Fall Semester Reflection

1. Do you read your colleagues’ work online? How often? What is it like to read their work?

 How does being able to see everyone’s work online at any given time change the way you do your work?

- I often would read other's work because I was curious of their opinions and sometimes I would be a little confused on a piece of literature and reading other's explanations would help me a lot. We are at an advantage by allowing our work to be viewed public because we are not only helping one another, but what if one day someone stumbles upon our blog and were looking for some information and we happen to have then well we have became a positive resource to that individual. Which I find to be amazing. 

2. How has the publicly and always visible course blog made this course different from one without a blog? How would the course change if the course blog disappeared tomorrow?

-If we didn't have our blogs then it would very different. The class revolves a lot around posting our work on the blog. By providing the knowledge others seek just like we were in their position. Being apart of this class is special and it is very unique compared to the rest of my classes. The blog has allowed us more freedom but yet it still has the feel of a college class. I would be sad if the class blog had disappeared. 

3. Has publishing your work for the public to see changed your approach to completing an assignment? How so? How would your feelings about the course change if you couldn’t publish your work that way?

-I feel like it adds a bit of pressure, because there are going to be people who will judge our work. That'd why I try to complete the assignment, and I always tend to complete one so I have no worries. My feelings wouldn't change much, just that it wouldn't be as unique and different compared to other AP classes. It'd just be like how it was back in 10th grade. Haha 

4. Has your experience of the physical classroom changed because of the open & online aspects? Where does your learning actually happen? 

- I am a strong believer in open source learning and find it working very well for me. I like how we are aloud more freedom. It takes away the feel of being locked up in school with so many restrictions and having the adults be pointing fingers at us for doing the wrong thing. My learning happens well in everyday living, I learn inside the classroom as well as outside. I learn something new anywhere I go. I never "shut my brain down", I guess you can say depending where I am at. 

 
5. You were described in the Macarthur Foundation/DML interview as “a pioneer”-- how do you describe the experience on the edge to people who haven’t been there (friends and family)?
- I would say that it is a whole new style to learning that makes learning fun and takes away the typical teacher/student relationship. You actually build a bond with your teacher as well as our colleagues. I remember being hesitant when I requested to take AP English. I felt like it would be plenty and plenty of work. Well turns out it is work, but if we are smart about then it wont feel like such a heavy load. I have no regrets in the decision I made when signing up for AP English. I am more than happy that I did. 

6.How do they respond when you describe the brave new world in which you’re working?
-Well it is something new and it is a change that will take getting use too. I am the type of person who enjoys change and trying new things. This is change we have signed up for will only push us to excel more.

7. What do their responses mean to you? What effect(s) (if any) do they have on you?
- I value everything I have learned this whole semester. I have learned so much and I enjoy pushing myself to do better. I came in with the mentality to push myself till I cant go no further. Till I receive the grades I aimed to get and to push myself into enjoying school. Having a more positive outlook about it all. All I have is nothing but happy feelings for ending this semester strong. 

Allegory in the Cave by Plato
Lit Anal

GENERAL
1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read, and explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of same).
-This story is about some men who live in a cave since they were born and have been living there life  chained with shackles and being powerless, unable to see what the world is like outside the cave. The men are facing a wall with a fire behind and there is a bridge which allows people to cross and with this, the shadows of whoever dares to cross are being left on the empty wall of the cave and these are the only live images of the outside world that these men are allowed to look at. They have no knowledge of life and how it works, until one day. One man breaks free and was lead into the light to learn and seek the knowledge of how life works outside the cave. It was a challenge for the man but he was willing to push through it in order to be enlightened. Once enlightened he came back to the cave to help the others so they as well can see the light and become knowledgeable of the outside world.

2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.
- I will quote my sonnet off of Allegory in the Cave.
 "Great change will occur when he who is enlightened

But it is up to us whether we see the knowledge or choose to be frightened". 

In my opinion this is what sums up the theme of Allegory in the Cave. Plainly said.

3. Describe the author's tone. Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).
"And suppose once more, that he is reluctantly dragged up a steep and rugged ascent, and held fast until he 's forced into the presence of the sun himself, is he not likely to be pained and irritated? When he approaches the light his eyes will be dazzled, and he will not be able to see anything at all of what are now called realities." This quote explains a tone towards the character of disbelief. It is one tone where the author expressed some emotion of how there wasn't any belief in the prisoner who was freed to see the reality of being outside the cave. Believed that the freed prisoner wouldn't be able to handle the change, and would choose to go back down into the familiar.

4. Describe a minimum of ten literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your readers. (Please include edition and page numbers for easy reference.)

Imagery- " He will require to grow accustomed to the sight of the upper world. And first he will see the shadows best, next the reflections of men and other objects in the water, and then the objects themselves; then he will gaze upon the light of the moon and the stars and the spangled heaven; and he will see the sky and the stars by night better than the sun or the light of the sun by day?"

Simile- "But then, if I am right, certain professors of education must be wrong when they say that they can put a knowledge into the soul which was not there before, like sight into blind eyes. "


Rhetorical Question- "And if there were a contest, and he had to compete in measuring the shadows with the prisoners who had never moved out of the den, while his sight was still weak, and before his eyes had become steady (and the time which would be needed to acquire this new habit of sight might be very considerable) would he not be ridiculous? "

CHARACTERIZATION
1. Describe two examples of direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization.  Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end (i.e., what is your lasting impression of the character as a result)?
2. Does the author's syntax and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character?  How?  Example(s)?
- 

3. Is the protagonist static or dynamic?  Flat or round?  Explain.
- The freed prisoner expresses round and static characteristics in the story. He shows these qualities because he expressed a since of decision making like a human would. Being able to make a life changing decision is a big step, and the freed prisoner demonstrated it well. He also showed a static characteristic. The freed prisoner went from a cave prisoner, along with the others, and let himself become enlightened which proved him to grow as a person.

4. After reading the book did you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character?  Analyze one textual example that illustrates your reaction.
- After reading this story I felt it was so real. I connected it to my daily life and it relates to it so much, which caught my attention.  I also started connecting to other things in life as well, and it appeared that it can be compared and have the same meaning behind it all. By far I'd have to say that this story and the play, No Exit by Jean Paul Sartre would have to my favorite literature of first semester.

" No Exit "

Jean Paul Sartre

Thinking Outside the Box

1- Think about the place you have chosen as your hell. Does it look ordinary and bourgeois, like Sartre's drawing room, or is it equipped with literal instruments of torture like Dante's Inferno? Can the mind be in hell in a beautiful place? Is there a way to find peace in a hellish physical environment?

- In my mind hell is full of flames and mountain high volcanoes filled with lava waiting to erupt on all the people who are stuck in hell. It does not appear torturous in having the style of instruments that are twisting and disturbing that will cause the people so much pain. I believe yes the mind can be a hell in a beautiful place. People in fact live lives that way everyday. A person can be living here on earth surrounded be their loved ones and by the beauty of life but inside they are sickly twisted and hold onto evil thoughts about life, friends, family members, ever day people, just anything ocurring in their life. A person can be in the middle of living a dark muggish life while the rest of the world is living life a little more happily compared to the other person. Peace can be found in a hellish environment, it just takes accepting of your wrong doings and be able to learn from it so you can move on with life and be able to grow as a person.



2 Could hell be described as too much of anything without a break? Are variety, moderation and balance instruments we use to keep us from boiling in any inferno of excess,' whether it be cheesecake or ravenous sex?

- Having life throw at you twist here and there prepares to grow as a person in order to enhance your knowledge of living. By adding change in someones life then we will have to learn to adjust to what has been thrown at us. This way we do not become accustomed with the familiar. We have to learn how to live with a healthy balance of everything that is around us. To much anything can always be harmful whether it be spiritually, mentally, physically, or emotionally. Being able to live a happy balanced life style is what we should strive for.


