Literature analysis 3

Civil Disobedience

TOPIC(S) and/or EVENT(S)
1)a) Civil Disobedience is Henry Thoreau's way of talking about the problems with government.  He begins it with saying the best government is a government that is rarely involved, but then states right after, that a government that isn't involved is a better one.  He believes governments are worthless because they cause more troubles to the citizens then they do help.  To stand up and stop this faulty government we have to refuse to pay for it and its good, even if the consequences are jail.  If we don't support the government with our money they won't be able to "support" us.

b) There is a day where men will be able to live peacefully by ruling themselves and not each other.

2) I believe Thoreau choose to write about corrupt government because he always disliked how corrupted society's governments had been over the years, and he believed he knew a way to surpass this corruption and bring internal peace to the people.

3) I choose to read this after reading "Into the Wild" because Chris read Thoreau among other artist and I believed Chris was an extremely wise man for his age, therefore I thought I would start reading books from authors he liked. After I began reading I couldn't stop because Thoreau's ideas made so appealed to my sense so much, I understood what he was saying.

4) I think this book was as realistic as it could get.  He was a well known author and was calling out the faults and corruption in our governments.  He uses the war between Mexico and America for some of his points on how the government puts the people in situations they don't want to be in.  I think that is still true today, since World War II, every war we have been in hasn't been supported by the general populous.  This faltering support is shown in the statistic, even though we have had the biggest military budget we haven't won a war since then because the people we attack are supported by their people.

PEOPLE
1) There isn't character in Civic Disobedience, only a narrator. Thoreau is the narrator and we only really learn about he thinks, nothing else.  He wants to see true freedom in the world, where no one controls each other, but each person controls himself or herself. Through out the scripture we see him set a tone of frustration with the government.


STYLE
1) Thoreau wrote this more as an essay, so it doesn't use tools from fiction writing, but it does use the stream of conscious approach found in the Montaigne's essays.

2) Thoreau uses action to express his thoughts and beliefs in the essay.  This makes the point come across more clear because there is less fluff and crap to fill space.

3) Thoreau references mistakes made by the government to show the tone of frustration in his writing.

4) Thoreau was very persuasive towards the readers because he wants us to side with him and fall to his beliefs of a faulty and corrupt government. He was infuriated towards the government and that is why he wrote about to them in this essay.

5) There were no other resources beside Thoreau in the essay, but I think his writing style appeals to the rebellion in everyone and keeps you reading.

ENDURING MEMORY
 like his idea of living free.  I have no interest in paying the government so they can pay for other peoples needs because I have trouble paying for my own needs.  People expect to much to be provided for them instead of providing for themselves.  I think it is very easy and possible to live with only the things you can pack on your back and a little money in the bank. I could go and travel the world for almost no money.  There are people who let you work on their farms for a bed and food, or people who will let you travel with them so they have company, and even people who open their homes to strangers.  You can live free of the government and other restrictions, you just have to be able to let go of the pleasures from intangible items and technology and find the pleasure in truly living. Even though this quote isn't from this exact essay, I feel like it goes well with the meaning I pulled from this essay, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” -Henry David Thoreau  I believe it means that people go through the motions in life never grabbing what they want deep down and it haunts them all they way to the grave, where they die with a untold story of an adventure they never experienced.

Literature Analysis 2

Into the Wild

1) a) Into The Wild is about a man leaving civilization and going on a journey to find himself in nature. He tried to live outside of the system without our so called necessities. He travels and lives for free but gives back with work and company. He shows that human kindness will get you where you want to go.

b) Attaching ourselves to unessential objects will never allow us to find our true selves.

2) My author chose to write about the journey of Chris McCandless because he was inspired by his story. How a college student gives up everything he owns and goes of on a journey across North America. He wanted to tell the story of Chris’s journey and the people he met. The story was told through people’s accounts of meeting Chris, where you learn how much of a determined, down to Earth person he was.

3)I choose this book because Terry told me about it, and I knew this was a story I would relate to because I want to go on adventures like that. Except minus the dying part. Once I began reading I couldn’t stop, I found all the stories in it so interesting and by the time I put the book down, I was almost finished with it.

  

4) I found this book extremely realistic, because its is an adventure I want to take in my life time. I felt connected to Chris because he didn’t believe he needs all the intangible items to survive and made due with the bare essentials.

PEOPLE

1)I think the author didn't create the character of Chris McCandless, but the people he met did.  The story of Chris is told through stories from other people who had the chance to meet him on his journey or his few journal entries.  Although we are only told the stories that show the better sides of Chris, I truly believe if I had the chance to meet him, he would be a genuinely nice guy that is described by the people he met.  The tone around McCandless is amazement, which makes the readers fall in disbelief of the task McCandless achieved on his own throughout his travels.

2) Chris McCandless- He was an average sized guy, not much mass on him, a lot like me. This tall and skinny man often had a shaggy beard grown out unless he was feeling the decency to clean up for something. When you meet him you feel the confidence in his stature, almost borderline arrogant, yet the twinkle of his eyes show his compassionate side. I would use indirect characterization for him.

Jon Krakauer- We never actually get a description of the author of the book, but through analysis of the reading and the stories he told I infer that he is a tall, athletically built man.  He has always had immense interest in the wild and its challenges.  He challenged himself to accomplish new things, such as being the first person to climb the Devil's Thumb.  Direct characterization would be the best way for me to show him to the readers because he is such a small character.

Russel Fritz- A old man, who is still fit and acts as if he was young.  He is ex-military and lost his family to a drunk driver.  He acts like a hard ass who has everything he wants, but when he meets Chris his life changes. He leaves his home and travels and becomes a different person who goes out to seek adventure and enjoy life. I would use indirect characterization so as he changes it is more an emotional feeling for the readers than if it was direct.

3) I think these people are so interesting because they all have a sense of adventure and want to see the world.  They face challenges for the thrill and excitement they get out of it.  They try to find the deeper meaning in life and avoid stopping where others tell them to.

