Hacking My Education

Before I graduate, I want to know why bad things happen to good people. I know, yes, life's not fair blah blah blah, but why does it have to be that way? I know this is more like one of the BIG QUESTIONS and it will not be answered any time soon but that is what is on my mind right at this very moment. This semester, I want to make my blog resemble myself more and in some way have its own personality to it. I'm not exactly sure on how to approach this but I will figure it out. And finally, I don't think there is a "certain" experience I want to have before I graduate but I just want to more memorable experiences and learn to make the best of everything no matter what. I want to enjoy the last few months of high school because I am ready to get out of here, but I don't want to miss things that I will be bummed about when I look back on it.

Lit Terms: List 1

allegory (noun): A symbolical narrative
-Throughout high school, we have read many meaningful allegories.
 alliteration (noun): The commencement of two or more words of a word group with the same letter
- The alliteration wasn't correct but it made me laugh.
 allusion (noun): A metaphor or parable
- The Bible is used as an allusion in many novels.
 ambiguity (noun): An negative word applied to an equivocal expression
- When something is not clear, others factors can be used to resolve the ambiguity.
 anachronism (noun): Placing an event, person, item or verbal expression in the wrong historical period.
- Her grandmother was proud to be considered an anachronism when she walked down the street in a poodle skirt.
 analogy (noun): A similarity between like features of two things
- The teacher told the class to create an analogy between the two books they have read.
 analysis (noun): the separating of any material into its constituent elements
- Dr. Preston requires us to complete three literature analysis per semester.
 anaphora (noun): A rhetorical term for the repetition of a word at the beginning of a sentence
- The poem included an anaphora by having three "ifs" at the beginning.
 anecdote (noun): A brief narrative of a particular incident
- We were told to share a personal anecdote with the class.
 antagonist (noun): A character in the story who works against the main character
- The antagonist in the novel kept creating uproar for Julie.
 antithesis (noun): Opposition or contrast
- The antithesis of right is wrong.
 aphorism (noun): A terse saying involving a general truth
- "Looks to good to be true."
 apologia (noun): An apology, as in defense or justification of a belief or idea
- She wrote an apologia when she realized she was wrong.
 apostrophe (noun): A digression in the form of an address to someone not present
- There was an apostrophe in the title of the novel.
 argument (noun): A discussion involving different points of view
- The two kids got into an argument over which game was better.
 assumption (noun): Something taken for granted
- She made the assumption that he would show up.
 audience (noun): The group of spectators
- The audience was pleased with the actor's performance.
 characterization (noun): The description of a character
- The person characterized the antagonist as evil.
 chiasmus (noun): A reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases
- "He went to the country, to the town she went."

"What's In This For Me?"

This semester, like I commented, I want to finish on a high note. I've worked hard these past few years and I want to finish out high school strong and not give in to this "Senioritis." However, its frustrating that I already know what career path I want to take is, yet I am stuck in high school for another 6 months before I can go and accomplish that. I feel like this semester is in a way holding me back. But my goal is to make the best of it and get those questions answered that I do have about my future. Also, I really need to step it up in applying for scholarships because I know what I want to do to further my education, I just don't have the money to do so. And finally, with all the stress and busyness this semester is going to bring, I want to be able to relax and enjoy the last few months of adolescence before I leap out into the real world. I want to be able to pick up one of the many books I have yet to read, and be able to read them in peace without having something hanging over my head that has to be done.

