Tale of Two Cities Lecture Notes

What's the Story?

I think Charles Dickens wrote what he did to share the story of life, the expectations you have for it and the effect that you actually get. Sometimes it isn't what you wanted of hope for, but the realization that your life has no rewind is maybe the most powerful. There is no do over, change something, fix the one thing you regret even if that is the only thing you want to do. So far I haven't read to much of Great Expectations however, from the title I know Pip will have man trials and errors as he find who he really is and wants to be for this life. Most of my observations are still from the lecture Dr. Preston gave us a couple weeks ago because that is the overview that I am basing my thoughts off of. I think Pip and everyone else in the world has gone through this place of realizing you make life what it is, but life makes you what you are. You have to grow up and pay taxes, deal with consequences and tragedy yet it builds character in you as you grow and become the person you are.

Literary Terms #2

 Circumlocution

noun an indirect way of expressing something; a style that involves indirect ways of expressing things

Classicism

noun a movement in literature and art during the 17th and 18th centuries in Europe that favored rationality and restraint and strict forms

Cliché

 noun a trite or obvious remark

Climax

noun the decisive moment in a novel or play; arrangement of clauses in ascending order of forcefulness; the highest point of anything conceived of as growing or developing or unfolding; the most severe stage of a disease; the moment of most intense pleasure in sexual intercourse; verb end, especially to reach a final or climactic stage

Colloquialism

noun a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech

Comedy

noun light and humorous drama with a happy ending; a comic incident or series of incidents

Conflict

noun an open clash between two opposing groups (or individuals); an incompatibility of dates or events; opposition between two simultaneous but incompatible feelings; opposition in a work of drama or fiction between characters or forces (especially an opposition that motivates the development of the plot); a state of opposition between persons or ideas or interests; a hostile meeting of opposing military forces in the course of a war; a disagreement or argument about something important; verb go against, as of rules and laws; be in conflict
Connotation

 noun an idea that is implied or suggested; what you must know in order to determine the reference of an expression

Contrast

 noun the act of distinguishing by comparing differences; the range of optical density and tone on a photographic negative or print (or the extent to which adjacent areas on a television screen differ in brightness); the perceptual effect of the juxtaposition of very different colors; the opposition or dissimilarity of things that are compared; a conceptual separation or distinction; verb put in opposition to show or emphasize differences; to show differences when compared; be different

Denotation

noun the most direct or specific meaning of a word or expression; the class of objects that an expression refers to; the act of indicating or pointing out by name

Denouement

noun the final resolution of the main complication of a literary or dramatic work; the outcome of a complex sequence of events

Dialect

noun the usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of people

Dialectics

 noun a rationale for dialectical materialism based on change through the conflict of opposing forces

Dichotomy

 noun being twofold; a classification into two opposed parts or subclasses

Diction

 noun the manner in which something is expressed in words; the articulation of speech regarded from the point of view of its intelligibility to the audience

Didactic

adj. instructive (especially excessively)

Dogmatic

 adj. characterized by assertion of unproved or unprovable principles; relating to or involving dogma; of or pertaining to or characteristic of a doctrine or code of beliefs accepted as authoritative

Elegy

 noun a mournful poem; a lament for the dead

Epic

 adj. very imposing or impressive; surpassing the ordinary (especially in size or scale); constituting or having to do with or suggestive of a literary epic; noun a long narrative poem telling of a hero's deeds

Epigram

noun a witty saying

Great Expectations Review

So far, all I know is what Dr. Preston lectured us on yesterday. It was interesting and I liked how the story evolved and showed Pip making decisions based on who he wanted to be, not just to achieve success. But then maybe the way he chooses will lead him to success but not in the way society coins it. He might choose Joe's way, a loving and kind life that isn't based on monetary gains to create happiness. I can't imagine he would choose Jaggers' way of life after he saw how dull it would be once he learned of the way both men treated the mother and her child.
Thinking about that, I hope my life is more like Joe's. First of all I like the name Joe, it seems like a trustworthy name, that Joe in the book upholds. Second, I 'd like to be a person people can turn to in a time of need. Sometimes I am in a situation where I wish I could turn to someone but I don't always have someone who I feel comfortable talking to. However, I always want to be there for someone to cling on to when times are rough and confusing. I feel like that is how the mother felt when she reached out to Joe and I hope to react like him.

