Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller L.A.

General

1. So we are quickly introduced to the main characters of the story, Willy, Biff, and Happy.They're just an average American Family looking to make ends meat. At this point Willy is returning from a Salesman trip but has come home empty handed and is exhausted. We are introduced to his sons Biff and Happy and although he critisizes them he still loves them and is very proud of them. Later that day when Biff and Happy are alone we get to hear the first instances of the American Dream when Happy and Biff are talking about the future. Also later that night Willy starts having flashbacks and talking to himself and it wakes the whole family and Linda soon tells the sons that Willy has tried to commit suicide before. They start talking about a new idea and how theyre life will turn around and they go to sleep thinking tomorrow will bring them new prosperity. The next Act begins with Willy waking up a couple hours later than his sons who are out and about. Willy goes to Howard looking to get a job in New York so he doesnt have to travel everyday but instead Howard fires him telling him that he needs to take a break. He then begins to hallucinate and heads off to meet his sons for dinner. At the restaurant Happy and Biff are talking and Biff explains his whole experience to Happy about how Oliver didnt even know who he was and how their idea was crushed. He couldnt bring himself to tell his dad and they leave with two girls leaving Willy all alone talking to himself. At this point Willy is losing his mind and goes to get seeds to plant in his yard. They go home and Biff talks to Willy about how a bad father he was and says he leave in the morning and never come home, but while crying and Willy sees this crying to him as a sign that he really does love him and in that instance he drives off into the night and we dies. The scene ends with them at Willy's grave looking down. The author captures the idea of the falsity of the American Dream in this novel by showing how this family who is filled with high hopes of the future is quickly struck down.
2. The theme of the play is the falsity of American Dream and how there are high hopes for families in America but not everyones want are met.
3. The authors tone is very serious because he is describing the false hopes and the downfall of an American family in this play. "Oh, Ben, how do we get back to all the great times? Used to be so full of light, and comradeship, the sleigh-riding in winter, and the ruddiness on his cheeks." This shows that the tone is serious because all the good times are in the past now.
4. Metaphor - "Hes only a little boat looking for a harbour"
    Rethorical Question - "Willy: You see what I been talking about? The greatest things can happen!"
    Repetition - Happy is consistently telling the line: "I lost weight, Pop, you notice?"
    Simile - "He's not allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog."
    Imagery - "Gee, look at the moon moving between the buildings."
    Setting - "A melody is heard, played upon a flute. It is small and fine, telling of grass and trees and     the horizon."
    Symbolism - The flute is a symbolism for the life he could have with his and elder Loman making flutes for a living and doing well as a salesman.
    Characterization - "He is a stolid man, in his sixties, with a moustache and an authoritative air."

Characterization

1. Indirect Characterization - "Bernard can get the best marks in school, y'understand, but when he gets out in the the budiness world, y'understand, you are going to be five times ahead of him. so bernard is book smart but not street smart."   "I know it when i walk in. they seem to laugh at me..., Im fat. im very - foolish to look at..." (shows Willy is self conscious.
    Direct Characterization - "He is a large man, slow of speech, laconic, immovable."     "Bernard enters in knickers. He is younger than Biff, earnest and loyal, a worried boy."
Aurther uses both indirect and direct characterization to show a better characterization of the character because its kind of like the saying two heads are better than one.
2. I don't really think that it does because the story is pretty serious the whole time and taking away from that seriousness could really offset the play. Except for in a few instances describing Happy because he is so laid back and carefree.
3. The protagonist is obviously Willy and I think that he is dynamic throughout the story because he begins as a man with a dream to become rich as a salesman and nothing could stop him but as the stroy goies on he soon realizes that that dream is becoming less and less likely and starts to give up and lose his way and sense of self and his hopes.
4. After reading this book I have definitely felt like I have walked away meeting not just a person but a whole family. The American Dream is that just a dream and inorder to go far you have to work for it, it wont just happen and reading about this family failing has really got me to think about that dream and i have learned a lout about this fiction family and have really felt like I have met them because of they hardships they have endured.

