Brave New World Essay Topic

Question 3

(Suggested time—40 minutes. This question counts as one-third of the total essay section score.)

Palestinian American literary theorist and cultural critic Edward Said has written that “Exile is strangely compelling

to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place,

between the self and its true home: its essential sadness can never be surmounted.” Yet Said has also said that exile

can become “a potent, even enriching” experience.

Select a novel, play, or epic in which a character experiences such a rift and becomes cut off from “home,” whether

that home is the character’s birthplace, family, homeland, or other special place. Then write an essay in which you

analyze how the character’s experience with exile is both alienating and enriching, and how this experience

illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole. You may choose a work from the list below or one of comparable

literary merit. Do not merely summarize the plot.

I Am Here

I feel pretty confident in what I've done with this course so far this semester. I have completely almost if not everything required on the blog. I have also done well on the vocab quizzes and in-class essays. I may have not gone above and beyond on everything, but for my very busy schedule I have been impressed with what I have done. For my final project, Annette and I have just been reading our books like normal so far, and once it gets closer to the end we will begin to discuss how we will present it to the class. And finally, I am still interested in becoming involved in the future teacher group that Dr. Preston introduced to me, once that begins.

Lit Terms #6

Simile:  a figure of speech comparing two essentially unlike things through the use of a specific word of comparison.

Soliloquy: an extended speech, usually in a drama, delivered by a character alone on stage.

Spiritual: a folk song, usually on a religious theme.

Speaker: a narrator, the one speaking.

Stereotype: cliché; a simplified, standardized conception with a special meaning and appeal for members of a group; a formula story.

Stream of Consciousness: the style of writing that attempts to imitate the natural flow of a character’s thoughts, feelings, reflections, memories, and mental images, as the character experiences them.

Structure: the planned framework of a literary selection; its apparent organization.

Style:  the manner of putting thoughts into words; a characteristic way of writing or speaking.

Subordination: the couching of less important ideas in less important  structures of language.

Surrealism: a style in literature and painting that stresses the subconscious or the nonrational aspects of man’s existence characterized by the juxtaposition of the bizarre and the banal.

Suspension of Disbelief: suspend not believing in order to enjoy it.

Symbol: something which stands for something else, yet has a meaning of its own.

Synesthesia: the use of one sense to convey the experience of another sense.

Synecdoche: another form of name changing, in which a part stands for the whole.

Syntax: the arrangement and grammatical relations of words in a sentence.

Theme:  main idea of the story; its message(s).

Thesis: a proposition for consideration, especially one to be discussed and proved
or disproved; the main idea.

Tone: the devices used to create the mood and atmosphere of a literary work; the author’s perceived point of view.

Tongue in Cheek: a type of humor in which the speaker feigns seriousness; a.k.a. “dry” or “dead pan”

Tragedy: in literature: any composition with a somber theme carried to a disastrous conclusion; a fatal event; protagonist usually is heroic but tragically (fatally) flawed

Understatement: opposite of hyperbole; saying less than you mean for emphasis

Vernacular: everyday speech

Voice:  The textual features, such as diction and sentence structures, that convey a writer’s or speaker’s persona.

Zeitgeist: the feeling of a particular era in history

Welcome to the Interdisciplinarity

For our final project, Annette and I plan to take more modern books we enjoy reading, like The Faults In Our Stars for example, and analyze the book and find literary techniques and so we can therefore prove that modern books can be taught in a classroom just like the books from the AP reading list.

HAFTA/WANNA

       I don't see a huge difference between my life in high school and my life in college. Obviously, I grown and change as I get older but those changes are insignificant on a day to day basis. Your daily experiences increase your knowledge on life and the world itself. And I think one difference on this idea is that I will gain more knowledge in college. In high school, I feel like we are trapped and locked away from the world. But in college, we are allowed more freedom to explore, and we just have to choose to do that.  As the years go on, we are going to me new people, and have new surroundings but we are still going to be the same person, just with a few variations.  We are the person we are because of our past experiences and there is no way to change that even if we want to. So, no we are not going to magically transform the day after graduation.
      In high school and college, I believe that it is important to find time to do the things you want to do in between the things you have to do. Otherwise, you will have a complete breakdown. You need to find an outlet where you can give yourself a break when you are under all the stress of school and other obligations. Currently, I find my break right when I get out of school. Very rarely do I come straight home from school and begin homework. I eat lunch and watch some TV and give myself a breather before I continue with the things I need to do. And also I have soccer. Soccer is something I enjoy doing yet at the same time I am doing something productive. As I move on in the world, I want to make a good life for myself and at the same time be something useful for others.

