SEVENTH READING

“Teach Us to Number Our Days”

BY RITA DOVE

In the old neighborhood, each funeral parlor   

is more elaborate than the last.

The alleys smell of cops, pistols bumping their thighs,   

each chamber steeled with a slim blue bullet.

Low-rent balconies stacked to the sky.   

A boy plays tic-tac-toe on a moon   

crossed by TV antennae, dreams

he has swallowed a blue bean.

It takes root in his gut, sprouts

and twines upward, the vines curling   

around the sockets and locking them shut.

And this sky, knotting like a dark tie?

The patroller, disinterested, holds all the beans.

August. The mums nod past, each a prickly heart on a sleeve.

The first time I read this I understood that the neighborhood was poor "Low-rent balconies"and dangerous "The alleys smell of cops". I feel like this would look like Downtown LA. In the third stanza, the narrator introduces the innocence of a child. When I first read the first line on the 3rd stanza, I thought that the kid might have accidentally swallowed some type of drug because since the neighborhood was dangerous, I assumed that drugs were not uncommon there. 

By the last read, I kind of saw the "blue bean" as a symbol of dreams and aspirations. Since this neighborhood can be said to be low class, they protroller in a way holds the future of the kid in his hands. If the patroller decides to stop the kid from "swallowing"his future, the child is not going to have any good type of future. The game of tic-tac-toe can symbolize the child's uncertain future. 

WHAT ABOUT MY MASTERPIECE?

This week, what I have been trying to do is find resources that show the difference between the way "respect" is shown to older people in the way they address them and the type of language that each society uses to address them.

LOVE IS BLIND

Shakespeare characterizes Lady Macbeth as someone who is willing to do what ever it takes to get the throne. She is  someone who would trade her gender because she is scared that Macbeth is too weak to do what it takes to get to the throne. Macbeth sees her wife as someone who cares about him and his well-being.

MEET MACBETH

How is Macbeth introduced through in/direct characterization?

What elements of foreshadowing do the witches provide?

How does Shakespeare's approach to exposition give the reader background information about the setting and characters and a sense of what's to come without spoiling the play?

How does Shakespeare's characterization of Macbeth reflect a sense of tone (i.e., the author's attitude toward the character/s, audience, and/or subject matter)?

What themes appear evident in Macbeth's character and conduct?  To what extent do you think these themes will drive the rest of the play? 

MACBETH RESOURCES

Anticipation guide

Explanation

Brave new world

Watching the interview did not really change my mind because he put his ideas on the book. Hus ideas on overpopulation, dependence on technology, over organization and drugs are present in his book. 

THOUGHT PROVOKING PICTURE

While browsing through pictures online, I came across this picture. When I saw it, I felt that this picture explains many of the prejudices and stereotype of our society today. 

10 QUESTIONS

Since I do not know a lot about Anthropologist or Theologians, I did a quick search and found some experts in the area. Well-known anthropologists and well-known theologians.

1. What interested you about your field of study?
2. What was your goal in pursuing that career path?
3. How did you know that (anthropology) or (Theology) was what you wanted to study?
4. How did you start to get curious about your field?
5. Did you start to study that particular field in order to find an answer to a question?
6. How do you think that anthropology and theology are related?
7. Is there a way to put anthropology and theology together to make a more functional society?
8. Who was the biggest influence in your studies?
9. How has studying this particular field affected you personally?
10. What views about people/society/world did you developed through your studies?

BENCHMARK

PREZI presentation

LITERATURE ANALYSIS 2

HOUSE ON MANGO STREET (Sandra Cisneros)
1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read according to the elements of plot you've learned in past courses (exposition, inciting incident, etc.).  Explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of same).
In this coming of age story, a girl named Esperanza Cordero, who lives in Chicago struggles to find who she is. The story begins when Esperanza is about 11-12 years old and her family just moved to a house on Mango street. Even though the house is an improvement to the apartment they used to live, Esperanza does not like it because she does not have privacy and that is what makes her determined to have a house of her own.

2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.
The theme is the struggle of self discovery.

BRAVE NEW ESSAY

AP test 1999

Choose a character from brave new world (not necessarily the protagonist) whose mind is pulled in conflicting directions by two compelling desires, ambitions, obligations, or influences. Then, in a well-organized essay, identify each of the two conflicting forces and explain how this conflict within one character illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole. 

In brave new world, Huxley presents a world that readers today would consider unimaginable, not only for the loss of humanity presented, but for the loss of moral values. A character that is introduced at the beginning of the story is Lenina. When we are first introduced to Lenina, the reader can see that she is starting to question the way they live their lives. However, the reader can also see that she is easily convinced. When Lenina is speaking with Fanny, the reader can see that Lenina wants to have a monogamous relationship with Ford but society dictates that she needs to be with other men as well.

