the end

I see this blog as a chronicle of my year really, if you look back at my very first post you can see never ending errors and misspelling. it is really very horrible, I had never before created a blog or even used a site like blogger before. just like this blog when I started this class I had never really been in a advanced English class. I had always been instead the one who could get by in class without batting an eye, this was because of my mother mainly. my mother is a English major and used to be a substitute teacher so I went to kindergarten knowing how to read. over my elementary years I devoured books at a rapid pace. the only thing that was wrong with my reading was that I was only reading one genre, fantasy. while fantasy is not in its self a bad thing I had reached a kind of point of stagnation, my reading choices were limited by my own tastes and this was not a good thing. it wasn't till I began middle school that I really began to branch out I was introduced to manga and the art form that is graphic novels. as I continued on my choice of books kept widening and widening and this year it simply exploded! I have been given such stories as Dracula,To kill a mockingbird,Animal farm,the importance of being Ernest,of mice and men,Dune, and Rome and Juliet. with each of thees my scope has grown larger and larger, I have been taught how to analyze and contemplate and how to really understand . for that I thank you Mrs. Gilman, I thank you for making me read books that are outside my comfort zone and teaching me to love them.

summer reading

ah one of my favorite subjects.
I usually don't really make a detailed list of stuff that I want to read simply because I like trying to discover what the library has however a few books that I want to read are
1.the restaurant at the end of the universe
this year I read the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy and loved it
only thing is that it ends on a horrible cliffhanger so I would love to get this book to find out the answer ( even though you know it is 42)
and
2. the island of Dr. Moreau
I have never read this book and it apparently is a classic work of fiction about changing animals in to humans. due to is fantastical nature I wish to learn more.

Fate and Dreams

while never having personally experianaced a premonition; I have been told of a rather interestion premonition concerning my sister Leah. during the month of April my mother was getting ready for work, as she was curling her hair she looked up in the mirror and saw herself holding a baby girl in her arms, however the next moment she blinked and the image was gone. a few months later she found out she was pregnant , because of this image she was absolutley sure that this child would be a girl born in April.nine months later my brother Lehi was born ...in febuary. after this third adition to the family my father and mother decided not to have any more kids however six years latter on april 23 my little sisterLeah was born.

culture shock

my reference is one that I am sure you probably have never heard of, it is from a manga by Matsuri Akino called Petshop of Horrors. this manga is usually a collection of short stories centering around the mysterious pet shop of count D in Tokyo china town district. the Romeo and Juliet story starts when two young lovers burst in to the pet shop pleading for count D to hide them. as it turns out the slightly comical pair are both heirs to rival Yuzaka gangs. Count D allows them to stay the night so to escape their families thugs for the time being. in the morning how ever their families come to collect them by any means necessary, determined not to be parted they run up to the roof of the pet shop where they decide that If they cant be together in marriage they should be together in death and jump off the roof. luckily they are saved by Count D who then convinces the rivals to make up and let their children marry. when I found this referance was not actually very surprised because of the fact that Romeo and Juliet is such a classic that it is parodied and redone over and over

skit prep

my absolute favorite scene to be preformed would be the fight between miss. Haversham
and Estella. next I would like to see when Pip and Herbert try to sneak Magwitch on to a steamer. and lastly the scene with Miss. Haversham on fire!I think that the first two would be good because they show great character developement. the third one I want to see because it is hilariuos.

Next question!

why exactly is Abel Magwitch so generous? why instead of taking and using the money for his own pleasure dose he instead put it twards pips wellbeing? I understand that Pip showed kindness to him that day on the marshes but really Pip just did it because he was scared of Abel.what do you think motivated him to do this service for Pip?

Great Expectations questions

one of the parts of great expectations that I dont get is from page 246-247 it is when Pip has come back to his home town. he is walking down the road and it seems that he meets Trabbs boy
"casting my eyes along the street at a certian point of my progress , I beheld Trabb's boy approaching, loashing him-self with an empty blue bag"( pg.246)
Trabbs boy the proceades to fall down frightendeed at Pips feet.However a second later it says that he meets him again and that this time he crawls to Pips feet and begs for mercy. a moment later it happens agian only this time Trabbs boy simply dosent remeber Pip taunting him by saying "dont know yah!".
I am mainly confused on if this is a real happening ( and if so how?) or if it is something Pip is imagining. Pip seems to use languges as if this is really happening however I dont really see how it could work in real life. so my question to you is * begins music*
Is this the real life? or is this just fantasy?

