No Exit

1. Think about the place you have chosen as your hell. Does it look ordinary and bourgeois, like Sartre's drawing room, or is it equipped with literal instruments of torture like Dante's Inferno? Can the mind be in hell in a beautiful place? Is there a way to find peace in a hellish physical environment?
My hell would have to be school because it causes me to have to wake up early and it is a very ordinary place. I think a mind can be hell in a beautiful place because if you are someone with a short temper and you are at Disneyland, I have a feeling that day isn't going to go so well. Picture a soldier at war, I'm sure he is in hell most of the time, but when he gets a call or a letter from his family. It probably feels like a little piece of heaven.

2. Could hell be described as too much of anything without a break?
I believe that no matter how bad things are it has to let up sometime. So no, I don't think hell can be described as too much of anything.

3. How does Sartre create a sense of place through dialogue? Can you imagine what it feels like to stay awake all the time with the lights on with no hope of leaving a specific place? How does GARCIN react to this hell? How could you twist your daily activities around so that everyday habits become hell? Is there a pattern of circumstances that reinforces the experience of hell?
I think the most important part of the way we perceive the setting is in the beginning when the valet and Garcin are talking and we hear all of his disgusts with the place he will be staying. I could never imagine not being able to sleep because I would be in a terrible mood all the time and not many people would want to talk to me.Garcin tries to make the most of Hell which is a good thing, but no matter what he does o make the best of it, its always going to be Hell. If I really wanted to make my life a living Hell I would have six classes and get two part time jobs. I like being able to have sometime to relax, but there wouldnt be anytime for that with two jobs and a full day of school.

Allegory of the Cave Questions

1. According to Socrates, what does the Allegory of the Cave represent?
The Allegory of the Cave represents how we perceive things around us and how people with different backgrounds have different ways of seeing the same things.

2. What are the key elements in the imagery used in the allegory?
The prisoners, the puppet shadows on the cave wall, and the reflections in water are all key elements of imagery in the allegory.

3. What are some things the allegory suggests about the process of enlightenment or education?
Plato believes that everyone is given the capacity to learn when they are born, but some chose not to use it.  The allegory shows how people's out look can be changed by being brought out of a "cave" and into the real world.


4. What do the imagery of "shackles" and the "cave" suggest about the perspective of the cave dwellers or prisoners?
The shackles and the cave represent the small capacity of reality that the people in the cave have. The cave represents everything that the prisoners know and the shackles are keeping them from learning more.

5. In society today or in your own life, what sorts of things shackle the mind?
Influence from the people around you. People could know the right thing to do, but submit to peer pressure anyways in order to be accepted by those around them.

6. Compare the perspective of the freed prisoner with the cave prisoners?
The freed prisoner has been enlightened with the grace of "real life." The prisoners can't see this because all that they know is the echoes and the shadows on the wall. The freed prisoner just turns into another shadow for them.

7. According to the allegory, lack of clarity or intellectual confusion can occur in two distinct ways or contexts. What are they?
The first way is ignorance, the prisoners don't listen to their freed acquaintance's explanation of reality. The second in apathy, the freed prisoner shouldn't feel sorry for the prisoners that remain because the life that they are living is the only life that they know.

8. According to the allegory, how do cave prisoners get free? What does this suggest about intellectual freedom?
The prisoners can only be freed once they become open-minded. They are freed once they are ready to be enlightened.

9. The allegory presupposes that there is a distinction between appearances and reality. Do you agree? Why or why not?
There is certainly a difference between appearance and reality. Most things hardly ever seem as they appear.

10. If Socrates is incorrect in his assumption that there is a distinction between reality and appearances, what are the two alternative metaphysical assumptions?
One alternative assumption is that everyone has their own reality. Another is that there is an alternative universe.

Brain With [4] Legs

My group is reading Great Expectations. We plan to read on our own and discuss the reading in class. Then we will come together in the end to write it up on our blogs.

Sonnet Analysis #1

Sonnet:

• Traditionally sung
• Each stanza has 14 lines
• Rhyming is not the key element
• Shakespearean Sonnet, divided into three parts 

A Poetic Inquiry

My Big Question:
Why are people so quick to judge other people? Whether it be by their clothes or the way they look. Is it because they are insecure about their own flaws?
I still don't understand why people still look down upon and judge others, either by how they look or the decisions they make. Everyone has there own look and are in control of their own lives. You don't know what that person has been through or why they made the choices they have made so how can you judge them before you really get to know them?

The Sonnet I Chose:

Who are you to judge me,
Based on the way I look,
Do you always judge a story,
By the cover of the book?
Who are you to judge me,
By the way I dress and what I wear?
Who are you to judge me,
By the way I wear my hair?
Who are you to judge me,
By the things you imagine I do?
When you don't bother to figure out for sure,
What exactly is or isn't true...
That's my point,
You're no one at all,

You judge me for one reason,
So you can feel tall...
You judge me because you want to,
And because it makes you feel better inside,
Because my imperfections aren't yours,
But your flaws won't always hide...
I'm my own judge,
And you're your own too,
So judge yourself,
And the things that you do...
Because I'm tired of being judged,
By people who think they know me,
Who refuse to judge themselves,
Because they aren't as perfect as they could be...

