Dear Ophelia

Oh my, I've heard so much about what has been going on lately. It must be tearing you apart, I must say I would be quite outrageous and would be planning to rebel, but you are too sweet Ophelia. You have always been so obedient and caring. You would never do such a thing to dishonor nor embarass your father. But from what I see, this situation is entirely unfair! Where's the chivalry? Who has given your father and your brother to bind you away from true love? I just cannot understand the reason for using you as a decoy to bring Hamlet down, when he could be a normal man wanting a normal future. You must not panic, don't make quick assumptions or conclusions. Is this so called love fantasy? A dream? Most certainly both of us don't want it to be reality. Well, hang in there dear Ophelia, we will talk again soon.
                                                  Love,
                                                           Chanel

Lit Analysis: Catcher in the Rye

 

1. The Catcher in the Rye starts off in the present day with Holden Caulfield explaining his state of being. He’s in a mental hospital at the moment, but doesn’t give any information on how he ended up there. The rest of the book is Holden narrating the events that led up to the mental hospital. He starts off by telling us the school he was enrolled at and how he hated it there. To him it was just another prep school that his parents shipped him off to so they wouldn’t have to deal with him.  Holden is a bright boy, but doesn’t have the ambition or desire to excel in his studies.  Because of this, he is failing in almost all of his classes. Holden knows he is going to be expelled for this and so he decides to take an earlier winter vacation in New York City. He takes all his belongings and hits the town. He jumps from place to place, depression seeming to follow him everywhere he goes. You can see that he wants to have a good time, he wants to forget, but everything just seems to be gloomy no matter where or what he does. (sucks) Various events such as hiring a prostitute, talking with an old classmate and hates and seeing his younger sister still aren’t enough for Holden to feel like he has a place in this world. Throughout the entire novel, Holden ask questions about everything that vary from serious issues such as his life to childish curiosity ones such as where the ducks go in the winter. He eventually falls ill from walking around the below freezing temperature of the city. This then leads us back to when Holden is talking about his current situation in the mental facility.

2. The theme Salinger was trying to convey was that isolation/alienation can truly drive a person insane. Holden was shunned everywhere he went and while some of it was due to his cynical, blunt characteristics, his family, the very people you expect to love and cherish you, weren’t there for him. Due to this, he built a wall around him where is defense is to criticize the people around him and no one wants to be around that. Hence his loneliness and his inability to form relationships with anyone.

 

3. The tone of the novel was cynical and pessimistic. Holden sees life as “the glass half empty” and so his words and action reflect such attitude.

· Take most people, they're crazy about cars. They worry if they get a little scratch on them, and they're always talking about how many miles they get to a gallon, and if they get a brand-new car already they start thinking about trading it in for one that's even newer. I don't even like old cars. I mean they don't even interest me. I'd rather have a goddam horse. A horse is at least human, for God's sake.

· Anyway, I'm sort of glad they've got the atomic bomb invented. If there's ever another war, I'm going to sit right the hell on top of it. I'll volunteer for it, I swear to God I will.

· Boy, when you're dead, they really fix you up. I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you're dead? Nobody.

 

4. Symbolism – Salinger uses many symbols that represent things to Holden. The red hunting cap was Holden security blanket whenever he felt uncomfortable; it was the only things in his life that stayed the same.

Foreshadowing – From the start, we know that he was institutionalized in a mental hospital; this leads a hand into what events will play out. 

Syntax – Salinger uses pretty easy, colloquial language. The text is mostly about Holden’s inner thoughts and his opinions about things. It’s descriptive without being difficult to understand.

     Metaphors – The title of the book is a metaphor of Holden’s life. He explains in one of the last     chapters why he feels like he is a catcher in the rye and how this has brought about a sense of purpose to him.

·    "Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be."

· "This fall I think you're riding for - it's a special kind of fall, a horrible kind. The man falling isn't permitted to feel or hear himself hit bottom. He just keeps falling and falling. The whole arrangement's designed for men who, at some time or other in their lives, were looking for something their own environment couldn't supply them with. Or they thought their own environment couldn't supply them with. So they gave up looking. They gave it up before they ever really even got started."
· "Among other things, you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You're by no means alone on that score, you'll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You'll learn from them - if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn't education. It's history. It's poetry."

This novel was kind of hard to keep up with for me... But I got it helps when a lot of people have read it before and there are many sources about this novel. The novel it self is dark, not very many "happy" things happen.

