AP Lit. Term

Paradox- a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or 

absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth

 

• A statement contrary to received opinion

• An opinion that conflicts with common belief

• Contradictory qualities or phases

Examples:

• It is a paradox that computers need maintenance so often, since they are meant to save people time and energy

• The swiftest traveler is he that goes afoot.

Thinking Outside the Box

In  "Allegory of the Cave", Plato describes a group of people chained together, whom believe what they see and experience to be truth due to that being all they have known. Plato describes people unable to think for themselves, because hey have been merely confined from knowledge and reject new ways of thinking and ideas.  When the man is able to go out of the cave and learn of other things, no one believes him. We tend to reject new things, which is ultimately what is holding us back from blossoming.

Sarte described in, "No Exit," the experiences of three people in hell. These people don't come to the terms of being in hell because their expectations of hell are much different than their experiences. They unconsciously decide not to help each other figure out what is going on. Instead they create a personal hell, and begin torturing each other. These stories are similar in their characters struggles. They are unable or unwilling to figure out their problems and reach out into new possibilities and knowledge.

 Sartre and Plato use different writing techniques and to get there message and purpose to the audience. Plato’s allegory uses dialogue within the story to illustrate his ideas. The people are limited to their thoughts not by force, but because it is their own personal choice. The “shackles” in the story represent the characters themselves, and even after the man escaped and came back to teach them, they refused his knowledge. The problem of the people isn't that they are incompetent  but that they  refuse to branch out and grasp knew knowledge presented before them. Humanity tends to set their own limitations.
 Sartre's writing on the other hand uses an actual conversation between characters  to set the tone and theme in action. In a similar way, the characters in, "No Exit" have there own limitations they have set, but also have been set for them. They perceive hell to be a certain way and don't even think twice to look for the answer.The limitations being set for them being them being placed there without a further word of instruction.

There are such distinction in the writings of these author, and yet they have a similar purpose. The purpose being the limitations we set or have been set on the human mind.

The House on Mango Street

1.The House on Mango Street is about a young girl named Esperanza who has moved with her family into a house on Mango Street. The family is of Mexican heritage and struggles economically. Esperanza does not understand her family struggles and ultimately resists the move. The time span of the novel was her first year living on Mango Street, and Esperanza speaks nothing but negative things to the town, house, and people living on the street. Within that year it is seen Esperanza making new friends, Rachel and Lucy, whom she always fights with yet can not separate from. Within the novel it is seen Esperanza ultimately maturing into a young lady. Her feelings of the move has not changed, but ultimately finds other things to think about. She  fantasizes about boys and discusses leaving the town to find love. Esperanza finds a friend named Sally whom has the same wishes. With influence from Sally, Esperanza begins to feel neglected by her family and wants to leave Mango Street more than ever before.  As the time came, Esperanza feels that it's time for her to leave home on Mango Street but she just can not bring herself to do so. She looks to writing as an escape. She writes to avoid the truth that she'll never be able to leave Mango Street.
  2. The theme of the novel is the fight between physical and mental decisions. Throughout the novel Esperanza wants to grow up and be like the other older kids she observes on Mango Street. Though she does not want to live there she wants what the other kids have. Esperanza fight the physical decision to leave Mango Street. When the time came for her to do so, sh couldn't follow through. From the beginning Esperanza wished to leave and make a life of her own away from Mango Street. She comes to the conclusion that she is physically and mentally unable without he family.

• Someday I will have a best friend all my own. One I can tell my secrets to. One who will understand my jokes without my having to explain them. Until then I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor. (3.4)

• When I am to sad and too skinny to keep keeping, when I am a tiny thing against so many bricks, then it is I look at trees. […] Four who reach and do not forget to reach. Four whose only reason is to be and be. (29.4)

  3.Sandra Cisneros's tone in the novel is desirable, hopeful and earnest. You see this in the novel when Esperanza hopes to to leave Mango Street, the reasons for it, and how to make it possible. It is made clear that Esperanza dislikes Mango Street and is tired of seeing the families in a wealthier, more comfortable lifestyle than her.
  4.Sandra Cisneros's uses various literary elements, being personification, similes, allusions, and hyperbole.

• "Sally is the girl with eyes like Egypt and nylons the color of smoke. The boys at school think she's beautiful because her hair is shiny black like raven feathers and when she laughs, she flicks her hair back like a satin shawl over her shoulders and laughs"

•  " They grow up and they grow down and grab the earth between their hairy toes and bite the sky with violent teeth and never quit their anger."

• "The kids bend trees and bounce between cars and dangle upside down from knees and almost break like fancy museum vases you can't replace."

Big Question.

