Welcome!

Welcome!
This blog was designed for the purpose of helping any students interested in taking the AP Enlish Literature exam or anyone else. This blog contains mainly assignments that were given to me in my english class. They can serve as study tools and as examples of what AP classes do. The material is easy to understand and I can always help with any questions. Contact me through email at tatiana161@live.com or through this blog if you have any questions. Enjoy!

Monday, November 28, 2011

Literary term: Audience

Audience


Definition: The intended listener or listeners

Examples:
*Dr. Sues “Green eggs and Ham” the audience is for young children.
*Advertisements in Commercials the audience is for potential buyers.
*Twilight books and movies the audience is for teenagers and some adults.

How I remember it!
*Audio sounds like it can come from Audience
*Audio relates to sound/listening
*The people (Audience) listens to the speaker

Thinking Outside the Box

  The “Allegory of the Cave” by Plato and “No Exit” by Satre relate by both showing real life themes. Both Plato and Satres believe that we are limited to our own thoughts and to what we can do. Though they both express them differently they end up having the same theme.  Plato describes people who have been in a cave their entire life and one person decides to leave the cave and realizes there is more to life than the shadows they would see. When he tried going back and telling the others they refused to believe it and killed him. Satres expresses this theme by having three people in hell all there for a different reason. They all have committed sins that landed them in hell and all carry some type of similar trait that the others have, but that trait irritates them all.
  Though the theme is limitation in thoughts they are both limited for different reasons. The people in “Allegory of the Cave” are limited to their thoughts because they choose to be. The person that left came back and tried to teach them more about what the world really is but  they refused to listen. They did not want to know about anything other than their “reality” which was the shadows. But the people in “No Exit” are limited to their powers because they are only surrounded to the other two people who are in hell with them. They are isolated from other people and have no other ways of being informed.
  The fact that they are limited to their own thoughts shows that they have to rely on others for the information they receive.  They can not  even think for themselves and whether that is by choice or because they have to it affects them. The two authors were trying to show that with limitation in thoughts not much can be done. They are trying to get others to see that people need to have an open mind so that things can work better and this world can work. If people were more open minded things would flow better but since most people are limited in thought things are the way they are. Both authors were from different time periods and the fact that they wrote about the same theme shows how little things have changed.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Literature Analysis-The color Purple

1. The Color Purple is a novel about an African American woman named Cecil who struggles throughout life. She had to take the part f her mother when she passed away, and during that time her father rapped. She had two children which she never met. Soon after that she is forced to marry another man who already has children. The children as well as her husband are cruel to her and do not respect her. After a couple of years she adjusts to the life. Her sister Nettie moved in with them for  a while but  when she refused to have a relationship with Cecil’s husband she was told she could no longer live there. When Nettie left the house she went to be a servant for an African couple and later became a missionary with them in Africa. Cecil not only morns with the loss of her sister but also with the fact that her husband cheats on her with a singer named Shug. After years of having Shug live with them Cecil begins to form a physical as well as emotional relationship with Shug. Together Shug and Cecil discover letters from Nettie to Cecil that her husband had been hiding from her. When Shug announces that she is leaving Cecil says that she will leave as well, she gets the courage to tell her husband how she really feels about him. Cecil begins her own store and becomes very successful. She goes back to the town to discover that her husband is a changed man and while there she is reunited with her sister.
2. The theme of this novel is that strength can be hidden in the people that appear to be weak. This theme mainly applies to Cecil because she started off as a push over and ends up being independent. She is pushed around by everyone at first and then comes out being strong. She dealt with her father abusing her and then with the abuse of her husband. Shug was the person that Cecil needed to push her to be strong.
3. The tone in this novel is serious and tragic. Though there is a couple of happy moments in there it is mainly filled with sad ones. Since the very beginning Cecil introduces the fact that she was raped and her tone was very somber. She had a very difficult life and spoke of it with a serious tone. The majority of her life was not very good and enjoyable for her. Even when Nettie sent the letters they always contained serious topics and a tragic tone to all she said. Toward the end of the novel it begins to brighten up a bit but Cecil still speaks with a tragic tone.
4. The literary elements in this novel were diction, zenith, and  characterization. The diction was used with the slang that Cecil spoke in. It was effective by making this novel more realistic as well as making Cecil more realistic. The zenith occurred when Shug and Cecil found the letters from Nettie. This was a turning point for the way the story took place because Cecil’s attitude changed after this. The characterization added a better idea f the characters. It helped make sense of why they did what they did. For example the death of Cecil’s husbands ex wife explained his cruel attitude.  

