Response to Course Material 5

I thought the forums were interesting, because I got another view of Ceremony. The views I got were more professional, like Suzanne Augsten, or Gloria Bird who is half native american. I think I understand the bigger issue with why Ceremony was written, to institute a changing of attitudes among some of the xenophobic Native Americans.
I did think it was weird people kept on drawing comparisons between Ceremony and Death of a Salesmen, they aren't the same book people. You really need to dig deep to understand these books, not repeat patterns out loud.

Close Reading 4

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/new_scientist/2011/11/climate_change_and_extreme_weather_what_s_the_connection_.html

Peter A. Scott is discussing an increasingly politicized subject: Global Warming. Some background information is that some global warming supporters like Al Gore have been using natural disasters as evidence of global warming. This is probably to use fear to lure in supporters. 

Details: Peter A. Scott brings up the issue that that man could be influencing the odds of global warming, but we don't have enough information to know. He points out we have only had "about 40 years of reliable observational records" which is not exactly a ton of data. He mentions that when you look a severe flood, you need to look at “alternative natural explanations such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, a large-scale climate pattern in the tropical Pacific Ocean that affects weather worldwide” not just global warming.

Language: Scott takes a rather passive tone in this article. He’s not trying to stir the pot and come up with some controversial theory. He is gently suggesting a potential change to help with deducing the connection between global warming and natural disasters. When talking about The Inconvenient Truth he doesn’t call it wrong, but instead says it’s “broadly accurate”, a euphemism. He does not offer any type of criticism of the movie. Scott also adds in another view rather peacefully with “A clearer way of thinking about weather and climate is to consider the odds”

Syntax: Scott likes to use short segments to highlight his points. In one paragraph talking about why it’s hard to make connections between natural disasters and man-made climate change, he starts it off with “But hurricanes are difficult”. In another paragraph talking about the future possibilities, he starts it with “Are we capable of delivering?”

Response to Course Material 4

I was happy with my interpretations of the Barred Owl and The history teacher. For once I understood the poems that were in the prompt. This was a complete 180 from the Eros poem which I still at this point don't really understand.
Also we now have to deal with Prezi, i kinda like it. But I don't think powerpoint is that much different.

open promt 4

2008, Form B. In some works of literature, childhood and adolescence are portrayed as times graced by innocence and a sense of wonder; in other works, they are depicted as times of tribulation and terror. Focusing on a single novel or play, explain how its representation of childhood or adolescence shapes the meaning of the work as a whole.

For most people growing up, their childhoods are peaceful. But there are significant moments that harden you for  the real world. Harper Lee builds on this with Scout and Jem from To Kill A Mockingbird. The naivety they demonstrate represents the innocence and wonder of their childhood. But seeing the injustice of Tom's trial opens not only their eyes, but the eyes of the audience. 

Scout and Jem's naivety of racism represents the innocence of their childhood. They never had to deal with complicated race relations until Tom's trial. Scout in particular doesn't understand social standing. She doesn't understand why the Ewell kid is so unruly. She doesn't understand why Walter pours molasses over his food and tries to correct him only to be scolded by Calpurnia. The most demonstrative case is that being a young child, Scout does not understand why there is a mob outside Tom's cell when the trial has not begun yet and a verdit has not been made. 

Boo Radley is the source of Scout and Jem's fascination during the summer. Their lack of knowledge of him fuels their imagination of him. The kids make dares of running into Boo's yard, testing how dangerous he is. Scout and Jem reenact what might have happen to Boo Radley through the Boo Radley game. They imagine what might have caused him to be so reclusive. Lee depicts Scout and Jem looking for information to fill in the gaps of their world. But when the information cannot be found, childhood imagination takes over.

Perhaps this is part of why we draw angels as children, why cherub faced is a description of childlike. Because the purity of childhood is a staunch contrast to the world we see today.

Open Prompt 3

1978. Choose an implausible or strikingly unrealistic incident or character in a work of fiction or drama of recognized literary merit. Write an essay that explains how the incident or character is related to the more realistic of plausible elements in the rest of the work. Avoid plot summary. 

It's hard to judge people when they go through their daily lives. They just go with the routine programmed in their heads. But if an new element throws it off, we get a more in depth view. That's the principle behind adding the Young Man in The American Dream by Arthur Miller. His presence lets Grandma leave and so he come her replacement, symbolizing the departure of the Old American Dream and the drive to achieve satisfaction by the current one.

