Senior Project Continued

Aside from Ashley, Megan and I's cupcake revolution, Ashley and I have been discussing another on going project for this class. we pretty much want to raise money by selling our original design shirts and the money will be used to give students a scholarship who wants to make a change by traveling to another state or country to help them in some significant meaningful way. We have all these ideas and what not but we really want to focus on designs for the next couple of days, the faster the better!! more details will be up as soon as possible!!

Senior Projects

Ashley Wilburn, Megan Hardisty and I have been really into making or I suppose baking, and just being creative about this... We want to create some kind of blog that we can showcase family recipes, new recipes, cool video tutorials, funny pictures while were baking and all that fun junk. haha Hopefully this is an ongoing thing because it's really fun (:

In Class Essay: Desire

*How poetic devices help to convey the speaker's complex attitude toward desire

Prewrite:
-Lines 1-4 says how desire is evil, a bad thing to have but it also can play an important role as a motivator
-The narrator states that people finally realize that desire is bad when they are rock bottom
-Rhyming, fluid tempo, slow, regretful, sorrow? not really but somewhat dark/sad

     Desire, wanting something causing you to act differently in order to attain it. Most people all have desires, whether it is small or something large, it's something quite inevitable. In the peom Thou Blind Man's Mark by Sir Phillip Sidney, he expresses the misfortunes of desire through his tone, mood, rhyming patterns, syntax and diction.
     The poem starts with the ideas that desire is evil, up to no good. Although at first it may play a role to you as a motivation, soon desire will lead to more desire, causing you to become greedy and in the process, hurting others in order to get what you want.
     At first, I felt as if the repetitive rhyming scheme seemed to take the seriousness and the mood of the poem, but the more you read it and understand the context, you start to understand that the rhyming plays a role to maintain the connection of desire and the nagative outcomes forplaying. The poem has a fluid tempo which helps ellaborate the point across, making it easier to read. The mood, tone, syntax and diction used by the author helps convey the exact emotion and thought of the author about the subject of desire.
     It is clear that desire seems to be the downfall of most people yet we cannot stop the feeling of wanting something, because of course that is what keeps us going. The authors uses of the poetic devices such as the rhyming, and the use of specific negative words, illustrates a gloomy aura for the poem as a whole making it obvious of the distaste desire brings.

Poetry Essay: The More Loving One by W.H. Auden

Prewrite:
-The tone is very delicate but still very strong in meaning
-Be the man not the beast
-If two people cannot love equally, the narrator would rather be the one who loves more than the one to be loved more.
-the narrator seems to be the bigger or the better person compared to many people, he is very sincere and honest with his feelings.

     We often go through our lives hoping to find that one special person that is will love you back equally and provide you what you need. Although we desire so much, in reality, there will always be one side that cares and puts more effort than the other, that's the whole concept of individuality, right? In this peom, The More Loving One by W.H. Auden portrays the feeling and thoughts of a person who would rather be the better and make the best of everything he has.
      In the first stanza, Auden draws out a person who would choose to be a man and not a beast who takes all he hads for granted just to achieve what he wants most. People are made to want more, to be motivated but often times it leads to being greedy, wanting more than what you are able to give back. But of course, that's what most people want, to be loved and to do less but attain more. Others can care less in all honesty what happens to you, in the end the majority will save themselves before they even think about saving and helping others.
    The peom itself is endearing and pushes the feelings of the auudience to be the more loving one, even if that means loving more and being loved less, even if it means the outcome isn't always what you want, because by doing this, in the end you will be a greater being and you will feel that much better about yourself. Throughout the poem, Auden uses stars and the elements of the sky to express the being of a person and how they feel and act.
    Throughout the peom, Auden uses his tone and diction to portray the figure of a person who strives to be the better and the "more loving one". His aura as the narrator is both touching and inspirational even in a short four stanza poem.

Gridlock

The More Loving One by W.H. Auden

Title:
The More Loving One- That there's always someone that has more feelings for a person than that person feels about them.

Paraphrase:
In the first stanza, Auden starts by stating that people will have the choice to be a man or a beast, and that they will have that choice no matter what the people and things around them say or do. The second stanza states that the narrator would prefer to be the more loving one if there cannot be equal feelings. The third stanza pretty much says that it would be the other person's loss if they do not see what feelings and love the narrator has to offer. Finally, in the last stanza, Auden says that everything dies or disappears, and that although it is inevitable, it will always be hard to deal with.

Connotation:
Stars- any heavenly body, except the moon, but in the peom's case I believe it symbolizes a person.

Attitude:
The attitude of this poem is solemn and gentle. It seems so sympathetic, fragile almost but at the same time it is stating a feeling or thought that's so strong.

Shift:
After the third stanza, there seems to be a shift where the narrator goes from being positive, and happy to sorrow of losing the people he cares around them. In the first three stanzas Auden writes about wanting to be the better person, wanting to be the one loving rather than being loved but then in the last stanza the narrator becomes sad, stating that although times pass, it'll always be hard to lose someone in your life.

Title revisit:
The title seems more meaningful, meaning that the narrator would want to be the better person, the one to give love and make someone happy, avoid the chances of becoming some beast who doesn't love back.

Theme:
The theme of this peom is that often times the amount of feelings given and received are not equal but it is always better to be the one who loves more because you will always make someone happy which should make you happy as well.

