Wednesday, October 26, 2011

to kill a mockingbird (Lit anal) 2

To be honest, i read this book with great haste i finished it within 5 days...

1) To kill a Mockingbird is about a family of three (Scout, Jem, and Atticus Flinch), they lived in a severely racist communitiy in the town of Maycomb, We can tell that the Flinchs live well up in their neighborhood. The story really begins when Scout and Jem make friends with Dill over a summer. Dill and his adventurous spirit is intriqued by the Radley manor, the fact that nobody really knew about Nathan Radley or his brother who had "Never" been out of the house. Dill departs for the school year and Scout and Jem go back to their lives without Dill, going through school and everyday life at the Flinch residence. Summer comes again and Dill returns to the Maycomb, catches up with the flinches and this year the three decide to visit the Radley house. Unaware of the possible outcomes they enter the property and are shot at. During their retreat jem looses his pants, only find them folded and stitched laying on the fence. Time passes as life proceeds and interests on Boo-Radly (Nathan Radleys brother) kind of drift, then one cold day they find more gifts in the knothole that they assume are from Boo. Atticus is informed of Boo after one of the neighboring houses caught fire and Scout believes that Boo placed a blanket on her. Time passes and Atticus is put up to a challenge of defending a black male in a trial as his lawyer. We get the jist from reading this part that the racism in the community was very "savage", Scout and Jem were greatly affected by the situation and the other people of Maycomb began to look and act differently to them as if they had changed race as well, but the colored community is very accepting to them. Time passes before the trial takes place and Alexandra moves in, also Dill flees from wherever he was and returns to Maycomb in the next summer.The trial comes and Scout, Jem, and the others sit in the "colored section of the trial" Though there was clean evidence and support for Tom Robinson, the white jury filed him guilty he is later shot to death for attempt to escape prison. Mr. Ewell seeks revenge for being made a fool out of at the trial so one night he attacks Jem and scout. Boo saves them and kills Mr. Ewell, He then takes the injured Jem and carries her home. Scout eventually puts the pieces together on Boo- and what he is really like, and once she figures this out we can see a total personality change, and she now has faith in good of people.

2) I feel that the theme of the book was understanding what is right and what is wrong. Whether some human nature knows whether to do what is right or to do what is wrong. Scout and Jem deffinately Go through a Person- changing experience in the book the go from thinking most things people do are right and are for the better, but as they mature throughout the book they find the exact opposite of what they thought. They begin to realize that not everything is right but that the world is also full of wrong, We see the most noticeable change after the trial. When even though everything was right for Tom. The evil inside of the racists in the court and the white jury themselves. Even when the facts were dead on proving the man was innocent, he turned out to be guilty due to his color of his skin. Scout and Jem begin to realize that the good in people sometimes just wont outdue the wrong in other people.

3)  Harper Lee uses a slightly innocent premature tone as the beggining of the story seems to progress as we hear the stories of play with Scout Jem and Dill in their youngest ages in the book, but as Jem and Scouts eyes begin to open to the "Real world" the tone does seem to get gloomy and slightly analytical. As the story comes to a close we see more of an innocence relief tone from the author, for example when Scout is falling asleep in the end of the novel she tells Atticus a story about a "real nice" person. As Lee closes the book with this scene it pieces together what i came to know of, the themes of people being good and some evil, and innocence. The Authors slightly premature tone throughout the book adds to the effect of the story greatly.

4) Lee definately uses timeframe and setting to his advantage in the story. The setting of a Maycomb and his explanations in the beggining of the book on how " the people of the old town, had nothing to fear but itself" this quote is due to the fact that there was nothing else but maycomb around. The timeframe was obviously during the era of racism. We can also see the symbolism in the story. "It is a sin to kill a mockingbird, because the mockingbird never does wrong, it only sings its heart out to play music for us to enjoy" the mocking bird resembled innocence, just like some of our characters such as Boo or Jem were full of innocence until it was destroyed which relating to the book is a sin, it just isnt right. We can greatly see how the theme of knowing what is good and what isnt plays its role throughout the book. Especially in Scout and Jem as they begin to actually realize that what they had all around them was very corrupt. For example when Jems innocence is taken away as she realizes that no justice would come to the incident with Tom and his unneccessary death. also there is a lot of indirect characterization going on in this book.  Boo-Radley is very inderectly characterized to the reader throughout the book. He plays a big role, but nobody knows much about him...giving the story a mysterious and intriguing vibe. Lee also uses a simple and slightly premature diction to give the reader a better perspective of the story as they read.He keeps his words very powerful in meaning and lesson. There are lessons to be learned in some of his diction that we might even want to apply to our real life, themes for some of our lives point of views. "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Notes on Hamlet