STYLE

1) He used a journalistic approach to tell the story of Chris. The entire book is split up into accounts from other people about their time with Chris, Chris's journal entries, and Krakauer's journal entries and stories.

2) Krakauer uses little description about places or people and sticks mainly to what happens there and between Chris and the other characters.  The few times he goes deeper in description are when he talks about his journeys. This gives you a more emotional connection to the characters because you get to make up what they look like and are not stuck with a specific image

3)Krakauer uses accounts from people to set the tone of adventure and freedom.

4) His attitude towards Chris's journey was pure amazement.  He finds the fact the Chris was able to accomplish so much with such little experience amazing. He kayaked the Colorado River and Gulf of California, backpacked around the United States, survived through an Alaskan winter in the wild, and touched many people's lives.

5)The story relies heavily on interviews from people who met Chris on his travels.  I think this increases the reader's interest in the story because they get multiple perspectives on Chris and it show's how Chris was determined to go into the wild.

ENDURING MEMORY

This story will leave the idea that all we need in life is inner peace and happiness through living and not intangible objects that give us false happiness.  His journey gives you the deeper understanding of true kindness and how beautiful nature can be.  As I want to go on a similar journey as him to search the world for the answers to my deepest questions, I will use this story as a blueprint of my journey of delving into inner peace and happiness.  As Chris carried around Jack London and Thoreau, I will carry Into the Wild.


At the end of the book, Krakauer talks about Chris's final journals, where he is dying.  As Chris is going through immense pain and suffering and he knows he is not going to be found in time to be saved, he is happy.  Most people would regret what their decision to go out into the wild, but Chris found everything he was looking for and although he didn't want to die, he had all the answer in life he needed before he died.

Intro to Poetry

Summons
by Robert Francis

Keep me from going to sleep too soon
Or if I go to sleep too soon
Come wake me up. Come any hour
Of night. Come whistling up the road.
Stomp on the porch. Bang on the door.
Make me get out of bed and come
And let you in and light a light.
Tell me the northern lights are on
And make me look. Or tell me clouds
Are doing something to the moon
They never did before, and show me.
See that I see. Talk to me till
I'm half as wide awake as you
And start to dress wondering why
I ever went to bed at all.
Tell me the walking is superb.
Not only tell me but persuade me.
You know I'm not too hard persuaded.

What is the significance of the title?

I think the title is referring to the meaning of summoning as in witchcraft, where they summon the dead to life, because he is asking for some one to come while he is trying to sleep.  I think going to sleep in this poem means wasting  time and waiting the days for death to come, so he is asking to be summoned from this so called death bed to live and see things on the living see, while the people in their deathbeds miss out.

What is the tone of the poem?

The tone of the poem is adventurous, he doesn't want to sit back and do nothing.  He wants you to come get  him out of boring and pull him to adventure.  He wants to see things he's never seen, feel things he's never felt, be something he's never been, but he is waiting for you to come and convince him to.

What is your mood as you read it?

As I read the poem I feel a sudden urge to go out and stay under the stars with friends, sleep in a little makeshift tent, sit around a campfire, talk about things that you never speak of anymore, and live.

Is there a Shift?  Where?  From what to what?

I think the poem shifts from statements and remarks about what he wants, but in the last line it shifts to a call of action from you by him asking you to persuade him to go out with you.

What is the theme of the poem?

I believe the theme of the poem is to go out and live life, don't waste any precious moments.

Hamlet Quote Essay

"To thine own self, be true" - Polonius

This quote was said directly to Laertes by his father Polonius in Act I, but it relates to more then one character.  It means to be yourself and to follow your own moral compass.  Laertes throughout the play follows his morals of protecting his family.   Although Hamlet is never told this directly it is an inner struggle he deals with through out the entire play. They both stick true to their morals until the very end of the lives.

Laertes was always protective of his family whether it was when he was telling his sister to protect herself from Hamlet, or showing up to the court sword drawn to avenge his father, Laertes kept his morals through all of the trouble he saw as his family died one by one.  As he himself was dieing, he forgave Hamlet, because he found out Hamlet had no intentions to ever hurt Laertes family, which is very ironic as he stabbed both Laertes and Polonius, and sent Ophelia insane after the murder of her father. Yet Laertes morals stood strong through his dying moments he made peace with Hamlet.

Hamlet faces the choices of ignoring all the problems revolving around him or stay to his plan to avenge his father's death and kill King Claudius. He knows what he must do and constant reverts back to questioning if he can truly do this if it is truly him to kill a man. You see this in his main To Be or Not to Be soliloquy.  It after outside forces push on you is when you see what you are made of and that is when Hamlet found himself, he grew the courage to act upon his morals and not entirely on purpose killed the corrupted court officials, like Polonius and Claudius.

Being yourself and sticking to your morals are very valuable traits to find in a person nowadays.  Even though you may be thought to be doing the wrong thing, in the end if you are doing it with the right intentions people will also see it and that is when the light is shown, you come out a good person in the end.