I found this sonnet here: http://www.poems-and-quotes.com/life/poems.php?id=236563

Even though I personally am not the one being judged, I constantly see other people being ridiculed for the way they dress or on the decisions they make. So I thought this sonnet fit my big question fairly well.

Performative Utterance: Hamlet

Performative utterance is used to explain thought in Hamlet. Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” soliloquy is an example of performative utterance in the play. It is used to show the emotions of one character towards other characters. His soliloquy brings about a state of mind or affair. Hamlet’s soliloquies involve him talking to himself about his ideas and thoughts of other characters and situations. Shakespeare uses performative utterance through Hamlet’s speeches, which allows us to see his view on everyone else including Hamlet himself.

Hamlet's most famous performative utterance is “to be or not to be”. It shows us his thoughts and feelings of the characters and his thought process on whether he should commit suicide or stay alive and kill Claudius. This gives the audience the opportunity to see what Hamlet’s thoughts are about the other characters and his plot for revenge just through his words, without any action. The audience has the opportunity to think through a course of action that may or may not really occur. Shakespeare uses the performative utterance in Hamlet’s soliloquy to show his two separate plans of action. Hamlet through his soliloquies describes his plot to seek revenge on Claudius by killing him. What actually happens in the play is way different than what Hamlet describes,

Hamlet’s speeches involve a lot of action and calls for action from others. It shows us how bad he wants revenge on Claudius for killing his father and taking the throne. Hamlet’s speeches impact the whole story, because we get to see the characters and the plot according to Hamlet. while reading Hamlet’s speeches I got to experience and understand the characters in a different way. They also allowed me to view the plot of the story through one of the characters.

Shakespeare’s  use of performative utterance has a big impact in the play. Through Hamlet’s soliloquies we are able to witness and listen to his inner thoughts and feelings. His soliloquies are examples of perfromative utterance because it shows us exactly what he is thinking without directly explaining it.

Vocabulary #9

1.aficionado: enthusiast: somebody who is enthusiastic and knowledgeable about something

2.browbeat: intimidate, typically into doing something, with stern or abusive words

3.commensurate: corresponding in size or degree; in proportion

4.diaphanous: light, delicate, and translucent

5.emolument: a salary, fee, or profit from employment or office

6.foray: a sudden attack or incursion into enemy territory

7.genre: a category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by similarities in form,
style, or subject matter

8.homily: commentary that follows a reading of scripture

9.immure: enclose or confine against their will

10.insouciant: showing a casual lack of concern; indifferent

11.matrix: an environment or material in which something develops; a surrounding medium or structure

12.obsequies: funeral rites

13. panache: flamboyant manner and reckless courage

14. persona: the image or personality that a person presents

15.philippic: a bitter attack or denunciation

16.prurient: having or encouraging an excessive interest in sexual matters

17.sacrosanct: regarded as too important or valuable to be interfered with

18.systemic: of or relating to a system, esp. as opposed to a particular part

19.tendentious: expressing or intending to promote a particular cause or point of view

20.vicissitude: a change of circumstances or fortune, typically one that is unwelcome or unpleasant

Tools That Change the Way We Think.

The use of media and technology changes the way I think by giving me information and knowledge about things I don't know much about. For example, I may thing that a company is a good place to buy things from, but then after going on and researching that company i find that they use sweat shops to mass produce their products. Obviously, after reading that I would no longer think that company is a good place to buy products from.

Literary Analysis #3

The Crucible

Plot Summary:
The crucible is play about the witch trials in Salem, it begins with us finding out about a young girl who is unable to move in her bed. The villagers suspect witchcraft but they do not know that the night before all the girls in the village sneaked out to the woods where they made a potion, with the help of black slave, Tituba The potion was supposed to allow the girls to have the man they love. It was fine until one girl, Abigail, took things too far and wished death on the wife of John Proctor. The girls went crazy, dancing and stripping but then Abigail's uncle walks in and finds them. This is the real reason the girl is unable to move, she is just scared she is going to get into trouble. The girls turn on the rest of the village and blame them for the witchcraft. Which leads to everyone pointing fingers at each other. If you say you are not a witch you are killed, but if you say you are a witch you are sent to jail forever.


Theme: Lies and Deception 

Most of the characters in The Crucible are lying, if not to other people, then to themselves. Abigail lies about her ability to see spirits, as do the other girls. Proctor is deceitful first for cheating on his wife with Abigail and then for hiding it. The judge, lieutenant governor, and ministers lie to themselves and everybody else in saying that they serve the cause of God’s justice. The twist in the story is that by telling the truth (“I am not a witch”), you die, but you also gain your freedom, you retain your standing with God and you become a martyr.