To be honest i started to think Hamlet was a little crazy, kinda needed maybe needed to see a psychiatrist and talk out his problems or something. Understandably i do realize the hardships that made him change so much. finding out that his mom married his uncle who killed his dad.. that is big deal. My views on Hamlet are puzzled... I cant really figure him out at this point in the play. I see a lot of tragedy to come but that is just because its shakespeare. I also do not believe that Hamlet will be able to kill claudius any time soon.

Who was Shakespeare

Mozilla firefox search (google)
funny that in google this is the first thing on the list for me... it is a lot of general information on what i searched.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/merchant/shakespeare.html\
-Little is actually known for sure about the man we call William Shakespeare, although his is a name familiar to nearly every English speaking person. His birthday is a guess, and just what he looked like is a mystery. Even his identity itself is sometimes disputed. But most people today consider Shakespeare the greatest of all dramatists. His plays demonstrate a profound understanding of the nature of humanity. His skill with language and his ability to construct a story through dramatic and poetic means is unequaled.

The generally accepted facts are as follows: Shakespeare was born in 1564, the third child and first son of John Shakespeare and his wife Mary Arden, in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. John Shakespeare was a landowner, a merchant, a glovemaker, and a man on a political track. In 1567 he became "high bailiff," the highest elected office in Stratford, equivalent to a mayor today.

William was baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 23, 1564. The exact date is known from town records. He most likely attended the local grammar school, the King's New School, where his teachers held Oxford degrees and taught a rigorous program of study.

In 1582, at the age of eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, the daughter of a farmer from the nearby village of Shottery. In 1583, they had a daughter, Susanna, and then twins, Hamnet and Judith, in 1585. (Hamnet died at age eleven).

Around 1588 Shakespeare and his family moved to London and within a few years he had achieved some success as an actor, a poet and a playwright. The Sonnets especially established his reputation as a gifted and popular poet, but it is the 38 plays he wrote or collaborated on that have firmly established his reputation as the greatest dramatist who ever lived.

Shakespeare became a charter member of a theatrical company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, in 1594. He first worked in theatres owned by James Burbage northeast of London, the Theatre and the Curtain. In 1598 Burbage moved to Bankside, along the Thames River, and built the Globe Theatre. As a partner in the Globe, (and later the Blackfriars Theatre, acquired in 1608), Shakespeare profited from its success. His plays were performed at the courts of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I, who became sponsor of his theatrical troupe in 1603. Its name was changed to the King's Men.

After 1608 Shakespeare's creative output lessened and he returned to Stratford. He settled his family in one of the town's finest homes and became a prominent local citizen. He died in 1616 at the age of 52 and was buried in the chancel of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Stratford. His tomb's elegy, allegedly written by him, reads:

Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones
And cursed be he that moves my bones.



this is basically who shakespeare is... from what i read on other sources this seemed to summarize it about the best. except some only called him a playwrite while other sources also called him a poet. We know that shakespeare was brilliant when it came to entertainment and now thanks to the info i read i know a little about his life and how he came to be. We are left to wonder though what other things did he go through to make him such a brilliant playwrite? What was his inspiration and what made his diction and style full of so much meaning that is blind to the common eye?
Shakespeare is percieved by students in either a positive or negative way. I'd say to those that dont realize what a mastermind he really was would say reading shakespeare is a "drag" and they would not want to do it. Then there are those that take shakespeare seriously knowing that just about every word has a purpose. The name Shakespeare actually comes to me as an inspiration. If you can interperate what this mans purposes and meanings are behind his diction you can call yourself an avid reader of comprehension. I understand now that Shakespeares words they all have a purpose to his masterpiece, i know to pay attention because if I dont comprehend a chunk of shakespeares writing i might as well throw in the towel. Still though it is a struggle just to try and comprehend what your reading, especially when you author is Shakespeare. It takes time and long thought to get the full meaning of shakespeare, what he wanted us to really see behind just some words in a play.

