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this is the final project ive been working
on

Open Essay

1980 A recurring theme in literature is the classic war between 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. Avoid plot summary


1975B Unlike the novelist, the writer of a play does not use his own voice and
only rarely uses a narrator's voice to guide the audience's responses to
character and action. Select a play you have read and write an essay in
which you explain the techniques the playwright uses to guide his
audience's respnses to the central characters and the action. You might
consider the effect on the audience of things like setting, the use of
comparable and contrasting characters, and the characters' responses to
each other. Support your argument with specific references to the play.
Do not give a plot summary.

Choose a distinguished novel or play in which some of the most significant events are mental or physiological: for example, awakenings, discoveries, changes in consciousness. In a well-orgnized essay, describe how the author manages to give these internal events the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax usually associated with external action. Do not merely summarize the plot.

Plan to help my AP test.

by this weekend i need to have studied my lit terms and attempt two essay topics and finish them within a 50 minute time period. I also need to go over and refresh my brain on the multiple choice which i will spread throughout the next few weeks as i look over the previous tests. I already eat very healthy so that will be fine, I deffinately need to catch up on my sleep and Keep going to the gym to relieve stress because it works a lot better than anything else. and by the AP test i want to have done 3-4 practice essays and gone over a lot of the multiple choice questions. This is just so i can feel more confident in my ability to perform well for what is really coming.

Lit Anal. 2

Jacob Vargas

Period 4

Of mice and men

1)      Two ranch hands, George and Lennie after having to flee from a ranch in Weed, sought jobs at a new ranch. They arrive to their new worksite a day late and get the ‘low down’ on the boss before meeting him. After George explains to the boss about their (because he didn’t want Lennie to express his intelligence) tardiness they are assigned to the grain field team. They meet other ranch hands like slim and candy. After introductions they meet Curley and later his flirtatious wife whom can be considered an antagonist in the book. George warns Lennie of many things such as stay away from Curley the boss’ son and his wife. The animals in the story are significant starting with the dead mouse Lennie harbors in the beginning of the book to Candys old dogs, to the new puppies, and the ‘Rabbits’ Lennie hopes someday he will be in charge of in his Dream farm. They all have a significant connection to Lennie and his love for soft things. Years pass and Lennie accidentally kills his puppy and this love for soft things later in the book gets him in a lot of trouble because Curleys flirtatious wife one evening lets leonine brush her hair until he pulls to hard. His reaction was silencing her and shaking her until he had broken her neck. Lennie then flees to the spot he promised George he would if anything happened, George finds Lennie and describes his happy place future farm to him as he shoots him in the back of the head. The lynch mob that set out for Lennie catches up to George after the gunshot and Slim the only man who really understood what had happened closes the novel telling George he had two. The others confused on what happened. The narrative is a lot more in detail with the friendship between George and Lennie, they were tied together and George had been looking out for Lennie who was never meaning any harm to anything or anyone just didn’t know any better. This was key to the authors purpose in the narrative when George had to kill Lennie, he makes the reader realize just exactly what George had done and when Lennie says lets go to our ranch now while George explains it he shoots him because it was the American Dream that was envisioned, George explains how he never believed in the Dream him and Lennie shared but it satisfied Lennie so much he began to believe.

2)      I think the theme of the novel is the search for a friendship or the need of a friend in that lifestyle. There is a lot of mention of loneliness in the book that is why the friendship of George and Lennie is considered rare by the Characters in the book and the reader. This is the theme because there are a lot of idealistic views on friendship in the book that can be made. The friendship between candy and his dog, Curley and his wife, all of the men actually in the ranch make friends with each other so they don’t feel at all lonely even crooks who at first didn’t like letting people into his area until Lennie made friends with him. The need for a friend is obviously shown in Lennie, he and George are close because in a way they are mutual, Lennie needs George for guidance and George sticks with Lennie because he understands him the best and takes care of him because of the passing of his aunt. That’s why in the end its is very tragic but easily foreshadowed the death of Lennie by George.

3)      The tone of the book was innocently tragic. All of the things that happen in the book bring out a lot of emotion. When you as a reader fully try to understand why things are happening like this and why John Steinbeck made it that way you realize that all the things that happen are very tragic. Lennie being basically a “bundle of joy” because he does not understand reality the way the others do and is like a ‘child’ never meaning any harm, but all these tragic things happen to him. The fact that he cant really touch something without killing it, that he has interrupted his friends life with his faults even though he doesn’t mean to cause them. Its realizing that he is helpless to his actions because of lack of comprehension allows you to see all the tragedy that is really in the book.