Tone: Malicious

Excerpt 1: 
"ABIGAIL: She comes to me every night to go and drink blood!"
Abigail is telling the court that Tituba is a witch and that she has committed witch craft. I believe she chooses Tituba as her victim because she is essentially an "easy target", because she doesn't have any defense to the accusations.

Excerpt 2:
"ABIGAIL: smashes her across the face: Shut it! Now shut it!"
Abigail hits Betty because she is reminding Abigail that she drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor. Abigail hits her and tells her to be quiet because she doesn't want the court to find out that she is lying. Abigail will do anything to not get into trouble.

Excerpt 3:
"ABIGAIL:I am but God's finger, John. If he would condemn Elizabeth, she will be condemned."
This quote shows that Abigail has gone crazy with power because she knows the court will believe anything she tells them, no matter how crazy it sounds.


Literary Elements:

Imagery:
"sweated like a stallion" (p.29). Abigail describes the way in which Proctor enjoyed their affair. While also a simile, this gives the reader or audience an image which is animistic and vivid.

Metaphor:
"the magistrate sits in your heart that judges you" (p.55). Elizabeth says this to Proctor to suggest that she does not judge him for his actions, but he is judging himself.

Symbolism:
The poppet which Mary Warren makes for Elizabeth, which results in her being accused of witchcraft, is a key symbol in the play. Poppet's are seen as voodoo dolls, used to hurt others and therefore the tool of a witch. Abigail plays upon this, faking an injury in order to condemn Elizabeth.

Foil:
Abigail Williams is the foil of Elizabeth because Abigail lies about the accusations while Elizabeth is an “honest woman” who “cannot lie” (p.221).

Internal Conflict: 
An example of internal conflict would have to do with Mary Warren. She is a prime example of internal conflict because she doesn't know whose side to take during the trials. Either Abigail Williams or John Procter. Throughout the play she changes sides because Abigail has threatened her life if she tells the truth but then she wants to help save John’s life and her job.  She doesn't know to choice either the right choice or the wrong one and is in constant battle with herself.

External Conflict:
An example of external conflict within The Crucible would be person VS. Person.  The conflict happens between Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Procter.This conflict starts when Elizabeth’s husband John has an affair with Abigail. When Elizabeth finds out she fires Abigail and tells the town that she was not doing a proper job. Once Abigail wants to be with John she starts to make false accusations against Elizabeth to try to get her in jail so she can be with John. Her plan back fires when John is the one who ends up being hanged, then Abigail is forced out of  town because society has rejected her for all of the lying she has done.

Irony:
Proctor was asked to name the ten commandments, the one he "forgot" was adultery. This is the commandment that he broke earlier in the story.


Characterization:
Indirect Characterization:
Ex1) John Proctor is an example of direct characterization. “He was the kind of man-powerful of body, even-tempered, and not easily led-who cannot refuse support to partisans without drawing their deepest resentment. In Proctor’s presence a fool felt his foolishness instantly- and a Proctor is always marked for calumny therefore.” (p.19) This Quote from the story clearly describes Proctor.

Ex2)  "I must know it now, for surely my enemies will and they will ruin me with it” it shows that he more concerned with his ministry rather than his own daughters life. (p.10)  Miller indirectly characterizes Reverend Paris as being greedy based on his actions of demanding to have the deed in the house he lives in and more firewood.


Direct Characterization:
Ex1) "It's strange how I knew you, but I suppose you look as such a good soul should. We have all heard of your great charities in Beverly." This lets us, as the readers know, that Rebecca Nurse is a good person.

Ex2) "It's her dearest hope, John I know it, there be a thousand names; why does she call mine? She thinks to take my place John" This quote shows that Abigail is crazy and will do anything to be with John.


Diction:
I noticed a change in diction as the author changed from character to character. He gave each character their own way of speaking, which makes sense because everyone has their own way of speaking.


Dynamic:
Proctor is a dynamic character, he does not want to be involved in the trials at first, but once his wife get brought into it he changes his mind.


Round:
John Proctor is clearly a round character because by the end of the story. He had gone through so many ups and downs. He was very well developed and characterized.


Do I Know the Character:
By the end of this story I felt like I knew Proctor as an actual person instead of a character in a book. His character was portrayed very well throughout this book which allowed me as the reader to picture and hear him in my head as i read along.

Green Eggs and Hamlet

1. I know that Hamlet is a revenge story written by Shakespeare.

2. I know that Shakespeare wrote over 150 sonnets and that he also wrote Romeo and Juliet.

3. I think students frown when they hear Shakespeare because he uses old English, which is very hard to understand because it is much different from our modern English.

4. I think it would help if we had group discussions as we read because it would allow everyone to discuss what is going on, thus everyone would understand it better.

What I Meant to Say Was

I noticed that Chaucer was able to alter his style for each of the tales. He keeps the same scheme, but he gives distinctive personalities to each of the speakers within the tales. In the Lawyer's Tale he makes the speaker out to be a straight forward person that didn't have much motion. Then in the Merchant's Tale he makes the main character, Januarie a kind of sad older person, all just by switching their vocabularies and having them express themselves in different ways.