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Begining of Plato Essay

Plato created an allegory with the use of figurative language; including metaphor, symbolism, and imagery. Throughout the passage he uses the figurative language to add dept and more meaning to it. One of his main symbols was the cave which represented the world in which close minded people live. He used one main character to represent the stages of life that a person goes through. His purpose was to make education a priority and to have the educated people go back and help those who are uneducated.
            The figurative language that Plato used helped shape the plot. He used metaphors as a key way to explain certain things. One of the main metaphors, as well as symbol, that he used was the cave which represented the world of the uneducated. Another metaphor was the people in the cave which represent groups of people who exist in the world we live in. For example, the person that left the cave represents the people who search for an education and wander off to find it. Everything in the passage was a symbol of how this world is; they are all a representation of this world. The intellectual freedom that they lacked represents the lack of knowledge that people have.
            The purpose that I got out of this passage was that education is key. Plato wanted those who were uneducated to get educated and then to go back to the “cave” and educate the rest. But in the passage when the person goes back and tries to educate the others he is killed. That demonstrated that people are afraid of learning new things. They did not agree with what he was saying and saw him as a threat, the only solution they saw was to get rid of him.

BIG Question

Are children of teenage parents most likely to become teenage parents themselves, and if so why?

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Hamlet Essay #2

Hamlet is known to be a unique character compared to others. He is considered to be an epic hero, but he does not have many of the characteristics that other epic heroes have, like Beowulf. Most epic heroes are admired for being brave and noble characters, admired for great achievements or affected by grand events. Hamlet does not quit match that, he was not a brave man he was more of a coward, he would constantly question himself and not take action among many situations.
            Hamlet was great at questioning himself; he would debate whether to do any little thing. One of his biggest dilemmas is seen in his famous soliloquy “to be or not to be.” There he questions whether to continue with life and suffer through miseries or to end his life like a coward. Most epic heroes would immediately know to not kill themselves and to fight off whatever is in their way. Beowulf is a great example of this, he went into battle with anything and everything that didn’t suite him .When Grendel was a bother to Beowulf and to others Beowulf immediately took action upon killing him. Not at one moment did he stop and contemplate whether it was right or not.  
            Another one of Hamlets’ flaws is the fact that he says a lot but does very little. He always expressed his feelings with words but never with action. When he was mad over the murder of his father he expressed that in words by contemplating with himself, not by seeking revenge like he constantly repeated to himself. On the other hand Beowulf took action upon all of his remarks. Even when he was an older man and was weak, he said that he wanted to kill the dragon and it was not just talk he actually went and attempted to kill it. When he said that he was going to kill Grendels’ mother he went through with it as well. He took the head back to the people and demonstrated that his words were not just words.
            Though many consider Hamlet to be an epic hero in my mind he is not. He does not demonstrate the qualities that I believe and epic hero would have; that includes bravery, being noble, and having great achievements. Hamlet constantly questioned himself and never took much action upon situations. Even though he had just lost his father that should not have set him back, for most epic heroes that would have pushed them to take more action. Hamlet should have taken some lessons from Beowulf in order to be a better epic hero.