3. How does Sartre create a sense of place through dialogue? Can you imagine what it feels like to stay awake all the time with the lights on with no hope of leaving a specific place? How does GARCIN react to this hell? How could you twist your daily activities around so that everyday habits become hell? Is there a pattern of circumstances that reinforces the experience of hell?

- The characters strongly express their emotions about the surroundings. Garcin is curious to where the paraphernalia is located. In the eyes of the characters they appear to be over thinking things. Basically letting their minds play tricks on them and are slowly but surely becoming crazy in such a small confined room with other humans. I would have to take way all dance / music related things because with out then I would in fact go crazy rather then staying sane with myself.


4 Compare how Plato and Sartre describe the limitations of our thinking and imply solutions to the problem.
- In my opinion it is up to the individual to determine how they take in and let information be processed. It is the individual who controls themselves. If they allow others to influence in a good or bad way well that is up to the individual. We can choose to learn from others or let others to make decisions for us.

Lit Anal-        Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

GENERAL

 1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read, and explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of same).

-Takes place in a small village at the edge of North Kent marshes, and the grater city of London. Pip is six years old and lives on the English marshes with his sister and his sister’s husband, Joe. His sister is mean but his brother-in-law Joe is pretty much the best thing that’s happened to Pip .One Christmas Eve, Pip meets a scary, escaped convict in a churchyard. Pip steals food from his mean sister (Mrs. Joe Gargery) so that the convict won’t starve (and so he doesn't beat Pip). Later on Pip meets Miss Havishman because he is Estella's playmate. Estella is Miss Havisham’s adopted child. She is a cold, snobby, and regal girl, but with beauty.Pip soon begins to have feelings for Estella, but knowing that she is the adopted daughter of the most richest woman in town, he knew that he couldn't have her. In that sense, knowing you can not have something, well the love grows fonder by the second. He grow older (early teens) and began to work with his brother-in-law in blacksmith in hopes of one day being able to marry Estella. Pip moves to London in his pursuit of becoming a gentlemen. Later on becomes best friends with Miss. Havishmans cousins son named, Hertbert Pocket. Eventually he becomes a frequent visitor to Satis House, located in the market town. Here signifies another great expectation for Pip. Later on in the novel he moves to Cairo. Throughout the novel, Pip travels between these three locations in pursuit of his great expectations.

2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.
-The major theme would have to be ambition. Pip has ambition for all the great expectations he has for himself about life, love, and friends. No only does his ambition in pursuing a positive outcome for himself but ingratitude is expressed in portions of the novel as well.

3. Describe the author's tone. Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).
- Th tone is explained as Dicken's "grotesque tragicomic". It is mixed between a comedy and a tragedy. A good example would be in the beginning of the novel how Magwitch was 6 year old Pip's bully. But when Pip grew up and has already moved onto bigger an better things in life, well Magwitch is Pip's benefactor. Towards the fen ally of the novel it ended up that Magwitch was there to help him.

4. Describe a minimum of ten literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your readers. (Please include edition and page numbers for easy reference.)

-Figurative Language   - “No varnish can hide the grain of the wood; and that the more varnish you put on, the more the grain will express itself.”  (100)

-Metafor    - “It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.”   (122)
- Personification  - "I had seen the damp lying on the outside of my little window, as if some goblin had been crying there all night, and using the window for a pocket-handkerchief.”   (   222)

- Narrator   - “In a word, I was too cowardly to do what I knew to be right, as I had been too cowardly to avoid doing what I knew to be wrong.”  (77)

- Dialogue   -  "Itcan't be supposed," said Joe. "Tho' I'm oncommon fond of reading, too."
Are you, Joe?"
Oncommon. Give me," said Joe, "a good book, or a good newspaper, and sit me down for a good fire, and I ask no better. Lord!" he continued, after rubbing his knees a little, "when you do come to a J and a O, and says you, 'Here, at last, is a J-O, Joe,' how interesting reading is!”  (332)

- Climax   - " did really cry in good earnest when I went to bed, to think that my expectations had done some good to somebody " (257)
- Local Color   - Charles Dickens used London as one of his locations in the story, parcially because he grew there.
CHARACTERIZATION
1. Describe two examples of direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization. Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end (i.e., what is your lasting impression of the character as a result)?

- Direct Characterization-  It would have been cruel of Miss Havisham, horribly cruel, to practice on the susceptibility of a poor boy, and to torture me through all these years with a vain hope and an idle pursuit, if she had reflected on the gravity of what she did. But I think she did not. I think that in the endurance of her own trial, she forgot mine, Estella (378)
               
- Indirect Characterization   -  “I noticed that Miss Havisham put down the jewel exactly on the spot from which she had taken it up.”

2. Does the author's syntax and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character? How? Example(s)?
- Through out the novel the syntax changes when it is focused on the a certain character. The narration is in plain English but when a character speaks there English seems to be cut off and tend to sound unintelligent.

3. Is the protagonist static or dynamic? Flat or round? Explain.
- Pip follows the qualities of a dynamic and and round character. He is presented as a small young young boy who doesn't will get very far in life. But come to realize he believes that by being given the opportunity then he will be able to grow from his experience to become wealthy and much respected. He grow as a person because he was able to rid the fear he had for the convict, later in the novel it turns out that the convict helps him escape.

4. After reading the book did you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character? Analyze one textual example that illustrates your reaction.
After reading the novel I had a feeling that I have met Pip. The love with in the novel gives Pip a human quality to him in such a way were we can relate to him. How he expresses his love for Estella is so cute to read. He truly is someone who fell in love deeply and wouldn't do anything to change his feelings for Estella.

Allegory of the Cave : Sonnet

In the dark, shadowy cave we kneel

What stands above we do not know

Secluded inside with such a muggy  feel

The world keeps on living while our life stays still down below

The shackles and chains restraining us from what reality holds up above

But we don't know any better but to stay in the familiar

Until it takes a leader to come show us higher knowledge from atop

One who has broken from the chain has been enlightened, he now mirrors his knowledge towards us

Unknowing the strength and weaknesses from what lay above the cave

We are hesitant whether to accept the challenge of reality

But we admire the freed prisoner for being brave

It just takes a simple enlightenment of knowledge to know that we do not live in a life of fantasy

Great change will occur when he who is enlightened 

But it is up to us whether we see the knowledge or choose to be frightened 

November 19, 2012

Journal

Compare yourself to the denizens of Plato's Cave. Describe something you learned during the mind map experience (about Queenan's article, about the process, about yourself) that will help you break the chains and see more than shadows.

- If I ever was in the position of the prisoners then I'd feel weak and small. I wouldn't feel as filled with knowledge like others are so informed and enlightened by reality. It would feel discouraging at first, but knowing myself I will put myself out there to try and learn something new. I am a strong believer in trial and error. You must learn how to fail a couple of times in order to improve until you finally get it right. During the whole process of the mind map, I figured out how to learn a new tool that i can use in the future. It was a struggle trying to understand the how mindmeister worked and just dealing with it. Must I say, in my opinion, that it wasn't the best of the best. But in the end it worked out and we all managed to collaborate and put out all the information of Queenan's article. By learning how to use a new tool to help our process of learning it was a good experience for every student that took part in it. We learned how to use something new and put it into action. Nothing better than learning something and finally putting it to work so others can learn from us.  Slowly but surely we are breaking the shackles that the school system has locked us in. We are discovering a whole new world that practices many different styles of learning. Now dare I speak the truth, but don't we all learn differently? Well why not show the different styles of learning so everyone can touch on their style of learning.