In Class Conversation with Victoria

I don't know very much about the book other that the lecture that Preston gave in class

Victoria used Joe more for comparison and how he was a good guy but was poor

Joe was rich in what money couldn't buy

I went more for Jagger's and how the wealth corrupted him into becoming a bad person

Jagger's was rich in money, poor in everything else 

Dickens wasn't keen on materialism and wealth 

Shown through his distaste of Jagger's and pips little is pocessions as an orphan

Dickens shows a lot through the meeting of the poor woman and her child

Jagger's is so concerned with his wealth that he so worried about he sells the child

Joes has next to nothing but still tries to provide for the woman and her child

Lecture

Learned that is why a college class was like

Victoria likes how he went through the whole book

Names of characters had to do with personalities

I like not knowing exactly how pip turns out and how he interpreted all his experiences

I liked seeing the evolution of characters like astella of Magwitch 

I wish it was more interactive and included other peoples knowledge too even though it might have taken two class periods

All that David Copperfield Crap

Dicken's style is very autobiographical, taking the reader through the steps of how things got here and there and why. When Salinger references David Copperfield, he has previously said he isn't interested in going through everything that lead up to that point in the story. I feel like that makes a story more mysterious and also makes the reader think about what is happening and what it can mean based off only the short pieces they have knowledge of from the beginning of the book. Salinger does this to show this is a different kind of book, not something a classic reader would expect, so maybe if their was a classic reader reading it they would stop before they expected something that Salinger wasn't interested in sharing. It also reaches out to a different audience and could lead to a new way of writing that was different that what was common at the time.

Great Expectations Notes

Buildings roman- coming of age story, child to adulthood

No real definition for United States

Why determines an adult vs a child in a book. Understanding I psychology

Pip has imaginings about what life could be life

Finds out they come with effort and requires something of him

He imagines he could do anything ad makes him child like

Orphaned

Reacts intelligently, feels that normal path of life isn't good enough for him

Conscious of being a victim

He doesn't know what normal is and has grand expectations  and fears

Adopts male role models

Magwitch is a stranger convict, appears in a graveyard

He eats like an animals and scarfs down his food, wicked. 

Shows animal need to survive

Mag witch represents abandonment 

Pip thinks he has these characteristics

Mag witch shows what pip may become

Ms haveishm

Have a sham or shame or fraud

One side she shows why happens when dreams dot happen an shining promise on the other

She could be a fairy god mother

Memorialize dead hopes and betrayal

Nothing is moving since he was left at the altar

Memorial to dead hope

Wedding dress represents loss

Pip plays beggar your neighbor for a heartbreaker

As tells is a heart breaker

Dual possibility of adult hood promise to pip

Ms haveashm is conflict

Pip doesn't talk about his true feeling

Pip is a seed

Male desire to succeed in the world to be something more

You will be complete when you get.... Wants

Sometimes you dot appreciate what you get

Pip it isn't just about desire, pip has to work to make something happen in his life

Joe and Jaggers are differet from each other

J is interchangeable with I

Joe is the blacksmith, physical strength where he gets his power but he doesn't beat people up

Jagger's knows things about people, his power. Holds it over people to have power over people

Joes goes with feeling, no judging with people, romantic and thinks in metaphors

Jos isn't a success financially rich emotional life and is content

Jagger's lives by law. Objective not as much emotional and requires people to spell things out

What he knows he can use to hurt other people

Characters like jagger astella

Characters like joe are small

Jagger's believes facts not ideas, sees success tht he has lots of money

Joe and Jagger's came across a mom and baby in need of help

Joe adopts mom and baby

Jagger's separates mother and child. 