If I Just Had More Time

I could improve my preparation for the midterm by making flash cards for the vocabulary words. Studying the vocab more would've allowed me to have ore time to rite my essay, which would've improved my overall score.

Literature Analysis #2

Catcher In the Rye

Plot Summary:
Holden Caulfield is a seventeen year old boy, the narrator of the story, and also the protagonist. His journey begins after he gets expelled from Pency for failing his classes. He is told by the school that after winter break he is to not come back. After a fight with his roommate, Stradlater, Holden leaves school two days early to explore New York before returning home. Holden encounters a large number of people as he roams through the city  and goes into nightclubs. Feeling lonely and in need of someone to talk to he accepts the offer of the hotel elevator operator to find him a prostitute, but he fails to have sex with her and ends up fighting her pimp. The next day he takes his old girlfriend, Sally Hayes, ice-skating and tries to convince her to run away with him. Holden starts to feel like he doesn't belong anywhere and is in need of a friend. Every time he extends himself he is shot down.With his mental health quickly going down hill, Holden returns to his parents' home, where things are no better for him. Even his young sister, Phoebe, questions his negativity and asks him to name one thing he would like to be. Holden says that he would like to be "the catcher in the rye" and explains that his job would be to prevent the children, who are playing nearby in a field of rye, from going over the cliff. Holden goes to see Mr. Antolini, his former English teacher. When the teacher tries to make moves on him, Holden flees in horror. Returning home, Holden experiences a complete mental breakdown and is sent to a psychiatric center in California for treatment.


Theme: Loneliness

Holden is a very lonely seventeen year old kid. He admits to his loneliness openly, and it gives him evidence that perhaps he might still have some emotions left. At the same time, Holden takes few steps to minimize his loneliness. Whenever he feels the urge to meet someone, or to have a social experience, he ends up sabotaging it before he can get hurt. He tries so hard to protect himself from getting hurt that he never gets to really know anyone. He might want to call Jane, for example, but he hangs up before she gets on the phone. He might want to sleep with a prostitute to feel human comfort, but this will not do. He might want to interact with friends at a bar, but he ends up saying something hurtful so that they abandon him. Pushing them away provides a deeper and deeper loneliness, but he would rather take this route than take the chance of getting hurt by someone.


Tone: Bitterness

Holden always says things are "phony" and is constantly pointing out the negative in things. He does this because this is how he projects his feelings. I think he really sees himself as a phony and just calls everything else phony as a way to make himself feel and seem better.
 Excerpt 1: 
Holden describes himself as the “most terrific liar you ever saw in your life” (16).
Holden knows that being a liar isn't a good thing, but he tries to make himself feel better by only focusing on how good of a liar he is.

Excerpt 2:
Holden believes that Stradlater is a stuck-up guy, and that the “the reason he fixed himself up to look good was because he was madly in love with himself” (27).
I think Holden is jealous of Stradlater because he has friends and a goes out at night while he just sits in the dorm room by himself.

Excerpt 3:
“I am always saying "Glad to have met you" to somebody I'm not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though.”
Holden likes meeting new people, but in his head he knows that he is going to shut them out, do to his insecurity. That's why he says he is always saying glad to have met you when he doesn't mean it.



Literary Elements:

Metaphor:
"I certainly began to feel like a prize horse's ass, though, sitting there all by myself." (86)

Hyperbole:
"It's really ironical, because I'm six foot two and a half and I have gray hair. I really do. The one side of my head–the right side–is full of millions of gray hairs. I've had them ever since I was a kid. And yet I still act sometimes like I was only about twelve." (9)

Simile:
“That guy Morrow was about as sensitive as a goddamn toilet seat.” (55)

Symbol:
The Broken Record: Before going home to talk with Phoebe, Holden buys her a record with a song entitled "Little Shirley Beans." However, while walking toward Central Park, he drops it and it shatters. Perhaps the record represents Holden. After his latest failure he goes home "in pieces".

Theme:
Rebellion: Holden has perfected the art of rebellion–against his school, his peers, his parents, and society in general. He uses rebellion as a defense mechanism because he feels he could not fit in if he tried.

Irony:
"I'm the one that's flunking out of the goddamn place and you're asking me to write you a goddamn composition." (28)

Foreshadow:
Holden talks about how wonderful and nice his brother Allie was. Holden describes how he " broke all the windows in the garage". (39) When his brother died. He said his family wanted to psychoanalyze him, this foreshadows that Holden will carry his trauma with him throughout the story.

Imagery:
"she crossed her legs and started jiggling this one foot up and down, she was very nervous for a prostitute." (94) Holden is describing the prostitute that he had sent to his hotel room.

Conflict:
Holden his facing conflict within himself, Mr. Antolini pointed this out towards the end of the book by telling Holden that "This fall I think you're riding for - it's a special kind of fall, a horrible kind. The man falling isn't permitted to feel or hear himself hit bottom. He just keeps falling and falling. The whole arrangement's designed for men who, at some time or other in their lives, were looking for something their own environment couldn't supply them with. Or they thought their own environment couldn't supply them with. So they gave up looking. They gave it up before they ever really even got started."


