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.