Death of a Salesman Act Two Active Reading Notes

• Act begins in the morning after Willy has woken up at 10
• He says that it was the best sleep hes had in months
• Willy is always looking toward the future and what he wants to do in the future
• Just like an average american family he starts talking about his appliances failing when you pay them off and like its timed, well at least i think like that
• metaphor - Hes only a little boat looking for a harbour
• It seems now that in act two their life is starting to turn around  
• Howard introduces a tape recorder of some sort to Willy 
• Willy is trying to get a job from Howard but he keeps turning him down even though they have been friends for a long time 
• shows that Howard has the mindset of a true business man, do what is best for the business no matter what
• Introduces the idea of death of a salesman here with - "When he died - and by the way he died the death of a salesman, in his green velvet slippers in the smoker of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford, going into Boston - when he died, hundreds of salesmen and buyers were at his funeral.
• Willy is fired from his job but Ben offers him a new job in Alaska
• They all go to Biffs football game 
• Willy is very proud of Biff and is proud to be the dad of the captain.
• it seems that all though he hasnt really accomplished much himself his sons have bright fututres and it almost seems like he is jealous of them or wish he could have that
• Also though he wants his sons to grow up and be very successful at the same time
• Willy is still arguing with himself as if he was talking to Charley 
• Willy is getting worse and worse and it seems that the stress is taking a huge toll on him
• Willy is lying to Bernard about Biff and his job he is trying to get just to make Biff look greater
• Willy is headstrong 
• He is starting to get more and more desperate for money as things just keep not going his way and everything else is going for everybody else. true story of the american dream
• So Biff went to get the job idea to Oliver but he realized that Oliver didnt really know him at all and that the plan was going downhill but he didnt want to tell Pop because he doesnt want him to lose himself again
• Biff has a hard time telling Willy what happened becuase he doesnt want to disappoint him
• you can tell because he stutters alot while talking and can quite get it out
• Setting - The light green leaves stains the house, which holds the air of night and a dream
• They keep going into the past to a show what happened like during the football game and the time they tell he flunked math
• Actually Willy keeps seeing what happens in the past and thats why he hears the voices and is talking to himself
• two girls walk in Mrs forsythe from before and Letta
• Willy is having his own episode while everything else is going on 
• its like two stories are going on at the same time. hard to tell since its a play
• Who is "The woman" in his falshback
• Willy cheated on his wife with a girl along time ago and is remembering it
• Music is heard, Willys theme
• apparently willy has his own theme music haha
• The flute starts again
• Willy at this point is slowly losing his mind
• Tone - Oh, Ben, how do we get back to all the great times? Used to be so full of light, and comradeship, the sleigh-riding in winter, and the ruddiness on his cheeks. 
• shows that it is serious and that its a bad time right now
• Biff leaves his father in one of the worst possible ways i can think of and it shows the tone also in this story of the american dream
• Ben is like an imaginary friend to Willy
• Willy drives off into the night and crashes this time killing him
• its later and the family is all staring down at the grave as they look at Willys grave

Death of a Salesman Act One Active Reading Notes

• immediately hit with personification and scenery "A melody is heard, played upon a flute. it is small and fine, telling of grass and trees and the horizon. "
• brought into the house through imagery
• wholly?
• Like how this story is told as a play
• gives it that certain feeling to it(dont know how to describe it)
• The Salesman is Willy Loman 
• Flute noise have significance?
• Linda - wife of Willy
• "Im tired to the death" flute has faded away... forshadow maybe
• Willy has returned from Florida only to think he has to leave again even though he is exhausted
• Linda is very loving and cares for her husband
• Willy loves nature and daydreams while he is driving during his journey
• Happy and Biff are Willy's 2 sons
• It seems that they all straggling for money but too early to tell
• Willy loves his sons but criticizes them for their behavior
• Willy is definitely stressed out in the beginning of the play
• lilac? wistaria?
• The flute appears again
• seems to happen when hes calmer
• Biff is two years older than Happy
• Biff is the more hard worker and the handsome one than Happy 
• They both have very different interests
• they both are lost though but just in different ways
• Biff and Happy are very close
• Biff notices that Willy has been acting strange lately
• "I've always made a point of not wasting my life, and everytime i come back here i know that all i've done is to waste my life" (Biff)
• both idealists
• Its basically the life of an average working household
• Biff plays football 
• Willy is proud of his sons but wants to be a better dad and have a better job.
• Setting is still at home
• Happy is basically like the most popular kid at school
• direct characterization (Bernard enters in knickers. He is younger than Biff, earnest and loyal, a worried boy)
• indirect characterization Bernard can get the best marks in school, y'understand, but when he gets out in the the budiness world, y'understand, you are going to be five times ahead of him. so bernard is book smart but not street smart
• Happy seems to need attention and approval from people 
• Indirect characterization (I know it when i walk in. they seem to laugh at me..., Im fat. im very - foolish to look at...) Willy is a very self conscious person
• Metaphor - There was a man started with the clothes on his back and ended up with diamond mines (Hyperbole probably)
• Direct Characterization - " He is a large man, slow of speech, laconic, immovable."
• "You sneeze in here, and in my house hats blow off"
• Metaphor - When a deposit bottle is broken you don't get your nickel back
• characterization - He is a stolid man, in his sixties, with a moustache and an authoritative air.
• stolid?
• authoritative air? - 
• Charley and Willy talk about traveling for most of their talk
• kind of confused on the whole who died part of act one
• Retohrical question - WILLY: You see what i been talking about? the greatest things can happen!
• Flute comes up again. symbolism but for what?
• Repetition - HAPPY is consistently telling the line: I lost weight, Pop, you notice?
• Once again Willy needs to prove himself to other people that are higher than him and this time by telling Ben that he is going to get his sons and rebuild the porch right away
• Ben is always telling the story of how he went into the jungle at 17 and came out 21. 
• Did he really go into jungle or is jungle just a word for the life of a new worker?
• Willy keeps talking to himself
• Simile - "He's not allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog"
• We find out that Willy has been trying to kill himself for a while now
• Happy comes up with an idea to open a sporting goods store and have the two brothers compete against each other for publicity
• imagery - Gee, look at the moon moving between the buildings.
• The Whole first act is barely even one day 