Analysis of Macbeth Test Performance

I felt like I did pretty good. Some of the multiple choice confused me and 15 seconds for every question was barely enough to read through the choices of answer so it was hard to decide on a answer or remember which letter was which. By the time I looked at the question and read the first two choices it seemed as if the screen was already scrolling, there was absolutely no time to look down at your paper or even have a second thought. The essay, was much easier in a sense that we had more time to answer one prompt. The prompt itself was very easy to reflect on as long as you read the required materials and understood the meaning of the literary work that the author was trying to put across. I think I did fairly well on the essay, much better than the multiple choice, that's for sure.

Seventh Reading

What Would You Fight For? by DH Lawreance


I am not sure I would always fight for my life.
Life might not be worth fighting for.

I am not sure I would always fight for my wife.
A wife isn't always worth fighting for.

Nor my children, nor my country, nor my fellow-men.
It all deprnds whether I found them worth fighting for.

The only thing men invariably fight for
Is their money.  But I doubt if I'd fight for mine, anyhow
not to shed a lot of blood over it.

Yet one thing I do fight for, tooth and nail, all the time.
And that is my bit of inward peace, where I am at one
with myself.

And I must say, I am often worsted.



As I read this poem over and over, I thought I started to understand more and more of what the poem was telling me... But then I would always get stuck at the last to stanzas. I kept asking myself what's so significant about a tooth and nail? What's so great about them that it's the one thing worth fighting for? Isn't the whole point of fighting to have a meaning? Or even a betteroutcome? Reading it over and over did not help me what so ever in this case, I had to look up what it meant.

Macbeth Act 3 Notes

Act Three, Scene One

Banquo suspects Macbeth but gains comfort from the second part of the Witches' prediction — that his own children will be kings. Having announced his intention to go riding with Fleance, Banquo is persuaded by the Macbeths to return later that evening to their new palace at Forres for a special feast. However, Macbeth realizes that the Witches' prophecy regarding Banquo represents a threat to his own position. Unable to endure the thought of Banquo's descendants claiming his position, Macbeth summons two hired murderers and confirms with them prior arrangements for the killing of Banquo and Fleance.

Act Three, Scene Two

This short scene allows the audience once more into the private thoughts of the murderous couple, while holding the action momentarily in suspense. As the hired killers make their way toward Banquo, Macbeth and his wife meet secretly. His wife attempts to soothe his troubled mind but ironically feels the same doubts herself. Killing the king has provided them with many more difficulties than they first envisioned. To the astonishment of his wife, Macbeth reveals his plan to murder Banquo.

Act Three, Scene Three

The hired murderers meet as arranged. On hearing approaching horses, a signal is given, and Banquo and his son Fleance are attacked. The murderers' lantern is accidentally extinguished, and the job is left half-done: Although Banquo is killed, Fleance escapes.

Act Three, Scene Four

At Forres, Macbeth and his wife welcome the thanes of Scotland to the banquet. Immediately prior to the feast, one of the murderers appears at a side door and reveals to Macbeth the truth about the mission: their success in the killing of Banquo and their failure to murder Fleance. Macbeth recomposes himself and returns to the table. As he raises a toast to his absent friend, he imagines he sees the ghost of Banquo. As with the ethereal dagger, the ghost of Banquo appears to come and go, propelling Macbeth into alternating fits of courage and despair. Lady Macbeth invites the thanes to depart and, once alone, tries one last time to soothe her husband. But Macbeth's paranoid mind is already on to the next murder, that of Macduff. To ascertain his future with greater certainty, he makes clear his intention to visit the Weird Sisters once more.

Act Three, Scene Five

Hecate, the classical goddess of the lower world who represents the spirit of ancient witchcraft, calls the weird sisters to her to complain that her own part in Macbeth's downfall has been overlooked and that she now wishes personally to make his downfall complete. The scene is unnecessary to understanding the play and was probably not written by Shakespeare.

Act Three, Scene Six

Meeting with a rebel lord, Lennox reveals his doubts concerning Macbeth. His argument is that those who might be immediately suspected of murdering their kinsmen are less likely to have done so than Macbeth, who had killed the guards of Duncan's chamber so hastily. Although Lennox is prepared to accept Macbeth's actions, he cannot help feeling deeply suspicious of him. The other lord reveals to Lennox that Macduff has fled from Scotland to join forces with Malcolm in England. Moreover, they have requested help from England's King Edward the Confessor. Both Lennox and the other lord pray that God's vengeance may swiftly fall on the tyrannical Macbeth and that Scotland may return to peace once more.

The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde: Theme

Lit Circle Essay Prompt

Often times the reader often discovers that the first chapter of a novel
or the opening scene of a drama introduces some of the major themes of the
work. Write an essay about the opening scene of a drama or the first
chapter of a novel in which you explain how it functions in this way. Your essay should not be the plot of the work you are discussing.

AP Practice Test Multiple Choice

1. E
2. A
3. E
4. C
5. A
6. A
7. D
8. D
9. B
10. B
11. A
12. E
13. B
14. D
15. D
16. C
17. A
18. E
19. D
20. C
21. B
22. C
23. B
24. B
25. C
26. C
27. A
28. C
29. E
30. C
31. D
32. D
33. B
34. D
35. C
36. D
37. E
38. C
39. D
40. D
41. B
42. C
43. A
44. C
45. D
46. E
47. B
48. A
49. A
50. D
51. B
52. C
53. C
54. D

