Suggestions For Scrapbook

Yesenia Parra-Delgadillo

• Somehow incorporate more color
• In pictures where you are far away point an arrow to where you are at

Valentina Alvarado

• Add captions that describe the pictures
• Write any memories that come along with the picture

Julio Prado

• Add music
• Add more photos of you
• Add more recent pictures

I will add more music and pictures of my other friends. I need to add captions and make smoother transitions. Some clips are significantly shorter. I have a lot of editing to do to make it more cohesive. 

Progress On Final Project

1. Post the following information to your blog:

• What you've done so far;

I have about twenty different slides of my prezi done. I've done a lot of outlines but not the actual slides. 

• What you still need to accomplish in the two weeks we have left;

I still need to gather the books I read during high school. At the end of this presentation I will have a  reflection. I still need to work on that. I will also add pictures of myself (maybe). If I do end up doing this I need to pick my pictures. I will also be adding music to my prezi. I need to chose which songs I will add to it. I am also reading the book IT by Stephen King. I've tried many times to finish reading this book but I have never been able to finish it. This will sort of be my grand finale. 

• How your work will benefit you and others.

I think that my project will give people the opportunity to think more deeply about the literature they have read and how it has influenced them. Many don't realize just how big of an influence literature is to them. 

Plan for Final Project

My Goals:
I was set on doing a scrapbook of all the books I have ever read. I was doing a prezi and have already started doing this but I am having second thoughts. I think that this may be a dull, boring format to present my scrapbook. I am considering doing a video format now. I know what I want to do just not how to present it.


Materials/Resources:
I am going to need a computer to do it. Everything that I am going to do is going to be done on a computer. If I do end up doing a video I am going to need a video camera which I already have. I might need assistance on making a video if I do chose to make one


My Timeline:
I have already picked all the books that I will include. I have divided them into four categories:

• Books I read before elementary school
• Books I read during elementary school
• Books I read during middle school
• Books I read during high school

I already have about 20 slides of my prezi done. I think I will end up cramming a lot at the end because I cannot decide on what to do.

This project will be viewed through a computer so it will be projected to the classroom and posted to my blog. 

AP Studying: Day 3

Today in class, I decided that the best way to help prepare us for the essay was to have my partners pick an essay prompt and have them write the introduction as homework. Tomorrow in class we will each evaluate each other's introductions and give each other advice on how to improve our thesis statements. I have also been looking over the literary terms.

This is the one I chose:

Choose a novel or play that depicts a conflict between a parent (or a
parental figure) and a son or daughter. Write an essay in which you analyze the
sources of the conflict and explain how the conflict contributes to the meaning of
the work. Avoid plot summary. You may base you essay...

There is usually always conflicts among parental figures and a son or daughter. The child is usually rebellious and refuses to do what that parental figure insists. One of the most famous plays in which this happens and plays a major role in is Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Juliet has always been told to stay away from the Capulets but disregards this when she falls in love with Romeo.  This forbidden love eventually leads to the death of both the main characters. This conflict helps to convey one of the major themes in the play. 

AP Studying: Day 2

I focused on poetry. I reviewed the nine elements. What helped me a lot is reviewing my old Spanish Literature notebooks from last year. We did a lot of poetry analysis. This really helped me refresh my memory.  I then looked up some poems in English and tried applying what I had reviewed to the poetry. I always told myself that analyzing poetry in Spanish was easier that English. My mentality on this has changed and I now feel more confident about analyzing poetry in English now.

A Reflection on Unstructured Learning

This passage is from the point of view of a super hero. There was one major theme I picked up on: self-doubt (the word is even directly stated in the text).  The speaker keeps doubting himself  and does't know what to do with himself. He struggles with his confidence. In the end, everything comes together for him and finally finds the name he has been searching for. He stumbles on it when it was least expected.

As I read this passage, I was the one with the self doubt. I am the one who was doubting myself for the AP test. I need to have the confidence that I can do well on this test.


'  "Nite Owl."  I liked it.  Now all I had to come up with was the costume.'


We as AP English students have been given all the resources that we need. Now we need to take them all in and "deliver the goods."

AP Exam Studying....