Setting- It is vital to understand the setting in terms of time. Mid 1930s era men setting out to work on newly found ranches. All having the American dream to someday own their own and live and prosper off of their own. An example from the text would be George and Lennies inspiration/dream to have their own farm one day and live off of what they grow. Foreshadowing- there is a lot of foreshadowing and it is important to know it when it happens. All of the incidents that happen to Lennie foreshadow him killing Curleys wife. Candy feeling uneasy about letting strangers kill his dog foreshadows the anticipation of George eventually ending Lennies life. Direct Characterization- there is a lot of this for every character in the novel. Descriptions such as Lennie being unintelligent but big and ridiculously strong, George being smart smaller than Lennie and all the men on the ranch looking and living like ranch-hands, dirty and uneasy living. Symbolism- It is important to understand the symbolism of the farm that George and Lennie plan to have in the future. It symbolizes the American dream and hope in the future; it also symbolizes the happy place in the novel. It is used in the end to ease Lennie to his death, when he says “let’s go there now George” George kills him as he envisions that happy place. Which was just a ranch hand dream that most never make it to but to Lennie it was more. Conflict- I see the conflict as Lennie not knowing generally common sense. His lack of control towards his strength and his panic is the conflict in the story. In example his lack to control himself when Curleys wife screamed because he was pulling on her hair to hard

finally got my laptop back so i was able to post up my previous 2 lit. analysis

Jacob Vargas

period 4

The Power and Glory

1)      The plot of the book is about a runaway “Whiskey” priest striving through many hardships but pushing on for what he believes in even if he has the law chasing him down. The story starts with the priest missing his boat to freedom. I say freedom because Catholicism has been outlawed in the state he was in, and we find this out when the story decides to introduce the lieutenant who hates the fact of religion being in his state so much he makes it his duty to hunt down this priest throughout the story. Its humorous how there is an outlaw named “The Gringo” who does so much wrong, yet the lieutenant decides to chase the man who only wants to do good. There are some significant characters in the book that signify important meanings. Padre Jose gives the story a sense of repeal, abandonment, and he sees himself as a coward since he abandoned his beliefs and priesthood for the states demands. Mestizo or “Judas the betrayer” who is only out to get the priest caught, but he really does emphasize the readers understanding of how powerful the will of the “whiskey” priest really is. The priest flees from the law town to town, knowing very well that every town he sets foot in is dangerous to not just him but the townsfolk. The priest eventually after town hopping and seeing Maria and Brigida (illegitimate daughter) meets Mestizo and they travel together, on their way to Carmen Mestizo falls ill and it gives the priest a chance to escape Judas so he returns back to the Capital city he was already at while Mestizo goes to Carmen. He searches for and finds a way to get some brandy and wine, but ends up getting seen with the Brandy by a state official and is chased until he gets caught at the house of Padre Jose. This is significant because after being taken to jail he has a significant talk that shows how the priest sees good even in the worst of people or situations. The woman scoffs him for it and says he should be dead. The next day he sees Mestizo in a cell but Mestizo doesn’t “snitch” him out just yet, he also comes face to face with the lieutenant for a second time but again the lieutenant doesn’t recognize him and lets him go. The priest now is completely exhausted from being on the run, but he presses on and eventually crosses a border to a neighboring state where religion is not outlawed. Things began to look up for him but a couple days later Mestizo shows up and says the gringo has been shot and wants the priest to bless him. This is KEY, The priest actually accepts to go help the fugitive criminal, fully aware that he is walking into his deathbed, after all he’s been through to escape he still finds it his duty to proceed with Mestizo. After Gringo refuses to have his confessions heard the lieutenant catches the priest and they have a long important conversation, and he takes him into custody. The priest is executed and the boy who was mentioned in the beginning saw the whiskey priest as a hero, and when a man knocks on his door seeking shelter (after mentioning he is a priest) the boy welcomes him in.

2)      I would say the theme of the book is to keep going and press on for what you believe in. The priest went through so much, he had to leave the people he cared for most, fight through literal fatigue, live everyday in fear, go through so many doubtful moments, even be reduced to eat the few bites of meat on a dog bone and yet still in the end stayed true to what he was suppose to. To go through all of that havoc and still walk into your deathbed just to fulfill your duty is a very powerful message. When he could have just as easily been like Padre Jose and quit priesthood he refused, because it wasn’t of his conscience to let him do so. Graham Greene obviously wanted to display the powerful message of perseverance that can relate to anybodies life.

