Dickens Map

I will continue reading every other day for about half an hour to hour

1. In this novel, things are often not what they seem. Discuss how the theme of "expectations" is illustrated by and through the major characters in this book. How are Pip's expectations different from and similar to those of Joe Gargery, Miss Havisham, Estella and Magwitch?

2.Why do you think it is one of Magwitch's principal conditions that Pip "always bear the name of Pip" (which is actually his childhood nickname) in order to receive his financial support?

3. If Pip had not received his "great expectations" and never left Joe's forge, how do you think his life would have been different? Are the lessons he learns during his physical and emotional journey necessary for him to arrive at the wisdom he displays as the middle-aged narrator of this tale? In what ways?

4. Why do you think Miss Havisham manipulates and misleads Pip into thinking she is his secret benefactor? What, if anything, does she derive from this action?

5. Given Dickens' portrayal of Estella, what do you think attracts Pip to her in the first place, and what, when he learns of her cold-blooded manipulation of men, keeps Pip devoted to her until the end, loving her, as he says, "against reason, against promise, against peace"? (page 594)

http://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/Great-Expectations-by-Charles-Dickens-Reading-Questions

• I think we should be tested on the material such as an AP exam with us showing our knowledge of the literary devices used in the book to better describe the overall theme.

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Lit Terms 31-56

31. Dialect: the language of a particular district, class or group of persons; the sounds, grammar, and diction employed by people distinguished from others.

32. Dialectics: formal debates usually over the nature of truth.

33. Dichotomy: split or break between two opposing things.

34. Diction: the style of speaking or writing as reflected in the choice and use of words.

35. Didactic: having to do with the transmission of information; education.

36. Dogmatic: rigid in beliefs and principles.

37. Elegy: a mournful, melancholy poem, especially a funeral song or lament for the dead, sometimes contains general reflections on death, often with a rural or pastoral setting.

38. Epic: a long narrative poem unified by a hero who reflects the customs, mores, and aspirations of his nation of race as he makes his way through legendary and historic exploits, usually over a long period of time (definition bordering on circumlocution).

39. Epigram: witty aphorism.

40. Epitaph: any brief inscription in prose or verse on a tombstone; a short formal poem of commemoration often a credo written by the person who wishes it to be on his tombstone.

41. Epithet: a short, descriptive name or phrase that  may insult someone’s character, characteristics
 -Beaner ( Im hispanic)
42. Euphemism: the use of an indirect, mild or vague word or expression for one thought to be coarse, offensive, or blunt.

43. Evocative (evocation): a calling forth of memories and sensations; the suggestion or production through artistry and imagination of a sense of reality.

44. Exposition: beginning of a story that sets forth facts, ideas, and/or characters, in a detailed explanation.

45. Expressionism: movement in art, literature, and music consisting of unrealistic   representation of an inner idea or feeling(s).

46. Fable: a short, simple story, usually with animals as characters, designed to teach a moral truth.

47. Fallacy: from Latin word “to deceive”, a false or misleading notion, belief, or argument; any kind of erroneous reasoning that makes arguments unsound.
-red herring
48. Falling Action: part of the narrative or drama after the climax.

49. Farce: a boisterous comedy involving ludicrous action and dialogue.

50. Figurative Language: apt and imaginative language characterized by figures of speech (such as metaphor and simile).

51. Flashback: a narrative device that flashes back to prior events.

52. Foil: a person or thing that, by contrast, makes another seem better or more prominent.

53. Folk Tale: story passed on by word of mouth.

54. Foreshadowing: in fiction and drama, a device to prepare the reader for the outcome of the action; “planning” to make the outcome convincing, though not to give it away.

55. Free Verse: verse without conventional metrical pattern, with irregular pattern or no rhyme.

56. Genre: a category or class of artistic endeavor having a particular form, technique, or content.

Smart Goal

After thinking it over I finally came to the decision of my smart goal. I decided that I want to be more resilient  in my academics and the way I carry out the things I turn in. I want to stop being as careless as I have become in my assignments, presentations, and just the way I speak in front of others.