I actually did not do what I said that I was going to do. I glanced around at the essay prompts and noticed that they frequently ask for tone. I then realized that I always use the same words to describe the tone of a passage. I went online and looked for some new words that I could use to replace my mundane ones (serious, sad, etc). This is what I came up with:

• http://www.mshogue.com/AP/tone.htm
• http://www.rjfisher.lgusd.k12.ca.us/staff/mhartung/documents/tone_words.pdf

Looking at these two different list really helped me and I think will strengthen my essay writing. 

I also realized that I never fully understood what syntax was. I was able to find this great source.

• http://schoolhousebooksweb.com/syntax.html

I also reviewed essay writing. I read the "Analyzing Prompt" document that Dr Preston posted up.

This also helped a lot. There was sample essays that helped me to set standards for myself on the test. 

I also reviewed the AP terms and tried to apply each of them to a novel I had read. 

This weekend I mostly focused on the essay writing. This coming week I plan on focusing on the multiple choice. 

Essay Prompts: Macbeth

1979 Choose a complex and important character in a novel or a play of
recognized literary merit who might, on the basis of the character’s actions alone,
beconsidered evil or immoral. In a well-organized essay, explain both how and
why the full presentation of the character in the work makes us react more
sympathetically than we otherwise might. Avoid plot summary.

1977    No prose selection (instead, had the following prompt:  A character’s attempt to recapture or reject the past is important in many plays, novels, and poems.  Choose a work in which a character views the past with such feelings as reverence, bitterness, or longing.  Show with clear evidence how the character’s view of the past is used to develop a theme in the work.)

1997    Joy Kogawa’s Obasan:  Analyze how changes in perspective and style reflect the narrator’s complex attitude toward the past. Consider elements such as point of view, structure, selection of detail, and figurative language.

AP Test Study Plan

I think that gathering a group of people outside of class would also be very beneficial.I need to work on the multiple choice, I think that I can write a passing essay. The multiple choice has always been difficult for me. I would also need to go back and review the literature we read in the beginning of the year. My biggest concern is the multiple choice and grammar. I will take practice multiple choice sections.I will do this by using the resources Dr Preston has post.ed on the blog

Recorded by Alex Rea Thursday, April 19, 2012

Macbeth by William Shakespeare [Notes]

Macbeth: Act 1

• Macbeth proves himself a hero at Scot's battle. The king then decides to give Macbeth a promotion.
• The prophecy: The witches come across Macbeth and tell him that the king has given him a promotion (thane) and that he will later become king. They tell his friend Banquo that he will not amount to much but that his children will.
• Banquo seems doubtful of the witches. Macbeth ponders about it. 
• King Duncan=father of Malcom
• Duncan shares with everyone that his son Malcom will be the heir to the throne. Macbeth wonders about this because the witches said he would be king. 
• Ominous weather = tragedy or disaster ahead. 
• Since he heard of the prophecy he yearns to become king....it may be a self-fulfilling prophecy
• Lady Macbeth is ambitious and wants to have Macbeth seize the thrown my any means necessary. 
• The king will join Macbeth and his wife for dinner. Lady Macbeth says they should kill the king then. 
• Macbeth: thinks things over and "chickens out" and decides not to kill Duncan. His wife is angered and disappointed. She convinces Macbeth to kill the king
• She is somewhat Macbeth's driving force....makes him appear somewhat weak. She is kind of like his "back bone"

Macbeth: Act 2

• Macbeth is feeling paranoid and guilty over killing Duncan....this is unusual. One of the only Shakespeare characters to feel this way.
• Macbeth finally kills the king but does not fully carry out their plan. He was frightened as he killed the king. 
• Lady Macbeth is again frustrated with Macbeths' cowardice and finishes off the plan herself (puts the daggers in chamberlains room so it seems like they killed the king).
• Macduff and Lennox come to visit the king and discover him dead. Macbeth claims he killed the chamberlains because they killed the king. 
• Malcom feels he is not safe since his father was murdered. 
• Foreshadowing: weather, animals behaving strangely.
• Macbeth is now to be crowned king. Malcom is suspect because he has fled. 