Plato's Allegory to the Cave !

1. According to Socrates, what does the Allegory of the Cave represent?
-It would be the transitioning of ignorance in ones life to seeing and understanding knowledge and the truth. An example would be when the prisoners are not aloud to see reality because they are chained up. so the only "reality" that they perceive to be "reality" would be what they know from being inside the cave all there life.

2. What are the key elements in the imagery used in the allegory?
-The raging fire that stands behind them is the representation of the natural "sun". The shadows present themselves to be the images of or figures of animals, people, any outside living. The shackles/ chains represent the restriction of life that prevents us from seeing and knowing what is real. Darkness is the lack of truth/Knowledge that the prisoners know.

3. What are some things the allegory suggests about the process of enlightenment or education?
- Shouldn't people accept the truth when they are exposed to it? The thing is that ignorance isn't so wrong when reality hasn't really been available to them. People should go and put themselves out there in order to seek the education, so they will become informed and have the knowledge of the truth rather than metaphorically living in darkness without the knowledge that is being given so close.

4. What do the imagery of "shackles" and the "cave" suggest about the perspective of the cave dwellers or prisoners?
- The shackles represent that the prisoners are not completely ignorant, because the prisoners were born into  the darkness. They were just simply physically unable to seek the outside knowledge because of the restraint they were in. The cave is dark with a muggy feel to it, and  is very closed off. It personifies the ignorance as something unpleasant because of its dark feel to it. Turns out to be complete opposite of the feeling towards light and brilliance.

5. In society today or in your own life, what sorts of things shackle the mind?
- Technology plays a key role in our lives today. Ever since the invention of electronics we have relied on its advancements more and more. I would say that we are slowly loosing the rich knowledge of knowing how to depend on natural resources, learning how to work with nature to benefit ourselves or others, compared to the dependency of technology. Our minds are becoming shackled because you can see little babies playing with toys that are filled with technology to enhance the play for the kids. There are video games that will "enhance" the learning at an even earlier age. Children are being born into the "cave"  and are slowly shying away from the works of life.

6. Compare the perspective of the freed prisoner with the cave prisoners?
- The perspective of the cave prisoner was much more closed minded because they haven't had the chance to be enlightened like the freed prisoner. The cave prisoners are much more likely to shy away from the opportunity because it is out of their norm. That are already accustomed to what is comfortable for them and if it comes to adjusting to something new, then they'd feel outside of there "reality". For the freed prisoner who feels enlightened by what new world there is out there compared to being inside the cave. He feels that there is something new outside and is willing to learn about the reality outside the cave in order to enhance his knowledge of what the world has to offer.

7. According to the allegory, lack of clarity or intellectual confusion can occur in two distinct ways or contexts. What are they?
- You can either choose to accept the truth and enhance your knowledge about such things. Or you can also shy away from the truth and choose to now accept the truth. But by not accepting and learning from the truth then you will not become enlightened with knowledge.

8. According to the allegory, how do cave prisoners get free? What does this suggest about intellectual freedom?
- Someone lead a prisoner outside in showing them reality. He was able to learn and adjust to something new. By learning from others he is able to teach others and share the knowledge he now holds. It is just like a teacher student relationship. The teacher shows his ways to the student and he learns off of them to soon lead for himself, and then lead others in teaching what he has learned. It is like a cycle.

9. The allegory presupposes that there is a distinction between appearances and reality. Do you agree? Why or why not?
- . . .
10. If Socrates is incorrect in his assumption that there is a distinction between reality and appearances, what are the two alternative metaphysical assumptions?
- . . .

Literature Anal # 3

The Color Purple  by Alice Walker

1. The Color Purple is a novel about an African American woman named Cecil who struggles throughout life. She had to take the part f her mother when she passed away, and during that time her father rapped. She had two children which she never met. Soon after that she is forced to marry another man who already has children. The children as well as her husband are cruel to her and do not respect her. After a couple of years she adjusts to the life. Her sister Nettie moved in with them for a while but when she refused to have a relationship with Cecil’s husband she was told she could no longer live there. When Nettie left the house she went to be a servant for an African couple and later became a missionary with them in Africa. Cecil not only morns with the loss of her sister but also with the fact that her husband cheats on her with a singer named Shug. After years of having Shug live with them Cecil begins to form a physical as well as emotional relationship with Shug. Together Shug and Cecil discover letters from Nettie to Cecil that her husband had been hiding from her. When Shug announces that she is leaving Cecil says that she will leave as well, she gets the courage to tell her husband how she really feels about him. Cecil begins her own store and becomes very successful. She goes back to the town to discover that her husband is a changed man and while there she is reunited with her sister.

2. The theme of this novel is that strength can be hidden in the people that appear to be weak. This theme mainly applies to Cecil because she started off as a push over and ends up being independent. She is pushed around by everyone at first and then comes out being strong. She dealt with her father abusing her and then with the abuse of her husband. Shug was the person that Cecil needed to push her to be strong.

3. The tone of the novel is serious and tragic. Though there are a couple of happy moments, it is mainly filled with saddness. Since the very beginning Cecil introduces the fact that she was raped and her tone was very somber. She had a very difficult life and spoke of it with a serious tone. The majority of her life was not very good and enjoyable for her. Even when Nettie sent the letters they always contained serious topics and a tragic tone to all she said. Toward the end of the novel it begins to brighten up a bit but Cecil still speaks with a tragic tone.

4. The literary elements in this novel were diction, zenith, and characterization. The diction was used with the slang that Cecil spoke in. It was effective by making this novel more realistic as well as making Cecil more realistic. The zenith occurred when Shug and Cecil found the letters from Nettie. This was a turning point for the way the story took place because Cecil’s attitude changed after this. The characterization added a better idea f the characters. It helped make sense of why they did what they did. For example the death of Cecil’s husbands ex wife explained his cruel attitude.

Sonnet Analysis ( part 1) 

Sonnet Characteristics

- 14 lines. All sonnets have 14 lines which can be broken down into four sections called quatrains.

- A strict rhyme scheme. The rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean sonnet is ABAB / CDCD / EFEF / GG (note the four distinct sections in the rhyme scheme).

- Written in iambic Pentameter. Sonnets are written in iambic pentameter, a poetic meter with 10 beats per line made up of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables.


- A sonnet can be broken down into four sections called quatrains. The first three quatrains contain four lines each and use an alternating rhyme scheme. The final quatrain consists of just two lines which both rhyme.


1) Each quatrain should progress the poem as follows:
First quatrain: This should establish the subject of the sonnet.
Number of lines: 4. Rhyme Scheme: ABAB

2) Second quatrain: This should develop the sonnet’s theme.
Number of lines: 4. Rhyme Scheme: CDCD

3) Third quatrain: This should round off the sonnet’s theme.
Number of lines: 4. Rhyme Scheme: EFEF

4) Fourth quatrain: This should act as a conclusion to the sonnet.
Number of lines: 2. Rhyme Scheme: GG

Big Question ? ? 

It is saddening seeing someone not appreciate their culture and where the ancestors come from. Why do some people just push all that aside, in order to "fit in" with society? Why not take pride in where you come form and show society itself to love their heritage?
After all...this place we call earth is full of diversity, why not Love ourselves first before we can love others...