3)      The narrators tone is somewhat of a means of respect and credibility towards the priest. Then again who wouldn’t after all the priest goes through. We can see this respect time and time again by the priests reactions to some of the things he does, like for example when he shares the wine that he needs for mass with the man who got it for him and the man drinks it, the narrator definitely through some of the diction used expresses that he respects the priest for not really doing anything about it. When the priest and the lieutenant have that conversation after dealing with gringo and they both seem to believe that the world is a corrupt place, and that it's difficult to be truly happy unless you are some kind of saint. That showed a lot of credibility to the priest because that’s what he wanted to be yet he knew he couldn’t, but he still tried. There are many more parts in the book that express the authors tone, but the most important is probably in the end when the boy opens the door for the man. Through the authors tone and purpose of the boys actions we can see the acceptance now that the boy has due to his credibility and respect to the whiskey priest who he saw as a martyr and a hero.

4)      Setting- The setting is vital to the book, wherever the priest goes he takes the threat with him. Mexico was a very modernly civilized place at the time the story takes place. It helps the reader understand the background and why all of this was happening to the priest. Like in the chace scene in Capital city, things like that probably happened all the time in relations to catching people with alchohol. Indirect and direct Characterization- This is also key in the book, by the actions of others and the priest we can get a good grip on the way people look. Also there is a lot of direct characterization with the priest, he often disguises himself, which is a reason the leiutanent does not recognize him 2 times. It describes how his facial features change as time goes on and indirectly states that the exhaustion and fatigue have greatly influenced how he looks. Plot Structure- The books plot structure is very basic I would say the climax is when the priest walks into his deathtrap and has the conversation with the leuitenant and all the priests hardships before were all rising action to that very moment where the priest finally has to confront his conflict. Then falling action towards his death but leaves his mark in influence. Foreshadowing- There isn’t a lot of foreshadowing but when the priest calls Mestizo “Judas” upon meeting him (implying that he is the betrayer) deffinately foreshadows mestizo being the one to turn in the priest in the end. Also the happy girl in the beginning not knowing why she is happy I believe foreshadowed unease. Symbolism- there is a lot of symbolism in the book but the most important is alchohol, the priest constantly needs wine for mass, but has whiskey as well. I believe this symbolized how he felt unworthy of his past.

Notes on Macbeth

Jacob Vargas

Period 4

Notes on Macbeth.

·        Macbeth story of sadness, murders, plot schemes, witches etc.

·        Very gory and full of horrendous views of death, the witches of course being a good source of that. You wonder why Shakespeare made this story with imagery that if you know what is going on is disgusting.

·        There is a lot of death in the book, Lady Macbeth goes psychiatric (definitely) and commits suicide (maybe). Hearing of this, Macbeth just says "She should have died hereafter", meaning "She should have picked a different time to die."

·        Macbeth's head ends up on a stick. Macduff at birth was the cause of his mothers death.

·        Shakespeare got his story from Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles

·        In a barbaric era, population pressures made war and even the slaughter of one community by another a fact of life. Survival depended in having a capable warlord to protect life and property, prevent infighting, and protect from distant enemies. Groups of warlords would unite under the nominal leadership of one king to promote their common interests and war on more distant nations. While people pretended to believe in "the divine right of kings" and "lawful succession", continuing effective leadership was assured by warlords killing off the less capable family members.

·        Macbeth may have gotten his cousin killed so he could rule. Then took his wife and raised his son.

·          Shakespeare shows the predictions about the future of Scotland coming from demonic witches

MacDonwald is egged on by his wife, who is very ambitious.

b.)    MacDonwald had just been rewarded by King Duff for helping to subdue rebels; nevertheless, MacDonwald murders him.

c.)    The king's grooms or bodyguards were drugged before the murder.

d.)    Subsequently MacDonwald killed the grooms to hide his own guilt.

e.)    When the murderer protested his own innocence, the other thanes began to suspect him.

f.)      The murder of Duff was followed by violent storms and horses that ate each other. All were included in MACBETH.

·        the focus is on the psychological effect of the crimes upon Macbeth and the nature of the relationship between Macbeth and his wife

·        Deceptiveness and hiding the truth are key in the story.

