thinking back to the night he hit Missy.
-Foreshadowing : "Every now and then people say they see the two candles burning in the window seal which is the symbol of love for Kathryn and Harris presser, whether or not you two will see the candles depends on your feelings for each other. " page 155 This is foreshadowing because at the end of the book Miles puts two candles in Sarah's windows as a sign that he is sorry and still loves her.
-Similes: " Her hair caught fragments of light and cast them off like a halo." page 161 Similes are used throughout the story to help the reader visualize and think about certain things.
-Conflict: the conflict isn't just the difficulties Miles has in trying to find who killed his wife, but also he comes to a cross roads after he finds out who did it and has a internal conflict with himself over the matter. " It was time to let it go, I have already lost two years of my life, and couldn't see the point in prolonging it anymore. Once I realized that.. I don't know.. it just seemed like it was the only right thing I could do." page 356
-Setting: The setting of the story New Bern, North Carolina is a small town. This adds to the plot a lot because everyone knows all the secrets and news about every ones lives. This is found in the beginning of the book as well as various moments throughout the book like page 40.
-Characterization: The characters are very well rounded and different. Each character is unique and they each have different personalities. Miles is a stern father but soft when it comes to everything else as seen on pages 2-5. Sarah is a sweet 1st grade teacher who wants the best for each of her students as developed in the parent teacher conference pages 38-43. Johan is a child who is interested in many aspects of life, seen throughout the whole novel.
-Metaphor: " she was acting like the devils advocate about the situation." This is Miles trying to figure out why Sarah isn't taking his side when he was action irrationally, even though he was the irrational one he thought that she was being crazy and not listening to him.
- Irony: The whole ending of the book is ironic, The man who killed Miles wife is the brother of the woman Miles is now in love with. The irony in this is that Miles wanted the killer and the killers family to suffer in the way that he had to suffer, but in the end that's not what he winds up deciding because overall he loves Sarah more then he hates the fact that her brother killed his wife. You are clued into this twist in the plot around pages 288 to the end of the book page 368.
2. The theme of A Bend in the Road is grief. Overall there are many themes in the romantic novel but the one that stuck with me most is the one about grief. Almost every character in the book was grieving for something and they all did it in many different ways. The book is meant to portray that even though we grieve in different ways we should always weigh the consequences of certain actions before we go about fulfilling them. Another theme would be about forgiveness, Miles learns to forgive the man who hits Missy with the car because he understands the new reasoning's behind how it happened. The readers are supposed to learn that forgiving people is important no matter what they did because you cant move on in life unless you forgive.
3. Nicholas Sparks's tone changes through out the novel. The first tone I caught was of sympathy “It's okay to be sad. Everyone gets sad now and then. Even me.” This quote is when Miles is taking to his son about his mothers death, every time he talks to him about her the tone becomes very sympathetic because you feel bad for the situation they are in.
"I couldn't escape the image of Missy Ryan, her eyes focused on nothing, and because of that, I became someone I'd never known before." This quote is from the person who hit Miles wife in the car accident. He throughout the book is saying things that reference back to that night that he killed her, and feels terrible for doing it.
Another tone in the book is mysterious. "There are some simple truths in life, and this is one of them: Whenever someone dies young and tragically, there's always interest in the story, especially in a small town, where everyone seems to know each other." I consider this part of a mysterious tone because the author is mentioning the fact that the person who hit Missy is most likely someone who Miles knows. Throughout the book characters are talking about who they think did it, and because it is such a small town everyone is curious who actually did the crime.
4. -Imagery: " Hours passed. Dark now. Outside the window, the winter sky was black and ominous." page 334 Imagery is used in this novel to help describe many events that occur, it helps bring the reader to visualize the event clearly.
-Symbolism: " He created a file, one concerning Missy's death, one that he created after her funeral to remind him of the work he still had to do." page 10 The file Miles has represents how he never wants to give up the past. He continuously keeps going back to the night Missy died and rehashing the event, in hope that he will find out who killed her.
