Friday, January 31, 2014

The Time of My Life

Today in class we wrote our journal topic and did what was assigned on the blog. We decided to have groups go up and discuss the books by Charles Dickens. The first group discussed the Tale of Two Cities and we wrote notes on that. After that another group went up and discussed Great Expectations. It was very helpful. Also my group discussed and went more into detail. 

Monday, January 27, 2014

Literature Analysis #1 - The Remains of the Day

The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

GENERAL
 1. To summarize the book it is that it's about a man, who is known simply as Stevens. Stevens is a butler for another man named Mr. Farraday. However, he receives a letter from a Miss Kenton and decides to take a five day trip to go see her. (She worked in the same manor as Stevens 20 years prior.) The present isn't exactly what Stevens focuses on though, he looks back at his life to see if he believes he truly lived up to the 'dignity' he thinks he needs to live a fulfilling life and also the life he may have had with Miss Kenton if he had done things differently. When he finally arrived and met with her, he realized nothing with her was going to change. They both expressed the feelings they once had, which was a huge step for Stevens, but both knew they could not dwell on the past. So Stevens begins to revise his definition of the word dignity and chooses to move forward in his life.

2. The main theme that I see throughout this novel is regret. It's expressed mainly with the life that Stevens could have had with Miss Kenton. On the journey to visit her, he looked back on his life to several different occasions where he believed that if he had done something differently, if he had shown his true feelings then they could have been together and lived a happy life. Stevens then also shows regret when he looks back at how faithful he was to his previous master, Mr. Darlington. Stevens believed he was a good man and in his mind was willing to do anything for his master in hopes of gaining dignity. However Mr. Darlington was a man who dealt with Nazis during WWII. Stevens knows he could have done something, but at the time was to caught up in his vision of perfection that he couldn't swerve away from it.

3. The author's tone was extremely formal. The narrator spoke in a way that would match the setting of this time. This is why it is easily understandable for the character to be so strict, in a sense. He was very focused and set on the path he was in. Also being a butler he wanted to show the people he waited on that he was a gentleman and worthy to be their server.

4. - analysis: explored when looking back on his life
-dialect: the author wrote in the way Stevens would think is best
-dogmatic: Stevens had a set definition for the word dignity and did what he did to gain it
-flashback: different situations Stevens thought about
-foil: Mr. Darlington next to Mr. Farraday
-imagery: author used great details to explain each situation
-interior monologue: all of Stevens memories
-motif: Stevens often spoke of learning how to banter
-pathos: audience feels when it's learned that Stevens cries about his life
-poignant: how Miss Kenton feels when learning of her aunt's death

CHARACTERIZATION
1. The author didn't use direct characterization all that much because the main character was not a very open person so it seems fit that the audience isn't given much to go on. There are brief descriptions of the people here and there, but that's about it.

The author uses indirect characterization when he continually has Stevens walking away from Miss Kenton's door when she's inside crying. Normally people would wait outside or even burst inside to see what was wrong. Stevens was not like them though. He was straight on his path towards gaining dignity. Also we see indirect characterization when Stevens is given a handkerchief at the end of the book. He doesn't outright say that he is crying, but through this simple token we can tell he is sad by that days turn of events.

2. I believe the syntax and diction remains the same throughout the book because it solely about the character, Stevens. It's his life and his thoughts we are exploring. Stevens was proper and a gentleman so the author wrote the book in the way that would match this character.

3. The protagonist is basically static and flat throughout the entire story up until the very end. He lets go of the perfect version he envisions himself to be and is simply a man. He expresses his feelings and shows his emotions. He grows in this stage of his life and changes so as to become the man his sees with his new definition of the word dignity.

4. I believe I read a character mainly because I have never met anybody like this. I have never seen a man so focused on one path that he shuts out anything that might get in the way of that. Also butlers aren't really needed in America so I don't quite understand their lifestyle.



Sunday, January 26, 2014

What's the Story?

"What is it that makes you want to write songs? In a way you want to stretch yourself into other people's hearts. You want to plant yourself there, or at least get a resonance, where other people become a bigger instrument than the one you're playing. It becomes almost an obsession to touch other people. To write a song that is remembered and taken to heart is a connection, a touching of bases. A thread that runs through all of us. A stab to the heart. Sometimes I think songwriting is about tightening the heartstrings as much as possible without bringing on a heart attack." -Keith Richards

Why did Charles Dickens write the novel you're reading/reviewing? What in your analysis of literary techniques led you to this conclusion? (Make sure to include textual support illustrating Dickens' use of at least three techniques we've studied/discussed this year.)