Tools That Change the Way We Think

Extensive internet/media/technology use has most definitely taken a peak since, most people have all these smartphones, and other handy devices available to them 24/7. It's much easier to find what you are looking for and often times more than you want or expect. When we don't know something, it is becoming second nature to pull out your smartphones to just make a quick search. With all the technology and media, it is somewhat significant that people are thinking on their own less and less, and it's not that they aren't as smart or they don't know, it's more the fact that we're a little lazy rather depend on the easiest way out. Of course it's fun to have all the information you ever want in the palm of your hands, but there is always a down side, as you are making searches or just looking up cool things to buy or cook or whatever, you may be giving personal information to people you never knew existed nor will ever know. Creepy.

Vocab List #9

Abortive: failing to produce the intended result

  The outcome of the lab was abortive due to the miscalculations before.

Bruit: spread a report or rumor widely
  Some people in high school are known for how the bruit about anyone and everyone.

 

Contumelious: scornful and insulting behavior
  The most irritating thing is when a person acts contumelious toward you even when you did nothing wrong.

 

Dictum: a formal pronouncement from an authoritative source; a short statement that expresses a

general truth or principle
  In the end of the novel, the author had a short section for a dictum.

 

Ensconce: establish or settle
  We immediately ensconced before the conflict got any bigger.

 

Iconoclastic: characterized by attack on established beliefs or institutions

  The two memebers had an iconoclastic arguement on whose idea will prevail throughout the whole year.

In medias res: a narrative that begins somewhere in the middle of a story rather than the beginning
  The novel we read in class was in medias res.

 

Internecine: destructive to both sides in a conflict
  The source of power that caused the two sides into war ended up being internecine.

 

Maladroit: ineffective or bungling; clumsy

  Many people have told me I am maladroit.

Maudlin: self-pitying or tearfully sentimental, often through drunkenness
  My friend's mother often is on the kitchen counter with a drink in her hand as she maudlins about how hard and horrible her job is.

 

Modulate: exert a modifying or controlling influence on
  The leader of the group was very modulate and convincing.

 

Portentous: of or like a portent; done in a pompously or overly solemn manner
  He was portentous and didn't say much to object what his wife was saying.

 

Prescience: the power to foresee the future

  As a child, you wish you had prescience.

Quid pro quo: a favor or advantage granted in return for something
  The young boy had a soft heart and often did good deeds and later in his life, he was offered many quid pro quo that made him successful in the long run.

 

Salubrious: health-giving, healthy; pleasant, not run-down
  The young couple was overwhelmed with joy when their baby was salubrious.

 

Saturnalia: the ancient Roman festival of Saturn in December; an occasion of wild revelry
  We tried to reenact a saturnalia in our history class.

 

Touchstone: a standard or criterion by which something is judged or recognized
  It is important to overcome the touchstone in order to become a better and improved human being.

 

Traumatic: emotionally disturbing or distressing; relating to or causing psychological trauma
  The accident was so traumatic, the girl could not sit in a car without becoming emotional.

 

Vitiate: spoil or impair the quality or efficiency of; destroy or impair the legal validity of.
  It is against the law to vitiate any law made for the equality of the people.

 

Waggish: humorous in a playful, mischievous, or facetious manner
  The character was waggish and often made jokes to cheer everyone up.

Hamlet: Just because.. not my remix.

This song has been running through my head thanks to a few of my close friends and I realized that you can somewhat relate the lyrics to a few of the characters in Hamlet. I also just wanted to post this because it's a different take on the kind of songs that Taylor Swift sings. So it's whatever, just a fun thing I'm posting to keep myself interested in the play(: So here are some examples of relating lyrics to the characters:

Lord Polonius: "I knew you were trouble when you walked in. Shame on me now."
-Polonius obviously does not think Hamlet as fitting to be with Ophelia but thinks she's the reason for his insanity.

Ophelia: pretty much the whole song... But "And he's long gone, when he's next to me and I realize the blame is on me."
-Again, this whole song explains well what Ophelia may be thinking or feeling. She's blaming herself but then is so confused and still wants to follow her heart but she knows that something is wrong about what she wants to believe.

Hamlet: "No apologies. He'll never see you cry. Pretend he doesn't know. That he's the reason why. You're drowning."
-Hamlet figures out that his uncle, King Claudius is the man who killed his father. Nonetheless his mere reaction is to plan the death of Claudius.