-Flashback: " I remember turning the radio on and fiddling with the dial, but I didn't really take my eyes off the road, my mind was on the drive after that." page 187 This is when the man driving is thinking back to the night he hit Missy.
-Foreshadowing : "Every now and then people say they see the two candles burning in the window seal which is the symbol of love for Kathryn and Harris presser, whether or not you two will see the candles depends on your feelings for each other. " page 155 This is foreshadowing because at the end of the book Miles puts two candles in Sarah's windows as a sign that he is sorry and still loves her.
-Similes: " Her hair caught fragments of light and cast them off like a halo." page 161 Similes are used throughout the story to help the reader visualize and think about certain things.
-Conflict: the conflict isn't just the difficulties Miles has in trying to find who killed his wife, but also he comes to a cross roads after he finds out who did it and has a internal conflict with himself over the matter. " It was time to let it go, I have already lost two years of my life, and couldn't see the point in prolonging it anymore. Once I realized that.. I don't know.. it just seemed like it was the only right thing I could do." page 356
-Setting: The setting of the story New Bern, North Carolina is a small town. This adds to the plot a lot because everyone knows all the secrets and news about every ones lives. This is found in the beginning of the book as well as various moments throughout the book like page 40.
-Characterization: The characters are very well rounded and different. Each character is unique and they each have different personalities. Miles is a stern father but soft when it comes to everything else as seen on pages 2-5. Sarah is a sweet 1st grade teacher who wants the best for each of her students as developed in the parent teacher conference pages 38-43. Johan is a child who is interested in many aspects of life, seen throughout the whole novel.
-Metaphor: " she was acting like the devils advocate about the situation." This is Miles trying to figure out why Sarah isn't taking his side when he was action irrationally, even though he was the irrational one he thought that she was being crazy and not listening to him.
- Irony: The whole ending of the book is ironic, The man who killed Miles wife is the brother of the woman Miles is now in love with. The irony in this is that Miles wanted the killer and the killers family to suffer in the way that he had to suffer, but in the end that's not what he winds up deciding because overall he loves Sarah more then he hates the fact that her brother killed his wife. You are clued into this twist in the plot around pages 288 to the end of the book page 368.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
All of the above
During the 1987 AP test I was pretty confused. Most of the poems and short stories were pretty difficult to understand. I found myself going over the allotted time just so I could better understand what the story was about. I felt that I could of done much better with a test that seemed more in the time period. I feel that I might not of been putting my best effort into some parts of the test because after reviewing my wrong answers I understood why my answers were wrong. I am not very happy with my performance because I feel that I could of worked harder to better understand some of the poems and short stories.
Monday, September 9, 2013
vocabulary # 4
1. Accolade(noun) : a ceremonial embrace, a mark of acknowledgment.
- After the Renaissance assembly my parents gave me accolades for my hard work.
2. Acerbity (noun) : the quality of being acerbic (sour/sharp mood or temper).
- The substitute teacher made his displeasure known with lots of acerbity.
3. Attrition : The act of weakening through constant bombardment.
- After the students treated the teacher with such attrition about the project being due so early, the teacher finally gave in and changed the date.
4.Bromide (noun) : a commonplace or a tiresome person, or a hackneyed statement or notion.
- People in college after finals are all bromides, they just need some rest to get back into their normal routines again.
5. Chauvinist: somebody who displays frantical devotion to something like race, and gender.
-The female chauvinist was always trying to find reasons why females can be considered superior over men.
6. Chronic (adjective) : marked by long duration of frequent recurrences, always present.
- The student is a chronic procrastinator, she is constantly putting assignments off until the last possible moment.
7. Expound (verb) : to set forth or to state, defend with argument.
- Critics expound their reasoning for giving a bad review, that way people understand why they didn't like it.
