Finishing Masterpiece's Essay

Alexus Wilson
Dr. Preston
AP English
9 June 2015
                                                   My Own Bildungsroman
                     
                       In the start of this year I had decided that I was going to be taking a full class schedule unlike my other classmates and actually be taking two English classes; this one and ERWC. Since the beginning of my existence I have always known that I've never been much of a writer and that I'd much rather be reading a piece that writing it. So to make myself better and to slightly torture myself I took all honor/AP classes in high school and this year I pushed it with taking the two English classes. I thought that if I forced enough English into my system that it would eventually wear off on me and I would get better. I can say that I've slightly improved and any improvement I'll gladly take, but like I said I'd rather be reading a novel than trying to write one.
                      This year and this class particularly I had to adopt the meaning of espousing learning. Most of the elements of this course is finding something you're interested in a delving deep into it a learn all that you can about it; which was basically our masterpiece's. This course is really preparing you for the next step of learning because in college we can't expect the professors to be doing all the work, no the students are going to have to do all the learning and studying independently and if you don't, then you don't learn. I'm literally lazier than a sack of rocks so I had to really work on improving my independent learning this year.
1. Espousing Learning
                       I can say at some points I have espoused learning, but like any couple we have our differences and then end up sleeping on the uncomfortable couch for a week. It was a lot harder transitioning from the old way of learning that I had endured my whole life, open a book, read, answer the designated questions, then you're done, rather than the process that our whole class had to do. The first day of class when Preston had basically said there or no rules as long as you posted things to your blog about facts, opinions, hobbies, homework all that jazz, you would essentially get an "A"(because Preston doesn't believe in letter grades).
1.1 Deserve the Trust?
                      Like me and the rest of the class we had to go through the period of timidness because we couldn't possibly trust the words that just came out of Preston's mouth, but blowing our minds, he kept his word and never went back on his word. Granted once some of the kids figured out that Preston wasn't like the rest of the teachers, they took advantage of the trust that Preston had given us, and even me at times betrayed that trust. I loved the fact that Preston gave us the respect and trust that we humans deserved instead of treating us like the stereotypical not trustworthy, up-to-know good teenagers. I can say for myself that I worked pretty hard to honor Preston's trust and in the instances that I didn't I was straight up with him and never tried to pull a fast one.
2. Favorite Literary Authors/Characters
                     Someone who can relate to my journey is Pip from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens who undergone his own amazing journey. John Grady Cole from All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy , and last but not least Macbeth from Macbeth by Shakespeare himself. When Preston first assigned Great Expectations I was so excited to be finally reading a novel by Dickens himself, a great novelist. The reason I was so excited was that I was trying to broaden by reading by reading some of the classics, like I read Mr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, one by Steinbeck and Dickens, but due to a conflicting it's very hard to find spare time to read for fun. But back to point, Preston had assigned the book and i had started to read it, but i never got around to finishing when i was supposed to. Then one day, long after the book was assigned, i opened the book to where i last read and finished the book. I don't know why i was so surprised, but i liked the book so much that I had to tell Preston that I had finished It even though I was supposed to finish it along while back. Pip was so an awesome, dynamic, and learning character. Every little or big situation that Pip was put through you wanted to root for him. At the end of the boom Pip felt like my best friend because I felt like i knew him so well! That's just evidence of how good of an author Dickens is. People who have read the book know that Pip goes through a great journey and Dickens is so good that the reader can relate to the situations even though the novel took place awhile back. All the Pretty Horses is honestly one of the best books that I read this year and I really recommend it. If you like adventure, cowboys, Indians, romance, tragedy, comedy, then this book is for you. Cole was so an amazing character because he was so physically and mentally strong and he was put into so many hard situations, but he always came out of them a better and stronger man. Macbeth was also a pretty amazing character even though he kind of deserved the ending he got. I envied Macbeth's power and warrior personality in the first few scenes, but like any regular person we have flaws and his was that he relied on the word of mythical creatures on a prophecy that was due to be his downfall. I enjoyed reading the transition Macbeth went through from being an honorable warrior to a deceiving king.