 
 

Duck duck go
Wikipedia was actually 1st on the list in duck duck go.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_ShakespeareWiki seemed to have a few more facts on who shakespeare is...and didnt have some of the facts pbs did.


Bing
led me to the same results as the google search did...

To facebook or not to Facebook

At first i thought facebook was a place where people can get to talk to each other from home and keep in touch with people that i know. Sadly Dr. Preston made that perspective of facebook no longer exist. I was blind to the foolish truth, when i should have realized nothing comes free. I had no idea that the internet was so advanced already in this day and age. I have known of the notorious "Hackers" but i had no clue that all of these sales adds on the side of my page are actually based off of information that facebook has acquired from me. Just like my "Private information", its not private to just you but so many others are able to access this privacy. I dont know how my peers feel about this but i dont like the fact of facebook knowing who my cousins and family are, or my actual birthdate (which i should have probably never gave) but i had no idea that it was actually public. I fell for Mike Zuckerburg and his staffs "trickery" if thats the proper word. It really makes me wonder how many people dont know about this? and if they are doing this kind of stuff already... what are they doing behind what I have just recently found out?

Dont be Hamlet.

Now that you've mastered the text of "To be, or not to be..." reflect on Hamlet's dilemma and help him make up his mind.  Use the text of the play and your own logic to support your opinion.

      "To be or not to be, that is the question." Hamlet obviously puzzled doesnt know whether to be suicidal or to live on with what he has to deal with. Simply this famous soliloqy is Hamlet talking to himself debating or not whether death is worth giving a shot. To maybe see the "Undiscovered Country" that he talks about. If we analyze whats going on, we actually see that Hamlet doesnt want to end his life because of the fact he doesnt know if after dieing will be worse. I think it is actually really interesting that the reason he wont kill himself is because he does not want "Fly to those ills we know not off" rather than just not being alive anymore. We easily can see the religious role in the book in the soliloqy. Hamlet doesnt fear death itself but he fears what is to come after death. In other words, hes not scared to not be alive anymore, hes scared to be alive in a place that he doesnt know what it is, Heaven or Hell? it could be either or a whole diff afterlife dimention. Though commiting suicide is never the right path to take.
     Hamlet should "be", for one if he was not to be well then there wouldnt be a play called hamlet. Secondly Hamlet is slightly mad, but there is a method or purpose to his madness. Hes not insane or suicidal, he is just simply checking his options. To him at the time death may have seemed like a great thing. He would not have to deal with the tragedies happening and the ones to come or "bear the whips and scorns of time". On the contrary though nobody wants to actually die... Hamlet slowly convinces himself this in his soliloqy. Suicide is a sin and I think Hamlet realizes this. that's one of the reasons he decides to live along with the fact that he still needs to kill his uncle.
      If i could say one thing to Hamlet it would probably be "Life is short, enjoy it while you have it." Even in times of hardship one can find serenity in themselves if they pursue it. I dont think you would want to travel where no traveler returns until your content and lived a long and happy life. Therefor i dont believe Hamlet should end his life, at least not until he fullfills what will make him happy.

Kite Runner

1) Kite Runner is the story of a mans past, Amir our main character coming from Kabul Afghanistan, tells us a recap of some things that happened in his childhood. Amir and Baba (his father who we later find out is Hassans) have servants, Ali and Hassan. Amir becomes somewhat close with Hassan, they experience many things together as the story progresses. The plot itself seems to piece together to a climax as the Kite Battling tournament begins to draw near. By this time in the book Amir and Hassan have bonded so much that when Amirs kite falls, Hassan goes to retrieve it for him. Leading up to the climax in the book, Amir follows Hassan and finds him being "violated" by three kids. Two holding him down, (Wali and Kamal). Then Assef who starts the tragedy and rapes Hassan. Amir tries to play it off after like he never saw the incident. From that day things begin to change and Hassan and Amir start to drift away. Time passes after Hassan and ali leave Amirs house, Amir goes to college, Baba is diagnosed with lung cancer. (In time era, The soviets begin to lost their control to the taliban and it sets up a background to the story and some of the events taking place.) now Amir is introduced to Sohrab (Hassans son) from Rahim khan (who in the beggining was a close friend of Baba). Amir is sent on his mission to find Sohrab. In order to find him he had to find a Taliban official. He sets up a meeting with the official and they meet. The official turns out to be Assef and he attacks and injures Amir. Sohrab defends the both of them by slingshotting Assef in the eye. They escape, amir has to go to the hospital to treat his injuries and there he tells Sohrab to live with him in the u.s. They face slight trial with the adoption because they say it wasnt possible and Sohrab begins to go slightly suicidal. He no longer continues to talk after the move. Then the story concludes with a memory of Amir and Sohrab flying kites at a park, and Amir like Hassan becomes a kite runner.

