Monday, November 28, 2011

Big Question Revised

Why is there not a universal language? What are the benefits of having different languages unique to specific areas of the world, and what are the disadvantages to this? How does the use of different languages cause us to see the world in different ways?

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Thinking Outside the Box

In both Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” and Sartre’s “No Exit” people are limited on what they know due to isolation. In “Allegory of the Cave”, the people are chained down, the chains a symbol of their narrow minds. The prisoners are prisoners because they want to be, when one is freed and sees the world around them they become enlightened. In “No Exit”, the people are also isolated and rely on others for their knowledge. They could be enlightened by those around them but never really know what was out in the world and experience things for them selves. Both Plato and Sartre make the point that to gain knowledge you can not rely on your surroundings like the prisoners, or on the people nearest you like in “No Exit”, you must broaden your horizons and want to gain knowledge outside ones comfort zone.
Plato focuses on the ignorance of people and to the prisoners, to a certain point the phrase ignorance is bliss applies to them. They are imprisoned but that is what they know and given the chance, they prefer to "bear those ills [they] have then fly to others [they] know not of." In "No Exit" the characters are there by their own will. They were not forced there like the prisoners. Sartre's "No Exit" contains characters who despise each other, but their distaste for each other is a reflection of their dislike for specific aspects of themselves reflected in this play. They have characteristics they are not proud of but that are made apparent in the play.
Comparing Plato's and Sartre's works, there are many differences and similarities. Both would most likely agree that to really learn you must not stay stationary; you must go beyond your comfort zone to "the undiscovered country".

The Scarlet Letter

1. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a story about a woman named Hester Prynne. The story takes place in seventeenth century Boston. Hester is sent to America by her husband who is supposed to meet her there but when he doesn’t arrive, it is believed that he was lost at sea. Hester then has an affair with Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale and becomes pregnant. Hester is punished publicly for her affair and is forced to wear a scarlet “A” on all of her clothing. She refuses to give away her lovers identity so he will not be publicly disgraced as well, although Arthur punishes himself mentally and physically. Hester’s husband arrives in town and is defiant on getting revenge. Hester and Arthur plan to leave to Europe with their daughter Pearl so they can have a family, when Arthur joins Hester and Pearl and publicly reveals himself Pearl kisses him and he drops dead. Hester and Pearl leave and no one knows what happened to them. Later on Roger Chillingworth passes away and Hester returns home and lives in her old little cottage. Pearl married in Europe and continued to live there with her family. Hester eventually dies and is buried next to her love Arthur.

2. The theme of the novel is human nature and how the effects of how other people view someone can ruin them. Hester stayed strong while being scorned by the entire town for doing the human thing, looking for love after her husband was believed to be dead. Arthur Dimmesdale struggled under the guilt he felt for not coming forward and facing the disgrace with Hester and paid for it in many ways.

3. The tone of the novel is honest and makes a point. You know what the characters mean when they speak.

a. “Better had he died at once! Never did mortal suffer what this man has suffered”
Chillingsworth is speaking to Hester about how Arthur would be better off dead then what he put himself through in his guilt.

b. “Let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will be always in her heart”
A woman speaks of Hester, she makes the point that Hester will always have to live with what she did, so why broadcast it to the world.

c. “God gave her into my keeping,” repeated Hester Prynne raising her voice almost to a shriek. “I will not give her up!”
Hester believed it was God’s will for her to have Pearl and was not going to let anyone take her child from her.

4. Symbolism: The rose bush that grew outside the church stood for survival.
Irony: Arthur Dimmesdale is punished more then Hester, just in a different way.
Style: Hawthorne’s style is strait forward and helps readers comprehend what they are reading.
Imagery: descriptiveness helps paint a picture of what is meant by an author. “A bodily disease, which we look upon as whole and entire within itself, may, after all, be but a symptom of some ailment in the spiritual part."
Metaphor: Hawthorne helps the reader relate to what is being said by comparing it to something else.

