Core Concept #3 (12/13/10-1/10/11)

Core Concepts (12/13/10-1/10/11)

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead

Information from “Lecture on Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead”:

l       Traditional drama has action goes through conflicts as characters try to solve this problem and in the end, conflictions resolved in the end. It also has this idea of “horizon of significance” which is a

l       Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead, however, is completely different than the traditional play. It has conflicts that are not resolved in the conclusion; does not have “horizon of significance”, and it is mostly dominant from the confusions that are created throughout the play.

l       Theatre of the Absurd:

 -Does not have any horizon significance

  -Does not have logic nor confidence about memory and space and time. Sometimes, even characters are not sure of their own identities.

  -Characters cannot understand the world.

-Characters trying to deal with this world are also absurd.

-Often, the emphasis on verbal humor is one of the major attractions of Absurdist Theatre.

-Another example of this is “The love song of J. Alfred Prufock” by Eliot. The speaker in this poem is confused about the romance

Connection: Simpson episode often include verbal humor that is funny; homer and Margie are great example of it. They often don’t understand each other, Margie being the one who is intelligent and Homer the one who seems to be confused about everything.

Death of a Salesman:

In class, we have discussed several things about this play. Few of the things that we have discussed were…

l        The difference between “being loved” and “being well-liked”

l        Willy being a kid even though he is old enough to be a grandfather.

Connections: Peter Griffin, one of the main characters in the TV show called “Family Guy”, often acts like a kid even though he is a father of three kids. For example, he acts immature around his daughter by pulling pranks and joking about her new boyfriend.

l        Is Linda actually a “parent” model for Willy rather than a wife?

l        Relationship between father and son

Connections: Hamlet and Oedipus Rex, plays that we have read doing the class, also stresses the relationship between father and son; the passing of knowledge or power to sons.

l        Willy and his American Dream: Willy wanted to be a successful salesman even though he was good with hands such as planting a garden and fixing house. His unachievable American Dream may have caused his downfall.

Connections: Last year, in American Literature class, I learned the Romanticism, which stresses nature over city, urban areas, human. Since Willy was good with hands and that he kept complaining about his apartment being small, big tree being gone, and not being able to see the sky because of huge apartments suggest the aspect of Romanticism.

Assignments:

l        Annotate and finish reading the Death of a Salesman due Jan 3^rd.

l        Core Concepts and Outside Reading due Jan 10th

l        Comment 3 times on “Father” forum due Jan 10^th.

l        Comment 3 times on “Tragedy” forum

l        “Lecture on Stoppard” reading due on December 14^th.

Outside Reading #3:Editorial (December 29th, 2010)

He found bag of cash, but did the unexpected.

Written by Marc Lacey

Published on December 11th, 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/us/12backpack.html

This story is about a guy named Dave Tally, an honest homeless guy, returned the bag of cash that he had founded back to its owner. Then the whole town praises him for it and it completely transformed his life. It seems to me that Lacey's purpose of writing this essay is to show the appreciation of Dave Tally. He creates a voice and narrative persona by using a variety of literary terms.

For example, Lacey clearly praises him as a hero by using positive diction. He describes him as a “homeless hero” instead of using “a guy who did good deeds”, in which seems to be less sympathy to Tally’s action.  He also uses the word “selflessness” and “inspiration” to describe Tally’s actions.  This seems to be the strength of this piece, using strong dictions to persuade people to like Tally. However, the weakness of this reading is a lack of vocabulary words. It only contains simple words.

In addition, he uses syntax. He uses punctuations after punctuations such as “Food. Shelter. Repairs to his bicycle”, using period as segmented patterns, thus creating a positive tone. Also, he uses active voice such as using “gave the backpack” instead of “backpack was given by him”, showing more clarity. In addition, he separates the quotation in order to create a small tension so that audience can guess what the rest of quotation is. For instance, he quotes Mr.Belanger, a guy who lost money; Belanger states Lacey’s action as “humbling,” Then Lacey creates a little break by adding fact rather than Belanger’s quotation”. Lacey also seems to use active voice rather than passive voice, thus making this reading more clear.

These elements that the author had used made me appropriate this homeless hero named Dave Tally. It made me believe that his action was one hundred percent selfish and that he deserves a round of applause for his selfish action. I do hope that he will become a successful man some day. Lacey convinced me to believe that Tally is really a hero. Strong diction choice such as “homeless hero” and “selfness” made me feel sympathy towards Tally. I laud Lacey for using various techniques to support his position on this editorial reading. It shows his position very clearly.

The speaker in this reading would be appropriate for an AP essay since it is formal and uses various syntax and diction to supplement the tone.