Multiple Choice Practice

Some more multiple choice practice with 1999 AP Literature and Composition Exam

Here are my answers:

  1. B

  2. B

  3. C

  4. E

  5. B

  6. D

  7. A

  8. C

  9. E

10. B

11. D

12. E

13. C

14. D

15. C

16. C

17. A

18. C

19. E

20. D

21. D

22. A

23. B

24. C

25. B

26. C

27. B

28. E

29. D

30. B

31. E

32. B

33. E

34. A

35. A

36. C

37. C

38. D

39. E

40. B

41. E

42. D

43. D

44. A

45. A

46. B

47. A

48. B

49. D

50. C

51. B

52. C

53. D

54. E

55. B

Question One (Poems)

I felt that the most trouble I have with essays is a strong intro so I decided to spend most of my effort on the intro

Question 1

(Suggested time—40 minutes. This question counts as one-third of the total essay section score.)

In the two poems below, Keats and Longfellow reflect on similar concerns. Read the poems carefully. Then write an essay in which you compare and contrast the two poems, analyzing the poetic techniques each writer uses to explore his particular situation.

When I Have Fears

When I have fears that I may cease to be

Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain,

Before high-piled books, in charactery,

Hold like rich garners the full ripen’d grain;

When I behold, upon the night’s starr’d face,

Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,

And think that I may never live to trace

Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;

And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,

That I shall never look upon thee more,

Never have relish in the faery power

Of unreflecting love;—then on the shore

Of the wide world I stand alone, and think 

Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.

1818 —John Keats (1795-1821)

Mezzo Cammin

Written at Boppard on the Rhine August 25, 1842,

Just Before Leaving for Home

Half of my life is gone, and I have let

The years slip from me and have not fulfilled

The aspiration of my youth, to build

Some tower of song with lofty parapet.

Not indolence, nor pleasure, nor the fret

Of restless passions that would not be stilled,

But sorrow, and a care that almost killed,

Kept me from what I may accomplish yet;

Though, half-way up the hill, I see the Past

Lying beneath me with its sounds and sights,—

A city in the twilight dim and vast,

With smoking roofs, soft bells, and gleaming lights,—

And hear above me on the autumnal blast

The cataract

of Death far thundering from the heights.

1842 —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

1 The title is from the first line of Dante’s

Divine Comedy: “Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita” (“Midway upon the journey of our life”).

2 A large waterfall

Death is imminent, there is no doubt about that and after death comes there is nothing we can do to check any unchecked boxes from our bucket list. There is always the fear of dying, yes, but the even greater fear is having regrets on how one lives his or her life and whether they lived it to the fullest or not. 

“When I Have Fears” by John Keats and “Mezzo Cammin” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow are to poems that depict the fears and doubts of the choices of life and whether they have done what they have wanted in the little time that has been given to him. Each poem uses strong poetic and literary techniques to further accentuate this fear and uneasiness toward this theme. Keats has his own diction and Wadsworth Longfellow has his own tone and through each of these author’s unique diction, tone and form they are able to convey the situation and the theme of their respected poems.

