Close Reading #4

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/opinion/when-a-hurricane-strands-those-in-need.html?ref=editorials

An editorial recently published in the New York Times talks about the devastation that Hurricane Sandy has brought upon New York City and it's citizens. The author effectively uses literary techniques such as pejorative diction, details, and syntax to show how they think the city did not make enough effort to move it's citizens out of harms way.

In the second paragraph in this editorial, I saw three examples of strong diction when the author stated, "The terrible — and avoidable — result was that many frail or disabled occupants of public housing were left..." (Lines 8-10). When the author uses the word "avoidable" in that sentence, it shows how the author thinks that the city could have done so much more to help the citizens. If the author had chosen to leave the word out, it would have changed the whole meaning of the sentence, and this word also helps put emphasis on the other two examples of strong diction that I saw, the words "frail" and "disabled". If the author had replaced these two words with something a little more weak, such as "sick", getting across their point would not have been so effective. Saying that those occupants were frail and disabled showed their need for help. 

I saw a lot of details in this editorial, mainly in the form of statistics. In the third paragraph, the author talks about how many residents the New York City Housing Authority has to look after, and how many people went without heat and hot water after the storm. The author stated, "With almost 650,000 residents to look after, the New York City Housing Authority has long been underfinanced..." to show how this is a problem that should have been taken care of long before a crisis occurred. Another example I saw was when the author said, "...aftermath of a storm that wiped out electricity, heat and hot water for 77,000 people in 402 buildings..." and this shows the true magnitude and severity of the aftermath of the storm. 

One example of syntax that really put some emphasis on the author's point was in the second paragraph, when the author said, "The terrible — and avoidable — result...". The dashes that were put around the word avoidable really put emphasis on it. To me, it seemed like the thing to focus on in the sentence. It showed that, although the situation was terrible, it also could have been avoided, and that's the important part. 

Overall, I thought that the author effectively used these three literary techniques put emphasis on certain parts of this editorial and show how they felt about this certain topic. 

Open Prompt #4

1990. Choose a novel or play that depicts a conflict between a parent (or parental figure) and a son or daughter. Write an essay in which you analyze the sources of the conflict and explain how the conflict  contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid plot summary.

One very famous play that comes to mind when thinking about conflicts between a parent and their child, is Death of a Salesman. Willy Loman doesn't approve of his son, Biff's, actions. Biff doesn't believe that Willy, Happy, his brother, and he can make it out in the business world. These father-son conflicts began at a young age, and have become worse since then. The conflict between Willy and Biff puts a huge weight on the rest of the family, and forces the whole family to see the truth about who they really are.

Willy and Biff's problems started after Biff graduated high school when Biff went to Willy, who was on a business trip in Boston, about failing his math class. This was when he caught Willy having an affair. Things weren't the same since. It wasn't just the fact that Willy was cheating on Linda, Biff's mother, though. Biff felt betrayed by the person he loved most in the world. He looked up to his father so much, and on that day when he found out his father's secret, he realized that everything his father had told him since he was young, was a lie. Willy was not as good a man as he talked himself up to be.

The affair was definitely a source of the conflict, but another source would be how Willy tried to teach Biff and his brother, Happy, his superficial idea of the American Dream since they were young. Willy always told them that as long as they were well-liked, then everything would work out for them in life, and they would be rich. He also told the boys that they were the best out there and no one could tell them what to do. Biff believed this, but it backfired on him. He realized that he is nothing special, he is just an ordinary man. Biff even says to his father in the play, that what Willy had been telling him was all wrong, and that this dream of his should stop before someone gets hurt.

Biff and Willy disagreed on a lot of things, but the main one, was about Biff going out West and working. Willy had always dreamed that his sons would both become big, successful businessmen. Although Happy did go into business, he wasn't too successful. When Biff came back from out west, he tried to please his father by trying to get a job in the city, but when it didn't workout, it blew up in everyone's face. The whole family was forced to face the truth that the Loman men, were indeed "low men" and there was no escaping it. This put a lot of pressure on Linda too because she was constantly trying to mend Biff and Willy's relationship, but ended up just getting pushed to the side.

All in all, Biff and Willy's put a tremendous amount of pressure on the family, and pushed them to the breaking point. It showed that Willy's idea of the American Dream is very superficial and unrealistic. They shouldn't have tried to be what they were not just to be well-liked, because that clearly did not help any of them in achieving their ideal American Dream.

Summary and Analysis of Death of a Salesman

Author: Arthur Miller- he was a prominent figure in the American theatre. He wrote many plays such as The Crucible and All My Sons.

Setting: This play mainly takes place in New York. Most of the time they are in the Loman's kitchen, but Boston, and the office is also where a few scenes take place. This takes place after World War 2.

Characters:
Willy Loman- constantly searching through his past, cannot accept the fact that he is a "low man" and his failures as a father and husband. He is materialistic, and only cares about whether he is "well liked" by others.  He seems as though he favors Biff over Happy, and disregards his wife Linda. He is the typical tragic hero.

