Monday April 30th AP prep

Today my group worked on literary terms, we would call out words like chiasmus or antithesis and we would first, try and guess the word on our own, then together we would come to a verdict about what we thought the definition was as a whole, and lastly, would check the actual definition to see if we were right or wrong.

3 essay prompts for MacBeth

- 1972      In retrospect the reader often discovers that the first chapter of a novel
or the opening scene of a drama introduces some of the major themes of the
work. Write an essay about the opening scene of a drama or the first
chapter of a novel in which you explain how it functions in this way.  In
your essay do not merely summarize the plot of the work you are


- 1980 A recurring theme in literature is the classic war between passion and
responsibility. For instance, a personal cause, a love, a desire for revenge,
a determination to redress a wrong, or some other emotion or drive may conflict
with moral duty. Choose a literary work in which a character confronts the
demands of a private passion that conflicts with his or her responsibilities.
In a well-written essay show clearly the nature of the conflict, its effects
upon the character, and its significance to the work. Avoid plot summary


- 1988 Choose a distinguished novel or play in which some of the most
significantevents are mental or psychological; for example, awakenings,
discoveries,changes in consciousness. In a well-organized essay, describe how
the authormanages to give these internal events the sense of excitement,
suspense, andclimax usually associated with external action. Do not merely
summarize the plot

AP Plan

     The one thing that has always influenced my writing is my reading. I have recognized that by reading a lot at a young age it helped my mind absorb good techniques, styles, and vocabulary that has helped me throughout junior high and high school. I plan on reading at least 2 level 8-9 essays a day and analyzing their structure and form so that when the time comes the essay writing section will not be a struggle. I also plan to look over our literary terms to strengthen my vocab and understanding for both the essays and passage questions.

A True Philosopher *insert sarcasm*

Helpful blogs: 1, 2 &3...

1.  http://amrhsenglitcomp.blogspot.com/ Alex McKinney

2. http://ckrhsenglitcomp.blogspot.com/ Cody Kiniry

3. http://yjrhsenglitcomp.blogspot.com/ Yunjoo Lee

Concerning Sophie's World

A hearty "thank you" to my well-spoken little halfling!

Remix the textbook

Sonnet 69 by Pablo Neruda

Dramatic Situation: 

• The sonnet is a lover communicating to their significant other how meaningless a life without  them would be. Also, how in love they are defined as individuals and as one, together. 

Structure: 

• Sonnet, no rhymes. "'Without" repeated. 

Theme: 

• Love for a person you cannot live without. 

Grammar/Meaning:

• Commas used to separate similes and metaphors. 

Images/ Figures of Speech: 

• sight is thet strongest sense acknowledged, figurative
• personification

Important Words:

• presence
• since
• will be
• maybe

Tone: 

• infatuation, romance "twitterpated"

Literary Devices: 

• similes and metaphors

Prosody: 

• no rhyming, two stanzas

Socratic Seminar

- The internet creates a unity, a collaboration
-Goes beyond the people in our life and allows us to connect with an incredibly wide spectrum of people spanning the world.
- Kony is an example of how something can go viral through networking
- unlimited access to information, input and opinions are available.
-Build off resources, create a question that can continually be dissected, better understood and analyzed by open- minded individuals.
-We can't learn in an unstructured, free-learning environment because we have only been taught to learn in the way that the school system has hammered into our minds:
-To do enough to receive the A, be submissive to authority, don't question teachers or curriculum.
"how passionate could Marvin be?" (Marvin vacuum cleaners) how can we do what we love and love what we do?
-How do we find that sense of self-betterment and motivation to take us to places of accomplishment or prosperity?
-creative geniuses thrived in often unstructured societies where their own passion and thirst for knowledge or discovery led them to great achievements.
-Some of the greatest figures in history were unsatisfied with their world, and changed it.
- Often those who refuse to conform are the ones with real genius, example musicians.
-Our country was founded on rebellion.
- How can we break free of the mental perimeters that have become second nature in us at school in order to allows ourselves to learn in a free-flowing, unstructured manner that will benefit us in the long run?