Literature Analysis: Kafka on the Shore

1. Kafka on the Shore (Umibe no Kafka,in Japanese) by Haruki Murakami is about two different narrators switching off throughout the novel who are somehow interrelated. The odd chapters are narrated by a fifteen year old boy, Kafka Tamura's story. He runs away from his father's house to escape an Oedipal curse and to embark upon a quest to find his mother and sister. After a series of adventures, he finds shelter in a quiet, private library in Takamatsu, run by the distant and aloof Miss Saeki and the intelligent and more welcoming Oshima. There he spends his days reading the unabridged Richard Francis Burton translation of A Thousand and One Night and the collected works of Natsume Sōseki until the police begin inquiring after him in connection with a brutal murder.The even chapters are told from Satoru Nakata's point of view. Due to his uncanny abilities, he has found part-time work in his old age as a finder of lost cats (notably, Murakami's earlier work The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle also involves searching for a lost cat ). The case of one particular lost cat puts him on a path that ultimately takes him far away from his home, ending up on the road for the first time in his life. He befriends a truck driver named Hoshino, who takes him on as a passenger in his truck and soon becomes very attached to the old man. Nakata and Kafka are on a collision course throughout the novel, but their convergence takes place as much on a metaphysical plane as it does in reality and, in fact, that can be said of the novel itself. Due to the Oedipal theme running through much of the novel, Kafka on the Shore has been called a modern Greek tragedy.

2. The power and beauty of music as a communicative medium is a central theme of the novel, the very title comes from a pop song Kafka is given on a record in the library.The music of Beethoven, specifically the Archduke Trio is also used as a redemptive metaphor. Among other prominent themes are: the virtues of self-sufficiency and efficiency, the relation of dreams and reality, the specter of the heritage of World War II, the threat of fate, the uncertain grip of prophecy, and the power of nature.

3. The tone of the novel is somewhat mysterious, you are always wondering the connections and the lingering feelings and emotions. The novel seems to have not so much of a dark tone but still in a way sad, and there are tones of unsureness.

•"The pain Hoshino felt at that instant was awful, unreasonably so. A huge flash of light went off in his brain and everything went white. He stopped breathing. It felt like he'd been thrown from the top of a tall tower into the depths of hell. He couldn't even manage a scream, so hideous was the pain. All thoughts had burned up and shot away. It was like his body had been shattered to pieces. Even death couldn't be this awful, he felt. He tried to open his eyes but couldn't. He just lay there, helpless, face down on the tatami, drooling, tears streaming down his face."

•"I know I'm a little different from everyone else, but I'm still a human being. .... Sometimes, though, that small difference feels like an abyss."

• "But I'm scared, and my teeth won't stop chattering. Try as I might I can't get them to stop."

4.  Kafka's alter ego "Crow" who gave him advice was an interesting literary technique used, along with the motif about destiny, symbolism, insight to the character's thoughts and observations, paradox, and foreshadowing.

• Motif: "But the whole thing's fixed already. I can't just suddenly say I quit and stop what I'm doing. And taking my own life isn't an option. That's already been decided too."

• Motif: "If there's a curse in all this, you mean to grab it by the horns and fulfill the program that's been laid out for you."

• Symbolism: "Your hands are sticky with something- human blood, by the look of it. You hold them out in front of you, but there's not enough light to see. It's far too dark. Both inside, and out."

•Foreshadowing: "On my fifteenth birthday I'll run away from home, journey off to a far-off town, and live in a corner of a small library."
• Paradox " “Memories are what warm you up from the inside. But they're also what tear you apart.” 

Brave New World Chapter 6

-Lenina convinces Bernard to attend a wrestling match
-Lenina spots that Bernard isn't happy or acting "normal"
-She tells Bernard to take soma
-During the return trip, he stops his helicopter and hovers over the Channel
- She begs him to take her away from the rushing emptiness of the water after he tells her that the silence makes him feel like an individual
-Eventually he takes a large dose of soma, and has sex with her
-The next day, Bernard tells Lenina that he did not really want to have sex with her the first night
-Then he goes to get the Director’s permission to visit the Reservation. He braces himself for the Director’s disapproval of his unusual behavior
-When the Director presents the permit, he mentions that he took a trip there with a woman twenty years before. She was lost during a storm and has not been seen since
-When Bernard says that he must have suffered a terrible shock, the Director immediately realizes that he has been revealing too much of his personal life
-He criticizes Bernard for his antisocial behavior and threatens to exile him to Iceland if his impropriety persists
-Bernard leaves the office feeling proud of being considered a rebel

Brave New World Chapter 5

-After a game of Obstacle Golf, Henry and Lenina fly in a helicopter over a crematorium where phosphorous is collected from burning bodies for fertilizer
-They drink coffee with soma before heading off to the Westminster Abbey Cabaret
-They take another dose of soma at Henry's apartment
-They are both very oblivious to their surroundings at this point
-"Orgy-porgy, Ford and fun,
Kiss the girls and make them One.
Boys at one with girls at peace;
Orgy-porgy gives release."
-Every other Thursday, Bernard has to take part in Solidarity Service at the Fordson Community Singery
-They pass around a cup filled with strawberry ice cream soma
-Symbol of a united group? Orgy... One nation sort of thing... One for all, all for one? I think so...