Macbeth: Act 3

• Macbeth still feels extremely guilty. His wife as well
• Macbeth fears Banquo because he knows of the prophecy....he has hired some men to kill him. 
• The murderers kill Banquo but fail to kill his son Fleance. Fleance is now another threat to Macbeth...he is a potential heir to the throne. The prophecy said that Banquo's children would be king or something of that extent.
• During a dinner with their court, Banquo's ghost appears to Macbeth and Macbeth  talks to him and makes himself look crazy.
• Hecta the goddess of mischief and witchcraft tells the witches to keep Macbeth in confusion.
• Malcom has now sought help from King Edward. 

Macbeth: Act 4

• Macbeth goes to see the witches and they tell him that Macduff is a threat. Macbeth sends murderers to kill him and his family.
• Macduff and Malcom become allies and together want to overthrow Macbeth.
• Macduff now swears to take revenge on Macbeth since he has murdered his family. 

Macbeth: Act 5

• The English and Scottish army will now fight against each other. The English army is led by Malcom.
• Lady Macbeth kills herself from guilt. 
• Malcom's army are carrying pieces of tree to disguise the size of the army. Malcom sees this and remembers that this type of wood will mean his death.
• Macduff shows up with Macbeths head.
• Malcom is crowned king. 

FEATS OF WISDOM!® #11

FEATS OF WISDOM!® #2

FEATS OF WISDOM!® #4

FEATS OF WISDOM!® #5

Literature Analysis #7: Carrie by Stephen King (notes)

Macbeth by William Shakespeare Background Notes

• Source #1
• Play has a very dark tone
• Shakespeare included witches to please King James 1 who believed in witchcraft
• First performed at Hampton Court to the king
• Not an original play; based based on real life

               -Macbeth was ruler of Scotland (17 yrs)
              -He killed Duncan and was killed by Duncans son Malcom

Source #2

• This play tends to upset people....
• Characters "Banquesve and Fleance never existed
• Evil for Shakespeare: Bad human habits and behaviors
• Theme: What is a real man?
• The third murderer is a mystery
• Rumored that play brings bad luck

Source #3

• Lengthy....
• Basically the entire play...

Source #4

• Shakespeare invented a lot of the stuff in the play to make it more dramatic and entertaining
• The main story line still remains to be true

Source #5

• Shakespeare's main source was

              -Hanishbads Chronicles (Macbeth)

              -based on Scotorum Historiae (1592) by Hector Bece

Top Three Video Remixes

After watching several videos, I have established the top three .


#3: The Scarlet Letter Video Remix by Trevor Hudgens.

• The video had a lot of worthwhile information . It was very eerie and a little dark. It was very creative and different from any of the videos I had seen. However, it was very lengthy, this is the only downside of it. 
• http://tjhrhsenglitcomp.blogspot.com/

#2: The Tortilla Curtain Video Remix by Marisol Zepeda

• This was a normal picture and song video. The pictures aligned great with the novel and so did the music. It was short and straightforward. 
• http://marisolzpd13.blogspot.com/

#1: My Antonia Video Remix by Rebecca Patterson

• This video consists of Rebecca talking about the novel My Antonia. Her confidence and expertise in the novel makes the video easy to watch. It is not too lengthy and is very informative. 
• http://rprhsenglitcomp.blogspot.com/

Lit Anal Video Remix

Remix your last LA into a one-minute video with a soundtrack .....

Remixing Lit. Anal Notes: The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King

1.Remix the literature analysis notes on your blog into a mindmap 

Literature Analysis #6: The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King (Notes)

June 1988
Protagonist: Trisha McFarland

• She is upset her brother and mom ate always arguing, this is partly what leads her to get lost.

~She loves Tom Gordon

" Count your blessings." Trisha is trying to find any piece of strap of hope to hold onto.

                ~ She is lost and there is a tiny voice telling her that she is going to die. 

• Its sad that she has been lost for about 15 minutes and no one notices. 

Trisha's Reactions

• She first tries to hold onto hope of being found
• When that fails, she imagines the worst - even her death. 

~ In general, I think this is what humans tend to do. When one thing doesn't go as planned, they start assuming the worst.

*Trisha decides she needs to save her supplies she has. She has come to realize that she may not be rescued

            -She turns to her walkman for comfort.

