Vocab #9

Aficionado- A person who has a large knowledge of something

"Go ask him, he's an aficionado in that sort of thing."

Browbeat- To use angry speech or threats at someone to get them to do something

"His boss would always browbeat him to to get him to go back to work."

Commensurate- Equal to something in size

"I once saw a man who was so tall, he almost seemed commensurate to a building."

Diaphanous- Thin and light cloth

"I only wear this shirt on hot days since it's very diaphanous."

Emolument- The returns arising from office or employment

 The annual emolument for the charity director is usually only a dollar."

Foray- Brief invasion

"The troops forayed into enemy territory."

Genre- A category of literature or art

"That movie should be classified in the horror genre."

Homily- A short talk or sermon

"A guest speaker came in an gave a small homily to the students."

Immure- To close within walls

"When the new building was being built, they did not remove the statue, and chose to immure it in with the new building."

Insouciant- A calm or relaxed state

"After all of his hard work, he felt very incouciant since all the stress is out of the way."

Matrix- Something shaped in a pattern

"His computer screen started looking like a matrix of pixels."

Obsequies- A funeral

"There will be an obsequies held to remember and celebrate his life."

Panache- Lots of energy and style

"Some people say that people in the 80's were very panache."

Persona- The way you act around a certain group of people

"He put on a more happy persona whenever around friends."

Philippic- A declamation of bitterness

"He was eventually kicked out of the event because of his frequent use of philippics."

Prurient- Showing too much interest in sex

"She obvious knew he was prurient because of how he seemed to be staring at her chest the whole date."

Sacrosanct- Too important or respected to be changed

"The town didn't want the new grocery store where the memorial was since they thought it was very sacrosanct."

Systemic- Affecting the whole body

"The disease he had was systemic and started spreading throughout his whole body."

Tendentious- Favoring a certain view over another

"He was more tendentious with his view since he could understand it better than the other."

Vicissitude- An altering change

"He went through a vicissitude and when I saw him again, he was almost a different person."

Tools That Change The Way We Think

I think one way that technology/the internet changes the way we think is the wide variety of resources we now have. If we need or want to look something up using a search device such as Google, we have a wide variety of websites and other sources to get information from. We can compare and contrast info we get from different sites, we can put more pieces together of what information we're looking for and will lead up to a better understanding of what we are trying to learn.

Thoughts On Hamlet (In Progress)

When we began reading Hamlet, I had the basis of what the story was about. Ghost father telling Hamlet to kill Claudius, etc., etc. But I wasn't expecting Hamlet's conflicting emotions to happen. I think the play evolved from Hamlet's revenge on Claudius to Hamlet's emotions over his father's death and seeking revenge and everyone trying to figure out what exactly is going through his mind. As Act IV begins, it seems to take a big shift away from the original plot to focus more on Hamlet's conflict with his family and others who surround him.

Filter Bubbles

A. From this video, I learned that it really seems like we have no privacy anymore. Big sites like Google and Facebook are invading our privacy and grabbing info from us to try and personalize our internet experience.

B. It begins to make me wonder what exactly I can do on a website like Google to have my experience completely modified again. If Google changes my experience on their website, what if I change or do something different than I usually would? Would it completely change again to fit my new interest(s)?

C. What else can these websites see that we don't know about? What other information about ourselves can these websites receive and use or take? And will they likely use this information for something else?

D. I suppose one thing to try is to be more specific with searches. Don't just put a simple key word or words down to search, but put more detain into a search.

The Performative Utterance In Hamlet

Hamlet could also be looked at as a play about a man who can't make what he finds in his mind real

Hamlet is said to be ran by three forces, locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary

Locutionary: The ability for language to deliver a message

Illocutionary: What it done in being said

Perlocutionary: What is achieved in being said

Shakespeare's character's evolve from their own speech and actions

Hamlet shows off "first player's emotions", in which he shows off his emotions from certain actions or his own actions usually with the power of performative mode

What I Think About When I Think About Act III

(Apologies for this being posted later, I was out of town this weekend and was unable to post)

One thing that I'm unsure about is that Hamlet wanted to wait a little while to kill Claudius because he was praying for his sins, and if Hamlet killed him, that would send Claudius to heaven. So if he wanted to wait a while before doing so, then why did he take his chances trying to kill "the rat" he thought to be Claudius?