Dickens Remix

Literary notes: Sophie's World

Characters: Sophie, 14 year old girl living in Norway. Protagonist, a friendly girl and rather introspective, the reader learns along side her as she understands how to question her existance, herself and the world around her.
Alberto Knox: Sophie's teacher, sends her the letters and packages in the mail. embodies an idea philosopher. a well thought through man who uses his analytical  mind to be slow to judge. He forces Sophie to think for herself, be untied from the preconceived notions she was raised with, look at the world with new, open eyes.
Hilde Moller Knag: daughter of Albert Knag, parallels Sophie's deeper thought and philosophical intellect.
Albert knag: author of the novel that his daughter is reading, bases Alberto on himself.
Sophie first receives a letter asking "who are you?" This begins her journey to enlightenment, looking at herself and trying to find what makes her her. Whether it is physical, mental, emotion what defines her beyond her likes  or dislikes and for the first time discovering herself. She finds that philosophers must retain that child-like sense of wonder that holds a amaezment with yourself, your world, the origin and essence of life and to never get tired of questioning your surroundings or experiences


Quote one: "You can;t experience being alive without realizing that you have to die, she thought. But it's just as impossible to realize you have to die without thinking how incredibly amazing it is to be alive."


Quote 2: "A philosopher knows that in reality he knows very little. That is why he constantly strives to achieve true insight. Socrates was one of these rare people. He knew that he knew nothing about life and about the world. And now comes the important part: it troubled him that he knew so little.” 


Quote 3: “A lot of people experience the world with the same incredulity as when a magician pulls a rabbit out of a hat.…We know that the world is not all sleight of hand and deception because we are in it, we are part of it. Actually we are the white rabbit being pulled out of the hat. The only difference beween us and the white rabbit is that the rabbit does not realize it is taking part in a magic trick.” 
                                                                                                                       cont....

Poetry Analysis of How Doth The Little Crocodile:

-a,b,a,b c,d,c,d rhyming pattern
- speaker: caterpillar
-ongoing description of a crocodile's cunning and alluring grace as a predator
- logic is the known and acknowledged prey and predator tale in poetic beauty
- present tense
- most important words: shinning tail, golden scale, seems to grin, spreads his claws, gently smiling jaws. strong imagery of a fearfully inviting predator.
- repetition: How (lines 1,5,6) And (lines 3,6)
-tone, admiration towards the crocodile's natural abilities.
-central message: I think it can be paralleled to the serpent in Eden, convincing his prey to eat the forbidden fruit through smooth words and cunning. Here, the crocodile is also cunning in his appearance and ability to seduce his prey into his "gently smiling jaws". I think there is also a warning, beware what may seem beautiful and inviting might turn out to be a trap set by a skillful enemy.

Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities Lecture Notes

- Preface: Dickens "I have done and suffered it all myself" (level of personal intensity)
-1857 helped his friend put on The Frozen Deep (played Richard, sacrificial character) influences The Tale of Two Cities later on.
- Ellen inspires Lucie, similar physical traits (ends Lucie with the E for Ellen)
- Sydney Carten, sacrificial hero. (Dickens liked Sydney, wanted his name to be Richard ^)
- Being brought up in England at age 10 many things he saw haunted him and influenced him. Quoted saying it gave him an "extensive and peculiar knowledge of the city".
-A place of wretchedness and darkness, as well as great facination.
-Creative ties there referred to as his "magic lantern" every thing is there but disconnected like a newspaper.
- A place of extreme poverty and wealth, a labyrinth.
-Visited Paris in 1844
- Was overwhelmed by the novelties Paris had to offer "there never was such a place for a description"
- Admired the construction, progress and elegance of Paris, while he was also attracted to its harsher side. Its wicked appeal.
-Drawn to the morgue. "drawn to the attraction of repulsion as he put it."
- Emphasizes the similarities in England and France in his famous introduction.
- Dickens was no revolutionary. Tale of Two Cities expressed the horrors of riots
-Pre revolutionary  France paralleled with contempory England
-Victorian fear: revolution
- 120,000 in sales with Tale of Two Cities in the fore ground

For Dickens...