Characterization:
Indirect Characterization:
Ex)   "'Do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over?'" (60). He isn't really asking about the ducks. Holden's asking about himself, what will he do in the dead of winter. It's sad that he has to go to such lengths just to get an answer, and people won't even listen to him.
Ex2)  "You never even worried, with Jane, whether your hand was sweaty or not. All you knew was, you were happy," (79) Holden is describing Jane as someone that can make you happy.

Direct Characterization:
Ex)   "All you do is make a lot of dough and play golf and play bridge and buy cars and drink Martinis and look like a hot-shot" This is when Holden is describing Lawyers.
Ex2)  "All the people around me are phonies" Holden is saying that he is the only good person.

Diction:
I did not really notice any difference in diction when the author would talk about a different character. He seemed to keep the same kind of writing style and word choice throughout the whole story, no matter who he was talking about.

Static or Dynamic:
Static, he learns nothing from his experiences. His view of the world and the people in it never changes throughout the whole story. To him everyone is a phony.

Flat or Round:
Round,  He's round because his personality and world view are thoroughly explored throughout the course of the novel. He is seen going through emotional struggles and these struggles reveal much about his character.

Do I Know The Character:
After reading this book I felt like I actually knew Holden as a person, not just a character. The author used Holden as the narrator, which allowed me as the reader insight into what Holden was thinking. The imagery the author used made it easy for me to picture Holden and all of the "phony" people around him.

The Comparisons Tale

My group read the Merchant Tale, which I think can be related to the Lawyer Tale. In the Merchant Tale, Januarie is blind. He finds a wife, but she cheats on him without him knowing because he is blind. The Gods see this and grant him the ability to see again. So essentially his life gets a lot better. I think this can relate to the Lawyer Tale because in this story Constance goes through a rough time where she is broken up from her husband, the King. Then at the end of the story she has a boy and the King brings her back home. Her son then becomes king. The main character in both of these stories start out with some problems, but then by the end of the story have pretty good lives.

Character Study 2-3

Zach is now off to the airport to meet his friends, restless in the backseat, his mind is racing with all sorts of thoughts. Nervous and not knowing what to think Zach just had to sit there until he got to the airport where hi friends would be waiting to tell him where they were going. He had never been on a trip with just his friends, so he was excited, but also unsure how things were going to go. Finally the cab pulls up to the airport and Zach steps out anxious to begin his journey.

As Zach enters the airport his friends approach smiling from ear to ear. They hand him his ticket, but one of his friends says,"we have three extra tickets if you know of anyone else that would like to come along." After a couple of minutes Zach thought for a moment, then realized he should invite his friends from his baseball team. Ibrahim Moisus, Dan Smith, and Tyrolle Smoochie Wallace. Ibrahim is a tough guy that doesn't put up with anything. While Dan is quite the opposite, very laid back, tends to go with the flow of things. Tyrolle is the energetic one in the group, he rarely ever sits still.

Character Study

Without any warning he was called and told he must be ready in a couple of hours. Not having a clue where he is going, Zach is packing as much as he can into his blue suitcase. Not knowing where he is being taken or what to expect, he packs everything from shorts and t-shirts, to pants and heavy jackets. The phone rings just as he finishes packing and the person on the other side says, "there is a taxi waiting in your drive way". Excited and nervous in the same instant, Zach jumps in the taxi and is now off on his journey.

Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales is a fictional story set in a historical setting and is about pilgrims who tell stories on their way to a cathedral shrine. It is one story that is made up of many other stories. The pilgrims tell their tales to pass the time while journeying to Canterbury to visit the shrine. Each character is very different, but they all have one thing that ties them all together.

Netvibes

This website seems like it could be very helpful. It allows you to see all the sites you visit frequently on one single page, which could save a lot of time. I have been looking through it and messing around with it for the last half hour and it seems like it could be a pretty useful resource. 

Vocabulary #6

Obsequious: Obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree.
- They were served by obsequious waiter.

Beatitude: Supreme blessedness.
- The richest person in the world couldn't buy beatitude.

Bete noire: A person or thing that one particularly dislikes or dreads.
- The principal was his bete noire.

Bode: To announce beforehand, or predict.
- These rain clouds don't bode well for our picnic.

Dank: Disagreeably damp, musty, and typically cold.
- We are transforming our dark, dank basement into a bright new room.

Ecumenical: Representing a number of different Christian churches; nondenominational.
- The bible is a ecumenical symbol of religion.

Fervid: Intensely enthusiastic or passionate, to an excessive degree.
- The fervid auctioneer made the otherwise boring event quite entertaining.

Fetid: Smelling extremely unpleasant.
- The boys' locker room was so fetid that no one wanted to go in it.

Gargantuan: Enormous.
- The player on the other football team was gargantuan.

Heyday: The period of a person's or thing's greatness success, popularity, or vigor.
- He is a little over weight, but in his heyday he was really fit.