Vocab #6

abase - verb cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of
He was abased after costing his team the game.

abdicate - verb give up, such as power, as of monarchs and emperors, or duties and obligations
The king abdicated his powers to his son while he was on his deathbed.

abomination - noun an action that is vicious or vile; an action that arouses disgust or abhorrence; a person who is loathsome or disgusting; hate coupled with disgust
In the movie "300" the hunch back is an abomination.

brusque - adj. marked by rude or peremptory shortness
The man was brusque.

saboteur - noun someone who commits sabotage or deliberately causes wrecks; a member of a clandestine subversive organization who tries to help a potential invader
The saboteur open the gates for the enemy.

debauchery - noun a wild gathering involving excessive drinking and promiscuity
There was a debauchery last night by the riverbed.

proliferate - verb cause to grow or increase rapidly; grow rapidly
The water proliferated the parched plants.

anachronism - noun an artifact that belongs to another time; a person who seems to be displaced in time; who belongs to another age; something located at a time when it could not have existed or
occurred
After traveling through the time machine the men felt like anachronism in the time.

nomenclature - noun a system of words used to name things in a particular discipline
The nomenclature itself has become tricky.

expurgate - verb edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate
The artist had to expurgate the profanity from his songs.

bellicose - adj. having or showing a ready disposition to fight
The bellicose teens were held from each other in the hallway.

gauche - adj. lacking social polish
He tried so hard to talk to people but he was extremely gauche.

rapacious - adj. excessively greedy and grasping; devouring or craving food in great quantities; living by preying on other animals especially by catching living prey
The rapacious polo players ate a total of sixteen sushi rolls at the sushi bar.

paradox - noun (logic) a statement that contradicts itself
The philosophy teacher often talks about life's paradoxes.

conundrum - noun a difficult problem
The math problem was a conundrum to many students.

anomaly - noun (astronomy) position of a planet as defined by its angular distance from its perihelion (as observed from the sun); a person who is unusual; deviation from the normal or common order or form or rule
The  man standing in the corner is an anomaly.

ephemeral - adj. lasting a very short time; noun anything short-lived, as an insect that lives only for a day in its winged form
The hype from winning the game was ephemeral due to the crushing defeat hours later.

rancorous - adj. showing deep-seated resentment
The rancorous man always dogs his ex bestfriend.

churlish - adj. having a bad disposition; surly; rude and boorish
The churlish girl was disliked by many of her peers.

precipitous - adj. characterized by precipices; extremely steep; done with very great haste and without due deliberation
The precipitous work was rushed and sloppy.

Phonar

This is a picture I didn't take of the sun rising over the trees on the outskirts of a college campus. The the bass of a song from a car of three teenagers as the drive to their destination. The the wind blowing through the hair of the boy in the passengers seat as he leaned his window to take a picture of the sunrise.

Masterpiece idea

For my project I want to set up possibly a few trips to study animals in nature.  I have found a trip were you get to join wildlife biologist at their base camp near Big Sur to study the California Condors living in the area.  I also want to try and get the UCSB marine science department to take a group of people out to their tide pools at Hollister Ranch.  I'd like to know if anyone would be interested in doing either of these trips so I can start getting in contact with the directors of each program and see how many people would be attending them.

The Point of Canterbury Tales is...

Compare and contrast a character from one of the tales to a person or character from another story.

Green Eggs and Hamlet

A) I have no knowledge of Hamlet or the "Melancholy Dane"

B)Shakespeare was a playwright who wrote famous plays such as "Romeo and Juliet" or "Julius Cesaer"

C) Many students dislike Shakespeare due to the boring environment they first experience him in.

D) I think making this as interactive as possible in class will make this play much more enjoyable.

vocab 4

obsequious - adj. attentive in an ingratiating or servile manner; attempting to win favor from influential people by flattery
The obsequious player tried to brown nose his way to a spot on the team.

beatitude - noun one of the eight sayings of Jesus at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount; in Latin each saying begins with `beatus' (blessed); a state of supreme happiness
The beatitude I recieved after accomplishing my life goals was amazing.

bode - verb indicate by signs
He was boded to leave his house by the packed bags in his room.

dank - adj. unpleasantly cool and humid
The atmosphere of the cellar was dank.

ecumenical - adj. of worldwide scope or applicability; concerned with promoting unity among churches or religions
After seeing all of the violence in the world Jame set out to try to make ecumenical peace.

fervid - adj. extremely hot; characterized by intense emotion
The two rivals got in a frevid arguement over who was right.

fetid - adj. offensively malodorous
The rotting food had a fetid stench to it.

gargantuan - adj. of great mass; huge and bulky
The gargantuan building towered over the city.

heyday - noun the period of greatest prosperity or productivity
Families were making twice the amount now back in the heydays.

incubus - noun a male demon believed to lie on sleeping persons and to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women; someone who depresses or worries others; a situation resembling a terrifying dream
The women's incubus caused people to feel bad for her.

infrastructure - noun the stock of basic facilities and capital equipment needed for the functioning of
a country or area; the basic structure or features of a system or organization
The cities infastructure revolved around to production of brown hats.

inveigle - verb influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering
The man inveigled good calls from the female referee.

kudos - noun an expression of approval and commendation
I gave Tommy kudos for his excellent work.

lagniappe - noun a small gift (especially one given by a merchant to a customer who makes a purchase)
He bought her a lagniappe instead of a big gift for their anniversary.

prolix - adj. tediously prolonged or tending to speak or write at great length
The essay given to the class was just a prolix assignment.

protege - noun a person who receives support and protection from an influential patron who furthers the protege's career
The protege was working under Bill Gates, the best in his industry.

prototype - noun a standard or typical example
They created a protoype for the trial.

sycophant - noun a person who tries to please someone in order to gain a personal advantage
He is a sycophant.

tautology - noun useless repetition; (logic) a statement that is necessarily true
The statement is a tautology.

truckle - noun a low bed to be slid under a higher bed; verb yield to out of weakness; try to gain favor by cringing or flattering
I truckled my way to this position.

