Okay... So I Lied

So... Because of a thought that hit me the other day, I decided that THIS will probably be the last post on the blog, not the last one I posted.

I realized that there are new seniors and such that might take a look through older blogs for help, inspiration and such. So if that's the case, then HELLO new senior taking this fine AP lit class, have a good year, and please take a look through my blog if you think it will help with yours.

Oh, and I updated the playlist too, so if you're here for the tunes, then cool

That's All Folks!

Well, one of the biggest days of our lives has just happened. All I can say is thanks. These four years have been a blast. To all my friends, family, and teachers that I had the pleasure of being in their class. Thank you.

It's officially time to read through the book and flip the page to a new chapter in life. So, sadly, this might be my final blog post. But I hope that I can still keep in touch will all my fellow comrades.

I will keep my gradustion playlist/music player up here for a few more days, then I will either put a new playlist, or remove it completely. I'll figure that one out later.

Until next time, farewell.

But this won't be the last, I promise

Masterpiece Academy Question

We were given tools of choice. And where exactly we wanted to take these tools and what we wanted to do with them. And what we took with these were our great masterpieces. I just found it so astonishing how people took something that they were passionate about and were about to share with everyone something that they loved, were passionate about, or just something on their mind that just needeed to get out... It was great.

With mine and Ricky's masterpiece, I was easily able to connect with something I love. Then being able to put it in a video and being able to show off fellow classmates a passion of mine was just a great feeling. And it's a greater feeling when they understand it as well. So, question, are we a hero? In some way we are. Our journey was learning the tools of open source, and the mission was our masterpiece. After it all went together, then we accomplished our goal. So, it was almost as if we were a hero to ourself in some way. And it all felt so great to accomplish

Here It Is! The Masterpiece!

A big thank you to all those who watch, and enjoy, plus a bigger thank you to all who were involved in the production of this video

Gridlock

Title: We'll Go No More A-Roving

Paraphrase: Love between people will be put to an end

Connotation: Uses romantic terms like "the heart be still as loving"  and "by the light of the moon"

Attitude: Slightly gloomy, since what was is now about to end

Shift: A shift occurs in the last stanza. The focus goes from ending love to the daylight coming out and ending the night

Title Revisited: It makes a better understanding of the paraphrase. It gives the implication of love or relationship ending

Theme: Life goes through changes, yet life goes on

One Last Playlist....

Well, tomorrow is the first day of May. So, that means the countdown to graduation begins. The school year finishing up, big senior events like Prom and Grad Night happening, people making college plans, or just staring at the clock and calendar waiting for that big day to happen. Whatever they're gonna be doing, that big day of walking on the stage on the football field is gonna be here before we even know it.

In honor of the big countdown to the big day, I have made one last new playlist (for people who look at my blog for the music player, which I hope is a few people) for this blog with graduation-themed, graduation-related, or just graduation-sounding songs. I hope that you enjoy, and make sure you blast this on the week of graduation.

It is also up on Spotify on my profile. If you have Spotify, just search my name and it will be there for listening pleasure.

Enjoy

The Seventh Reading

After reading "Hope" by Emily Dickinson. I suddenly started using my imagination and started thinking of a picture. I imagined hope as a bird, I then took the literal text and then compared it to the metaphorical sense that is supposed to be taken out of it, which helps gives it a deeper meaning to the poem itself.

Masterpiece Preview!

http://youtu.be/AE3rPRx54AM

Macbeth Act 5 Notes

Full attack on Macbeth's castle is being planned

Macbeth plans defense to make sure no one makes it in the castle

A messenger alerts Macbeth that "the forrest is moving" (people are coming to attack), Macbeth threatens the messenger that he will hang him if he is lying

Macbeth and Macduff begin to have a sword fight

Macduff wins the fight, decaputating Macbeth, Malcom now becomes king

The Crossroad Between Should And Must

I never really took a deep thought over the difference of "should" and "must". Before reading the article, I had in mind the definition of "should", which was similar as to what Luna said, but never gave long consideration to "must". After reading Luna's article, I thought about my future, and what steps ahead I have in order to achieve what I want in my future. Along with that, I also took the "should" and "must" being put into it. I think that I'm put right where the two meet, right at the cross. 

As noted, "should" is what people want us to do, while "must" is based on our belief. A "should" that is always encouraged by others is the traditional "go to college, get a a degree, get a career out of it" deal, which is the path I'm on right now. But, one thing that you can do with "must" is remix the "should" that society wants for us. If the "must" that we want happens to have an element of the "should" that society thinks that's best, then there's no reason why that shouldn't be done.

