Quarter 2 Reflection

Quarter 2 is finally over and I believe I have good work to show for it. Of course it did get a little harder, but that’s how you learn. I was glad to see that I improved in my writing. But still a little uneasy because I don’t think I am where I’m supposed to be. Hopefully third quarter bring that security.

We did a lot of reading this quarter and lucky us, all the books were good. Tartuffe by Moliere was extremely funny, which made it a lot easier to read. Othello was a tragedy, but I think that that’s what made the class interested in the play. We all had the same question, “Who was going to fall victim to Shakespeare’s deaths?” well by the end of the play we all knew, and I was upset because the ending was unfair, but I guess that’s why they call a tragedy right? The final book we read, Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky was one of the best books I have ever read. I always wanted to read it; I just never had the chance. Once I finally got to dab into the mind that Dostoevsky had created in his book, I couldn’t stop reading, it was too good. My favorite book as you can already imagine was Crime and Punishment, and it’s going to be hard to top that this year; but then again we are reading Wuthering Heights third quarter, and that book was also good.

The only thing I have to complain about second quarter is that I don’t feel like I am where I should be. But I do know what it is I have to fix to get there. It’ll take a lot a work because I’m used to the way I write, but I’m hoping that we practice more doing third quarter so I can catch my mistakes and fix them early on.

Although I’m still not where I want to be, I believe that second quarter helped me climb a little higher to where I want to be. All I need to do is keep practicing and make sure I checking my work before I turn it in, so that I can finally get the grades I should be getting. Let’s say hello to a quarter =].

Othello Pancake Paper

Othello Paper

Trust, a good quality in a person until the person becomes too trusting of the other people around them. Throughout Othello, the main character Othello is viewed as a tragic Hero, but every tragic hero has his hamartia. Othello’s way of trusting easily caused him jealousy that made his obsession climb until he had nothing left to do but act on what he was led to believe. Othello’s trust in Iago’s word began a chain reaction that ultimately led to Othello’s downfall.
Othello is a character that seems to have it all, which means that there is someone who doesn’t have enough. Iago is one character that doesn’t have enough so he sets out to get what he wants. “My lord you know I love you.” (3.3.134). Othello was a good man, how could he believe that someone was out to get him? His good nature and his great position led him to believe that no one would dare hurt him, which increased his trust in everyone around him. Which is why the words above, which were given in the most deceitful was were taken in as true. By believe those few words Othello gave much power to Iago, and Iago’s plan to destroy Othello.
Now that Iago has planted the seed of doubt, he begins to care of what he has planted. How does he make sure that his seed is growing strong; by lying. “I speak not yet of proof [...]I would not have you free and noble nature, out of self-bounty, be abused.” (3.3.227-231). Othello’s trusting matter made it easy for Iago to enhance the doubt that he had already invested in Othello. Iago in the quote above stated that he had no solid proof, but advised Othello to watch both his wife and his ex-lieutenant to see for himself if something was wrong. Poor Othello believed everything Iago said to him, and everything that Iago showed him.
As humans, it is natural to feel a little jealous toward something that is ours. So when Othello hears from Iago that Othello’s wife Desdemona might be cheating on him, Othello goes mad with “the green-eyed monster.” You would think that Othello, being a great man of his country, would not be easily persuaded into the idea that his wife has failed him. But jealousy can cause a man to change his view on things instantly. “By the world, I think my wife be honest and think she is not…I’ll have some proof!” (3.3.438-441). Othello’s trust in Iago has given Iago the right to torment Othello; which is what the quote above shows, Othello’s confusion between what is true, and what his jealousy is leading him to believe.
Every chain reaction always has to end. Othello’s chain reaction started with the moment he began to trust Iago; continued with his built up jealousy, and will end with the murder of the one he loved driven on by his obsessed mind. “For I will make him tell the tale anew--.” “(Iago) Ply Desdemona well, and you are sure on ‘t…(Cassio) laughing. (Othello) Look how he laughs already!” (4.1.99-127). Othello is completely taken over by jealousy that his obsession on the subject begins to turn the slightest insignificant think like laughter into something that means so much more. Othello lets his obsession consume him until all he sees is his wife and his ex-lieutenant being deceitful together.
In the end Othello’s obsession causes him to kill his wife. He does not know what he has done until he strips himself of everything that has been thrust upon him and actually analyzes what he has done. “You told a lie, an odious damned lie! Upon my soul, a lie, a wicked lie!...” (5.2.216-218). Emelia was the one who helped Othello strip away all the things that plagued his mine. By the times that she confessed that Desdemona was the most sincere woman, it was too late, Othello had done the deed. Once Othello realized what he had done, without a hint of jealousy, or obsession, he didn’t what else to do but to mourn the death of his wife with his own death.
Othello was a good example for those who trust easily and are led quickly by things they see and don’t understand. The road to Othello’s downfall began with the simple belief that someone who was out to get him “loved him.” Later, this person, Iago, had the ability to give Othello a piece of information and have Othello view it in the incorrect way. If Othello stopped between these occurrences to think about what it was that he was actually hearing, and seeing, he would’ve figured out that there was no way that Desdemona and Cassio were going behind his back and doing deceitful things. But Othello was a man who worked on so much passion that he let it increase every bad feeling that he had, which led to the death of the most honest person in his life; Ironic isn’t it?