Brave New World Chapter 4

-Lenina accepts Bernard's offer to go see the savage reservation in front of everyone, which Bernard's reaction is embarassment
-Lenina and Henry go off on their date on a helicopter
-TOO MUCH IMAGE...
-Bernard talks to Helmholtz Watson, a lecturer at the College of Emotional Engineering
-Helmholtz is an extremely intelligent, attractive, and properly sized Alpha Plus who works in propaganda
-Some of Helmholtz’s superiors think he is a little too smart for his own good
-The friendship between Bernard and Helmholtz springs from their mutual dissatisfaction with the status quo and their shared inclination to view themselves as individuals
-Bernard brags about Lenina taking his offer to go to the reservation
-Helmholtz doesn't really take much interest in what Bernard says about Lenina

Literature Analysis: Animal Farm

1. The novel focuses around farm animals who have been given a human voice to express their perspective on life on the farm. All the animals are clearly unhappy under the control of the farm’s current owner, Mr. Jones. Old Major, a commanding boar in the barn, gives a charismatic, inspiration speech that encouraged all the animals to rebel against Mr. Jones so they could take control of the barn and run it the way they want to. The animals manage to complete such task and soon Old Major is seen as a hero that saved them. All this power and appreciation soon goes to Old Major’s head and he becomes more and more like a dictator every day. Old Major passes his ideals of how the barn should run to his little minions: Snowball, Napoleon and Squealer. They then turn to the rest of the animals and teach them Old Major’s philosophy. Once Old Major dies, the barn is left in the hands of the three pigs. It’s obvious that either Snowball or Napoleon will lead the barn and while Snowball is charming and just, Napoleon uses underhand tactics to run him off the barn. Napoleon soon becomes a tyrant, killing anybody that doesn’t believe in his leadership. All the animals believe he is doing this for the good of the farm, or that’s what Napoleon keeps saying. The barn life for the animals keeps decreasing as they are put to work and are fed little. Napoleon takes control of every aspect of the animals lives, become more “human” with every passing day. The end of the book shows the misery of the animals while the “pigs” are dining with their human neighbors, and the animals can no longer tell the difference between the two.

 

2. The theme of the novel is that power can corrupt if not given to the right person. While power can lead to success and wealth, it can also tear away any humanity one might have had. It was represented by the pigs that had good intentions, but once they had the taste of power, and what they could do with it, it soon poisoned their good will.

 

3. The tone of the book is somber and oppressive. Every day the lives of the farm animals get worse and worse due to the ideals of Old Major. The novel demonstrates the evil that comes about from power.

 

4. Symbolism – The entire novel is a symbol for the bloody Russian Revolution. The pigs represent the USSR, Napoleon being Stalin and Snowball representing Lenin. Everything that occurred in the novel, pretty much happened in Russia. Propaganda was used by Squealer whenever he tried to justify Napoleon evil doings. Much like Stalin and his propaganda, his people believed every word he said. To us, it’s common sense that you wouldn’t believe a word they said, but they didn’t know any better.

 

Personification – All the animals in the novel could speak to one another and to human being. Even though they didn’t want to be like the cruel humans they were given a voice to express their emotions. The pigs eventually “turn into” humans through the eyes of the animals.

 

Diction – He used strong words for the pigs so that they seemed powerful, while he choice simple, almost foolish vocabulary for the animals that followed the pigs. This just goes to show the relationship that the pigs and other animals had with one another.

 

Anaphora – Boxer always used the phrase “Napoleon is always right” to show the reader the brainwashing that the pigs had done to the animals. It also represented the control Napoleon had over the animals even though he treated them cruelly.

Lit Analysis Novel: March

I am currently reading Kafka on the Shore by Murakami. I really enjoy reading Murakami's works and I have read a few. I love the fact that his novel include surreal things and the weirdest things occur. Also, all his novels have great characters that have an important role to the story. I also chose this novel because my mother already had a copy of it so it saves me some time and/or money. Woot!

Neil Harbisson: I listen to color

When I first saw this with my parents, I was so amazed and so inspired. My parents and I talked about how a normal person would not even have a bit of the courage to try this and make a difference. I love this video.

Brave New World Chapter 3

-The chapter starts with the director and the students watching young children erotically playing on the field
-One girl comes up to the director and tells him that one of the boys would not "play" with her, like sexually playing is such a normal thing...
-The director tells the girl that he will deal with him and possibly send him to a psychologist and tells her to go find another boy to play with. Again, how normal....
-The Controller Mustapha Mond (fordship) appears (the leader of this futuristic government)
-The narrative suddenly switches to Lenina and Foster
-Mond describes that "homes" are not good, piercing the idea into the students mind because they didn't even know what homes were in the first place
-Lenina goes into the locker rooms where she is going to shower and talks to Fanny
-Lenina is apparently pretty popular, Fanny thinks it's odd that Lenina doesn't sleep with many guys abd goes back to Henry all the time
-Lenine brushes it off and states she might try out Bernard, and Fanny disagrees but again, Lenina kind of brushes it off
-Mond is describing the world before the World State, how people were unstable from emotions, disease, and more. When the caste system, hypnopaedia, and artificial birthing introduced, it was fought against, but then won. They decided to make the new era around the birth of the Model T
-Soma is their version of drugs

Brave New World Chapter 2

-The students are taken to the nursery
-The director operates an experiment to show the students what must be done to maintain the stability
-The babies crawl to the books and flowers that is in the room and once they reach them, an awful alarm starts screeching and the floors are eletrified.
-The babies cry and scream, sounding painful and fearful
-the lesson was to teach the kids to hate nature and to not have the extra knowledge and to maintain the consuption of goods.
-Director tells story of Reuben Rabinovitch
-The students speak of "parents" and "family" as if its a sin, or a bad word.
-Most students don't even understand what a "home" is
-Hypnopaedia is the way of learning through listening to something during slumber and waking up completely being able to recite it. The only flaw is that you will know it but not understand the meaning behind the words
-Ford is a godly figure to them

Brave New World Chapter 1

This is actually kind of an interesting book to read once you know what's going on and you keep up with the sudden change in conversation or characters.

Brave New World starts off with a group of students being toured around the hatchery where all the babies are made. They show the students all the processes and what they must do in order to become the adults the world state expects them to become. Throughtout the chapter you can kind of feel the satirical tone or mood that is portrayed by Huxley and the corruptness of what the future has become. It's so weird that the students aren't freaked out or even question of the way thousands of boys and thousands of girls are made from a hatchery.