Even though the reader does not see the full extension of Lina's desires to stay in a monogamous relationship, the reader can infer that that desire will spark a chain of doubts in Lenina that will eventually lead Lenina  to question all the rules and ideas that society has.

By having doubts, Lenina is giving the reader the hint that there might be some of "present day" ideas inside of here that the makers did not eradicate when she was a fetus. This gives the work meaning because the reader can see that her eyes are being open to human emotions such as love and passion which are emotions that they have not experienced.

BRAVE NEW WORLD ESSAY PROMP

I found this promp by searching "brave new world AP promp" http://jaimebell.pbworks.com/f/AP+Prose+Essay+BNW+and+GT.pdf

Othe topics can be found here and addition background as well: http://hs.auburn.cnyric.org/teachers/Michael_Sullivan/AP/Brave%20New%20World

BOB 1

I AM HERE

Since I'm taking the expository composition class, I have begun working o. My senior project. So far, I have read and watched videos that help me understand better the relationship of religion, culture, and language. 

Lit terms 6

Simile: a figure of speech comparing two essentially unlike things through the use of a specific word of comparison.

Soliloquy: an extended speech, usually in a drama, delivered by a character alone on stage.

Spiritual: a folk song, usually on a religious theme.

Speaker: a narrator, the one speaking.

Stereotype: cliché; a simplified, standardized conception with a special meaning and appeal for members of a group; a formula story.

Stream of Consciousness: the style of writing that attempts to imitate the natural flow of a character's thoughts, feelings, reflections, memories, and mental images, as the character experiences them

Structure: the planned framework of a literary selection; its apparent organization.

Style: the manner of putting thoughts into words; a characteristic way of writing or speaking.

 Subordination: the couching of less important ideas in less important structures of language.

 Surrealism: a style in literature and painting that stresses the subconscious or the irrational aspects of man's existence characterized by the juxtaposition of the bizarre and the banal.

Suspension of Disbelief: suspend disbelief in order to enjoy something.

Symbol: something which stands for something else, yet has a meaning of its own.

Synesthesia: the use of one sense to convey the experience of another sense.

Synecdoche: another form of name changing, in which a part stands for the whole.

Syntax: the arrangement and grammatical relations of words in a sentence.

Theme: main idea of the story; its message(s).

Thesis: a proposition for consideration, especially one to be discussed and proved or disproved; the main idea

Tone: the devices used to create the mood and atmosphere of a literary work; the author's perceived point of view.

Tongue in Cheek: a type of humor in which the speaker feigns seriousness; also called "dry" or "dead pan"

Tragedy: in literature: any composition with a somber theme carried to a disastrous conclusion; a fatal event; protagonist usually is heroic but tragically (fatally) flawed 

Understatement: opposite of hyperbole; saying less than you mean for emphasis

Vernacular: everyday speech

Voice: The textual features, such as diction and sentence structures, that convey a writer's or speaker's pesona.

Zeitgeist: the feeling of a particular era in history

VOCAB 5

parallelism: the principle in sentence structure that states elements of equal function should have equal form

parody: an imitation of mimicking of a composition or of the style of a well-known artist.

pathos:  the ability in literature to call forth feelings of pity, compassion, and/or sadness.

pedantry: a display of learning for its own sake

personification: a figure of speech attributing human qualities to inanimate objects or abstract ideas.

plot: the main events of a play, novel, movie, or similar work, devised and presented by the writer as an interrelated sequence.

poignant: eliciting sorrow or sentiment.

point of view: the attitude unifying any oral or written argumentation; in description, the physical point from
which the observer views what he is describing.

postmodernism: literature characterized by experimentation, irony, nontraditional forms, multiple  meanings,
playfulness and a blurred boundary between real and imaginary

prose:  the ordinary form of spoken and written language; language that does not have a regular rhyme pattern.

protagonist:  the central character in a work of fiction; opposes antagonist

pun: play on words; the humorous use of a word emphasizing different meanings or applications.

purpose: the intended result wished by an author.

realism: writing about the ordinary aspects of life in a straightforward manner to reflect life as it actually is.

refrain: a phrase or verse recurring at intervals in a poem or song; chorus.

requiem:  any chant, dirge, hymn, or musical service for the dead.

resolution: point in a literary work at which the chief dramatic complication is worked out; denouement.

restatement:  idea repeated for emphasis.

rhetoric: use of language, both written and verbal in order to persuade

rhetorical question: question suggesting its own answer or not requiring an answer; used in argument or persuasion.

rising action: plot build up, caused by conflict and complications, advancement towards climax.

romanticism: movement in western culture beginning in the eighteenth and peaking in the nineteenth  century as a revolt against Classicism; imagination was valued over reason and fact.

satire: ridicules or condemns the weakness and wrong doings of individuals, groups, institutions, or humanity in general.

scansion:  the analysis of verse in terms of meter.
setting:  the time and place in which events in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem occur.