Core Concept #2 (11/29/10-12/10/10)

For past two weeks, we have discussed explicitly on Hamlet. 

Some of the things we have discussed were:

• Did Ophelia even care about Hamlet? Some people argued that since Ophelia decided not to help Hamlet when he was in emotional distress because of losing of his father and the fact that his mom remarrying his uncle, she did not have a feeling for Hamlet. Also, when Hamlet came to Ophelia, holding her waists and sighing, then walked away, Ophelia did not go after him. Instead, she went directly to her father. In addition, when Hamlet asked Ophelia where her father was when they were talking, Ophelia replied that her father was in the home, instead of giving him a signal that his father was hidden in the room.

Connections: In Oedipus, Oedipus's mother, or also known as his wife, seems to not care about her son at all. In fact, she decided to abandon him on the mountain. No mother will ever do that cruel thing to her own son

• Was Ophelia pregnant? There are sufficient amount of evidences to state that Ophelia was indeed pregnant when she drown herself. For example, she sang a song about the dead violets, which seem to convey the message of losing innocent. Also, in Elizabethan time, an unmarried and pregnant woman often drowned herself in the water.

• Does it even matter if everyone thinks the Hamlet exactly same way?: In certain Africa tribes, they thought Hamlet differently than most European Countries. For example, one of the tribes thought that the Laetes killed Ophelia, which is surely not to be agreed upon in Okemos High School’s English classes.

Connections: My grandmother strongly believes that the Huckleberry Finn is racist even though he was the one who saved Jim, the slave. I have tried to convince her that that is not the case but she is stubborn with her decison. We don't exactly share the values same way.


We have watched three film versions of Hamlet. One of the films that we watched carried a certain message: Hamlet is gay. For example, when the ghost Hamlet appeared, Hamlet laid upon the Horatio’s lap.

Homework

-Ophelia Forum due on December 2nd

-Ophelia Forum part 2 due on December 3rd

-"Shakespeare in the Bush" due on December 5th
-"Shakespeare in the Bush" part 2 due on December 6th

-Journal Evaluations due on December 6th.

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Core Concepts Journal #1: Resubmitted (11/15/10- 11/29/10)

AP Multiple Choice Questions:

Strategy #1: Know what you are supposed to do.

l       READ VERY CAREFULLY AND SLOWLY

l       Read the passage FIRST before answering the questions.

Strategy #2: Know your enemy

There are generally five structures of the multiple choice questions:

1)      Rhetorical Function: What’s author’s purpose of sentence, group of sentences, whole paragraph, or line/stanza of poetry in relation to the rest of the piece.

Ex: Between in lines 50 and 75 and between lines 34 and 35, there is a shift from…

2)      Context: It is like a vocabulary text, asking the meaning of a word used in the context of a passage. Must choose the meanings well so that it can be fit into the passage.

 Ex) In line 56, the word “fat” describes the…

3)      Antecedent: It is almost always can be seen in poetry. Asks which antecedent the quoted word is referring to. IT IS USUALLY NOT THE MOST OBVIOUS ONES CLOSED TO THE QUOTED WORD, HOWEVER.

Ex) All of the following appear to shed tears or be filled with tears EXCEPT the…

4)      Style: Global kind of question (Answer that is better, the most time consuming one). Asks the styles that author has chose to made such as shift in the one’s style.

Ex) The grandmother and the child in the poem are portrayed primarily through…

5)      Tone: (Also global questions. If one part of answer is wrong, the other part of it is wrong). Asks to identify the tone of the passage or a selection from the passage.

Ex) The mood of this poem is best described as…

Connections between this and my own experience: I have found out that the questions appeared on the AP English and Literature exams were similar to those on the ACT and SAT. They both have questions about certain vocubary words and ask for main ideas. Thus, it is wise to study ACT and SAT as well as AP English and Literature exam.

AP ESSAY

For past English classes, I have learned to write only one sentence for thesis. But now I know that I can write more than one sentences for thesis statement. In addition, I also learned that even though the prompt does not explicitly state about “hidden” so what questions, I have to mention it. 

http://www.collegeconfidential.com/ is the great site to prepare for the AP English and Literature exam. It gives the readers about what to expect and how to prepare for the test.

 

Hamlet

(I'm sorry for disorganize paragraph below; i have no idea how to fix it)

-         The original story was Norse legend, written on 1200 AD by Saxo Grammaticus.

-         Shakespeare used Norse legend  play by Thomas Kyd, which is called Ur-Halmet

-         Original ending: Hamlet takes revenge against his uncle and becomes the new king. He doesn’t die.