I intend do apply that to my future. While I'm taking the "should" message that is encouraged by society, I'm adding my "must" to it and taking it into the direction that I want to. So yeah, I'm going to college, getting a degree and so on, but am I getting a degree in something that I "should" do? No, of course not, I'm majoring in something that I want to major in, at the college I want to go to, that will lead me to a career that I want. If it seems right to us, if we want to do it, then we simply must, if we think it's the best.

Macbeth Act 4 Notes

The Witches begin by making an odd mixture in their cauldron with ingredients including a toad, a slice of swamp snake, a scale of a dragon, a witch's mumified flesh, a stomach of a shark, a goat's bile, twigs that were broken during a lunar eclipse, a Tartar's lips, and the finger of a baby that was strangled as a prostitute gave birth to it

They cool the mixture down with baboon blood

Macbeth intrudes on thw witches and wants to know more about his future. They warn him about Macduff

Lennox informs Macbeth that Macduff had fled to England

Lady Macduff does not seem sadened by the fleeing of her husband. "Oh, I can buy twenty husbands at any market"

One of the murderers that Macbeth hired murders Macduff's son

Malcom and Macduff discuss how Macbeth is a murderous villian, Macduff also tries to convince Malcom to fight Macbeth

Ross comes to visit the two and inform about what is all going on in Scottland

The three plot revenge on Macbeth

Macbeth Act 3 Notes

Macbeth begins to panic over what the witches said earlier of Banquo's future children taking throne, so he orders 4 murderers to murder Banquo

No one is aware that Banquo is dead except for Macbeth

During the feast, Banquo's ghost appears and exits over multiple times

It starts becoming a tad bit obvious that Macbeth might be acting a bit crazy, so Lady Macbeth tries helping with covering his behavior

Macbeth becomes more anxious about who's going to be against him next, so he goes to witches to ask more about his future

Hecate, the head of the witches gets very angry at the witches for telling Macbeth about his future

Interestingly, no one thinks that Macbeth has been behind any of the murders, and think completely different people commited them

Shakespear Act 2 Notes

Before Macbeth murders Duncan, he sees an imaginary dagger above his head

After Duncan's murder, Macbeth accidentally wakes two servers, he has a fear that they both saw him, but he was wrong and they went back to sleep

Macbeth also thought one of the servants say, "Sleep no more! Macbeth is murdering sleep!"

Macbeth begins to hear a knocking sound that won't stop

A porter comes in and begins to talk about the knocking. Macduff and the porter begin a conversation about his drinking

Everyone has become aware of the murder of the king, and they also believe it was the guardas that murdered Duncan, and that Macbeth murdered the guards

Malcom and Donaldbain make plans on leaving for Ireland

Look At My Brain

Our creativity is caused by inspiration of whatever is around us. So, our work can be seen as something creative we do. What inspires us to do it? Whatever that work is based off of. Say if we were assigned something based of a story or book we read, whatever reading we weresupposed to do inspires us to work up a good assignment to do, and to turn in. It helps our creativity and thinking

What About My Masterpiece?

Well, the only progress Ricky andI have made on our video was some filming back in February. We've been trying to set up another day, but with a lot of people's different schedules, it's been hard to do so. But, spring break is when we will for sure make it happen. We have still been in the talks for filming days and such. Ricky has also been contacting some well-known YouTube drummers as well to see if they have interest in participating

Love Is Blind

To be honest, right now I don't see too much of a difference between how we see Lady and how Macbeth sees her. The way I see it is this: Everyone (by everyone, I mean us, the readers) is viewing Lady Macbeth as a cold, heartless woman since she is encouraging Macbeth to murder Duncan. But in Act 1, Macbeth seems to be seeing her the same way, thinking that her idea is awful and cruel. However, I could be wrong, and my opinion might change as we get further into Hamlet.

Macbeth Act 1 Notes

Duncan and Malcom discuss Crawdor's execution

Duncan goes on to praise Macbeth and Banquo and how he feels honored to have them serve. And Macbeth responds with how honored he feels to serve for Duncan

Lady Macbeth wants to convince Macbeth to assassinate Duncan so Macbeth can take the throne

Macbeth is hesitant to do so since he has just been honored by Duncan

Lady Macbeth suggests killing Duncan in his sleep and getting his servants drunk so they have no memory

Macbeth finally agrees to go through with it, but still thinks the idea is evil

Meet Macbeth

Macbeth is refered by indirect characterization in the first act. He is mentioned to have killed someone by chopping them in half and decapitating them with a sword. It's supposed to give readers (or I suppose watchers/viewers of the play) a feeling of how fearless Macbeth is supposed to be. A bit of foreshadowing that the witches to are when they mention "chesnuts in her lap", which is supposed to reference Lady Macbeth, who will have a larger role later in the story.