     The first few pages of A Tale of Two Cities describes the contrasting chaos existing in both England and France. Dickens' compares each country by their opposing existences but shared ignorance at their own plight. They have become numb the the disorder and injustice, execution has become the quick fix from the greatest infractions of the law to the least. And as we see throughout history as violence grows so does a tolerance and normalcy regarding the gore and horror of it. For example, gladiators, hangings and now executions brought to life by the beautiful French instrument of death: the guillotine.

How Doth the Little Crocodile

How doth the little crocodile,
Improve his shinning tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile,
On every golden scale!

How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly spreads his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in,
With gently smiling jaws!

-Lewis Caroll


This poem is my favorite because Alice in Wonderland was always my most cherished Disney movie growing up. Everything about it excited my imagination and inspired me to dream. I would run outside and try talking to flowers for hours, searched for caterpillars and stayed on the look out for a white rabbit. I wanted to shrink down and explore the world from a whole new perspective and find lands unknown and uncharted. This little poem takes me back to a time when my imagination ran rampant and neither being asleep nor awake could keep me from adventures real or imagined.

Big Question Abstract

     I started reading the studies of Allan Snyder a professor at the Australian National University, he has recently been looking into autism and its connection to creative/ artistic genius. He believes that in shutting off a certain part of the brain we can in fact tap into our creative genius. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation (most commonly used in treating depression) he switches off the frontal temporal lobe and in doing this, has increased the creativity of test subjects. He hopes that in time anyone will be able to tap into their creative genius. Autism, considered a "mental malfunction" can in some cases direct the mind down the paths of artistic genius while not being able to access basic thought processes. I plan on following his research in order to better answer my question about unlocking the brain's potential. Allan Snyder believes that shutting off one part of the brain will unlock the other, however, what if his is accomplished and we can gain access to creative genius without being able to also use our brain's frontal lobe. This would be like growing wings at the cost of your eyesight, where would you direct your flight, avoid obstacles or appreciate your ability? If we can discover a way to unlock that unused creativity and maintain basic logic and comprehension than this would definitely be an amazing key to accessing the brain's full potential.

Thinking Outside the Box

      Plato's philosophy illustrates man's struggle for enlightenment, being shackled by the false perceptions of society that inhibit us from seeing things in their true form. He has a simple dialogue where he explains his allegory of "the cave" and very neutral responses take the reader through his extended metaphor. On the other hand, Sartre believes that every man's worst enemy is himself, not society's standards, beliefs or perceptions but by their own flaws they are individually restricted in understanding. He uses detailed conversation to create a sense of separate struggle and perception for each character as if to give a taste of a few small puzzle pieces that when put together, have created their own hell. You come to slowly get a picture of how personalized Sartre's hell is, breaking the stereotypical idea of a burning cavern with a river of lava and unimaginable torture used to create only the most horrific experience for all of eternity. This hell is defined by the people you are trapped with, the ones that drive you crazy, you can't find peace and there is no way to get around the unpleasant contrasting feelings that clash constantly as your trapped in a room with no exits, maddeningly reflective of a circumstance that could easily be experienced on earth, but here it last forever. Could Sartre be implying that in life we place ourselves in hell, in situations that we would like nothing more than to get away from, but what do we do to avoid it? the monotonous job, unhappy marriage, leaky house. Our state of mind remains in this neutral state taking it all in, no physical situation should be an excuse for not receiving enlightenment. However, in Sartre's existential analysis of the individual, we see them faced with the choice to define themselves, or be defined by those around them. Plato's allegory parallels this in the aspect where once the individual is enlightened and attempts to share this knowledge and clarity of thought with others, he can either rise above their disbelief and close-minded perceptions, or fall to their blind words and let go of what he now knows and conform to their ideals allowing them to define him.