-         Hamlet’s original name is Amleth.

-         Seneca is the type of Roman tragedy that Shakespeare used in his play, Hamlet.

-         Characteristics of Seneca are:

1.        Son’s revenge for a father’s murder

2.        Murder is revealed by protagonists ghosts

3.        Revenge results from conscious and focused action

-         The some of the plots of Seneca includes:

-The hero’s hesitation                    

-The hero’s insanity (either real or pretended)

-The hero’s contemptation of Suicide

-Multiple levels of intrigue

-An able scheming villain

-The sensationalized of murder on state or the exhibition of dead bodies.

Managing the dynamics of revenge, audiences encounter

-         The offense, which can be maximized by the multiplication of injuries and the adding of insult.

-         The antagonist, most effectively some really formidable (But still vulnerable) person or force.

-         Clarification of strategy and marshalling of resources.

-         A series of delays, obstacles, diversions, mistakes, reservations- anything to retard the momentum.

-         Some unforeseen development that almost thwarts the scheme.

-         The showdown, with the revenge carried out in some answerable.

Connections between this and the older materials: Oedipus, which is the main character of the Oedipus Rex, is similar to Hamlet. For example, their downfalls were technically created by their parents. For example, if Oedipus's parents decided not to abandon Oedipus in the forest, Oedipus's downfall could have avoided. In addition, if Hamlet's uncle didn't kill Hamlet's father, Hamlet would not have planned to kill Hamlet's uncle. Also, it is arguable that faiths had controlled their lives. Hamlet admitted in the end that his life depended on faith. Oedipus at first tried to avoid the faith, but in the end, the faith won.

-During the class, we have discussed Hamlet. We have concluded that one of the themes in Hamlet is that he is chained to be a king and not be anyone else. Even his name is chained, since it is named after the prior kings. He is nobody. Thus, it can be seen that the Denmark is prison.

-This book seems to hold beliefs that ghosts are not holy. In the first scene, the guards wanted to throw the spear at the ghost of king and referred to him as “it”, not “him.”

Homework:
-Core concepts
-Comment on the first scene of Hamlet
-Finish Core Concepts
-Finish class notes and outside readings by November 15th.
-Finish the final draft of drama essay

Class note #7: Resubmitted (11/8/10-11/12/10)

Class Notes #7

11.08.10- 11.12.10.

Tips for writing AP Essay:

-Read prompt CAREFULLY before writing about it. Some students have written the essays before reading prompt carefully, thus losing the credit. That’s why College Board has decided to give us 5 minutes to read the prompt.

-Identify and underline (or highlight) the goals that are stated in the prompt

l       Make it routine to figure out the prompt and stick to it.

l        T (Thesis)

l        A (Answers)

l        P (Prompt)

-Do not restate the prompt. For example, if a given prompt was “How the author uses diction to create happy tone in his work?” do not write “Author seems create happy tone in his work by using diction.

-When the literature elements are given, it is best for students to include those elements in their essays.

-Meanings= theme; functions= techniques.

- Even when the prompt does not explicitly state about the “hidden so what question”, make sure that you answer it. It is an essential piece to the essay.

-You may want to discuss techniques to support your argument.

For example, here is the prompt.

The meaning of some literary works is often enhanced by sustained allusion to myths, the bible, or other works of literature. Select a literary work that makes se of such a sustained reference. Then write a well-organized essay in which you explain the allusion that predominates in the work and analyze how it enhances the work’s meaning.

Good Thesis: In ____’s ____, the premonitory biblical allusion to Noah’s Ark gives the ____ theme a deeper meaning and familiar meanings to general Christian thus trying to illustrate that “God is all thing” ß states the hidden so what question

http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/thesis_statement.shtml is a great website that shows how to write good thesis.

http://www.collegeconfidential.com/ is the great site to learn how the ap exams work and give tips to be successful at AP exams.

Connections between this material and my own experience: I have been writing thesis statements sincce 6th grade and have learned great amounts of knowledge. One of the things that i have learend during the englass classes i had was to write my thoughts and opinions on the paper and then combine those ideas into thesis statement. Also, i learned that it is important to put the theme in thesis statements, which is similar to "hidden so what question?"

We have also discussed Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex.

-One of the topics that were intensely debated on was free will vs. faith. We argued about whether the Oedipus had free will to determine not to kill father or did he not have that at all since he had been destined to kill his father anyway.