·        Qualities of Macbeth that make him a national hero: loyalty, bravery and skill in battle.

·        There were three battles to start, Macbeth a warrior in all of them. He killed the traitor Macdonwald by and upperthrust through his genitals to the throught.

·        The witches are two different cultures one usually kills a lot (English witch) and the other Scottish. Witches magic sets the un reality in the reality of whats going on in the play.

·        Witches tell and shock Macbeth with his future, and discuss a lot. Macbeth and Banqou assume that the things Macbeth has received like income estate etc was a satanic giving.

·        Banquo warns there is danger here, that evil may tells us minor truths to make us do something seriously wrong "In deepest consequence."  And, of course, that's exactly what Macbeth does.  Banquo may not entirely trust the witches, but Macbeth does.

·        Thane of Cawdor = Macbeth.

·        Duncan trusts Macbeth completely, which makes Macbeths murder of him more heinous

·        Lady Macbeth reveals what she does best in the relationship.  She accurately describes her husband's limitations, has no qualms about what has to be done, and provides the necessary incentive for her husband to do what he must do.  And Macbeth writes the letter because he knows exactly how she will react and he wants her to do exactly what she does to motivate him.

·        Lady Macbeth, She wants to be like Macbeth, to be an unthinking, unfeeling killing machine like her husband,

·        Both Lady and Macbeth feel as if the night shades there morality in commiting the murder.

·        As the two plot the murder, they have a large argument. Macbeth shows sign of weakening and his wife shows how she has already fell to the evil ways and is more than ready to murder.

·        Macbeth is convinced in a flash after the argument.  This is what he wanted his wife to do for him from the beginning, figure out a plan and give him some reassurance about its success.  He indicates his acceptance by praising her

·        Macbeth kills Duncan and couldn’t return to leave blade at chamberlains sides so his wife has to do it for him.

·        Duncans sons considered suspects after fleeing the scene when their father was killed.

·        Macbeth kills Bonque and his son escapes the assassination.

·        Macbeth gets many visions that trouble him throughout the play.

·        Macbeth kills Macduffs wife and son.

·        Witches predict Macbeths future. Telling him he cant die by a man from a woman

·        Lady Macbeth starts to lose her mind, and sees blood on her hands as permanent.

·        Enraged Macduff takes soldiers of England to fight Macbeth. The battle happens. Macbeth when finding out Macduff isn’t from a woman but a womb fears his life.

·        Macduff enters castle in Scotland after the battle holding the head of Macbeth.

of mice and men remix video

this is the video i made for our assignment due friday march 30th.

in the video there is a scene where George and Lennie are in the field, i dont know why or how to fix it but it cut out the scene and the voice behind it, basically the scene was explaining how the two had a mutual friendship and devotion to each other and as time passed they met new people and had new experiences. this video is basically a quick pinch summary of things that took place in the book.

Tale of two cities

In the beginning of the book Dickens sets up some background to the story, he lays out the setting by letting his readers know that the story will be taking place in England and France in 1775. He starts to talk about how England at the time was going through some trouble with all the outbreaks of robbery and mischief making England not so safe to be in. There was no help from the Law enforcement officers. France at the time had a lot of violence issues that were not being dealt with.

Poem of choice

The reason i chose this poem is because i found it funny when i was sitting in Mrs. Nylanders classroom really unentertained, i looked up poems about school and saw this one, I found it powerful. Obviously Lawrence has a burning passion about school, It probably was written during the last day of school school.

Afternoon in School
The Last Lesson

When will the bell ring, and end this weariness?
How long have they tugged the leash, and strained apart
My pack of unruly hounds: I cannot start
Them again on a quarry of knowledge they hate to hunt,
I can haul them and urge them no more.
No more can I endure to bear the brunt
Of the books that lie out on the desks: a full three score
Of several insults of blotted pages and scrawl
Of slovenly work that they have offered me.
I am sick, and tired more than any thrall
Upon the woodstacks working weariedly.


And shall I take
The last dear fuel and heap it on my soul
Till I rouse my will like a fire to consume
Their dross of indifference, and burn the scroll
Of their insults in punishment? - I will not!
I will not waste myself to embers for them,
Not all for them shall the fires of my life be hot,
For myself a heap of ashes of weariness, till sleep
Shall have raked the embers clear: I will keep
Some of my strength for myself, for if I should sell
It all for them, I should hate them -
- I will sit and wait for the bell.

D. H. Lawrence