Lit Analysis: 1984

1. The story is set in the year 1984 after the global atomic war, with a protaganist named Winston Smith. He's the typical Party member, goes straight to work then back home again, day in and day out. To the Party, he's one of many. Yet inside his mind, he secretly rebels against the Party and its leader, Big Brother. It starts out with Winston writing down his thoughts, a dangerous crime already, to having an affair with a young woman named Julia, to actually joining the rumored rebel group The Brotherhood. In the end, all turns to be a lie, and the Party reveals that there is no Brotherhood, and that Winston has been under surveillance the whole time. After a long period of torture and re-learning, he is set out in the public again, back to being the Party member no one cares about. This narrative could have been written to prevent this sort of tyrannical government from coming to power, and written as a sort of possible future if this came to pass.


2. There are so many different aspects of the theme in this novel. Orwell expresses the idea of nationalism in both a positive and negative form. "The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power."
It is prominent that the whole idea of futurology and the advancement of technology is what is so controlling and in a way that it is a factor that manipulates how the characters physically act and emotionally feel. Orwell's intention is to show the dangers brought on by this totalitarian government. They controlled the minds and the physicalities of their citizens, and left the proles to rot. By continuously participating in war, they brainwashed their citizens to hate and to rejoice in wartime victory. Also there is the control of every thing that the Party members see: newspapers, TV, books, music, all kinds of information. The government controlled the past, present, and eventually the future.

3. Foreshadowing in the book would be toward the beginning when he says that people who go into the ministry of love come out, but disappear soon afterward. It is not explained until much later why this happens, and turns out to be just about the most important part of the story. The little piece of glass that he carried around with him was an allegory for the beauty found in capitalist materialism.
There are many examples of symbols in the novel. Throughout London, Winston sees posters showing a man gazing down over the words “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” everywhere he goes. Big Brother is the face of the Party. The citizens are told that he is the leader of the nation and the head of the Party, but Winston can never determine whether or not he actually exists. In any case, the face of Big Brother symbolizes the Party in its public manifestation; he is a reassurance to most people (the warmth of his name suggests his ability to protect), but he is also an open threat (one cannot escape his gaze). Big Brother also symbolizes the vagueness with which the higher ranks of the Party present themselves—it is impossible to know who really rules Oceania, what life is like for the rulers, or why they act as they do. Winston thinks he remembers that Big Brother emerged around 1960, but the Party’s official records date Big Brother’s existence back to 1930, before Winston was even born. By deliberately weakening people’s memories and flooding their minds with propaganda, the Party is able to replace individuals’ memories with its own version of the truth. It becomes nearly impossible for people to question the Party’s power in the present when they accept what the Party tells them about the past—that the Party arose to protect them from bloated, oppressive capitalists, and that the world was far uglier and harsher before the Party came to power. Winston vaguely understands this principle. He struggles to recover his own memories and formulate a larger picture of what has happened to the world. Winston buys a paperweight in an antique store in the prole district that comes to symbolize his attempt to reconnect with the past. Symbolically, when the Thought Police arrest Winston at last, the paperweight shatters on the floor.The old picture of St. Clement’s Church in the room that Winston rents above Mr. Charrington’s shop is another representation of the lost past. Winston associates a song with the picture that ends with the words “Here comes the chopper to chop off your head!”This is an important foreshadow, as it is the telescreen hidden behind the picture that ultimately leads the Thought Police to Winston, symbolizing the Party’s corrupt control of the past. Throughout the novel Winston imagines meeting O’Brien in “the place where there is no darkness.” The words first come to him in a dream, and he ponders them for the rest of the novel. Eventually, Winston does meet O’Brien in the place where there is no darkness; instead of being the paradise Winston imagined, it is merely a prison cell in which the light is never turned off. The idea of “the place where there is no darkness” symbolizes Winston’s approach to the future: possibly because of his intense fatalism (he believes that he is doomed no matter what he does), he unwisely allows himself to trust O’Brien, even though inwardly he senses that O’Brien might be a Party operative.

4. Irony - ex. The names of the four ministries in relation to their jobs: Ministry of Truth covered up the past and changed it, Ministry of Love had to do with policing and torture, Ministry of Plenty worked on rationing, Ministry of Peace had to do with war affairs. Also the slogan of the Party: "WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH"

    Allusion - ex. the book alludes to previous totalitarian governments such as the Nazis, Mussolini, and the Soviet Union.

Foreshadowing - ex. "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." Foreshadowing of something wrong, since clocks don't strike thirteen.

Motif - ex. a recurring feature would have to be the Newspeak word doublethink, which is a major part of the Party government. Newspeak itself is also a motif.

Colloquialism - ex. the dialect and accents of the proles "'Beg pardon, dearie,' she said. 'I wouldn't 'a sat on you, only the buggers put me there. They dono 'ow to treat a lady, do they?' She paused, patted her breast, and belched. 'Pardon,' she said, 'I ain't meself, quite.'"

Symbolism - ex. The Chestnut Tree Cafe, The Bells of St. Clemens nursery rhyme

Juxtaposition - ex. Newspeak words such as goodsex, crimestop, bellyfeel, doublethink

Paradox - ex. Doublethink

Flashback - ex. Winston has flashbacks of his childhood and his marriage to Katherine.

Climax - ex. Winston and Julia getting caught by the Thought Police

Tragedy - In a way, 1984 does remind me of a tragedy. The ending isn't as disastrous as you'd think, but if the Winston of the past saw what would happen to the Winston of the future, I'm sure he'd find it disastrous.