Is there a genetic quality or environmental factor to
make someone more likely to commit murder?

Hamlet

   Performative utterance and self-overhearing play a major role in the play, Hamlet and its plot. Performative utterance, being the speaking of statements that fulfill an action rather describing the statement. Not only does his self-overhearing affect his choices, but impacts the other characters in the play.

  The whole plot of the play is dependent on Hamlet’s thoughts and decisions to act upon those thoughts. Hamlet as seen in his, “To be or not to be,” soliloquy was to show his indecisiveness about his decisions. Though, he does talk out his thoughts, what he wants to do, and how to proceed with it. This soliloquy gives us an insight to Hamlet’s inner workings

   

   When Hamlet speaks out loud it affects the plot because he not only gives us more insight but also foreshadows what is to come. We receive a glimpse of what a possibility could happen. With him saying these words out loud he not only helps the reader to see a clear picture, but is able to resolve his personal issues.

  That is where Hamlet’s and my own self-overhearing are similar. I feel my decisions are more clearer when they are spoken out loud and thoroughly. Without performative utterance things always have the possibility of turning out differently, and that is seen clearly. The plot might have turned out differently if Hamlet did not expose and think out his decisions. That is why it makes such a similar impact on our own lives.

Hamlet vs. Beowulf

When comparing novels, characters and character traits must also be compared. The novel is nothing more than its characters,and when it comes to Beowulf and Hamlet, the characters couldn't be any more different.  A few centuries apart, the novels were written in different styles and overall influences among the authors, which allowed room for differentiation.

In the poem of Beowulf, this heroic Beowulf was portrayed as a courageous warrior and a reliable king. His flaws were minuscule, but his ability and ambition was grand. Beowulf was a man, even in his young years, you wanted to protection from. As a king he was noble in his ways of protecting his kingdom from those who apposed a threat.

In contradiction we have a young Hamlet, who at a time in the play was very confused, mournful, and revengeful. He had many things weighing heavily on his head and he couldn't find a way to simply solve them out. When it came time for him to follow through with some of his decisions, it seems he was indecisive in his decisions he knew he must make. "To be or not to be." he begins his soliloquy. As young and inexperienced with near death situations as Hamlet was, he was well advanced in the understanding of possibilities in this world. He thought of situations and life decisions. As seen in the soliliquy, " To grunt and sweat, under a weary life, but that the dread of something after death." Hamlet had more than the ability to think through and make decisions for himself.

I think what makes Hamlet so much more different than Beowulf, is their life positions. Yes, they are both placed in a high society position, but their roles couldn't be any similar. Hamlet is a young man who lost his father, betrayed by his mother, looked to be killed by his uncle, and through all of this is alone. Beowulf on the other hand is a well known warrior/king who has fighting skills that allows him to fight against the monsters.

"The undiscovered country, from whose bourn no traveller returns, puzzles the will, and makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of?" Hamlet's struggles is much different than that of Beowulf's. In their speech alone it is seen their differences and overall demeanor is not similar.

AP English Literature

The concepts I will take from this class will be the general one taught about the internet. For years I have spent time on the computer without fully understanding this new technology that has brought us many beneficial things. There was no visible problem, so I never felt the need to question it. That wasn't until I enrolled in this class that is. Throughout the first couple of months, we began learning the underlying manipulation, and problems with the internet and the company of Google. I began to look to other things, and think of how other things may be run in the same way.  In a way, we began to re-learn how to use the internet.

This class has gone beyond the edges of the normal lesson plans of an average English class. Yes, this class is tough, hard work, and at times an all consumerist of time, but I feel its benefiting my peers and I. We have learned things we never questioned before, solely because that's been all we have known. We have tackled Hamlet, participated in  video conference with some of the most intelligent males, and I am sure there is more to come that will set us up to grow as individuals and prepare us for the years to come. We are learning lessons for life, rather for the upcoming test. I am now realizing the differences between my other classes and their routine lessons, and this class.

Roy Christopher video conference

Notes/Highlights

1. Medium Picture- Changing of life with technology
2. How can we train ourselves to participate in the network?

          -Sometimes we will, sometimes we won't
          -Learning the backhand isn't necessary. You don't need to know how
            the car works to drive it
          -Program or be programmed
     
      3."The older generation has no trust for the youth wit this stuff (new technology).
           People are smarter than you think they are."

      4.  Should we be embarrassed by our behavior or the older generation?
            -We should be embarrassed by their unwillingness to trust
            - The embarrassment should not and most likely will not stop the advances

      5.  Multitasking:
          -There is no multitasking. It is merely adjusting.
          -More complex than we try to make it
          -When focused on multiple tasks at a time, the quality plumets
  
The end is up to you.