Incubus: Something that weighs upon or oppresses someone like a nightmare.
- Her guilt attacked her like a relentless incubus.

Infrastructure: The basic structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise.
- Roads and bridges are considered as infrastructure in the United States.

Inveigle: Persuade to do something by means of flattery or deception.
- Her son tried to inveigle her into giving him the money for a car.

Kudos: Praise and honor received for an achievement.
- He deserves kudos for his well written essay.

Lagniappe: Something given as a bonus or extra gift.
- I bought two drinks and got the third one as a lagniappe.

Prolix: Using or containing too many words, tediously lengthy.
-His prolix essay was really boring.

Protege: A person who is guided by an older more experienced person.
- The back up quarterback was a protege of the starter.

Prototype: A first model of something.
- Before they announced the new corvette they had to make many prototypes.

Sycophant: A person who acts obsequiously toward someone important in order to gain an advantage.
- The rich and the famous often find sycophantic people by their side.

Tautology: The saying of the same thing twice in different words.
- He uses tautology when his mom says no the first time he asks her a question.

Truckle: To submit or behave obediently.
- He truckled after being yelled at by his parents.

Accolade: An award or privilege granted for special honor.
- You can receive an accolade for a GPA above a 3.0.

Acerbity: A sharp bitterness.
- The acerbity in her speech can put off almost anyone

Attrition: The action of weakening by attack or pressure.
- When both sides were unable to advance, the war became a matter of attrition.

Bromide: An unoriginal idea or remark.
- He always comes up with bromide ideas.

Chauvinist: A person displaying aggressive or exaggerated patriotism.
- American chauvinists usually own a lot of American flags.

Chronic: Persisting for a long time or constantly recurring.
- The elderly woman suffered from the chronic osteoporosis.

Expound: Present and explain systematically and in detail.
- He began to expound in great detail his plans for the nation.

Factionalism: The splitting of a group into factions; Conflict between factions
- Some kids have to deal with factionalism within their family.

Immaculate: Perfectly clean and tidy.
- My room is never immaculate.

Imprecation: A spoken curse.
- The witch muttered imprecations as she worked.

Ineluctable: Unable to be resisted or avoided.
- Dessert is very ineluctable.

Mercurial: Subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind.
- Everyone stayed away from him because hi temper was mercurial.

Palliate: To make less severe or unpleasant.
- The medical staff used strong narcotics to palliate the terminally ill patients pain.

Protocol: The official procedure or system of rules governing affairs of state or diplomatic occasions.
-When filing a complaint at work you must us the protocol.

Resplendent: Attractive and impressive through being richly colorful or sumptuous.
- The tiny hummingbird was resplendent.

Stigmatize: Describe or regard as worthy of disgrace or great disapproval.
- She was afraid she would be stigmatized if people found out she smokes cigarettes.

Sub rosa: Happening or done in secret.
- The meeting was held sub rosa.

Vainglory: Inordinate pride in oneself or one's achievements; excessively vain.
- He has such vainglory when talking about himself.

Vestige: A trace of something that is disappearing or no longer exists.
- There was a vestige about these footprints.

Volition: The faculty or power of using one's will.
- He decided to work out under his own volition.

What A Character

A fictional character that made a big impression on me is, Winston from "1984". Even though everyone around him was being brain washed into thinking they should have to think a certain way, he fought it for as long as he could because he knew it was the right thing to do. I believe in the quote that says, "stand up for what you believe in even if you're standing alone". This is exactly what Winston did in the story.

Declaration of Learning Independence

In this class I'm looking to become a better writer and I felt like this class was my best chance at accomplishing that goal. I liked the idea of collaborating with my classmates as a system of feeding off each other and learning as much as I can my senior year. I think this class will teach me to use my resources to help me accomplish my main goal, which is to walk across the stage on that last day of high school with a big smile on my face. After high school I plan on attending Sacramento State University and majoring in Kinesiology. After graduating from college I am going to be come a physical therapist. All goals are attainable if you put your mind to it and that's what I plan on doing with the goals listed above.

Vocabulary #5

Obsequious: Obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree.
- They were served by obsequious waiter.

Beatitude: Supreme blessedness.
- The richest person in the world couldn't buy beatitude.

Bete noire: A person or thing that one particularly dislikes or dreads.
- The principal was his bete noire.

Bode: To announce beforehand, or predict.
- These rain clouds don't bode well for our picnic.

Dank: Disagreeably damp, musty, and typically cold.
- We are transforming our dark, dank basement into a bright new room.

Ecumenical: Representing a number of different Christian churches; nondenominational.
- The bible is a ecumenical symbol of religion.

Fervid: Intensely enthusiastic or passionate, to an excessive degree.
- The fervid auctioneer made the otherwise boring event quite entertaining.

Fetid: Smelling extremely unpleasant.
- The boys' locker room was so fetid that no one wanted to go in it.

Gargantuan: Enormous.
- The player on the other football team was gargantuan.