Vocab # 11

1. affinity- (n) a liking or sympathy for someone or something, especially because of shared characteristic

2. bilious- (adj) relating to an illness caused by too much bile, which can cause vomiting

3. cognate- (adj) describes languages and words that have the same origin, or that are related and in some way similar

4. corollary- (n) something that results from something else

5. cul-de-sac- (n) a short road which is blocked off at one end, a situation which leads nowhere

6. derring-do- (n) brave action taken without considering the danger involved

7. divination- (n) the skill or act of saying or discovering what will happen in the future

8. elixir- (n) a substance, usually a liquid, with a magical power to cure, improve or preserve

9. folderol- (n) a showy but worthless trifle, foolish nonsense

10. gamut- (n) the whole range of things that can be included in something

11. hoi polloi- (plural noun) ordinary people

12. ineffable- (adj) causing so much emotion, especially pleasure, that it cannot be described

13. lucubration- (n) laborious work, study, thought, etc.. especially at night.

14. mnemonic- (n) something such as a very short poem or a special word used to help a person remember something

15. obloquy- (n) censure, blame or abusive language aimed at a person or thing, especially by numerous persons or by the public.

16. parameter- (n) a set of facts or a fixed limit which establishes or limits how something can or must happen or be done

17. pundit- (n) a person who knows a lot about a particular subject and is therefore often asked to give an opinion about it

18. risible-(adj) not effective or useful; stupid

19. symptomatic-(adj) If something bad is symptomatic of something else, it is caused by the other thing and is proof that it exists

20.volte-face- (n) a sudden change from one set of beliefs or plan of action to the opposite

Sonnet!

Soneto XVII by Pablo Neruda

o te amo como si fueras rosa de sal, topacio

o flecha de claveles que propagan el fuego:

te amo como se aman ciertas cosas oscuras,

secretamente, entre la sombra y el alma.

Te amo como la planta que no florece y lleva

dentro de sí, escondida, la luz de aquellas flores,

y gracias a tu amor vive oscuro en mi cuerpo

el apretado aroma que ascendió de la tierra.

Te amo sin saber cómo, ni cuándo, ni de dónde,

te amo directamente sin problemas ni orgullo:

así te amo porque no sé amar de otra manera,

sino así de este modo en que no soy ni eres,

tan cerca que tu mano sobre mi pecho es mía,

tan cerca que se cierran tus ojos con mi sueño.

Translation

Love Sonnet 17

I don't love you as if you were the salt-rose, topaz
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as certain dark things are loved,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that doesn't bloom and carries
hidden within itself the light of those flowers,
and thanks to your love, darkly in my body
lives the dense fragrance that rises from the earth.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you simply, without problems or pride:
I love you in this way because I don't know any other way of loving
but this, in which there is no I or you,
so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.

AP HAMLET PLN

http://costelloaplit.blogspot.com/p/teacher-info.html

This blog is an AP English teachers which is some what similar to ours. But I am only posting his blog up because his students blogs give good information and they are structured very similar to ours. This way if anyone needs help with a book or anything then, his students should be a wonderful resource.

 http://lainhartfiles.blogspot.com/

This is another blog that I found with some helpful information. Check it out if your interested.

http://video.pbs.org/video/1473795626

Hamlet video! In case anyone was wanting the FULL understanding of the play. The movie helped me break it down more after reading the book.

Vocabulary #10

1) aficionado- (n) someone who is very interested in and enthusiastic about a particular subject

2) browbeat- (verb) to try to force someone to do something by threatening them or persuading them forcefully and unfairly

3) commensurate- (adj) in a correct and suitable amount compared to something else

4) diaphanous- (adj) describes a substance, especially cloth, which is so delicate and thin that you can see through it

5) emolument- (n) a payment in money or some other form that is made for work that has been done

6) foray- (n) a short involvement in an activity which is different from and outside the range of a usual set of activities

7) genre- (n) a style, especially in the arts, that involves a particular set of characteristics

8) homily- (n) a piece of spoken or written advice about how someone should behave

9) immure- (verb) to enclose within walls

10) insouciant- (n) a relaxed and happy way of acting without feeling worried or guilty

11) matrix- (n) the set of conditions which provides a system in which something grows or develops

12) obsequies-(obsequy -noun) A funeral right or ceremony

13) panache- (n) a stylish, original and very confident way of doing things that makes people admire you

14) persona- (n) the particular type of character that a person seems to have, which is often different from their real or private character

15) philippic- (n) a bitter or impassioned speech of denunciation; invective

16) prurient- (adj) too interested in the details of another person's sexual behaviour

17) sacrosanct- (adj) thought to be too important or too special to be changed

18) systemic- (adj) A systemic problem or change is a basic one, experienced by the whole of an organization or a country and not just particular parts of it

19) tendentious- (adj) (of speech or writing) expressing or supporting a particular opinion which many other people disagree with

20) vicissitude- (plural noun) changes which happen at different times during the life or development of someone or something, especially those which result in conditions being worse

Literature Analysis # 2

Brave New World  by Aldous Huxely

GENERAL
1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read, and explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of same).

The plot of Brave New World has this one goal in mind which is technological progress. It describes how there society revolves around industry, economy, and technological growth and improvement. The town is brain washed since the day they were conceived. The babies were already being programmed into there designated life style. The scientist controlled everything that went being closed doors. They decided whether what type of baby they will be. There were the babies that received the DNA into becoming Beta children (scientist, teachers, doctors, etc.) Then you would also get the Epsilons  that were the dumbest kids, so they'd probably receive a job working as janitors for example.The Deltas were in between the Beta's and the Epsilon's."Delta children wore khaki. Oh no, I don't want to pay with the Delta children. And Epsilon's are still worse. They're too stupid to be able to read and write. Besides they wear black, which is such a beastly colour. I'm so glad I'm a Beta." (page 35) The author's purpose for this novel is to portray how the future could end one day. Technology will soon be inside every home and will become dependent on it. 

2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.
The theme revolves around the idea of technology uprising the industrialism and the economic system. How the advancement of science can affect the human immorality.
Inside Utopia they are big on invention. believing in creating something new rather than repairing it.
"Ending is better than mending, ending is better than mending."  (page 55)

3. Describe the author's tone. Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).
The tone appears to be happy at first, everything is well put together and things seem to be working fine.The principle is speaking to the children and giving them a tour in the science facility and he is proud of the work that is being done inside those walls.
"Outside, in the garden, it was playtime. Naked in the warm June sunshine, six or seven hundred little boys and girls were running with shrill yells over the lawns, or playing ball games, or squatting silently in twos and threes among the flowering shrubs. The roses were in bloom, two nightingales soliloquized in the boskage, a cuckoo was just going out of tune among the lime trees. The air was drowsy with the murmur of bees and helicopters." (page 37)
Disillusionment is an important tone that is expressed through out the novel. For example, the towns people can not really have  "formal relationships", in fact they they prefer them to have just relations with one another. "I really do think you ought to be careful. it's such a horribly bad form to go on and on like this with one man. At forty, or thirty-five, it wouldn't be so bad. but at your age, Lenina! No it really won't do. (page 46)

4. Describe a minimum of ten literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your readers. (Please include edition and page numbers for easy reference.)

Alliteration- "Ending is better than mending, ending is better than mending"  (page 55)

Dialogue- "Explain what?"
                          "This." He indicated the pueblo. "That." And it was the little house outside the village. "Everything. All your life."
             "But what is there to say?"
                         "From the beginning. as far back as you can remember."
             "As far back as I can remember." John frowned. There was a long silence.  (page 116)

figurative language-  "to reconstruct. As though we were living on different planets, in the different centuries. A mother, and all this dirt, and gods, and old age, and disease..."  (page 116)

Hyperbole- "Like drums, like the men singing for the corn, like magic, the words repeated and repeated themselves in his head. From being cold he was suddenly hot. His cheeks burnt with the rush of blood, the room swam and darkened before his eyes."  (page 124)

Irony- "But cleanliness is next to fordliness," she insisted.
           "Yes, and civilization is sterilization," Bernard went on, concluding on a tone of irony the second hypnopaedic lesson in elementary hygiene."  (page 105)

imagery- "For suddenly there had swarmed up from those round chambers underground a ghastly troop of monsters."  (page 10)


CHARACTERIZATION
1. Describe two examples of direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization.  Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end (i.e., what is your lasting impression of the character as a result)?