3. Reconnected with my Passion?
                   I would like to say that my passion has never really left. I don't think that a passion can actually leave, meaning that even though you may move away from it, it's always going to be there, whether in the back of our mind, the representations in our house/work/school environment and there will always be something that will trigger your passionate side. One of my passions would be music and I'm actually listening to music write now as I type this thing. I don't play any instruments or sing, even though I think I'm not that bad, but my mother tells me other wise. I just love to listen to it. I can honestly say that i love all types of music except country (sorry country lovers). There's just something about country that makes me hold my head and groan because i can feel an incoming headache coming on and country music and my ears are just not compatible. Other than that I'll listen to basically anything. My masterpiece project was to try and put a cool concert together, but like everyone knows life comes along and you lose time of the things you want to do. Basically I have been dying to go to a concert because my last concert was when i was in 6th grade and that's not acceptable for a music lover and i decided that that was going to be my masterpiece. Part of the reason I haven't been to a concert in awhile is because my family struggles off and on with our financial problems and I hate asking for money to buy a ticket when i know we don't have the money for it. So my thought process was that if i couldn't go to a concert then i would bring the concert to me. My goal now is to try to get a really cool band to come here to my town and play. Cool bands don't really ever visit our small town and if i got one to come, i would be ecstatic!
4. Something that made me laugh.
                  One of my most treasured qualities that I love is my ability to laugh at mostly everything, all the really silly/nerdy things, the really serious jokes, anything that can be remotely funny I'll laugh at it. So believe me when i say that I have had a lot of laughs this year and in this course. One that's really coming to mind was when Preston was gone one of the days(shocker...just playing) and he had asked the sub what the class wanted to read for our next novel and at the time 50 shades was the hype..I hope you know where I'm going with this. So I don't know how but our class told the sub that we wanted to read 50 shades and the next day when Preston was there we were kind of hoping the sub hadn't left any notes from our discussion for Preston. Sadly the next day Preston being Preston brought up that we wanted to read 50 shades?? We were so embarrassed at first but we actually discussed the pros's and cons of reading that novel and I'm cracking up just writing about this situation. That moment is definitely one of the funnest, awkward, and unexpected one's that I had in that class.
5. Unifying Themes in Masterpiece's
                   Many of the presentations that I witnessed in my class had the themes of either tying in there passions with a designated media, making connections with people, healthy and informative transitions into college, world peace, art, and nature. My classmates and I had a vary diverse group of passions and ideas and I can't stress how happy I was to see the finishing products of every one's masterpiece's. I can honestly say that I enjoyed every one's masterpiece and I could really tell who the person, even if I didn't know them that well, was by how they presented. Everyone put in a lot of work and that's bound to happen when you work on something you are passionate about. Like when Haley Kestler at the end of her presentation pulled out a collage of magazine's that hang by her bed that she collects, it really showed you she was and her personality shined through and that's how every one's presentation turned out. All the presenters would have pieces that showed the audience who they are and their true passions.
6. Finished my Hero's Journey
                   I would like to keep this one simple and answer no. I would like to continue my journey for whatever passion/hobby/skill that comes by way and never stop at just having one passion. I would like to become the master at my passion then move on to my next activity and master that, and so on. The question of whether I'm a hero, nope I don't I'm a hero yet. I haven't full filled some of the necessary hero qualities and let me say that It's a daily struggle to make sure at the end of my journey I'm a hero.