Charles Dickens wrote the novel to explain and show his views on society and social status to society. Dickens takes advantage of literary devices like allusion,  characterization, and foils to better establish the theme and characters within the story. He adds personal touches to the piece that display his own life. The main lesson I noticed was that despite everything that happens, everyone shares one thing in common, their imperfections. Dickens does a great job in creating the characters and resembling how real people are, which makes me think that the characters might be inspired by real people in the author's personal live.

Lit Terms #4

Interior monologue: a literary attempt to present the mental processes of a character before they are formed into regular patterns of speech or logical sequence; stream of consciousness

Inversion: the reversal of a normal order of words

Juxtaposition: the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect.

Lyric: Of or relating to a category of poetry that expresses subjective thoughts and feelings, often in a song like style or form.

Magic(al) realism: a genre where magic elements are a natural part in an otherwise mundane, realistic environment

Metaphor (extended, controlling, & mixed): a figure of speech that describes a subject by asserting that it is, on some point of comparison, the same as another otherwise unrelated object
-extended: when an author exploits a single metaphor or analogy at length
-controlling: symbolic story in which the real meaning is not directly put across the whole poem or may be a metaphor for something else; it affects the diction and the flow of a poem and normally used for political poems.
-mixed: a metaphor that combines different images or ideas in a way that is foolish or illogical

Metonymy: figure of speech consisting of the use of the name of one thing for that of another of which it is an attribute or with which it is associated

Modernism: characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional styles of poetry and verse

Monologue: A long speech made by one person, often monopolizing a conversation.

Mood: a prevailing atmosphere or feeling

Motif: A dominant theme or central idea.

Myth: A traditional, typically ancient story dealing with supernatural beings, ancestors, or heroes that serves as a fundamental type in the worldview of a people, as by explaining aspects of the natural world or delineating the psychology, customs, or ideals of society

Narrative: Consisting of or characterized by the telling of a story

Narrator: one who tells a story or recounts a series of events, aloud or in writing

Naturalism: practice of describing precisely the actual circumstances of human life in literature

Novelette/novella: A short novel.

Omniscient point of view: a method of storytelling in which the narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all of the characters in the story

Onomatopoeia: formation or use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to.

Oxymoron: rhetorical figure in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combined

Pacing: the rhythm and speed with which the plot unfolds

Parable: A simple story illustrating a moral or religious lesson.

Paradox: a statement that apparently contradicts itself and yet might be true

Tale of Two Cities Lecture Notes

-Third city: Manchester

-Background on how Dicken's inspiration for TTC

-He explains how Dicken's was inspired by real people to make characters in TTC

-doubleness of character DC, CD and Charles Dickens.

-London: where he found his creativity, He loved it but disliked it, extremes of wealth and poverty.

-Paris: Charming and immense impression, perfectly distinct and unique character. He was overwhelmed by its secret character and how well the city expressed it. Very impressed by Paris although half the size of London, lacked the craziness of London.

-End of TTC: reminds readers of the old Paris with a bastil.

-ChD would visit Paris all the time for lengthy visits. Paris was a brilliant, modernizing city.

-Fascinated by the dark side of Paris, attracted to visit the morgue

-Describes Paris' character with detail of the people and the places.

-Dickens wasn't a Rebel, he had a horror of mob rule but TTC was about it.

-Came out in weekly parts as a series.

-"Unprepossessing"

-Dickens thought everything out when selling

-Crazy how people would treat his series like TV series. And how popular this was.

-Demands of weekly series, Cliffhanger endings, contrasting installment, wrote as he went along, and he was pleased with the novel.

-thought it was the best story he had ever written.

-Dickens first had an idea to write this novel while acting

-He helped Collins in a play, which he also participated in.

-The love triangle in the play was modeled from the love triangle in The Tale of Two Cities

-Sydney (Mike) Carten sacrifices himself for love so woman he loved can be with someone else, someone she loved deeply

-The Tale of Two Cities: London and Paris

-Change

-Historical settings

-Time period 1757-1793

-Victorians haunted by memory and example of the French Revolution

-Fear of the revolution happening in England

-The novel itself is a warning about the revolution

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Lit Terms #3

Exposition: part of story where characters and setting are introduced and background information is given

Expressionism:
writing approach in which a writer depicts a character's feelings about a subject rather than the objective surface reality of the subject

Fable: a short story that teaches an explicit moral or lesson

Fallacy: a statement or argument based on a false inference; erroneousness

Falling action: the action and dialogue following the climax that lead the reader into the story's end

Farce: type of comedy that relies on exaggeration, horseplay, and unrealistic or improbable situations to provoke laughter

Figurative language:
language that has meaning beyond the literal meaning


 Flashback:
interruption of the chronological order to present something that occurred before the beginning of the story


Foil:
another character in a story who contrasts with the main character usually to highlight one of their attributes


Folk tale: stories passed along from one generation to the next by word-of-mouth rather than written text

 Foreshadowing:
important hints that an author drops to prepare the reader for what is to come, and help the reader anticiate the outcome


Free verse:
poetry that does not conform to a regular meter or rhyme scheme


Genre:
type of form of literature, music, ect.