Literature Analysis: Great Expectations (Extra Credit)

This was a collaborative experience and the other parts of this book analysis can be found on these blogs:
Serena Nichols
Ian Steller
Hannah Savaso
Taylor Dugaran
Annette Sousa
Meghan Martella

3. Pip, the protagonist in "Great Expectations" is a dynamic and round character. At the beginning of the novel is a small child about the age of seven and by the end he is  about twenty-three years old and has matured into a very respectable and matured gentlemen. When he begins, he is a misbehaved orphan living with his older sister constantly running off and getting into trouble. And when he inherits a large amount of money and moves to London he becomes cocky and ignores his good friends Joe and Biddy. But as time passes, and he experiences more of life he realizes that he mistreated his friends and has been really selfish. He makes a transformation and becomes an admirable young gentlemen. 
4. After reading this novel, I felt like I met Pip. It wasn't my favorite book to read so it was hard to really get into it, but since it was written in first person, the reader saw all of Pip's thoughts on everything he experience which really helped me to get to know him better. And since I did learn a lot about him, personally it felt like I was good friends with him, going through everything he went through, rather than just reading a character.

Lit Group Post #3

Chapter 44:
- Confound: confuse
- Haggard: appearing worn and exhausted

Chapter 45:
- Tacit: implied
- Rakish: dashing, stylish

Chapter 46:
- Superannuate: to retire as old

Chapter 47:
- Antipodes: regions south of the equator
- Plenipotentiary: a diplomatic officer with full authority
- Necromantic: pertaining to sorcery

Chapter 49:
- Bemoan: to express grief over
- Spurn: to reject
- Discursive: rambling

Chapter 51:
- Sniveling: whining with snorting
- Abeyance: cessation
- Spluttering: speaking fast

Chapter 53:
- Besetting: troubling
- Goad: urged to action

Chapter 54:
- Capsized: sunk
- Vex: disturb
- Hempen: made of hemp

Chapter 55:
- Exordium: introduction in composition

Chapter 56:
- Indelible: permanent
- Nosegays: small bunches of flowers

Chapter 57:
- Underlet: sublet
-Errant: wandering

Chapter 58:
- Complier: one who gathers materials from other documents

Chapter 59:
- Matronly: motherly

Practice Essay

As humans, it is our nature to judge others by their actions and how they react in certain situations. In Jean Sartre’s “No Exit” and Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” the character’s reactions to the situations they are placed in help the reader understand where each character comes from. Let’s say, for example, one friend from a group goes to see the new Hunger Games movie, Catching Fire. The next day, this one friend tries to explain to the others how the “games” worked, but they could not understand because they have not seen it yet. This friend is like the enlightened prisoner in ‘The Allegory of the Cave” and the others represent the prisoners still shackled down stuck staring at the shadows.

In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” the one prisoner has to courage to step out into the unknown from the safety of the cave. When he comes back to the cave and attempts to explain the new world he has seen, the other prisoners cannot comprehend what he is telling them because they only know what they have seen. This event is similar to the situation presented above. Since the others have not seen the movie, Catching Fire, what the friend is trying to explain is outside their “known world” and they can’t appreciate what he is saying to them in attempt to try and enlighten them on something new. This friend now becomes an outsider because he can see more than the others can. The actions of the character’s in Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” help the reader understand where the author is coming from. In a sense, the enlightened prisoner represents Plato because he uses this allegory in attempt to share with others of his view on reality. And we, as readers, are the prisoners inside the cave, because this is a new idea and it is difficult for us to get a hold of.

Estelle, in Sartre’s “No Exit” is the exact opposite of the enlightened prisoner. She is one of the people where they think, “If I close my eyes, maybe it will go away.” If she was placed in that situation, her goal would be to avoid it at all costs rather than to face it head on. In Sartre’s “No Exit” she does not want to accept the fact that the three of them are all dead and stuck in hell. She says, “Please, please don’t use that word (dead). It’s so crude.” It also takes her half of the play to open up and share the reason for why she ended up in hell. Unlike the enlightened prisoner, she is extremely stubborn and does not agree with change and what’s to just live in the now.

Both authors, Sartre and Plato, develop characters and use their actions to get their point across. Some characters will succeed like the enlightened prisoner in “The Allegory of the Cave,” but others will just crumble and fall like Estelle in “No Exit.” Both authors use their characters to represent the split of what reality is in society.

I Can Read

Here is the link to the video of me reading "Fox in Sox" by Dr. Suess

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZyX6K82ddo