Best Posts

This is a mixture of posts that have the most views and posts that I particularly enjoyed making.

Literature Analysis #1: The Fault in our Stars

Great Expectations LAQ´s

Lit Anal: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad


and this ones just because it had the most views.....Beowulf: Comprehension Questions

Senior Project Progress

Here it is.....




                                                           IT

Question 3 Essay

For my outlines I write 'step one...step two' and so on because it helps me organize and break down the essays much more fluently. Its like cleaning my room, all the material is laid out for me all I need to do is put it in the right place and to do so I follow steps. I do my bed first, put everything on the bed and start separating the clothes into different piles depending on if they're pants, sleeping stuff, shirts, etc. Then I put them in their spots, do a final check for errors and it's clean! I'm not crazy, let me explain this to you guys...cleaning my room is like writing an essay because the material is laid out for me in my brain, all I need to do is put it in the right places. By doing my bed first, I can lay out all my clothes, so the bed acts as a foundation just as step one (figuring out what your essay's purpose will be and the question they want you to answer) acts as the foundation. Then when I start categorizing the clothes, it's the same thing as categorizing the body paragraphs, one pile of info for diction, one pile for imagery and so on. So the last thing is putting the clothes away which is like actually writing the essay which requires everything to be put in the right places, pants with the pants, words with diction, images with imagery. Then finally I do the finishing touches which is like proof reading! Then when the AP readers read my essay (or go into my room) they will either see a clean room (good organized essay) which will get a good grade or an attempt at an essay which is unorganized, the equivalent of stuffing your dirty clothes under the bed and throwing your shoes into the back of the closet. Weird comparison but it helps me and hopefully helps someone else...probably not! 

Outline:

Step one: Breaking down what they want from you-how the character's surroundings shape the character and help explain theme(s) of the novel.

Step two: Pick a book that you know more about how their surroundings affected them-Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy. Surroundings shapes the prideful spirit of Darcy because he is rich and snooty until Liz makes him fall in love for her. The change of setting from London to the country was a huge turning point for him because he grows humble and dynamic.

1999 AP Essay #2

Outline:
Step one: Breaking down what they want from you- Identify two conflicting forces/powers that are conflicting within a character and how this conflict helps explain the work as a whole.
Step two: Pick a book that you know more about the conflict within a character- The Scarlet Letter, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. He has to deal with the forces of society and the forces of temptation/love.
Step three: Structure- Body paragraph one: societies pressure over him, Body paragraph two: temptations, love and human nature. Body paragraph three: which one wins and the moral of the story (theme) is that sometimes society isn't always right, follow your heart and you'll be happy.

1999 AP Essay #1

Outline:
Step one: Breaking down what they want from you- How lit techniques convey the impact on the character after and during dramatic experience.
Step two: Choose Lit tech after reading the passage- diction, imagery and tone.
Step three: Go into detail with each of the lit techniques while STILL keeping step one in mind:

Diction: Alot of action words to emphasis impact and the spirit of the wolf which was characterized as being active. Also words of sadness, pain and hurt were used to describe his dramatic experience but when describing the wolf light and happy words were used to commemorate her.

Imagery: The imagery that is presented is depressing and really devastating. This is of course for the impact...the blood, the lifeless eyes, the darkness, the dying fire, the coyotes, the loneliness with only the dead wolf(since the horse left)...all these images, although some are less important than others, are placed in this scenes to show the lose of the wolf and how impactful it was for the character.

Tone: With the help of the author's diction and imagery, the tone is set for the passage. It is a very lonesome, sad tone but also very calm. Especially at the end where he describes the good attributes the wolf had.

POETRY ESSAY PROMPT #2

2004 Poems “We Grow Accustomed to the Dark” (Emily Dickinson) and “Acquainted with the Night” (Robert Frost)
Prompt: The poems below are concerned with darkness and night. Read each poem carefully. Then, in a well-written essay, compare and contrast the poems, analyzing the significance of dark or night in each. In your essay, consider elements such as point of view, imagery, and structure.



We Grow Accustomed to the Dark

We grow accustomed to the Dark --
When light is put away --
As when the Neighbor holds the Lamp
To witness her Goodbye --

A Moment -- We uncertain step
For newness of the night --
Then -- fit our Vision to the Dark --
And meet the Road -- erect --

And so of larger -- Darkness --
Those Evenings of the Brain --
When not a Moon disclose a sign --
Or Star -- come out -- within --

The Bravest -- grope a little --
And sometimes hit a Tree
Directly in the Forehead --
But as they learn to see --

Either the Darkness alters --
Or something in the sight
Adjusts itself to Midnight --
And Life steps almost straight.