My First Voting of the Battle of the Blogs!

I absolutely had no idea that choosing one blog over another would be so difficult! I thought that when I got down to it and looked at each blog I would know, "oh yeah this one is better," but they were all so good and creative that it was sooo hard to pick one over the other. So keeping it a secret, I might of voted for everyones blog.....;)

Oops, Sorry to post so late, but here's my post for comments on the battle of the Blogs! (if any:))

#1 Macbeth Notes

Word of the Day

Derring-Do
(Noun) -daring deeds; heroic daring

Vocabulary #1

adumbrate: to produce a faint image or resemblance of; to outline or sketch
apotheosis: the elevation or exaltation of a person to the rank of a god
ascetic: a person who leads an austerely simple life, especially one who abstains from the normal pleasures of life or denies himself or herself material satisfaction
bauble: a showy, usually cheap, ornament; trinket; gewgaw
beguile: to influence by trickery, flattery, etc.; mislead; delude
burgeon: to grow or develop quickly; flourish:

-The town burgeoned into a city.

complement: something that completes or makes perfect
contumacious: stubbornly perverse or rebellious; willfully and obstinately disobedient
stubbornly perverse or rebellious; willfully and obstinately disobedient:
didactic: intended for instruction; instructive
disingenuous: lacking in frankness, candor, or sincerity; falsely or hypocritically ingenuous; insincere
exculpate: to clear from a charge of guilt or fault; free from blame; vindicate
faux: artificial or imitation; fake
pas: a step or series of steps in ballet
fulminate: to explode with a loud noise; detonate
fustian: a stout fabric of cotton and flax
hauteur: haughty manner or spirit; arrogance
inhibit: to restrain, hinder, arrest, or check (an action, impulse, etc.).
jeremiadt: a prolonged lamentation or mournful complaint
opportunist: a person who practices opportunism, or the policy of adapting actions, decisions, etc., to effectiveness regardless of the sacrifice of ethical principles
unconscionable: not guided by conscience; unscrupulous

Poem Analysis "My Last Duchess"

Meaning:	The story or poem starts off with a Duke, the narrator, speaking with another man about his marriage when the happen to pass by a portrait of his late wife. The story then takes off from there and the Duke recalls the profound love he had for his dutches, but yet she truly never loved him as equally as he did her. The Duke then basically admitts he had the Dutchess killed because of her lack of love, and honor that should come when marrying a person of his standard. The two men come back to reality and they carry on discussing the Dukes new marriage and wandering down the halls pointing out other notable artworks that he has.
Antecedent Scenario	I think the narrator, the Duke, must have had the Dutchess on her mind before the emissary came to talk to him. The Duke loved her very much and having someone killed can cause severe mental damage and having very likeless of a portrait of her is probably not very healthy for his mentality either.
Structural Parts	I would say there is 5 parts the poem. The first part is sort of like an introduction, the second a reminisce, and the third back to reality. The fourth is back to the Dukes past and he kind of goes on a rant about the Dutchess, like how someone says I'm so over that person, but yet they can't stop talking about them, thats the Duke. Then theres the fifth where the two men come back to the present and continue on with there day like nothing had ever happened.
Climax	I think the Climax is when the Duke says, "This grew; i gave commands; then all smiles stopped together," which at first i thought it was him breaking up the marriage, but with later discussion with a classmate, found out that it meant that he killed his wife!
Other Parts	Theres only one part in the poem that changes. In the middle when the narrator has fully enveloped talking about the Dutchess, it goes from talking about her in the past to talking about her like she was right there in the room with them.

Skeleton	I think the skeleton of the poem falls back on the structure of it. The author builds his poem through the outward questioning and internal thoughts of the character.
Content Genre- games	Love, heartbreak, lust, the past/future, lost time, reminiscent, etc.
Tone	I found the tone of the poem to be laced with love and heart break, but not at all sappy. It has a hint of wonder and no regrets attached to it. The tone is shown through the Duke struggles when losing the woman he loves, then it falls into anger trying to fix things, and the lasting tone for me, was  when he realizes he has to end this marriage, and when I say end I mean end her life. The tone can be described as reminiscent but hopeful for a better tomorrow in the chance to find true love, maybe in the new wife he is about to marry. In short, I think the tone can best be described as a mending tone of putting the pieces of his lost love back together.
Agency
Roads Not Taken	I think the poem needed to be a lot more organized as in stanza and punctuational wise. Maybe it was the format that I had, but comas and stanzas really have an effect on me when reading and if they don't coincide then I get confused as to what i'm reading.
Speech Acts	I found that it began in a bragging act, the Duke goes on about how beautiful his wife was and that she had a lot of admires and thats where the bitter act comes along. The Duke loved her beauty, but wanted it all for himself. Then I would say it turns into an acknowledgement act. And in the last part the act is hopeful in which the Duke can now hopefully get over his late wife and move on with his new one.
Outer and Inner Structural Forms
Imagination- The author did a beautiful job with the story, At first I didn't get it, but with the help of Megan Stevens, my fellow classmate, I came from confusion to Love. Just earlier I had been complaining to Megan about how I'm not a poetry sort of girl, but yet this poem had us talking about it throughout the whole class period. Thats how good I think it was. We had determined the top layer of its context, but there was so much more meaning that we are still talking about it after we left from school.

Word of the Day

Paramnesia
(Noun)-a distortion of memory in which fact and fantasy are confused.