"Now back to the shittiest day a little girl had..."

             ~ hahaha

Point Of View

Third person omniscient

Setting

Maine-New Hampshire branch of the Appalachian Trail, forest

Imagery

Most of the book is vivid descriptions of the forest. This creates a dark atmosphere

"...unaware she was sobbing..."

Allusion: V.C. Andrews (pg 61)
     ~She generally writes about tragedies  and horrible situations
                  -This fits in with the atmosphere of the novel
Flashbacks-To her childhood and life as if she is going to die. 


The Subaudible

• What keeps people from dying in their sleep
• A force of good; Almost a God-like figure

                            - This idea/concept helps her to keep moving on in the forest. 


She is listening to a baseball game on her Walkman. She believes that if Tom Gordon wins the game, she will be saved.
                - He loses the game


A sort of animal is following her around the forest
                 - A "thing"


Pg 97-105: Trisha is starting to show real signs of fright
                ~ She sees slaughtered animals and slash marks on trees


"  'Lost and sitting in my own crap, ' Trisha said. She began to cry again, then also to laugh as it struck her funny." Pg 145
             -This is a very bittersweet moment for her
                           ~Change in tone                             


-She's getting very ill and throwing up 
-She is slowly losing the hope she ha (Pg. 156)


"I'm going to die in the woods." 
       -This is now a statement. She truly believes she is going to die


Pg 171- "Wasp Priest"

• He appears to her
• Allusion to The Lord of the Flies????

She constantly dreams of Tom Gordon now.....gives her will to keep going on.

"I want my Mother! I want my Brother! I want to get out of here, do you hear me?"

Possible Themes: 

-The vulnerability of human beings

-Courage

"At last it pointed at her one razor-claw hand- she is mine, she is my property..."

-The animal is getting closer each day

Climax:

• Trisha finally faces the monster animal

                  ~It is a North American black bear

                 ~ She is braver than ever and even taunts the bear to kill her

-Trisha is now a much stronger person after her experience in the forest.

She pretends to be in a baseball game and nearby hunters shoot the beat

Overall, I think this entire novel illustrates/represents the adversity and obstacles that people have to overcome. 

Symbolism/My interpretation

Forest: the darkness that people go through and how they feel 

           - Forest sets for a dark tone in the novel and provides a dark, dramatic setting

               ~ She could have gotten lost in a city, but it would not have provided same atmosphere

Bear: The actual problem that keeps following a person around and constantly lingers

              - The bear followed Trisha around the entire time

Climax: Bear vs. Trisha

            -The problem is finally faces

In the end, everything is fine. The darkness is left behind.

Tom Gordon: Represents "the light."  What helps someone get through adversity.

When Trisha faces the bear, she is a changed person and at the end of the novel even a here. 

     - She is finally able to be a strong person. 

Notes: Video and Article

Video: What is 'dropping knowledge'?
The internet is crucial in providing understanding and communication.

What I understoof from this video is that the internet is a one of the largest and most effective medium in providing people the answer to their questions.

• All people have to do is ask. Some of the topics that people may discuss and research on the internet are: poverty, globalization, energy, climate, war, genocide, religion, environment, etc. The possiblities are endless.

The video demostrated an event that took place called "Free Voices." In this event people got to ask questions and one hundred people each recorded their answer to the question (100 questions).

Why are many countries under-developed? 
   ~They have no relations to power. In other words, they dont have any connections.

The internet is a great place to put in issue out in the open and have people exposed to it. The real question is: What do we want people to see?


The Serious Need For Play By Melinda Wenner

• Childhood play is crucial for social, emotional, and cognitive development.
• Imaginitive and rambunctious free play is the most essential type

               ~Structured activities is far less beneficial that creative play

• "Kids and animals who do not play when they are young may grow into anxious, socially maladjusted kids."
• Play provides skills that help to survive and reproduce

             ~Now its structured play

• Play provides mental and physical well-being to adults too, although they may practive free play as frequently.

Freedom Counts

• Play does not have rules
• Creative aspect is a key thing

               ~ Play should not have a clear goal or any set rules
Face Time

• Social Skills Obtained

                   -Kids wont give up as easily
                   -Better communication

• Lack of play= lack of social class

Stress Relief

• Play helps to relieve stress and anxiety Calms people down.
• I know that this is true at least for me.