Lit Analysis #3 (The Very Last One! Oh My Goodness!)

1.The story Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut is about a man named Billy Pilgrim. He he shipped off to Belgium in WWII and is taken prisoner by Germany. Around the time he's captured, he experiences his first time shift, where we suddenly sees different periods of his life, which also become reacurring. Once his time with the war has ended, he travels back home to New York and starts to have a regular, American dream life. He marries and has two children. Later in 1967, he experiences an alien abduction where he is forced to mate with a female actress. After he returns to earth, he doesn't mention any of his experiences until he appears on a radio program. After the radio program, Billy records a preiction of his death, which will occur in 1976 after Chicago is bombed by the Chinese.

2. A theme that can be viewed from the novel is destructiveness of war. Since the story shows various outbreaks and flashbacks that Billy has from the war, and how it affects him

3. The author's tone is in a serious manner since some of the story is written from Billy's perspective, so it has a better perspective on what occured in his life

"Then we were sent home, and I married a pretty girl who was coverned in baby fat too.
And we had babies"

"She always has to know the time. Sometimes I don't know, and I say, 'Search me.'"

"I have told my sons that they are not under any circumstances to take part in
massacres, and that the news of massacres of enemies is not to fill them with satisfaction
or glee."

4. Motif- A reacurring statement throughout the whole novel is the phrase "so it goes". It is often said after a casualty occurs, and is said throughout the whole book.

"His mother was incinerated in the Dresden fire-storm. So it goes."

Point Of View/Narrator- The story is written in two different points of view. The first chapter is first person and is completely narrated by Billy, then chapter 2, to the end of the book is omnicent point of view and is said by a narrator

1. The story doesn't focus on characterization much on Billy, and mainly focuses more on his actions rather than the traits of the character himself

2. The only change in syntax/diction is the change from chapter 1, the beginning of the novel, narrated by Billy, to chapter 2 and the rest of the story, which is narrated by author

3. Billy would probably be dynamic. Since he is first shipped off to war as a normal person, and as his experience in war continues, he becomes more crazier, which then continues when he travels home

4. I didn't feel like I knew the character personally, but I feel like I know the character in the story more because of the use of first-person in the first chapter

Seeking Mentor

In the process of selecting a mentor, I would begin by sharing the idea that Ricky and I have. If it gets a good reaction, if they like it, I would ask some, if not, all of the 10 Questions that I posted a while back, and proceed to seek advise from our mentor

Macbeth Resources

After doing a bit of searching, these are some resources that I think might be helpful for our study of Macbeth

http://www.shmoop.com/macbeth/

http://video.pbs.org/video/1604122998/

http://nfs.sparknotes.com/macbeth/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-PKotyoxys  Not saying you have to take this one seriously...

http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/playmenu.php?WorkID=macbeth

Is There An Expert In The House?

Thanks to Ricky and his JP visit last year, Ricky has still been able to keep contact with JP Bouvet. For our project, he is going to be our expert. We will seek his advice and feedback, and if we're lucky enough, we might try and convince him to be in our video as well.

This Is Only A Test

Upon doing my senior project, I already have my test in mind. It's not a written test, and Ricky and I will be the only ones taking it. That test will be the reception we get on the video we make.

The only way Ricky and I will be able to know that what we make is a success is if we get good reception from our peers who we will show it to. If they watch it and like it, Ricky and I will know that we were successful with what we created. If that's not the case, then it will be an oppotunity for Ricky and I to reflect on what we can improve on if we ever choose to produce something like our project again, or on our personal skills.

Huxley's Brave New World

It was interesting hearing Huxley sharring his opinions and thoughts of the upcoming "Brave New World" because it was easier to start linking one thing to another of what he said in the interview to what he wrote in the book. When reading, it was assumed that Huxley had those certain opinions, but actually hearing his opinions made it more understandable of what he had to make of the upcoming future in his eyes

1979 Essay Prompt

  Many novels aren't even a story without an antagonist. But even non-antagonist characters do rebel against other people and their beliefs. One example from the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is the character, John. In the story, John typically goes against the lifestyle of others because of his different noncomformist views, which are very frowned upon by others, including his father, the dictator. Here are some examples of his behaviors that potentially make him immoral.