Hamlet Essay

            Hamlet was a man of many words and of little action. Every word in the novel Hamlet by William Shakespeare has a significant meaning that changes the plot of the story being told. Every word that was spoken by a character demonstrates what type of character he/she was, it demonstrated their personality. Hamlet was one of the many characters who would say a lot but did very little and that resulted in a lot of the chaos that occurred in this novel, the way Hamlet acted is not the way many of us would have.
            The illocutionary force in Hamlet contradicts itself, Hamlet swears to seek revenge but he never takes action to do so. Hamlet also tended to say that he loved Ophelia but he never showed this by physically doing something. The fact that Hamlet never took action on his part allowed Claudius to continue to ruin his life. For example, since Hamlet did not kill Claudius when he had the opportunity it resulted in Claudius being able to send him away to England. Unlike Hamlet, when I think about doing something I actually go through with it. When I notice something going on that I do not like I take action immediately to try and change that, I do not wait.
            Reflecting on an experience causes a person to remember that experience more; it also causes the person to learn from it. For example, Hamlet is constantly contemplating over his father’s death and that caused him to be unable to forget about it. When I constantly reflect on an experience that I have gone through it is hard for me to forget about it and it causes me to learn from that experience as well. It is also clear to see that the more one reflects on an experience and realizes the mistakes the more changes that will occur do to it.
            Though Hamlet was written many years ago it is still relevant to present day examples. For example, a motive to seek revenge is still seen in present day, and though that motive is around many do not act upon it. There are also many people out there like Claudius who wait for an opportunity to take power away from someone at any cause. Like previously stated every word stated in Hamlet contributed to the overall significance of the novel.

Hamlet Essay

            Hamlet was a man of many words and of little action. Every word in the novel Hamlet by William Shakespeare has a significant meaning that changes the plot of the story being told. Every word that was spoken by a character demonstrates what type of character he/she was, it demonstrated their personality. Hamlet was one of the many characters who would say a lot but did very little and that resulted in a lot of the chaos that occurred in this novel, the way Hamlet acted is not the way many of us would have.
            The illocutionary force in Hamlet contradicts itself, Hamlet swears to seek revenge but he never takes action to do so. Hamlet also tended to say that he loved Ophelia but he never showed this by physically doing something. The fact that Hamlet never took action on his part allowed Claudius to continue to ruin his life. For example, since Hamlet did not kill Claudius when he had the opportunity it resulted in Claudius being able to send him away to England. Unlike Hamlet, when I think about doing something I actually go through with it. When I notice something going on that I do not like I take action immediately to try and change that, I do not wait.
            Reflecting on an experience causes a person to remember that experience more; it also causes the person to learn from it. For example, Hamlet is constantly contemplating over his father’s death and that caused him to be unable to forget about it. When I constantly reflect on an experience that I have gone through it is hard for me to forget about it and it causes me to learn from that experience as well. It is also clear to see that the more one reflects on an experience and realizes the mistakes the more changes that will occur do to it.
            Though Hamlet was written many years ago it is still relevant to present day examples. For example, a motive to seek revenge is still seen in present day, and though that motive is around many do not act upon it. There are also many people out there like Claudius who wait for an opportunity to take power away from someone at any cause. Like previously stated every word stated in Hamlet contributed to the overall significance of the novel.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Major Concept

One of the major concepts that I have learned from this class so far has been that the internet can be useful but at times pointless. Before I took this course I saw the internet as the place where I could listen to my favorite songs and as the place to go on social networks. But I have come to realize that it is more than that, it allows people to expand their knowledge. It has allowed me to find effective ways to use the internet. I now know the websites that will give me the unbiased information and that is what I plan on using more. I have also found ways to avoid useless information and to directly go to the information I need.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Roy Christopher

Yesterday my classmates and I had the opportunity to talk to Roy Christopher. He shared with us that he use to be a BMX rider and that his career change occurred because one of his friends was a web developer and it attracted him. Roy told us that it is very difficult for him to balance some of the task that he must perform but that he has found a way to balance it all out. This made me feel better because I too struggle with balancing all I have too do, it gave me comfort. He relates himself and many things with hip hop culture. He says that hip hop is the blueprint for modern culture, I agree with him. He said that in the next 5-10 years he sees himself finishing his PHD and finishing the book he is currently writing along with another one. The one thing that most stuck with me that he mentioned was the fact that older generations do not trust the younger generations with technology and that he disagreed with them. I am glad to see another adult, besides Doctor Preston, agree with that statement. We began to talk about how we teenagers multi task and the majority of us agreed that though we do it very often it does not produce quality work. Toward the end of our conversation he mentioned that technology is going to continue to become more common among society and that our generation will invent the next new thing. Overall I was very pleased by this conversation, it brought up a lot of good points.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Literature Analysis #2 "Bless me Ultima"