When the Young Man is introduced into the play, Grandma is the first to meet him. When they meet, Grandma immediately breaks out of her act. He is the new element that causes her to leave her routine and become genuine. She tells him what she has secretly been doing behind Mommy and Daddy's backs. She becomes more attentive and sympathetic to whats around her. Grandma understands what happened to the Young Man after he tells her his story. Grandma is shown to much more caring than when she was going through her day. But it also shows she wants to leave. The Old American dream has no place in the world of consumerism. 

The Young Man is advertised as not only as a replacement for Grandma, but as a replacement from the previous child Mommy and Daddy had. His presence shows that all they care about is satisfaction. When they realize Grandma has left, they are a little upset but it goes away as the much more handsome Young Man comes in. Now they have a product they can be satisfied with. Even Mommy tries to hit on him to get more satisfaction. It is an endless cycle in the world of consumerism, 

Arthur Miller hopes that his message about the evils of consumerism will get across. That's why he uses the arrival of the Young Man. He represents what the American Dream will become. Attractive on the outside, empty on the inside. In other words, superficial.

Close reading 3

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/richard-lugar-the-unlikely-target-of-conservatives/2011/10/21/gIQA31om4L_story.html

In his article, George Will discusses the political vulnerability of Richard Lugar, a well-known senator from Indiana. He talks about how Richard Lugar, who despite having a strong resume, is a casualty of the times.

Richard Lugar has been a conservative for his entire political career. George Will enforces this with facts like when Ronald Reagan was president, "Lugar supported the president 88 percent of the time". He also cites that other prominent Republicans had supported some of the controversial votes Lugar has made during his career too. Adding to that, he points out the notable bills important to liberals Lugar has voted against such as: Obamacare, Cap and Trade, the stimulus, and Dodd-Frank.

Will later uses diction to describe why Lugar is vulnerable. He tries to portray Lugar as a sensible figure in a time of chaos. He talks about the "restless" energy of conservatives fueling a tough primary challenger. His use of the word restless carries a negative connotation, as of the conservatives were being rash. Will then describes Lugar with words like "courtliness and Midwest aversion to rhetorical flamboyance". Those carry positive connotations, and paint Lugar if he was rational and level headed.

The use of repition in this article is to signify importance. When Will talks about Lugar's credentials, he repeats who and the accomplishment to signify how accomplished Lugar has been. The repition of Yes, followed by a counterargument is used to help persuade the readers of Lugar's conservativeness.

I think overall George Will supports Lugar and how Lugar carries himself. But he realizes times have changed as the conservatives have shifted more to right. Will understands that it will not be Lugar's fault if he loses, but rather the environment he currently is in.

Response to Course Material 3

I actually thought the American Dream was alright. The Theater of Absurd has a purpose, it is to display the message the author wants to convey. I think it is more realistic than any other form.

When people go through their everyday lives, they like to stick a routine. Why not? But with the Theater of Absurd you force them out of their comfort zone. They can show more of their character that way. Nothing better showing a man's character by putting him in a situation he doesn't understand.

I am trying to figure out how long my annotations should be. Right my annotations aren't even full sentence length for the most part. But I have been getting full credit and I understand the play so maybe I shouldn't change it.

Open Prompt 2

1981. The meaning of some literary works is often enhanced by sustained allusion to myths, the Bible, or other works of literature. Select a literary work that makes use of such a sustained reference. Then write a well-organized essay in which you explain the allusion that predominates in the work and analyze how it enhances the work's meaning.

Thomas Foster once said that authors use references to the Bible to help summarize the message the author is trying to send. This is because we have been around Biblical references our whole life, so it is easier to relate to them. William Golding understands this, in his novel The Lord of the Flies, he uses the character Simon's path of enlightenment and death as an allusion to Jesus Christ. The allusion depicts the lost of innocence in the book's microcosm, showing the dark side of human nature.

Simon is one of the choir boys stranded on the island. But he is completely different in attitude. He is quiet and peaceful as oppose to the rowdiness of everyone else. He is also a naturally caring person much like Jesus. Simon prefers to spend most of his time in the forest, relaxing and being one of nature. It seems like that he is on a whole other level. Consequently, all the path reaches its end and Simon hallucinates the pig's head speaking about the true nature of humans. He becomes enlightened with the darkness of humans and tries to spread the word and save his fellow comrades. This is similiar to Jesus to being enlightented about God and his attempt to spread the message to save his fellow citizens. Golding's effort to depict Simon in this light is to be a foil to the the degrading of the people around him, or the unenlightented ones.