Biff Loman- One of Willy and Linda's sons. Was a popular athlete in high school, but turned out unsuccessful in his adult life. He is the only one out of his entire family that acknowledges the fact that he has failed in the business world and that they should not be there. Willy has talked him up his entire life and has made him think that he is one of the best men out there, when that is not the case. This ultimately sets Biff up for failure, and Biff recognizes that. Willy on the other hand, does not. Biff spends a lot of his time searching for his true identity.

Happy Loman- Basically a younger version of Willy. He is very determined to make it in the business world, even though that is not where they belong. He shares many of the same qualities as Willy, such as always talking himself up to people, and not accepting that he is a "low man". He also really only cares about the women.

Linda Loman- She seems like the voice of reason. She is always protecting Willy from the truth, just trying to keep her family together. She wants everyone to get along and isn't always treated the best by Willy. Yet she is loyal and respects him more than anything. Probably even more than her sons.

Charley- Willy and Linda's next door neighbor. He is successful and recognizes Willy's failures when it comes to his job. He always tries to help Willy, although they don't always get along.

Bernard- Biff's high school friend. He was very into his studies unlike Biff in high school. He turned out to be very successful, and basically the son that Willy had always wanted.

Ben- Willy's older brother who went to Africa and discovered diamonds. Willy looks up to him very much.

The Woman- Willy's mistress in Boston

Howard- Willy's boss who has known Willy his whole life, but still does not treat Willy with respect and doesn't have the patience to deal with him.

Plot: The play starts out with Willy coming home from traveling, and Linda seems very worried about him and rushes to his side to help. Their two sons, Biff and Happy, are home. Biff has just gotten back from out West where he was jumping from job to job, and was in prison for a few months too. Willy and him are not on the best terms at this point in the play. Happy is unsuccessful as well, although he thinks highly of himself, he is just an assistant to an assistant. Willy starts to talk to Linda about Biff, saying that he is a bum and that he's lazy. He wonders what went wrong in Biff's life. Willy reverts into a flashback and starts to think about the times when Biff and Happy were in high school. This was when Biff was on the football team, and was very well liked. Bernard, Biff's friend, keeps coming up saying that they must study for math, or else the professor will fail Biff. Willy and Biff disregard Bernard, as if it doesn't matter. All that matters for them is that they are well liked. Willy also has a flashback in this time about the woman he had an affair with in Boston. He snaps out of it when Charley, their neighbor, comes by to play some cards. Willy again goes back into another flashback about his brother Ben. They talk about many things, such as their mother's death and going to Alaska. It is made quite clear here that Willy idolizes Ben very much and wanted to go find Alaska with him. By this time, Charley gets very annoyed and leaves and Willy wanders out to the yard, saying things to Linda about his diamond watch fob that Ben gave him years ago. The boys talk to Linda with concern about Willy, and she informs them that he is in need of some serious help and that he has tried/is trying to kill himself. This is when the boys agree to step it up and help him out. So Biff agrees to go to Oliver to get a job, and Willy is going to Howard to try to get a job in New York instead of traveling.

The next day, everyone is in a good mood until Willy gets to the office and Howard fires him. He says that Willy needs a break and is too tired. Willy is heartbroken by this. This causes Willy to go back into yet another flashback about Biff. This time he was taking Biff to his biggest football game ever. You can see here how their relationship used to be great. He snaps out of it when he gets to Charley's office, where he has been going to get his pay for several weeks now. He finds Bernard, and sees how successful he is. He asks Bernard why Biff isn't as successful as him and is very emotional. He takes his money from Charley, and before leaving, says that he is probably worth more dead than alive.
That evening he meets his two sons at Frank's Chop House for dinner, when Biff tries to tell him that he stole Oliver's fountain pen and was ignored by Oliver, Willy gets very angry. He storms off to the bathroom where he has a flashback of his falling out with Biff when Biff caught him with the woman in Boston.

Biff and Happy leave Willy alone, and come home to find him planting seeds in the garden. They don't know this, but Willy is actually "talking" to Ben about how Biff would get $20,000 of insurance if Willy died. Linda, Willy and the two boys have a huge fight that results in Willy realizing that Biff has loved him the whole time. But all Biff wanted Willy to do was to let go of this phony dream he had. They all decide to go to bed, when they hear the car crash, and it was Willy. He had committed suicide. In the end, they have a funeral where no one but Willy's family and Charley and Bernard show up.