Play to the Head of the Class

• Makes kids smarter

                   ~For example, if kids fight while they play, they learn how to solve probblems at an 
                      early age.

• Kids gain many learning experiences

" Curiosity, imagination, and creativity are like muscles: if you don't use them, you
                                                                                                                                              lose them."

Socratic Seminar Discussion Notes

Adults may not be capable of "free play" even though they would greatly benefit from this

• Why? Adults become self conscious and too aware of what they are doing. 

Everyone needs to find their own unique way to play and show off their creativity. 

• My idea of play for me is singing. More specifically I  make up my own songs. 

"Let your mind run wild" 

-School has created an idea of what learning is. This had made it so that kids associate learning with school. This is not necessarily true because learning takes place not just in school. Learning can be learning of anything that interests you. 

Ask 'why?'  !!!

This is something that humans lose as they grow older they stop asking why things are the way they are and just accept things as they come.


                            Reflection Paragraphs


I am one of those people who have found school to boring. It has lost my interest a little. After grades do not matter I need to put more into practice the idea of asking 'why.' I need to search what it is that captures my interests and not be afraid to ask the questions that I want to know the answers to. I believe that going off to college will give me a fresh perspective on learning and help me to discover what it is that I would like to spend the rest of my life doing. 


Dr. Preston mentioned that Matt Sigisi nailed the speech because he found in it something to love about it. I need to do this for the AP exam. Maybe not find something that I like about it  but something that I do well on it. This will motivate me and help me to maybe even look forward to taking the exam. If I feel confident about one aspect of the exam, I will feel more confident about the entire test itself. 


Encouraging others to ask questions and even answers others' questions would be a good way to exchange information. As the video illustrated, the internet is a great medium for the exchange of information. We are already using it to a great extent through all our blog work. Finding new ways to expand our creativity and yet learning from it and teaching at the same time is also a good way to exchange information.  We are already doing this through the Collaborative Working Groups. 

Remixing the Remix

Nine Poetry Elements: Mnemonic Device

One (bun): Buns are dramatic- Dramatic Situation
Two (shoe): Run with shoes, need techniques to run well- Literary Techniques/Elements
Three(Tree): I like trees, this will be the theme in my room-Theme
Four (Door): Diction Door- Diction/Important Words
Five(Hive): Bees are in a hive, they're parasites, parasites sounds like-Prosody 
Six(Sticks): You need to align sticks to make a building, have good structure-Structure
Seven(Heaven): The angels in heaven sing with a beautiful tone-Tone
Eight(Gate): There are signs on gates, the words on the signs need to be spelled correctly-Grammar and Spelling
Nine(Mine): When you say something is yours you use figurative language-Figurative Language

Remix the textbook

        Sonnet 69 by Pablo Neruda


Maybe nothingness is to be without your presence,
without you moving, slicing the noon
like a blue flower, without you walking
later through the fog and the cobbles,
without the light you carry in your hand,
golden, which maybe others will not see,
which maybe no one knew was growing
like the red beginnings of a rose.
In short, without your presence: without your coming
suddenly, incitingly, to know my life,
gust of a rosebush, wheat of wind:
since then I am because you are,
since then you are, I am, we are,
and through love I will be, you will be, we'll be.

• Since the author is a man, I am assuming the speaker is a man and is talking about a woman. There is only one speaker that speaks throughout the entire poem. The speaker is in love. [Sonnets are usually about love]
• The poem structure is first a statement "Nothingness is..." from then on it states a lot of metaphors and similes about what it feels like to be without "her." The poem is concluded with him stating that he cannot live without her.
• The main theme in the novel is "lack of love." More specifically, what it would feel like without love.
• The author uses a lot of commas to separate the different metaphors and similes.
• The poem mainly consists of similes and metaphors. 
• The diction in this poem is not formal but very lyrical. 
• The tone of the poem is romantic, jovial, and sincere.
• The main literary technique used in this poem is, as I have stated already, metaphors and similes. 
• There does not seem to be an apparent rhyming scheme in the poem.