Heyday: The period of a person's or thing's greatness success, popularity, or vigor.
- He is a little over weight, but in his heyday he was really fit.

Incubus: Something that weighs upon or oppresses someone like a nightmare.
- Her guilt attacked her like a relentless incubus.

Infrastructure: The basic structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise.
- Roads and bridges are considered as infrastructure in the United States.

Inveigle: Persuade to do something by means of flattery or deception.
- Her son tried to inveigle her into giving him the money for a car.

Kudos: Praise and honor received for an achievement.
- He deserves kudos for his well written essay.

Lagniappe: Something given as a bonus or extra gift.
- I bought two drinks and got the third one as a lagniappe.

Prolix: Using or containing too many words, tediously lengthy.
-His prolix essay was really boring.

Protégé: A person who is guided by an older more experienced person.
- The back up quarterback was a protege of the starter.

Prototype: A first model of something.
- Before they announced the new corvette they had to make many prototypes.

Sycophant: A person who acts obsequiously toward someone important in order to gain an advantage.
- The rich and the famous often find sycophantic people by their side.

Tautology: The saying of the same thing twice in different words.
- He uses tautology when his mom says no the first time he asks her a question.

Truckle: To submit or behave obediently.
- He truckled after being yelled at by his parents.

Literature Analysis #1

1.) In 1984, Winston Smith lives in London which is part of the country Oceania. The world is divided into three countries, Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia. Oceania is a totalitarian society led by Big Brother, which censors everyone’s behavior, even their thoughts. Winston does not like living in under the Party. Winston hears rumors of a group called Brotherhood, that is composed of a group of underground rebels intent on overthrowing the government. Winston meets Julia and they secretly fall in love and have an affair, which is considered a crime in Oceania. While walking home one day, Winston runs into O’Brien, an inner Party member, who gives Winston his address. O'Brien is supposed to be part of the Brotherhood and Winston would like to join. Since Julia hated the party as much as Winston did, they went to O’Brien’s house together where they were introduced into the Brotherhood. O’Brien is actually a faithful member of the Inner-Party and this is actually a trap for Winston. The owner of the store below Winston and Julia's apartment was also a spy for the Party. Winston and Julia are sent to the Ministry of Love which is a sort of rehabilitation center for criminals accused of a thought crime. There, Winston was separated from Julia, and tortured until his beliefs coincided with those of the Party. Winston eventually cracks and denounces everything he believed him, even his love for Julia, and was released back into the public where he wastes his days at the Chestnut Tree drinking gin.

2.)Totalitarianism:
George Orwell uses this story to portray how dangerous a totalitarian government can actually be. Under this government people no longer have any rights and nothing can happen privately. In this book, Orwell sets up a perfect totalitarian state and used Winston as an example that even the most independent thinkers can be broken by this type of government. This story shows that  once this type of government takes over it is nearly impossible to get rid of it.

3.)Pessimistic:
I sensed a very pessimistic tone throughout this book. Winston quickly expresses his hate for Big Brother, by writing it in big bold letters in his diary. "His pen had slid voluptuously over the smooth paper, printing in large neat capitals - DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER over and over again, filling half a page."
Winston doesn't even try to make himself heard because he knows he will be punished as soon as he does and early on in the story you can feel him sort of giving up, as shown by this quote. "Curiously, the chiming of the hour seemed to have put new heart into him. He was a lonely ghost uttering a truth that nobody would ever hear. But so long as he uttered it, in some obscure way, the continuity was not broken. It was not by making yourself heard but by staying sane that you carried on the human heritage." 
Winston realizes that the proles are the countries last hope because they make up eighty five percent of the population. "If there is hope, it must lie in the proles, because only there, in those swarming disregarded masses, eighty-five percent of the population of Oceania, could the force to destroy the Party ever be granted."

4.)
Foreshadow: In the beginning of the story Winston says, "people who go into the Ministry of Love come out, but disappear soon afterward." At the end of the story Winston is sent to the Ministry of Love and comes out, but as a totally changed person. (7)

Metaphor:  "If there is hope, it must lie in the proles, because only there, in those swarming disregarded masses, eighty-five percent of the population of Oceania, could the force to destroy the Party ever be granted."(60)
-The Proles represent the lowest working classes of society (the proletariat) and they also serve as a metaphor for hopelessness.

Personification: "If the Party could thrust its hand into the past and say this or that even, it never happened that, surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death,"
 (126).
- It was scary how much control the Party had.

Allusion: “Big Brother is watching you”(5)
- Allusion to the idea of Stalin looking over the people of the Soviet Union.

Foreshadowing: "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." (5)
- Hinting that something is wrong.

Irony: “War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength,” (17).
- The three slogans of the Party.

Repetition: “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the future controls the past,” ( 248).
- He uses repetition to keep readers interested.

Flashback: "It was no use, he could not remember: nothing remained of his childhood except a series of brightly-lit tableaux, occurring against no background and mostly unintelligible."
-The reader learns that Winston is constantly struggling to remember his past, and that he often fails.

