Responses to Course Material 5

The eras presentations all together were really good. I was very impressed at how people could use Prezi, unlike me and my group. Some of the presentations were actually entertaining to listen to, and look at. I like that we have gotten those big AP prep books full of multiple choice questions, I think those will be very helpful later on in the year and getting ready for the AP. So far I'm not a fan of Ceremony by Silko, but with our discussions, I have been looking at it sort of differently and do like it better than I did when I first read it. So far I'm very happy with the class, I think this class has been very helpful, both with my writing and reading, I understand things in a different way and I now see the DIDLS everywhere, and I never did before. I admit sometimes annotating in groups, we did get a little off but we always came back to topic eventually.

Close Reading 5 Race to the Bottom: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/opinion/race-to-the-bottom.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

 Right from the start of this editorial, you can see that the author, who is unknown, does not like Rick Perry. The diction used automatically creates a negative feeling in the article but still being funny. The author uses words like "Deceitful", "infuriating", "distorting", and "unapologetic" all in the very first paragraph. By doing this, the first paragraph is very powerful in the readers opinion.
This author continues to question Perry's campaign add that came out just recently, asking questions like "Are there Cristian candidates who are ashamed of it?" when talking about Perry claiming he is not ashamed of being a Cristian. When pointing out a part in the add when Perry promises to fight against liberal attacks on religious heritage, the author responds with "And what are those supposed liberal attacks?" Using syntax like these examples defines the authors opinion quite clearly on Perry and his new campaign adds.
The author goes on to talk about Mitt Romney and his campaign adds. This author continues to use syntax to show his/her opinion when Romney talks about "never apologizing for America" which the author then responds with "That's meant to suggest that Mr. Obama does when, in fact, he never has." This syntax towards Romney creates more negative thoughts towards him as well.    

Open Prompt

1990. Choose a novel or play that depicts a conflict between a parent (or a parental figure) and a son or daughter. Write an essay in which you analyze the sources of the conflict and explain how the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid plot summary.


In Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman", Miller shows how a complicated relationship between a father and a son can effect the whole family and the dynamic of that family. This conflict started when Biff went to Boston to see Willy, and discovers his father cheating on his mother. In this play, the conflict between Biff and Willy goes on for years and helps amplify Willy's unhappiness in his life. 


Biff was always idolized by Willy from the very beginning of the play. Willy alway wanted Biff to turn out like Uncle Ben, going on adventures and making money. When Biff starts failing math, and has to take summer school, thats when the conflict begins. After seeing that the affair has created a gap in Willy and Biff's relationship, Willy feels the guilt on his shoulders. This affair helps the reader see that Willy was never happy after Biff started becoming something other than what Willy wanted. 


From the beginning of the play, the reader can see that Willy is not happy, and is thinking about killing himself so he can get his insurance money to support his family. Having the affair with numerous women was a way for Willy to support his family, it was the only way he could be a good salesman. Evidently because of this affair, Willy's family is even worse than before. The relationship between Biff and Willy creates unwanted tension in the household whenever Biff is visiting. This tension is what leads Willy to his thoughts of suicide. Willy can only think of this one thing to solve everything and in the end does succumb to the temptation and crashes his car. 


Biff never meant for Willy to commit suicide, and Willy never meant to ruin his family. This relationship between the numerous women and Willy ruined the relationship between Biff and Willy, causing the whole family to fall apart. If Willy had never cheated, him and Biff would have been closer and Willy and his wife would have been closer, making Willy happier, and maybe not wanting to commit suicide in the end. 

Close Reading 4: Occupy The Agenda: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/opinion/sunday/kristof-occupy-the-agenda.html?ref=opinion

 Nicholas Kristof has a pretty strong opinion when it comes to the "Occupy Wall-street" protest. When it comes to how the police and government officials are treating them, he has a very different view than what other people would think. By using different literary techniques, Kristof shows the reader how he feels.
 Using detail is an important thing in any piece of writing. The way Kristof uses it, he helps the reader understand where he is coming from. You can tell by reading this article that Kristof really looked up this subjects and got his fact right. Kristof has details that have to with some more major tragedies that happened during the "Occupy Wall-street" protests, like a veteran being put into intensive care, and an 84 year old women being pepper-sprayed by police.The kinds of details helps the reader feel sorry for the protesters as well as proving his point.
 The other well used technique Kristof used was diction. In the beginning, the author uses words like "conundrums", "antagonizing", and "bullying" to help the readers connect to the protesters, that have braved policemen and cruel weather. By using this diction, you start to get in the same mind set that Kristof was in when he wrote this piece. Later on in the article, the author uses diction like "inequality" and "injustices" to give you a picture of how the protesters are treated unfairly and that the public officials knew this, and didn't stop it because they wanted a show.  