  One example of John's different behavior and belief is his thoughts on sex. In Brave New World, sex and orgies are something that people have often, including different sex games. Along with that, people would also go off and have sex with different people. John had a different opinion on sex, and was very against their partaking in orgies and even refused sex with character, Linda, and believed in traditional relationship, and only having sex with one partner, which none of the other human created believes, with the exception of Bernard.

  Another example of John's different views is his more human and optimistic outlooks on life. In the story, humans are practically trained to fear including objects such as flowers, while John has optimistic views of the world and just wants to see beauty in the world. He also has other human-like views, like fearing death as a bad thing. John's thoughs, views and opinions are greatly inspired and influenced by Shakespeare, and frequently makes allusions to Shakespeare, including quoting various plays that Shakespeare has written including The Tempest and Hamlet.

  And this wraps up why John from Brave New World  could be considered "immoral". While some people might agree with the ideas of John, to other characters in the story, his opinions to them are immoral since it rebels against their ideas and actions, which could interestingly also be taken into consideration into our own lives as well.

10 Questions

10 questions that I would like to ask experts and peers for our masterpiece

1. Where are some locations that we should film at?

2. Say you didn't know us, without our promotion or anything and you somehow randomly found this video, would you watch it?

3. If you were us, how would you go about sharing this video or getting the word out about it?

4. Is there anything else we should add to the video to make it more appealing?

5. What are some other good ways to promote locations we're going to film at?

6. Do you perhaps know anyone else that would like to be a part of the video in some way?

7. Say that this video actually becomes somewhat popular, should we do another? If another one was made, what could we do differently?

8. Do you think this video would be fun for anyone to watch? Or just drummers and musicians?

9. Should we try other websites than just YouTube to share this video on?

10. Most importantly, does this seem like a fun, unique concept for a video? Does the idea stand out over other drum videos?

Benchmark

Where are Ricky and I now on this great project of ours? So far, we've recruited our small group of drummers that will be in our video and we have already began filming. So far, we have filmed at one location, that location being Waller Park. And we had a great time doing it too.

So what's next?

We're only at the beginning. Next up, Ricky and I are going to accomplish the following things to get further ahead on our video.

1. Plan and prepare more filming days, plus select more locations to film at

Some locations we have planned so far include the school's quad, outside a shopping center (to be determined) and in the parking structure of or inside the mall

(By the way, if you're reading this, we'd love to hear some suggestions of what you think would be a fun location to film in)

2. I plan to start up a new blog all about the video. We will post updates, picture, and where our next locations will be


That's what we have in store now, we can't wait to get more work accomplished on this. We're quite enthusiastic

Learning (in a) Brave New World

Today, the entire class discussed how far everyone had read. Then we asked each other questions on events or certains things in the story we didn't quite understand, which we were able to help each other out, with the help of our good friend, technology 

Lit Analysis #2

1. The Sun Also Rises is a story about two gentlemen from Paris, Jake Barnes and Robert Cohn who both take a trip to Pamplona in order to to bid farewell to Brett Ashley, a friend of Jake's, and to go to a fiesta. The two along with Bill Gorton travel to Spain, then to Pamplona. The three men along with Brett and Mike Campell, who is said to be Brett's fiance. As the fiesta goes on Brett starts falling in love with a nineteen-year-old bullfighter named Pedro Romero. After the fiesta is over, Brett and Romero leave for Madrid, and the rest of the men go their separate ways. Brett later contacts Jake telling him that she left Romero and wants to back with Mike. Jake then books tickets to send Brett out of Madrid

2. A theme to the story is male insecurity, since Brett's love for Romero caused harsh fights between the men, one including a fight between Romero and Robert

3. The tone of the novel was mutual. There was no difference when talking about one character or another

4. Narrator- The narrator of the novel was the character Jake. It was not, however written in a first person perspective, and it is told like Jake is looking back upon the events

Vernacular/Dialect- With the story taking place in different European countries, the characters would sometimes speak different languages. For example, since the Robert and Jake live in Paris, French would occasionally be spoken. And when in Spain, some characters would speak in Spanish

Structure- The dialog in the story is structure in individual lines, as if they were like a script

1. One example of direct Characterization in the story is Robert. Jake describes most of Robert's life story including his time in World War I, up to his current job as a writer. An example of indirect characterization is Mike Campell, who is only briefly described

2. The author doesn't really have a changing syntax

3. I think Jake is a dynamic character. In the beginning of the story, he does have feelings for Brett and has a bit of jealousy for the fact she was engaged, but as the story went on, he began to accept it more that Brett will go after different guys

4. I don't feel like I knew a character personally, but seeing things through Jake's perspective helped getting to know things better

Three Resources

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWlqwSkUjm8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=TMfEnk95E-g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UUHYNhf_exXV1rymay3_b81w&feature=player_detailpage&v=3Jo0qGYOjyQ

These are three videos that influenced Ricky and I to make this video. We took them and looked to them as inspiration, and they still will as we work on progress of the video

Launch

I'd like to introduce to you a little something I'm working on right now. For this big project, I'm collaborating on with my good friend/drummer buddy, Ricky Luna. We both share one thing in common, our love of drums and music. Since Ricky would like to work on music in his future career, and I'd like to work in video/film production for my future career, we figured, why not fuse the two things we both enjoy? So Ricky and I are working on a drumming video. But it involves more than just that. It will be me, Ricky, and a few of our drummer friends playing on a small sized drum set, drumming in various locations around town. Like, the park, the quad at our high school, etc. We have planned days that we are going to go film on.

After we have completed all the filming, I will be in charge of editing the video. Once the video is completed, we will be uploading the video to YouTube for the public to enjoy. We will also be sharing the video with our peers, and will use tools of the internet to try and spread the word about our video.

Production has already started, both Ricky and I along with our drummer friends participating in the video have had a great time making the video. And we can't wait until it's all finished

Brave New Essay

In Kate Chopin's The Awakening (1899), protagonist Edna Pontellier is said to possess "That outward existence which conforms, the inward life that questions." In a novel or play that you have studied, identify a character who outwardly conforms 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.

   In Brave New World by Aldous Huxley there is only one character that appears human from the rest of the people, that is Bernard Marx. He has sane, human thoughts that are lacked by other people, or "clones" that are created. Here are some examples as to why Bernard matches the description of what Kate Chopin said.

  First, Bernard has human-like feelings of lovesickness and jealousy, despite the fact that the director announced that the emotion was completely erased. Bernard also has different views of relationships and sex. Bernard believes that a relationship should last between two people and should not jump around sleeping with a different person every day. His thought completely goes against what exactly the director is trying to raise the children to become.

  Another example of Bernard's different thoughts and feelings are his feelings of their director and Ford. Every child made looks up to the director and also worships Henry Ford like a god. Bernard doesn't have the same feeling towards the two like all the other children do. To hide his feelings, he only pretends like he's excited whenever they are in presence.

  So that sums up how Bernard, the only human-like character in Brave New World relates to Kate Chopin's quote of conforming and questioning inwardly. For he is the only character that goes against the beliefs and action of the new world and what the director wants of the children.

Brave New World Essay Prompt

"Write an essay in which you convincingly argue that Brave New World describes what actually could happen, has happened, or is happening. Remember to link happenings in the modern world with specific events and ideas in the novel. Idea to consider: Is any of the fantasy in the novel now reality?"

I would do as the prompt implied. I would think about modern happenings and events that have happened in current day and try to relate them to the story that might be metaphorical 

I Am Here

Right now, I am in planning stages of my senior project which I am collaborating on with Ricky Luna. We've talked and chatted about it everyday since we came up with the idea. We have our team of drummers assembled, and we start filming this Saturday. As we record, we will keep on coming up with whatever ideas come to us along the way.

Welcome To The Interdisciplinary

Greetings, to the person that might be scrolling through this blog. Perhaps you aren't quite familiar with something like this before. Allow me to guide you through a bit. See this? This is a new way of learning. We have all the technology to help us learn just right here, with our easy to access resources when needed, and the people we can contact or can collaborate with guide us through and help each other out. So, take a look. Pass it on. Hopefully you might find it useful, and if that's the case, then go give a good word about it.

Lit Terms 6

Simile- Comparing one thing to another using "like" or "as" to compare the two

Soliloquy- The act of speaking one's thoughts or feelings aloud regardless of hearers

Spiritual- Relating to religion or religious belief

Speaker- The thing or person saying dialogue in the story

Stereotype- An oversimplified thought or image towards something or someone

Stream Of Consciousness- Thoughts passed through the mind of a character

Structure- Framework for a piece of literature

Style- The way that an author uses words

Subordination- A principle of hierarchical organization of linguistic units

Surrealism- A genre that combines unrelated images into text

Suspension Of Disbelief: A willingness to suspend one's critical faculties and believe the unbelievable