Acquainted with the Night

I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain -- and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,

But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
A luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.


Outline:
-Diction, Imagery and POV
The night is a metaphor for hard times, struggles and uncertainty. To get "acquainted" or "accustom" to the night means one gets used to the hurt and pain as it becomes more clear. This does not make the pain go away, or in this case the night, but it does make it clearer and easier to navigate through.

POV:First one talks of everyone getting accustom to hard times (the night) while the second speaks of a personal experience with hard times.

Diction: both view the night (pain) as a negative thing but something that naturally happens and that must happen through out the day or through out life.

Imagery: Navigation is key in both poems and both authors emphasis the imagery of someone traveling through the night.

(I will write pre-writes of all the essays in order to get practice on pre-writes and then I'll write the actual essays)

POETRY ESSAY PROMPT #1

[1994] Poems: “To Helen” (Edgar Allan Poe) and “Helen” (H.D.)
Prompt: The following two poems are about Helen of Troy. Renowned in the ancient world for her beauty, Helen was the wife of Menelaus, a Greek King. She was carried off to Troy by the Trojan prince Paris, and her abduction was the immediate cause of the Trojan War. Read the two poems carefully. Considering such elements as speaker, diction, imagery, form, and tone, write a well-organized essay in which you contrast the speakers’ views of Helen.


Essay:
         The face that launched a thousand ships was also the face to launch the writing of two poems, "To Helen" by Edgar Allan Poe and "Helen" by H.D. With the use of diction and imagery, both authors express their contrasting views on the ancient Greek beauty.

         Both poets use an range of words in order to describe their view point on Helen of Troy. Poe uses words like "beauty", "perfumed", "gently" and "glory" because he sees Helen in a good light. H.D. on the other hand uses the words like "wan", "ills", "unmoved" and "white ash" because he portrays her in a negative light. Their use of contrasting words illuminates how they chose different point of views from which to speak about Helen.

        The Imagery in the both poems also supports this view of bad Helen and good Helen that the authors have. H.D. for example uses imagery in

"All Greece hates
the still eyes in the white face,
the lustre as of olives
where she stands,
and the white hands." 

The reader sees an image of beauty but one that is stoic and indifferent because of the "still eyes". With Poe we see a different image being painted. One of admiration and respect in the stanza that says,

 "Helen, thy beauty is to me
Like those Nicean barks of yore
That gently, o'er a perfumed sea,
The weary, way-worn wanderer bore
To his own native shore." 

Every word embodies the overall theme of love and beauty while H.D.'s poem highlights the themes of beauty being dangerous.

       With the use of diction and imagery, H.D. described Helen from a negative point of view while Poe described her as being lovely and beautiful. Both authors show case their contrasting point of views of Helen through these great works.

Grid Lock

TPCASTT:  Poem Analysis Method


Title: A Summer’s Dream by Elizabeth Bishop sound like it will be happy and uplifting. 

Paraphrase: In this poem, I feel as if Bishop is observing these 4 characters in one room and making a poem about them. The owl seems a bit random. The poem, although it is titled A Summer's Dream which makes you think of sunny, fun and happy things, seems like a contradiction to the actual poem which has nothing to do with summer and who's tone has dark feelings at times. 

Connotation: 

Diction: wharf, geraniums, linoleums,  somnambulist 

Attitude: The attitude of the author is a mix between dreamy and gloomy. She doesn't stick to one subject and jumps from one thing to another. This moment seems like a real moment but pictured in a dreamy way where her attention shifts from one thing to another.

Tone: I hate repetition but her tone seems dreamy, smooth and gloomy at times. 

Shift(s): I think these two verses are where the poem shifts from normal, content to serious and gloomy.
Extraordinary geraniums
crowded the front windows,
the floors glittered with
assorted linoleums.

Every night we listened
for a horned owl.
In the horned lamp flame,
the wallpaper glistened.

Title revisited: The title is referring to a memory and the poem is the description of part of the memory that she allows us to see into. She gives us details that make us question the title but in all the title is what she got out of the memory although we can extract other feelings from the poem.

Theme: Im struggling on this one...