Open Prompt

1986. Some works of literature use the element of time in a distinct way. The chronological sequence of events may be altered, or time may be suspended or accelerated. Choose a novel, an epic, or a play of recognized literary merit and show how the author's manipulation of time contributes to the effectiveness of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

All books and plays use time to their advantage. Some speed time up, some slow it down, and some just use it to confuse the audience. In the work "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller, Miller shows how an author can use time to incorporate the past into the present. 

Willy Loman, the salesman in  the book has a difficult relationship with both of his sons, Happy and Biff, and his wife. As Willy got older, he started seeing the past with the present. Miller used imagery very well to make sure the reader knew that Willy was in the past, and not the present. By using selective imagery, every time a flash back came on, the language changed as well. When Willy was in the "past" he talked younger, as if he really did go back in time, and could remember everything, when in the present he could not. Using this technique helped Miller bring the past issues, to the present issues. 

Detail is an important thing needed in any play and book ever written. Miller uses great detail in his work "The Death Of a Salesman". Because of this use if detail, Miller was able to successfully bring the past into the future. While reading the book, the first time Willy goes back into the past with one of his delusions, its pretty confusing. As the reader gets used to it, you notice that there are certain details that let you know that Willy is about the go into the past. Bringing this past, becomes a problem for Willy and his family. Faults from Willy's past came through to the present. When Linda tries fixing her stockings, Willy remember cheating on her and giving her new stockings to another girl. Bringing these problem help the reader understand the meaning of Willy being fake, and his reality being fake as well. Because of all this detail, the play becomes less confusing, and more enjoyable to read. 

Using time to illustrate certain things in a book is an easy way to help readers understand. Combining the literary techniques of detail and imagery help create a better understanding of "The Death of The Salesman".  

Close Reading 3: Schneider: TV set proves bigger is better - For awhile http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20111023/COLUMNISTS09/110230498/Schneider-TV-set-proves-bigger-better-awhile

Schneider had a definite opinion about things. This story he talks abut getting a new TV, normally that doesn't sound to interesting, but he uses so many literary techniques to make the whole article interesting to read. The diction that he uses, creates a friendly tone. By using words like "ho-hum" and "flickered" make him seem less professional, this type of tone makes the reader relate to Schneider more than normal, and you get the feeling that the author is talking to a friend, and just giving friendly advise, or telling a funny tory that happened. 


The Syntax Schneider uses shows how excited he was to finally be one of the people in the neighborhood to get this huge flat screen TV. "Oct. 5 - the day before the do-or-die fifth, and final, game of the Tigers-Yankees divisional playoff series." This phrase helps the reader know and relate to the author. You now know that he likes baseball, and that he followed the Tigers/Yankees pretty religiously. The author then goes on to say "It was like Christmas Eve." This you can relate too, having that excitement building up about the next morning, knowing something good is about to happen. That is how excited the Author is about his new TV. 


Schneider switches the subject to how human nature is what it is, which sort of reminded me of "the American Dream" in some ways, how Mommy and Daddy always talk about how things are the way they are. When Schneider talks about this nature, the language becomes a little bit more factual, but still remains friendly, which was goos technique on the authors part, because you take what he is saying about human nature seriously, but you still relate to him at the same time.  

Close Reading 2 "Grover, You Need to Fix Your Pledge." http://domemagazine.com/mberman/mb093011

Maxine Berman in this article has a very strong and expressed opinion about this "pledge" where if you sign it, you agree that there should be no more new income taxes made. The diction she uses portrays her opinion very well by using words like "pussyfoot", "snickers", and "effing" create almost a condescending tone to the piece, or as if she is mocking the people who have signed their names to this pledge that she finds incredibly stupid. Along with the words, she also has phrases like "congress has never been known to act immediately" to show what she thinks of congress. She uses the phrase "After all, poisoned drinking water is not an immediate threat. Probably, you would die slowly." This phrase shows that she really just wants people to see this as a joke, and that this "joke" should not be taken seriously. This use of diction and syntax is helping the author seem very sarcastic and apathetic, not caring that other people may take this offensively.