Literature Analysis 3

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

General

1. So in the novel Pi is telling the story to an author who wants to document his experience and so he begins with the beginning. Piscine was born and was made fun of at school because his name sounded like “pissing” and that is why he changed his name to Pi. He grows up and he gets on a boat to travel with all the zoo animals his father owns. But something bad happens. A terrible storm sinks the boat except for Pi, a bengal tiger, an orangutang, a hyeina, and a zebra. The hyeina kills the zebra and the orangutang and the tiger eventually kills the hyena, leaving just Pi and the tiger on the boat, who Pi calls Richard Parker. Now Pi realizes in order to survive he has to tame the tiger which he for the most part successfully does and they go through many hardships. After a while at sea they eventually come across an island which has a weird feel to it. During the day it is an unlimited source of food, water and shelter but at night some chemical turns all the water into poison and makes it hard to live there so Pi and Richard Parker set sail again. They eventually make it to an island and Pi is interogatted on the events that occured during his journey. The Japanese interogators don’t believe this story and so Pi decides to tell a different one. The other one involves his mother, a cook, a sailor and himself that are trapped on the boat and only he survives. We are left wondering which is the true story and it is up to us to decide.
2. I believe the theme of this novel is somewhat odd and ill explain. I couldn’t think of a better word than belief. Our beliefs dictate who we are and there are two sides to this novel; one a believable one and one that is not so believable. So which one is the truth? The theme belief is the belief of religion and belief in what you believe to be true.
3. The tone in this book is very serious but also has something else that i can’t quite put a finger on. Its very serious in the fact that so many things go wrong and Pi has to go against his beliefs in order to survive and he has to kill and survive. But on the other hand it also has a “storytelling” tone and sometimes humorous tone to lighten the mood. 
4. The literary techniques I recongized most in this novel are symbolism, tone, figurative language, setting, theme, imagery, point of view, diction and i guess you could say personification.

May 3 Journal Topic

I think the most i could like to improve on over the weekend is my multiple choice area because that is where i fell the most vulnerable during the accutal exam. This weekend i am planning on trying to practice pacing myself better because i found that on especially last years AP English Test, i was rushed and I really don't want to feel that way this year (for obvious reasons). So I am really going to try and focus on the pacing portion of my test taking skills.

Helen by H.D. and To Helen Edgar Allen Poe Essay

     Author’s speak their views through their work and through their work they are able to express themselves and those few authors that can create their views into a piece of work are the few that make it beautiful. An authors greatest weapon is the pen and with that pen authors can create pictures and beautiful poems through writing and their diction is their ammunition that feeds the work and makes it their own. With diction, imagery and tone Hilda Doolittle and Edgar Allan Poe show contrasting views on the iconic Helen who brought love and the start of the historic Trojan War. 

     “Helen, thy beauty is to me, Like those Nicean barks of yore”. In these first two lines of the poem Edgar Allan Poe is already starting to praise Helen through his diction and his choice of words like “beauty” in order to describe that she was a beautiful woman. His choice of words immediately lean toward the positive side of Helen and all her glory not much like H.D. though. In Helen by H.D it is the complete opposite and she begins with the lines “All Greece hates the still eyes in the white face,”. This is clearly showing her view of Helen as almost evil like and that she is the bringer of the war. She uses her choice of words and diction by instead of praising her for her beauty in order to show the ugly side of Helen by giving a clear image of Helen’s “still eyes in the white face”.

     Both authors give also give very different images of the great Helen or not so much through imagery and through this imagery they are able to imprint a picture in the readers head that sticks with them through the poem. Edgar Allan Poe describes Helen as a “brilliant window-niche”  and how she is like a statue. Since statues are usually sculpted of the beautiful and brilliant at that time we can easily interpret that be “statue-like” he means the beautiful and brilliant Helen. But on the other hand H.D. describes Helen as the center of hate of all of Greece and in fact she even goes to describe the Greeks feeling of her smile as making them “hating it deeper still”. 

     These two poems although they are about the same person, show very different view on said person whom is also known as Helen. H.D. describes Helen as evil and witch like and the bringer of death and war through her diction while Edgar Allan Poe describes her as a beautiful statue that was so beautiful that she started a war with her beauty. Both are very different view and just goes to show that through a brilliant authors diction and imagery he or she can express their views on something like the historic Helen.

BNW Essay Draft 1

We live in a world where we are different and that is normal, but what would happen if we were all pushed to act the same? And what if someone wasn’t like the rest? In Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, each human is bred to do a task and they are expected to do that task and act in a certain manner that will benefit mankind. No one goes against it and no one questions it. Except a few like Bernard for example. He was meant to be taller for his “class” but wasn’t. He was meant to enjoy the erotic play, but he all and all really wasn’t. He felt alienated to the world because he was different than all the rest of society and had ideas that were looked down upon because they were taught to believe that they weren’t normal. But by being alienated from society its true assumptions and moral values are shown.