1. Antonio is the main character is the novel Bless me Ultima. His family brings in Ultima, an elderly woman from his father’s native town. Antonio and Ultima automatically have a special connection like no one else. She begins to teach him about all the special plants and what type of cures they can be used for. Tragically Antonio witnesses deaths and loses his innocence through their journey but Ultima is there to guide him. Tenorio has hatred towards Ultima because he believes she was the cause o f her loved ones death. He ends up shooting her owl which represent her spirit, and without the owls presence she can no longer live.
2.Ffrom what I understood of this novel I believe that the theme is that innocence is not eternal. Like Antonio lost his innocence, he could not remain an innocent child forever. He had t grow up and become a man at some point.
3. The tone of bless me Ultima is a serious and sad tone. An example of when the sad tone was expressed is when Ultima is about to die. Antonio is saddened because of the close relationship they had. The serious tone is expressed when Antonio is taking his religion classes . He takes them very seriously because he wants everything to make sense to him.
4. The literary element I saw was how dreams are used as a way to express a meaning or situation.  The dream that Antonio had about the brothel shows how he has not yet lost his innocence and how it needs to be lost in order for him to enter the brothel. Symbolism is another element used as a way to make the story more interesting. The owl is a way of symbolism, it represents Ultima’s spirit. to

Thursday, October 20, 2011

"Tools that change the way we think"

The extensive use of the internet and other technologies around the world has greatly affected the way we think these days. We no longer take time to critically think about situations or sit and contemplate about issues in the world. We now get answers to everything with a click of a button. We rely on the internet and other browsers for answers. In a way you can say that the internet has taken over our mind. We rely on information that is given to us by others and we don’t stop and think if the information is correct or even look at the flaws in the information given to us. We tend to just read the information and believe it is true; everyone has done this at some point. A couple years ago people would have to memorize a lot of things but now we don’t even bother with memorization, we just choose to look it up when it is needed. We can no longer concentrate for long periods of times nor do we have patients because we are use to everything coming at us so quickly that we can no longer bear to wait. We try to do a lot more in one day than most would do in a couple of days back then since we have information coming at us so quickly. Since the information comes so fast we do not have time to process it all thoroughly and we loose opportunities to learn. It is funny to think that back then when someone was interested in a certain topic they would get out there and experience it personally and learn about it by actively participating in it but now we look up the things we are interested in. Say we are interested in football, back then people would go out there play the game and watch the game be played but now we watch it on television or look it up on the web. Schooling back in the day was also different, they would learn straight out of the book or from what the teacher said, they would not have the opportunities to share ideas on blogs or to do much research. All their research came from books. Don’t get me wrong, the internet has provided a lot of opportunities for us. It has helped this world advance and get to the great stage it is in today. The only problem is that people do not tend to use it in an affective way; we use it as a way to make things more simple for ourselves and save time. If we would learn how to use it effectively and learn how to be one step ahead of the internet it would make this society function in a more productive way.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

"In Search of"

From watching the video Filter Bubbles I have come to realize that the internet has become corrupt in many ways. Not only are they only showing us certain information, depending on the person, but now they are also monitoring certain things. This information made me think completely different about the results I see online. Each time a result pops up when I type something in it gets me wondering why did these results pop up instead of any others.  Now that I had this in mind I re-did my Shakespeare research, this time around with a different mind set. I researched by typing in different key words and reading most of the results. I found that little is actually known about him that what little is known of him is from his writings and church documents. His education is not really known because many have different opinions about it. Another question that came up in many of the websites was if he was a real person and if so did he really write those work of arts. After some research I began to wonder why so little is actually known about him. Is it because he lived so long ago and little is actually known from that time? Or is it because something is trying to be hidden about him, maybe people don’t want to admit to him being the writer because he was not from a noble family. All these questions arise and make this research pretty difficult because you do not know if what you are seeing is true. The internet has begun to turn into a very difficult source to confine in since it does filter a lot of information being seen.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