Vocab #3

accolade - noun a tangible symbol signifying approval or distinction
The celebrity received an accolade from his home town.

acerbity - noun a sharp sour taste; a sharp bitterness; a rough and bitter manner
Her acerbity was shown through the sharpness of her eyes.

attrition - noun the act of rubbing together; wearing something down by friction; a wearing down to weaken or destroy; sorrow for sin arising from fear of damnation; the wearing down of rock particles by friction due to water or wind or ice; erosion by friction
Should one of these teeth be destroyed the opposed one loses its natural means of attrition and becomes a remarkable, curved tusk-like elongation.

bromide - noun any of the salts of hydrobromic acid; formerly used as a sedative but now generally replaced by safer drugs; a trite or obvious remark
Some people still believe and act on the old bromide that "misery loves company.

chauvinist - noun an extreme bellicose nationalist; a person with a prejudiced belief in the superiority of his or her own kind
My male coworkers are all chauvinists who feel that a woman should stay at home, have children, and certainly not manage a Fortune 500 company.

chronic - adj. being long-lasting and recurrent or characterized by long suffering
He was diagnosed with a chronic disease.

expound - verb add details, as to an account or idea; clarify the meaning of and discourse in a learned way, usually in writing; state
From that time he gave up all worldly learning and laboured solely to expound spiritual things.

factionalism - of a faction or factions.
I answered that both groups were suffering from serious defects and advised him to take measures to liquidate factionalism.

immaculate - adj. completely neat and clean; free from stain or blemish; without fault or error
What was the date of Mary's Immaculate Conception?

imprecation - noun the act of calling down a curse that invokes evil (and usually serves as an insult); a slanderous accusation
If you really don't like someone you can shout out an imprecation at them.

ineluctable - adj. impossible to avoid or evade:"inescapable conclusion"
Ineluctable downhill slide.

mercurial - adj. relating to or containing or caused by mercury; relating to or having characteristics (eloquence, shrewdness, swiftness, thievishness) attributed to the god Mercury; relating to or under the (astrological) influence of the planet Mercury; liable to sudden unpredictable change
They can be very mercurial, one minute docile the next skittish.

palliate - verb provide physical relief, as from pain; lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of
But the political dangers to be apprehended from the disruption of the English Church were sufficiently serious to palliate the fraud.

protocol - noun code of correct conduct; forms of ceremony and etiquette observed by diplomats and heads of state; (computer science) rules determining the format and transmission of data
Thus far, Mr. Tim was not following typical protocol for emergencies.

resplendent - adj. having great beauty and splendor
Resplendent in scarlet liveries and silver badges.

stigmatize - verb mark with a stigma or stigmata; to accuse or condemn or openly or formally or brand as disgraceful
Stigmatized minority.

sub rosa - confidentially; secretly; privately.
Still, it would always have to be sub rosa.

vainglory - noun outspoken conceit
He did not hesitate to flaunt his great personal vainglory in public.

vestige - noun an indication that something has been present
Work finally lost the last vestiges of appeal that it had.

volition - noun the act of making a choice; the capability of conscious choice and decision and intention
Her arms slid around his neck of their own volition and she eagerly returned his kiss.

Literature Analysis 1

Catch 22

1. This story did not follow the typical plot line and was jumps of flashbacks to present time, leaving the story line messy, yet real.  The beginning of the story introduces the main characters and their feelings on war, whether its Yossarian's view of hating or the Texan's of it being the best thing ever. The story is based around the conflict of Yossarian wanting to leave the war, but the minimum mission count to leave keeps getting raised to keep the pilots there.  The army uses their dogmatic rules to justify what they order.  Yossarian tries to find the loopholes, but once he finds it the close it off before he can get away. As the story progress Yossarian neglects his duty and flees from battle to avoid getting killed.  He once pretends to have a broken radio and lands away from the bombing site and doesn't bomb anyone.  His friends begin to get killed on missions increasing his desire to get out before he suffers the same fate.  Colonel Cathcart tells Yossarian he will be let free to go home if he does not report him increasing the minimum mission requirements for leave, this leave Yossarian stuck morally of helping himself and leaving his squadron or staying.  When he finds out his friend Orr actually faked his death to escape and flee to Sweden, upon hearing this, Yossarian gets out of there to go join his friend in Sweden.  

2. The Catch 22 is a ruling saying pilots will be grounded if they are crazy, but declaring your crazy proves you sane.  This makes it impossible to escape the army unless you complete your number of mission, that they increase continuously, or ignore it completely.  This follows the theme that everything is controlled by a higher power that you can't prevent, but only learn to live with.  

3. Heller writes this almost as a satirical to war, because he uses humor to depict a serious issue with the toll of war on soldiers.  

"It doesn't make a damned bit of difference who wins the war to someone who's dead."

This explains how Yossarian believes the war and its winners are pointless because in the end every man who died will not have truly won, but lost the true war of life.

"They were the most depressing group of people Yossarian had ever been with. They were always in high spirits. They laughed at everything."

They were always to happy that it brought Yossarian's spirits down due to the fact he felt like he was the only one who still remembered what was going on out there.

"I may outrank you, sit, but you’re still my commanding officer."

The army had many confusing rulings and procedures that end up with complications and mishaps, this is one of them because they may outrank the other, but do to army procedures he is actually under the lower ranked officer.

4. Situational Irony

"Clevinger was a genius... a Harvard undergraduate... [going] far in the academic world... In short, he was a dope" (p. 68)

Dramatic Irony
"Yossarian was in the hospital with a pain in his liver that fell just short of being jaundice. The doctors were puzzled by the fact that it wasn't quite jaundice" (p. 7)

Allusion
"John Milton is a sadist" (p.97)

Alliteration

"If the colonel says we have to fly fifty-five missions, we have to fly them" (p. 65)

Foreshadowing

"Do you remember... that time in Rome when that girl who can't stand you kept hitting me over and over the head with the heel of her shoe? Do you want to know why she was hitting me?" (p. 25)

Paradox

"If he flew [planes] he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. " (p.46)

Verbal Irony

"I don't have nightmares" (p. 54)

 Symbolism

"He never sends anyone home, anyway. He just keeps them waiting around waiting for rotation orders until he doesn't haven enough men left for the crews, and then raises the number of missions and throws them all back on combat status. He's been doing that ever since he got here" (p.102)

Motif

"I don't want to fly milk runs" (p.103)

Repetition

 “Major Major Major Major” (p. 82)

Characterization

1.Indirect Characterization: We are told in the beginning of the book, Yossarian's feelings on the war and the people around him.  You learn how he hates being in the war and only wants to get out alive, "I’m not running away from my responsibilities. I’m running to them. There’s nothing negative about running away to save my life.”     Dunbar is also directly characterized through his feelings and thoughts we get to know him, we find he is very similar to Yossarian in the way he acts and feels,   "Do you know how long a year takes when it's going away?" Dunbar repeated to Clevinger. "This long." He snapped his fingers. "A second ago you were stepping into college with your lungs full of fresh air. Today you're an old man." Heller uses this approach so you feel connected to these characters.