Bernard is smart like any other Alpha human in the society except for the fact that he is a little bit shorter than the rest of ALL the other Alphas. Because of this he feels different because in a world where everyone is made the same being different makes you stand out. So Bernard with his short stature and brilliance questions life in a different manner than everyone else. He isn’t interested in most of the other things that all the other humans are and because of this he is alienated from society. From this the readers begin to understand the moral values because they are expressed through Bernard’s alienation. 

From the very beginning in the teenage years of life the genetically engineered humans are taught to like erotic play, but Bernard isn’t as interested as everyone else. This shows the society’s interest and its push toward erotic play and sexual behavior because Bernard’s ideology toward it amplifies it. Bernard is also alone because he is alienated from society and because he is also exceptionally smart for even an Alpha he begins to question his society and its teachings. Because of this he is casted away. Society’s ideology about perception of new ideas is brought forth here because it shows that they don’t want the Alphas, Betas or anyone to have an outside influence that could possible “corrupt” the way of life that has been so carefully molded into a routine into work, sex, and Obstacle Golf. 

In conclusion it is apparent that through Bernard’s perception of the society he lives in us as readers get an understanding of the society’s morals and values through the comparison between Bernard’s ideology and the ideology of society’s larger figures in the grand scheme of things. Society wants everything to be perfect without outside influence and children Epsilon and Deltas are taught from the start to dislike books to keep them from reading. But Bernard questions the society as he isn’t born like a normal Alpha and questions its values.

Literature Analysis 2

Lord of the Flies

General

1.     Lord of the Flies by William Golding is about a group of boys whose plane crash lands on a deserted island and they find themselves alone. A boy named Ralph is elected their leader and holds the conch which is a symbol for power. The seem to believe that there is a monster on the island and are afraid of it. Ralph decides that they should build a signal fire in case a ship passes and so each boy is assigned the duty of guarding the fire. The boys soon kill their first pig and they are thrilled with their kill and from then on out they are obsessed with killing. Soon all the boys leave Ralph and Piggy and form their own group. They kill another of the boys, Simon, out of fear of him being a beast. They then kill Piggy and soon they decide to kill Ralph. He runs away from the other boys and runs into a Navy Officer and are saved.

2.     One of the main themes of the article is loss of innocence. This is shown through the boys adaptation to savagery and death.

3.     The tone of the story is dark, violent and depressing. “The ground beneath them was a bank covered with sparse grass, torn everywhere buy the upheavals of fallen trees, scattered with decaying coconuts and palm saplings. Behind this was the darkness of the forest proper and the open space of the scar.”

4.     Symbolism – In the story the “conch” represents the item of power and whoever is in control of the conch has the power.

Tone –  “The ground beneath them was a bank covered with sparse grass, torn everywhere buy the upheavals of fallen trees, scattered with decaying coconuts and palm saplings. Behind this was the darkness of the forest proper and the open space of the scar.”

Diction – “A kind of glamour was spread over them and the scene and they were conscious of the glamour and made happy by it. They turned to each other, laughing excitedly, talking, not listening. The air was bright.”

Metaphor – “The tide was low and there was a strip of weed strewn beach that was almost as firm as a road.”

Allusion – The title of the book is an allusion to the title given to Beelzebub and Simon is an allusion to Simon Peter or Saint Peter.

Setting – “The candle-buds opened their wide white flowers…Their scent spilled out into the air and took possession of the island.”

Forshadowing – Roger whom threw stones at Henry is a foreshadow to him killing Piggy with a giant boulder.

Irony – The scene where they climb up to the top of the mountain and find “the beast” which in reality is just a dead man.

Imagery – “there was a strip of weed-strewn beach that was almost as firm as a road.”

Dialogue – “I ought to be chief [Jack said] because I’m chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp.”

Characterization

1.     “I ought to be chief because I’m chorister and head boy, I can sing C sharp.” The author uses both direct and indirect characterization in order to get a full characterization on by boys on the island. “[Piggy] My auntie told me not to run on account of my asthma.”

2.     Yes the diction does change because when he is describing the events with Simon they are more mysterious and profound because he is the on of the wiser boys in the group. But when he is talking about the events of Jack he writes in a more dark and savage tone because Jack becomes a beast. This helps in bringing out the full intensity of different characters and their actions.