Lit Terms 6-30

6. Analogy: a comparison made between two things to show the similarities between them

 

7. Analysis: a method in which a work or idea is separated into its parts, and those parts given rigorous and detailed scrutiny

8. Anaphora: a device or repetition in which a word or words are repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences

 

9. Anecdote: a very short story used to illustrate a point

 

10. Antagonist: a person or force opposing the protagonist in a drama or narrative

 

11. Antithesis: a balancing of one term against another for emphasis or stylistic effectiveness

 

12. Aphorism: a terse, pointed statement expressing some wise or clever observation about life

 

13. Apologia: a defense or justification for some doctrine, piece of writing, cause, or action; also apology

 

14. Apostrophe: a figure of speech in which an absent or dead person, an abstract quality, or something inanimate or nonhuman is addressed directly

 

15. Argument(ation): the process of convincing a reader by proving either the truth or the falsity of an idea or proposition; also, the thesis or proposition itself

 

16. Assumption: the act of supposing, or taking for granted that a thing is true

 

17. Audience: the intended listener or listeners

 

18. Characterization: the means by which a writer reveals a character’s personality

 

19. Chiasmus: a reversal in the order off words so that the second half of a statement balances the first half in inverted word order

 

20. Circumlocution: a roundabout or evasive speech or writing, in which many words are used but a few would have served

 

21. Classicism: art, literature, and music reflecting the principles of ancient Greece and Rome: tradition, reason, clarity, order, and balance

 

22. Cliché: a phrase or situation overused within society

 

23. Climax: the decisive point in a narrative or drama; the pint of greatest intensity or interest at which plot question is answered or resolved

 

24. Colloquialism: folksy speech, slang words or phrases usually used in informal conversation

 

25. Comedy: originally a nondramatic literary piece of work that was marked by a happy ending; now a term to describe a ludicrous, farcical, or amusing event designed provide enjoyment or produce smiles and laughter

 

26. Conflict: struggle or problem in a story causing tension

 

27. Connotation: implicit meaning, going beyond dictionary definition

 

28. Contrast: a rhetorical device by which one element (idea or object) is thrown into opposition to another for the sake of emphasis or clarity

 

29. Denotation: plain dictionary definition

 

30. Denouement (pronounced day-new-mahn): loose ends tied up in a story after the climax, closure, conclusion

Poems

-Muhammad Ali


“This is the legend of Cassius Clay, 
The most beautiful fighter in the world today.
He talks a great deal, and brags indeed-y, 
of a muscular punch that's incredibly speed-y.
The fistic world was dull and weary,
But with a champ like Liston, things had to be dreary.
Then someone with color and someone with dash, 
Brought fight fans are runnin' with Cash.
This brash young boxer is something to see 
And the heavyweight championship is his des-tin-y.
This kid fights great; he’s got speed and endurance,
But if you sign to fight him, increase your insurance.
This kid's got a left; this kid's got a right,
If he hit you once, you're asleep for the night.
And as you lie on the floor while the ref counts ten,
You’ll pray that you won’t have to fight me again.
For I am the man this poem’s about,
The next champ of the world, there isn’t a doubt.
This I predict and I know the score,
I’ll be champ of the world in ’64.
When I say three, they’ll go in the third,
10 months ago

So don’t bet against me, I’m a man of my word.
He is the greatest! Yes!
I am the man this poem’s about,
I’ll be champ of the world, there isn’t a doubt.
Here I predict Mr. Liston’s dismemberment,
I’ll hit him so hard; he’ll wonder where October and November went.
When I say two, there’s never a third,
Standin against me is completely absurd.
When Cassius says a mouse can outrun a horse,
Don’t ask how; put your money where your mouse is!
I AM THE GREATEST!”


Out of the Night That Covers -William Ernest Henley 

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll.

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

Every day in Africa a gazelle wakes up.
It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.
 Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows that it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.
 It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle.
When the sun comes up, you better be running.

Abe Gubegna
Ethiopia, circa 1974



The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.

Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.

AP PREP POST 1: SIDDHARTHA

1. Siddhartha features substantial activity and narrative action. At the same time, it is about one man’s largely internal spiritual quest. What is the relationship between the internal and exterior worlds of Siddhartha? How does Siddhartha negotiate these worlds?

2. Discuss the ways Siddhartha attempts to attain spiritual enlightenment. Which approaches are successful? Which ones are not successful, and which ones have limited effectiveness? How does Siddhartha progress from one approach to the other?

3. Consider Siddhartha’s relationship with Govinda. How are they similar, and how are they different? What are the narrative functions of Govinda’s reappearance throughout the novel? How does their relationship impact the novel’s ending?

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/siddhartha/study.html

4. .If you were the river, would you be enlightenment or would you know enlightenment? In other words, what’s up with the river? What is it’s relation to enlightenment? 

