Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Literature Analysis Notes - The Sun Also Rises
The Sun Also Rises
Ernest Hemmingway
-revolves around the Lost Generation, people between WWI & WWII who had seen such tragic events that they didn't know what to do with their lives and were aimless (1924/25)
-takes place in Paris, France, Spain, as moving and traveling was part of the lifestyle
-told in the first person, through Jake Barnes
-the tone is sad and detached, nothing matters and nothing will go right
-plot: Jake cannot be with Brett Ashley, whom he loves, because he was injured in the war, keeping her from committing to him; she has relations with many of his friends and cheats on her husband; after forcing her lover to leave her, she calls Jake to help her.
-theme: aimlessness, dissatisfaction, identity, love; the characters have fun but never find meaning or contentment in anything that they do
-foreshadowing: the bulls fighting and causing destruction
-symbolism: bull fighting & the bulls, bulls are passionate and have a lot of energy
-characters: jake is insecure and not straightforward; brett is independent but that leads to her downfall; cohn is strong and muscular but also insecure because he is not a veteran and doesn't feel like he fits in.
-imagery: Paris is described as very dark, gloomy, and dull, where as the country is described with bright colors and shows the difference that takes place in Jake as he moves from the city to the country
-the characters don't know what love is, and they aren't experiencing ideal circumstances because they are not teenagers anymore and don't know what happiness is either
-characterization through dialogue: Brett describes all of her adventures as she flits around while Jake is more calm and doesn't say things straight out.
Ernest Hemmingway
-revolves around the Lost Generation, people between WWI & WWII who had seen such tragic events that they didn't know what to do with their lives and were aimless (1924/25)
-takes place in Paris, France, Spain, as moving and traveling was part of the lifestyle
-told in the first person, through Jake Barnes
-the tone is sad and detached, nothing matters and nothing will go right
-plot: Jake cannot be with Brett Ashley, whom he loves, because he was injured in the war, keeping her from committing to him; she has relations with many of his friends and cheats on her husband; after forcing her lover to leave her, she calls Jake to help her.
-theme: aimlessness, dissatisfaction, identity, love; the characters have fun but never find meaning or contentment in anything that they do
-foreshadowing: the bulls fighting and causing destruction
-symbolism: bull fighting & the bulls, bulls are passionate and have a lot of energy
-characters: jake is insecure and not straightforward; brett is independent but that leads to her downfall; cohn is strong and muscular but also insecure because he is not a veteran and doesn't feel like he fits in.
-imagery: Paris is described as very dark, gloomy, and dull, where as the country is described with bright colors and shows the difference that takes place in Jake as he moves from the city to the country
-the characters don't know what love is, and they aren't experiencing ideal circumstances because they are not teenagers anymore and don't know what happiness is either
-characterization through dialogue: Brett describes all of her adventures as she flits around while Jake is more calm and doesn't say things straight out.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Socratic Seminar
Discussion notes:
-internet brings unity
-allows creation of extraordinary things, you are not alone
-ask questions and learn through discussion
-the answer is only the beginning of discovery, it opens doors for different perspectives
-openminded and nonjudgemental
-wanted mentor groups then complained, killed freeplay because of habitual actions
-don't feel doubtful, just try
-things that you love become work and require sacrifice
-live in constant moments
-what do you cater enough about yo try, even though you may fail?
-create a positive mindset
As grades begin to no longer matter, what becomes important is real life experience. The more efficiently we can problem solve, work with others, and be creative, the more successful we will be. We should focus on behavioral flexibility, being able to work at things we might not enjoy or being open to new ideas and people. We should enhance our learning because we want to, not because we have to. We should also just make an effort. Put in your best work so you stretch yourself and have something to be proud of.
In order to enhance our ability to master content for the AP exam as well as other hurdles, we need to try new approaches. Looking at a concept in a new light not only brings about a new understanding, but creates an event that will stand out in your memory. Connect things you aren't interested in to things that do interest you and learn to love something.
Sharing ideas is the most valuable part of a learning network. Seeing the thought process of others, their beliefs, and what conclusions they draw is extremely interesting and helpful in my own life. Find others who enjoy the same things as you do, or someone who doesn't and can help you in another area. Everyone has a specialty and if we build on that we can create something great.