8. Factionalism: The splitting of a group into factions; conflict between factions.
- In the book Divergent factionalism is practiced, the groups are split by the emotions you feel about certain events that occur in your life.
9. Immaculate( adjective): having no stain, flaw, or error.
-An essay receiving a score of 10 on the AP test must be immaculate, because if it wasn't perfect it would receive a lower score.
10. Imprecation(noun) : A curse.
-The prisoner was yelling imprecations at the other inmates for pranking his room.
11. Ineluctable(adjective): not to be avoided, changed, or resisted.
- After the student missed a couple of days of school for being sick she knew as soon as she felt better she must go to school because it was ineluctable after so many days of being absent.
12.Mercurial( adjective) : characterized by rapid and unpredictable changeableness of mood.
- The pregnant woman was always mercurial, her husband never knew if she was happy or angry.
13. Palliate (verb) : to reduce the violence of, to ease without curing the underlying disease; to cover by excuses and apologies.
- After the long dispute between the mother and daughter, the daughter palliated her reasoning for sneaking out the night before.
14. Protocol ( noun) : the official procedure or system of rules governing affairs of state or diplomatic occasions.
- When President Obama is giving a public speech, it is protocol that his speech is read multiple times to ensure that it is immaculate.
15. Resplendent ( adjective) : splendidd or dazzling in appearance.
-When taking your senior pictures you want to appear as resplendent as possible.
16. Stigmatize (verb) to make something seem bad or disgraceful.
- When you don't like someone because of one habit they have you often stigmatize all the other habits they have as well.
17. Sub rosa (adverb): in private, or secretly.
- The FFA officers had a meeting sub rosa that way the other members didn't know the surprises that would occur at the general meeting.
18. Vainglory (noun): excessive pride especially in ones achievements.
- After the war many articles were wrote with lots of vainglory towards the winning side.
19. Vestige (noun) : a trace, mark, or visible sign left by something.
- In each locker at Righetti there is lots of vestige, it can also be known as graffiti.
20. Volition (noun) : an act of making a choice or decision.
- Kendall picked her senior picture of her own volition, she refused to take any ones opinion on the matter.
- After the Renaissance assembly my parents gave me accolades for my hard work.
2. Acerbity (noun) : the quality of being acerbic (sour/sharp mood or temper).
- The substitute teacher made his displeasure known with lots of acerbity.
3. Attrition : The act of weakening through constant bombardment.
- After the students treated the teacher with such attrition about the project being due so early, the teacher finally gave in and changed the date.
4.Bromide (noun) : a commonplace or a tiresome person, or a hackneyed statement or notion.
- People in college after finals are all bromides, they just need some rest to get back into their normal routines again.
5. Chauvinist: somebody who displays frantical devotion to something like race, and gender.
-The female chauvinist was always trying to find reasons why females can be considered superior over men.
6. Chronic (adjective) : marked by long duration of frequent recurrences, always present.
- The student is a chronic procrastinator, she is constantly putting assignments off until the last possible moment.
7. Expound (verb) : to set forth or to state, defend with argument.
- Critics expound their reasoning for giving a bad review, that way people understand why they didn't like it.
8. Factionalism: The splitting of a group into factions; conflict between factions.
- In the book Divergent factionalism is practiced, the groups are split by the emotions you feel about certain events that occur in your life.
9. Immaculate( adjective): having no stain, flaw, or error.
-An essay receiving a score of 10 on the AP test must be immaculate, because if it wasn't perfect it would receive a lower score.
10. Imprecation(noun) : A curse.
-The prisoner was yelling imprecations at the other inmates for pranking his room.
11. Ineluctable(adjective): not to be avoided, changed, or resisted.
- After the student missed a couple of days of school for being sick she knew as soon as she felt better she must go to school because it was ineluctable after so many days of being absent.
12.Mercurial( adjective) : characterized by rapid and unpredictable changeableness of mood.
- The pregnant woman was always mercurial, her husband never knew if she was happy or angry.