Great Expectations Picture

First of all I chose this picutre because it was cute, however the second reason I chose it is because of the symbolism behind it. the little boy in the picture seems to be getting his fondest desire , an ice cream cone bigger that himself.this is not unlike Pips suden rise to fortune. Pip to is given what he belives to be the best thing in the world however in the picutre the child dosent look happy , this is because he is figgureing out that the ice cream cone is made out of stone and paint and dose not taste good in the least. Pip also is sad with is prize because it means he has to leave the only familly he has ever known and go out in to the world alone.

Great Expectations

I believe that the quote refers to the fact that one choice can change your life significantly, the U.S.A. would never have joined world war two if not for pearl harbor, modern ships would not have good safety measures if not for the Titanic, and with out the Apollo 1 , Apollo 13 may never have made it back. a life changing day for Pip happens when he meets the convict , on this day he learns an odd lesson that makes him question his views of right and wrong. when the convict is caught Pip is also afraid because he helped the convict( bring him a file to cut his chains and food) he is afraid that the convict will incriminate him also. however the criminal doesn't , instead he takes the blame upon himself ,leaving pip in a conundrum.if convicts are bad people why did he show mercy to me?
one such event in my own life was when I first started middle school, I had decided to go to a school that was on the other side of town instead of my local one and so nobody in my classes where familiar . for the first few months I was very antisocial not talking to any one that I didn't have to and eating my lunch quickly so as to spend the rest of my lunch period in the library. however one day my mother talked to me about how I could give people a bit more of a chance to get to know me , I responded negatively finally my mom said " Mara, you can make your self happy or unhappy and its your own darn choice" later that night I thought about it,I guess it was my own choice whether I had friends or not and so the next day I started trying to be more open to people a few weeks latter I made friends with some of the girls in my orchestra class. I no longer was bolting down my lunch to get to the library instead I sat with my new friends and their comrades who proved to be strong , long lasting friends who I even now still keep in contact with.

the importance of being earnest paper

to the members in my group here is my a rough draft of my paragraph so please read and review! thanks

Out of all the relationships in the book the most reserved has to be that of Miss. Prism and Rev. Chasuble, both professionals they have a way of not flirting out right but instead using metaphors. An example of this is when Rev. Chasuble says "were I fortunate enough to be Miss. Prisms pupil I would hang on her lips.........I spoke metaphorically". both Miss. Prism and Rev. Chasuble are stereotypes of moralistic characters even their jobs ( a Reverend and a governess) are ones in which a person is expected to set a good example.another thing that is very easy to spot from all their interactions is that they constantly talk like they are trying to impress one another. my guess is that the people of a middle class background would talk like this to try and convince others that they are of a higher class by using more sophisticated dialogue. this shows that people with more education where thought higher of. another thing that gave evidence to the moralistic style is that when Lady Bracknell asks what position Miss. Prism holds in his household Rev. Chasuble Assumes that she is suggesting Miss. prism is sexually involved with him and takes offense. both the characters are easily offended thus reflecting society's high standards.

the Importance of Reserching

I could not resist the title sorry.

When you are little, quite often the jokes in movies would go straight over your head unless they were slapstick comedy , but when you grow- up and rewatch the movie you pick up on the cleverer jokes ,hidden meanings, double entendres, and cynical remarks. Like growing-up, research has this affect on reading a book from another era,after researching the era you find your self in on all the subtleties of the setting.Within my research for The Importance of Being Ernest I learned that women in the Victorian era where expected to be delicate and proper. This helped me to understand how some of the women in the play acted.

One place that my research really helped me was in getting a good picture in my head of what the settings looked like. By researching what a portmanteau is I understood why Jack was anxious to make sure Algernon didn't over stay his welcome( portmanteaus are very large suitcases).I also was better able to understand the characters because of this . Due to my research about how the Victorian society works I gained insight of to why Lady Bracknell didn't want Jack to marry Gwendolen due to his statis as a foundling. Lastly research has helped me to understand the author , Oscar Wilde by learning about his life I can now understand the social comments he makes, how he is basically saying in this story that its not a good thing to have society so rigid and proper.

poetry out loud

In Jackson Hillie's recitation of Forgetfulness, he really uses his voice to convey a sense of losing things. he also uses physical presence really well to act like he cant remember something . one of the clever tricks that he used in physical presence was to look up when he wanted to look like he couldn't remember something. this is a actual biological quirk that most people do when they are trying to recall something.
Also the poem he choose was a good poem with an Ironic meaning. it talks about a natural thing that happens to all people , a slow losing of memories after time . the poem talks about how it is kind of sad ,that this happens that all of our memories dim with age.







also I am sorry for posting this on Saturday morning , I was going to do it Friday night but the Internet crashed , and my dad was to lazy to fix it that night.