"Notes on Hamlet"

When we first began to read Hamlet I dreaded it since the beginning. At that time I was uneducated on what a talented man the author was and how significant a sentence could be. As we began to read I began to understand what it was saying, the first couple of pages were difficult to understand and I was completely lost. I decided to do some research on how to understand Shakespeare’s language and I found that making it my own language was useful and so I used that method. I now think of this novel as more of a Mexican style novella and that is what makes me be so intrigued.  I thought as Hamlet to be a lost soul after his father’s death and to hallucinate a lot, but as the plot developed I realized that he only acted the way he did because of the pain of loosing his father. I realized that his want for revenge was justified after all his uncle murdered his father. I saw that most characters in the play tended to be two faced, for example his two friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern befriended him when they agreed to gather information from him and report it to the king. There is a lot of drama in this novel that dose not come off as apparent immediately it take some time to discover. From Act III and on I see revenge taking place. I see hamlet planning his revenge and going through with it. There will be murders, sins, lost of loves and so on seen.

"Who was Shakespeare"

Shakespeare is a man who little is actually known of. Many agree that he was a landowner, a merchant, a glove maker, and a man on a political track. He was well educated by teachers that held Oxford degrees. At the young age of eighteen he married Anne Hathaway and had two children with her. He moved to London with his family and there became a well known actor, poet and play righter. Queen Elizabeth and King James became his sponsors and supported his plays for many years. He was well known for writing great literature pieces that came to inspire a great deal of people. Many tend to question if he was a real person at all, if he ever existed and this is something I wonder myself. When I was younger I would hear Shakespeare’s name and I would immediately think that he was the “guy who wrote hard to understand books.” As I grew older and began to read his literature I learned that it was not hard to understand it was just a unique style that I had to adjust to. He shares many great ideas that are not stated directly and that we have to dig out of it. The only thing that still makes me struggle a bit is the complicated language but what tends to help me, which I heard from a television show, is to think of his language in my own language. For example if I understand the rap language to translate it into a rap form and that makes it easier to understand. Though we are completely unsure if Shakespeare was a real person there was still a great man/woman out there who wrote these literature pieces and that can not be denied.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/merchant/shakespeare.html

"To Facebook or not to Facebook"

When I first got my Facebook about a year ago I thought it was the coolest thing ever. All of my friends had one and I thought it would be a good way to keep in touch with them.  I thought it was a big upgrade from the MySpace I use to have, I thought this was a more mature level of social networking. But as time went by I found it to just as immature, I noticed that random people started to request me and that some of my friends started to post really dumb post. I believe that it was a combination of being more involved and being older that made me realize how potentially dangerous Facebook could be. Not only could people besides my friends view my entire profile but complete strangers that I have never seen or met before could as well. This caused great fear in me and it made me change my privacy settings, but I soon realized that was not good enough that many hackers could find ways to view my profile. After I read the article about how 7.5 million children younger than 12 have a Facebook I was in complete shock. Why would children so young need a Facebook? Besides the reason to keep in touch with family, which not many do, there is no good reason. Children’s minds are not fully developed at that age and they could potentially get themselves into some serious danger. Some children tend to be more mature than others at a young age and could handle a social networking sight but the majority is not prepared and I believe that there needs to be some strong regulations for these children. Someone needs to educate them on what is appropriate to post and look at on social networks, and if it is not going to be there parents then someone needs to step up to the plate.