Direct- "Solved  by standard Gammas, unvarying Deltas, uniform Epsilons. Millions of identical twins. The principal of mass production at least applied to biology...Ninety- six seemed to be the limit; seventy-two a good average. From the same ovary and with gametes of the same male to manufacture as many batches of identical twins as possible- that was the best ( sadly a second best) that they could do." (page 19)
The Director is directing this to the Science lab where all the babies are made. Explaining how much better they would be if they can produce a mass production of babies as fast as possible. There goal is to produce as many babies with in a short time, that way they can double up with the end result, which would be babies.

 Indirect-  "I'd simply love to go with you for a week in July," she went on. (Anyhow, she was publicly proving her unfaithfulness to Henry. Fanny ought to be pleased, even though it was Bernard) "That is," Lenina gave him her most delicious significant smile, "if you still want to have me."
Lenina here is just expressing how she likes to meet more guys and have more than one relation compared to just sticking with one guy. It shows how she is unfaithful and how she is just throwing herself at him means she doesn't have much respect for herself. She rather enjoy herself.  

2. Does the author's syntax and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character?  How?  Example(s)?
"...upwards of five thousand kilometres of fencing at sixty thousand volts." (page 98)
One of the settings in the novel takes place in London and there spelling of measurement is different from the United States. Lenina gave off a perfect example of kilometres vs. kilometers.
"Try to realize what it was like to have a viviparous mother"   (page 42)
Viviparous meaning bringing forth living young. Producing babies through feeding an egg, or in the sense of producing seeds that germinate on the plant
3. Is the protagonist static or dynamic?  Flat or round?  Explain.
" A love of nature keeps no factories busy. It was decided to abolish the love of nature, at  any rate among the lower classes; to abolish the love of nature, but not the tendency to consume transport. For of course it was essential that they should keep going to the country, even though they hated it. The problem was to find an economically sounder reason for consuming transport than a mere affection for primroses and landscapes. It was duly found."
This shows the characters to be static and flat. They are programmed to not enjoy the beauty of nature but enjoy the idea to travel into the country. Transport out to the country so they can help out the economy when it comes to relations with money, industries, or businesses.

4. After reading the book did you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character?  Analyze one textual example that illustrates your reaction.
"now we proceed to rub in the lesson with a mild electric shock... The screaming babies suddenly changed its tone. There was something desperate, almost insane, about the sharp spasmodic yelps to which they now gave utterance. Their little bodies twitched and stiffened; their limbs moved jerkily as if to the tug of unseen wires...at the approach of the roses, at the mere sight of those gaily-coloured images of pussy and cock-a-doddle-doo and baa-baa black sheep, the infants shrank away in horror; the volume of their howling suddenly increased...Books and loud noises, flowers and electric shocks- already in the infant mind these couples were compromisingly  linked; and after two hundred repetitions of the same or similar lesson would be webbed indissolubly." (page 30)
This has to be one of my favorite passages in the novel because, so soon in the beginning it is explaining how it programs the babies to like and dislike certain things. They program all the humans to fit the needs of their Utopian world. So they can improve economically, and technology wise. The humans are the consumers and the humans are programmed to consume what can benefit, not themselves, but the world.
This story is very out there and it just makes you think how twisted their world is compared to ours. There main motifs are efficiency, production, and consumerism. When you compare it to our motifs and values which happen to be family, love and success. 

Premiering Today!! HAMLET

Watch the Film

I apologize for the travel of leaving my blog just to watch the movie. If anyone has any suggestions of uploading the film straight to blogger where you can watch on there then just comment. It would be very helpful for future reference!

Vocab # 9    RemiX

1)  Abortive- falling to succeed
ex,  Failure? Or that moment before success..

2) Bruit- any general abnormal sound or murmur
ex, Noise

3) Contumelious- scornful and insulting behavior
ex, Rudeness

4) Dictum- a formal pronouncement from an authorization source
ex, Principal lecturing a student

5) Ensconce- established or settle
ex, Coming to an agreement

7) Iconoclastic- characterized by attack on established beliefs or institutions

8) In Medias res- a narrative that begins somewhere in the middle of a story rather than the beginning
ex, Babel

9) Internecine- Destructive to both sides in a conflict
ex, Two wrongs don't make a right

10) Maladroit- ineffective or bungling; clumsy
ex, Deena from the Jersey Shore

11) Maudlin- self-pitying or tearfully sentimental, often through drunkenness
ex, drunk

12) Modulate- exert a modifying or controlling influence on \
ex, Modelo beer

13) Portentous- of or like a portent; done in a pompously or overly solemn manner
ex, hinting; indicating something

14) Prescience- the power to foresee the future
ex, psychic

15) Quid pro qou- a favor or advantage granted in return for something
ex, exchange; incentive

16) Salubrious- health-giving, healthy
ex, salud (health)

17)Saturnalia- the ancient Roman festival of Saturn in December; an occasion of wild revelry
ex, noisy party

18) Touchstone- a standard or criterion by which something is judged or recognized
ex, good/bad criticism

19) Vitiate- spoil or impair the quality or efficiency of; destroy or impair the legal validity
ex, value of a new car goes down once you drive it off the car lot

20) Waggish- humorous in playful, mischievous, or facetious manner
ex, The Three Stooges

tools that change the way we think..

Many people now own there own smartphones and have very equipped technology. Technology is very handy when it comes to finding something quick and easy. Something just straight to the point. Sure a quick fix answer is helpful, when in need. But we are slowly using less and less of our brains to do the work in finding the answers. we simply let a machine find it for us. We are not allowing ourselves to blossom into a full flower because we let things get in our way. I am gonna compare myself and my dad. our knowledge of the internet and of web sources are not at the same level. He is not as handy with computers and doesn't know how many sources there are out there on the internet. now whether they're safe or not...That's a whole other topic. I tend to find myself impatient when he is on the computer and wants to show me something that he found. He isn't as quick and to the point as I can tend to be. But his generation didn't have all the technology that my generation has. So of course it is all so new to him. I am also gonna compare myself with the babies that are being born today. These kids will grow up and will have technology surrounding them like crazy. I remember in first grade the LeapFrog was this cool new way to read books and to help us understand language. All of us kiddos found it supper cool and were so amazed by what that was. Well I now a days how much it has upgraded and I am amazed by how much LeapFrog has transformed. It was nothing like it is now compared to back then. I believe it is going to be something interesting to live through. How much technology we have and how the people will take it all in. Its pretty scary some to think of it.

"Who was Shakespeare?" 

1) Shakespeare was borne in the year 1564 and died the year 1616. Shakespeare was the son of a merchant. William Shakespeare achieved some success as an actor, poet, and a play-write. His 38 plays he wrote or collaborated have firmly established his reputation as the greatest dramatist who every lived.
(  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/merchant/shakespeare.html  ) I used Duckduckgo.com as my search engine.