5. What purpose does self-denial serve in Siddhartha? What about self-indulgence

http://www.shmoop.com/siddhartha/questions.html

Lit. Analysis #3 The Road

General 1. The novel “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy takes place in a post-apocalyptic world with a father and a son traveling through deserted and desolate cites in search of food. Throughout the novel the father and son are faced with the dangers of this wasteland, such as cannibalistic survivors hunting them down, thieves and dying of starvation. The main of the objective of the two is to keep moving south, due to rumors of not such a destroyed earth to be there. Throughout the novel the father questions if he should have his son die with him if anything were to happen. As the two head further south their hopes of a better situation die off as the starvation and gruesome scenes they go through get worse and worse every day. At the end of the novel the caring father who has done everything to protect his son is no longer strong enough to keep going, and although fearful of his son not being able to make it alive alone, tells him to keep going on south and to keep alive. The novel ends with the boy meeting non-cannibalistic family who takes him in.

 2. The theme of this novel was the will to keep moving forward. Throughout the novel these characters fight to stay alive by scavenging for food and water while also defending themselves by the cannibals that hunt them down.

 3. The author’s tone was very dark and serious throughout all of the novel
 • “Nights dark beyond darkness and the days more gray each one than what had gone before.” Pg. 1
 • “Barren, silent, godless.” Pg.4
 • “The nights were blinding cold and casket black and the long reach of the morning had a terrible silence to it.”
 4. Setting: “The nights were blinding cold and casket black and the long reach of the morning had a terrible silence to it.”

 Mood: “There were times when he sat watching the boy sleep that he would begin sobbing uncontrollably but it wasn’t about death.”

 Tone: “The country was looted, ransacked, ravaged. Rifled of every crumb.” Oxymoron: "There is no God and we are his prophets." Imagery: They followed a stone wall past the remains of an orchard. The trees in their ordered rows gnarled and black and the fallen limbs thick on the ground. Characterization 1. Direct

Characterization:

 • “Crouching there pale and naked and translucent, its alabaster bones cast up in shadow on the rocks behind it. Its bowels, its beating heart. The brain that pulsed in a dull glass bell. It swung its head from side to side and then gave out a low moan and turned and lurched away and loped soundlessly into the dark.”

 • The boy lay with his head in the man's lap. After a while he said: They're going to kill those people, aren't they? (The Man) Yes. (The Boy) Why do they have to do that? (The Man) I don’t know. (The Boy) Are they going to eat them? (The Man) I don’t know. (The Boy) They're going to eat them, aren’t they? (The Man) Yes. (The Boy) And we couldn’t help them because then they'd eat us too. (The Man) Yes. (The Boy) And that's why we couldn’t help them. (The Man) Yes. (The Boy) Okay. (pg. 194)

 Indirect Characterization:

• “The roadrat let go of the belt and it fell in the roadway with the gear hanging from it. A canteen. An old canvas army pouch. A leather sheath for a knife. When he looked up the roadrat was holding the knife in his hand. He'd only taken two steps but he was almost between him and the child. (The Man) What do you think you're going to do with that? He didn’t answer. He was a big man but he was quick. He dove and grabbed the boy and rolled and came up holding him against his chest with the knife at his throat. The man had already dropped to the ground and he swung with him and leveled the pistol and fired from a two-handed position balanced on both knees at a distance of six feet. The man fell back instantly and lay with blood bubbling from the hole in his forehead.”

 • “They walked into the little clearing, the boy clutching his hand. They'd taken everything with them except whatever black thing was skewered over the coals. He was standing there checking the perimeter when the boy turned and buried his face against him. He looked quickly to see what had happened. What is it? he said. What is it? The boy shook his head. Oh Papa, he said. He turned and looked again. What the boy had seen was a charred human infant headless and gutted and blackening on the spit. He bent and picked the boy up and started for the road with him, holding him close. I'm sorry, he whispered. I'm sorry.” (pg. 276) 2. The diction and syntax do change between the dialogue of the Father and the son as the father has a more mature diction while the son is that of his age

. 3. The father in the novel is a dynamic character as throughout most of the novel he wanted his son to die with him but at the end he has his son to keep moving on and to try and survive the world.

 4. Well this was a very fictional novel so I couldn’t say I felt like I met the characters, but it did make me think of the decisions us as a society might have to go through in a disaster such as the one in the novel.