Gothic tale: tale used to thrill readers by providing mystery accounts of murder and the supernatural

 Hyperbole:
exaggeration that is powerful and purposeful


Imagery: a term that incorporates all sensory perceptions

 Implication:
an indirect indication; a suggestion


Incongruity:
when two unlike objects or people are put together in a  story


 Inference:
to gain meaning from something that is not directly said


Irony: technique that involves amusing contradictions or contrasts

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Lit Terms Remix 1-5

Circumlocution:  when a writer uses very long and complex sentences to convey a meaning that could have been done in short sentences

                  



Classicism: art, literature, and music reflecting the principles of ancient Greece and Rome tradition and reason




Cliché: overused expression that lose their original meaning
"Get your head out of your butt."


Climax: point at which the conflict is the highest point



Colloquialism: use of informal words, phrases, or even slangs


Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Lit terms #2

1. Circumlocution- (n) a roundabout or indirect way of speaking; the use of more words than necessary to express an idea.
The con man tried to use circumlocution to avoid explaining his real intentions to the wealthy couple.

2. Classicism- (n) the principles or styles characteristic of the literature and art of ancient Greece and Rome.
I was surprised to the extent which Baldwin, known mainly for contemporary dance, had embraced classicism - both steps and tutus.

3. Cliche- (n) a trite, stereotyped expression
- It is a cliche that children today think that vegetables come from the store, in cans or plastic bags.

4. Climax- (n) the highest or most intense point inthe development or resolution ofsomething; culmination 
- His careerreached its climax when he was elected president.

5. Colloquialism- (n) a word or phrase that is not formal or literary, typically one used in ordinary or familiar conversation.
The Pelican has used an English colloquialism which has a similar meaning.

6. Comedy- (n) a play, movie, etc., of light and humorous character with a happy or cheerful ending; a dramatic work in which the central motif is the triumph over adverse circumstance, resulting in a successful or happy conclusion.
Writing and performing stand-up comedy is life's blood for Russ.

7. Conflict- (v) to come into collision or disagreement; be contradictory, at variance, or in opposition; clash: 
    • -The account of one eyewitness conflicted with that of the other. 
    • 8. Connotation- (n) the associated or secondary meaning of a word or expression in addition to its explicit or primary meaning: A possible connotation of “home” is “a place of warmth, comfort, and affection.”
    • Why does the term carry such negative connotations for me?
    • 9. Contrast (v)- to compare in order to show unlikeness or differences; note the opposite natures, purposes, etc., of
    • -Contrast the political rights of Romans and Greeks.
    • 10. Denotation- (n) the explicit or direct meaning or set of meanings of a word or expression
    • The denotation of a word translates the word to its literal meaning.
    • 11. Denouement (n)- the final resolution of the intricacies of a plot, as of a drama or novel.
    • Denouement of the story is, ahem, the Chelsea Flower Show!
    • 12. Dialect- (n) a provincial, rural, or socially distinct variety of a language that differs from the standard language, especially when considered as substandard.
    • Scots has a wide range of dialects.
    • 13. Dialectics- (adj) of, pertaining to, or of the nature of logical argumentation
    • Like all empiricists you worship the fact, rather than understanding the dialectic of history.
    • 14. Dichotomy- (n) division into two parts, kinds, etc.;subdivision into halves or pairs.
    • dichotomy of views is urgently needed on the immediate horizon.
    • 15. Diction-(n) style of speaking or writing as dependent upon choice of words
    • This helps to improve diction, organize what they want to say and focus on the main points of interest.
    • 16. Didactic(adj)- intended for instruction; instructive
    • It appeared to be didactic in nature.
    • 17. Dogmatic(adj)- asserting opinions in a doctrinaire or arrogant manner; opinionated.
    • Dogmatic that the universe is meaningless, especially when so few people around you really believe it.
    • 18. Elegy- (n) a mournful, melancholy, or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead.
    • The film is a beautiful elegy on being different.
    • 19. Epic (adj)- noting or pertaining to a long poetic composition, usually centered upon a hero, in which a series of great achievements or events is narrated in elevated style
    • Homer's Iliad is an epic poem.
    • 20. Epigram- (n) any witty, ingenious, or pointed saying tersely expressed.
    • He is the long man with the short epigram.
    • 21. Epitaph(n) a brief poem or other writing in praise of a deceased person.
    • Epitaphs on the headstones still visible.
    • 22. Epithet (n) a word, phrase, or expression used invectively as a term of abuse or contempt, to express hostility, etc.
    • The branches bear horrific sharp axillary spines, as is suggested by the specific epithet ( Gibson 1999 ).
    • 23. Euphemism- (n) the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt.
    • The phrase has become aeuphemism for the erosion of workers' basic rights.
    • 24. Evocative- (n) tending to evoke
    • - The perfume was evocative of spring.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Lit Terms #1