Sonnet 89 by Pablo Neruda

 
When I die, I wish your hands upon my eyes:
I want the light and the wheat of your beloved hands
to pass once more their cool touch over me:
to sense the softness that changed my fate.

I want you to live while I, asleep, await you.
I want your ears to go on hearing the wind.
I want you to smell the sea's aroma we loved so together,
and to go on walking the sands we walked.

I want what I love to go on living.
And you, whom I loved and sung above all else,
for all that, flourish again, my flower,

to reach for everything my love demands of you,
so that my shadow is passed through your hair,
so that all can know the reason for my song.

• Once again, I am assuming that the speaker is a man. He also refers to the person he is talking about as "flower." Women are usually referred to as flowers. There is one speaker throughout the entire poem.
• The poem structure is that the author first presents the thesis of the poem- What he wants to happen when he dies. The rest if the poem is just stating what he wants to happen.
• The main theme in the novel is love after death. Again, love is the major theme. 
• The author uses a lot of punctuation to separate his ideas.
• The diction the poem is written in is once again very lyrical, poetic, and melodious. 
• The tone in the poem is bittersweet. Bittersweet because he knows he will have to die and leave his love behind.
• The main literary technique used is apostrophe. He is addressing the woman that he loves in this poem and telling her what he wants her to do once he is dead. 
• The poem does not have a set rhyming scheme. 

She Walks In Beauty by George Gordon

She walks in beauty, like the night

   Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that’s best of dark and bright

   Meet in her aspect and her eyes;

Thus mellowed to that tender light

   Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,

   Had half impaired the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,

   Or softly lightens o’er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express,

   How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,

   So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

   But tell of days in goodness spent,

A mind at peace with all below,

   A heart whose love is innocent!

• The speaker is a man-he is talking about a beautiful woman and describes her beauty throughout the entire poem. There is only one speaker that talks throughout the entire poem.
• The poem is divided into three stanzas  all of which have a rhyming scheme. 
• The main theme of the poem is love as it pertains with a beautiful woman. 
• This author ends most of his lines in commas, this separates all of his ideas (how the woman is beautiful).
• The diction in this poem is colloquial and not too formal. It easy to follow and read. 
• The tone of this poem is very sincere, romantic, and uplifting.
• The main literary technique used frequently is imagery. The author effectively paints the image of a beautiful woman. 
• The poem has an ABAB rhyming scheme.

Remix the curriculum.

1. Remix the curriculum.  Using whatever tools you want (from pen/paper to your own computer software to social media platforms--blogs, mindmaps, Facebook etc.), remix the Dickens lectures and/or poetry analysis lectures.  "Remix" means tell the story in a different medium in such a way that it makes more sense to you.







'

   

This video illustrates the characters in all of Dickens' novels and himself. All of the bad characters in his novels represent what he did not want to become and the good represent what he wanted to become or hoped he already was. In Great Expectations, Joe represents what he wanted to be (live by feeling) and Jaggers represents what he did not want to be



I had some trouble with iambic pentameter....this video helped a lot!

Literary Analysis #5: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read.
This novel is about a young girl named Pecola. From a young age she believes that the only way to be beautiful and be accepted is to have blue eyes like all of her dolls and Shirley Temple. Her entire life she's only known that she is ugly. She is made fun of by many of the kids at her school and has never been called beautiful. Both her parents have a difficult life and together have a violent relationship that then transpires onto Pecola's life. Her confused and angry father, Cholly, rapes Pecola and leaves her pregnant. Pecola then goes to see Soaphead Church. She asks him to make her eyes blue. This man has been wanting to kill a dog but was not able to do it. He then asks Pecola to feed him a poisoned piece of meat. If the dog reacts to the piece of meat, she will be granted her wish. The dog has some convulsions and then dies. Pecola then fleas thinking she has  blue eyes. Everyone in the town is talking about her pregnancy and how they want it to die. Claudia, one of the narrators, and her sister are the only ones that want the baby to live. The baby is born prematurely and dies. Pecola thinks that people are avoiding her because they are jealous of her blue eyes. In reality, they ignore her because they are disgusted by her. The novel ends with Pecola talking to a friend who is not there, thinking she has blue eyes. 