VOCAB 4

interior monologue: a form of writing which represents the inner thoughts of a character; the recording of the internal, emotional experience(s) of an individual; generally the reader is given the impression of overhearing the interior monologue.

inversion: words out of order for emphasis.

juxtaposition:  the intentional placement of a word, phrase, sentences of paragraph to contrast with another nearby.

lyric: a poem having musical form and quality; a short outburst of the author's innermost thoughts and feelings.

magic(al) realism: a genre developed in Latin America which juxtaposes the everyday with the marvelous or magical.

metaphor (extended, controlling, & mixed): an analogy that compare two different things imaginatively directly. Extended: a metaphor that is extended or developed as far as the writer wants to take it. Controlling: a metaphor that runs throughout the piece of work. Mixed: a metaphor that ineffectively blends two or more analogies.

metonymy: literally "name changing" a device of figurative language in which the name of an attribute or associated thing is substituted for the usual name of a thing

modernism: literary movement characterized by stylistic experimentation, rejection of tradition, interest in symbolism and psychology

monologue: an extended speech by a character in a play, short story, novel, or narrative poem

mood: the predominating atmosphere evoked by a literary piece.

motif: a recurring feature (name, image, or phrase) in a piece of literature.

myth: a story, often about immortals, and sometimes connected with religious rituals, that attempts to give meaning to the mysteries of the world.

narrative: a story or description of events

narrator: one who narrates, or tells, a story.

naturalism: extreme form of realism

novelette/novella: short story; short prose narrative, often satirical.

omniscient point of view: knowing all things, usually the third person.

onomatopoeia: use of a word whose sound in some degree imitates or suggests its meaning

oxymoron: a figure of speech in which two contradicting words or phrases are combined to produce a rhetorical effect by means of a concise paradox.

pacing: rate of movement; tempo.

parable: a story designed to convey some religious principle, moral lesson, or general truth.

paradox: a statement apparently self-contradictory or absurd but really containing a possible truth; an opinion contrary to generally accepted ideas.

LIT TERM #3

exposition: exposition the beginning of the story, where the reader learns the setting and main characters' names
expressionism: movement in art, literature, and music consisting of unrealistic representation of an inner idea or feeling(s).

fable: a short, simple story, usually with animals as characters, designed to teach a moral truth.

fallacy:  from Latin word "to deceive", a false or misleading notion, belief, or argument; any kind of erroneous reasoning that makes arguments unsound.

falling action: part of the narrative or drama after the climax.

farce:  a boisterous comedy involving ludicrous action and dialogue.

figurative language: apt and imaginative language characterized by figures of speech (such as metaphor and simile).

flashback:  a narrative device that flashes back to prior events.

foil: A character who is meant to represent characteristics, values, ideas, etc. which are directly and diametrically opposed to those of another character, usually the protagonist.

folk tale: story passed on by word of mouth.

foreshadowing: in fiction and drama, a device to prepare the reader for the outcome of the action; "planning" to make the outcome convincing, though not to give it away.

free verse: verse without conventional metrical pattern, with irregular pattern or no rhyme

genre: a category or class of artistic endeavor having a particular form, technique, or content.

Gothic tale: a style in literature characterized by gloomy settings, violent or grotesque action, and a mood of decay, degeneration, and decadence.

hyperbole: A description which exaggerates, usually employing extremes and/or superlatives to convey a positive or negative attribute.

imagery:  figures of speech or vivid description, conveying images through any of the senses.

implication:  a meaning or understanding that is to be arrive at by the reader but that is not fully and explicitly stated by the author.

incongruity:  the deliberate joining of opposites or of elements that are not appropriate to each other.

inference: a judgment or conclusion based on evidence presented; the forming of an opinion which possesses some degree of probability according to facts already available

irony: Where an event occurs which is unexpected, in the sense that it is somehow in absurd or mocking opposition to what would be expected or appropriate