Blog #1: S&S Ch. 1

Reviewing Chapter One

Ordinary language does not say more and says it more intensely as poetic language does.
The uses of language:
Information: most common use of language, it helps us with the ordinary business of living.
Experience: this exists to bring us a sense and a perception of life, to widen and sharpen our contacts with existence.
Persuasion: is used in advertisements, sermons, and political speeches to convince audience to support a certain argument.

Looking for moral instruction and beauty may be limiting approaches because if you do what is morally correct to the world, and write about what the world think beauty is, you deny yourself the chance to find out what your personal opinion on those subjects are.

Distinctions between poetry and other imaginative literature are that poetry is the most condensed and concentrated form of literature.
Four dimensions of experience that poetry involves:
Metaphor: comparing two things with “like” or “as”
Irony: when you get something opposite of what’s expected
Sound repetition: Beginning letters, endings in words, create rhythm/pattern
Allusion: Mirrors ideas from different work of literature

“The Last Night that She Lived” portrays all the things exemplified in the chapter because the language isn’t dry, or scarce, the writing has more behind what’s read, and the poem causes feelings with the story.

Sound & Sense: Chapter 2

1.Review the 5 preliminary suggestions for reading poems.

•Read the Poem more than once.

•Keep a dictionary by you and use it.

•Read so as to hear the sounds of words in your mind.•Always pay careful attention to what the poem is saying.

•Practice reading poems aloud.

2. List step in paraphrasing, and create paraphrases of several poems, showing how paraphrase helps to clarify the theme.

•To paraphrase a poem means to restate it in different language, so as to make its prose sense as plain as possible. The paraphrase should contain all the ideas in the poem in such a way as to make them clear and to make the central, or theme, of the poem accessible.

3. Explain how identifying the speaker and the occasion of the poem show the dramatic quality of the poetry.

•Identifying the speaker and the occasion of the poem show dramatic quality of the poetry because the speaker and the occasion might reflect the poets life, while the speaker and the occasion may only be something fictional that the poet thought up.

4. Explore the concept of a "central purpose" of a poem."

•The concept of a central purpose of a poem would be to figure out what the poem was written for. Without knowing why the poem was written we don’t get the full effect of the poem.

5. Consider the difference between the means and the ends in determining a central purpose of a poem.

•The means of determining a central purpose of a poem would be determining what the poet was trying to say, and then the ends of it would be whether or not you agree with it or not.

6.Determine which ideas in this chapter are exemplified in the following poems.

•The poem There’s been a Death, in the Opposite House best exemplifies paraphrasing because it is simple to put it in your own words and figure out the meaning of the poem.

Quarter 1 Reflection

The past quarter has been a growing experience for me. Being in an AP class is not easy and it challenges you, and I’ve learned that the more you are challenged the more you learn. The challenges during first quarter have helped me grow, mostly in my writing skills, and expect to learn more and get better.
The study of literature, to me, is very important. Knowing how to analyze great works of literature may help us analyze daily activities of our lives differently. I’ve learned that if I can analyze a great work of literature and figure out its meaning, than I can do it in my own life.
I enjoy the reading part of AP literature the most because it is something I’m good at. Reading a literary work and finding the meaning behind it is an interesting process that I love to go through. I enjoyed all the literary works that we read the past quarter, and look forward to the more challenging literary works that wait next quarter. Something that did improve my reading and analyzing skills would be the annotating process. I learned that I can retain a lot more information that way. It also helps me go back and find things that I missed before that were important.
I believe that writing is more of a challenge to me than reading and analyzing is. But I also have realized that I write better when I actually sit down and plan it out, instead of just writing off the top of my head. The process of writing the Pancake Paper helped me realize this; I just felt more organized while I was writing, and that I got all I wanted to say down. Over all I think I improved my writing and that I learned that the way I usually did my writing wasn’t the best way. I hope to improve a lot more in the following quarters and highly expect that I do well.
Overall first quarter was like a “back to school refreshing period.” It got me writing again and it also refreshed my memory of the writing process. Although I do know that my writing was not my best, I guess that that’s why there are four quarters in a year, they help retaliate your first bits of work; and I plan to do that.

