Thinking Outside the Box.

In Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" and Sartre's "No Exit" there are many similarities in describing the limitations of knowledge. In both of these passages there are characters in which are trapped in a place and don't have enough knowledge of the world or knowledge of what is really going on.

The both use the form of dialogue which helps give the sense that the characters are trying to figure out what is happening. For example, in "Allegory of the Cave" one of the characters escapes and gets to see the outside world unlike the people in the cave who think the shadows are what the world really looks like and they don't want to hear what the man has to say. In "No Exit" the characters are in hell and they can't get out. They both show that the characters are just settling with what they know.

In conclusion both of these pieces of literature show how the characters are limited of knowledge. Also how some things are hidden from them. They think these things they see are what things are really like and they begin to just settle for what they know or for what is given to them. A solution would be for people to search for things they don't know and not just settle for what they know.

AP Lit Terms.

Alliteration: Repetition of similar initial sounds, usually consonants, in a group of words
Ex) Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers.
Sally sold sea-shells by the sea shore.

Analogy: A comparison made to show similarities between two things. Similes and Metaphors are two types of analogies.
Ex) She feels like a fish out of water.
She was as quiet as a mouse.

Antagonist: A person or force opposing the protagonist in a drama or narrative or commonly known as the evil character.
Ex) Such as the Joker from Batman, the stepmother in Cinderella or Voldemort from Harry Potter.

Cliché: A phrase or situation overused within a society.
Ex) Live and learn, What goes around comes around, As bright as the sun

Hyperbole: An exaggerated statement
Ex) She's so hungry she can eat a horse. Shows how hungry she is, but in reality she can't really eat a horse.

Literary Analysis 3.

1. The novel, "The Color Purple" it begins with a young girl named Celie describing her life situations. She begins by explaining how her father is raping her and she has his children, but he kills them and steals them. Soon comes a man named Mr. ____ who in hopes of marrying Nettie who is Celie's sister. Their father forbids Nettie to marry him and instead arranges Celie to marry him without her desire to. Throughout the story she explains how she is continuously abused and unhappy. Shug Avery becomes one of Celie's closest friends who was also Mr. ____'s lover. Nettie soon leaves and Celie does not hear from her in a long time that she believes Nettie is dead. Soon she finds letters from Nettie that Mr. ____ has been hiding from her.

2. The theme of this novel is to have freedom. There are many things that are going to have people trapped, but it is up to them to get out of those horrible situations because there is a way out.

3. The tone of this novel is very somber. In describing the different types of situations such as Celie being raped, her having to marry Mr. ____, and her having to stand up for herself. These situations how serious the problems in her life are and how they are impacting her tremendously.

4. Different literary elements which helped me understand the theme and the tone of this novel is style (her writing in the way of a letter), diction (her misspelling shows how little knowledge she has of things), and symbols (her writing to God shows her faith in gaining her freedom).

The Big Question.

What empirical evidence is there that helps human beings understand how planet Earth was created and how life as we know it began?

Hamlet Revised.

There are many different ways in which a main characters thoughts impact other characters and the story itself. In the play Hamlet, the performative utterance and self-overhearing of Hamlet the character impacts the characters and the plot in many different ways. Such as other characters thinking that he is crazy and it sets off the plot due to him not going through with his plans.

From Hamlet's performative utterance and self-overhearing it impacted the play tremendously. This is what impacted other characters and changed their own view towards Hamlet. By him keeping his own thoughts to himself and thinking of what he was thinking of made him seem like he was going crazy. This impacted the characters by them trying to figure out what was wrong with him. For example when Ophelia's father thought Hamlet was going through a hard time because of Ophelia, he wanted to spy on Hamlet and see if it was true. This shows how Hamlet's performative utterance and self-overhearing has impacted other characters.

Not only has performative utterance and self-overhearing made an influence on the characters, but also on the plot of the play. Throughout the play Hamlets lack of going through with his plan of revenge conflicts with the plot of the play by him being sent away and by it ending the way it did. If Hamlet would have gone through with his seek of revenge in the first place instead of waiting and him thinking of every little detail, then many of the characters would not have died in the end.