Direct Characterization: Heller uses indirect characterization so you learn straight forward what the character is like compared to the other characters. The Texan is one of the first characters you meet this way  We learn he is a patriotic soldier, but he his actions make everyone leave they ward because they were annoyed by his presence, "The Texan turned out to be good-natured, generous and likeable. In three days no one could stand him."  Even the man in the white gauze is characterized in a few short sentences, "The soldier in white was encased from head to toe in plaster and gauze."

2.  Heller's way of writing doesn't change as he moves from character to character, using vivid imagery to help us picture the old and new characters in our minds.  An example of Heller's imagery would be, "Colonel Cargill, General Peckem's troubleshooter, was a forceful, ruddy man. Before the war he had been an alert, hard-hitting, aggressive marketing executive. He was a very bad marketing executive. Colonel Cargill was so awful a marketing executive that his services were much sought after by firms eager to establish losses for tax purposes. Throughout the civilized world, from Battery Park to Fulton Street, he was known as a dependable man for a fast tax write-off. His prices were high, for failure often did not come easily. He had to start at the top and work his way down, and with sympathetic friends in Washington, losing money was no simple matter. It took months of hard work and careful misplanning. A person misplaced, disorganized, miscalculated, overlooked everything and opened every loophole, and just when he thought he had it made, the government gave him a lake or a forest or an oilfield and spoiled everything. Even with such handicaps, Colonel Cargill could be relied on to run the most prosperous enterprise into the ground. He was a self-made man who owed his lack of success to nobody."

3. Yossarian is a dynamic, round character.  From the beginning of the story he is trying to find ways to keep him from war such as staying in the hospital, but in the end he is faced with the decision to leave the army and let everyone suffer for his choice or stay.  He decides to stay so people don't face the consequence of his choice even though he leaves on his own in the end.

4. After reading the book, I feel like I have met a new group of friends that no one else has, because through Heller's figurative language I was able to picture myself there with them in many scenes.

The middle-aged big shots would not let Nately's whore leave until they made her say uncle.
"Say Uncle," they said to her.
"Uncle," she said.
"No, no. Say uncle."
"Uncle," she said.
"She still doesn't understand."
"You still don't understand, do you? We can't really make you say uncle unless you don't want to say uncle. Don't you see? Don't say uncle when I tell you to say uncle. Okay? Say uncle."
"Uncle," she said.
"No, don't say uncle. Say uncle."
She didn't say uncle.
"That's good!"
"That's very good."
"It's a start. Now say uncle."
"Uncle," she said.

Beowulf Essay

There are many difference in how heroes were portrayed in the period where Beowulf  was written. Beowulf was shown as an extremely confident, brave, and strong hero. These were the main heroic traits of that time period, but since then the traits have changed drastically in my opinion.  A contemporary hero now would be Samwise Gamgee from The Lord of The Rings.  Sam is one of the most over looked hero in our time, with out him Frodo would have never survived to destroy the ring because Sam was determined, caring, faithful.  These three traits are almost rare in Old English heroic stories, but are seen a lot in Modern English.   Although they are both considered heroes, they have more differences than similarities.

Beowulf was the main hero in the epic, Beowulf.  He was considered one of the strongest, bravest men around.  His confidence would almost be considered arrogant if he didn't have the acts his had completed to back it up.  The epic was written in Old English, therefore it uses a different language then we are used to, which leads us to seeing the story a different way because language is defined by the culture it is from.  With Old English we can tell that there was a lot of value in heroes being brave, strong, and confident enough to take on anything they faced and how they did not expect the women of the culture to be able to have any of these traits, instead be protective and take car of their families.  The men were considered the leaders and protectors of society, while the women were the supporters of the families. Beowulf strength is considered the strength of thirty men because he was able to slay the mightiest of beast, which include Grendel, who was killed by Beowulf ripping his arm of his shoulder. Strength is a trait for this old society that is shown in the strongest men of their time, very few are truly considered strong, but the few that are have almost God-like strength.  When faced with any challenge Beowulf was brave and took the challenge up whether he thought he was going to make it or not.  He never backed down from anything until he died, this could show how at the time men were expected to have no fear and protect the things around them.  While these traits are still seen in modern literature and cultures nowadays, they are no longer the biggest ones seen.

Although Samwise Gamgee isn't considered the main hero of his story, I believe he is the most important of them.  His determination is what got Frodo to the top of Mt. Doom, Frodo was dying due to the burden of the Ring and all of his injuries so Sam threw him on his shoulders and carried him all the way up the mountain.  Determination is now a trait considered valuable by almost all of modern culture, without it when people struggle they would quit and never preserver. Being faithful can save some ones life, because it means you will be there to protect them even when they don't expect it.  Frodo was tricked into thinking Sam had been selfish and ate all the remaining Elvish bread for the trip and sent him away from the quest, but as Sam was going home confused he found the truth and turned around to protect Frodo.  He came in time to slay the spider and protect the poisoned Frodo from the greedy Smeagle and the Orcs.  Caring comes in many forms such as: compassion, love, and protection.  Throughout the entire story Sam shows all of these qualities.  He is compassionate about helping Frodo complete this quest to destroy the Ring, loves and protects his homeland of the Shire by going on this quest because if succeeded, it will vanquish the evil seeking to take over "everything that good and light in this world." Sam is truly a modern hero, although he isn't recognized for what he has done, he has traits that support and save other people's lives.