Seventh Reading (Poetry Boot Camp)

A Summer’s Dream

         = words I don't understand
         = summer words, or gloomy related words
(notes and connections)


To the sagging wharf
few ships could come.
The population numbered
two giants, an idiot, a dwarf,

a gentle storekeeper
asleep behind his counter, (people fall asleep during summer, it's easier to with the hot weather. Napping)
and our kind landlady—
the dwarf was her dressmaker.

The idiot could be beguiled
by picking blackberries,
but then threw them away.
The shrunken seamstress smiled.

By the sea, lying
blue as a mackerel,
our boarding house was streaked
as though it had been crying.

Extraordinary geraniums
crowded the front windows,
the floors glittered with
assorted linoleums.

Every night we listened
for a horned owl.
In the horned lamp flame,
the wallpaper glistened.

The giant with the stammer
was the landlady’s son,
grumbling on the stairs
over an old grammar.

He was morose,
but she was cheerful.
The bedroom was cold,
the feather bed close.

We were awakened in the dark by
the somnambulist brook
nearing the sea,
still dreaming audibly.

Elizabeth Bishop


In this poem, I feel as if Bishop is observing these 4 characters in one room and making a poem about them. The owl seems a bit random. The poem, although it is titled A Summer's Dream which makes you think of sunny, fun and happy things, seems like a contradiction to the actual poem which has nothing to do with summer and who's tone has dark feelings at times. 

Lit Circle Work

Multiple Choice 
I didn't do the general questions because they do not contribute to studying for the exam since those books will not be on the test and they also didn't include literary term questions.

The Picture of Darian Gray
1. D
2. ?
3. C
4. D
5. A

Life of Pi
1. C
2. C
3. E
4. C
5. C

1. C
2. C
3. C
4. C
5. C E

Crime and Punishment
1. B
2. D
3. E
4. ?
5. E
6. E?
7. ?
8. B
9. A
10. C
11. D
12.?
13. E
14. E
15. C
16. D
17. A
18. B
19. B

Essay Prompts

Crime and Punishment


1) Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”: Author confronts the audience with a scene or scenes of violence. Explain how the scene or scenes contribute to the meaning of the complete work. Avoid plot summary. (1982 prompts)

Outline: 

His actions gives the reader a picture of how the character actually is. His words may say one thing but this actions speak louder. This can be a theme in the story which helps contribute to the meaning of the complete work. 

His actions and reactions towards other characters give insite to how the meaning of the book relies on other characters

How crazy and disputing this scene is, give insight to the complete work and what values it will up hold. 

A scene of violence can dramatically shape a novel and the characters within. In Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Fyodor creates a scene of violence in order to better establish the themes and motifs of the novel. Through the main character's actions, Fyodor sets up the novel to be dark, reactive and meaningful. 

The 5 People You Meet In Heaven 

Explain how the author’s presentation of details is intended to shape the reader’s attitudes toward the place he describes.  Give specific attention to the function of word choice, imagery, phrasing, and sentence structure.

Outline: 

The different places and people he mets are described differently in order for the reader to imagine them differently, to feel the mood differently and because this tailors the experience to each individual person he meets in heaven. 

An author's use of literary tools to describe settings helps the reader better understand the work. We see this technique in The 5 People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom because of the very distinct and different settings each character contributed to plot line. This allows the reader to better imagine the setting, more clearly understand the mood and better "feel" the experience that main character was going through. 

Carrie

1. In some works of literature the insanity (or period of insanity) of a main character plays a central role. Choose a novel or play of literary merit and write a well-organized essay in which you discuss the mental illness of a central character and the specific ways in which that character’s mental illness relates to the larger themes of the work.

Outline: she was bullied into insanity. bullying is larger theme. Isolation is larger theme and isolation leads to insanity. Through insanity she was able to let go and realize the strength of her powers.

Macbeth Act 2 Notes

Scene 1
-interesting how Banquo says

"So I lose none
In seeking to augment it, but still keep
My bosom franchised and allegiance clear,
I shall be counselled."

because he will do what Macbeth tells him to do but will still keep true to himself where as Macbeth will do whatever his wife tells him and defy his moral code.

-weird dagger hallucination, should maybe be a sign to stop
-bell summoning him to heaven or hell

Scene 2
-The deed is done and things went pretty sketchy: some servants woke up and screamed murder and another laughed, then they woke up and prayed but Macbeth couldn't say Amen after one said God bless us. Maybe because God could not bless him when he was committing murder.
-Macbeth already regrets what he has done and feels really guilty:

"Wake Duncan with thy knocking. I would thou couldst."