This is something in which I can compare to my own experience. From self-overhearing I think about certain situations and how they will go. Such as my experience with Hamlet's "To be or not to be." From this experience it was plenty of thinking of what I was thinking. I had to push myself in memorizing it as much as I could and keep thinking of how my presentation would go the next day.

Throughout the play we can see how much performative utterance and self-overhearing has impacted the play. It showed how much Hamlet's thinking impacted other characters and influenced the plot of the play. It makes Hamlet's thoughts get the best of him and the characters think he is crazy which changes the whole direction of the play.

Hamlet vs. Other Epic Heroes.

There are many different types of epic heroes throughout literature. Many as we know are the type that are brave and have so much self-confidence, but Hamlet is a different type of epic hero. Hamlet’s use of language is what differentiates himself from other types of epic heroes. It differentiates him by giving characteristics of being indecisive, showing lack of confidence, and show his own “self-overhearing.”

A good comparison of epic heroes is Hamlet and Beowulf. In the play Beowulf, Beowulf is a character of confidence and goes through with his plans. He says he will defeat the monsters and protect the people, which is what he does. Hamlet on the other hand is the exact opposite. Hamlet’s language in his soliloquy “To be or not to be,” shows how indecisive he is. He keeps going back and forth in his decisions he is trying to make. Once he figures out what to do he does not know how to go through with his plan. For example, his want in killing his uncle, but unsure of when and how.

Another way in which Hamlet is different from other epic heroes such as Beowulf is that Hamlet shows his “self-overhearing.” Not many other epic heroes explain what they are thinking. In the play Hamlet, this is a major concept. By Hamlet explaining his thoughts and seeing how he feels, the audience can see how much Hamlet thinks about his own thoughts and showing how him being so indecisive is affecting him. A great example of this is when he is about to kill his uncle, but notices that he is praying and thinks his uncle will go to Heaven if he kills him at that time. This shows how deep in thought Hamlet goes.

In conclusion, Hamlet’s use of language is a great way in determining the different qualities he has compared to other epic heroes. From his “To be or not to be” soliloquy and his plan on getting revenge, we can see how Hamlets character is indecisive, how he has lack of confidence, and his “self-overhearing.”

Major Concept I have Learned.

Wow that's a really tuff question to answer. Well the major thing that I have learned would have to be how much technology is becoming a bigger part of my education. I would have never expected to use a blog to turn in assignments or for checking homework. I thought it was going to be a traditionally English class in which we would use pen and paper for assignments or essays. From this class it has really gotten me prepared for college courses that I may be taking in the future that may be needing technology to turn things in. From this it has taught me that there is not only Facebook or Youtube throughout technology, but there is a way to get my high school education and be able to communicate with fellow classmates on different questions. It is crazy how much the generation is using technology for so many things than what the older generation had. Things have changed dramatically!

Talk with Roy Christopher.

The other day all of our AP English classes got to experience a video conference with Roy Christopher. We got to talk a lot about how technology is beginning to have a huge impact on us and how it is affecting our future as not only teenagers but also students. Here are some major points that I got from this interview:

-What caught your attention to technology?
     -A friend doing web design.

-What got you more involved?
     -Writing for magazines
     -Computers caught his attention, but didn't want to get too caught up in them.
-How can we reach digital maturity?

     -The more we know the better prepared we are on digital maturity. (Interesting question in which I agree with Roy's answer.)
-Are we able to multitask?

     -Multitasking is a myth. (I agree, it is very difficult for people to really consider them multitasking. Can relate form own experiences.)

-What is the end to all this technology?
     -The end is all up to ourselves. We don't have to keep up with technology or adapt to it.

-Other:
     -Went from BMX to media (interesting how that changed)
     -He thinks its difficult with all the distractions in technology (such as other sites)
     -Working on new books about how technology is changing and influencing people.

Comments:
     -I agree with a lot of what Roy was talking about and I think that for older generations to trust our younger generation, we have to show that technology is not only used in bad ways or just for sites like Facebook and all that, but for our own education. This class is a great example because we can show how much digital maturity we have in using it for our own education.