Beowulf and Samwise are from two different eras of writing and culture.  This differences are shown in how they are portrayed and how the literature is written.  Their differences show the change in time of what we consider heroic and how society affects literature.  

Vocab #2

accoutrements-noun  additional items of dress or equipment, or other items carried or worn by a person or used for a particular activity
The models accoutrements were just for fashion and had little value.

apogee - noun apoapsis in Earth orbit; the point in its orbit where a satellite is at the greatest distance from the Earth; a final climactic stage
The story had reached the apogee after the murder was caught.

apropos - adj. of an appropriate or pertinent nature; adv. by the way; at an opportune time
The base runner stole home at the apropos time because the catcher lost the ball.

bicker - noun a quarrel about petty points; verb argue over petty things
The two girls bickered over what color lipstick is better.

coalesce - verb fuse or cause to grow together; mix together different elements
The tree began to coalesce with the fence because it was to close.


contretemps - noun an awkward clash
The two guys always had contretemps over the girl who didn't like either of them.

convolution - noun the action of coiling or twisting or winding together; a convex fold or elevation in the surface of the brain; the shape of something rotating rapidly
The convolution in water was pulling leaves in and sucking them down.

cull - noun the person or thing that is rejected or set aside as inferior in quality; verb remove something that has been rejected;look for and gather
The cull, younger son always was stuck watching his brother from the sidelines.

disparate - adj. including markedly dissimilar elements;fundamentally different or distinct in quality or kind
The disparate foods were served in the same meal.

dogmatic - adj. characterized by assertion of unproved or unprovable principles; relating to or involving dogma; of or pertaining to or characteristic of a doctrine or code of beliefs accepted as authoritative
The Catholics dogmatic religious views were argued by atheist.

licentious - adj. lacking moral discipline; especially sexually unrestrained
The licentious kids nowadays are doing things no teenager should do.

mete - noun a line that indicates a boundary
After their argument the couple creates a mete in the house until they are even tempered.

noxious - adj. injurious to physical or mental health
Their noxious behavior almost injured the man on the sidewalk.

polemic - adj. of or involving dispute or controversy; noun a controversy (especially over a belief or dogma); a writer who argues in opposition to others (especially in theology)
The adults got in a polemic while drunk in the bar over the best tap beer.

populous - adj. densely populated
The populous city has a million more people then the city ten miles away.

probity - noun complete and confirmed integrity; having strong moral principles
My mother raised me with probity.

repartee - noun adroitness and cleverness in reply
After the snide remark made to him, he came up with a repartee.

supervene - verb take place as an additional or unexpected development
I am following this path unless someone supervenes and points me to another.

truncate - adj. terminating abruptly by having or as if having an end or point cut off; verb make shorter as if by cutting off; approximate by ignoring all terms beyond a chosen one; replace a corner by a plane
The speech was truncated due to the power outage.

unimpeachable - adj. beyond doubt or reproach; completely acceptable; not open to exception or reproach; free of guilt; not subject to blame
The unimpeachable act of knocking out the shooter saved a mans life.

Textbook Notes

Beowulf questions 11-20

11. Beowulf share traits with Sigemund, like loving war, battles, and killing.  Heremod and Beowulf are different because Beowulf is only look for treasures and fame, while Heremod sees no value in treasure and almost chooses to exile himself.
12.Hrothgar is joyous about Beowulf's deed, giving Beowulf the treasure leaving Unferth proven wrong.
13.The Finn sings about a battle between the Danes and the Frisians, the battle is a blood bath, but they use an arranged marriage to fix the problem between the two tribes.
14. Wealhtheow ask Hrothgar not to give Beowulf the throne.
15. Beowulf give the necklace to Hygelac, who dies with it on.  Later Wealhtheow ask Beowulf to protect his two daughters and give them guidance.
16. So many men slept in the beer hall because the sleeping halls were full and this was a mistake because Grendel's mother came looking for revenge.
17. Grendel's mother comes for vengence of her son's death, while Grendel only came for destruction and mayhem.
18. Grendel's mother kills Aeschere, Hrothgar's adviser, and he sends Beowulf  to kill her.
19. The mere is a swamp where Grendel and his mother resided.
20. Beowulf has Hrothgar take care of his men and to send his belongings to Hygelac if he is killed.

Beowulf Chapter 10

• Hrothgar set a guard for Grendel while he slept
• Beowulf gave his weapons and armor to a friend to guard
• Beowulf challenges Grendel to fight with out the use of armor or weapons 
• All of Beowulf men slept knowing they would live to go home because of Beowulf's protection
• Beowulf was the only one awake because he awaited the battle with Grendel

Current Obsession

My

Current

Obsession

And I thought I'd share with you

The Laughing Heart

Life of Adventure

Many of you people may not know me, so I'm going to use this blog as a way for you to get to know me as well.  Well I believe the best place to start is from the end and work back, so I am going to tell you about my future.  No this isn't what I want to do.  This is what I am going to do because I will not accept anything less. I am going to get a wildlife biology degree out of college with a minor in film. I am going to begin raising money and as soon as I have enough I'm selling all of my belongings but a backpack, a select amount of clothes, and some basic film equipment.  With these few materials I am going embark on the journey of a lifetime.  My life goal is to visit every country in the world and I am going to record my travels and the wildlife I encounter.  With these recordings I am going to set up a Youtube channel where I can share all of my videos.  With all of the crap that is on television and the internet, I believe being able to watch a real adventure where you get to learn about distant, mysterious lands will be a value to some people in this world. Now I know some of you may be saying, "Yea everyone wants to travel forever, but it never happens, you get married and settle down," yes that may be true for most people, but I am not most people.  I care not for a wife or kids, but to live my life knowing I did everything I wanted to do and settling down will stop me of just that.  I am someone who doesn't latch on to people, if I was given the chance to go on a trip, but I would not be able to see any of my friends again, I would be bags packed, never looking back because I realize I will only  keep in contact for a select few of my small group of friends after high school.  I know that sounds messed up, but this is my dream in life, the one thing I truly want and I refuse to let anything or one stop me.