13. Palliate (verb) : to reduce the violence of, to ease without curing the underlying disease; to cover by excuses and apologies.
- After the long dispute between the mother and daughter, the daughter palliated her reasoning for sneaking out the night before.
14. Protocol ( noun) : the official procedure or system of rules governing affairs of state or diplomatic occasions.
- When President Obama is giving a public speech, it is protocol that his speech is read multiple times to ensure that it is immaculate.
15. Resplendent ( adjective) : splendidd or dazzling in appearance.
-When taking your senior pictures you want to appear as resplendent as possible.
16. Stigmatize (verb) to make something seem bad or disgraceful.
- When you don't like someone because of one habit they have you often stigmatize all the other habits they have as well.
17. Sub rosa (adverb): in private, or secretly.
- The FFA officers had a meeting sub rosa that way the other members didn't know the surprises that would occur at the general meeting.
18. Vainglory (noun): excessive pride especially in ones achievements.
- After the war many articles were wrote with lots of vainglory towards the winning side.
19. Vestige (noun) : a trace, mark, or visible sign left by something.
- In each locker at Righetti there is lots of vestige, it can also be known as graffiti.
20. Volition (noun) : an act of making a choice or decision.
- Kendall picked her senior picture of her own volition, she refused to take any ones opinion on the matter.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
beowulf essay
Beowulf and Iron Man
Heroes have been idolized everywhere throughout history. A hero is one who steps up to the plate when people are in need of assistance. Most heroes just do good deeds for the sake of the people, but others such as Beowulf and Iron Man do it for the fame of being a hero. Even though the two characters come from different time periods they have many things in common that the author illustrates in different ways.
Beowulf is a character who is symbolized as the strongest man alive. The authors draw attention to this when he is first introduced in the poem. They talk about how whenever he comes across anyone new that they stare in bewilderment at his strength. Symbolism is a major technique used in Beowulf because they convey the messages through intense symbolism and imagery, since the poem was originally supposed to be told orally. Iron man is a movie, and was created to be told visually which slightly changes the effect of the symbolism and imagery. In Beowulf you create what you think is an accurate version of the characters but in Iron Man you are given the image of how visually strong he is. Nonetheless Iron Man is still symbolized as a character who is virtually indestructible because of his high tech suit which protects him form harm. This is a difference between Iron man and Beowulf as well, because Iron man is not the same with out his armor, but Beowulf finds himself a stronger warrior with out his armor on to protect him from danger.
The authors of both stories help set the tone and mood of each story by the way they make the characters act and respond to certain things that happen. In Beowulf the character Beowulf is enthusiastic to take on the task of help the Danes kill Grendel, but you cant help but feel that he had a second agenda. The time period from which Beowulf comes from the "family name" was very important to people and it makes you wonder if he was helping the Danes just for the fame and advertisement of his families success. In my opinion he is portrayed both ways and either vibe can be felt from the text which is why the tone and mood can be interpreted differently. On the other hand Iron Man is portrayed immediately as cocky and arrogant. He lives an extravagant lifestyle and is all about the fame of being Iron Man. The mood of Iron man is action-packed but also comedy, because of this it helps the viewer to understand Iron Mans motives for helping citizens in the first place.
Between the two characters there is a lot of irony. Its almost as if the creators of Iron Man had influences from Beowulf. Its also ironic how so many things can be different between the two characters but then at the same time they are also very similar. The two stories were wrote in two different time periods and meant for different appeals but still amount to the character becoming a hero. The irony is only seen when you look at the two stories as a whole, each story individually is not ironic.
Even though Iron Man and Beowulf come from completely different time periods they have many things in common. Their reasoning for becoming a hero is the biggest thing that makes them alike. And the mood of each story is the biggest comparison. Throughout history there has been many characters like Beowulf and Iron Man that can be considered arrogant or just confident, and the author basically leaves it for the reader or viewer to figure that out through the imagery, symbolism,and moods they set up in the story line.
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