Lit Anal Video Remix

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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