2.Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches
The theme that I found to be the most prominent  is the need to feel beautiful or beauty in general. I think that if Pecola had just one time heard that she was beautiful, she would have been saved from her fate. She did not feel beautiful and because of this she felt she did not deserve to be happy.


3. Describe the author's tone. Include three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).
This novel is  a tragedy. It does not end in the death of any of the main characters but does end with the demise of the protagonist Pecola. The tone of the novel remains consistent-depressing, serious, and melancholy. 

• "Cholly Breedlove is dead; our innocence too. The seeds shriveled and died; her baby too."
• "...all the world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl treasured. 'Here,' they said, 'this is beautiful, and if you are on this day 'worthy' you may have it.'"
• "Thrown, in this way, into the binding conviction that only a miracle could relieve her, she would never know her beauty. She would only see what there was to see" the eyes of other people."

4. Describe five literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the theme and/or your sense of the tone. Include three excerpts that will help your reader understand each one.


1.)One literary technique that Morrison used is point of view. There are three different narrations that I picked up throughout the novel. There is Claudia, third person omniscient, and at the very end Pecola. They all offer different perspectives on what beauty is. The third person point of view is able to narrate Pecola's parents' lives. Caludia could not have offered this  information. This passage is in third person omniscient:

• The pieces of Cholly's life could become coherent only in the head of a musician....Only a musician would sense, know, without even knowing that he knew that Cholly was free. Free to feel whatever he felt-fear, guilt, shame, love, grief,pity.

2.)Irony was also a major element, this was through the names she chose. For example the last name Breedlove for Pecula and her family. If you break it apart to 'breed' and 'love' it literally means to make love or produce it. It is ironic because Pecola's family did not bring any love or comfort to her. Names play a significant role in the novel. Pecola means to rarely experience tranquility and also to appreciate beauty. Cholly means a strong, free man (refer to passage on point of view).

3.)There is one important allusion in the novel. It is a reference to "Dick and Jane." Dick and Jane, in the eyes of Pecola are the epitome of beauty. They are happy and are part of the perfect family and everything Pecola wishes to have.

• "Here is the family. Mother, Father, Dick, Jane, live in the green-and- white house. They are very happy."

4.) The author also uses a lot of direct and indirect characterization. The direct characterization is used when describing the appearance of the characters. The author had a vivid idea of what she wanted her characters to look like and really wanted that to come across. This passage again shows why Pecola yearned to be beautiful. 

• "It was as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given each one a cloak of ugliness to wear, and they had each accepted it without question" 

5.) The author also uses a lot of symbolism throughout the novel. The most important symbol in the novel is the pair of blue eyes. Blue eyes represent everything that Pecola ever wanted: beauty and acceptance. The significance of this symbol is proved because it is the title itself. 

Open Essay Questions: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

1990 Choose a novel or play that depicts a conflict between a parent (or a
parentalfigure) and a son or daughter. Write an essay in which you analyze the
sourcesof the conflict and explain how the conflict contributes to the meaning of
thework. Avoid plot summary. You may base you essay...
In the novel The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, the protagonist Pacola maintains an unhealthy relationship with her parents. The author narrates both of the parents' lives to help explain some of the reproach that they feel for their daughter. Both of the parents' childhood explain why they neglect and abuse Pacola. Another contributing factor to their conflicted relationship is Pacolas "ugliness." Pacola's crumbled relationship with her parents contributes to the theme of the necessity of feeling needed and wanted.