TOBERMORY EXPLAINED

The last sentence of the Tobermory(which is a weird name) is this, "If he was trying German irregular verbs on the poor beast," said Clovis, "he deserved all he got." Cornelius was killed because he was trying to teach elephants in the zoo how to talk and understand speech. Unforntunatley he didn't succeed as well as with Tobermory the cat, and the other characters appreciate that because they couldn't handle even one cat talking, let alone an elephant. Tobermory was amazing in that he was the first species to talk, but yet he said things with no boundaries, spoke only the truth, no matter how hurtful or bad it made someone look. I think thats the theme of the story, that people can be so astounded with something, but at the same time is so scared of it that they'll want to get rid of it, or kill it, like they did with Tobermory.

Note on "Love Song" seminar

Notes on todays lesson...it was quite interesting

Phonar Assignment

It was around 5:30ish and the sun was already starting to go down and the moon was already coming up. It was a nice day, warm, but with a pleasing little breeze. I remember driving in my neighborhood and looking up and seeing this big beautiful thing. At first glance I thought it was a light post, but at a second glance I realized it was the moon. It looked so big, and because the sun was going down, it gave the moon a reddish glint. It was so  huge and beautiful that I had to pull over so that I would be able to get a better look at it. It was such an outstanding sight that another driver had stopped to take a picture. I thought about taking one, but I knew that the picture would not do the image of the moon justice. I also just kind of wanted to bask in the beauty of it because I knew this was a rare sight. It honestly was one of the most stunning things I had seen in a long time and I knew that a single picture would not suffice. 

Vocab #6

Abase-behave in a way so as to belittle or degrade (someone).
- I watched my students abasing themselves in front of the teacher.
Abdicate-ail to fulfill or undertake (a responsibility or duty).
- John had to abdicate his fathers business when he passed away.
Abomination-a thing that causes disgust or hatred.
 -Michael Meyers in the movie Halloween is an abomination.
Brusque-abrupt or offhand in speech or manner.
- Someone who is nervous is going to be brusque.
Saboteur-a person who engages in sabotage.
 -Bumper in the  movie Pitch Perfect is an example of a saboteur when he throws a burrito at Fat Amy.
 Debauchery-excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures.
 -My sister is debauchery when craves chocolate.
Proliferate-increase rapidly in numbers; multiply.
 -China is proliferating in population all the time.
Anachronism-a thing belonging or appropriate to a period other than that in which it exists, especially a thing that is conspicuously old-fashioned.
 -You could say my great grandma is an anachronism.
Nomenclature-the devising or choosing of names for things, especially in a science or other discipline.
 -Parents who are about to have a baby are going to nomenclature for their baby.
Expurgate-remove matter thought to be objectionable or unsuitable from (a book or account).
 -Upon reading Canterbury Tales, the orator expurgated risque portions of the novel.
Bellicose-demonstrating aggression and willingness to fight.
 -My dad is a perfect example of a Bellicose.
Gauche-lacking ease or grace; unsophisticated and socially awkward.
 -Sometimes i''m a little gauche.
Rapacious-aggressively greedy or grasping.
 -The billion got far in life because he was rapacious.
Paradox-a statement or proposition that, despite sound (or apparently sound) reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory.
 -Going to war to bring peace is a paradox.
Conundrum-a confusing and difficult problem or question.
 -Most days in math, the teacher gives us conundrums.
Anomaly-something that deviates from what is standard, normal, or expected.
 -A person with two heads is an anomaly.
Ephemeral-asting for a very short time.
 -The ephemeral joys of high school.
Rancorous-characterized by bitterness or resentment.
 -A lot of people say that Jean is a rancorous person.
Churlish-rude in a mean-spirited and surly way.
 -My younger sister Sam is honestly the recarnation of the devil and acts so churlish towards me.
Precipitous- dangerously high or steep.
-Mount Everest is a precipitous mountain.

THE POINT OF CANTERBURY TALES IS

In the story "Canterbury Tales," the author Chuacer lived in a time period where he had to stay one step smarter then his audience and how the content had to be satirical. Chaucer includes many genres that give a different view on life,  different characters, and all the different walks of life and they all tie in with how he felt about his time period and his experiences in life.