AP term

Mood- the predominating atmosphere evoked by a literary piece. Essentially the overall feel that the writer's story has, whether it is happy, sad, dramatic, peaceful there is a "mood" that brings the reader into the situation. Imagine a mood ring, it supposedly changes color due to the mood your in, blue= happy, green= a little stressed, black=anxious etc. this can remind you that the mood of the story reflects the "vibe" if you will. For example, as soon as this song comes on what colors come to mind? :) The song has a classic mood that reflects the artist and reminds the listener of colors that represent the mood

The Big Question

If we only use around 10% of our brain, is it plausible the "final frontier" is the vast reaches of our mind? We have so much discovery, new corners in the depths of the ocean, an uncharted planet outside the borders of our solar system. But with all these dots slowly being connected with lines maybe the picture is our comprehension of the dots and lines. What if our ability to understand and capture the limitless reaches our imagination would completely redefine everything we've previously known.
How much of our brain's potential are we using?
How can we optimize our brain's capabilities?

AP Exam-worthy essay

    

     One of the most prominent archetypes in literature is the epic hero. This strong seemingly flawless character possessing extraordinary strength or mental capacity is viewed overcoming obstacles, forging through the most dire situations and carrying the hopes of many on his shoulders. We see this hero with few inner struggles, and from what we know of his sense of self and morals is generally just a conviction to do good. However, when we look at Shakespeare’s work we see an intense depth and attention to detail as he molded Hamlet into a dramatically transparent man. This transparency allowed the audience to see a hero that had not yet been revealed, a hero with overwhelming emotion ranging from his sickening feelings of loss and hate, to his fits of rage against injustice.

     Shakespeare was able to depict these strong emotions and inner turmoil so eloquently through his flowery and often cryptic language that can just as easily confuse as it can reveal the essence of a character. For example, when Hamlet says “For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause. There's the respect That makes calamity of so long life.” In this small portion of the passage we see Hamlet debating the benefits of death and how they can outweigh life. No classic hero ever struggled with these contemplations brought about by extreme hopelessness, they were hardened men who were only concerned with fight, kill, win mindset never touched by feelings of inadequacy or hate.

     In addition, another important part of Shakespeare’s language is his use of “self-over hearing.” Hamlet’s character is constantly in a state of self discovery, finding himself along with the audience as he makes indecisive declarations that voice his true desires and eventually guide his actions. Hamlet must rely on himself for these revelations, he doesn’t have the classic mentor to show him the way in his journey, his journey is within and his guide must be his own will drawn forth by his ability to search his thoughts. A textual example is,” Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, thus the native hue of resolution, Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprise of great pitch and moment, With this regard their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action.”Hamlet can acknowledge that our mind can be our greatest weakness in itself, and that once confident decisions can lose their drive and movement in a sea of uncertainty.

     Lastly , a definitive aspect of the language that Shakespeare uses is “performative utterance.” Hamlet isn’t some mighty warrior capable of vengeance and destruction, he lacks the confidence so commonly seen with the hero, and instead must voice out these feelings he has in order to give them life and reality, to create a passing thought into a determined action. This can be seen in “Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer, The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them.” We can see Hamlet questioning his own mental torture, at first weighing out the two options, and then needing to have some sort of action whether it be to fight back or end the sorrow and pain he is feeling.

     In conclusion, Hamlet’s use of language gives him a completely different image, breaking free from the “fight to the death” hero stereotype and being the transparent self tortured man. Shakespeare gives Hamlet this desperation not only to search for answers to his undecided questions, but to act upon those feelings within himself that cannot be brought about accept through extreme self analysis.

Not as complicated as we thought