5. Characterization
- The syntax and diction change when Orwell focuses on Winston. Every other character is described normally and unextraordinarily. But when the focus is on Winston, it changes to more philosophical thoughts and writing.
- Winston Smith is a round and dynamic character. He starts out as a cautious yet secretly rebellious citizen who is afraid of the Party and Big Brother. He then changes to a more relaxed and ready for action person, having an affair and joining the Brotherhood. Then, thanks to physical and psychological torture, he turns into the desired Party member, follower of Insgoc, and lover of Big Brother.
-After I was done reading the book, it felt as if I had just learned a sort of history or government lesson. This book showed a very good representation of what a world run by totalitarian governments could be like, and how they take control psychologically and physically.

First Quarter

I feel like this quarter of the semester has been my hardest and I've also been the laziest. I mean I'm still motivated to do the daily homework given but I can't get myself to do all the extra work. Like spending the extra few minutes to look over lit terms or take some extra notes from an article or novel. I don't know what got into me but I just was so tired and stressed out about every little thing possible.

Lit Terms

Rising Action: plot build up, caused by conflict and complications, advancement towards climax.


Romanticism: movement in western culture beginning in the eighteenth and peaking in the nineteenth century as a revolt against Classicism; imagination was valued over reason and fact.

Satire: ridicules or condemns the weakness and wrong doings of individuals, groups, institutions, or humanity in general.


Scansion: the analysis of verse in terms of meter.



Setting: the time and place in which events in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem occur.

Simile: a figure of speech comparing two essentially unlike things through the use of a specific word of comparison.


Soliloquy: an extended speech, usually in a drama, delivered by a character alone on stage.


Spiritual: a folk song, usually on a religious theme.

Speaker: a narrator, the one speaking.


Stereotype: cliché; a simplified, standardized conception with a special meaning and appeal for members of a group; a formula story.

Stream of Consciousness: the style of writing that attempts to imitate the natural flow of a character’s thoughts, feelings, reflections, memories, and mental images, as the character experiences them.

Structure: the planned framework of a literary selection; its apparent organization.


Style: the manner of putting thoughts into words; a characteristic way of writing or speaking.

Subordination: the couching of less important ideas in less important structures of language.

Surrealism: a style in literature and painting that stresses the subconscious or the nonrational aspects of man’s existence characterized by the juxtaposition of the bizarre and the banal


Suspension of Disbelief: suspend not believing in order to enjoy it.

Symbol: something which stands for something else, yet has a meaning of its own.


Synesthesia: the use of one sense to convey the experience of another sense.


Synecdoche: another form of name changing, in which a part stands for the whole.


Syntax: the arrangement and grammatical relations of words in a sentence.


Theme: main idea of the story; its message(s).

Thesis: a proposition for consideration, especially one to be discussed and proved
 or disproved; the main idea.

Tone: the devices used to create the mood and atmosphere of a literary work; the        
author’s perceived point of view.

Tongue in Cheek: a type of humor in which the speaker feigns seriousness; a.k.a. “dry” or “dead pan”

Tragedy: in literature: any composition with a somber theme carried to a disastrous conclusion; a fatal event; protagonist usually is heroic but tragically (fatally) flawed

Understatement: opposite of hyperbole; saying less than you mean for emphasis

Vernacular: everyday speech

Voice: The textual features, such as diction and sentence structures, that convey a writer’s or speaker’s pesona.

Zeitgeist: the feeling of a particular era in history

BOB 1

Sam Garrison

Feli Ruiz

Conor McNamara

Megan Hardisty

Dulce Vargas

Ryunhee Kim

Matthew Patel

Isiah Mabansag

Valerie Gonzalez

Danielle Galindo

Sebastian Guillen

Abby Kuhlman

Alicia Hernandez

Ashley Wilburn

It was hard for me to chose which ones were better than the other because people either had all the assignments or had very... VERY few. The blogs above are probably the most helpful and on task blogs I've looked at throughout the course of the year.

I Am Here

I think I have been doing alright this grading period, I could probably do better. I have been working on every assignment and actually somewhat studying for lit terms. I'm in a way getting closer to achieving my smart goal because I am actually getting accepted into colleges, which is exciting because my parents have been telling me that I won't get in to any of the colleges I want to go to. I have talked to some classmates about my big question and discussed it deeply, I found out my big question was somewhat relevant to what Ashley wants her book to be about. I have thought about my senior project which I will be collaborating with colleagues.

Literary Analysis: Great Expectation

1. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, is his thirteenth novel which is a blidungsroman, or a coming of age novel. Pip, an orphan who is about six years old, encounters an escaped convict in the village churchyard while visiting the graves of his mother, father, and siblings. The convict scares Pip into stealing food and a file to grind away his shackles from the home he shares with his abusive older sister and her kind, passive husband Joe Gargery, a blacksmith. The next day, soldiers recapture the convict while he is engaged in a fight with another convict; the two are returned to the prison ships they escaped from. He is unclear with his thoughts about a father, he is always testing and questioning the men around him and trying to pull ideas of what a father would or should be like. There is Joe, who is emotional and kind, wanting a emotional relationship amongst people and then there is Jagger, who is all about the profits and making more money than others, he cares to be wealthy and high class in society. Jagger is described as an over powering animal who Pip wants to avoid becoming, but at the same time, it is a great possibility that Jagger is a reflection of what Pip can and may become. His feelings and heart is torn by Estella who is adopted by Mrs. Havisham, who has trained her into destroying men. She has lost the ability to love and care, later on asking for Pip's forgiveness (eleven years later, aat the end of the novel) after the death of her absuvise husband's death.