"Where you are from is what creates you, but where you go is what shapes you"

montaigne/austen essay

"What goes on inside is just too fast and huge and all interconnected for words to do more than barely sketch the outlines of at most one tiny little part of it at any given instant." a quote from David Foster Wallace's story "Good Old Neon" talks about how our minds are a giant web of fluid thoughts that not even us can stay caught up with.  This thought is like Montaigne and some Austen's writing styles.  Montaigne's essay were written in blurbs of what came to his mind making it hard to sometimes follow and jump topics.  In Pride and Prejudice, we see and learn part of the story through the eyes of Elizabeth, where we get to see her thoughts jump from place to place; we also see the view point of the other narrator of the story, who knows what is going on and is unaffected by outside opinions.

Montaigne wrote his essays in the stream of conscious writing style.  Foster talks about how we can keep up with what goes on in our minds because they are so complicated and fast paced.  While reading the essays you can see the points where Montaigne forgets the point he was making, because will he was writing his mind moved onto the next point and he is forced to move on suddenly. Montaigne thought process is like a shock going through a spiders web, it can be following a straight path, but it gets to a point where it breaks off into eight new paths and he tries to keep the fluidity of the current, causing him to follow one new path.

Austen's characters are complicated, but can only see it one way with their simple ways.  Elizabeth is constantly having to absorb her surroundings and react to what she believes is going on.  This is shown when she assumes she know what kind of guy Darcy is, but as her mind processes his actions over the course of the book, it find his intentions behind his actions.  Her mind is more complicated then she could have ever understood, but it is nothing like the other narrator of the book.  This narrator oversaw all that was happening and had the capabilities to keep up with everything that was going on.  It was all knowing and knew the past, present, and future outcomes of every action that happened.  From the beginning of the story it knew what was going to happen by the end because of it capability to keep up with everything going on in its mind allowed it to intertwine the gaps in between the webs of conscious.

David Foster Wallace believed that the mind was so fast and complicated that one could not keep up with everything that was going on and that what they saw was only a droplet in a sea of their thoughts. Montaigne's essays and style of writing complemented Wallace's belief because Montaigne wrote in the stream of conscious style, meaning he wrote what ever thought was on his mind at the time and changed to the next as soon as his mind changed gears. Austen had two characters in her story that we could compare to this belief.  Elizabeth was only following her initial thoughts, but overtime saw the course of everyone's actions and their reasoning.  The unknown narrator on the other hand was all knowing and was able to follow all of his thought processes and was able to understand everything going on into deep detail.

Reflections on week 1

1)Are there any factors that you think are going to affect your participation or experience in this class? Access to a computer?  Mobile/smart phone?  Transportation?  Friends/family? Schedule?

I think the only factor I will be forced to overcome are playing water polo because it takes up so much of my time, applying for the Naval Academy, and only have one computer available for me to work on at home.

2)Think of an awesome best ever learning experience that changed you. What did you learn? Where were you? What happened? Who else was there? Did it teach you anything about how you learn (or pay attention... or remember, or think?) How did you know what was happening? 

I think one of my best learning experiences that changed me was being able to travel and learn about foreign countries.  The summer before my freshman year I traveled to Egar, Budapest, and Vienna.  While their I got the chance to learn about Hungarian and Austrian culture and history.  I was their with my high school water polo team, some players you may know: A.J. Franklin, Steven Tedsen, Carson Dacus, Kevin Stevens, Nathan Oh, Devon Toomoka, Cameron Cripe, etc.

I taught me that I learn best when I can read and see the things I'm learning about right in front of me and not seeing pictures or using the imagery from the book to imagine its true beauty.

3)What are you most [excited/concerned] about in this class? What do you look forward to in learning?  How do you think it can/will make a practical difference in your life?

I am excited to try this open source learning.  I think it is a way of teaching that I have been looking for my entire schooling career; since I want to go to college where I shape my curriculum and learn hands on, I think this class is going to be a perfect stepping stone this year.  I look forward to broadening my vocabulary and having a better sense of the language.  This class is going to have a practical difference because I can get help from anyone in the class, there is more then one teacher, there is all of my classmates who I can work together with to succeed.

Vocabulary #1

adumbrate - verb give to understand; describe roughly or briefly or give the main points or summary of
He adumbrated his life to the girl he just met.

apotheosis - noun the elevation of a person (as to the status of a god); model of excellence or perfection of a kind; one having no equal
He believes he is apotheosis, but no one else see him that way.

ascetic - adj. practicing great self-denial; pertaining to or characteristic of an ascetic or the practice of rigorous self-discipline
That ascetic boy over there doesn't fit in with the rest of us.

bauble - noun a small, showy trinket or decoration
They always show of the baubles they get from their parents.

beguile - verb attract; cause to be enamored; influence by slyness
His way with words beguiled an audience around him to listen to his stories.

burgeon - verb grow and flourish
All of these kids will burgeon throughout the year.

complement - noun something added to complete or make perfect; either of two parts that mutually complete each other; a word or phrase used to complete a grammatical construction;number needed to make up a whole force; a complete number or quantity; one of a series of enzymes in the blood serum that are part of the immune response; verb make complete or perfect; supply what is wanting or form the complement to
They work together so well because her imagination is complemented by his innovation.

contumacious - adj. wilfully obstinate; stubbornly disobedient
I have to send the contumacious kids to the corner of the room, until they listen and behave.

curmudgeon - noun a crusty irascible cantankerous old person full of stubborn ideas
I had to deal with his dad who was a curmudgeon if I ever saw one.

didactic - adj. instructive (especially excessively)
Mainly I'm a didactic teacher to these kids.

disingenuous - adj. not straightforward or candid; giving a false appearance of frankness
I'm not a disingenuous teacher, I don't try to be your best friend in the beginning and then crazy at the end.