Literature Analysis #3

Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck

1. The book is about two migrant workers, George and Lennie who are off to work on a farm in California. Both have been friends since childhood and both have interest in buying their own land. Lennie has a mental condition, and relies on George to take care of him. The two get jobs working on a ranch by George telling a false story about how George and Lennie are cousins, and Lennie got his condition by being kicked in the head by a horse at a young age. The two meet everyone else on the ranch. They meet Candy, the handyman with a missing arm, the boss's mean son, Curley, and Curley's wife. One day Candy overhears George and Lennie's plans of buying land. Candy offers his life savings to them as long as he could live on their land, and the three make a pact not to tell anyone of their plans. After the talk, Curley lets his anger out by starting to pick a fight with Lennie. Lennie then breaks Curley's hand when he attacks. Lennie and Curley's wife begin to start talking because of Curley's attack on Lennie, and to try and comfort him after he accidentally kills a dog when trying to pet it. After talking for a while, Curley's wife let's Lennie feel her hair, and then he accidentally breaks her neck when doing so. Lennie flees to the Salinas River after the event happens. George goes to try and calm Lennie down for what he did by telling him about all the future the land they will own, but then proceeds to shoot Lennie in the head, killing him. George covers up the event by telling everyone that he was trying to wrestle a gun away from Lennie.

2. A theme that the novel has is the failure of The American Dream. In the story, both George and Lennie have the dream of buying their own land and living on it, but doesn't happen when Lennie's life is cut short when George shoots him in the end. Another example is during Lennie and Curley's wife's chat, Curley's wife mentions that she completely regrets her marriage and not starting on her acting career, which is also a failure of a dream.

3. The author's tone was an unhappy feeling throughout the novel because of some of the unfortunate events that happened, but didn't give off much of a "dark" feeling to it. Some of the events described that gave it this mood were Lennie talking about how he kills animals when he pets them, Lennie and Curley's fight, and George having to shoot Lennie at the end.

4. One literary device used in the story, and an interesting one is symbolism. In the story, George keeps bringing up the idea of purchasing land to Lennie as a way to make him happy. Their dream is a symbol for possibilities and the goal of freedom that people strive for.

Another device used is a motif. A motif used in the story is loneliness. A few of the characters in the story have admitted to being lonely and having feelings of loneliness. It also eventually meets up with George when he kills Lennie, meaning that George will have to continue his adventure alone

Imagery was used throughout the novel often.

"The Shade climbed up the hills toward the top. On the sand banks the rabbits sat as quietly as little gray, sculptured stones."



1. One example of direct characterization was when the author was describing Lennie.

"Behind him walked his opposite, a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, and wide, sloping shoulders, and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws."

Another example with George:

"The first man was small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features."
"Every part of him was defined: small, strong hands, slender arms, a thin and bony nose."

Candy and Curley are both described in directly. They are both addressed as characters in the stories, but there isn't really any full description of either character.

2. The author tends to be more descriptive with George and Lennie, and not with any other character. This is done because of the fact that they are the main characters of the story, of course.

3. The protagonists are both flat and static characters. They both show no change or improvement when the story progresses.

4. I felt like I got to get to know George and Lennie as characters due to their good characterization (with examples shown in #1).

Vocab #8

Abase: To lower in rank

"After goofing off on the job, he was abased down to floor staff from assistant manager."

Abdicate: To leave the position of king or queen

"Recently, the pope abdicated from his position due to sickness."

Abomination: Extreme hate or disgust

"He had a high abomination for the government and the possible ban of guns."

Brusque: Blunt in a matter of speech

"After replying to him in a brusque fashion, he then added on, 'well, just being honest.'"

Saboteur: Someone who destroys something deliberately

"If you get him angry, he becomes a saboteur and will break anything in sight."

Debauchery: Extreme indulgence in sensuality

"Many people travel to Las Vegas to enjoy and indulge in debauchery."

Proliferate: To grow by rapid production of parts or offspring."

"A starfish will proliferate back to itself when it loses a body part."

Anachronism: Something mistakenly out of place

"The history book was anachronism and mixed up two battles in the Civil War."

Nomenclature: A system of names

"Zoology and chemistry have many examples of nomenclature."

Expurgate: To change a work by removing parts that would offend people."

"After looking over the book, the editor expurgated the novel by removing most of the explicit words."

Bellicose: Showing high interest to fight

"He always seemed to bellicose and tried making an argument out of everything."

Gauche: Having no awareness about the proper way to behave

"He never attended a classy dinner party before, so he was gauche and unsure about how polite he had to be."

Rapacious: Always wanting more money or possessions."

"After getting a new, higher-paying job, he became much more greedy and rapacious."

Paradox: Something made up of two opposite things that contradict each other."

"It's a paradox how computers need maintenance when they are supposed to save time for people."

Conundrum: A difficult problem

"Driving my car with a broken brake might be a bit of a conundrum

Anomaly: Something unexpected

"He went to work and had an anomaly because the boss was out and he didn't have to work."