Responses to Course Material

Learning about active reading has helped in so many ways for me. Asking questions in my head about the reading or the author helps me stay focussed on the piece right in front of me. I'm very excited about actually reading a book and putting my own notes in it, I guess I never thought of that as an option, but I know it will help a lot when it comes to reading some more difficult books. Learning about DIDLS has helped so much, I already knew about picking apart a prompt from my ACT class, but I never though about how there was a hidden question that you still had to answer, even though they didn't specifically say so. My thesis statements still have a ways to go, but I'm sure with this class by the end I will be excellent at writing thesis statements. 
Response to Course Material 2
Learning about syntax helps me realize things that the author purposely did to make the whole piece have a certain mood. It has really opened my eyes to little details like that. Having us in class write all of those intros fro the three different prompts along with different topic sentences to go with the body paragraphs I think has helped me understand how to get started in a prompt, instead of just sitting there thinking crap I have no clue how to answer this. The syntax sheets that we had to do also really helped me understand how to actually use it in an example and pick apart a piece looking for it.    
Response to Course Material 3
My first thoughts on Albee's "The American Dream" was that Albee must have been crazy or had some deeper meaning that I wasn't getting because the book to me was all nonsense from the start. After we discussed in class a little more, I understood a tiny bit, but working in groups and annotating really helped quite a lot. I knew annotating would be a big help and I'm excited to start "The Death of a Salesman" as well, hopefully I will understand that book better that I did with "The American Dream". I really understand the DIDLS now, using them so much in class helps me relate them to other books outside of class. 


Response to Course Material 4
So far I think I have improved my writing. All of the prompts practice and discussing the prompts, then re writing them have really helped me improve on what the AP test will be like, and how to write a good essay to get a good score. Discussing "Death of a Salesman" was a little more in depth than I feel like it should have been. Sometimes I feel like the discussions get in depth so much that we totally get off topic, and it's hard to get back on the right one. I think all of these blog assignments are really helping as well, and I like peer reviewing, because I get to see other peoples writing and see their techniques.   

PROMPTS

2005, Form B. One of the strongest human drives seems to be a desire for power. Write an essay in which you discuss how a character in a novel or a drama struggles to free himself or herself from the power of others or seeks to gain power over others. Be sure to demonstrate in your essay how the author uses this power struggle to enhance the meaning of the work

Many books use power as a motive for the character's actions. The Hunger Games is a futuristic tail in which public entertainment is supplied by pitting youth against each other in a lethal game. The government in The Hunger Games struggles to maintain control of the populace through brutal means. The story told through Katniss' eye's illustrates the larger meaning in the book. 

Katniss is one of those youths sent to the hunger games by the government. Right away she already figures she will die, so at first she doesn't even try to resist against the games. Turns out, she and her partner both win, this is when her struggle with and against the capital really all began. The government doesn't know it, but Katniss turns out to be a real threat against their "perfect" society. The author uses Katniss' struggle to emphasize how weak the government really was, they needed food from all of the separate districts, and couldn't actually provide for themselves.

The other struggle in this book would be the rebellion. The rebellion all started in district thirteen, and has been growing ever since they were "bombed" out of existence. District thirteen's struggle also shows how the government failed to get rid of a district, and completely failed. This power of thirteen helps them stay hidden for years, and then finally come back with a vengeance. The authors whole meaning for this book was to show that no matter how strong a government looks, it still has it's flaws, and can still be overthrown.Both Katniss' and district thirteen's struggle to come out from beneath the government's power help express the authors point throughout this trilogy of futuristic books.    

2006, Form B. In many works of literature, a physical journey - the literal movement from one place to another - plays a central role. Choose a novel, play, or epic poem in which a physical journey is an important element and discuss how the journey adds to the meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

In books about heroes, they usually have a long journey maybe through a dry wasteland or icy terrain. In Holes, Stanley has to climb a mountain, literally to find his salvation. The trek up the mountain completes the journey of the story by bringing the past, and the present together through one adventure and reveals the surprising connections between the characters. 

Between going to the camp where they literally have to dig holes, and having to walk back in the hot sun, the book Holes has a lot of physical action. When Stanley has finally had enough and heads off during a hot day into a dry landscape with no water in sight, you think he's not coming back, but this action of leaving against peoples permission proves to be the best thing for Stanley. 

Stanley and Zero's hike up a mountain brings together the main thesis of the book, friendship, by showing the work it takes to build and maintain a strong friendship and in the case of Holes literally the rewards it brings. The journey up the huge mountain brought trust into Stanley and Zero's friendship, and stability. Both of these characters thad to endure physical and emotional pain. When Zero had to pull Stanley up by a shovel, and he cuts his hands, and when Stanley has to carry Zero because he has passed out. When Stanley did this, it brought the past and the present together, when Zero's ancestor ordered a man to walk up this same exact mountain carrying a pig. Bringing these two scenes together brings out the friendship and connections through out the whole book. 

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.