Short Story Analysis Paper: Reunion (Revised)

Think for a minute on how you would like to remember your first hero, no, not superman, your dad. How would you like to remember him? I’m pretty sure that the way you want to remember your father is nothing like the last meeting Charlie had with his dad. John Cheever blended humor, pathos and the grotesque together to paint a reunion between father and son. Cheever used all three of those literary devices to gives his writing meaning. When Cheever’s short story begins, we find that Charlie is pondering on the last time he saw his father. The first line of the entire story begins, “The last time I saw my father…” With that you can see the author’s evident use of pathos. This makes you feel sorry for Charlie’s misfortune. As the story develops Cheever keeps writing on the thoughts of Charlie’s last view of his dad.
By the middle of the story you begin to see the change in the way Charlie remembers his dad. his view of his father is no longer of admiration, but just a memory he would rather delete. “We sat down, and my father hailed the waiter in a loud voice…If it isn’t too much to ask of you—if it wouldn’t be too much above and beyond the call of duty…” The quote above shows how the author begins to use sarcasm as humor to portray how grotesque Charlie’s father really is. As the story keeps developing Charlie’s dad gets worse: “Kind sir, will you be good enough to favor me with one of your God-damned, no-good, ten-cent afternoon papers?” Charlie was close to leaving when the father said the quote above. The grotesque behavior, used as humor, the father took on was a building tool that was used cleverly by the author so that the last sentence of his story portrayed what his meaning was; “’Good bye daddy,’ I said, and I went down the stair and got my train, and that was the last time I saw my father.” The last line was clearly used pathos to affect the feelings of the reader.
So throughout the short story “Reunion” we see how John Cheever use the grotesque behavior of the father as humor, and then how both the grotesque and humor were cleverly put there so that Cheever could use pathos to add sentiment to the short story. He blended all three in the story so that the meaning was shown. ‘Always be an example for your child, because you never know how they will end up remembering you,’ that to me, seems to be the theme of John Cheever’s short story.