After learning of man's true nature, Simon realizes what he must do; he has to warn everyone to stop the destruction of their society on the island. He journeys back to the camp, only to be mistakened as the beast and murdered by the tribe. This parallels Jesus's betrayal by Judas and his crucifixation on the cross. Both are depicted as dying while being pure and trying to help others. Golding makes this connection to portray the lost of innocence in his novel.

40 min up.

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Response to course material 2

Syntax was kind of interesting. I already knew some what about syntax before hand so the topic overall wasn't too complicated. I was a little surprised by the use of colons for syntax because I was already thought people use colons to be confusing and fancy.

I think the Theories of Comedy made something simple way too complicated. There is no formula to make someone laugh, there might be a repeating pattern or two, but this is something completley abstract. I mean people laughing at the Jackass series and I don't remember any of the theories applying to that.

I did think the theatre of absurd is interesting. In a normal day life situation, we don't make complicated enough decisions to show who we are. The hard decisions we make reflect our character. This is shown with The American Dream, where the toilet that was broken for 2 weeks brought out things from mommy and daddy and grandma that we wouldn't see in a normal working day.

Open Prompt 2

1987. Some novels and plays seem to advocate changes in social or political attitudes or in traditions. Choose such a novel or play and note briefly the particular attitudes or traditions that the author apparently wishes to modify. Then analyze the techniques the author uses to influence the reader's or audience's views. Avoid plot summary.

The goal of a writer is often to entertain their audiences, but sometimes they try to advocate change, an example being Harper lee. In one of her novels To Kill a Mockingbird,  she sets the story of Scout and Jem in Maycomb, Alabama, a rural Southern town filled with racism. Lee writes about how Scout and Jem grow up and see the world in a different light in an effort to get readers to do the same, hoping to end this injustice. 

Maycomb is not depicted as a particuraly special town, but is described as being racist towards African Americans, something not uncommon for the South. When Atticus decides to take the case to defend Tom Robinson, Scout and Jem's friend make fun of them for their fathers actions. They use racial slurs because Atticus took such an unpopular action. A mob also forms around Tom Robinson's cell, hoping to hang him for being accused of rape. The mob doesn't give Tom a chance due to his race. Though the mob does not get to Tom, the all white jury still convicts Tom despite substanstial evidence he is innocent because Tom is an African American accused of raping a white women. 

In the beginning of the novel, Scout and Jem are depicted as innocent. They daydream about what Boo Radley, their secret gift giver looks like. They had no understanding of racism, when the mob approaches Tom's cell, Scout, clueless of the situation asks how Mr.Cunningham's child was, snapping him back to his senses. Their eyes are finally opened when they attend the trial. Scout and Jem realize that Tom is innocent, but are devastated when Tom is pronounced guilty. The act destroys their innocence and is a milestone in their growth. More importantly it shows to them for the first time the cruelty of racism. Harper Lee does this on purpose, showing the reader, who was previously oblivious to the sins of racism, the reality and impact of it.

In modern times, the issues of racism has died down a bit. With the Civil Rights movement powered by the previous generation, we can worry less about it. But this book still serves as an eye opener to the historical role of racism.

Response to course material 1

So far AP literature has been an interesting class, not only the people but the subject is too. I think some important things we have learned so far is DIDLS. DIDLS stands for Diction, Imagery, Details, Language and Syntax. Now I already knew about imagery and details coulee be used to analyze works. I also knew from reading Huckleberry Finn about the importance of language. But the two newest to me were Diction and Syntax.



I never really thought of connotations and their importance in novels, I always thought if you want to tell someone something, be obvious. But diction allows you to add little details to the big picture, giving it glitter and sparkle. Diction reminds me of modern political speech, where words have secondary meaning, so you want to get public approval by being picky with your vocabulary.



The other new one was Syntax. Syntax is about sentence structuring. I have always been familiar with syntax through poetry. Whenever I wrote a poem, I had structure my sentences so they flowed well or followed a specific rhythm. This is similar to how a writer uses syntax. They structure their sentence to further address their issue. It can be repetition of a phrase, or using a rhetorical question to put emphasis.