Coming into high school I heard about how Shakespeare wrote the infamous Romeo and Juliet. This was the most well known play to me that was by W. Shakespeare. I felt a bit intimidated to read work written by W. Shakespeare. But, now I enjoy reading his work and I find it rather interesting and quiet different. Since Shakespeare was soooo back then in the 1500's and early 1600's, It is kind of mysterious to find out personal information, like exact dates of events he had in his life. I  am pretty many other students feel lost when reading his literature. I am one of them. But as we have broken it down and using other resources to help gives us the better understanding I am gradually learning to understand Shakespeare language. Once you read in between the lines then you can find some things to be quiet humorous. But the name alone is, like I said before intimidating...
His work over the years was split up into four different parts,
1-  Medieval Tragedies (1589-95)
2- "Joyous" Comedies (1595-1600)
3-  Great Tragedies (1600-08)
               - Included  Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth
4-  Romantic Tragedies (1608-1613)
              - Included The Tempest

I understand how Shakespeare's writing expressed a profound understanding of the nature of humanity. Some of the language he uses still confuses me at times and it can get tricky. Since his writing was written in the 1500's, he exclaims about some things that were used back then or relates to things of the time period.

" To Facebook or Not to FACEBOOK?"

Well I have had my Facebook since my freshman year. And I began using Facebook only because Myspace was changing into something different, something that was filled with adds and it was becoming more "user friendly". Facebook just seemed something new and it was way easier then Myspace. I began using Facebook more often then I should have. But you just can not help it but, talk to your friends and see what cool things there were to Like and you could have a mass conversation with all your friends. IM was always pretty cool in my opinion. Facebook was my door out to contact the outside world from my house, especially since I did not own a phone then.
A great benefit with Facebook is being able to inform yourself with the cyber world. You were able to contact friends and family who might live in another country. Facebook was always informed first with new drama (but that isn't what is important here..) People were able to create pages, and with these pages they can upload information about anything, could be something informative about a crisis that is happening somewhere around that world and they want to reach out to other people of different communities who can possibly help in some way.
Not only is Facebook great in informing yourself with news feed about anything, but it there can be the risk of strangers contacting younger people. And of course you can't fully trust the internet because you will never know what type of person is following your every move. That is why we should be careful and not put personal information out on the internet.
After reading the article, it helped me realize of how Facebook has become robotic. I say robotic because it is programmed to follow our Likes of pages, music, places, anything. It has very much become personalized, so personalized that it almost does the thinking for us. Every time we Like something an add might come up within the next 24 hours about something similar to what we Liked. I believe everyone should be informed on how personalized Google, Facebook, and other sites have become. So they can have a taste of how the information of themselves is being processed through the internet.

Hamlet Remix!

Act 3. sc. 1

Hamlet  -  Get thee <to> a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had not borne me: I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offenses at my beck than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act them in. What should such fellows as I do crawling between earth and heaven? We are arrant knaves <all;> believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery. Where's your father?

This has to be one of my favorite scenes so far. I find it very humors how Hamlet just straight out tells Ophelia that she shouldn't even bother with him, in fact it is just best if she goes to a convent rather than produce. Hamlet is still trying to find who he is as a person, and being in the situation he is put it, it makes the journey ten times harder. He is in a sea of confusion. dealing with love, his mothers actions, and the killer of his father.

My Vocab Mid-term Autopsy

1) I did not do as well as I expected. It is my fault personally, didn't give myself enough time to practice the vocab words.

2) I need to study the words so I can become fluent with them. That way I will be able to use them in the future and make it apart of my daily language.

3) In preparation of the final I will need to not only practice each week's words but as well as all the words we have had all semester long. And also I should try using them in my every day language.

Vocab List # 8

1. abeyance- a state of temporary disuse or suspension

2. ambivalent- having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas of something or someone

3. beleaguer- set with difficulties

4. carte blanche- complete freedom to act as one wishes or thinks

5. cataclysm- a large-scale and violent event in the natural world

6. debauch- destroy or debase the moral purity of; corrupt

7. eclat- enthusiastic approval

8. fastidious- very attentive and concerned about accuracy and detial

9. gambol- run or jump about playfully

10. imbue- inspire or permeate with a feeling or quality

11. inchoate- just begun and not so fully formed or developed

12. lampoon- publicly criticized (someone or something) by using ridicule or sarcasm

13. malleable- easily influenced; pliable

14. nemesis- the inescapable or implacable agent of someones or somethings downfall

15. opt- make a choice of a range of possibilities

16. philistine- a person who is hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts, or who has no understanding of them

17. picaresque- of or relating to an episodic style of fiction dealing with the adventures of  a rough and dishonest but appealing hero

18. queasy- nauseated; feeling sick

19. refractory- stubborn or unmanageable

20.  savior-fair - the ability to act and speak appropriately in social situations
   

Reflection on Midterm

1) I studied the days prior to the test and felt some what confident. But coming to the test and sitting there just waiting I told myself to be confident and just relax and basically have a positive attitude while taking the test.

2) I didn't give myself enough time to study as much as I would have liked too. And when i was taking the test I was surprised in how many words I did remember and didn't leave so many blanked. But there were those blank moments were i just could not remember the word and the extra help in studying would of helped more.

3) After the taking the test, through out the day I was just going over some of the words that I still remembered and would just keep telling myself the definitions. I want the words to stick and am going to have to get use to putting the words into context. To keep practicing them.

4) Next time I am going to take the test much more seriously and be even more confident and just believe in myself more so I can receive the result I want to earn.

First Presidential Debate ! Obama vs. Romney  

If you didn't get a chance to watch the debate live well here is the link to www.cnn.com 

Comment if you have anything to say! 

http://www.cnn.com/election/2012/debates/first-presidential-debate

Hamlet! Full movie

If anyone would like to watch the full movie of Hamlet, well here is one source that I have found so far. It is off PBS.org. Comment and let me know what you think!

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/episodes/hamlet/watch-the-film/980/

Dear Ophelia,

Love is a very beautiful thing in life and everyone should feel the wonderful feeling of love. It can be a hard subject to touch on at times because some people are just too sensitive. The key is just trying to figure out the way to go about with Love.  But don't get me wrong when your so full of beatitude your can get lost in the feeling of love. You begin to blind yourself from reality. And having your father and brother advising you that it might not be such a good idea probably is best. In there point of view they believe it is a quixotic relationship. But now if you choose to go against your family then a vendetta might occur.. Especially how your father and brother see the situations your prince is in they do not want you to get in a parlous relationship. Now to expound my opinion of all this your family's opinion should come into consideration. And if they see something that you might not, that is possibly not healthy for you well in the end you are going to need the volition to try and make the most reasonable decision. Maybe if you and the prince can coalesce abut things and be civil then there is nothing wrong with that either. But falling into a relation would be risky with his life style.

Mid-term vocab study strategy !

-Rosa, Ruth and I have decided to work together. And we are going to re-write all the words because that is how we learn best. by re-writing the material.
-An idea I had was if we can use the words and create a word search. It can be fun and creative.

Pre- Will Questions

a) What do you know about Hamlet, the "Melancholy Dane" ?
-- I have not read anything from Hamlet. I for sure has heard about him and knows he has written literature. The definition of "melancholy" is having to do with something sad or gloomy. So I would want to assume that the story is not going to be in such a upbeat mood.

b) What do you know about Shakespeare?
-- Shakespeare was an amazing writer. He wrote poems and discovered new styles of writing poems. His literature was in the romantic period.

c) Why do so many students involuntarily frown when they hear the name "Shakespeare"?
-- Students are not even aware exactly what Shakespeare offers in his literature. They just know that it is going to be a lot of reading and has to deal with romanticism.

d) What can we do to make studying this play an amazing experience we'll never forget?
-- My summer entering freshman year I went to Cal Poly, part of the Upward Bound summer program were we would take classes like English, math and science that will help us prepare for the up coming school year. Well in my freshman English class we read Romeo and Juliet. Our teacher wanted to make it fun for us so we would read the scenes and then we would draw them out on a paper, share how we would imagine the scene and then we would head outside and try and act out the scenes. I enjoyed acting the scenes out because i got us moving and not just sitting down at a desk and just reading/ discussing the reading. We got to be active and creative. Which attracts many people.