Pancake Paper: Oedipus Rex

“…’What new sorrow do you mean?’...’The queen is dead’…’By whose hand?’...’Her own’…” This is the ending that Queen Jocasta chose for herself in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. Sophocles uses their views on the gods, dramatic Irony, and a Metaphor to show the difference between Jocasta and Oedipus; Where Oedipus is the tragic hero, Jocasta is the coward.
As we’re reading the play, we as the readers begin to realize what a big role the gods play in the lives of Jocasta and Oedipus. Throughout the play Jocasta is seen to defy and think she has out-smarted the gods. She believes that by killing her son, the one who was to kill his father and marry his mother, she would prevent the prophecy from happening. The following quote shows Jocasta’s confidence in her and her husband’s “brilliant” plan, “Thus, Apollo never caused that child to kill his father…This is what prophets and prophecies are worth! (Scene 2, Lines 196-199).” What Jocasta doesn’t know is that the god’s prophecies actually came true and she is in the midst of it.
Oedipus’ view of the gods is similar but different to Jocasta’s view on the gods. Oedipus who flees from the country he was raised in because he feared the prophecy that the gods placed on him shows that he believes that the gods are powerful, and mandate what happens in his life. But when Oedipus’ supposed father, the king of Corinth, dies from natural causes, Oedipus begins to change his view on the gods. He now believes that he was able to out-smart the gods because he wasn’t the cause of his supposed father’s death, but he still feared that the gods might fulfill the second part of the prophecy, where he would lay with his mother. “They prophesized that I should kill Polybos, kill my own father; he is dead and buried and I am here…And yet—must I fear my mother’s bed? (Scene 3 Lines 54-63).” The quote above clearly shows Oedipus’ thought that he out-smarted half of the god’s prophecy, but he still feared the fulfillment of the second half.
Even before Jocasta enters into the play we know more about her than she knows about herself. Sophocles uses dramatic irony to intensify the outcome of what the characters do. When Jocasta comes into the play we already know that her idea of out-smarting the gods has failed, and that the prophecy given to her and her husband about their son has come true. Still, we would like to see how her search to find the truth leads to the choice she makes in the end. But as the play progresses we find that Jocasta seems to want to avoid figuring out the truth, not yet because she knows the truth, but because she is afraid of what she will find out. In contrast, Oedipus is one who goes in search of his truth no matter what it’ll cost him. Near the end Jocasta finds out that her worst fears have come true, and that in fact the prophecy came true, but she wants to stop everyone else from discovering. Oedipus, on the other hand keeps pushing and pulling information out of everyone until he hears what will satisfy his thirst for the truth.
One of the biggest metaphors used in this play was that of having perfect eyesight, but still being blind. Teiresias, a blind prophet (another use of irony), is called by Oedipus so that the person who killed Laios is revealed. When Teiresias accuses Oedipus of the crime, Oedipus of course denies it, for he doesn’t know his own fate yet. Teiresias then blames Oedipus of being blind to the truth and what is right in front of him. “But I say that you, with both your eyes, are blind: You cannot see the wretchedness of your life… (Scene 1, Lines 196-197).” Oedipus may be called blind by the prophet, but his search for the truth will cure him of this malignity little by little. As for Jocasta, she knows that she is blind to a secret truth, but is too worried of what she might find out to actually try and cure herself.
Above you may recall I mentioned how Oedipus is the tragic hero, and Jocasta is the coward. Well, Oedipus was brave and went in look for what his truth was no matter what the consequences involved. Once Oedipus found out of his terrible fate, he took it upon himself to punish himself for what he had done, in other words he takes on the consequences like a man, and this is why he is the tragic hero; because even though he was arrogant and suffered the terrible fate, he didn’t shy away from his consequences.
Jocasta on the other hand didn’t go looking for her truth, she was afraid of what she would find out. On top of that, she tried to prevent everyone else from figuring out the truth once she knew what was going on. When everything was out in the open, she chooses to commit suicide, which is an easy way out. She didn’t live to take responsibility for her attempt to out-smart the gods; she ended her life, which diminished the consequences for her actions. This is why Oedipus was the tragic hero of Oedipus Rex, and Jocasta the coward.

Thesis Classwork
Trumbo Thesis:
Trumbo uses selection of detail to characterize the relationship between father and son as caring and understanding.
Pancake Paper Thesis:
Sophocles uses their views on the gods, dramatic Irony, and a Metaphor to show the difference between Jocasta and Oedipus; Where Oedipus is the tragic hero, Jocasta is the coward.

Prewriting Classwork
Trumbo Pre-write
-Selection of Detail
+Rod
*The only valuable thing that his father owned
*Sent it out to be cleaned
*Entrusted it (rod) in his son—trust
Paper Pre-write
Jocasta:
-Believes fate overrated
-Believes you can cheat fate
+because she thought her baby (Oedipus) dead
-Suicide was her choice
+considered cowardly
*can’t face her fate
-Coward!!!
COMPARISON
Oedipus:
-Iffy about fate/not sure of it
-Afraid of it
-He takes his fate on and punishes himself
-Tragic Hero!!!
Openers for Paper
You just found out you slept with your son, what do you do?
“…What new sorrow do you mean?...The Queen is dead.”
How we handle things is what shows who you are as a person.
Should Jocasta be considered a tragic hero? No!

OCEC Practice Paragraph
“…’What new sorrow do you mean?’...’The queen is dead’…’By whose hand?’...’Her own’…” This is the ending that Queen Jocasta chose for herself in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. Sophocles uses their views on the gods, dramatic Irony, and a Metaphor to show the difference between Jocasta and Oedipus; Where Oedipus is the tragic hero, Jocasta is the coward.

Conclusion
Jocasta and Oedipus took their truths differently. Jocasta committed suicide and refused to take on responsibility for what she did. Oedipus on the other hand took on his fate and the consequences that came with it. That’s what makes Oedipus a tragic hero, he wasn’t afraid to take on responsibility. And that’s what makes Jocasta a coward, instead of facing her responsibility she avoided it with suicide.