Almost over

So senior year is coming to a close and most people can't wait for it to be over. I can necessarily say that I am one of those people because right now, I feel neutral about it all. Unlike most, I have to take two finals, math and spanish, before I can feel "done with school". I have no idea how I plan to celebrate my success of finishing high school, maybe I'll just come home and watch some television. Fun.

Cinco de Mayo blog

So this is suppose to be another creative blog, but I am running out of things creatively write. Coming up with random things to talk about are presenting problems for me because it is hard to think of a topic off the top of my head. School is almost over so that's nice. I still have to study for an AP next week, and also finals, but after that, I should be in the clear. Tomorrow is friday, and the weekend shall be here again, how exciting.

College List of things

1. Car (hopefully)

2. Clothes

3. Vans

4. Saints blanket

5. Comfy mattress

6. Electronics

7. Memories

8. Books

9. Mindset

10. Vans

Old City vs New City

So, the Hornets lost yesterday to the Lakers. It was interesting to watch this matchup, not only because I like watching the Lakers (lose), but also because these are the two cities in which I can say I've lived in. Most people know I'm going to New Orleans for college and that I love everything associated with the city, almost everything. Anyway, that was just something I would sometimes think about at times when watching the series, but now it's over.

Blog In Class

My favorite city is New Orleans, Louisiana. My dad is from Alexandria, which is in central Louisiana so we go to Alexandria and New Orleans basically every year. Most of my favorite things are in New Orleans: favorite NFL team, favorite college sports team, favorite number one college and my favorite food, crabmeat au gratin. Crabmeat au gratin consist of crab and a lot of cheese and some kind of creamy sause which, I have not yet figured out what it is. It should not come as a shock that I plan to go to New Orleans for college come August, but anything can happen. FIN

Creative Blog 1

I read a lot of " The Hardy Boys" books in middle school, and at that time I enjoyed reading more than watching t.v. As I got older however I read less and less until 9th grade, in Nelson's english class, where we had to read "Catcher in the Rye". That has been the only book I've actually enjoyed reading and discussing in class besides "Of Mice and Men", and both of those books I read at the beginning of my high school career. I have gone three years, including this one, not finding any of our readings overly interesting, though "Metamorphosis" wasn't bad.

Graphic Novel

Kuper's graphic interpretation of Metamorphosis dabbles with the age old question of "what does the vermin look like?" and invites the reader to view his vision of Gregor as an insect. Many people may not particularly agree with Kuper's vermin, and that's acceptable. Kafka made it clear that he did not want to have a picture of the bug on the book which leads me to believe that he wanted the reader to paint their own picture of the creature. I have no clear personal vision of the bug, but in seeing Kupers' version, I can get a sense of what he looks like.

Leaderless Discussions

I believe the leaderless discussions helped people understand each others views and opinions on Heart of Darkness and Metamorphasis. My faviorte question that was posed was how would you react to being a vermin. Since, as we all know, this is highly impossible, I had a very realistic answer. More leaderless discussions should follow in the future.

Essay ideas H.O.D.

My main essay idea would have to be the idea of Kurtz in some way or another, being a part of Marlow, and embodying a persona Marlow is sub-consciencly curious about. Some examples would include Kurtz two fiances, one english and one african, the idea of no rules or restrictions, and also figuring out how deep he can get while still sustaining his moral code and sanity. This seems like a topic that I would be able to elaborate well on while creating some good insight and prospective.

Heart of Darkness #6

Kurtz tries to portray the blindfolded woman in reference to justice. Justice is blind and therefore cannot judge people by color or gender, but by character only. I do not think Marlow would completely agree with Kurtz, because he seems to have a more pessimistic view of how societies view one another. Marlow knows that the english have very low perceptions of the africans and do not respect them as a culture of people.

Heart of Darkness #2

Marlow, in my opinion begins speaking about when the Romans first came to London to make the connection to the similarity of his perception of Africa at the time. It is possible that Africa could have been viewed as a dreadful place to be, like old London, full of disease and death and savages.When the English took hold of London, the whole country became a superpower in the world and lost the reputation as a place of exile. Marlow believes the same can be done with the English colonizing Africa. It can be inferred by Marlow that if the English could create London into a place of high class and a model for the world, the same can be done with the colonization of Africa by the English.

Tone, Mood

Tone in poetry is an important for any aspect of a poem. If the tone and mood of the poem are not in synch with one another it can create an negative look for the poem. For example, in the BBC version of Hamlet, the actors did not really corrilate to what we as a class had agreed was to be the way Hamlet was to be acted out. Because of this, the BBC version seemed awkward and did not come across smoothly.

Diction

Diction can affect a poem, or play, in various ways. In Hamlet for example, certain lines can be read, and depending on how there read, an audience can perceive it differently. Many of Hamlet's lines can be read with anger, but those same lines can be read with sarcasm, depending on who the director and actor are, and how they want to portray Hamlet's attitude at that specific time. Certain words in a sentence can be harshened or softened to reveal a characters tone and diction can ultimately alter the way a poem or play is understood.

