The House on Mango Street
General
1. I had seen this book analyzed by someone else in the class (Alex Ramirez!) and was happily surprised. I'd had this book for a few years and never really gotten a chance to read it. I'm so glad now that I have. The House on Mango Street focuses on a young girl named Esperanza, who lives with three siblings and her parents on a house that she is unhappy with. The story is told in short chapters, and it shows how Esperanza changes and matures emotionally and physically. She makes friends, loses family, and deals with obstacles along the way, from her discontent with her name to being kissed by an older man at her job. With the many experiences that she has to go through, this story was very touching and I enjoyed reading it.
2. I think the main theme is discovery of one's self. Throughout the story Esperanza is struggling to determine who she truly is. She doesn't like what her name means and wishes to change it so she can say who she is, and there also other events in her life that make her question herself, such as her choice of a friend like Sally. Not until the end does she truly know who she is: a writer.
3. The story is told in Esperana's point of view. She sounds young and innocent, but at the same time the way she describes things are very artistic. For example, in one of the first chapters called "Hairs" she describes her mother's hair:
"...like little rosettes, like little candy circles all curly and pretty because she pinned it in pincurls all day, sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you, holding you and you feel safe, is the warm smell of bread before you bake it,.." pg. 6
Sometimes when she talks it seems like she says things in such a factual, nonchalant way, even though what she's saying could be considered quite sad or terrible
"Most likely I will go to hell and most likely I deserve to be there. My mother was born on an evil day and prays for me." pg. 58
"I am an ugly daughter. I am the one nobody comes for." pg. 88
4. The first technique I noticed was that the author did not introduce herself at the beginning of the story, which made me curious and interested as to who was telling me these things. I guess the way Esperanza speaks, her diction, is another technique that influences the story. Her voice is pure, and also gives a good look inside of Esperanza's mind, how she longs for a friend, a change in her name, and how she wants to leave this neighborhood. Pretty much the way Esperanza tells her story is the biggest literary technique to be noticed.
Characterization
1. We get most of the indirect characterization of Esperanza by the way she talks about things. She reveals how she feels about her house on Mango Street: "I knew then I had to have a house. A real house. One I could point to. But this isn't it. The house on Mango Street isn't it." (pg. 5). Also, she talks about she wants to be when she grows up, beautiful and cruel: "I am one who leaves the table like a man, without putting back the chair or picking up the plate." (pg. 89) I didn't really notice a lot of direct characterization, nothing that the author Sanda Cisneros puts out there that is obvious for the reader to see. We can only figure out the characters through Esperanza's eyes and mouth.
2. Esperanza's syntax and diction do not stray much from its original type. Despite some traumatic experiences that she dealt with at such a young age, she seemed to retain her pureness of voice. She had been assaulted, and felt ashamed of how she lived, but towards the end the only thing that truly changed was her view of herself, and how she feels about her home on Mango Street.
3. The protagonist is dynamic and round. She went from being unhappy with who she was and where she came from to being more accepting towards it. It took her quite a few events to finally come to those realizations.
4. I feel like a met a person and connected with her. Esperanza reminded me of myself at a much younger, more scary time in my life, when reality hits you hard and fast. A lot of the time I wished I could've been that person she could confide in, that friend she desperately wanted. Sandra Cisneros created a wonderful voice for this young girl, and I can see why many people love this story.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Friday, November 9, 2012
Big Question
Are all lies considered to be wrong, or or some white lies acceptable in some situations?
Monday, October 29, 2012
Lit Analysis #2
Frankenstein
GENERAL
1. Well, this story is basically a story within a story. A sailor named Walton meets a stranger in the North Pole named Victor Frankenstein. Victor goes on to tell the story of his life. He has to marry his adopted sister in the future. He goes away to study, and learns how to create a body with corpse body parts and bring it to life. He then spins a tale of how his creation gets out of control, killing his younger brother because he was angry with the way the world treated him. His creation wanted a mate, so Victor makes him one, but decides to destroy after he's done, thinking that the two monsters will try to destroy things together. The first monster, having seen this, seeks revenge on Victor, and ended up killing his wife (sister) on their wedding night, which caused the death of his father. Victor then seeks revenge on the monster, and then chases him all over, until he meets Walton. THEN he dies. The monster came and saw this, realized he had nothing to live for, and then walked away to die. :(
2. I believe secrecy and revenge are too main themes in this story. A lot of the accidents and deaths that happened were caused by the withholding of the truth. Victor kept the truth of his younger brother's death which ended in the execution of an innocent servant. He also did not let anyone know about his monster, which caused the monster to hide from society. Victor and the monster are also seeking revenge on each other quite a lot, each doing terrible things to the things or people they cared for.