Myth

Myth: A traditional story about heroes or supernatural beings, often attempting to explain the origins of natural phenomena or aspects of human behavior

An example of a myth is Hercules:

Thursday, November 17, 2011

"Allegory of the Cave" Intro

Plato’s, “Allegory of the Cave” is a thought provoking extended metaphor. He uses prisoners to symbolize today’s hoi polloi, and shackles to represent ignorance. We find so much comfort in being set in our ways that it restricts us from seeing what is really out there. To the prisoners the shadows on the wall are their real world but when a prisoner is let free he sees the world through new eyes. If we educate ourselves and try things we aren’t used to or that isn’t normal, we will be unchained and enlightened like the escaped prisoner.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Hamlet Essay 2

In Hamlet, he has several major soliloquies where he speaks out loud to talk himself through his problems. Self- overhearing helps him sort through his problems and decide what actions to follow through with based on his decisions. Personally, my self-overhearing is similar where as, it helps a lot to walk myself through any obstacles I may have. Austin’s performative utterance shows in Hamlet’s character because his words are actions, only being spoken. When reflecting on experiences, the mood of the atmosphere can drastically change the way you look back on that memory at a later time. The lecutionary force in Hamlet is prominent in the character Hamlet, much of the book he is getting through problems that could ultimately make or break him.
Hamlet if faced with a countless number of problems and feels as if there is no one he can truly turn to for help. Claudius gets even his best friends to, in a way, to betray Hamlet by spying on him and reporting back to the King. Also Hamlet is in a great deal of distress because of his fathers passing and his mothers’ remarriage to his horrible uncle. Hamlet would not be able to overcome these situations if he wasn’t able to talk himself through them. The performative utterance his words take on affects the play as a whole, and Hamlets character greatly. The action of speaking to himself out loud of his problems gives him a sense of sanity. Ideas many times sound better in your head, but when hearing them out loud it helps you to see if your ideas on how to solve your problems sound sane to the outside world as well as the world inside of your head.
For myself, working through problems helps me tremendously. Going over how to solve situations helps me learn more about myself. In the process of making important decisions I reflect on the type of person I want to be and where the different paths I can take, based off of the situation, will lead me. This can get me through any major decision; it is the smaller ones that seem to be my biggest obstacles. Being one of the most indecisive people ever, I always need a second opinion on the smaller decisions like what shirt to buy or where to go to lunch with friends. The problem with the smaller choices and why I am able to make bigger ones on my own is because when thinking of where to eat you don’t have to reflect on your self, except for what kind of food you like. Going over your problems, or decisions you must make, it always helps to talk your way through it and to consider every outcome.
When waking up in the morning in a bad mood, you set your day up for disaster. When going in to a test saying you’re going to fail, you will almost certainly do worse then the goal grade you were hoping to achieve. The mood you’re in and the attitude you have towards something is a sign of what you will achieve that day, or on that test, compared to the goal you have set for yourself. For Hamlet, he promised his father’s ghost he would avenge him and he passionately followed through with that promise. All though it was not easy, he worked his way through it by reflecting on his decisions like in the “To be or not to be” soliloquy where he had already decided not to kill himself but was making sure he had made the right decision. The air about your promises can be a symbol early on if you are going to follow through with your words, strive to meet your goals, or if you will willingly fall short of them.
So, in the end the benefits for talking through your problems and happily verbally committing to your goals in life will get you much farther then if you have a bad attitude and lazily look at where you want to be compared to where you are. The prelocutionary force is powerful and when pursuing the effect your words have on you and others you can get anywhere you want to be.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Hamlet and Beowulf

            In any different time period, the language differentiation from one story to the next will be prominent.  Hamlet and Beowulf are no exception to this.  Their thoughts and out looks on like are like night and day, a big part of this difference is a reflection of the influences the authors had and the culture they came from.  Linguistically and culturally the play and old epic story are very different.  These widely known stories were written in very different times and they reflect upon the era they were created in.
            In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, there are several long soliloquies where Prince Hamlet speaks to himself and looks closely at his life and his feelings towards different situations.  He ponders decisions he has already made, “For in that sleep or death what dreams may come” this shows his fear of what is after death even though he has already chosen not to commit suicide.  Shakespeare’s characters, such as Hamlet, are very in depth and think things through rather then act impulsively.  He may not be considered a hero for his show of braveness or saving his people, but he was a thinker.  He knew what he wanted and has the patience to wait it out for the perfect opportunity; in the play this would be killing his uncle Claudius.
            Beowulf is considered an epic hero.  In the time that Beowulf was originated to be a hero was the gallant man who saved everyone from the monster.  To avenge your family and friends was a thing to praise and things or people who were different were exiled.  The culture Beowulf is from can be considered a very old fashion one, and Beowulf would be the knight in shining armor.  “I have heard moreover that the monster scorns in his reckless way to use weapons; therefore, to heighten Hygelac’s frame and gladden his heart, I hearby renounce sword and the shelter of the broad.”  This is quoted by Beowulf and is an illustration of how nobleness was everything in his time.  To make his fight fair against a monster he chose not to use weapons, even though the monster was much larger and stronger then him.
            While Hamlet thinks his actions through and can take months to act on his desires, Beowulf is impulsive and brave.  Beowulf is skillful at fighting, but you have to interpret his true thoughts and feelings through his actions.  The problem with this is why Beowulf acts brave, is it sincere or are his actions simply what society expects them to be.  Prince Hamlet is wildly different, when society thinks he is crazy he mocks them and
makes the point that, “I am glad of it. A knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear.” This comes from a conversation he is having with Rosencrantz and could translate to, I’m glad you don’t understand me because if I spoke so you could understand I would be considered as dumb as you. This reply to Rosencrantz, comes off as Hamlet being mad.
            The epic hero of Beowulf and the thinker of Hamlet are to extremely different people.  This has to do with the language the author uses in the stories.  If Shakespeare had written Beowulf he might have shown his self reflection but in the time period the story is from, this would completely change Beowulf as a hero.  The era an author lives in drastically effects the way an author writes, their syntax, diction, and their rounded characters.  For Hamlet and Beowulf, the fact that they came from two very different times is well known to anyone that has read both stories.