Ephemeral: Lasting for a short time

"Their phone conversation ended up to be ephemeral due to his phone losing connection."

Rancorous: Feeling angry towards something or someone

"He was feeling rancorous towards his friend since his friend accidentally broke his vase."

Churlish: Not polite

"Since he was very gauche, he acted very churlish at the gathering."

Precipitous: Done in a quick way

"Since he woke up late, he got ready for school very precipitously."

Dear Ophelia

Dear O,

You seem to be in quite a quagmire here. These types situations are really hard to resolve. If your father and brother hate this person you're seeing, don't try and keep it private, your father and your father and your brother must respect the fact that you two are in love and that nothing can change it. They can just suck it up and deal with it. It's not like they're threatening you for anything if you continue to see this guy.

Hope this advice helped.

-Writer

Literary Fiction And Empathy

I think that fiction makes it easier to understand others is that it can be written in a way to where we can completely see in their mind and what they think or feel. Using Hamlet as an example, Hamlet's soliloquy is a section where Hamlet tells all of his feelings and how upset about the death of his father and the upcoming marriage of his mother and his uncle. With that soliloquy, we get a general idea of what Hamlet is feeling, and that gives us a real feeling to a fictional character, it gives us a feeling of sympathy for Hamlet because we know how sad he is feeling about all the events that have happened and that are happening.

Green Eggs And Hamlet

A. I'll be fully honest, I really know nothing about the actual story of Hamlet. All I know is that it is a very well known work written by Shakespeare.

B. William Shakespeare is a famous author who has written many well-known plays and tragedies including Romeo And Juliet, and Julius Caesar.

C. Students tend to frown upon Shakespeare (or at least I do) because of the old English that it's written in. For example, usage of terms like "where art thou?", and so on and so forth. This tends to be overwhelming for some (or just like I said, at least me), and I'll admit it, it can get pretty uninteresting too.

D. To make it an "amazing" experience, maybe we should watch parts of an actual production of the play.

Vocab #7

Shenanigans- Mischief

"Those pesky kids are up to their silly shenanigans again."

Ricochet- Rebounding or deflecting  off a wall or surface

"The tennis ball began to ricochet and bounce off the walls when it was thrown."

Schism- Divisions usually between two different parties

"An ongoing schism in our society are both the Democratic and Republican parties"

Eschew- To avoid or stay away from

"After getting a cold, everyone eschewed from him to be sure they didn't get sick as well."

Plethora- Overabundance; excess

"The band had a plethora of t shirts, so they lowered the prices of them so more people would buy them."

Ebullient- Overflowing with enthusiasm

"He was ebullient to put his time into community service."

Garrulous: Excessively talkative in a rambling manor

"Mr. Hutton's annual beginning of the year speech to his students are always quite garrulous."

Harangue- A scolding or long verbal attack

"The argument between the two ended up becoming a giant harangue."

Interdependence- A condition on relying on one another

"The group promised each other that there would be strong interdependence when they worked on their project together."

Capricious- Indicative of a sudden change

"Weather in Santa Maria can be very capricious, with one day being hot in the high 80's, then the next being very cold and windy."

Loquacious- Talking freely or being talkative

"Mr. Wagner can be very loquacious in class when he gets started on a certain subject."
(Sorry Wags, love ya, but I thought this would be a good example...)

Ephemeral- Lasting a very short time

"Their conversation was very ephemeral because it was short when one of them had to leave."

Inchoate- Not finished or fully developed

"Even though the new MP3 player model was inchoate, the company still decided to release it anyway."

Juxtapose- To place together side by side

"All the books on the shelf were all juxtaposed together."

Perspicacious- Having a keen mental perception or understanding

"He was perspicacious and honest enough to address himself as the danger of the environment."

Codswallop- Nonsense

"What's with all this codswallop that you're suggesting me?"

Mungo- Low quality wool made from rags or waste

"This sweater made from mungo isn't really comfortable."

Sesquipedalian- Usage of long words

"Recently, he's started feeling rather whimsy and has started to be rather sesquipedalian."

Wonky- Shaky or unsteady

"Sometimes, caffeine can make someone very wonky after drinking."

Diphthong- A gliding speech sound varying continuously in phonetic quality

"The production of diphthong is a glide between two sounds."

If I Just Had More Time

Studying for the midterm, there was one BIG mistake I made, and that was studying all the words the night before. If I were smart, instead, I would've taken each vocab list and studied one or two each night, THEN put them all together on the day/night before the midterm. Hopefully I will not make the same mistake again...