2. Themes
Notions of and obsession with society and class lead the protagonist of Great Expectations into self-destruction and a loss of dignity. In the world of this novel, society is divided among class lines, creating impenetrable barriers between social classes. When characters attempt to break through these barriers, they only find loneliness and loss. Society is both exalted as a productive and efficient means of organizing human chaos and it is revealed to be internally rotten.

Those characters in Great Expectations who dream the most, hope the most, and plan the most are ultimately wounded by their dreams, hopes, and plans. Likewise, when characters realize their dreams, they do not find the happiness that they expected. Characters use their dreams, hopes, and plans to erase or undo the past.

Great Expectations is a novel about the loss and rediscovery of innocence. Innocence is lost when it is introduced to society and to a societal value system. This encounter establishes a habit of self-consciousness and self-absorption within in the protagonist leading to his ultimate denial of his identity. Innocence is understood as the human state of being unaware of any other values than one’s own and it is characterized by a solid sense of identity.

In Dickens's Great Expectations, love is closely tied to destruction, and it is the protagonist’s guiding light and reason for living. Love is defined and portrayed in many different ways: as romance, narcissistic love, filial love, infatuation, obsession, and unconditional love. Love both blinds the protagonist and sets him free. Love is closely tied to appearances, and, therefore, to deception

Friendship is closely tied to loyalty and is tested often in Great Expectations. Friendship is not found to be indestructible and immune to human folly. Friendship quietly and gradually disintegrates when wealth and social are introduced. Characters who are obsessed with their future often forget the past and the relationships that dwelt there. Loss of friendship and betrayal wounds the protagonist.

3.
 "I had heard of Miss Havisham up town – everybody for miles round, had heard of Miss Havisham up town – as an immensely rich and grim lady who lived in a large and dismal house barricaded against robbers, and who led a life of seclusion."
     -Pip’s hometown is socially stratified. He lives in the "village," and Miss Havisham lives "up town." Apart from reminding us of a certain Billy Joel song, this delineation between the wealthy and working class in Kent is palpable and is reinforced by the gate that guards Miss Havisham’s decaying riches. Early on, we see how great privilege is closely linked to loneliness.

"I wished Joe had been rather more genteelly brought up, and then I should have been so too."
     -Pip takes all his cues from Joe. He learns how to interact with the world through his brother-in-law. Here, we see Pip focused on what the he lacks rather than what he has. His introduction to "society" makes him fully aware of the absence of things. Pip wants to belong to Miss Havisham’s world, but he does not have the key to unlock it.

"Whenever I watched the vessels standing out to sea with their white sails spread, I somehow thought of Miss Havisham and Estella; and whenever the light struck aslant, afar off, upon a cloud or sail or green hill-side or water-line, it was just the same. Miss Havisham and Estella and the strange house and the strange life appeared to have something to do with everything that was picturesque. "
     -The horizon in Great Expectations is often tied to the concept of dreams, hopes, and plans. Sometimes, Pip looks out onto the marshes and sees nothing but low, flat, wet land that leads to nothing. However, whenever the horizon is populated by sails or other things, Pip instantly feels closer to his dreams. His fear is having nothing on the horizon, nothing to live for, and nothing upon which to hang his hopes. The marsh land is almost like a mirror of Pip’s mind.

"She had adopted Estella, she had as good as adopted me, and it could not fail to be her intention to bring us together. She reserved it for me to restore the desolate house, admit the sunshine into the dark rooms, set the clocks a going and the cold hearths a blazing, tear down the cobwebs, destroy the vermin – in short, do all the shining deeds of the young Knight of romance, and marry the Princess"
     -Pip’s dreams seem to be made of images, actions, and theatrical elements rather than emotions or substantive encounters. Instead of being able to imagine a real moment of happiness and understanding with Estella, Pip imagines dramatically and magically curing Satis House. It’s all very Beauty and the Beast.

"But if you think as Money can make compensation to me for the loss of the little child – what come to the forge – and ever the best of friends! –"
     -Jaggers, who is used to London society, assumes that all humans are greedy and are hungry for money. Joe defies this assumption and is later angered by it. Jaggers seems unaware that relationships exist that are stronger than money. He deals with a corrupt society daily.

"Well," said he, "I believe you. You'd be but a fierce young hound indeed, if at your time of life you could help to hunt a wretched warmint, hunted as near death and dunghill as this poor wretched warmint is!"
     -Six year-old Pip is completely truthful and honest. Here we see the sharp contrast between innocent youth and the corrupt criminal. Pip loses a bit of this innocence, however, by feeding the convict and by supplying him with a file. He becomes an accessory to the convict’s crime, and this evening stays with Pip forevermore, causing him huge guilt at having to rob his sister and lie to Joe.

"The unqualified truth is, that when I loved Estella with the love of a man, I loved her simply because I found her irresistible. Once for all; I knew to my sorrow, often and often, if not always, that I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be. Once for all; I loved her nonetheless because I knew it, and it had no more influence in restraining me, than if I had devoutly believed her to be human perfection."
     -So, Pip is not necessarily in love with Estella, but he may just be in lust with Estella? He sees her faults clear as day, but he has not power over this love/list. Even though loving Estella promises sadness, destruction, and pain, Pip cannot help but be drawn to her. She’s like a Siren from Homer’s Odyssey. She’s impossible to resist, and there’s something a little out of the ordinary or fantastical about the strength of her power over Pip.

