What's the story?

"What is it that makes you want to write songs? In a way you want to stretch yourself into other people's hearts. You want to plant yourself there, or at least get a resonance, where other people become a bigger instrument than the one you're playing. It becomes almost an obsession to touch other people. To write a song that is remembered and taken to heart is a connection, a touching of bases. A thread that runs through all of us. A stab to the heart. Sometimes I think songwriting is about tightening the heartstrings as much as possible without bringing on a heart attack." -Keith Richards

Why did Charles Dickens write the novel you're reading/reviewing? 

-Charles Dickens wrote "Great Expectations" for probably a variety of reasons. Who knows, maybe it was out of boredom. Or maybe he did it to make money. But I believe he did it for a more meaningful reason regarding the passion he possessed for writing. He is a fantastic author (even though his books are incredibly lengthy.) If you do get deep into one of his thick paged books, you'll find that his words are so descriptive and packed with imagery. He has a way of painting a picture of the plot in your mind. I believe he wrote the book purely because he has a passion for witting. Now, specifically talking about "Great Expectations," Dickens has so much underlying meaning that goes into every aspect of the book ranging from the events right down to the character's names. He wrote the book to exploit his style, as well as the morals expressed within his pages. 

What in your analysis of literary techniques led you to this conclusion?

-I thought the best and most efficient way  to note the literary devices used in "Great Expectations" would be to create a list and follow them with some examples. So here it is:

-imagery, symbolism, allegory, and tone

-Narrator point of view

-setting, genre, writing style 

-metaphor, simile, personification 

-asyndeton, archaic expression

-hyperbole, paradox, antithesis 

-parallelism, anaphora, epistrophe 

-Also thought I would list some common themes we found in the book: 

-"Ambition and self-improvement"

-"Social class"

-"Crime, guilt, and innocence" 

Literary Devices List #3

exposition - noun (music) the section of a movement (especially in sonata form) where the major musical themes first occur; an account that sets forth the meaning or intent of a writing or discourse; a systematic interpretation or explanation (usually written) of a specific topic; a collection of things (goods or works of art etc.) for public display
expressionism - noun an art movement early in the 20th century; the artist's subjective expression of inner experiences was emphasized; an inner feeling was expressed through a distorted rendition of reality
fable - noun a short moral story (often with animal characters); a story about mythical or supernatural beings or events; a deliberately false or improbable account
fallacy - noun a misconception resulting from incorrect reasoning
falling - adj. becoming lower or less in degree or value; decreasing in amount or degree; coming down freely under the influence of gravity
action - noun something done (usually as opposed to something said); the most important or interesting work or activity in a specific area or field; an act by a government body or supranational organization; the operating part that transmits power to a mechanism; the trait of being active and energetic and forceful; the series of events that form a plot; the state of being active; a military engagement; a judicial proceeding brought by one party against another; one party prosecutes another for a wrong done or for protection of a right or for prevention of a wrong; a process existing in or produced by nature (rather than by the intent of human beings); verb institute legal proceedings against; file a suit against;put in effect
farce - noun a comedy characterized by broad satire and improbable situations; mixture of ground raw chicken and mushrooms with pistachios and truffles and onions and parsley and lots of butter and bound with eggs; verb fill with a stuffing while cooking
figurative - adj. (used of the meanings of words or text) not literal; using figures of speech; consisting of or forming human or animal figures
language - noun the mental faculty or power of vocal communication; a systematic means of communicating by the use of sounds or conventional symbols; the cognitive processes involved in producing and understanding linguistic communication;a system of words used to name things in a particular discipline;the text of a popular song or musical-comedy number; (language) communication by word of mouth
flashback - noun a transition (in literary or theatrical works or films) to an earlier event or scene that interrupts the normal chronological development of the story; an unexpected but vivid recurrence of a past experience (especially a recurrence of the effects of an hallucinogenic drug taken much earlier)
foil - noun a light slender flexible sword tipped by a button; a piece of thin and flexible sheet metal; picture consisting of a positive photograph or drawing on a transparent base; viewed with a projector; anything that serves by contrast to call attention to another thing's good qualities; a device consisting of a flat or curved piece (as a metal plate) so that its surface reacts to the water it is passing through; verb cover or back with foil; enhance by contrast; hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of
folk - noun people in general (often used in the plural); the traditional and typically anonymous music that is an expression of the life of people in a community; people descended from a common ancestor; a social division of (usually preliterate) people
tale - noun a trivial lie; a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events; presented in writing or drama or cinema or as a radio or television program
foreshadowing - adj. indistinctly prophetic; noun the act of providing vague advance indications; representing beforehand
free - adj. not literal; unconstrained or not chemically bound in a molecule or not fixed and capable of relatively unrestricted motion;able to act at will; not hampered; not under compulsion or restraint;not held in servitude; not occupied or in use; not fixed in position;not taken up by scheduled activities; costing nothing; adv. without restraint; noun people who are free; verb free or remove obstruction from; grant freedom to; free from confinement; free from obligations or duties; make (information) available publication;make (assets) available; let off the hook; remove or force out from a position; part with a possession or right; relieve from; grant relief or an exemption from a rule or requirement to
verse - noun a piece of poetry; a line of metrical text; literature in metrical form; verb familiarize through thorough study or experience; compose verses or put into verse
genre - noun a class of art (or artistic endeavor) having a characteristic form or technique; a kind of literary or artistic work; an expressive style of music; a style of expressing yourself in writing
gothic - adj. characterized by gloom and mystery and the grotesque; of or relating to the Goths; of or relating to the language of the ancient Goths; characteristic of the style of type commonly used for printing German; as if belonging to the Middle Ages; old-fashioned and unenlightened; noun a style of architecture developed in northern France that spread throughout Europe between the 12th and 16th centuries; characterized by slender vertical piers and counterbalancing buttresses and by vaulting and pointed arches; a heavy typeface in use from 15th to 18th centuries; extinct East Germanic language of the ancient Goths; the only surviving record being fragments of a 4th-century translation of the Bible by Bishop Ulfilas
tale - noun a trivial lie; a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events; presented in writing or drama or cinema or as a radio or television program
hyperbole - noun extravagant exaggeration
imagery - noun the ability to form mental images of things or events
implication - noun an accusation that brings into intimate and usually incriminating connection; a relation implicated by virtue of involvement or close connection (especially an incriminating involvement); a logical relation between propositions p and q of the form `if p then q'; if p is true then q cannot be false; something that is inferred (deduced or entailed or implied); a meaning that is not expressly stated but can be inferred
incongruity - noun the quality of disagreeing; being unsuitable and inappropriate
inference - noun the reasoning involved in drawing a conclusion or making a logical judgment on the basis of circumstantial evidence and prior conclusions rather than on the basis of direct observation
irony - noun incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs; a trope that involves incongruity between what is expected and what occurs; witty language used to convey insults or scorn