Vocab list # 7

1. aberration (noun)- an optical phenomenon resulting from the failure of a lens or mirror to produce a good image
-My mother panicked when there was an aberration getting in the way.

2. ad hoc (adverb)- for the special purpose or end presently under consideration
-The rules of the dance class were ad hoc.

3. bane (noun)- something causes misery or death
-Drugs and alcohol were bane in my cousin's life.

4. bathos  (noun)- a change from a serious subject to a disappointing one; insincere pathos
-If all the reading homework was not due my Monday then it was a real bathos for completing it all the day before

5. cantankerous (adj)- stubbornly obstructive and unwilling to cooperate.
-Rosa is so cantankerous when her blood level is low.

6. casuistry (noun)- moral philosophy based on the principles to resolve moral dilemmas.
-I am not convinced of such casuistry because I am not convinced that apples are better than grapes.

7. de facto (noun)- in the fact; in reality
-De facto is that green is a much more brighter color then blue.

8. depredation (noun)- an act of plundering ; (usually plural) a destructive action
-Each farm was matched with a similar farm with out wolf depredation.

9. empathy (noun)- understanding and entering into another's feelings
-My dad felt some empathy for my sister after her break-up.

10. harbinger (noun)- an indication of the approach of something or someone (verb) foreshadow or presage
-Harbinger of things to come.

11. hedonism (noun)- an ethical system that evaluates the pursuit of pleasure as the highest good
-There are limits in a doctrine of pure hedonism.

12. lackluster (adj)- lacking luster or shine
-My ring lackluster's which means I have to go get it cleaned.

13. malcontent (adj)- disconnected as toward authority; (noun) a person who is disconnected or disgusted
-The child malcontent with his father after the argument.

14. mellifluous (adj)- pleasing to the ear
-The sweet music was mellifluous to the baby's ear.

15. nepotism (noun)- favoritism shown to relatives or close friends by those in power
-My dad has nepotism towards my baby sister.

16. pander (noun)- someone who procures customers for whores (verb) arrange for sexual partners for others
-The pander was loosing business and needed new costumers.

17. peccadillo (noun)- a petty misdeed
-My aunt didn't feel anything towards my baby cousins peccadillo.

18. piece of resistance (noun)- the most noteworthy or prized feature, aspect, event article etc. ; special item or attraction.
-My award was the piece of resistance of my whole ceremony.

19. remand (noun)- the act of sending an accused person back into custody to await trial (verb) refer to another committee or authority or court for decision
-The guilty man had to be remanded after new evidence was found.

20. syndrome (noun)- a complex of concurrent things;
-The new born baby was diagnose with down syndrome.

Literature Analysis Q & A's 1-4
 Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya

1- The story is about a little boy named Antonio Marez. The setting is Guadalupe, New Mexico around the 1940's. During WWII. Antonio is the third child following his two older brothers who are away at war. The towns curandera, Ultima, moves in with the family with the mothers beliefs that Antonio will value the ideas of  her ways and the Catholic ways. Antonio falls in love with the type of person Ultima is and how she helps heals people from evil or any illnesses. He enjoys all the time he can spend with her. Antonio's parents are pressuring him to follow either in his fathers footsteps, to become a vaquero, or a priest which is what his mother wants him to be. There is some evil that is going through the town because the town drunk is a crazy and his three daughters are believed to associate themselves with witchcraft, so they have brought evil upon they're family. It is believed that the sisters have placed a cursed on Antonio's uncle and it is up to Ultima and Antonio to help replenish him from the curse. Antonio is offered plenty of information and different belief paths of life. He feels pressured whether to follow His mothers or his fathers, friends, and he basically is just finding himself and what he wants to personally believe in. He is molding his life and his beliefs, does not want to follow or feed off the beliefs of others. In the end Antonio is left with so much knowledge to continue the ways of a curandero and he can be there for the people just like Ultima was there for everyone who asked for her help.

2. One important theme throughout this novel is the importance of your identity. Antonio is trying to discover who he really is. But he is influenced by so much, through language barriers, vaqueros vs. priest, and his culture. He is so determined to find one solid answer to the questions he has, about who is, what his purpose in the future is. But what Ultima tries to advice him with is that whether he has so many influences around him, that he should take advantage of it all and just let it all teach him to be a better person. He doesn't need a title but he should just be the better person in cases when he is needed and just in general.

3.-The author held a very mysterious feel to the story. Was a bit eerie and left the reader in suspense.

   "The orange of the golden carp appeared at the end of the pond... Out of the corner 

of my eyes I saw Cico hold his hand over his breast as the golden carp glided by.

Then with a switch of his powerful tail the golden carp disappeared in the 

shadowy water under the thicket."

 -  He also claims how the characters need to be mindful about things that are going on. The authors tone is very humble. Especially when he explains Ultima and her ways of doing things. She is a very patient and humble lady who is very wise about life.

" The tragic consequences of life can be overcome by the magical strength

that resides in the human heart."

- There is the tone of honoring the wise. Feeling proud and thankful for what good they have done. Honoring the dead and appreciating them.

"In two days we would celebrate the mass of the dead, and after mass we would 

take her body to the cemetery of Las Pasturas, for burial."

4.- Throughout the novel the author used personification to help convey what his meaning behind the story was. And to help the reader have a better understanding of things. 

"The sun was good. The men of the llano were men of the sun. The men of the farms along the rivers

were men of the moon. But we were all children of the white sun."

"There are so many dreams to be fulfilled, but Ultima says a man's destiny must unfold itself like a flower, with only the sun and the earth and water making it blossom, and no one else meddling in it."

- Anaya uses a lot of imagery. With this element he is able to help paint a picture in the readers mind.

"Around me the moonlight glittered on the pebbles of the llano, and in the night sky a million stars sparkled. Across the river I could see the twinkling lights of the town.

"They will burn sulfur instead of holy incense. They will sing and dance around her coffin, pulling at their hair and flesh. They will slay a rooster and spread his blood on their dead sister."

- Metaphors were used through out the writing to help compare and explain in detail a picture to the readers mind. Antonio is explaining what amazing things Ultima has done for him and how much she has opened his eyes too.

"Ultima came to stay with us the summer I was almost seven. When she came the beauty of the llano unfolded before my eyes, and the gurgling waters of the river sang to the hum of the turning earth. The magical time of childhood stood still, and the pulse of the living earth pressed its mystery into my living blood."

Question # 1


(1987 AP Essay)






With every new generation comes new customs, traditions, ways of living, fashion, and more enhanced tools that we use in our daily life. George Eliot claims about how "old Leisure" was a very different life style growing up too compared the new Leisure. Eliot uses personification and imagery has her stylistic devices to support her view.


Eliot uses the element of personification describing the "old" and the "new" style of leisure. An example, of the "old" is, "He was contemplative, rather stout gentlemen, of excellent digestion-of quiet perceptions,

undiseased by hypothesis: happy is his inability to know to causes of things, preferring themselves." With this she is claiming how back then in the "olden days" the people were much more less worry free about their day. "Happy is his inability to know to causes of things," is contradicting the idea of how the "old" days were. It is expressing that the people were happier even though they might have been the cause of something bad that had happened to themselves. As in the "new" or "modern" generation people are more laid back abut life and just let technology run things for them.