(:

Hamlet: Remix

So I've been asked all day to comment on everyone's remix, and all day I couldn't really think of what I wanted to do. So as my last resort I was looking at scenes of the play on Youtube and I came across this... I'm not sure if this is COMPLETELY appropriate and I mean no harm to anyone. But it made me think, what if Ophelia actually had a friend there by her side? Just one person she could spill her heart out to?
She's obiously under a lot of stress knowing that she has to obey her father but at the same time, she wants to follow her own heart. I can proudly say that I haven't gone through any dramatic things like this in my life but I would not survive half of the things in life if I didn't have some of my close friends that I tell everything to.
Ophelia has to deal with quite a hand full, but is it a reason to let her life go to waste? No. It's weird that Ophelia doesn't get out much and that's a fair reason why she feels the need to listen to her father all the time.

Vocab List #8

I guess I never posted this list which makes me frustrated grrr..... So I'll redo all of them again.

Abeyance-(N.) A state of temporary disuse or suspension.

  Hamlet's attitude toward his mother was sort of an abeyance knowing she married his uncle promptly after the death of Hamlet Sr.

Ambivalent- (Adj.) Having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone.

  Ophelia has ambivalent thoughts towards Hamlet and what she is told by from her father.

Beleaguer- (V.) Beset with difficulties

  Hamlet is always beleaguered with conflicts one after another.

Carte blanche- (N.) Complete freedom to act as one wishes or thinks best.

  Hamlet would be emotionally wrecked and crazy if he had a carte blanche outlook on everything.

Cataclysm- (N.) A sudden violent upheaval, esp. in a political or social context

  There was a cataclysm when Hamlet found out that his uncle had killed his father.

Debauch- (V.) Destroy or debase the moral purity of; corrupt.
(N.) A bout of excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures, esp. eating and drinking

  If I was in Hamlet's shoes I would feel the need to debauch everything in my surroundings.

éclat- (N.) brilliant or conspicuous success
  It is going to take Hamlet a lot of planning and lying in order for the death of his uncle to come true.

Fastidious- (Adj.) Very attentive to and concerned about accuracy and detail
  It is important for Hamlet to be fastidious about what he does.

Gambol- (V.) Run or jump about playfully
  As Hamlet walks around the town, he sees children gamboling.

Imbue- (V.) Inspire or permeate with a feeling or quality: "imbued with deep piety".
  The ghost of Hamlet's father has imbued Hamelt into directions that make everyone think he is crazy.

Inchoate- (Adj.) Just begun and so not fully formed or developed
  The revenge for Hamlet's father was inchoate.

Lampoon- (V.) Publicly criticize (someone or something) by using ridicule or sarcasm.
(N.) A speech or text criticizing someone or something in this way
  It id not proper to lampoon someone even if everyone agreed.

Malleable- (Adj.) Easily influenced; pliable
  I think both Hamlet and Ophelia are malleable characters.

Nemesis- (N.) The inescapable or implacable agent of someone's or something's downfall
  King Claudius is the nemesis of Hamlet.

 

Opt- (V.) Make a choice from a range of possibilities

  Hamlet can opt from all the possibilites to kill Claudius.

Philistine- (N.) A person who is hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts, or who has no understanding of them

  In a way, Hamlet is philistine from his mother and uncle in a way that he doesn't want anything to do with them because of his emotions and anger.

Picaresque- (Adj.) Of or relating to an episodic style of fiction dealing with the adventures of a rough and dishonest but appealing hero

  The play, Hamlet is picaresque.

Queasy- (Adj.) Nauseated; feeling sick
  Ophelia felt queasy many times.

Refractory- (Adj.) Stubborn or unmanageable
  Hamlet is refractory.

Savoir-faire- (N.) The ability to act or speak appropriately in social situations.
  Hamlet does not have savoir-faire when it comes to speaking in the same room as his mother and uncle.

Autopsy of Vocab Midterm

I feel like once I took each one of the vocab quizzes, I let all the words fly over my head. I thought I would only need a short review a few days before but I was apparently wrong. I'm seriously starting to realize that I'm actually really bad at procastinating and I forget way too many things... Tisk tisk. I definitely could have done A LOT better. I'm going to prepare like a maniac for the final, and stop all this senioritus crap. haha. End of story.

Midterm Study Ideas

I've decided to keep it simple and study with one or two people and just quiz each other on all the words. Aside from that I think I will make flashcards because those come in handy later in the year anyways. Flashcards are just easy to keep around you at all times and you don't necessarily need another person there to help you. I personally can study more when I'm alone or with very few people, because I generally get distracted way too easily. But don't get me wrong, I love working with a lot of people(: