Response to Course Material - #5

Ceremony, Ceremony, Ceremony. It can be a fascinating book while at the same time almost make the reader want to throw the book away because of its complexity. This complexity comes in the form of the symbols and motifs of Native American life. While this creates very good discussion topics, we, as 5th hour, always end up using our entire class period analyzing one passage a day. The discussion is good but I wish we could make some more clear decisions and move onto the next passage.

Open Prompt (I may be losing count)

1970 Also. Choose a work of recognized literary merit in which a specific inanimate object (e.g., a seashell, a handkerchief, a painting) is important, and write an essay in which you show how two or three of the purposes the object serves are related to one another.

       Inamimate objects, such as flags, can serve a variety of purposes such as representing specific values. The light of a bat in the Batman movies serves the purpose of striking fear into those who break the law. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the conch shell discovered upon arrival on the island serves as a . The conch shell is one of the most important symbols in the book and serves as a symbol of order on the island.

       When Ralph and Piggy first arrive on the island, they discover the conch shell blows it to assemble the boys. Here it serves as a auditory signal to bring the boys together. By blowing the conch, Piggy establishes a common meeting point for the group, which in turn creates a sense of community and identity among the boys. The boys begin to exhibit social tendencies found within the adult world, such as the need for a leader and establishing order within their own little community on the island.

       Piggy remains in possession of the conch because, as a stout boy with health issues, he realizes that his only source of power and the only way make his opinion heard is through the conch. The conch, which brought the boys together, continues to be an object of control. By establishing the precedent of the power of speech in anyone who holds the conch, Piggy hopes to find a leader in a democratic way with order.

       The situation on the island remains relatively organized and orderly as the conch shell remains present. The group of boys go about choosing a leader, allotting specific tasks, and carrying out those tasks without any major problems. The conch, however, loses its vibrancy and power as tensions between groups on the island erupt. With the death of the conch's constant guardian, Piggy, the conch is also shattered and pure animal violence breaks out among the boys. The chaos that ensues is a testament to the conch's role as a symbol of order.

       The conch begins the novel as a signal to bring the boys together through its ability to produce sound. It becomes a object of power, specifically for Piggy, and then is revealed as a symbol of order that, when destroyed, releases the barbaric side of the boys. Overall, the power the conch possesses manifests itself in different forms that create various reactions from the boys throughout the novel.

Responses to Course Material - #4

As we write more and more essays I am becoming more comfortable with the style and format. Although I may have improved somewhat, I still feel that there is a lot of room for more improvement. I working on looking for the techniques the authors used to make certain effects.  I think this would help a lot on how to organize a compare and contrast essay.

 This last week before Thanksgiving break, we have been reviewing the literary eras. While researching these eras, I found that much of the information was a review for me, as I went over these eras in British literature as a junior. The addition of Prezi format made the whole experience more enjoyable. I really liked to use Prezi to make presentation more interactive with the audience and it was just really fun to play around with it in general.

Unfortunately I cannot remember much of the discussions we had in regards of Death of a Salesman. The only thing I can remember is that the discussion went pretty much similarly to our discussion of The American Dream.

Closed Reading - #4 "Cellphones for kids are more gadget than necessity"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/cellphones-for-kids-are-more-gadget-than-necessity/2011/11/21/gIQAIfg1vN_story.html?hpid=z4

Once again I must insist on a closed reading post from the news. I find these informative and often even interesting to read. So let's get started.

First off language is a huge factor here. Michelle Singletary's language gives the reader a sense of discomfort. It is because she uses language to point out the uncomfortable truth. The truth that American children are now getting cellphones for granted from a very young age. Her questions of cellphone usage are striking: "Is it just me? Where would a young child be without adult supervision so that he or she would need a cellphone? And why would a young child — or teen, for that matter — need an iPhone or any smartphone?" She shows the argument children or even adults use to get their children cellphones and counters it with the questions stated above.

Second is a piece of diction. "Gadget." This word can pretty much give the reader all they need to know about Singletary's viewpoint on cellphones. It is important because the word shows that children don't really need cellphones but they get them because it makes them look cool. As the title says cellphones are not necessities for children to use but more like a gadget.

The last is the details. Singletary's uses specific details from her own life to show her opinion. Her stories of her son wanting a new phone or her daugther having to sign a contract of do's and don'ts with a cellphone are very striking stories that support her opinion. At the end she offers advice to parents who have succumbed to the demands of their child's wishes to get a cellphone.

Through the means of language, diction, and details Michelle Singletary shows us the truth that kids don’t really need cellphones and that their usage would become more controlled through proper adult supervision.

Closed Reading - #3 "Gadhafi's death is only the beginning"

I found a surprisingly large amount of good information for analysis in this short editorial. 

First I want to comment on the title. "Gadhafi's death is only the beginning". This gives readers a sense of foreboding and fear that there will be more problems in Libya after the erstwhile dictator's death. As readers read on, the readers are shown other possible problems such as the possibility of the rebels "splintering" to create a new dictatorship. 