GREEN EGGS AND HAMLET

 a) I really don't know anything about Hamlet. I've always wanted to read it, but I never got around to it. (the second one is not a lie) b) The only thing I know about Shakespeare is that he has written tons of plays and that he is really smart.  c) Well for me personally when teachers say we are going to be reading Shakespeare, the teachers expect the students to undertand the text when it's difficult to read. My problem is that it's sometimes hard to read and the teachers don't always explain it the best. d) I think reading it a loud is a great idea and also having you stop and discuss in detail what Shakespeare is trying to say and if there is any underlining meaning; which there usually is.

vocabulary #5

Shenanigans-mischief; deceit, or prankish.

-My sisters are always doing shenanigan things to my parents and me.

Ricochet-the motion of an object or a projectile in a rebounding or a deflecting way, one or more times.

-The ball ricocheted and hit me right in the back.

Schism-division or disunion, especially into mutually opposed parties.

-Republicans and Democrats are a schism.

Eschew-to abstain or keep away from; shun, or avoid.

-Parents try to eschew alcohol from their kids at an early age.

Plethora-over abundance or excess.

-You could say tree’s aren’t really a plethora any more.

Ebullient-over-flowing with enthusiasm or excitement; high-spirited.

-I like to be ebullient every day.

Garrulous-excessively talkative in a roundabout manner.

-Everyone always has that friend that is garrulous.

Harangue-scolding or a long intense verbal attack.

-My mom likes to harangue me every time I do something wrong.

Interdependence-the state or condition of being mutual reliant on each other.

-Kurt and I are interdependent on each other,

Capricious-subject to, led by, or indicative by a sudden unpredictable change.

-People with erratic behavior can also be categorized as capricious.

Loquacious-talking or tending to talk much; talkative.

-When some people get nervous they become loquacious.

Ephemeral-lasting a very short time.

-The weekend seems to be ephemeral.

Inchoate-not yet fully developed; premature.

-One of my close friends was born inchoate, which made her want to specialize in that field of birth and babies.

Juxtapose-to place close together, side by side.

-To juxtapose something is also to compare two things.

Perspicacious-having keen mental perception and understanding.

-It takes a really intelligent person or actor to be perspicacious.

Codswallop-rubbish, non-sense.

-When a friend says something not smart, you can reply with codswallop and totally impress and freak them out at the same time.

Mungo-low grade wool, from felted rags or waste.

-I can imagine that mungo is not the most comfortable clothing to wear.

Sesquipedalian-given to using long words, containing many syllables.

-In high ranking spelling bees, I can imagine that the words are sesquipedalian.

Wonky-shaky, groggy, unsteady or unreliable.

-Every morning when I wake up, you could describe me as wonky.

Diphthong-an unsegmentable, gliding speech sound varying continuously in phonetic quality but held to be a single sound or phoneme and identified by its apparent beginning and ending sound.

-“The production of a diphthong acoustically is a glide between two sounds.” –Dictionary.com

Literature Analysis #1

Literature Analysis #1

1)     In the story “All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, it begins with John Grady Cole’s, the main character, at his grandfather’s funeral. John Grady wants to live and run his own ranch so he decides to horseback to Mexico with his best friend Rawlins. In Mexico they find a perfect ranch to work and live at. Sadly Grady and Rawlins were dragged away from the ranch and thrown in jail for a crime they technically didn’t commit. In this jail Rawlins was severely cut and injured and Grady was almost killed by the men in the prison. Luckily the grandmother of Grady’s secret girlfriend when he was at the ranch, Alejandra, bailed them out of the jail. Unfortunately since the grandmother paid to get them out the deal was that Grady and Alejandra couldn’t see each other anymore. Grady tells Rawlins to go back home to Texas and then Grady tries to negotiate with Alejandra to stay with him, but she ends up following her grandmother’s rules and leaves him. Grady makes his way back to Texas, but he doesn’t stay there, he just keeps on riding on until he finds what he is looking for.

 

2)    The theme of the story would be that to follow your passions and life and see where they take you. They might not always be good, but the knowledge that comes with experience whether it be heartbreak or happiness, it is worth the risk every time.