Have you ever wondered what a pig head has to do with a group of boys crashed on an island? In Lord of The Flies, It means quite a lot. The pig head shows the savagery that the boys are facing, and also the fierceness of Jack and his "Hunters". In the book, the author William Golding uses imagery to advance plot points and illustrate the basic savagery inherent in humans. 

The pig head represents that the boys on this island have the power of their own world. Being on the island with no adults guarantees that one person in particular is going to have to step up as a leader. When the boys decide that they need food, Jack goes to hunt a pig, and comes back with a very bloody pig head that he had cut off. This pig symbolizes how Jack gained the power from Ralph who originally the boys wanted as their leader. Decapitating the pig in an act of violence shows the boys on this island that Jack is the kind of leader that will use his power to provide for the group and ignore the rules of the adult world.      

The pigs head marks the time in the novel when Jack realizes that he doesn't have to listen to Ralph and can create his own society and rules, and thus becoming a tyrant. Jack's savagery at this point becomes a big factor in the book. By being the kid to kill the pig and cutting of it's head, Jack becomes a whole new person who thinks it is okay to beat up other children like Piggy who don't conform to his ways and still follow Ralph. 

The pig head symbolizes the power and the savagery that comes out from their basic human nature when the children are put in the situation of being alone and with no adult, and having to provide for themselves. Savagery and power are intertwined in the novel and the pigs head is only one of the objects that symbolize this.  

1980. A recurring theme in literature is the classic war between a passion and responsibility. For instance, a personal cause, a love, a desire for revenge, a determination to redress a wrong, or some other emotion or drive may conflict with moral duty. Choose a literary work in which a character confronts the demands of a private passion that conflicts with his or her responsibilities. In a well-written essay show clearly the nature of the conflict, its effects upon the character, and its significance to the work.

In the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, the male protagonist, Mr. Rochester, confronts the conflict created by the innocent governess Jane Eyre and the responsibilities he has to his wife, the mad woman secretly locked in the attic. For much of the novel, Mr. Rochester's behavior reflects his indecision regarding what to do about this conflict. 

Mr Rochester through out the novel wanted to give Jane the luxury of the life she never had by claiming her as his wife and treating her like so. As the love grew between them, Rochester starts having more internal conflict about his secret wife in the attic. He felt he had been mis led by his in laws about his wife's history and character. Jane represented good, to which Rochester is deeply drawn too, while the crazy woman in the attic represented evil, which he is bound to preserve and keep safe.  Rochester's conflict is that the two can not coexist in his world. 

Rochester through out the book is a dark and mysterious persona, he is brusque yet occupies a high place in society. People who have worked for him for years still felt they didn't know all of the aspects of his character. Although he seems cold, he adopted his former mistress's little girl and brought her from France to England with him. Having to keep his wife a secret from Jane enhances his mysterious quality. To try and resolves this conflict, Rochester tried to keep his wife a secret and marry Jane. This shows how complex and desperate Rochester was. 

Gothic novels have many melodramatic plots settings and characters. Jane eyre includes all of these, in particular, Rochester's conflict between his passion and his duties provides one of the central elements to the novel. 

Close Reading 1 "A Shock to Bucolic Vermont" http://www.cnn.com/2011/08/31/opinion/parini-irene-hits-vermont/index.html?hpt=op_mid

Diction. Imagery. Details. Language. Syntax. DIDLES.

In the very beginning of this essay, you can already tell that the author is planning on using a lot of imagery. Within the first few sentences, the author says "To some degree, it has been like eden itself, a shelter from the American storm." This is the second sentence of the article, and already I am imagining Vermont as a place of heaven, where the weather is always nice out. After this he goes to describe how Vermont looks in his eyes, and you really do picture the perfect town, one that you never thought existed. Later on the author describes the effects of Irene on his home town, he goes on to describe what happened to his yard by saying, "We had winds that tore up trees by the roots. Power lines were down. Branches still littered the ground around my 150-year-old house, and several shingles were blown from the roof." This description immediately produced an image of almost a horror film in my mind. I pictured a deserted town, with trees and power lines fallen down, with an old creepy house still standing, but just barely.
     The diction of this article also plays a big part in giving you the feeling and giving you pictures out of this author's mind. The author uses words like "bold experiment" making something that really isn't that big of a deal seem like a whole new thing, thats never been heard of. In the last paragraph, the author talks about his "awe" towards Irene, and he uses the phrase "churning through the night" to describe how Irene swept through the town, these few words really help get that erie feeling of a huge storm late at night.
The details of this article really help you feel for this town, the author describes how a bridge from the community had fallen in the storm, and normally okay you think you can build another bridge, but he describes the bridge and how it will be a great loss to the community and it will never be the same. Details like this through out the whole article really add a certain touch to the whole piece.