Literary Term Preparation

Examples for List #1:

allegory- Consider the short story, "the Allegory of the Cave." The cave takes on a greater meaning by symbolizing ignorance. 

alliteration - Alice's Aunt ate apples and acorns around August.

allusion- His nose was growing like Pinocchio's, is referencing to another piece of literature.

ambiguity- "I rode a black horse in red pajamas," is unclear. Is the person wearing the pajamas or is the horse?

anachronism- Having cell phones during the Jurassic era is out of place, time, sequence, and history.

analogy- Shoe is to foot as hat is to head.

analysis- Breaking down a story into is component parts; exposition, climax, etc.

anaphora - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a Dream" speech continuously repeats a phrase. 

anecdote - At the beginning of a speech about fire safety, the speaker tells a short cautionary tale about a serious injury that occurred as a result of not following protocol.

antagonist- The Green Goblin is the bad guy/antagonist to Spider man. 

antithesis - Speech is silver, but silence is gold.

aphorism- Youth is a blunder; Manhood a struggle; Old age regret. Similar to proverm, states a life lesson in a few words.

apologia- Formal written defense like a letter. 

apostrophe- When hamlet talks to the skull like it's a real person.

argument - Definding a side or giving proposition. Consider arguing over gay marriage.

assumption- A reader drawing a conclusion based off of assumption or using context clues from the story. 

audience- the listeners of the story, consider a play in theater. 

characterization- "His clothes were trashed and his eyes heavy. He wreaked of alcohol and stumbled inside." Details whithin a story describing it's characters. 

chiasmus-  “Never let a Fool Kiss You or a Kiss Fool You.”

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

Cliche - 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

"all that David Copperfield kind of crap"

Salinger's Catcher In The Rye states in it's opening passage that he isn't going to relay his "humble beginnings" like that of David Copperfield. In other words, Salinger is displaying the contrast in writing styles, tone, diction, characterization, etc. that Dickens has to his own. Salinger is trying to explain that he is not going to beat around the bush and drop flowers and rainbows over his life. Dickens novels in comparison, does the opposite. Dickens fills his stories with in depth descriptions of everything from plot to the characters. Dickens style is lengthy and vivid. His words paint a picture in your mind that are everlasting. He's very successful at achieving a connection between the reader and his characters. He makes the audience feel as though we know the characters personally because he describes them with the up most detail. He's very precise in his diction and syntax. Dicken's complex imagery and characterization has become his style in almost all of his work. Now referring back to Salinger's Catcher In The Rye, Salinger purposefully compares his character to Dicken's character in order to achieve a solid contradiction between the two. This comparison achieves the authors intentions of showing that Salinger's character is more conservative, lacking emotion, pessimistic about the world, and confrontational with the negatives he sees in his life. Creating this distance between the protagonist from Dicken's ultimately sets the stage for Salinger's character. He flawlessly achieves to characterize his character by simply stating he is the opposite of Dicken's David Copperfield. Salinger successfully gives a huge amount of detail about his own character through the use of comparison with Dicken's, and he does all this in merely a few sentences.