Allegory: Tale in which the characters, actions, or settings represent abstract ideas; story that uses symbolism.

Alliteration:  Repetition of similar sounds.

Allusion:  Reference to a person, place, event, or literary work that the reader is expected to recognize.

Ambiguity:  Something with many open interpretations.

Anachronism:  Something in the wrong place or of the wrong time.

Analogy:  Comparison between two things to show similarities.

Analysis:  Detailed examination of the elements or structure of something.

Anaphora:   A repetition in which a word or words are repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, phrases, or sentences.

Anecdote:  A very short story used to illustrate a point.

Antagonist:  Person or force opposing the protagonist.

Anitithesis:  Two opposing sentences placed together for contrast.

Aphorism:  Statement of truth or opinion expressed in a concise and witty manner.

Apologia: Formal written defense of one’s opinions or conduct.

Apostrophe:  Figure of speech in which an absent or dead person, an abstract quality, or something inanimate or nonhuman is directly addressed.

Argument:  Process of convincing a reader by proving either the truth or the falsity of an idea or proposition.

Assumption:  Act of supposing, or taking for granted that something is true.

Audience:  Intended listener(s).

Characterization:  Means by which a writer reveals a character’s personality or appearance.

Chiasmus:  Reversal in the order of words so that the second half of a statement balances the first half in inverted word order.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

AP Prep Post 1: Siddhartha

Questions:
URL: http://www.ecsd.us/staff/keberhard/world%20SIDDHARTHA%20study%20questions.htm
  1. It is mentioned that Siddhartha had never loved a person as much as the Buddha. This is the first mention of Siddhartha loving anyone or anything. Why is it significant that Siddhartha feels more love for this person than either of his parents or Govinda? (Chapter 3)
  2. What realization does Siddhartha experience regarding the world of thought and the world of the senses? (Chapter 5)
  3. This chapter is entitled, The Ferryman. How is the title of the chapter and Vasudeva’s occupation symbolic to Siddhartha at this point in his journey? (Chapter 9)
  4. Explain the theme of the passage below: “No, there were no teachings that a person who truly sought and wanted to find could accept. But the one who had already found could approve of any teachings, every path and goal.” (Chapter 9)
  5. Siddhartha loved his son so much that he wanted to “keep him from suffering, pain, and disappointment.” In the process Siddhartha makes himself and his son miserable. Why wasn't this working? (Chapter 11)
Answers:
In order to answer these detailed questions I'd need a copy of the book or an online version of it. I was able to find a few online versions of the book and tried to look for the answers. I know the chapter the answer could be found in, but the only problem is I don't know where in the chapter it would be located.

Online Versions of Siddhartha:
http://www.online-literature.com/hesse/siddhartha/
http://www.readcentral.com/book/Herman-Hesse/Read-Siddhartha-Online
http://manybooks.net/titles/hesseheretext01siddh10.html
http://www.readprint.com/work-841/Siddhartha-Hermann-Hesse

Explanation:
This tells me that the AP Exam will require thinking beyond what we read. We will have to analyze books in deft and understand what we come across. Literary elements need to be conquered before the AP Exam because they will be used to analyze the texts.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

What's In It For Me?

A goal I have for this semester is to definitely stay motivated and finish off high school with a bang. I am so happy to have taken this course an experienced learning in a new way. This class was such a great opportunity and I am glad I took it. Motivation is something that I need to really work on because I feel like senioritis is developed by almost everybody and I just hope I won't be a victim!

Hacking My Education

Roadmap:
- A roadmap for the semester would be just to be motivated and focus more. I think if I do this I can do anything because patience is key. I just need to really figure out what I can do that will benefit me in the long run. I hope to continue to do my best and not slack off as most do. I want to do my best and I want it to show in my work and also in my grades. Being and staying motivated is something that I want to have not only in high school but when I am out there looking for work.