Mother is now his servant

Joe is based on feeling with pip

Jagger he is a pesemist. Jagger's is a purely business guy

Wimick Jagger's

Clerks who works with Jagger's

Wimick at work is like Jagger's at office and at home is like joe

Wimick can be both 

Pip crosses from side to side

He try's ideas on 

He views Wimick as robot but good friend

Magwitch could be bad

Identify a with Pip as an orphan

Evil life of child life an after he meets pip it changes

There are multiple conflicts. Mind of protagonist

1. Is not a fairy god mother and he it's from a fantasy

2. Astella is not intended for pip, she is crinmal

3. Magwitch plotted his thinkings. They aren't his own but through influences

4. Ideas are recycled 

My about adult telling a young person how to live life but how young person comes to it himself

Implication he doesn't see things like jagger

Joe has excepted this moral compromise. Not worth one things one day an the next another

Moral changes Shown through jagger and joes

He wants to be practical and emotional

Differed because he is a fantasist 

Joe and Jagger's except consequences that come to him

Pip wants benefits but doesn't want to pay for it

Is a snob because he can't commit to who he really is

Is judgmental and unwilling to engage

Pip doesn't get it yet like a confession

Going through what he didn't go through in his youth that now he has to go through Middle Ages 

By end

Astella isn't worth pursuing

Pip don't even want fantasis

Forge is the central moral place

People their have child named pip

Live life and not through fantasy 

AP Prep Post 1: Siddhartha

Siddhartha Questions
1. What roll does the natural world (sun, sky, trees, water) play in Siddhartha’s journey?  What is Siddhartha’s relationship to nature?

2. Do you think you must venture out on your own in order to fully develop your identity or can you do it within the construct of your upbringing?

3.  Siddhartha searches for that one important thing, the only important thing throughout the novel.  What do you think is the most important thing in the world? 

4.  While Siddhartha’s journey is uniquely his own, it is also everyone’s journey.  What connections to Siddhartha’s journey toward shaping and understanding his identity can you see within your own?

 

Essay Question: How does the discovery process (journey) of Siddhartha compare/ contrast  with the discovery or discussions about identity in other texts we have worked on in the unit so far? 

These questions were from an online document so I was only able to get some of the website link.

https://myportal.bsd405.org/personal/fostern/AP/Lists/Calendar%20Banner/Attachments/50/G12_U3_A10_SP%20Socratic%20Seminar%20Questions.doc

 

Responses

1. The natural world is included in the passage but seems to stand in the way more than create opportunities. I think through been in the outdoors Siddhartha was able to find himself, who he was and wasn't. For what  we know right now, it is hard to know exactly what it means for the story or
Siddhartha, I think we need more context. Maybe a chapter or tow that is around where our section is from would be helpful.

2. I think finding out who you are is up to you. Yes venturing out you can find out things about yourself, but if that isn't really you and staying in your shell and following your family is what you want to do then that is also up to you. If Siddhartha had followed his family then he wouldn't have found out this new person that has bloomed. He is a good role model for people who want to go places and see things and try something new.

3.I would say the most important this in the world is love or kindness. These things can be so powerful and that is part of my masterpiece. through everything those can bring a brightest that other things can't eve  when lacking some things like food or water or anything. A little love and kindness can stretch you another day,  whether surviving as a homeless person or living in a day to day drone that you feel is more hurtful than helpful.

4. Well Siddhartha and I are pretty much the opposite, and if we do have any similarities it would probably be my transition to college that I would do things he also did. I haven't had many opportunities to try to be someone else or seek something out of like that I haven't felt or known before. One thing I was thinking of recently was confidence and how I should try being more confident in myself, but that hasn't happened yet, maybe sometime in  the future.

5. I would need to know some more books before comparing books. I haven't read very many self discovery books probably because I am not very interested in them. To know more and be able to compare books I would need to find some and read them before I could compare them for this question.

 

Comparing and contrasting is an important thing for essays in the AP test.

Hacking My Education

I think most of what I need to learn will be my responsibility. Like vocab and literature terms, also reading, which I am not sure if I am bad at or just really dislike. I need to learn to get over my inabilities and conquer that vocab and reading! Also for my masterpiece, I am thinking about incorporating mountain biking because I want to do really well this year and I hope I can further motivate myself to do well by including it in my masterpiece.