Poetry Sounds

Sound in poetry can have major effects on how a poem is perceived. In Yeats' The Second Coming, the sound of the poem can be read almost as though it is being preached in a church by a priest or pastor and he is trying to instill fear into his congregation. It can also be read like sign of warning, like a homeless man talking to himself about what is about to be entailed in the near future for all evil doers and worshipers alike. "Traveling through the Dark" seemed to be more of a narrative type poem, explaining to the reader, a situation the poet came upon. The poem is completely free verse, and makes feels more story like, however a poem can be expressed in various ways.

Symbol/Theme #4

Time as a symbol in "Second Coming" and "As I walked out one evening" is viewed in two vasty different ways. When Time is spoken of in Second Coming, it is not directly named, yet it is referenced to when Yeats tells of how many years it has been since the first coming of Christ. Yeats may also be trying to say that when given to much time, one can become tainted as seen in the apocalyptic Second Coming. "As I walked out one evening" starts off with time being a great friend but as the poem progresses, Time becomes an enemy slowing breaking the two lovers apart until they are no more. Time is directly quoted in this poem and even is personified in some instances. Time as a symbol/theme is apparent in both poems whether it is directly or indirectly quoted.

Plot Blog #1

In Hamlet and Pride and prejudice, one would think there would be no similarities between the two, however, that would be incorrect. They do in fact hold few of the same instances when compared to one another. Hamlet and Elizabeth alike have difficulty making decisions and acting on their decisions in a timely manner. It seems as though whenever they have a chance in taking a step forward, there is always something holding them back. Both characters do end up acting on there feelings, however, Elizabeth's ending is a little more heartwarming that Hamlet's. Hamlet and Pride and Prejudice also have the common grounds of one character who is commonly seen as rather dim witted, in Hamlet it is Polonius and in Pride and Prejudice it is Ms. Bennet. Polonius and Ms. Bennet each have one character that mocks them in some way, both being oblivious to its occurrence. Hamlet constantly uses word play to subtlety tease Polonius, while Polonius continues to converse with Hamlet as though it is a legitimate conversation. Mr. Bennet has the tendency to belittle his wife many times throughout the novel, and finds it in his own enjoyment to laugh at the expense of Ms. Bennet. Hamlet and Pride and Prejudice hold similarities is the main characters in each have difficulty in making decisions, and each has a character to be viewed as dim witted.

Comments on the essay

The main concern for me about my essay and essays in the past are the length of each one. This past essay has been the shortest one i've written in this class, even though I believed my topic had a good basis behind it. I had great ideas for things to elaborate on in the essay but when it came down to the actual formation of the ideas and incorporating those ideas into the essay, it didn't work to well. The other problem could have been that I was focusing on one character, Claudius, and at times it seemed as if it would have been easier to compare or contrast him to another character in the play to help create more length, but I think that would have taken away from the central points of my essay.

Ponder, The Second Coming

"Ponder" begins with the idea of time eating at the remains of "busted statues" and "the stone cringes clinging to the stone", his reason for expressing all of this is he believes time is against him and is slowly running out for all mankind and in this realization of his, Cummings finds that the most important thing to do with time running out is "horizontal business... let us make haste". Obviously, Cummings has no desire for love, just the pleasures it brings.

"The Second Coming" has nothing to do with horizontal business, but a much more sacred arrival of Christ, again. The only downside is this second coming is it is not what the world had been expecting, but they knew it was bound to happen at some point. It seems as though the second coming has brought along armageddon, with God cleansing the world of sin and restarting life again. "And what rough beast, its hour come round at last". Yeats in essence embraces the idea of the second coming, but in addition, instills fear in what it may actually have to offer.

Compare and Contrasting Ozymandias and Ponder

The first obvious contraction of the two poems is their formatting. Ozymandias is more free flowing while Ponder is staggered and broken. Ozymandias is mainly about ancient society and the irony of a king declaring his might and depair and Ponder begins with describing the remains of busted statues and the remains of stone cringes. Both poems can relate in this sense that each has some description of something to do with the remains of some society in the past. Ponder excercices many sexual refrences in the poem while Ozymandias does not. In the end it is much easier to read and understand the flowing language of Ozymandias as opposed to the broken lines of the much more complex Ponder poem.

Hamlet #7 and #14

Hamlet tells his companions about his "antic disposition" both out of deliberate strategy and natural reaction. The strategy is to try to prove that Claudius is the one who killed his father but at this time he does not know how. The natural reaction comes from the fact that Hamlet feels as though he must avenge his father in some way rather than standing by doing nothing.

 He is saying that the human conscience makes one believe something is either good or bad and if one does something good or bad it may way heavily on the conscience. I do agree with Hamlet's theory because it is only natural for someone to think that every decision they have made is a good one or bad one. 

Hamlet is telling his friends that he is only slightly mad, but not mad enough not to know the difference between a hawk and a handsaw. It is difficult to distinguish whether he is mad or acting, but most of the time we can assume it is just a mixture of both.