4. Characters
- Philip Pirrip, nicknamed Pip, an orphan and the protagonist and narrator of Great Expectations. Throughout his childhood, Pip dreamed of becoming a blacksmith. As a result of Magwitch's anonymous patronage, Pip travels to London and becomes a gentleman. Pip assumes his benefactor is Miss Havisham, and discovering that his true benefactor is a convict shocks him.
-Joe Gargery, Pip's brother-in-law, and his first father figure. He is a blacksmith who is always kind to Pip and the only person with whom Pip is always honest. Joe is very disappointed when Pip decided to leave his home and travel to London to become a gentleman rather than be a blacksmith
-Mrs. Joe Gargery, Pip's hot-tempered adult sister, who raises him after their parents' death but constantly complains of the burden of raising Pip. Orlick, her husband's journeyman, attacks her, and she is left disabled until her death.
-Miss Havisham, wealthy spinster who takes Pip on as a companion and who Pip suspects is his benefactor. Miss Havisham does not deny this as it fits into her own spiteful plans that derive from her desire for revenge after being jilted at the altar several years before. She later apologises to Pip as she is overtaken by guilt. He accepts her apology, and she is badly burnt when her wedding dress, which she has never taken off since her jilting, catches fire when she sits too close to the fireplace. Pip saves her, but she later dies from her injuries.
-Estella, Miss Havisham's adopted daughter, whom Pip pursues throughout the novel. She does not know that she is the daughter of Molly, Jaggers's housekeeper, and Abel Magwitch, Pip's convict. Estella was given up for adoption to Miss Havisham after her mother, Molly, is tried for murder. Estella represents the life of wealth and culture for which Pip strives. Since Miss Havisham ruined Estella's ability to love, Estella cannot return Pip's passion. She warns Pip of this repeatedly, but he will not or cannot believe her.
-Jaggers, prominent London lawyer who represents the interests of diverse clients, both criminal and civil. He represents Pip's benefactor and Miss Havisham as well. By the end of the story, his law practice links many of the characters.

Greek Mythology: Other Halves

I've loved Greek mythology since sixth grade.. haha

According to Greek mythology, humans were originally created with 4 arms, 4 legs & a head with 2 faces. Fearing their power, Zeus split them into two separate parts, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves.

-Plato's The Symposium

Lit Terms

Magic(al) Realism: a genre developed in Latin America which juxtaposes the everyday with the marvelous or magical.

Metaphor(extended, controlling, and mixed): an analogy that compare two different

things imaginatively. 

Extended: a metaphor that is extended or developed as far as the writer
wants to take it.

Controlling: a metaphor that runs throughout the piece of work.
Mixed: a metaphor that ineffectively blends two or more analogies.

Metonymy: literally “name changing” a device of figurative language in which the name of an attribute or associated thing is substituted for the usual name of a thing.

Mode of Discourse: argument (persuasion), narration, description, and exposition.

Modernism: literary movement characterized by stylistic experimentation, rejection of tradition, interest in symbolism and psychology

Monologue: an extended speech by a character in a play, short story, novel, or narrative poem.

Mood: the predominating atmosphere evoked by a literary piece.
Motif: a recurring feature (name, image, or phrase) in a piece of literature.

Myth: a story, often about immortals, and sometimes connected with religious rituals, that attempts to give meaning to the mysteries of the world.

Narrative: a story or description of events.

Narrator: one who narrates, or tells, a story.

Naturalism: extreme form of realism.

Novelette/Novella: short story; short prose narrative, often satirical.

Omniscient Point of View: knowing all things, usually the third person

Onomatopoeia: use of a word whose sound in some degree imitates or suggests itsmeaning.
Oxymoron: a figure of speech in which two contradicting words or phrases are combined to produce a rhetorical effect by means of a concise paradox.

Pacing: rate of movement; tempo.

Parable: a story designed to convey some religious principle, moral lesson, or general truth.

Paradox: a statement apparently self-contradictory or absurd but really containing a possible truth; an opinion contrary to generally accepted ideas.

Parallelism: the principle in sentence structure that states elements of equal function should have equal form.

Parody: an imitation of mimicking of a composition or of the style of a well-known artist.

Pathos: the ability in literature to call forth feelings of pity, compassion, and/or sadness.

Pedantry: a display of learning for its own sake.

Personification: a figure of speech attributing human qualities to inanimate objects or abstract ideas.

Plot: a plan or scheme to accomplish a purpose.

Poignant: eliciting sorrow or sentiment.

Point of View: the attitude unifying any oral or written argumentation; in description, the physical point from which the observer views what he is describing.

Postmodernism: literature characterized by experimentation, irony, nontraditional forms, multiple meanings, playfulness and a blurred boundary between real and imaginary

Prose: the ordinary form of spoken and written language; language that does not have a regular rhyme pattern.

Protagonist: the central character in a work of fiction; opposes antagonist.

Pun: play on words; the humorous use of a word emphasizing different meanings or applications.
Purpose: the intended result wished by an author.

Realism: writing about the ordinary aspects of life in a straightforward manner to reflect life as it actually is.

Refrain: a phrase or verse recurring at intervals in a poem or song; chorus.

Requiem: any chant, dirge, hymn, or musical service for the dead.

Resolution: point in a literary work at which the chief dramatic complication is worked out; denouement.

Restatement: idea repeated for emphasis.

Rhetoric: use of language, both written and verbal in order to persuade.

Rhetorical Question: question suggesting its own answer or not requiring an answer; used in argument or persuasion.

Rising Action: plot build up, caused by conflict and complications, advancement towards climax.

Romanticism: movement in western culture beginning in the eighteenth and peaking in the nineteenth century as a revolt against Classicism; imagination was valued over reason and fact.