This year..

This year one major thing I've learned is from Hamlet, especially the "to be or not to be" soliloquy.  This showed me that when you doubt you can learn or memorize something, looking at it from all points of view helps tremendously.  Also the more you research about it and the more you go over and over it the faster what seems like a foreign language becomes one that you can decipher for yourself.  Not looking at things so seriously but having an air of lightness around memorizing the soliloquy helped me so much and kept me from getting so frustrated. Knowing what your reading and saying helps you understand what your memorizing and can make a huge difference.  

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Roy Christopher Video Chat Highlights

"Program or be programmed" this is a very meaningful quote I took away from the chat. We must embrace technology and lean about the tools we use.  Another thing that stuck out to me was how he said technology is what we make of it.  If we focus on what we are supposed to be doing we can learn almost anything we want to, but if we are distracted by web sites like Facebook, you can make no progress in what you set out to achieve. Lastly, the most important point he made in my opinion was, the fact that the older generations must trust the younger ones in moving the world forward technologically and that so much can be accomplished as we continue to advance.   The video chat was very interesting and really made me think, especially about the points above.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

The Joy Luck Club

1. Plot Summary:
The novel begins when Suyuan Woo just passed away.  She is an elderly Chinese woman who grew up in China and later moved to the states after she remarried.  Suyuan is the founder of The Joy Luck Club, this is where a few close friends get together to eat, drink, and gamble.  It began during the war to lift spirits.  Suyuan was then married and had twin daughters.  Her husband died in the war and she had to abandon her daughters in hopes that someone would save them.  She then remarried and moved to the states where she had another daughter, June. The one wish Suyuan had was to find her lost daughters and she had not fulfilled this in her life.  Once June’s mother passed she took her mothers place in The Joy Luck Club, and in the first meeting found out that her twin sisters were found alive and still lived in China.  June’s aunties, the women in The Joy Luck Club, saved money to give to June so she could fulfill her mothers dream.  June struggles with coming to terms with this task because she wants to tell her sisters all about their mother but feels that she never really knew her mother herself. The book has sixteen chapters and each of the women and their daughters have a chapter dedicated to themselves where it goes more in depth about their personal life and struggles.  In the end June goes to China and finds her sisters and feels like she grew closer to her mother in the process.

2. Theme:
The major theme of The Joy Luck Club is how to cope with the cultural differences, especially with in their own families. The elder women in the novel were all raised very differently then they raised their children.  Because of this is caused tension in the mother daughter relationships.  In the Chinese culture it is extremely important to respect and obey your elders and this is how the older women were raised, and then they have their daughters that they believe are not respectful enough and in a sense, to American.  On the contrary, the daughters view their mothers as to traditional and a little up tight. The four mothers want their children to have, how Lindo puts it, “American circumstances and Chinese character.” By this she is saying how she favors the American opportunities, especially the role of women, but wishes her daughter would hold the Chinese value of respect and honesty.

3. Tone:
Amy Tan’s tone for the novel is reflective.  In each chapter the different characters take time to look back on their life and see what they wish they could change and what they wouldn’t change for the world.
a.       “When I was in love with Marvin, he was nearly perfect…”

b.      "I was no longer scared. I could see what was inside me."

c.       "Even though I was young, I could see the pain of the flesh and the worth of the pain."
4. Literary Techniques:
 Imagery: She uses descriptive sentences and makes you really connect with the characters.
            Style: Tan’s style is unique because of the way she structures the novel. Each paragraph has a different narrator and focuses on the current narrator’s life.
            Metaphor: She uses metaphors through out the novel, it is a phrase that is applied to something it is not literally talking about.
                        Ex: “We were a city of leftovers mixed together.”
            Simile: To compare two things using like or as.  She brings interest to her writing by using this.
                        Ex: “My heart felt like crickets scratching to get out of a cage.”
            Personification: Where you give human characteristics to a nonhuman thing.  Tan uses this frequently to describe the many different places in the novel.
                        Ex: “The hills would suddenly become monstrous elephants marching toward me.”