Mockingbird Motif

When I first started To kill a mockingbird I had no idea what a motif was. I understood the concept but not the application,the mockingbird motif within the story has helped me to understand this. A motif is simply a symbol used to stand for an idea like how the idea of " its a sin to kill a mockingbird"( a bird that has no adverse qualities)equates to that the exploitation of innocents is wrong.
This also helped to further the theme of hypocrisy in the story. the trail of Tom Robinson is the slaying of a mocking bird , Tom Robinson is convicted of a crime he never committed simply because of his skin color. Where as it is suspected that Bob Ewell however is guilty of abuse and rape and is not brought to trial about it.

Life Lessons

Throughout my life I do not think there has ever been really one defining moment where some thing my parent has said has stuck with me. there has been how ever two sayings that have been repeated over and over again to me. Both of these sayings where told to me since I was old enough to understand. One is " if you make good choices, you get good consequences. make bad choices you get bad consequences " and the other saying being" all the worlds problems are caused by people being greedy stupid or lazy"
Through out the years whenever I have erred, these fateful quotes ring through my ears . With their plain simplicity they stand true, causing me to feel ashamed of my wrongdoing. They also stand in my mind a a precaution, causing me to often rethink my ways before committing an act. These statements have become in my mind a lingering message to always choose the right and to keep my morals strong.

characterization: esther

passage one

The girl sits on a park bench , her long dark hair almost obscuring her face . a strip of blue glimmers in her locks falling straight to her back. Black lined brown eyes dart mechanically all over the drawing in her lap, checking every line, making sure the characters limbs are proportionate and that the shading is correct. Surrounding her is a small pencil bag decked with key chains and a empty Starbucks cup. Her painted nails hold the pencil like a surgeon putting stroke after stroke on the page to complete her work

passage two

My friend Esther is a person of two P's. perfectionism and pessimism. She talks in such a way that to most people she comes off as a bit snobbish. She has always been one of the best artists around this is mainly because of her habit of never stopping till her work is perfect. A person of idiosyncrasies she has a weird sense of humor and collects interesting little things such as small Venetian masks.

Jane Eyre : Imagery

When perusing the pages of Jane Eyre one of the things that lept out at me was the constant uses of Imagery. after a minute of careful thought the reason for all this imagery became clear. the author used this literary device so much because the book is a love story.
When writing about romance it is essential to give vivid detail so that the reader, as well as the character can fall in love. how would it be if the author wrote " and they kissed " instead of " and their lips passionately met" the use of Imagery makes the love story more real and vibrant, giving the character and the world they live in life.

Outside Reading

I am really enjoying reading Jane Eyre, it has a great story that quickly engages you and brings you into the life of the protagonist. You can really see through Jane's eyes, it seems obvious that Imagery is the main literary element because the story is so vivid. Imagery is used to describe many of Jane's thoughts giving you a good idea of the feelings and connections that she experiences.I believe that the author uses this literary element because it is a love story, love stories are all about the connection between people so to give the reader a feeling that they are in the protagonists shoes, falling in love at the same time.
The tone of the the book is hard to place it seems a bit satirical, dramatic and sentimental all at the same time.

Writing about Reading

For me reading a book is like swimming in a lake. You sit at the end of the dock, and look in to the water; you try to see what will happen of you go down in to it. Will you shiver with the cold? Will you feel refreshed? Will it feel surprisingly warm? Who knows, that is the fun part. So you dive in, some books like some lakes feel cold and hard to follow. but perseverance is a must! by keeping at it you can eventually warm up to the book. sometimes the right reading environment is not available, your younger siblings are fighting again, and dad has the music turned up to loud, mom is yelling at the kids to stop fighting, you get the picture. When ever such instances occur to me I simply ignore everyone. ( however mind you keep a sharp ear tuned for mom telling you to do stuff or else)

For me reading fiction is just an extension of life, every hour of every day I am creating little stories in my head. Sometimes they are relevant to life ( such as if I see a girl with a sad expression and a tear streaked face I make up a story that she is sad) and sometimes they are completely irrelevant to life. fiction is simply other people sharing their day dreams, wich is a nobel vocation all in its self.