 

3)    The tone of the story would be adventurous. In mostly every town that Grady and Rawlins pass through in Mexico there is something exciting or new happening. Like in the beginning of the story Grady makes a 3 hour trip to a city in Texas just to see a play. Grady is just adventurous by heart. Then when Grady doesn’t have what he wants in Texas, he is willing to travel to Mexico to find what he wants. Grady doesn’t care that it is a long ride; he embraces the journey with high spirits. And also when the boy Blevins that rode along with Grady and Rawlins lost his horse and needed to get it back. The boys had to come up with a plan to get the horse back from the stable that the townspeople were holding it at. Blevins got his horse back, but had to bust his way through the stable doors and continue riding while men shot at him.

 

4)    Structure- helped me understand the story better in which the author wanted the time period to be in.

P. (7) “The waitress called everyone doll. She took their order and flirted with him. His father took out his cigarettes and lit one and put the pack on the table and put his Third Infantry Zippo lighter on top of it and leaned back and smoked and looked at him.”

Zeitgeist- It was clear from the first few pages that this wasn’t from this time period and helped me the get into that mindset of the older western cowboy times.

P. (1) “The candleflame and the image of the candleflame caught in the pierglass twisted and righted when he entered the hall and again when he shut the door.”

Non vernacular- the usage of not everyday language and using the old western slang helped improve the mood and tone of the story for me. Also the use of Spanish made it even more believable because that was how that period of time was like in Texas and Mexico.

P. (9) “He aint been rode.” P. (10) “There aint nothing to him. Never was.” P. (75) “Es mucho trabajo.”

Style- the certain way that McCarthy wrote the story gave it authenticity and made me believe I was with Grady during that time.

P. (48) “You want to throw something up I’ll hit it, the kid said. Bullshit. The kid shrugged and put the pistol back in the bib of his overalls. Throw what up? said Rawlins. Anything you want. Anything I throw you can hit. Yeah. Bullshit. You throw your pocketbook up in the air and I’ll put a hole in it, he said.”

Setting- McCarthy often used imagery and the setting to give the story a real feeling to it and to make the reader feel as though they were there in the story with Grady and his adventures.

P. (59) “Days to come they rode through the mountains and they crossed at a barren windgap and sat the horses among the rocks and looked out over the country to the south where the last shadows were running over the land before the wind and the sun to the west lay blood red among the shelving clouds and the distant cordilleras ranged down the terminals of the sky to fade from pale to pale of blue and then to nothing at all.”

Foreshadowing- led me to believe something was about to happen so I could be ready for the situation the author would write next.  It helped me to understand the moral of the story when I understand what is going and making predictions throughout the story.

P. (41) “You aint ridin with us, You’ll get us thrown in the jailhouse.”

Simile- constantly used throughout the story. Helped with the imagery and creating a picture inside my head.

P. (68) “It fried em like bacon.”

Non-stereotypical- this story was not a usual cowboy/Western story. The new twist and different takes on things helped me understand the theme more clearly.

P. (254) “The train came huffing in from the south and stood steaming and shuddering with the coach windows curving away down the track like great dominoes smoldering in the dark and he could not but compare this arrival to that one twenty-four hours ago and she touched the silver chain at her throat and turned away and bent to pick up the suitcase and then leaned and kissed him one last time her face all wet and then she was gone. He watched her go as if himself were in some dream.”

Personification- the horses play a huge part in the story and they always seem to have human qualities.

P. (125) “He thought the horse had handled itself well and as he rode he told it so.”

Metaphor- helped to create a better mood and tone for the story.

P. (122) “The mouths of the cans were lensed with tinted cellophane and they cast upon the sheeting a shadowplay in the lights and smoke of antic demon players and a pair of goathawks arced chittering through the partial darkness overhead.”

Pathos- McCarthy did a great job in his diction to make me feel pity, sadness, and disappointment when I needed too.

P. (189) “The next morning crossing the yard Rawlins was set upon by a man with a knife. When John Grady got to him he was sitting with his back to the wall holding his arms crossed over his stomach and rocking back and forth as if he were cold.”

Imagery- plays a huge role throughout the story in helping me picture what is around Grady. Without the constant imagery and setting images, this story would be a totally different one.

P. (5) “The wind was much abated and it was very cold and the sun sat blood red and elliptic under the reefs of bloodred cloud before him.”