exculpate - verb pronounce not guilty of wrong doings
I try to exculpate them when they don't understand what they did wrong.

fulminate - verb cause to explode violently and with loud noise; come on suddenly and intensely; criticize severely
I have to keep level headed when all of the kids fulminate before lunch.

fustian - noun a strong cotton and linen fabric with a slight nap;pompous or pretentious talk or writing
When I talk to them I have to avoid my normal  use of fustian and talk more to their level.

hauteur - noun overbearing pride evidenced by a superior manner toward inferiors
The mayor's son believes he has hauteur over the rest of his class mates.

inhibit - verb limit the range or extent of; to put down by force or authority
I have to inhibit the amount of play time, so they will have time to learn what they need to learn.

jeremiad - noun a long and mournful complaint
I always get jeremiads about how I don't give the kids a nap time.

opportunist - adj. taking immediate advantage, often unethically, of any circumstance of possible benefit; noun a person who places expediency above principle
I admit I am and opportunist person and not everyone agree with how I teach.

unconscionable - adj. greatly exceeding bounds of reason or moderation; lacking a conscience
I was brought in to replace the old, unconscionable teacher because he would beat the kids with a ruler.

faux pas- noun an embarrassing or tactless act or remark in a social situation
I try my hardest to get rid of the faux pas of their first year of school.

I Can Read

My attempt.  I really struggled with this.

Ap Essay Number 2

In The Crucible the author has girls, who are believed to be "witches",  rebel against what was expected out of women by society and the Church.  They used many mischievous acts to manipulate people into what they wanted and "needed." The girls lie, frame others, and one of them tries to have an affair with one of the married men in the town.

In the time period the story took place, women were expected to take care of the house, the kids, and only talk to when spoken to.  In the beginning the girls are caught "dancing in the forest" and are accused as witches, but they lie their way through the accusations and flip the blame to others in the village. Once they learn this power they begin to use this new profound freedom of speech and accuse anyone,as witches, in the way of their wants and needs.  They leave their jobs in townspeople's houses because they are in the courts sending innocent people to be condemned.

In the early years of America religions like Puritanism were very popular.  The Church was what life and towns revolved around.  Everyone tried their hardest to leave a honest, Catholic life so when the day of their salvation came they didn't get sent to Hell for an eternity, but in this play the girls threw away all of their religious beliefs, which at the time was unheard of, and ran with no thought of the consequences of their actions. They were being non-puritan and going against everything that their society was set out to be.

My Biggest Question

On of my biggest questions is when will the destruction of our own planet stop?

We live on a planet with limited resources and our generation is wasting them like there is no tomorrow, but the sad part is one of these day THERE WILL BE NO TOMORROW. That will be the day we have expended all of our non-reusable resources and as a planet, not just a species because we are expending the clean water, air, and earth. It will be almost impossible to inhabit this planet, like the beginning of the movie Wall-E. I don't know about you but I want to protect this planet as much as I can.

Ap Test Essay Prompt 1

George Eliot believed that her generation lost the true meaning of leisure and filled it with their new thought of leisure.  She believes the older days of sitting around on your porch looking off into the distance the countryside is true leisure, not the leisure her society has, where they pay to get amused by things made for them.  She use a few literary devices to compare and contrast these two types of leisure such as imagery.

Old leisure was in a much simpler time.  A man can sit out and read a paper on his porch with the lazy breeze coming over the hill from the ocean.  He would be sitting their without the smell of factories or emissions, just the nature that surrounded him.  He appreciated the things he had and had no care for how they were made or got there.  Eliot told us all of this; she said a stress-free, natural, country life where you like objects as objects and not how they came to you.

A life where you are rushed and eager to get to the next thing that will amuse you for an hour or two isn't leisure.  Eliot describes her society as these kinds of people looking for that as leisure.  She says "Even idleness is eager now- eager for amusement" meaning people are never stress free, they are constantly looking for their next source of entertainment. They can't find the natural things amusing and are always making new things to entertain them for a period of time, caring only for the prestigious brands of big named entertainment companies.

Ap Test Questions

1.B C
2.E A
3.C
4.E
5.D
6.D
7.A E
8.B
9.A E
10.C
11.D
12.A B
13.B
14.D C
15.C A
16.A B
17.C
18.E
19.A
20.B
21.D E
22.A E
23.E A
24.E A
25.E C
26.E
27.A D
28.C
29.E A
30.B
31.D
32.B
47.A B
48.A
49.C
50.D
51.C
52.B
53.E
54.B
55.E A
56.B
57.C
58.A D
59. B E

I was fairly surprised by my results, I thought I was going to miss more.  I think my biggest struggle was not knowing what some of the words meant in the poems and/or the answers.  I think the fact that this was mainly poetry help me because I consider poetry one of my stronger suits in English.

Colleges

Since we are doing a college resume. I thought I might also post a list of my top colleges. (note one through three are with the intentions of playing water polo there)

1. Naval Academy
2. UC Davis
3. CSU Long Beach
4. CSU Humboldt
5. University of Montana

There are others I'm looking into and I will be applying to more as I research for more colleges.

Cultural Changes??

If you just watched that, then you are probably as disturbed as I am.  As some of you may know weird product commercials like this are found on almost every channel in Japan, but I'm scared to say that this one is actually from the United States.  Do these kind of commercials intrigue you as a buyer? As freaked out as I was, I have found myself a couple times looking at this Philadelphia business's website.  These types of commercials seem more amusing, or latching.. to your mind.  I distinctly remember this commercial more then the one I saw ten seconds ago for some new kids toy, that I don't remember the name of.  Our nation  is becoming more and more overprotecting parents try to protect their little babies (no pun intended) which keep most marketing like this out of the States.  I personally believe that this should and will come to our nation, it will amuse the people for its entertainment value, but also the distinct, weirdness will draw them in as buyers.  What do you think about this possible culture change?