3.     I would have to say that the protagonist is Ralph and he doesn’t really change that much through the story because he doesn’t become savage and keeps to his virtues in life unlike the other boys.

4.     After reading the book I didn’t really feel like I met one of the boys. But I did feel like I was there on the island with them experiencing the thunderstorm and the killing and all the rest of the events that took place. 

First Quarter Review

This semester has definitely been a rough start for me with my senioritis starting to kick in but I have been able to make it through. I'd have to say that I haven't done the best tht I have possibly could so next grading period I'm going to try and do a lot better job of getting my work on the blog on time and adding extra posts on my blog to make it more impressive.
My goal is to get everything done as soon as I can and get everything on the blog on time in the next six weeks and start to apply myself like I know that I can.
Overall I think that the course so far has been great and there's not really much that I think could be added or changed that could improve much more.

BOB I

(These are in no Particular order)

Great Work

Ming Chen 
Reed Conforti
Danielle Galindo
Valerie Gonzalez
Sebastian Guillen
Megan Hardisty
Ryunhee Kim
Travis Knight
Abby Kuhlman
Alex Lane
Conor McNamara
Josh Ng
Troy Prober
Felicitas Ruiz
Erika Snell
Tanner Tuttle
Dulce Vargas
Chanel Yamaguchi

Mid-range

Cassidy Ashlock
Haleigh Jones
Alicia Hernandez
Carly Koertge
Isiah Mabansag
Nathan Oh
Mathew Patel
Samantha Garrison
Brady Redman
Jason Reinwald
Justin Thompson
Ashley Wilburn

Needs to catch up

Brittany Cunnigham
Kristofer Green
Karianne LaPlante
Colleen Livingstone
Bailey Nelson
Conner Patzman

Lit Terms 83-108

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

Onomatopoeia: use of a word whose sound in some degree imitates or suggests its

meaning.

Oxymoron: a figure of speech in which two contradicting words or phrases are combined to produce a rhetorical effect by means of a concise paradox.

Pacing:  rate of movement; tempo.

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

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

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

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

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

Pedantry: a display of learning for its own sake.

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

Plot: a plan or scheme to accomplish a purpose.

Poignant:  eliciting sorrow or sentiment.

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

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

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

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

Pun:  play on words; the humorous use of a word emphasizing different meanings or applications.

Purpose: the intended result wished by an author.

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

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

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

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

Restatement: idea repeated for emphasis.

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

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

Lit Terms 51-80

51. Flashback: a narrative device that flashes back to prior events.

52. Foil: a person or thing that, by contrast, makes another seem better or more prominent.

53. Folk Tale: story passed on by word of mouth.

54. Foreshadowing: in fiction and drama, a device to prepare the reader for the outcome of the action; 

“planning” to make the outcome convincing, though not to give it away.

55. Free Verse: verse without conventional metrical pattern, with irregular pattern or no rhyme.

56. Genre: a category or class of artistic endeavor having a particular form, technique, or content.

57. Gothic Tale: a style in literature characterized by gloomy settings, violent or grotesque action, and a mood of decay, degeneration, and decadence.

58. Hyperbole: an exaggerated statement often used as a figure of speech or to prove a point.

59. Imagery: figures of speech or vivid description, conveying images through any of the senses.

60. Implication: a meaning or understanding that is to be arrive at by the reader but that is not fully and explicitly stated by the author.

61. Incongruity: the deliberate joining of opposites or of elements that are not appropriate to each other.

62. Inference: a judgement or conclusion based on evidence presented; the forming of an opinion which possesses some degree of probability according to facts already available.

63. Irony: a contrast or incongruity between what is said and what is meant, or what is expected to happen and what actually happens, or what is thought to be happening and what is actually happening.

64. Interior Monologue: a form of writing which represents the inner thoughts of a character; the recording of the internal, emotional experience(s) of an individual; generally the reader is given the impression of overhearing the interior monologue.

65. Inversion: words out of order for emphasis.

66. Juxtaposition: the intentional placement of a word, phrase, sentences of paragraph to contrast with another nearby.

67. Lyric: a poem having musical form and quality; a short outburst of the author’s innermost thoughts and feelings.

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

69. Metaphor(extended, controlling, and mixed): an analogy that compare two different things imaginatively.

• Extended: a metaphor that is extended or developed as far as the writer wants to take it.
• Controlling: a metaphor that runs throughout the piece of work.
• Mixed: a metaphor that ineffectively blends two or more analogies.