AP Prep Post #1: Siddhartha

1) What does Siddhartha mean when he refers to the "path of paths" that must be found? (p. 17) Why is he so certain that neither the Brahmans nor the Samanas have found it?
ANS: Brahmans is a member of the highest Hindu social class. Although i am not fully able to state the answer to this question, using context clues i have come up with the understanding that Siddhartha has taken the initiative to separate from the "path" of what he is expected to do. He is isolating himself, going against the crowd, in order to find his "own" path of self discovery or enlightenment different than those around him. 

2) Does Gautama adequately answer Siddhartha's contention that "no one is granted deliverance through a teaching"? (p. 32) Why doesn't Siddhartha become one of Gautama's followers?
ANS: Although i offer no real answer to this question connected with the plot, I am able to make an inference that this line is important to the story. The use of "deliverance" is very exact in it's meaning of not actually being delivered but rather being "set free". This question is basically stating that being told a lesson or teaching, doesn't mean you will apply it, and it certainly doesn't guarantee that it will work or fix you're problems. This concept brings me to religion is a prime example. Just because your taught not to lie doesn't mean you will always tell the truth, and it doesn't mean your automatically condemned a good person and erases all your other sins.  

3) What is the connection between Siddhartha losing his friend Govinda to Gautama and Siddhartha's "awakening"? What does it mean that "the awakening man was on the way to himself"? (p. 37)
ANS:  I do not know the circumstances of the loss of Siddhartha's friend, but i do know that mourning the loss of a loved one can open ourselves to being vulnerable and seeing the world without an optimistic lens. Negative things that happen to us are often the best and ultimate form of learning. We learn more about ourselves in the bad times than we ever could in the good. You gain a new appreciation for the things around you, and you being to learn that nothing is eternal, and in a split instance you are able to lose your child-like ignorance and realize there is, are, and always will be bad in the world. I think the "awakening" in this question is referring to that moment when an individual overcomes that initial struggle of pushing past a bad experience. In this case, i think Siddhartha awakened the moment he realized his worth, and accepted who he was as a person, and reveled in it. 

4) After waking up by the river, why does Siddhartha say, "I have nothing, I know nothing, I can do nothing, I have learned nothing. How wondrous this is!"? (p. 84)
ANS: I think Siddhartha abandoned beliefs that people around him hold so dearly to be true, and breaking away from normal customs is unheard of within his culture. Sidhartha is searching for something. Im not sure what, but he has broke away from the norm to find it. When he says he has, does, and learned nothing, this wasn't meant literal. He means he has a clean slate, a blank start, to start a new foundation of the life he wants to live and he's going to start by filling it his own thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. It's "wondrous" because it's something he never thought possible until he took the chance to embrace change. 

5) How can we know who is the right teacher for us? Can wisdom be taught?
What is the relation of words to wisdom? Do words tend to enhance or limit wisdom?
ANS: This particular question i think exploits certain themes and other central messages of the story and is asking to draw parallels from the story that apply to your own life. This would serve as a good essay question. 

More Prep: To master the AP exam, I feel I must prepare more on literary devices. Im nervous for the Essay portion and I want to be able to pull out all my "tricks" to apply to it by studying up on devices, vocabulary, and  my overall writing style. Also, i think another problem is that i don't have a broad enough variety of literature under my belt which I'm hoping to fix this semester as well. Lastly, the multiple choice specifically i struggled with last year, not so much the question, but time was the issue! In short, I want to be more sophist acted with my writing and work in this course so i am able to apply that to the AP Exam. 

Masterpiece Building Blocks

 Topic: The basis of my masterpiece is centered upon Journalism.
Interest: Ever since I was little I have always had a passion for writing. It has now grown into a mindset for me. It's not just about the words on a paper. I want to uncover stories and explore the world's greatest unknowns. I am perusing my passion for writing making journalism my major as I head into my next great adventure in college.
Explain: Learning more about journalism will give me the tools I need to become a powerful journalist. It's going to help me in reaching my dream of traveling the world and uncovering stories to share with the world.
Tools: Journalism requires an endless supply of valuable social skills, interview experience, psychological understandings/developments, patience, and a great deal of understanding the world through neutral eyes.
The plan: I picture my masterpiece being in the form of a video and partially me talking/explaining my journey  through the world of journalism. I have given this a lot of thought, and at first I could not buckle down a solid approach for this, but after much consideration, I think I finally created a plan! I thought about just what makes a "journalist" a "good journalist." The difference between them is that legendary journalist are master interviewers. So I set out to become just that. I want to over come my illogical fear of public speaking to become my life long dream. I contacted several journalist in my area. One of them being a women who mentored me in the past and first got me involved in the journalism business. I want to tell Their stories and this time, I'll be the interviewer. And along the way, I'll be over coming my biggest fear of public speaking. Isn't is ironic how the greatest journalist tell the most memorable stories about everyone in the world but themselves? -Not this time. This time, I'll be telling their story, and I'll be documenting everything along the way.

My end goal for my masterpiece is to simply inspire people. I want other young kids to see they can do anything if they set their mind to it. And no matter what fears they have, they can be over come and nothing can stand in the way of your happiness and your success. I want to inspire kids so they know that anything is possible. The world is in your hands.