CHARACTERIZATION:
1) Two examples of indirect characterization for John Grady would be when Rawlins brags to Blevins about him being one of the best riders he has ever seen and Grady tells him to quit it, but Grady knows that he is a pretty good rider. The other one would be when Alejandra’s grandmothers judges Grady before he even had a chance to explain who he is or his situation.                                                                                                                                                             Two examples of direct characterization for Grady when we see that he is good with horses. We don’t need to hear about him being a horse whisperer, we already know this. Another one is that he is an honest person. Through his actions and dialogue readers can see that he never once told a lie and he acted like an honorable person when dealing with hard situations.                                                                                                                                                    -The author uses both these approaches to show the outside of a character and also the inside. A person may act a certain way around others to impress people, but only a person can see the real side them. By seeing both sides readers can infer which personalities best fit the characters correctly and which traits don’t.

2) Yes the diction changes from when the author is talking about the setting or displaying the imagery from the characters dialogue. It goes from neat and proper in the narrative part, to a type of western drawl when the characters are speaking.

“A single mud street rutted from the recent rains. A squalid alameda where there stood a rotting brushwood gazebo and a few old iron benches.”  To  “When he reached her she lay in her own blood in the grass and he knelt with the rifle and put his hand on her neck and she looked at him and her eyes were warm and wet and there was no fear in them and then she dies.”

3) John Grady is definitely a static character. I thought Grady always had great qualities like being smart and a hard worker. There was no need for him to change. Although John Grady is a static character, he does change in a sense in how he sees the world. In the beginning of the story Grady knows what his goals are, but by the end of the story he’s not too sure of what he wants in life anymore. I wouldn’t want to call Grady a flat character because he has so much depth to him that it has to make him round. His mind works in such a mysterious way that it always appealed to me as a reader.

4)

REFLECTIONS For Week One

1) There's only one thing that may affect my participation in this class is that I'm naturally a shy and quiet person in class. I like to keep to my own thoughts and I know that this class is different then most and I'll have to learn to speak what's on my mind. Other than that, nothing else should affect this experience.

 

2) Freshmen year in Honors English we had to either receit a long speech from the story Romeo and Juliet or make a 10 minute video summarizing the events in the story. My group chose to make a video. I thought making this video would be a drag and I just wanted to get it done with. But it turns out that I had an awesome time making it and being in it. Plus I got to make it with a bunch of my friends and it took us longer then necessary to make it because we were laughing so much. Making this video made me realize that you can have fun learning things in various ways. To this day, only reading Romeo and Juliet once, I can tell you what's it about and the main details about it.

 

3) So far I'm excited and worried about everything. When I learned that we had to make a blog I was nervous because I have never done anything like this before and it scared the poop out of me. But at the same time I was excited because this is something new and if this class didn't require a blog I probably wouldn't have EVER made one and it excites me that I can do it now. This is just the first week of school so I have no clue what is in store for me. I look forward to even more amazing and cool ways in how to learn. Our life isn't going to be like school, where we show up to a classroom, sit down, take out textbooks, and learn. No life isn't that easy and I think this class is practical in the ways we live our lives. That's the the way we are supposed to learn things, in a real and practical way.

POETRY #1.

1) This poem is called the " The Laughing Heart," taken from Charles Bukowski.
2) I find it ironic because the poem talks about life and death and the audacity to start to new things, but yet the commercial is about levi's? Levi's have nothing to do with what the poem has to say.
3) No I don't believe that it does reflect Bukowski's reputation. Most of his other poems are dark, whitty and sometimes cynical, but "The Laughing Heart" has a much lighter mood in which it encourages its readers to be independent and risk takers.
4) For the first question I went onto youtube to see if they mentioned the name of the poem, when they did not, thats when I searched some of the sentences I heard and it gave me Charles Bukowski's poem. For the third question I searched Bukowski's name and it gave me his biograpghy and the site had all the listings of his poems and short stories. It also gave me some examples of his poetry then I compared them to "The Laughing Heart."

Laziness kills

This summer, like the three summers before this one, I was assigned summer homework. Unlike the past summers laziness got the best of me and I didn't complete my summer homework. There is something about summer that always causes me too slack off and do nothing. Why is that? The fact is I have no clue. I feel disappointed in myself for not completing my summer homework and this feeling of disappointment is something I never want to feel again. I promise to work harder now and to complete future assignments because I don't want to let others down and most importantly I don't want to let myself down.