-internet brings unity
-allows creation of extraordinary things, you are not alone
-ask questions and learn through discussion
-the answer is only the beginning of discovery, it opens doors for different perspectives
-openminded and nonjudgemental
-wanted mentor groups then complained, killed freeplay because of habitual actions
-don't feel doubtful, just try
-things that you love become work and require sacrifice
-live in constant moments
-what do you cater enough about yo try, even though you may fail?
-create a positive mindset
As grades begin to no longer matter, what becomes important is real life experience. The more efficiently we can problem solve, work with others, and be creative, the more successful we will be. We should focus on behavioral flexibility, being able to work at things we might not enjoy or being open to new ideas and people. We should enhance our learning because we want to, not because we have to. We should also just make an effort. Put in your best work so you stretch yourself and have something to be proud of.
In order to enhance our ability to master content for the AP exam as well as other hurdles, we need to try new approaches. Looking at a concept in a new light not only brings about a new understanding, but creates an event that will stand out in your memory. Connect things you aren't interested in to things that do interest you and learn to love something.
Sharing ideas is the most valuable part of a learning network. Seeing the thought process of others, their beliefs, and what conclusions they draw is extremely interesting and helpful in my own life. Find others who enjoy the same things as you do, or someone who doesn't and can help you in another area. Everyone has a specialty and if we build on that we can create something great.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Poetry Analysis Remix
Sonnet 69
Pablo Neruda
-the dramatic situation is that the speakers life is nothing without his lover
-the structure is a Sonnet
-the theme is that love will connect people
-short phrases & complete sentences
-similes, personification
-figurative language, metaphors
- "we'll be"
-it opens with describing his life with and without love, then ends explaining how his love will always be because it is part of him
She Walks in Beauty
George Gordon, Lord Byron
-the speaker is admiring a woman he doesn't know but finds beautiful
-3 stanzas of 6 lines, rhyme every other line
-appreciation of beauty
-correct grammar
-metaphors and similes
-figurative language
-eloquent, beauty, grace
-it opens with a description of outward appearance and ends with beauty of the heart, conveying inner and outer beauty
When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be
John Keats
-the author is worried about dying early with no one who loves him
-Sonnet
-everything ends
-future and present tense
-personification
-figurative language, metaphors
-nothingness, relish, unreflecting
-discusses his fears and ends with his fears occurring and everything becoming nothing.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Literature Analysis - Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
The novel opens as Nick Carraway moves to New York, right next door to Gatsby. Gatsby is rich and extravagant, throwing huge parties that are known by everyone. It turns out that his parties are only to impress Daisy Buchaanan, a woman he was once in love with, who lives across the lake from his house. Daisy happens to be Nick's cousin, and Nick brings Daisy over to Gatsby's house for tea. They quickly rekindle their relationship and begin having an affair, as Daisy is a married woman, although she doesn't know that her husband is also having an affair in the city with a woman named Myrtle. One day Gatsby looks at Daisy with so much passion that Tom realizes what is going on and gets angry, forcing everyone to go to New York to a hotel. At the hotel, all of the secrets come out, and Tom says that Gatsby is a criminal. Daisy comes to the conclusion that she needs to stay with Tom. Tom has Gatsby drive Daisy home, and on the way, Daisy drives and hits Myrtle. Myrtle's husband believes Gatsby killed his wife, and so kills him and then himself. Nick moves away to remove himself from the whole situation.
The theme is the corruption of the American dream. What used to be about happiness, success, invention, and curiosity is now solely controlled by money and greed. The characters want instant pleasure without work, and are willing to give up what is truly important in order to find what they believe will make them happy. Gatsby, for example, believes Daisy is his dream, when in reality she is nothing special, and leads to his ultimate demise.
The tone of the novel changes, as it is told in first person point of view. At some points Nick is very bitter about Gatsby and what is going on, where other times he is happy and admiring all that is going on.
- He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life.
-Gatsby, pale as death, with his hands plunged like weights in his coat pockets, was standing in a puddle of water glaring tragically into my eyes
-There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams--not through her own fault but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything.