Launch/Draft

-    What am I passionate about?  What do I want to do?
I am passionate about soccer. I've played since I was six and developed a love for it and I love to accomplish goals with my teammates like winning a game or getting first in a tournament and I think being able to work well with others will prepare me for my future. I also have a passion for babies and little kids so I plan on majoring in liberal studies to become an elementary teacher.

How can I use the tools from last semester (and the Internet in general)?

The internet is a great way to connect with other people who have connections with different people to get me to where I want to go. Technology is a definite advantage for this generation and all we have to do it take advantage of it ourselves.

What will I need to do in order to "feel the awesomeness with no regrets" by June?

I think my main goal is to just stay on top of everything and not fall behind, in school and for my future. I need to continue applying for scholarships so I have enough money to even begin to accomplish my goals.

What will impress/convince others (both in my life and in my field)?

As an elementary teacher it is important to have patience and good time management, and I possess both of those qualities.

How will I move beyond 'What If' and take this from idea --> reality?

Obviously, I need to go to college and get a degree which I am in the process of doing, so basically I need to just keep doing what I'm doing and have determination.

Who will be the peers, public, and experts in my personal learning network?

My peers, publics and experts will be the children I am teaching, other teachers and my boss (principal). Or from a college prospective, my professors, others desiring to be a teacher, and teachers I have internships with.

Lit Terms: List 5

Parallelism: the principle in sentence structure that states elements of equal function should have equal form.
ex) She likes cooking, jogging and reading.

Parody:  an imitation of mimicking of a composition or of the style of a well-known artist.

ex) SNL is a parody.

Pathos:  the ability in literature to call forth feelings of pity, compassion, and/or sadness. ex) Many authors involve pathos in their writing to bring out emotions of the readers.

Pedantry: a display of learning for its own sake.

Personification: a figure of speech attributing human qualities to inanimate objects or  abstract ideas.
ex) The trees branches created shade for the kids.

Plot: a plan or scheme to accomplish a purpose.
ex) The plot of Great Expectations follows Pip's life.

Poignant:  eliciting sorrow or sentiment.

Point of View: the attitude unifying any oral or written argumentation; in description, the physical point from which the observer views what he is describing.
ex) 1st person, third person

Postmodernism: literature characterized by experimentation, irony, nontraditional forms, multiple meanings, playfulness and a blurred boundary between real and imaginary.
ex) Catch-22

Prose:  the ordinary form of spoken and written language; language that does not have a regular rhyme pattern.

Protagonist: the central character in a work of fiction; opposes antagonist.
ex) Pip in Great Expectations

Pun:  play on words; the humorous use of a word emphasizing different meanings or applications.
ex) Can't keep beating a dead horse (Broncos)

Purpose: the intended result wished by an author.
ex) The purpose of school is to prepare us for our future.

Realism:  writing about the ordinary aspects of life in a straight forward manner to reflect life as it actually is.

Refrain:  a phrase or verse recurring at intervals in a poem or song; chorus.

Requiem:  any chant, dirge, hymn, or musical service for the dead.

Resolution: point in a literary work at which the chief dramatic complication is worked out; denouement.
ex) The resolution of CSI is when they caught the guy that murdered the girl.

Restatement: idea repeated for emphasis.

Rhetoric: use of language, both written and verbal in order to persuade.

Rhetorical Question: question suggesting its own answer or not requiring an answer; used in argument or persuasion.

Rising Action: plot build up, caused by conflict and complications, advancement towards climax.

Romanticism:  movement in western culture beginning in the eighteenth and peaking in the nineteenth century as a revolt against Classicism; imagination was valued over reason and fact.

Satire:  ridicules or condemns the weakness and wrong doings of individuals, groups, institutions, or humanity in general.
ex) The quote we talked about in class today contained satire.

Scansion: the analysis of verse in terms of meter.

Setting: the time and place in which events in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem occur.
ex) Tale of Two Cities took place during the war.