LIT TERMS 2

circumlocution: a roundabout or evasive speech or writing
cliche: a phrase or situation so overused that it has lost it's meaning.
climax: the decisive point in a narrative or drama; the pint of greatest intensity or interest at which plot question is answered or resolved
colloquialism: informal/slang words or phrases usually used in informal conversation
comedy: originally a nondramatic literary piece of work that was marked by a happy ending
conflict: struggle or problem in a story causing tension
connotation: implicit meaning, going beyond dictionary definition
contrast: a rhetorical device by which one element (idea or object) is thrown into opposition to another for the sake of emphasis or clarity
denotation: dictionary definition
denouement: loose ends tied up in a story after the climax, closure, conclusion
dialect: the language of a particular district, class or group of persons
dialectics: formal debates usually over the nature of truth.
dichotomy: the difference between two things; split or break between two opposing things.
diction: the style of speaking or writing as reflected in the choice and use of words.
didactic: intended to teach
dogmatic: rigid in beliefs and principles.
elegy: a mournful, melancholy poem, especially a funeral song or lament for the dead
epic: a long poem, typically one derived from ancient oral tradition, narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the history of a nation.
epigram: a pithy saying or remark expressing an idea in a clever and amusing way
epitaph: a phrase or statement writing in memory of a person who has died, esp. as an inscription on a tombstone
epithet: an adjective or descriptive phrase expressing a quality characteristic of the person or thing mentioned.
euphemism: a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.
Evocative: bringing strong images, memories, or feelings to mind.

LIT TERMS 1

allegory: A fiction or nonfiction narrative, in which characters, things, and events represent qualities, moral values, or concepts.

alliteration: The repetition of initial consonant sounds, such as "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers."

allusion: A reference to something well-known.

ambiguity: an event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way.

anachronism: A person, scene, event, or other element in literature that fails to correspond with the time or era in which the work is set

analogy: It is assumed that what applies to the parallel situation also applies to the original circumstance. In other words, it is the comparison between two different items.

analysis:

anaphora: repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row. This is a deliberate form of repetition and helps make the writer's point more coherent.

anecdote: A story or brief episode told by the writer or a character to illustrate a point.

antagonist: The character who opposes the interests of the protagonist.

antithesis: the presentation of two contrasting images. The ideas are balanced by phrase, clause, or paragraphs."Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country . . ."

aphorism: A short, pithy statement of a generally accepted truth or sentiment

apologia:

apostrophe: An interruption in a poem or narrative so that the speaker or writer can address a dead or absent person or particular audience or notion directly.

argument

assumption

audience: This is who the writing is directed to, who you want to convince.

characterization

chiasmus: Arrangement of repeated thoughts in the pattern. It is often short and summarizes a main idea.

AP PREP POST 1: SIDDHARTHA

1. The quotation “Immediately he moved on again and began to walk quickly and impatiently, no longer homewards, no longer to his father, no longer looking backwards”, shows a shift from…
a. Anger and resentment, toward acceptance
b. A resolute journey, onto a more free-flowing and spontaneous path
c. Fear of his parentage, toward a fear of loneliness
d. Looking to the past for enlightenment, toward looking to the future and within himself
e. Fear of failure, toward an acceptance of possibility of error.
((found here))
-this question requires you to comprehend the reasons why Siddhartha does what he does. This also requires you to understand the tone.
2. Which of the following choices best identifies the meaning of “the last shudder of [Siddhartha’s] awakening” in paragraph 4?
a. His fear of his own ideas.
b. The last step of his understanding.
c. The physical struggle from his Samana lifestyle.
d. The last thought he had before he woke up.
e. The final epiphany he needed to reach Nirvana.
-recognize and interpret  figurative language in the passage
3) A bildungsroman, or coming-of-age novel, recounts the psychological or moral development of its protagonist from youth to maturity, when this character recognizes his or her place in the world. Select a single pivotal moment in the psychological or moral development of the protagonist of a bildungsroman. Then write a well-organized essay that analyzes how that single moment shapes the meaning of the work as a whole. (Question #3)
-know what a bildungsroman is - know the characteristics of one. -characterization
4) The British novelist Fay Weldon offers this observation about happy endings:“The writers, I do believe, who get the best and most lasting response from readers are the writers who offer a happy ending through moral development. By a happy ending, I do not mean mere fortunate events…a marriage or a last-minute rescue from death…but some kind of spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation, even with the self, even at death.”  Choose a novel or play  (SIDDHARTHA, please) that has the kind of ending Weldon describes. In a well-written essay, identify the “spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation” evident in the ending and explain its significance in the work as a whole. ((found here))
-synthesize an essay that explains the quote through the passage.
5) In many works of literature, a physical journey - the literal movement from one place to another - plays a central role. Choose a novel, play, or epic poem in which a physical journey is an important element and discuss how the journey adds to the meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary. ((1970-2012 AP prompts are found here))

HACKING MY EDUCATION

1. What do you want to know by the end of this course that you don't know now?

How to communicate my ideas more efficiently through the Internet. 

2. What skills do you want to be able to demonstrate on your blog?

collaboration and competence in my usage of technology. 

3. What experiences do you want to get under your belt before you graduate?

maintaining an excellent blog. 

What's In This For Me?

My goal is to keep being focused on school and not fall behind in any of my classes. For this class, I want to pass the AP test and in general, I would like to find something I am really passionate about and incorporate it in my daily life. I hope that by the end of this class, I am going to be able to voice my opinions in a more intelligent way and that I am confident in who I am.