Literary Analysis #2

The story for this literary analysis is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

1. In the summer of 1922, Nick Carraway moves from Minnesota to New York to learn about the bond business. He rents a house in the West Egg District of Long Island. His neighbor is a man by the name of Jay Gatsby, who has a large mansion and has extravagant parties every weekend. Nick eventually gets invited to one of Gatsby's parties, along with Jordan Baker, a woman that Nick started dating due to his second cousin Daisy and her husband, Tom introducing her to Nick. Nick and Jordan run into each other at the party, and end up meeting Gatsby himself, and starts getting to know him better. Gatsby reveals to Jordan that he knew Daisy in Louisville in 1917, and that the parties that he host are an attempt to try and impress Daisy and win her back. Gatsby asks Nick to try and reunite him and Daisy. Nick does so by inviting the two over tea. Gatsby and Daisy then reconnect and begin to have an affair. Daisy's husband, Tom becomes fully aware of her affair and becomes angry with both of them, despite the fact that Tom himself is also having an affair with a woman named Myrtle. Tom confronts Gatsby about their affair, and tries to convince Daisy that Gatsby is a criminal and has bootlegged alcohol. Nick, Tom, and Jordan find out that Myrtle, the woman that Tom is also seeing was killed by being hit by Gatsby's car. While it was Daisy driving the car, Gatsby takes full blame for it. Tom then tells Myrtle's husband, George about the incident, and George ends up shooting Gatsby in his own pool. Nick holds a small funeral for Gatsby, ends his relationship with Jordan, and then moves back to the Midwest because of how sick he felt about all of the events that happened.

2. The theme of the story is the decline of the American dream. The story shows that The Roaring Twenties wasn't all glamour, and that there was much more darker things going on at the time.

3. The novel sometimes had a slight upbeat tone, probably to show off the feel of The Roaring Twenties, but most of the novel had a dark tone, which helped show the theme of the story

Some examples of the more happier tone:

"Laughter is easier by the minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out at a cheerful word." (P. 40)

"The bar is in full swing, and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside, until the air is alive with chatter and laughter..." (P. 40) 

And the more darker tone:

"It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw Wilson's body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete." (P. 162)

4. Imagery was used throughout the whole story to try to get a picture of whatever Nick saw

"...and then, excited with triumph, glide on through the sea-change of faces and voices and color under the constantly changing light." (P. 41)

Another device used was the point of view. The book is all based on the point of view of Nick, so the reader can feel the exact emotions of what it's be like to live through that period.

In the story, a flashback is used when Gatsby talks about his previous experience with Daisy.

The characters in the story are in some way a Synecdoche. The characters represent greediness and adultery, which they commit in the story.

1. Two examples of  direct characterization are the characters Nick and Daisy. Most of the first chapter is basically Nick introducing himself and almost telling his life story and why he's moved to West Egg. He also goes into detail on Daisy, probably due to the fact that she has a larger role in the book.

Two examples of indirect characterization are on the characters Jay Gatsby and George. George had litter characterization since he only had a small role in the story, and Gatsby had little characterization because it gives people a mysterious vibe from Gatsby like Nick felt in the story.

2. Fitzgerald didn't have any change in syntax or diction when switching over to a different character.

3. Nick is a static/flat character. Along with other main characters show no change at all during the story. The only thing that changes about Nick is how disgusted he feels about the West Egg and all the terrible events that happened.

4. I feel like I really got to know Nick Carraway. This is mainly because of the first chapter when Nick introduces himself and tells the reader his story and why he's coming to West Egg. Here's a small sample:

""My family have been prominent, well-to-do people in this Middle Western city for three generations. The Carraways are something of a clan, and we have a tradition that we're descended from the Dukes of Beccleuch...

The Comparison's Tale

The characters we've gone over in The Canterbury Tales all have similar tones and themes of storytelling. The cook and the monk are both similar. Both the chef and the monk both tell stories that have moral meaning or life lesson to them, that is targeted at the characters, and also possibly the readers as well. In The Cook's Tale, while no theme is actually mentioned, a theme that could be taken from it is to always be focused to your work, even though there could be another theme along with the story if it were continued. In The Monk's Tale, he tells a few different stories of tragedy, and the theme in all of them is how success or glory is fickle, and anything can happen to it.

Tale Of A Canterbury Tale

For this assignment, my group chose The Monk's Tale

In the prologue of The Monk's Tale, the host and the monk start talking and really begin to hit it off, so the monk promises to tell the host the life story of Edward The Confessor, but instead tells several different tragedies. He told stories of Lucifer, Sampson, Hercules, Nabugodonosor, Cenobia, Bernabo Visconti, Ugolino Of Pisa, Nero, and Holofernes.

Chaucer's point of having the monk tell all these tales is to give a lesson to the readers and the characters not to put trust in blind prosperity, and that fortune and success is fickle and that it can change at any time.