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

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

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

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

74. Mood:  the predominating atmosphere evoked by a literary piece.

75. Motif:  a recurring feature (name, image, or phrase) in a piece of literature.

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

77. Narrative:  a story or description of events.

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

79. Naturalism: extreme form of realism.

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

The Time of My Life

Well now that the Superbowls over I can finally update my blog.

Lets see, if I recall on Friday, we first had a test and then had the rest of the time to do whatever we wanted to further our future pursuits and goals. Unfortunately for me I didn't get the memo until it was to late that it had to be about something english related. I was led to believe that it could be about anything including college and scholarship stuff which was what I did because I still had some portals and stuff to do. I have a smartphone so it was pretty simple task of just going online and doing them, but unfortunately I didn't really do what I was supposed to be doing I guess. I did get stuff done so it wasn't a waste at least.

Literature Analysis 1

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

General 

This novel is basically about a boy named Amir who is trying to make things right because of his bad things that happened to him in his past. He was a native to Afghanistan and grew up with his best friend, who alos happened to be his servant, Hassan, whom with he would do everything. Amir wins a kite competition but his kite is cut and blown away so Hassan runs to go get it. Unfortunately while getting the kite he is raped by a couple of other kids. As the story progresses the boys slowly go their separate ways. Amir moves to California and marries a girl named Soraya. But Amir returns to Pakistan and learns that his long lost best friend has been killed, but he also finds out he has a son named Sohrab. After rescuing Sohrab from the orphanage he was living in Sohrab tries to kill himself and fails.  The story concludes with Sohrab winning a kite battle back in America with Amir.

Theme - I believe the theme in this novel is friendship and how it towers over all because of how even years later the two boys are able to do things for each other even though they have drifted apart.

Tone - The tone in this novel is very tragic and sad with all the terrible things that happen to Hassan and eventually Amir in the novel. This could almost be considered a tragic... but not quite.

Irony - Although Amir wants to be jusyt like his father he ends up resembling the traits that his father sees as unnecessary

Symbolism - The pomegranate tree is a symbol for the boys friendship because as the drift apart the tree withers and eventually dies once they drift to far apart

Characterization

I believe that the author uses both approaches to the idea of characterization because with both you are fully able to understand each character because of their behavior and actions throughout the story.

The syntax and diction don't really change when describing a character as to not turn away from the story instead he incorporates his diction and syntax into describing the character to make the novel flow.

Well the protagonists in this story are obviously the two boys in the story; Amir and Hassan. Amir is a definite dynamic character in story especially from when he was a boy to when he becomes an adult. There is a pretty big change in him between these two times as he grows up and realizes who he is and who he has become. 

Im not sure that I could relate with any of the characters from the story since we obviously come from different cultures which makes it hard to relate but i do feel as if I had met Amir and understood where he was coming from and his connection to Hassan. And especially when he grows up you start to respect him a little more because of his decision to save Hassan as a redemption for leaving his friend out to dry in the past.

Literary terms 6 - 30

6. Analysis - a method in which a work or idea is separated into its parts, and those parts given rigorous and detailed scrutiny

7. Anaphora - a device or repetition in which a word or words are repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences

8. Anecdote - a person or force opposing the protagonist in a drama or narrative

9. Antithesis - a balancing of one term against another for emphasis or stylistic effectiveness

10. Aphorism - a terse, pointed statement expressing some wise or clever observation about life

11. Apologia - a defense or justification for some doctrine, piece of writing cause or action; also apology

12. Apostrophe - a figure of speech in which an absent or dead person, an abstract quality, or something inanimate or nonhuman is addressed directly

13. Argument - the process of convincing a reader by proving either the truth or the falsity of an idea or proposition; also, the thesis or proposition itself

14. Audience: the intended listener or listeners

15. Characterization - the means by which a writer reveals a character's personality

16. Chiasmus - a reversal in the order of words so that the second half of a statement balances the first half in inverted word order

17. Circumlocution - a roundabout or evasive speech or writing, in which many words are used but a few would have served

18. Classicism - art, literature, and music reflecting the principle of ancient Greece and Rome: tradition, reason, clarity, order, and balance

19. Cliche - a phrase or situation overused within society

20. Climax - the decisive point in a narrative or drama; the point of greatest intensity oir interest at which plot question is answered or resolved

21. Colloquialism - folksy speech, slang words or phrases usually used in informal conversation

22. Comedy - originally a nondramatic literary piece of work that was marked by a happy ending; now a term to describe a ludicrous, farcical, or amusing event designed to provide enjoyment or produce smiles and laughter

23. Conflict - struggle or problem in a story causing tension

24. Connotation - implicit meaning, going beyond dictionary definition

25. Contrast - a rhetorical device by which one element is thrown into opposition to another for the sake of emphasis or clarity

26. Denotation - plain dictionary definition

27. Denouement - loose ends tied up in a story after the climax, closure, conclusion

28. Dialect - the language of a particular district, class or group of persons; the sounds grammar , and diction employed by people distinguished from others.