Monday, October 10, 2011

"(Don't) be Hamlet"

Many tend to interpret hamlets soliloquy in different ways. Whether it is the definition of a word or whether it is the entire interpretation. After I have read the soliloquy over and over again I have found a couple key points. Hamlet is conflicted in whether he should kill himself of if he should continue to live a painful life, not only that but he is also conflicted in whether to seek revenge for his fathers death. Though revenge is not typically good there are certain occasions where it is necessary.
            The opening lines to his soliloquy “to be, or not to be—that is the question” clearly state that he is confronted with the question should I live or not. He knows that if he kills himself it will be a great sin but he is also aware that if he continues to live it will be very painful. He is upset about his mothers’ new marriage to his uncle, Claudius, and also with the fact that he knows his uncle murdered his father. The fact that his uncle murdered his father brings up another dilemma for him, and that is whether he should seek revenge or not. Once again revenge is a sin and he is unsure if it is a sin that is worth breaking.
            Though Hamlets life will be very difficult it is not worth taking his life. He will be looked upon as a coward and will be a disgrace to the family name. Many say that revenge is not the answer but I believe that in some cases it is necessary. Like in Hamlets case revenge will be the only way to win respect back. If everyone were to find out that Claudius killed his father and that Hamlet was aware and did nothing to get revenge, he will be considered a fool. He does not only need to live to seek revenge but also because of his great love for Ophelia. In his soliloquy hr refers to her as “the fair Ophelia” that is his way of demonstrating his love toward her.
            Whether Hamlet chooses to live or to die, to seek revenge or to not they are both sins. Even if he did not take action upon this the fair thought of him wanting to die or wanting to seek revenge was a sin. I figure if he already sinned by the thought of them why not just take action upon the thoughts, either way it would be a sin. Hamlets soliloquy is very difficult to interpret but once it is done it completes the whole thought process of Hamlet.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Like Water for Chocolate

1. Like water for Chocolate is a love story between two characters Tita and Pedro. Tita, the protagonist, is born as the last child who is destined to take care of her mother until the day she dies, and never marry. Once Titas mother, Mama Elena, becomes aware of the love that these two characters feel for each other she is willing to do the impossible to keep them apart. Rosaura, Tita's older sister, marries Pedro on her mothers command. Pedros reason for betraying Tita and marrying Rosaura is that it would allow him to be close to Tita. As time goes on Pedro and Rosaura remain married and conceive two children, but his love for Tita never dulls. Tragically many characters including Rosaura and Mama Elena die and there is no stop to Tita and Pedro's love. Tita and Pedro are finally able to express their love for one another and in the end die with each other.
2. The novel had many themes but the one that stood out to me most was the way that a person is capable of preventing ones happiness to keep themselves satisfied. Mama Elena was capable of letting her daughter suffer from love so that she would have her daughter at her side for the rest of her life to take care of her.
3. The authors tone changed as she described different scenes of the book. For example, when Tita was born the author expressed much excitement in her tone while describing the events that had occurred as Tita was being born. Her exaggerated tone put emphasis on the fact that Tita's birth was very important. Once the author began to write about Tita's first time meeting Pedro her tone was romantic and affectionate in describing their actions and feelings towards each other. The authors tone was powerfully implied as she switched into the scene where Mama Elena was protecting her ranch from the federal troops when they had arrived and demanded that she give them what they wanted. Her tone became angry and tough as she used dialogue between Mama Elena and the general.
4. While reading the book I observed the fact that magical realism was a huge part of the structure of the story. Magical realism helped me to step into my creative side and use these exaggerated forms to understand events and characters feelings. For example, when Tita cried into the batter for Rosaura's wedding cake the guests who ate the cake were overcome with emotion for their lost loves. The author also used flashbacks to help relate the love of Tita and Pedro by describing the first time they met and previous conversations that they have had. Foreshadowing was used in the book when characters started to fade away. As Mama Elena and Rosaura died I interpreted their deaths as foreshadowing that the restraints on Pedro and Tita's love were starting to come apart and they may have been able to be together. Characterization was used mostly in the beginning of the book to introduce the characters that I would be reading about throughout the book. Characterization helped me to know the reason behind characters actions, such as Mama Elena and the way she acted because of her past experiences in life. The author used dramatic irony in giving the reader information about characters that other characters may not have known. Dramatic irony was also expressed in showing certain events that had occurred behind another characters back such as the love affairs between Tita and Pedro while he was still married to Rosaura.