Symbol- An image that represents a phrase or object

Synesthesia- Presenting a character in a way that involves more than one sense

Synecdoche- Something referring to the whole of something

Syntax- The arrangement of words to make a sentance

Theme- A universal lesson learned after reading a story

Thesis- A proposition written for consideration

Tone- General feeling the author gives in writing the story

Tongue In Cheek- Something written not meant to be seriously-intended

Tragedy- A play dealing with tragic events along with an unhappy ending

Understatement- An expression or statement that has less strength than expected

Vernacular- Language spoken by people in a certain region

Voice- The author's style, that makes the writing unique

Zeitgeist- Fashion or school of thought that influences the culture of a certain time

Hafta/Wanna

To be honest, I don 't really think I'll change that much from after high school on to college. But, maybe I'm just looking at this at a personality angle. I'm not gonna be a completely new person right after graduation. But who knows, maybe college will shape me somehow. It might make me a better student, or more responsible, and maybe better at time management but I don't see me actually full-on changing any time soon into a completely different person

Launch/Draft

1. Something I'm passionate about is playing the drums and music. Along with that, I also enjoy movie production. So, why not fuse the two together? For what I want to do, I'll be collaborating with drummer buddy, Ricky Luna, and we're going to make a video with the both of us and other friends playing drums in various places around town. In front of stores/shopping centers, the quad, etc... Then I will edit it all together and make what should be a pretty fun, little, short movie

2. Once the video is done, I would like to use our useful tools of the internet to try and spread the video around and try to get more people than just my peers to watch the video

3. To feel the awesomeness will be watching that completed film and showing it to friends and peers of the AP Lit classes. My biggest regret will be not finishing it

4. I think the fun concept of the video itself should be able to interest people

5. I'd like to take the experience of making this video into my future and my desired career as a video editor and apply the skills I used into making the video into the future

6. I think everyone that watches the video will be "the network". With their feedback of the video and what they thought of it, that way I can fix and improve on my skills for the future

Lit Terms #5

Parallelism- A balance of one or more phrases with the same grammar structure

Parody- A rework of a certain work for comedic purpose

Pathos- An appeal to audience's emotion

Pedantry- Excessive concern with minor details and rules

Personification- Giving human-like qualities to inanimate objects or animals  

Plot- The main conflict of a story

Poignant- Evoking a keen sense of sadness or regret

Point Of View- The perspective of where the story takes place from

Postmodernism- A 20th century arts movement that contains skeptical interpretations of culture

Prose- Written or spoken language in ordinary form

Protagonist- The "good guy" that the reader wants to support in a story

Pun- A form of word play that suggest two or more meanings

Purpose- Reason to why an author wrote a certain story

Realism- Genre in which things are depicted accurately

Refrain- A line or stanza that repeats 

Requiem- A mass for the repose for the souls of the dead

Resolution- The ending of a story where the concept is resolved

Restatement- To state again in a new form

Rhetoric- Effective use of persuasive writing

Rhetorical Question- A figure of speech of when a question is asked to make a point

Rising Action- The events of a dramatic plot preceding the climax

Romanticism- A genre of literature that contained more emphasis on emotion of characters

Satire- A type of humor made to point out social and political criticism 

Scansion- The act of graphically representing the character of a line of verse

Setting- Location or locations of where a story takes place

Lit Analysis 1

The book I have read for this literary analysis is Lord Of The Flies by William Golding

1. A plane evacuating a group of school boys is shot down and crashes into a tropical island. The boys evacuate the plane and begin to make a tribe out of themselves, electing a leader, planning a way to be rescued, and hunting food as well. At first what seems like a fun idea of living on their own and not having parent supervision turns the complete opposite. The group of boys eventually split up and form another tribe, both tribes becoming enemies and trying to kill each other, and usually succeeding at it. After a plot of killing a tribe member by filling up an area with smoke, a British naval officer come and rescue the boys, who have become traumatized over what they have done to one another.

2. A theme present in the story is "survival of the fittest". For the story is mainly about the boys on the island trying to survive.

3. The author had a bit of a serious, straight-forward tone in the story

"He was shorter than the other boy and very fat"

"The fat boy looked startled"

"He dived in the sand at Piggy's feet and lay there laughing"

4. The story contains a high usage of imagery used to describe things or situations

"The palms that still stood made a green roof, covered on the underside with a quivering tangle of reflections from the lagoon"

1. The story itself only has one example of direct characterization, the rest of the characters aren't really characterized in the novel. But a character that is briefly characterized is the character, Ralph.