1995 Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using
characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender,
race, class, or creed. Choose a play or novel in which such a character plays a
significant role, and show how that character’s alienation reveals the
surrounding society’s assumptions and moral values. Do NOT write on a short
story, poem, or film. You may choose from the following...An American
Tragedy,The Awakening, A Doll House, The Grapes of Wrath, Great
Expectations, JaneEyre, The Merchant of Venice, Middlemarch, Othello, Wise
Blood....
In the novel The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, the protagonist Pacula is alienated because of her race and her overall appearance. Pacula feels that she is not accepted because she is black and does not have the stereotypical blue eyes of an American. This goes on to show that in this particular part in history, blue eyes and blonde hair was considered beauty. Anything that was not that was considered "ugly." Pacula accepted blue eyes as beauty because it was what she had been exposed to as a young child through her doll toys. She felt that she lived in a society where you were only accepted if you were beautiful, this meant having blue eyes.
1971      The significance of a title such as The Adventures of Huckleberry 
Finn is easy to discover.  However, in other works the full significance of the
title becomes apparent to the reader only gradually.  Choose two works and
show how the significance of their respective titles is developed through
the author's use of devices such as contrast, repetition, allusion, and
point of view.
Throughout the course of the novel The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison it is constantly mentioned that having blue eyes was the "ideal beauty." This is not obvious throughout the beginning of the novel but by the end of the novel the title itself becomes the most prominent symbol in the novel. The bluest eye represents beauty and the key to being accepted into society. Morrison develops the significance of this title through the repetition of it as a symbol throughout the course of the novel and through the various points of view used throughout the novel.  

Poetry Analysis: Immigrants In Our Own Land by Jimmy Santiago Baca

My overall impression of the poem is that it is about immigrants who come to the United States, or any country that isn't theirs. They leave their country with expectations but in the end, those expectations result into nothing. The only realization that they come to is that things have "changed." The author delivers this message by comparing those who go to a new land to those in prison.


1.)There is one speaker and that speaker is one of the people in the prison. He is a male, I am making the assumption that he is a man (he also describes his boxer shorts drying, not something women wear). The speaker speaks throughout the entire poem. 
2.) I think that each stanza is a different part of the poem because each describes different things. 

• The first part of the poem is describing the situation of those who came to another land and their social status in their native land
• The second part of the poem describes their expectations of the new world but what actually waits them once they are there. 
• The third part explains why they left their land and how the land they are in now is not much different-"it's all concentrated."
• The fourth part is more directly through what the speaker sees in the "prison." It again reinstates the idea that everything is in bad conditions and not much different from the "other world."
• The fifth stanza introduces the concept of a cycle in the poem: New people will always come and each will have the same expectations....
• The last stanza introduces the reality of things. The expectations that the people came with will shatter. Most of the things that they had hoped for will never come true. Some will leave, but they will leave different people.  A lot of them may amount to nothing. In the end, the people who left their land will realize that everything has changed. 

3.)The main theme that resonates throughout the entire poem is expectations versus reality. The immigrants come 

"each with their heart hoping they'll get a chance to change their lives." The reality is that hardly anybody will achieve their goals and aspirations.

4.)

5.) The main image created in this poem is the comparison of immigrants entering a new land to that of people going into prison. Essentially, they are entering what will become their prison. This image is created very vividly through the metaphor of a prison.

6.)Diction is also plays a major role in the poem. An example is, "My cell is crisscrossed with laundry lines..." A prison cell does not have this but the fact that he uses "cell" instead of home contributes to the image of a prison. 

7.)The beginning of the poem begins with a hopeful tone: "We are born with dreams in our hearts/looking for better days ahead..." By the end of the novel it is a more serious and almost depressing tone. "In the end some will just sit around...."

8.) This poem is written in free verse, it has no particular rhyme. As already mentioned, imagery and metaphors are a key component in the poem. There is also the use of the motif of a prison, this can also be considered an extended metaphor as well. The point of view is from someone who lives in the prison. 

9.) The poem has no particular rhyme to it. It flows nicely through the use of commas and semicolons. 

Poetry Analysis: Elements of Poetry

1.Dramatic Situation
    - Speaker
           ~Male, Female, how many, era, duration, circumstances (where?)


2.)Structure
     - parts of the poem
     -Where ideas start and begin
          ~syntax [not necessarily where lines end]


3.)Theme
    -For example, not just love but what kind of love
4.)Grammar and Meaning
5.)Images and Figure of Speech
    -Senses (smell, touch, fee, etc.)
    -Figurative and Literal
6.)Important Words
      -Diction
7.)Tone
       -More Essay
       -"attitude author feels towards subject"
       -Atmosphere: mood inherit in story
8.)Literary Devices/Techniques
9.)Prosody

The patterns of rhythm and sound used in poetry The theory or study of these patterns, or the rules governing them The patterns of stress and intonation in a language