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Tools That Change the Way We Think

I believe that the internet has made our generation dependent on technology. But it has also helped us become more informed because of the convienence of the internet and search engines such as Google and DuckDuckGo. We have a world of information at our finger tips. Since the internet incldes social media such as facebook my concentration has gone way down. Its hard to focus on an essay when the internet tab is blinking with facebook updates. It was not that long ago when while writing a research paper included going to the library checking out a book and actually searching through it to find the information needed. Now we can read the link and know if we want to look further into reading it or move on to the next link. This has created a lazy and impatient generation.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

In Search Of

While watching “Filter Bubbles” it was interesting to find out that when you search for something on a web site like Google, it looks at 57 different signals and tailors the results based on other connections its made. This made me wonder what isn’t showing up when I search for something.
            This time I went to Google and typed in, “who is Shakespeare really”. By adding the word really I got a completely different result list.  One of the links was http://www.urbana.k12.oh.us/699/oh/authorship%20controversy.html. This was a web site that wasn’t trying to persuade me on who to believe wrote Shakespeare’s plays but informed me of why people believed really wrote it and the evidence they use to back up with beliefs. One thing that I thought was interesting was how on his birth certificate his name is spelled like “Shaksper”. Although this is an interesting fact, he is defiantly not the only author who has changed their name, also it talks about how both his parents were illiterate so who would ever teach him how to write his name? There were many facts about the different groups who believe others are the true authors of Shakespeare’s works that I never would have found if I hadn’t taken in to account how the filter bubbles work and it’s very interesting to see the different results.

Notes on Hamlet

Since the beginning of the play things have changed dramatically.  When people first started to think Hamlet was crazy I defended him and blamed his actions on the unfortunate occurrences in his life such as his father dying and his mother remarrying his horrible uncle a month later. When Hamlet found out that his Uncle Claudius was the one who killed his father and wanted revenge I thought it was completely normal especially after reading Beowulf, which is all about avenging those who killed your loved ones.  Now with the resent events such as Hamlet killing Polonius and not even feeling remorse for the guy cause he thinks he deserves it I think Hamlet is not all there. Maybe it was the events in his life that drove him to be this way but I don’t believe he will stop at anything until his uncle is dead.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Who Was Shakespeare

                First I went to Google and typed in “who was Shakespeare”.  pbs.org is the first link that showed up.  In this web site it talked about how there is really little we do know about Shakespeare and even points out that his identity has been disputed over multiple times.  It stated that there are general facts that are widely accepted by people such as he was born in 1564.  Shakespeare married at the age of eighteen to Anne Hathaway, they had three children, one who died at age eleven. Around 1588 it is said that he and his family moved to London where his plays began to gain recognition.  Sonnets began to establish his career but it was the 38 plays that he wrote that got him the title as the “greatest dramatist who ever lived” He dies in 1616 and the age of 52.
                I stopped my search here because this web site had a lot of information and most of the others I looked at had repeating information. Also others I tried to look at when I typed in “was Shakespeare a fraud” were blogs of people arguing over who really wrote Shakespeare’s plays.   
                With so little known about his life we are left to wonder about who he was as a person and why he was inspired to write such depressing plays.
                From my experience Shakespeare is perceived by students as the most famous play writer ever and really interesting once you decipher what it is he is saying.  Over the years reading Shakespeare has become easier for the most part for me to interpret.  In Le’Clair’s class when we read Romeo and Juliet he explained to us what everything meant.  This helped me prepare for sophomore year while having to interpret parts of Caesar because we because we were more familiar with the style and language.  This year I am able to understand what Shakespeare wanted his audience to understand much more easily because it is much more familiar.  When there are parts I’m not quite sure about you can pretty much get the gist of it by the lines surrounding it.  