Siddhartha

He was homeless, he felt alone

Many were in his shoes

Felt he didn't belong anywhere or with anyone

Braman- highest religious class in India

Have to be certain way

He had to ask questions which his dryer didn't like

He has questions that can't be answered by books or scholars

He stood still, self actualization

Paralyzed, by snake( evil, devil)

In his thinkin he is by himself

He steps out which may hurt his family and he would feel shame

Snakes he'd skin

He could become new different

Friends don't let you change, when you move past friends a new freedom is found

He is undefined 

Understands his self discovery, he moved on, not looking for some place to fit

Doubtful tone

Overwhelmed

Blender, finding the fruit that makes up the smoothie

Doesn't need to find a plae to belong

Anaphorism- I'm not, I'm not, I'm not

Symbolism- snakes, recurring moment

Extended metaphor- story within a story

Ambiguous- always questions, you can take it different ways, it doesn't say how to feel about writing

Mood is ambiguous

Masterpiece talk: Annie

Literature Analysis: The Happiness Project

There is a book called the Happiness Project, so happy someone else has come up with it too. It is like a present I didn't even know was there for me to enjoy. However, I am still waiting for the book to become available at the library, if anyone has a copy please let me know!

1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read according to the elements of plot you've learned in past courses (exposition, inciting incident, etc.).  Explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of same).

2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.

3. Describe the author's tone. Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).

4. Describe a minimum of ten literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your readers. (Please include edition and page numbers for easy reference.)

CHARACTERIZATION
1. Describe two examples of direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization.  Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end (i.e., what is your lasting impression of the character as a result)?

2. Does the author's syntax and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character?  How?  Example(s)?

3. Is the protagonist static or dynamic?  Flat or round?  Explain.

4. After reading the book did you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character?  Analyze one textual example that illustrates your reaction. 

Masterpiece Talk: Jisu

Masterpiece Talk: Victoria

Masterpiece

1. My topic is making someone else feel valued and important and loved. Sometimes high school life can get dry and dull and lull us to sleep rather than wake us up to all the great things out there. Whether giving someone new friendships or just giving them a smile, I hope to complete that in my project. I became interested in making people happy when I found myself not happy. I realized that other people can feel that way, but a little light in their world, whatever it may be can bring them up to the surface of happiness.
I think this topic will enrich my life and others because it shows what a little bit of kindness can do. Simple smiles and small gestures is all it takes to made a terrible day a little better. Sometimes letting our terrible days get others down is also something that can be avoided when you let someone know. Maybe it doesn't have to be a terrible day, maybe it can be a great day if you have the willingness to let it. Also this is to inspire people to be kind and aware of what is happening around them and giving them a little shove to sacrifice some of their time and love for someone else.
This project needs some social skills, some that I may not posses but maybe others will. I hope to include the whole senior class in this project maybe a few from other classes. If I can find enough people willing to participate, I think everyone's social skills combined will make this a project for the books.
Learning how to decipher people's mood or feeling will be one of the first peices. We will be learning about how people respond when something nice and unexpected happens and also seeing how we feel after we have accomplished something amazing and thoughtful. Then hopefully translating that over to our own life and the actions we take in it that we may not have taken before.
I would say we need money for purchasing gifts for the special person of the week or month, then also time from people to see who needs it the most, what to get them and then how to execute the plan in secret. I would like each way of presenting the surprise to be different each time.
to tell my story I will probably use my own blog, my technical skills are not advanced and I try to not "social media" my life away, but I think whatever does come out of this might also get posted to Facebook to try to get support for what we are doing. Also to get ideas of who to surprise, we might post signs up that says nominate someone who you think is deserving of something special, to get the word out about the project, why we are doing it, and hopefully get deserving applicants.

There is a book called The Happiness Project that I am excited to read and see how someone else found a way to become happier. Sadly it seems very popular at the moment because the libraries are fresh out of copies. I have to wait for it to become available but I am exciting to read and learn from it and hopefully get some more inspiration for my project and also how to make it better, more organized.

The author has a blog that I am trying to find to possible contact her to get involved (I am dreaming) but after I got the magic wand, I just couldn't stop. I am ready to hear others opinions and advice for making htis project amazing and still trying to find the right people to approach.