2) The theme of the novel I felt was redemption. Throughout the book we find that Amir goes through all of these incidents, stopping and now wondering why? i came to the conclusion that Amir since the beggining has always tried to keep himself as an "equal standard". Feeling that he has fallen short of that equal standard, he continually tries to redeem himself. His belief is his mother died giving birth to him. For that he tries to redeem himself in any way he can to Baba. He witnesses Hassan getting raped but takes no action, Lowering himself from the perfect equal balance, for he had to take it upon himself the guilt and grief of that day for his life, Rahim Khan after informing Amir about how Hassan and his wife met there deaths and there son Sohrab was sent into an orphanage, Amir looks to redeem himself by taking on the challenge of going to get Sohrab and keeping him safe with him. Once he accomplished his goal we feel a sense of relief as the book ends, with Amir running for Sohrabs kite.

3) the authors tone is very legit. since it was about a recap of Amirs past, we can see the legit literacy of the story told through amir as it stated in the beggining. There are times when the story is calm and flows , like when Amir and Hassan were with Baba getting dinner or when they would talk, the kite flying, "huddled together in the dining room and waiting for the sun to rise" then there was the counter to the calmness, in i could use it in one word for tone, i'd have to say the word would be epic using this deffinition of it "Surpassing the usual or ordinary". The rape, assault, finding Sohrab, Getting attacked by Assef who happens to turn into a Taliban officer,etc.. all throughout those scenes i got a sence of "wow this is epic".Then after all the "epic novella scenes" we see the authors tone of just serenity and calmness, “My body was broken—just how badly I wouldn’t find out until later—but I felt healed, Healed at last. I laughed.” Really to have a storyline like this is a masterpiece in my eyes.

4) The author uses many literary elements. His tone plays great role to the story like i forementioned, the dramatic scenes and tones give the story an epic tone. When Assef tells Wali and Kamal to hold Hassan down, or when Assef tells Amir in the future that he has "unfinished bussiness with him" then beats the crap out of him... or the calm tone like many times Amir and Hassan would be together before the rape. Then there is diction and style, The first person point of view really adds to the fact of legitimacy, and the diction is simple and easy to comprehend what is going on in the story. Setting played a huge role in this book! The location in Afghanistan gives us a jist of what the streets looked like and alleyways in a poor community with bullies etc. The timeframe is important as well, this story takes place when the soviets begin to loose control of Afghanistan to the Taliban which actually makes part of the story happen and flow, and it makes complete sence after we add the situations of what the taliban did to Kabul, and how they treated those people in Afghanistan. Then we see the Authors plot structure, friends getting closer to each other until we hit a climax in the story which is when the rape happens, then exposition or after math, The two friends split, one is left with a bad conscience, then in the exposition a few slightly rising actions occur as the story begins to fold, and resolve. Theme, without it this story could have been told so much differently, The driving passion of redemption is what makes this story flow, without it who knows what would become of Sohrab or Amir.

In search of

Like i said to a few of my classmates from fourth period, This is intriguing in a disturbing way. Its great to know that we are making advancements to our internet. On the contrary though this scares the crap out of me. I had no idea that even stuff that is set to private and set to friends only. There are thousands of other people that can see it without me knowing. Made the internet the most untrustworthy thing i know of now....

So i decided to go ahead and search hamlet in the duck duck go and i just searched hamlet. i got a pretty widespread variety of results. It consisted of ticket purchases, the story plot line itself, the famous wikipedia, but there was nothing on shakespeare. Now i decided to search shakespeare Hamlet, and it began to give me sites that had facts on the play itself, Google may have taken some steps a little to far.