Climax: "Stand out in the middle of the room. Stand back to back.Clasp your hands behind your heads. Do not touch each other." (183)
-Winston and Julia getting caught by the thought Police.

Vocabulary 4

Accolade: An award or privilege granted for special honor.
- You can receive an accolade for a GPA above a 3.0.

Acerbity: A sharp bitterness.
- The acerbity in her speech can put off almost anyone

Attrition: The action of weakening by attack or pressure.
- When both sides were unable to advance, the war became a matter of attrition.

Bromide: An unoriginal idea or remark.
- He always comes up with bromide ideas.

Chauvinist: A person displaying aggressive or exaggerated patriotism.
- American chauvinists usually own a lot of American flags.

Chronic: Persisting for a long time or constantly recurring.
- The elderly woman suffered from the chronic osteoporosis.

Expound: Present and explain systematically and in detail.
- He began to expound in great detail his plans for the nation.

Factionalism: The splitting of a group into factions; Conflict between factions
- Some kids have to deal with factionalism within their family.

Immaculate: Perfectly clean and tidy.
- My room is never immaculate.

Imprecation: A spoken curse.
- The witch muttered imprecations as she worked.

Ineluctable: Unable to be resisted or avoided.
- Dessert is very ineluctable.

Mercurial: Subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind.
- Everyone stayed away from him because hi temper was mercurial.

Palliate: To make less severe or unpleasant.
- The medical staff used strong narcotics to palliate the terminally ill patients pain.

Protocol: The official procedure or system of rules governing affairs of state or diplomatic occasions.
-When filing a complaint at work you must us the protocol.

Resplendent: Attractive and impressive through being richly colorful or sumptuous.
- The tiny hummingbird was resplendent.

Stigmatize: Describe or regard as worthy of disgrace or great disapproval.
- She was afraid she would be stigmatized if people found out she smokes cigarettes.

Sub rosa: Happening or done in secret.
- The meeting was held sub rosa.

Vainglory: Inordinate pride in oneself or one's achievements; excessively vain.
- He has such vainglory when talking about himself.

Vestige: A trace of something that is disappearing or no longer exists.
- There was a vestige about these footprints.

Volition: The faculty or power of using one's will.
- He decided to work out under his own volition.

Beowulf Essay

From Beowulf to Superman our cultures have always created heroes. They help define who we are and what we want to be. They give us hope and inspire us to head in the right direction. They show us that good will always triumph over evil and that anything is possible if you set your mind to it. Heroes give us the inspiration we need to overcome problems in our own lives and that is why we create them. Beowulf perfectly embodies the idea of a hero. He defeats the evil Grendel and his mother, slays the dragon, and saves his people. Beowulf is strong, brave, moral, and inspiring. All of these traits fit perfectly with the traits of a hero. In a way, one could say Beowulf was the hero of hero’s not only inspiring the people of his time, but inspiring the heroes who would later be created in his image.

Superman must travel to other planets and other galaxies to help those that need him. Superman, as a child, is sent away from the planet of Krypton, where he is powerless, to the town of Smallville. While he is there, he realizes all his powers. He would not have superpowers if not for his relocation, and a super man would not have existed. Superman defends Metropolis against disaster but also flies into outer space to fight off the crazy Brainiac and save a city from his own planet. Many times, he makes the trip to other universes to aid those in distress. He is able to use his remarkable abilities to better the lives of others. Strength and physical attributes are the characteristics that men praise in both Beowulf and Superman.

Beowulf begins as many epic tales do, by introducing the hero. The author tells the reader of how Beowulf has trekked oceans and slain monsters; right from the beginning it is made obvious that Beowulf is no ordinary man. However, with any tale, the hero must face some type of adversity, an evil that must be overcome. In Beowulf’s case, he has three, the hideous monster Grendel, Grendel’s mother and the foreboding Dragon. So while there may be three physical antagonists, one can argue that they metaphorically represent one thing, societies shortcomings. In John Gardner’s “Grendel”, the monster is said to harbor feelings of lust or jealousy of the inhabitants of Hrothgar’s mead-hall and attacks them due to his feeling of exclusion.

Both Beowulf and Superman give people a sense of hope. Beowulf possesses extreme amounts of physical strength. Despite the probability of death against Grendel and the fact that many men have failed, he insists on attacking him and defeating him. Beowulf's unusual and courageous method of killing Grendel demonstrates his bravery and physical strength because he kills him with his own two hands. Just like Beowulf, Superman also holds an unbelievable amount of strength. Neither of these heroes shy away from adversity or evil. Beowulf was faced with a choice to run and hide or be courageous, even when the odds were against him he went and fought. In the end he came out victorious and showed that if you believe in yourself anything is possible.

Beowulf and Superman both use what they are given to protect and give others a sense of security. They also inspire others to be courageous and to believe in themselves. In theses stories the people know as long as these guys are around they will be safe and protected. Even though Beowulf was written a long time ago and Superman is a modern story. both of these characters are perfect representations of heroes.