3. There was quite a lot of emotional stuff going on in this story. A lot of death and a lot of sadness coming from quite a few characters gave it a somber tone. Frankenstein's monster said emotional things like “I shall die, and what I now feel be no longer felt….” and “Cursed, cursed creator!...my feeling of those of rage and revenge.”
4. Shelley uses techniques such as imagery (talking about things look e.g the moon), foreshadowing (Walton saying he needed a friend. Whoa here comes a man on a sled!), and the constant change of points of view (Walton's, Victor's and the monster's) to make the story interesting to the reader.
CHARACTERIZATION
1. Two examples of direct characterization is when Victor is describing his creation. He is saying that he is a ruthless monster. Another example is when the author tells that he is consumes by the idea and creation of life and that is all the Victor can think of. Two examples of indirect characterization happen twice the the monster he has created. Once it happened when he asked victor if he could make him a companion and here the readers realize that he indeed has feelings. Then second time is after Victor dies the monster decides to go and kill himself because he creator has died. In this instant the readers also see that he is not just a ruthless monster but a caring one. The author uses both of these approaches I think so that the reader can see if the monster really is one of if he is like many other people.
2. The author uses diction because you can see the language change when he has Victor speak and the monster speak. For example you can tell the Victor is way more proper when he speaks and the monster is not. I think he uses this to show that Victor is more educated and the monster is not.
3. If views came that Victor was the protagonist I do believe that he is a dynamic character because his whole life after his creation was made was consumed of fear and wanting revenge. If the protagonist was considered the monster I would say he is also dynamic because throughout the story he was very confused. Then Victor decided to kill his partner I think brought the monster to be overwhelmed by grief and wanting revenge. I believe Victor is a round character because his character changes after his creation and after the death of his wife. I would consider the Monster a flat character because he stays the same pretty much throughout the story. He is created knowing only a few things and does not really know anything else except for what he feels and what he thinks is ugly or wrong.
4. I felt that I came away actually knowing a person. The monster was the one I feel I came away knowing because you were able to see his true feelings and the end of the story when his creator died.
GENERAL
1. Well, this story is basically a story within a story. A sailor named Walton meets a stranger in the North Pole named Victor Frankenstein. Victor goes on to tell the story of his life. He has to marry his adopted sister in the future. He goes away to study, and learns how to create a body with corpse body parts and bring it to life. He then spins a tale of how his creation gets out of control, killing his younger brother because he was angry with the way the world treated him. His creation wanted a mate, so Victor makes him one, but decides to destroy after he's done, thinking that the two monsters will try to destroy things together. The first monster, having seen this, seeks revenge on Victor, and ended up killing his wife (sister) on their wedding night, which caused the death of his father. Victor then seeks revenge on the monster, and then chases him all over, until he meets Walton. THEN he dies. The monster came and saw this, realized he had nothing to live for, and then walked away to die. :(
2. I believe secrecy and revenge are too main themes in this story. A lot of the accidents and deaths that happened were caused by the withholding of the truth. Victor kept the truth of his younger brother's death which ended in the execution of an innocent servant. He also did not let anyone know about his monster, which caused the monster to hide from society. Victor and the monster are also seeking revenge on each other quite a lot, each doing terrible things to the things or people they cared for.
3. There was quite a lot of emotional stuff going on in this story. A lot of death and a lot of sadness coming from quite a few characters gave it a somber tone. Frankenstein's monster said emotional things like “I shall die, and what I now feel be no longer felt….” and “Cursed, cursed creator!...my feeling of those of rage and revenge.”
4. Shelley uses techniques such as imagery (talking about things look e.g the moon), foreshadowing (Walton saying he needed a friend. Whoa here comes a man on a sled!), and the constant change of points of view (Walton's, Victor's and the monster's) to make the story interesting to the reader.
CHARACTERIZATION
1. Two examples of direct characterization is when Victor is describing his creation. He is saying that he is a ruthless monster. Another example is when the author tells that he is consumes by the idea and creation of life and that is all the Victor can think of. Two examples of indirect characterization happen twice the the monster he has created. Once it happened when he asked victor if he could make him a companion and here the readers realize that he indeed has feelings. Then second time is after Victor dies the monster decides to go and kill himself because he creator has died. In this instant the readers also see that he is not just a ruthless monster but a caring one. The author uses both of these approaches I think so that the reader can see if the monster really is one of if he is like many other people.
2. The author uses diction because you can see the language change when he has Victor speak and the monster speak. For example you can tell the Victor is way more proper when he speaks and the monster is not. I think he uses this to show that Victor is more educated and the monster is not.