The story is told in first person, which allows the reader insight into the narrator's mind. You see Nick's personal ideas and what he draws about the characters. You see him realize that the American dream has changed in New York, which is the theme.
-He wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy. His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was.
There is no clear climax in the plot. This adds to the confusion of the time period, and how everything was falling apart. Things didn't go as expected, and their dreams were fading. They were wealthy, but that didn't matter.
Fitzgerald uses a lot of imagery in his writing, including similes and metaphors. He is very descriptive to give the reader a clear picture of what the characters are going through.
-He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning-fork that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips' touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete.
-Daisy and Jordan lay upon an enormous couch, like silver idols weighing down their own white dresses against the singing breeze of the fans.
The tone is always very personal, showing the tragedy that is unfolding for the characters.
-With every word she was drawing further and further into herself, so he gave that up, and only the dead dream fought on as the afternoon slipped away, trying to touch what was no longer tangible, struggling unhappily, undespairingly, toward that lost voice across the room.
-He wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy. His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was.
-All right... I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool--that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.
Symbolism is also used in the novel. The green light across the dock symbolizes Daisy and the life she used to have with Gatsby before everything got so complicated.
-a single green light, minute and faraway, that might have been the end of a dock.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
The novel opens as Nick Carraway moves to New York, right next door to Gatsby. Gatsby is rich and extravagant, throwing huge parties that are known by everyone. It turns out that his parties are only to impress Daisy Buchaanan, a woman he was once in love with, who lives across the lake from his house. Daisy happens to be Nick's cousin, and Nick brings Daisy over to Gatsby's house for tea. They quickly rekindle their relationship and begin having an affair, as Daisy is a married woman, although she doesn't know that her husband is also having an affair in the city with a woman named Myrtle. One day Gatsby looks at Daisy with so much passion that Tom realizes what is going on and gets angry, forcing everyone to go to New York to a hotel. At the hotel, all of the secrets come out, and Tom says that Gatsby is a criminal. Daisy comes to the conclusion that she needs to stay with Tom. Tom has Gatsby drive Daisy home, and on the way, Daisy drives and hits Myrtle. Myrtle's husband believes Gatsby killed his wife, and so kills him and then himself. Nick moves away to remove himself from the whole situation.
The theme is the corruption of the American dream. What used to be about happiness, success, invention, and curiosity is now solely controlled by money and greed. The characters want instant pleasure without work, and are willing to give up what is truly important in order to find what they believe will make them happy. Gatsby, for example, believes Daisy is his dream, when in reality she is nothing special, and leads to his ultimate demise.
The tone of the novel changes, as it is told in first person point of view. At some points Nick is very bitter about Gatsby and what is going on, where other times he is happy and admiring all that is going on.
- He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life.
-Gatsby, pale as death, with his hands plunged like weights in his coat pockets, was standing in a puddle of water glaring tragically into my eyes
-There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams--not through her own fault but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything.
The story is told in first person, which allows the reader insight into the narrator's mind. You see Nick's personal ideas and what he draws about the characters. You see him realize that the American dream has changed in New York, which is the theme.
-He wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy. His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was.
There is no clear climax in the plot. This adds to the confusion of the time period, and how everything was falling apart. Things didn't go as expected, and their dreams were fading. They were wealthy, but that didn't matter.
Fitzgerald uses a lot of imagery in his writing, including similes and metaphors. He is very descriptive to give the reader a clear picture of what the characters are going through.
-He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning-fork that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips' touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete.
-Daisy and Jordan lay upon an enormous couch, like silver idols weighing down their own white dresses against the singing breeze of the fans.
The tone is always very personal, showing the tragedy that is unfolding for the characters.
-With every word she was drawing further and further into herself, so he gave that up, and only the dead dream fought on as the afternoon slipped away, trying to touch what was no longer tangible, struggling unhappily, undespairingly, toward that lost voice across the room.
-He wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy. His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was.
-All right... I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool--that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.
Symbolism is also used in the novel. The green light across the dock symbolizes Daisy and the life she used to have with Gatsby before everything got so complicated.
-a single green light, minute and faraway, that might have been the end of a dock.
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