29. Dialectics - formal debates usuall over the nature of truth

30. Dichotomy - split or break between two opposing things

Dickens Map

• Well I plan to do most of my reading over the weekend since that is when I have the most time, but I also intend to do some reading during the week to give me a little more wiggle room over the weekend if I need it and also so I dont have to rush through the book.

• Tale of Two Cities AP Questions(URLs):

Well here are four good ones from one site:

1. The opening lines of A Tale of Two Cities are some of the most famous in British literature.  They introduce the contradictions in the world of the novel, between positive and negative forces: “light and darkness, wisdom and foolishness, hope and despair,” and so on.  In an essay analyze whether positive or negative forces triumph at the end of the novel.  Make sure you consider the fates of all the major characters in your analysis.
2. Choose a complex and important character in A Tale of Two Cities who might - on the basis of the character's actions alone - be considered evil or immoral. In a well-organized essay, explain both how and why the full presentation of the character in the work makes us react more sympathetically than we otherwise might. Avoid plot summary.
3. In great literature, no scene of violence exists for its own sake.  Choose a scene in A Tale of Two Cities that confronts the reader or audience with a scene or scenes of violence. In a well-organized essay, explain how the scene or scenes contribute to the meaning of the complete work. Avoid plot summary. 
4. The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) wrote:

“Power, like a desolating pestilence,

Pollutes whate’er it touches”

        Using examples from A Tale of Two Cities as support, you should defend or challenge Shelley’s assertion.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:ogzwcKY9mf4J:www.nisdtx.org/cms/lib/TX21000351/Centricity/Domain/2548/essay%2520prompts%25202011.doc+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESg5ZuF4Z_CIn8NhxFfaYRiyApj61lrxqUvaTyqURyl48ra8ODR2cm30i7VuNVTrPxWaPDH6PR7N-bQ4RT2EtRxf7zpg5bWjKQ0ltHDbo3xg-HIYuYQtkO-SMpWAUercp15FZCkY&sig=AHIEtbRzGB52VH97tzepiGzfpkJ6IhoNWw

5. Has a wide variety of questions:

http://www.getbookee.org/get_book.php?u=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5mbGF0aGVhZHJlc2VydmF0aW9uLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvcGhzL1RhbGVUd29DaXRpZXMtU3R1ZHlHdWlkZS5wZGYKQSBUYWxlIG9mIFR3byBDaXRpZXM=

• Now how I think I should be tested. This is a hard question for s student to answer but I will be honorable. The best way I think is like an AP test. I gave some free response essays so those are kind of straight forward, write an essay. I also gave some questions for my #5 and maybe have some questions on a test like those along with an essay.

SMART Goal

SMART:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Timely

All of these things combined represent a SMART goal. My SMART goal is to graduate high school and go off to a 4 year university and obtain a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering. But in addition to this I also want, through engineering, to be a part of a project that somehow changes the world like engineering something new that enhances our way of living or allows humans to do something that they could not before. That is like an add on to my SMART goal.

Lit Terms 1-5

Allegory - a tale in prose or verse in which characters, actions, or settings represent abstract ideas or moral qualities; a story that uses symbols to make a point

Alliteration - a repetition of similar initial sounds usually consonants, in a group of words

Allusion - a reference to a person, a place, an event, or a literary work that a writer expects a reader to recognize

Ambiguity - something uncertain as to interpretation 

Anachronism - something that shows up in the wrong place or the wrong time

AP Prep Post 1: Siddhartha

1. In Kate Chopin's The Awakening (1899), protagonist Edna Pontellier is said to possess "that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions." In a novel or play that you have studied, identify a character who conforms outwardly while questioning inwardly. Then write an essay in which you analyze how this tension between outward conformity and inward questioning contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid mere plot summary.

(This is a an AP question directly from the 2005 AP test, of course the character you would be identifying would be Siddhartha since that is the topic at hand.)

http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/ap/students/english/ap05_frq_english_lit.pdf

New Semester