Scene 3
-The talk of hell by the porter just heightens the mood with fear and worry since its right after the murder.
-Lexxon talks about eerie stuff that happened at night to people and how it was pretty creepy, "woeful time" foreshadowing.
-Macbeth killed the servants who "killed" the king so they wouldn't testify against him
-Malcom and Don know what happened?

Scene 4
-Old man is talking about how unnatural the death was. Murder is unnatural just like horses eating eachother
-They think the sons did it

Macbeth Notes 4/11

Macbeth:
-introduced to us as a crazy fighter, then we get to the scenes with his wife and him and realize that there is much more to his character.
-He sticks up for himself when it comes to fighting and war but not with his wife?
-Why does he listen to her?
-His actions, if he does what she tells him to, will most likely cause chaos (exactly why Shakespeare will make him listen to her)
-she is influenced by greed and power. But seeking them with evil will only cause a mess.

Lady Macbeth:
-She's just a crazy lady, plain and simple.
-she married a man in power in order to share his power (something as a woman, you can't have)
-as a woman in this era, she is powerless in politics but because Macbeth listens to her opinion, she has much more power than most woman in her society.

Life of Pi- Open Essay Prompts

1.The British novelist Fay Weldon offers this observation about happy endings. “The writers, I do believe, who get the best and most lasting response from their readers are the writers who offer a happy ending through moral development. By a happy ending, I do not mean mere fortunate events -- a marriage or a last minute rescue from death -- but some kind of spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation, even with the self, even at death.” Choose a novel or play that has the kind of ending Weldon describes. In a well-written essay, identify the “spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation” evident in the ending and explain its significance in the work as a whole.

2. The most important themes in literature are sometimes developed in scenes in which a death or deaths take place. Choose a novel or play and write a well-organized essay in which you show how a specific death scene helps to illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

3.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.

College Student Advice Questions

4-year College Questions

1. What non-academic teaching did you learn in college?

2. if you choose not to go to college, where do you think you'd be right now?

3. What is something you regret about college?

4. How did you pay for college?

5. How much debt are you in? Do you think that amount of money was worth it?

6. If you could do it over, would you choose another school?

7. What is the work load like in college compared to high school?

8. How was the transition between home to college for you? What was the hardest part?  How did you cope?

9. What's a negative aspect about college?

10. Do you think college prepared you for the real world?

11. How did you get involved with your school? orgs, greek life, clubs, ect? How did they help you?

12. What's the best advice you've gotten from anyone while in college or about college?

13. What stresses you out the most in college?

14. If you could would you change your major?

15. Do you regret not going to community college?

16. What are the professors like in college compared to high school teachers?


Community College Questions

1.Do you believe community college was a good choice for you? why?

2.What made you decide that community college was your choice instead of straight to a four year?

3.What is a positive about going to community college? What is a negative aspect of community college?

4.What type of programs are helping you stay on track with transferring?


Feel free to add a questions you want answered in the comments! 

BNW ESSAY Draft 1

Prompt
Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender, race, class, or creed. Choose a play or novel (BRAVE NEW WORLD) in which such a character plays a significant role, and show how that character’s alienation reveals the surrounding society’s assumptions and moral values.

Pre-write
What the question is asking: show how character's alienation highlights values of a society or culture.

1. Because Bernard and John are alienated,they have an external point of view of society.

2. Bernard shows how the society is: conformist, prejudice towards people that do not fit in, judgmental

3. John shows how the society is: unnatural, materialistic, ignorant, controlling

Essay
Alienation in literature can be seen as a great tool for which to describe a certain society or culture. We see this in Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Huxley allows the reader to judge the society through the eyes of John and Bernard, both outcasts but for different reasons. The individuality that they bring to the table, allows the reader to dissect and judge the society which rejects both outcasts.

John is different. This difference can be relatable because his character is most like the audience Huxley was writing to, not savages but also not extreme conformists. This in itself is a reason why readers can judge the BNW society. John shared values with the reader include creativity, monogamy, love, and nature.  Through John we see that the society is unnatural because of the artificiality that it revolves around. He is disgusted by this just as the reader is. Because of his knowledge of Shakespeare, John values love, which is something that is unnecessary in the BNW culture because of its science and technology based culture. The reader can see this when he professes his love to Lenina and she's basically freaked out and really just wanted to have sex with him. The ignorance of the BNW society is also highlighted because of John's real knowledge and the creativity that comes with knowledge.