Another thing we talk about in class is prompts. I think it is interesting because I have taken about 9 AP tests at this point so I have seen my fair share of formulas. But I think the prompt is more fluid than all the other essays. This prompt doesn't ask you to spit out information, it asks you to understand and dissect the topic more; breaking it down into three sentences give or take.



I think it is starting to click in my head, hopefully I'll understand future topics as well as this one.

Open Prompt 1

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

Characters are not the only ones that dictate the plot in a novel; inanimate objects can greatly influence the storyline. In The Lord of the Flies, the conch maintains order and democracy, allowing a civilized clan of children to exist. But as the plot progresses, the conch shows how its two purposes are intertwined as they progressively decline at the same time.

One purpose the conch serves is to maintain a democracy. In the novel, the conch allows people to voice their opinion. Who ever holds onto the counch is allowed to talk, no one else is allowed to interrupt. It allows someone like Piggy to voice his opinion which is heavily influenced by his aunt. It allows Ralph to voice his discontent with the group and their inability in getting the task at hand done. But when the conch's condition deteiorates, so does democracy itself. Jack breaks off the main group and starts his own tribe where he is chief. In his tribe, Jack rules with absolute power, punishing whoever he pleases without any reason. As the conch reaches it's breaking point, more people join Jack's tribe until it is a few people left following Ralph. When the conch finally breaks, Ralph is by himself carrying the remnants of democracy.

The other purpose the conch serves is to maintain order. The conch is used by Ralph as a trumpet in order to get childrens attention in the beginning with the purpose to figuring out a plan. From that point forward, Ralph uses the conch to call for an assembly to keep everyone on task. But as the conch loses coloring, the hunters start to ignore Ralph. Ralph can no longer maintain order as Jack and the hunters go rampant. Furthering the chaos, the children accidentally kill Simon during their frenzied dance. At the end when the conch breaks, chaos reaches its max as the hunters try to burn the island in order to kill Ralph. Their irrational and hazardous actions represent how far they have turned away from an orderly society.

The two purposes intertwine because democracy is a form of organization. When democracy was at its strongest, order was most prevalent. Ralph could get a signal fire started and organize the children into groups to accomplish tasks. Also everyone was nice and polite to each other and willing to work together. But when people started ignoring others opinions, the democracy fell apart, leading to a chaotic society led by Jack to be formed.

I think that most object's purposes often overlap each other because they all represent one general concept. An object representing two different things would confuse the reader as the object's purpose would be hard to understand. But if the object is like the conch, then we can see how its two purposes, democracy and order, are related to each other.

Close Reading 1

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/why-primary-policy-fights-are-critical/2011/03/29/gIQAl3u1HK_blog.html#pagebreak
Recently, there was a Republican presidential debate in the Reagan Library. Tensions in this year's Republican nomination have been high, partly because of the polarizing politics in DC. Both Republican and Democrats hate each. As a result, it is imperative for the Republican Party to nominate a strong candidate to beat Barack Obama.

But there has been criticism on the point of the debate. Newt Gingrich argued that this only creating drama and dividing the GOP, when they should be focusing on their foe. Jennifer Rubin disagrees with this notion.

Rubin writes that debate helps find the best candidate, one who is a focused leader. She uses syntax well to help explain her argument. In her post, shorter sentences highlight her point. When she talks about reasons why people dislike primary debates, one of her sentences "But there is something else going on here as well." is relatively short. But it highlights that the fact there are multiple reasons why people don't want any more debates. Another one is "Indeed, Perry needs Romney and vice versa." which highlights the need for debate as it strengthens their public perception.

Words like "coddle" are used by Rubin to portray Perry supporters as overprotective parents. This uses of diction supporters her arguments because overprotective parents are regarded as obstacles. Another word, one of her own creation, is "punditocracy". She uses this word to portray political pundits as tyrants or too powerful, giving them a negative connotation.

Rubin also uses good command of language in this post. She uses repetition of a sentence format, " when a liberal does this, a republican does this". Also she uses repetition of the sentence format of "it and then a verb". She has "It tests...." followed by "It separates...." and then "It shows...." and finished with "And it keeps....". Rubin also uses an idiom "a broken clock is right twice a day" to illustrate the logic her conservative colleagues are using to defend their preferred candidate.

I too support debates. And now after this article I support it more than ever. I enjoyed the Republican candidates verbally sparring each other. The ones that can handle the attacks and still stand strong deserve to be in contention for President.