Second, another thing that is interesting is the syntax of the first paragraph. The author starts out with "It's hard to recall a time when so many tyrants and terrorists met such fitting ends." The author then lays out many examples of "tyrants and terrorists" who were disposed of in the past couple of months. The structure is effective and the first paragraph serves as a good intro to the rest of the editorial. Also the last paragraph is a carefully constructed piece of syntax. The author points out the effects of the Arab Spring and how the U.S. could possibly improve their relations with the Middle East. However, back to the "tyrants and terrorists" the author finishes the editorial with, "Patient persistence should keep the tally of fallen despots and failed terrorists growing, with Syrian leader Bashir Assad the next likely candidate to join the list."

Lastly, the author uses diction to show the tyrants and terrorists in a bad light. The use of words such as "demise" and "despotic" suggests that the author thinks that these people deserved what they got and the world is a whole lot better without them. 

Responses to Course Material - #3

To be completely honest this is the first time I have ever delved into a book and analyzed it. I was absolutely astounded on how much meaning each and ever sentence may contain. It is easy to get a overall picture but by analyzing every single sentence you can find more information to help you understand the story better. I immensely enjoyed our class discussion as it helped my understanding of the story better. Although at times the discussion got a little bit boring and slow, it was really helpful overall. One thing I thought personally was if authors actually intend to shape a story in every way as to make the story more easy to understand and find. I found it a little disconcerting on how much information authors may be packing into every sentence of the story or in this case a play.
I was glad that we were given the exact same Eros prompt. I was able to read up on material and prepare myself better for the essay. However on the actual AP exam we will not know the actual prompts until we take the test, I will continue to work on to develop my skills on writing essays.

Responses to Course Materials - #2

First of all, we learned a lot this week. From the last two components of DIDLS to Edward Albee’s The American Dream there’s a lot of material we covered this week. Although it’s a lot of material I think it’s not exactly impossible to understand and use all we have learned.

First we began to explore the last two components of DIDLS: language and syntax. I think I already had a pretty good understanding of the use of language to enhance the meaning of a work but syntax was almost a new concept. I was not familiar on how authors use syntax to create various effects and moods. The practice sheets really helped me understand syntax by giving me different passages to analyze that all had different pieces of syntax from each other. I think that the group discussion also helped further my understanding of the technique.

The second thing that I remember from this week was the Theater of the Absurd. I enjoyed reading on the history of comedy although I did not know the five different types of theories that adhere to the different aspects of humor and how they can be combined to create different effects. The most difficult aspect for me was to find humor in something that seemed humorless. However, after learning the five theories I am able to spot humor and analyze it complexity easily.

Reading The American Dream was fun but rather bizarre experience. While I did not particularly enjoy the plot I was pleased when I could spot important meaning in the play using what we learned from DIDLS. I liked the intricate details Ms. Holmes explained throughout the play which made the play a lot easier to read and understand.

Once again, I struggled with writing the essays even dividing it up into the thesis, and main idea sentences. Although I was able to come up with some good arguments for our group, I felt that they picked up a lot of details I didn’t think of before. While it was good practice looking at actual essay prompts for the AP exam, I think there is so much more I can learn and improve on. This week I learned that creating a good argument is very important, but supporting it is even more important. This is a skill I can never stop getting better at and I will continue to work on this skill.

Close Reading - #2 "Life lessons: Steve Jobs on Steve Jobs"

http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/06/life-lessons-steve-jobs-on-steve-jobs/?iref=obnetwork

This is not a proper editorial since it is only a copy of Steve Jobs's commencement speech at Stanford University from June 12, 2005. However I found that it has a very strong voice nevertheless. Therefore I decided to write my blog post on it to honor Steve Jobs who recently passed away. This commencement speech at Stanford University sums up Steve Jobs's life lessons.

Lets start with details. Steve Jobs is famous for his innovation of different font styles. He talks about how he became so fascinated by fonts when he was attending Reed College. He says "I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great." In this sentence I could really feel his passion for learning calligraphy. I could see where he was going with this because this came under one of the three big stories of his life: connecting dots.

In the second big story of Steve Jobs's life, I could feel his feelings by his use of imagery. He starts out by saying how he was fired from Apple after 10 years when he first started it with Steve Wozniack. He doesn't merely state that it was devastating. He compares it to simple actions that we can actually relate back to. "I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me." As I listen to him (or read) I could see what he meant and how he felt. As someone who used to do track, I could understand him more easily and thus Steve Jobs's purpose of saying the comparison was achieved. The audience understood.

His use of language jumps out to me more clearly than anything else I could of have found. His third story is about death. How you can't avoid it. He starts out with the story of how he was diagnosed with cancer and how the doctor told him to "settle his affairs." His use of language comes to me and it, in a sense, actually made me emotional. I could feel the dramatic effect he wanted the Stanford students to feel. This is the paragraph that jumped out to me the most. By creating this atmosphere with his language, he is able to get his important message across to the students: live life to its fullest.