Because of the external point of view that Bernard also offers, readers are left with a greater understanding of the BNW society. Bernard feels most alive when he is defying authority and because of the way others react, we are left with the viewing the society as conformist and controlled. Because the society values community, individuality is left in the shadows. This is why Bernard is also left within those shadows because he values individuality or even forced to value it since he is alienated by the community of Alphas.

Through the eyes of outcasted individuals, a society's values and culture can be judged by the reader. John and Bernard both offer a fresh perspective in a society that really doesn't have a diverse range of perspectives because they don't value individuality. Other aspects are highlighted as valuable by the society like science,  technology, conformity, sex, community, and ignorance. These values can be seen through the eyes of both Bernard and John because of their established individuality and their diverse values

Brave New World Ch. 4-6

Chapter 4
-Bernard is introduced: characterization in the conversation with Lenina.
---Not confident with woman
---Awkward and Self-conscience 
-The Epsilon repeats and repeats "roof" as if it is the only word in his vocabulary...its the most important one.
-Sexual references start once Henry and Lenina are in the Helicopter.
---I really don't want to put examples but the text can be found on page 61-62
-"Like aphides and ants..." literally and figurative.
---They are beneath her in status and she sees them as small insects.

Part 2
-Bernard's point of view: we still get the same characterization from (awkward, out of place) and this part even reinforces his lonesomeness, or individuality.
Helmholtz Watson: opposite of Bernard but they both feel like outcasts, they bond over this thought

Chapter 5 
-SOMA: drug that makes reality foggy and promotes sexuality.
-Henry and Lenina go through what seems like a regular day in the life of a BNW Alpha. Golf, soma, sex and contraceptives.
-Okay now about this cult. When they pass around the cup,  they all try to prove themselves to each other by being committed to the culture.
---Sex is a religion essentially.

Chapter 6
-I think the most important part about this chapter is the fact that Bernard feels like his own person.
---individuality is found in a society that doesn't allow you to be yourself, its all about community.
---he finds himself within nature which is something that different religions and cultures promote in order to "find yourself". This is what (I think) Bernard felt when he looked at the ocean.
-My question is why he takes a lot of soma and has relations with her right after the individuality part?
-He asked director for permission to go with Lenina but the subject brings up emotions within the director which he doesn't like so he tries to threatin

Oedipus Rex- March Lit Anal

I'm not fond of reading plays but because I T.A. for Mrs. Karamitsos, who is teaching her freshman about Greek and Roman Myths, I thought hey why not! As I read it, I have to repeat some parts and I get really frustrated but I want to get through it!  

Quote.

A goal without a plan is just a wish.
~ Larry Elder

BRAVE NEW WORLD (II & III)

“Please, no matter how we advance technologically, please don't abandon the book. There is nothing in our material world more beautiful than the book."

― Patti Smith

What a crazy, interesting world Huxley has presented us. The books and nature part is very scary to me in that it is basically happening to us now. Our technology is slowly distancing us from the beauty of nature and books are becoming used less and less. To be honest, the only reason I go out into nature is because of softball and if it wasn't for that I would probably not leave the house, which really scares me. As for books, although I really like them, others in my generation are proud of not reading any books for fun. We are constantly looking for pleasure instead of for information and knowledge, essentially what the world that Huxley created but his is obviously much more extreme. Maybe he wrote the book not only to predict but also save the future generations from this kind of society. I read and article that said "Satires tend to tire with time, but not Brave New World: It still manages to offend. Last year American librarians ranked it among the top 10 novels that readers wanted to see banned." Are we scared of being show our faults in extreme cases? Isn't ironic that we're trying to ban books, just as Huxley's society banned them?

Writingas5pectatorsport

Felicitas Ruiz (http://fruizrhsenglitcomp.blogspot.com/2013/02/spectator-writing-spinx.html): 
Feli does a good job of sticking to the prompt and her analysis is good. 

Matthew Patel (http://mpatelrhsenglitcomp.blogspot.com/):
Matt went right to work when presented with the prompt and not only wrote a lot but with purpose as well. He has great handwriting which is a plus for the AP readers. His writing is serious and intellectual as compared to his blog writing which is funny and entertaining. 

Eddie Pineda (http://cwestrhsenglitcomp.blogspot.com/):
Eddie is getting the hang of it although the ten minutes wasn't sufficient because he would've written more if there was more time at hand. The sentences that he does have down are well written and well thought out.
Megan Hardisty (http://mhardistyrhsenglitcomp.blogspot.com/): 
Well thought out introduction and I agree with Ming in that here second paragraph can be organized better. She did a good job of sticking to the prompt.