"He was old enough, twelve years and a few months, to have lost the prominent tummy of childhood and not yet old enough for adolescence to have made him awkward."

2. The author has no change in syntax when focusing on certain a character or characters, since the author's tone remains constant throughout the story

3. It wasn't really a certain character, but it was characters that were dynamic. In the beginning, all of the boys were just innocent school kids that were just getting to know each other on the island, but they later became hateful killers toward each other

4. I didn't really get the feeling of getting to know a character well enough in the story, to be honest

Lit Terms #4

Internal Monologue- A stream of consciousness that goes through the mind of a character

Inversion- Two expressions switching the order of their appearance

Juxtaposition- The mixing up or scrambling of words

Lyric- Words in a song or poem

Magic(al) Realism- A genre which magic is present in realistic environments

Metaphor- A word or phrase that replaces the real meaning of a word or phrase

Metonymy- A figure of speech in which a thing or concept is called upon by a related term\

Modernism- A genre that reflects movement in art or cultural trends of the current period

Monologue- A long speech by a character

Mood- Feeling created when reading a story

Motif- A recurring, significant symbol in a story

Myth- A traditional story that contains supernatural beings or events

Narrative- A sequence of events presented to the reader in written or spoken words

Narrator- Character or person who is telling the story

Naturalism- Genre that uses detailed realism

Novellette/Novella- Prose narrative that's longer than a short story and shorter than a novel

Omniscient Point Of View- When the narrator know all the thoughts and feelings of each character

Onomatopoeia- Sound pronunciation

Oxymoron- A figure of speech that juxtaposes contradictory elements

Pacing- The way the author delivers the action

Parable- A simple story to teach a lesson

Paradox- A statement that contradicts itself but could also be true

What's The Story?

There could be quite a few reasons to why Dickens chose to write Great Expectations. You could ask different people and probably get an different answer from each one. But I think one of the reasons why is to write story about a changing character. Characterization is a key idea in this. The story begins with Pip as a young child and then goes through to him reaching adulthood. The story shows changes that Pip goes through as he matures into an adult

Lit Terms #3

Exposition- A statement or rhetorical discourse that is meant to give information

Expressionism- A modernist movement that has a trait of showing the world from a certain perspective

Fable- A story with animals or mythical creatures as main characters

Fallacy- An argument with poor reasoning

Falling Action- Part of story where climax has reached over, and conflict has been resolved

Farce- A comic dramatic work with usage of horseplay

Figurative Language- Describing something by comparing it to something else

Flashback- When a character thinks back to a certain period in their life

Foil- A character that contrasts from another character

Folk Tale- A story typically passed down generations

Foreshadowing- Hinting that something will likely happen later in the story

Free Verse- An open form of poetry that has no rhyme scheme

Genre- Classification

Gothic Tale- Dark, gloomy romanticism

Hyperbole- Exaggeration as a rhetorical device

Imagery- Descriptive language made to have the reader picture in their mind what is being described

Implication- Conclusion that can be drawn from something, but not actually stated

Incongruity- When something is out of place

Inference- Conclusion based on evidence

Irony- Expression of one's meaning that signifies the opposite

Lit Term Remix

For this remix, here's some lit terms with their definition and some video examples to accompany them

Circumlocution- The usage of many words in attempt to be vauge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCK3EbjpjE0

Cliche- A phrase or opinion that is overused

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgJVBBxhTv8

Elegy- Mournful or gloomy poem or narrative

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U-CRhnDyK8

Epithet- Adjective or phrase to describe someone or something

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5govtsJnnII

Euphemism- A word or phrase that represents something else

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkKyd8E1ZKE

Lit Terms #2

Circumlocution- The usage of many words in attempt to be vague

Classicism- Styles and ideas that reflect ancient Greece and Rome

Cliche- A phrase or opinion that is overused and does not contain thought

Climax- Turning point where the action begins to rise

Colloquialism- A phrase usually use in everyday conversation

Comedy- Discourse of work that is meant to be humorous

Conflict- Incompatibility between two or more forces

Connotation- A feeling that a word in addition to its original meaning

Contrast- The state of being different from something else

Denotation- The literal primary meaning of a word

Denouement- Final part of a play or movie

Dialect- A form of language used in a specific region or social group

Dichotomy- A division or contrast of two things that are meant to be different

Dogmatic- Inclined to lay down principles incontrovertibly true

Elegy- Mournful or melancholy poem or narrative

Epic- A lengthy narrative poem

Epigram- Interesting, memorable, or surprising statement

Epitaph- A short text honoring a deceased person

Epithet- An adjective or descriptive phrase expressing a quality characteristic of the person or thing mentioned