To Facebook or Not to Facebook

                Facebook can be a great way to keep in touch with old friends, distant relatives and much more but how safe is it really?  Although many people use it with nothing but good intentions in mind not everyone with a Facebook is like that.  For me the benefits of Facebook is to keep up with friends you don’t always get to see whether they live in another city or go to another school it is an easy convenient way to talk to them.  Also as seniors the majority of us will be moving away in less then a year, not only will we be able to keep in touch with close friends but family to.  The risks of Facebook are plentiful and honestly kind of scary.  In class we talked about how 7.5 million kids the age of 12 and under have a Facebook.  This is fine if their parents closely watch what they post but I’m sure many of their parents are oblivious to the fact that they even have a Facebook.  They can post anything their hearts desire and this can get them in a lot of trouble.  I never really thought about how many young kids had a Facebook before and now they we have read about it and discussed it in class I realize how dangerous it can be.  Especially to kids who think that just because their profile is set to private that no one that isn’t their friend can read what they’re posting.  

Monday, October 10, 2011

Don't Be Hamlet

“To be or not to be that is the question:” This is arguably one of the most famous Shakespearian quotes of all time.  But what is his soliloquy really saying?  Hamlet is torn on what he should do with himself, to live and face his troubles or take a cowards way out by ending his life.   In the end he chooses to live but not for any moral reasons but out of fear.  Although Hamlet chose what many would say was the right choice, he did not make this decision with dignity.
Hamlet’s soliloquy is his way of talking through his problems.  “Weather ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer… Or take arms against a sea of troubles and, by opposing, end them.”  He is talking about his life and if he should be the noble prince as expected of him or end his life.  He has enormous problems in his life, his beloved father passed away and his mother remarried to his uncle less then a month later.  Also, Hamlet feels as if his suspicion that his uncle murdered his father has been confirmed by what he believes to be the ghost of his father.  Overwhelmed by all the drama in his life, Hamlet is willing to do almost anything to make it go away.
Hamlet seriously considers killing himself because all of his problems.  But what, may I ask, would the world be like if everyone with, what seems to them like, a major problem killed themselves? The human race would cease to exist.  Just because you’re going through a rough patch doesn’t mean things should be ended.  It’s standing up against all the horrors of the world that makes people truly stronger.  Hamlet needs to learn this to be able to see past all the obstacles in his life so he can see the light at the end of the tunnel and have a reason to live that he is aware of.
In the end Hamlet decides against killing himself but he doesn’t do it for the right reasons.  Hamlet fears what death will bring with it, “For in that sleep of death what dreams may come”.  He is a coward, fearing death is normal for many people.  But choosing to stay alive, not because all the things you have to live for, but so you don’t have to deal with what may be to come is rather pathetic.  He lives in fear with a life full of conflicts; he seems to be too weak to fully enjoy the beauty of what his life could be.
 Although, Hamlet chooses the noble side of his dilemma, it is not for any gallant reason.  He is frightened of his life and doesn’t know quite what to do with it.  Live in pain and suffer because he feels he might be better off not living at all, or take a chance with death and maybe with is will come a silent salvation.  But if he is wrong there is no backing out once its over it’s over.  He chooses not to end his life but, with the way he lives, when the ending comes it will not be a happy one.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Water for elephants

1. The plot in Water for Elephants is very unusual. The main character, Jacob Jankowski, is the narrator. He becomes an orphan with nothing to his name when his parents are killed in a car crash.  He runs away and joins a circus where he meets Marlena. Because he is almost a certified vet he becomes the vet for the show. Marlena's husband August is abusive and not a very good person so her and Jacob run away together, but are found by August and she is brought back to the circus. Jacob goes back to get her when the cats escape and everything goes chaotic. In the end Marlena and Jacob get married and have five kids.

2.The theme of the novel is to follow your gut instinct to happiness. Jacob does this when he jumps on the train and goes after Marlena and many smaller times throughout the story.

3. The Author has two different tones, one is cranky when the book is from the poin of view of the older jacob. "So what's on the menu tonight?' I grumble" and he goes on to complain about the food. Also when a nurse kindly asks what she can get for his he replies, "How about some real food?" The author also uses a rebelious tone for younger jacob. "Finished already?' he says, reaching for it. I hear papers rustling as i head for the door. 'Wait!' he calls after me. 'You haven't even started!'" and Jacob walks out of his final exams.

4. Very descriptive, "He is a hulking brute with a thick black beard. His clothes are filthy, and the brim of his hat looks like someone has taken a bite out of it."
Foreshadowing, the prologue is part of a chapter from much later in the book and in it Jacob is very worried about Marlena, setting it up for there to be something between them.
Alliteration, "You done jumped the Flying Squadron of the Benzini Brothers Morst Spectacular Show on Earth" the name is repeated alot, also is the fact that they arent supposed to like their competeters shows.
Hyperbole
Metaphore