Groupthink

today was not very proactive at all in getting anywhere, but on the bright side all this poem work has been helpful in my preparation for the AP exam.

Gridlock

"Let America Be America Again" Vendler Grid

Meaning	America has never been truly the land of equality, prosper and freedom, but one full of oppression, discrimination, and injustices.
Antecedent Scenario	Basically America's not so clean past history
Structural Parts	A very large part of the author's structure in his poem is the use of anaphora's to emphasize his opinion of our America. And also just like every other poem similes and metaphors play an immense part of the author's structure.
Climax	The climax is reached in the 12th  stanza in which the author questions who was the one to say America was the land of the free.
Other Parts	The beginning of the poem is where the narrator asks what happened to the America of before free and equal but with his conscious repeating it was never free for him. After this point the narrator addresses this conscious voice that states itself basically as all the discrimination and inequality of America. After the climax is reached he ends with that although America was never what it thought it was to be, it can and will be achieved.

Skeleton	The narrator after speaking of the good old America of past is retorted by what I believe is his own subconsciousness stating that America has never been great. His subconscious explains this with a wide group of demographics including immigrants, whites, blacks, and indians. Though in the end the his mood changes to one of confidence, in how he believes America will be great.
Content Genre- games	I would say this is a reflective poem. My reasoning for this is that the narrator takes an idea that is taken by fact or agreed on by many and then counters the statement with examples that prove it wrong. So in the poem the land of the freedom and equality, is actually one full of oppression and inequality since its founding such as slavery, taking the land of natives, discrimination of immigrant, and blue collar workers.
Tone	cynical
Agency
Roads Not Taken	I could see this poem as its inverse with the narrator stating it is corrupt, and his subconscious retorting with all the reasons why it is not, but it wouldn't be as popular to the overall public.
Speech Acts	The poem has certain lines where the narrator addresses the reader like "The free? Who said the free?  Not me?", that allow the author to connect his point of view with the reader by interacting with him directly.
Outer and Inner Structural Forms	The poem is very lengthy and uses repitition in the form of many anaphoras to form a parrallel structure. The poem also addresses the reader directly through retorical questions that the author answers quickly.
Imagination	there is not much fictional imagination in this poem, but more of facts that are used in analysis of a statement.

Seventh Reading

Let America be America Again by Langston Hughes

After the first reading of this poem I knew I had to use it, and after a few more reads my understanding of it just kept getting so much clearer. The poem basically focused around the irony of America being the land of the free when in fact their has been inequality and oppression throughout all its history.

(There's never been equality for me,

Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free)

The more I read it the more certain literary techniques would appear to me such as the many anaphora's the author uses to describe his point such as "It was never America to me" and "Let it be..."

Fahrenheit 451 Multiple choice

1.     Before meeting Clarisse Mclellan how does Montag feel about his job as a fireman?
A. Angry
B. Confused
C. Happy
D. Excited
2. How does Clarisse first describe herself as to Montag?
A. Seventeen and Crazy
B. Seventeen and obnoxious
C. Mature and Serious
D. Evil
3. How does Mildred address her attempted suicide the morning after with Montag?
A. remorseful
B. Denial
C. Happiness
D. Depression
4. Why is Montag different from the other fireman as stated by Clarisse?
A. He does not listen to her
B. He listens to her
C. He yells at her
D. He creates fires
5. "The Hound half rose in its kennel and looked at him with green-blue neon light
flickering in its suddenly activated eyebulbs. It growled again, a strange rasping
combination of electrical sizzle, a frying sound, a scraping of metal, a turning of cogs
that seemed rusty and ancient with suspicion.
"No, no, boy," said Montag, his heart pounding.
He saw the silver needle extended upon the air an inch, pull back, extend, pull back.
The growl simmered in the beast and it looked at him."  In the novel this is an example of?
A. Allegory
B. Metaphor
C. Foreshadowing
D. Tone
6. How did the firemen know which houses had books?
A. The books all had bar codes on the back covers. These could be read for up to one mile
              away by a special computerized track.
B. Neighbors, family members, and friends became informants and telephoned the authorities.
C. They conducted random searches.
D. The fire dogs could sniff them out.
7. . What did Montag do in the old lady's attic?
a. He took a book.
b. He sat and cried.
c. He destroyed all of her old family pictures.
d. He took a nap

8. "One drop of rain. Clarisse. Another drop. Mildred. A third. The uncle. A fourth. The
fire tonight. One, Clarisse. Two, Mildred. Three, uncle. Four, fire, One, Mildred, two,
Clarisse. One, two, three, four, five, Clarisse, Mildred, uncle, fire, sleeping-tablets,
men, disposable tissue, coat-tails, blow, wad, flush, Clarisse, Mildred, uncle, fire,
tablets, tissues, blow, wad, flush. One, two, three, one, two, three! Rain. The storm." Identify the literary technique used in this quote?
A. Allusion
B. Mood
C. Motif
D. Anaphora

9. “It was a pleasure to burn.
It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.
With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history.” Describe the characters mood in this excerpt.
A. Hateful
B. Jealous
C. Pleasure
D. Respectful
10. How was Clarisse killed?
A. By the hound
B. She was hit by a car
C. Ninjas
D. The fireman burnt her and her house down together
11. What is the overall theme of the story?
A. Revenge
B. What goes around comes around
C. Enlightenment
D. Happily ever after

12. Her face was slender and milk-white, and in it was a kind of gentle hunger that touched over everything with tireless curiosity. It was a look, almost, of pale surprise; the dark eyes were so fixed to the world that no move escaped them. Her dress was white and it whispered. This is an example of:
A. Indirect characterization
B. Direct characterization
C. Simile
D. Characterization

13. Who was Faber?
A. He was Montag's brother-in-law, and another sympathizer.
B. He was second in command after Beatty.
C. He was a retired English professor.
D. He was the chief physician at Emergency Hospital.