Euphemism- A word or expression used as a replacement of another word

Evocative- Bringing strong images, or memories to mind

Lit Terms #1

Allegory- A story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning. Typically a moral or political one

Plato's "Allegory Of The Cave" is a good example of an allegory

Alliteration- The repetition of a letter or sound in a phrase

"Alice's aunt ate apples and acorns around August"

Allusion- An expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it specifically

"With all the lies he said, I'm surprised his nose didn't grow"

Ambiguity- Uncertainty or inexactness of meaning in language

"Each person saw her duck"

Anachronism- A thing belonging or appropriate to a period other than that in which it exists

From Julius Caesar:

"Brutus: Peace! Count the clock

Cassius: The clock has stricken three"

Analogy- A comparison of two different things

"He felt like a fish out of water"

Analysis- Detailed examination of the elements or structure of something

Anaphora- Repetition of a word \or phrase

"I needed a drink. I needed a break. I needed to get out of there"

Anecdote- A short and interesting story about a real person or event

People who give speeches might use an anecdote in their speech

Antagonist- The "bad guy" in a story that the reader is supposed to be against

Claudius can be considered the antagonist in "Hamlet".

Antithesis- A parallel sentence in which two opposite idea are put together to make a sentance

"Speech is silver, silence is gold"

Aphorism- A statement of truth or opinion used in a witty matter

"The simplest questions are the hardest to answer"

Apologia- A formal, written defense of one's opinion or conduct

An example would be Bill Clinton's 1998 apologia about The Monica Lewinsky affair

Apostrophe- A figure of speech represented by exclamation

"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" is an example of an apostrophe

Argument- A work in where an author brings up a topic and convinces the reader to agree

Assumption- Assuming that something has or will happen

Audience- Intended group of readers

Characterization- The explanation of a character that progresses throughout the story

Chiasmus- When two or more clauses are balanced against each other by reversal of their structures

"Love as if one day you would hate, and hate as if one day you would love"

AP Prep Post 1: Siddhartha

All questions were found here:

https://compcolts.wikispaces.com/file/view/siddhartha%20study%20guide.pdf/437347494/siddhartha%20study%20guide.pdf

1. What does Siddhartha decide to study? How is that the one field he has been ignorant in?

He begins to start studying himself, though he didn't study himself through other people around him.

2. Why does he feel an “icy chill”? He compares himself to a star. How is that so? 

He feels an icy chill because of how he now alone in the world

3. How is he different now?

4. What is the “Self”? Why has it occupied Siddhartha so? 

5. When Siddhartha “awakes” from his dream, what does he see for the first time?

To answer the last three, I think we could read a bit more into Siddhartha, and have peer to peer discussions with their interpretations on what they have read, and maybe try to answer some other questions people have posted, or just general questions that one might have.

Hacking My Education

One thing that I want to know in June that I might not know today is how I can use some of the things we've learned to use in my future, like college, or even in my everyday life. Some skills I'd like to show in my blog is collaboration with other people. Not just other peers in each class, but showing the people we've had Google chats with, we can show how successful we've been with getting in contact with people around the United States. An experience I'd like to have as a result with this is that I'd like to get the word of our open source learning and see if it can spread on and be used by other people or classes.

What's In This For Me?

My goal this semester is to try not to over-stress on anything that to me might seem (to me) very important. A common thing to feel as the high school student is, well... stress. There are times when I think that I might be at peace, but then something else gets thrown right on top of it. We feel stress over a lot of things. For example, (this year especially) we have college applications, deadlines to those applications, scholarship applications. Then on top of that, we feel more stress over the "am I gonna get accepted to that college?", "will I get that scholarship?", "what if I don't get that scholarship? How am I going to go to college without those scholarships?!". Then we have the other things on our minds too, like the SAT or ACT (even though those are behind us now), or that big test you really need to study for that may or may not put your grade into danger, or that project that you need to get done for your econ class. Then just when you think it'll get better, BOOM! big midterm or big final(s) that you need to study for and do well on. I don't want to feel that way anymore. Instead of having that feeling of stress, I just want to sit down and just think to myself, "You know what? It'll be just fine. You got this". I want a way to completely eliminate all the stress that I have and be able to get done with what I need to get done. Now, we love that feeling of getting done with something that has been stressing us completely. But wouldn't it be a  better feeling if we just weren't stressed about it at all in the first place?