Imagery was a literary element that stood out a lot. Eliot expressed several examples in her writing. For instance in describing the "old" leisure she claimed,"He lives chiefly in the country: among pleasant seats and homesteads, ad was fond of sauntering be the fruit-tree wall, and scenting the apricots when they warmed by the morning sunshine of sheltering himself under the orchard boughs at noon, when the summer pears were falling." We are given painted picture of where he is living and the surroundings. The old was characterized with the beauty of nature, the calm living life style. As for the "new" more fast pace going life style; Eliot shows us how the "modern" life style is. "a vacuum for eager for amusement: prone to excursion-trains, art museums, periodical literature, and exciting novels, prone even to scientific theorising, and cursory peeps through microscopes.” Through technology we the people are learning new life styles to live by. We have been given the opportunity to enhance our lives with the power of technology to make things easier for us. This is was differentiates us from the two, "old" and "new" styles of leisure.


With this said, Eliot is proving that both generations have varied the life styles of living. Each generation that comes there will be new habits of ways of living life. "Old" leisure was described to be more connected with nature and the beauty of working hard. "New" leisure there is life of using technology to enhance our styles of living. To be able to simple things down for us. And Eliot expressed these both sides very well.

Question # 2

(1987 AP Essay)

The Crucible by Arthur Miller exemplifies social attitudes and political views that go on during the Salem trials. The social status that goes on in town are based off very religious views. The town is following the ideas of Puritans. During the Salem witch trials the towns people expressed a high factor of intolerance. This shows how the town follows the moral laws of conforming into the true religion and follow God with out sin.

The town is a very religion based, giving off the impression that they only live to follow God and must live without sin. Miller gives wonderful examples of how the town reacts too the word that "witch craft" is going on throughout the town. The social attitude about when the word has been spread, the town reacts hysterically about the sinning that is going on. Miller expresses how society is so captured through religion and how society has no real privacy. The social attitudes being expressed in this play are how the towns folks live with no privacy, follow the word of God, and they are so terrified having the thought that someone upon them has sinned. Constructing your life to follow God and have no private life is the society that have formed to become. Living with practically one eye open because the town is paranoid that witch craft is going on, is not the life style to live by.

The towns political views are expressed how they follow Gods word and believe if a person has sinned then the person should go to court and be humiliated in front of the town. The town "resolves" their problems through court and hold trials to see what the conclusion of their issue is. All the people focus how everyone is sinning by lying and should be hung for their actions. Rather then trying to forgive a person, they believe in getting rid of the "problem". 

In conclusion, The Crucible holds examples of it's social attitudes that the town holds. And it's political views of solving situations that go through out the town. Their social attitudes results in paranoia and believing that the whole town is bewitched. And their style of "resolving" issues is by just getting rid of the problem. 

Vocab # 6
0. obsequious- obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree.
My dog is very obsequious only when he receives a doggy treat.

1. beatitude- supreme blessedness
Knowing my brother came back home safely from his trip up north was a beatitude for my family.

2. bete noir- a person or thing that one in particularly dislikes
All the "swagger kids" are a bete noir to parents since they are hoodlums.

3. bode- be an omen of a particular outcome
The little old lady is bode to her granddaughters out come of her situation.

4. dank- unpleasantly damp or humid
The dank room had an eerie feel to it.

5. ecumenical- universal
The college pertained ecumenical to all nationalities since they believed in diversity.

6. fervid- intensely enthusiastic or passionate
My mother was so fervid about her plants once a flower bud would come out.

7.  fetid- having a immense odor; stinking
My brothers feet had an immense fetid funk to it.

8. gargantuan- gigantic; enormous
There was such a gargantuan whale on the beach that had been dead for three days.

9. heyday- the stage or period of greatest vigor; success
Most successful peoples heyday is when they're at the peak of they're job.

10. incubus- a cause of distress or anxiety.
After my grandmother passes away, my dad had to deal with the incubus of the pain.

11. infrastructure- the basic; framework
The infrastructure of the family had to be strong so the family doesn't fall apart.

12. inveigle- to entice; lure (usually followed by into)
Old creepy mean tend to inveigle young girls to get what the man wants

13. kudos- honor, glory, acclaim
Kudos to my mother for getting a promotion at her new job.

14. lagniappe- small gift given to a costumer with its purchase; bonus, compliment
I received a lagniappe after purchasing a $100 worth of make-up from Mary Kay.

15. prolix- extended in length, long and wordy,
The writer got carried away and prolix's the introduction.

16. protege- a person under the patronage, protection,
The kings son was a protege for being so gifted as a pianist.

17. prototype- the original or model of which something is based or formed
The prototype of the ship was ruined once a colleague spilled coffee on the blue prints.

18. sycophant- self seeking, fawning parasite
The sycophant of a brother that I have managed to wiggle himself into a new government job.

19. tautology- needless repetition of an idea, especially in words other than those in the immediate context
Tautology is practiced by all high school students when they want to make themselves appear bigger then what knowledge they have.

20. truckle- to submit or yield obsequiously or tamely (usually followed by to)
The obsequious dog was acting truckled towards his owner.

2011 AP Essay rubric notes

- scoring = essay as a whole ; content, style, mechanics

9-8 - range of interpretations, demonstrate consistent and control over the elements in composition in language.
       - very specific references, demonstrate good writing that is clear and sophisticated,

7-6 - reasonable analysis/ literary devices,
      - less thorough less precise in the discussion of the father/son
      -ability to express ideas clearly, make references to text, just not as highly as to a score of a 9-8 essay

5 - plausible reading in use of literary devices to develop the relationship from father to son.
   - often rely on paraphrase, literary devices may be vague, formulaic, or minimally supported by references of the text.
   - minor misinterpretations, demonstrate some control of language, essay not as well conceived or organized as the essay's pertaining the scores of 7-8

This quote by John Lennon can always put a smile on my face. :)
It reminds me that when life is hard you can always find those little things in life that bring you back to that happy state of mind. This quote also says how close of a connection there is between a mother and her child.  I know when I ever need help in something I can go to my mom and she will be gladly to help. This week started off rough for me. And I remembered this quote. It reminded me that life is beautiful and I should let the negative thoughts out and let happy thoughts in. Once your able to accept the way things turned out (can be from any trouble or hard truth that someone can not accept) then it shows that your a growing as a person and maturing. So quote the famous Bob Marley, "Don't worry, be happy". After all we only live one life. So lets make the best out of it.

Vocab list #5
1. acumen- keen insight; shrewdness.
Remarkable acumen in business matters.

2. anachronism- an error in chronology in which a person, object etc. are assigned a date or a period not in the correct one.

3. apocryphal- false; spurious
He told a apocryphal story about how the breakup happened but the truth was later revealed.

4. disparity- lack of similarity or equality
The woman was constantly reminded about the disparity of wealth.

5. dissimulate- to disguise or conceal under a false appearance

6. empirical- derived from or guided by experience or experiment


7. flamboyant- strikingly brilliant; colorful
The flamboyant colors of the Mexican dress really popped.

8. fulsome- offensive to good taste, especially as being excessive
A table filled with a heaped of fulsome greasy foods.

9. immolate- to sacrifice, destroy by fire
The brother sacrificed himself to save his mother.

10. imperceptible- very slight or gradual, or subtle
The imperceptible road was quiet steep.

11. lackey- a servile flower, toady
In danger of humiliation he sent a lackey to sit next to him.

12. liaison-the contact or connection maintained by communications between units of the armed forces or of any other organization in order to ensure concerted action,cooperation
It would have been against their principles to remark on an open liaison.

13. monolithic- consisting of one piece made by stone
The monolithic cow heard is now prone to disease.

14. mot juste- the exact appropriate word.
My mom had to find the mot juste way to not use profanity.

15. nihilism- total rejection of established laws and institutions

16. patrician- a person of very good background, education, or good refinement
Tom cruise could be cast in a role as a patrician senator.

17. propitiate- to make favorably inclined; conciliate

18. sic- used in brackets to show an error written off of the original copy

19. sublimate- divert into a culturally higher or socially more sociable activity