3. If views came that Victor was the protagonist I do believe that he is a dynamic character because his whole life after his creation was made was consumed of fear and wanting revenge. If the protagonist was considered the monster I would say he is also dynamic because throughout the story he was very confused. Then Victor decided to kill his partner I think brought the monster to be overwhelmed by grief and wanting revenge. I believe Victor is a round character because his character changes after his creation and after the death of his wife. I would consider the Monster a flat character because he stays the same pretty much throughout the story. He is created knowing only a few things and does not really know anything else except for what he feels and what he thinks is ugly or wrong.
4. I felt that I came away actually knowing a person. The monster was the one I feel I came away knowing because you were able to see his true feelings and the end of the story when his creator died.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Tools That Change the Way We Think
All this internet/media/technology has changed my way of thinking by helping think for me. I've thought about how easy it is for me to just Google an answer to a question I know, rather than spend a few minutes trying to brainstorm how to solve it. I used to believe that I couldn't possibly depend on the internet or my technology for everything, but lately I can use it for things I never would have dreamed of using it for, like math problems! It is so much different from middle school, where you could spend hours on one problem. Now if it's giving you too much trouble, you can just type in some phrase for help and it gives you the solution! Insane. This isn't always as helpful as it can be though. All the internet and technology has to offer can be just as distracting, and you can waste plenty of your free time sitting in front of your computer screen or scrolling through your smart phone instead of doing something productive. Even thought the use of all this technology can be helpful and/or hurtful it still kind of scares me that I've become to dependent on it. There won't go a day without me checking my phone at least once or turning on my computer. It has changed not only my way of thinking but my way of life as well.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Notes on Hamlet
Well I'm definitely thinking Hamlet has changed from the person he was in Act I. I find myself trying to figure out when and where Hamlet will kill Claudius, clinging to the edge of my seat in anticipation. I also find myself thinking quite a lot more about Ophelia too. At first she was kind of that annoying bug in my ear, and I had this "why is she even here?" attitude towards her. But as you can see from my remix, I put myself kind of in her shoes and began feeling much more empathetic towards her and her situation. I'm kind of wondering about the ghost king though.. Why couldn't the queen see him?? He is really there, right? I know Hamlet is just pretending to insane, right? Just a question.. I do see that things are probably going to go downhill from now on. He's just killed Polonius in front of his mother, and she didn't seem really thrilled with that. I just hope there aren't anymore unnecessary murders in the story. HA what am I saying, I hope there are! They would make the story very exciting. :)
Who Was Shakespeare?
Shakespeare is one of the most important writers in history,whose playwrights are read and performed to this day; but what do we know about this man? Who was Shakespeare?
Well, there are a few things that historians don't quite know. For starters, his exact birth date is unknown. They know the year was 1564, but the only exact date they found from that year was his baptism (April 26, 1954). He did get married to Anne Hathaway at age 18, and had three children with her. The start of his career is, again, not known exactly, but supposedly it started mid-1580s. His career got its first boost with the playing company The Lord Chamberlain's Men performing Shakespeare's plays. In this period of time, from the mid 1580s to early 1600s, Shakespeare wrote 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other works of different genres such as tragedies and comedies.
Shakespeare is a name that almost every junior high and high school student knows. I know that he is not particularly popular with a lot of these students because initially his works of literature are difficult to comprehend. I am one of those students. But I'm slowly coming to realize how clever these works are and how clever of a write Shakespeare really is. Lots of literary elements I've missed as a younger student are more easy to spot, and I can actually understand what he's trying to convey through his characters' dialogue (still working on it though). I still do struggle with the style his playwrights are written in though (curse you, Old English!) Hopefully, before I'm too old, I'll be able to fully grasp the greatness that Shakespeare has provided for us from so long ago.
Well, there are a few things that historians don't quite know. For starters, his exact birth date is unknown. They know the year was 1564, but the only exact date they found from that year was his baptism (April 26, 1954). He did get married to Anne Hathaway at age 18, and had three children with her. The start of his career is, again, not known exactly, but supposedly it started mid-1580s. His career got its first boost with the playing company The Lord Chamberlain's Men performing Shakespeare's plays. In this period of time, from the mid 1580s to early 1600s, Shakespeare wrote 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other works of different genres such as tragedies and comedies.
Shakespeare is a name that almost every junior high and high school student knows. I know that he is not particularly popular with a lot of these students because initially his works of literature are difficult to comprehend. I am one of those students. But I'm slowly coming to realize how clever these works are and how clever of a write Shakespeare really is. Lots of literary elements I've missed as a younger student are more easy to spot, and I can actually understand what he's trying to convey through his characters' dialogue (still working on it though). I still do struggle with the style his playwrights are written in though (curse you, Old English!) Hopefully, before I'm too old, I'll be able to fully grasp the greatness that Shakespeare has provided for us from so long ago.
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