14. Why did Montag go to see Faber?
A. He needed a duplicate copy of the stolen book before he returned the original to Captain Beatty.
B. Faber had been a friend of Montag's wife's family. Montag thought Faber could give him advice about how to help his wife.
C. He wanted Faber to translate the books that were not in English.
D. He wanted to get information about others who had books. He thought that giving the information to Beatty might help his career.

15. What did Montag and the intellectual hobos believe their mission to be once the war was ended?
A. They wanted to learn from previous mistakes and always to remember.
B. They wanted to convert any survivors to their way of thinking.
C. They wanted to teach everyone how to read.
D. They wanted to pursue and kill any remaining firemen so they couldn't start burning books again.

Fahrenheit 451 Literary Techniques

Imagery- "The Hound half rose in its kennel and looked at him with green-blue neon light
flickering in its suddenly activated eyebulbs. It growled again, a strange rasping
combination of electrical sizzle, a frying sound, a scraping of metal, a turning of cogs
that seemed rusty and ancient with suspicion.
"No, no, boy," said Montag, his heart pounding.
He saw the silver needle extended upon the air an inch, pull back, extend, pull back.
The growl simmered in the beast and it looked at him."  The imagery that Bradbury uses in this novel is quiet detailed making this book a great read. The description of the hound is what really sticks with me from the novels many images.

Anaphora- "One drop of rain. Clarisse. Another drop. Mildred. A third. The uncle. A fourth. The
fire tonight. One, Clarisse. Two, Mildred. Three, uncle. Four, fire, One, Mildred, two,
Clarisse. One, two, three, four, five, Clarisse, Mildred, uncle, fire, sleeping-tablets,
men, disposable tissue, coat-tails, blow, wad, flush, Clarisse, Mildred, uncle, fire,
tablets, tissues, blow, wad, flush. One, two, three, one, two, three! Rain. The storm."    I liked this anaphora in the mainly because the author uses the repetition of one, two, three to express the tormenting thoughts that Montag replays in his head after his wife Mildred's attempted suicide that are the beginning to Montag's enlightenment.

Allegory- This whole novel can be seen as an altered version of Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" in where their both stories where the protagonists find enlightenment.

Theme- The theme that I found in the novel was the journey to enlightenment, as Montag is unaware of the reality of his society until his encounter the with Clarisse. This encounter is what causes Montag to question the shadows that his society portrays as images and to push to find the truth.

Tone- The overall tone of the book is very suspenseful, and thrilling as Montag's constant internal questioning causes you to sit at the edge of your seat as it foreshadows much of what you believe to happen.

Mood- I would say the mood is dark in its descriptions of the joy of burning books and a lethal, venom injecting hound, but also hopeful with the descriptions of Clarisse, the past, and of books.

Diction- The diction the author uses is relatively simple nothing like Shakespeare's complex structure but much of it is of words to describe certain images that make you feel like you are watching the book unfold on a screen.

Allusion- The book to me was an allusion to Plato's allegory of the Cave as described before in the literary technique, allegory.

Foreshadowing-  "The Hound half rose in its kennel and looked at him with green-blue neon light
flickering in its suddenly activated eyebulbs. It growled again, a strange rasping
combination of electrical sizzle, a frying sound, a scraping of metal, a turning of cogs
that seemed rusty and ancient with suspicion.
"No, no, boy," said Montag, his heart pounding.
He saw the silver needle extended upon the air an inch, pull back, extend, pull back.
The growl simmered in the beast and it looked at him." This incident foreshadows Montag's future encounter with the hound as a fugitive on the run.

Fahrenheit 45l Prose Questions

1. Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" shares a similar sense of enlightenment in its main character as seen in Ray Bradbury's protagonist Guy Montag. Write a well-organized essay in which you discuss the similarities of the two.
2. Frequently a work of literature will revolve around a major transformation in a character.  This transformation can often be taken as literal or figurative.  Choose a novel (Fahrenheit 451) and write a well-organized essay in which you discuss the complexion of the transformation and its relationship to the character and the theme.
3. As seen in many modern works of literature, protagonists are not always heroic characters, but anti-heroes. A prime example of this is Ray Bradbury's Guy Montag of "Fahrenheit 451". In a well-written essay compare Guy Montag to another modern day anti-hero.
4. In both Fahrneheit 451 and "Brave New World"  antagonists such as Mr. Beatty and Mustapha Mond appear to express qualities that both go against and along with the protagonists goal in the novel. In a well-organized essay write the reasons to why the authors would allow such characters to exist in their novel's plot.

Rest of Lit Terms

101. Realism:  writing about the ordinary aspects of life in a straightfoward manner to reflect life as it actually is.

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

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

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

105. Restatement: idea repeated for emphasis.

106. Rhetoric: use of language, both written and verbal in order to persuade.

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

108. Rising Action: plot build up, caused by conflict and complications, advancement towards climax.

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

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

111. Scansion: the analysis of verse in terms of meter.

112. Setting: the time and place in which events in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem occur.

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

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

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

116. Speaker: a narrator, the one speaking.

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

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

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

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

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

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

123. Suspension of Disbelief: suspend not believing in order to enjoy it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

131. Tongue in Cheek: a type of humor in which the speaker feigns seriousness; a.k.a. “dry” or “dead pan”

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

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

134. Vernacular: everyday speech

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

136. Zeitgeist: the feeling of a particular era in history