"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true." -Steve Jobs

R.I.P Steve Jobs

Responses to Course Material - #1

Well, if there is only going to be one thing that I remember from these first couple of weeks it's going to be the acronym for Diction, Imagery, Details, Language, and Syntax: DIDLS! I think this is a useful tool for us to remember to find all these components from any piece of literature to understand its meaning more indepth. If there was one thing I was confused about it is the component of Details from DIDLS. I think most of the time Details are incorporated into Diction or Imagery. But using this tool generally is something that I will have to get used to.

While I did find the grading scale for AP essays quite alarming (it makes those SAT/ACT essays look quite easy), I found an important and not so good aspect of my writing. I tend to sometimes skip over important parts of essay prompts. This is most definitely not good and I will have to work on writing a good thesis in the future. On a after thought, this may explain why I got so many 8 out of 12 on my ACT essays.......

As a last note, to be completely honest, I really do not like looking at poetry. This probably lead to a quite horrific essay to read from friday but that's just something I will have to get used to in the future.

Open Prompt - #1

Whenever a novel has a happy ending through some kind of spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation, the readers generally feel glad to see the protagonist redeemed. This fact is reflected when people read the heartwarming story of Les Misérables. The author, Victor Hugo, focuses on the good, merciful aspect of human nature and writes a story about the struggles of a ex-convict, Jean Valjean, and his experiences for redemption. This masterpiece on moral reconciliation through the portrayal of the character of Valjean makes a point that humans still innately possess the qualities of philanthropy.

The ending of Les Misérables moves many readers because of their feelings of compassion towards a human who is truly trying to make a difference in the world. In the beginning of the book, Valjean is an ex-convict who just got out of prison and who cannot control his instinct to rob others for his own good. Two acts change Valjean forever. The first most obvious reason is, as many readers know, the forgiveness and kindness of the Bishop Myriel. The bishop unlike others, who reject Valjean solely on the fact that he is an ex-convict, embraces Valjean and not only offers him a place to stay, but also helps him out of trouble when Valjean is caught for robbery. He urges Valjean to embrace the ways of god and to redeem himself by helping others of need. The second act is when Valjean unintentionally steals from a young boy purely out of instinct. After he realizes what he has done, Valjean is horrified of what he has become and then vows to spend the rest of his life to others who are in need.

The rest of the story, in a simple sense, is an extension of Valjean’s struggles to redeem himself. He always acts out for the benefit of others even when those people are people who are against him, most notably Inspector Javert and the Thenardiers. To Javert, Valjean saves his life when Javert is captured by students in the uprising. To the Thenardiers, Valjean gives them huge amounts of money under the impression that they are very poor people, while in fact, they have large amounts of money due to Valjean’s generosity. In the end, Valjean dies surrounded by Marius and Cosette who are like son and daughter to him. He dies knowing that Marius and Cosette will be happy with each other and that he can finally rest in peace without any worries. Death surrounded by the people he loves most is Valjean’s final redemption and this is where the readers feel relieved. Victor Hugo writes a masterpiece of human nature and makes a point through the character of Valjean that humans innately possess the qualities of philanthropy.

Close Readings #1 - "Remembering 9/11: Reflections On Tragedy, Patriotism And Sports"

This is an editorial that reflects the authors experiences of the 9/11 terrorist attacks 10 years ago. The author talks about the impact the attacks have had in his life.

In terms of diction, the reflection is clearly to inspire patriotism for the U.S. From the beginning, the author states "We are one nation united, and we will never forget." Three words come out to me in this sentence: "one", "united", and "forget". These are all words used by the author to arouse people. It sets the tone of what the author will say for the entire editorial. The author himself is clearly proud to be an American and we can see that very clearly. "We are still Americans, and darn proud of it." In this sentence the word "darn" jumps out, as it puts emphasis on what the author is trying to say about American patriotism. Also the last two sentences when the author uses the words "God Bless" repeatedly, it gives the reader a last reminder of the purpose of the editorial. It gives us a sense of how much the author himself is thankful to be well and good while also praising that America is still a great country.

The author uses imagery extensively throughout the entire editorial. Since this is a reflection, the author provides us with a anecdote to make his point more realistic. He talks about when the attacks occured when he was in fifth grade and how he learned of the attacks. He explains, realistically, how he and his friends talked about the attacks and later tells us of how he felt when walked into his family room. As he is describing his 9/11, 10 years ago, we get the sense as if he was hit by a tidal wave called truth. Although he was not literally hit by a tidal wave, we can easily see and feel what he experienced through his use of imagery.

The author's use of details is very important in the editorial as it gives accurate examples that regular people who may read the editorial can easily relate to. When the author talks about the many ways people have tried to heal from the shocking attacks, he uses sports as a huge sign that people are "all looking for peace and searching for some sign that it was going to be alright." More specifically he talks about sports teams in the New York area, where the attacks occured, such as the Yankees, Mets, Jets, Giants. He uses these examples to make an even greater point which, I think, is the most important message in this editorial (apart from promoting patriotism): "Time simply can't heal all wounds, it can only mask the pain for a little while."

http://boston.sbnation.com/2011/9/11/2418438/september-11-2001-terrorist-attacks-we-will-never-forget