-We have also talked about Freud, who created the “Oedipus Complex”, which states the unconscious of son/daughters desiring their parents (like a lover). This theory developed when he saw Oedipus marrying his mom and having children. He stated that the sons/daughters whom had physical and emotional comforts by their parents ended up loving their parents. Son would love his mom and daughter would love her dad. However, it is wrong to assume that this theory is correct since Oedipus's real mom made him stay in the mountain.The one who provided these to Oedipus was fake mom and shand she was the only who provided emotinal and physical comfort to Oedipus, thus counter exampling Freud’s argument.

Homework

- Outside Readings and Class notes due on November 15th.

-Hamlet annotaitons due on November 22nd

Works Cited

-http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/thesis_statement.html: website to show how to write good thesis

http://www.collegeconfidential.com/ is the great site to learn how the ap exams work and give tips to be successful at AP exams.

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Outside Reading #2: Reflective Essay 11.14.10

Outside Reading #2: Reflective Essay

A veteran’s story by Robert Friendland

http://www.pifmagazine.com/1998/04/a-veterans-story/

Written on 4.1.98

A veteran’s story by Robert Friendland is about a son who discusses the war in which his dad had participated. He explains that his dad did not talk about the war often. At the end of the essay, he discusses how he should have received war medals for doing a good deed.

One of the strengths that I see in this piece is syntax. He often uses active voice instead of passive voice, which is essential piece to any essays. He also uses various beginning sentences instead of using “the” or “I”, which makes his essay more professional.

One weakness that I have found in this piece is lack of diction. He rarely uses well-diction, making his essay less professional.

I saw various writing techniques that I have learned in AP English Literature class so far. One of the examples of this is syntax; Friendland uses active voice instead of passive voice. Also, imagery can be seen throughout this essay. For example, he describes a looter Philippine boy’s running as stride, rather than using the word “running” or “jumping fast”, thus creating this vivid imagery of the boy running.

Friendland seems to adopt mixed tone in this piece. At first, he seems to be apathy about father’s experience in the war.  He creates this tone by describing his father’s experience in the war. He describes how his dad was working under the Signal Corp and that he ended up being a master sergeant, without offering much excitement or kindness. However, towards the end of this essay, Friendland states that when he was young, he did not think his dad of a hero when the dad did not shoot a Philippines looter boy. Later on, he learned that his dad’s act was very humane. To conclude his sentence, he says that there should be a medal for not killing a poor Philippines boy who tried to support himself, showing his feelings toward the act. This clearly shows the feeling of sympatric for Friendland’s father.  

His variations of tones have affected my response to the content of the piece. I can see clearly that his thinking and feelings toward his dad’s experience at war have changed throughout his life. I laud him for using this tone, showing that he has matured from his boyhood thinking.

I think that this piece’s tone is not appropriate for AP essay tone because it is mixed between apathy and sympathy. It is encouraged that a writer should stick to one tone that he or she has chosen.

Outside Reading #2: Book Review 11.07.10

Outside Reading #2: Book Review

Isn’t it Rich by Paul Simon

Published on 10.27.10

The book: Finishing the Hat by Stephen Sondheim

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/books/review/Simon-t.html?ref=books

Paul Simon starts his review by explaining what the book’s title means. He explains that the title came from the song, “Sunday in the park with George”, and then it gives details about the book itself and how he comes to enjoy the book.

The critical perspective in this work seems to be Formalism for Simon only discusses the details of the book such as quotes and plot rather than explaining the background of the author or history.

I see dictions that illustrate Simon’s feelings toward the book. For instance, he describes the book as “fascinating”, which is a positive word. He could have used the negative word such as “terrible” or “awful to denounce the book. Also, I see syntax in this piece. For example, there is a variety of sentences such as conjugating and complex. He also starts his beginning sentences with variety. For instance, he uses the word “after” to start the sentence other than “the”. 

One of the strengths that I see in this piece is numerous evidences to support his position. He praises the book then often cites the exempts from it to support it. He also relates his own experiences from the musical, “West Side Story” to praise the book, thus telling his own experience rather than adding reluctant examples. In addition, he adds his own thoughts to the details of the book such as humming a song.

A weakness that I have found in this piece is switching point of view. Paul Simon switches from the third point of view to first point of view. For example, he starts the sentence with “I”. He should have chosen one point of view and stick to that.

I see a connection between this piece and the materials that I learned in US America History four years ago. In that class, I learned about roaring twenties, the time period where people started to play jazz, sing songs, and great musicals, filling the lives of people with excitement. This piece is similar to this for the book also covers about musical and songs. It also talks about how they were fascinating and filled people with entertainment.

Overall, I laud Simon for staying on topic and supporting his position with his own experience and numerous examples.  He includes great diction and syntax. Even though he made mistakes with switching the point of views sometimes, this book review is a great piece that everyone should look at.