Miller's Style: There was no point of view in this play. I did see a lot of tone shifting, though. I saw this mainly with Willy. It seems as though whenever he is talking to his sons about business or getting money, he has a very happy and interested tone, but if something happens, like if Linda interrupts or says something, his tone automatically shifts to angry and upset. Something that was interesting about this play was that Willy is constantly going into the past with "flashbacks" or memories. There is no warning that this is happening, so sometimes the present and the past sometimes run together. That was something I hadn't seen in a play before.
I saw a lot of symbols in this play. One of them was the seeds that Willy always wants to plant out in the garden. I thought these symbolized Willy's hope for some better future, or that his dreams might one day come true. I think it is also worth noting that these plants will be growing and still there after he passes, and maybe that symbolizes that something of him will be left behind for his family. Another symbol was diamonds. These diamonds symbolize the wealth that Willy wants, and his failure has a salesman because these diamonds brought his brother Ben wealth, but  is what Willy is still longing to get. Next was the stockings. These stockings remind Willy of the affair he had with a women while he was in Boston and his falling out with Biff. They symbolize betrayal of his family. One last thing that I thought was a symbol was the West. I thought that symbolized freedom and opportunity. Where they really belonged.

Memorable Quotes: 
Willy: "Nothing's planted. I don't have a thing in the ground" (pg. 96).
Willy said this after the falling out at the restaurant with Biff and Happy. He starts talking about buying and planting seeds when he gets home. This shows that his life did not go the way he had planned, and he is afraid that he has nothing to show for his family or for all of his life's work as a salesman. I think that by planting these seeds, he thinks that after his death, he is leaving something behind for his family and he will be remembered as the successful man he thinks he is.

Willy: "Will you stop mending stockings? At least while I'm in the house. It gets me nervous. I can't tell you. Please" (pg. 55).
When Willy says this to Linda, it shows that he doesn't like to see the fact that he can't provide new stockings for Linda and that she has to wear old, torn up ones because he gave the new stockings to the women he was having an affair with. I think this bothers him because he is reminded of the affair, but more importantly he is reminded of what drove Biff away.

Theme: Willy's version of the American Dream, that superficial qualities such as being well-liked, won't get you very far in life.

Support: This whole play basically revolves around the idea that if you are well-liked, then you will go far in this world. This is what Willy had been telling his sons for years and years before Biff finally realized that being well liked isn't all that matters. You can see in the plot that Willy has not been as successful as he thinks, and he isn't as well liked as he thinks either. An example of this would be at his funeral, he said hundreds would show up from all over, but only his family and neighbors did. Also, he would pick on Bernard when he was younger because he was a "nerd" and not as well liked as Biff. The ironic thing was that Bernard focused on what was important, and good things basically stopped happening to Biff after the age of 17. Biff realized that there was more to life than being well liked and you should do what you love. He wanted to go out West, but Willy disapproved, but that's where they all really belong. Not in the business world, but doing something out West. Biff said to his father that they are all just a dime a dozen, and that there is nothing special about them. This is true because they are no more successful or well liked than anyone else, but they are struggling more than anyone.

Tone also supports this theme because throughout the play, I saw a lot of shifts in tone. One tone I saw in particular was Willy being a little arrogant at times. He would always say to his sons that no one would make a fool of him, and that he was very well liked and respected in the city. This was not true, because if it was, he would have been much more successful.

Response to Course Material #4

We have covered a lot of material in class in the last few weeks. We have finished up the play Death of a Salesman and have had many conversations about analyzing it and figuring out what everything means. These conversations have helped me a lot because some people bring up ideas that I have never thought of before, and then it helps my understanding of the text as a whole. Another thing that we did that helped me was reading the commentaries on the play. Although they were lengthy, I found them kind of interesting. They proposed a lot of ideas about the play that I never thought of before. I remember one thing that I found very interesting was in one of the commentaries, The Commodity Comes Home to Roost, when they talked about Willy's affair. They said that Willy had the affair, not because he was unhappy or lonely, but because someone in the business world was finally choosing him over his opponents. I had never thought of this, but now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense. So reading those commentaries and writing about them definitely helped out, especially with the annotating part, too.

Something that we finished up right after Thanksgiving break was watching the movie Death of a Salesman, while following along in the book. It was interesting to see what the director kept from the original and what he cut out. Some of the things that he chose to leave out, like long conversations between Linda and Biff about Willy, seemed important to me so I wasn't really sure why he would cut that out. I do think the director did a good job with the movie overall though, such as Willy's flashbacks being always being around the daytime when it was light out, and having the tense scenes with the all of the fighting going on be during the night when it was dark out. That showed the better times in Willy's life, or when he was happier and how things weren't so good in the present for him. This was also a topic we discussed in class.
The most recent thing that we started doing in class was reading William Shakespeare's Hamlet. We haven't gotten too far into yet, but it's pretty good. I have to admit, I'm having a hard time trying to keep track of which character is related to who, and stuff like that. It is helping me straighten things out though when we stop to discuss every few scenes. This way I feel like if I'm not understanding things, then we can go over it before we move on.

Close Reading #3

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/16/opinion/the-tarnish-of-the-electoral-college.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

This editorial discusses several ways that the author thinks the electoral college is a terrible and undemocratic way to choose the country's executive. The author uses many literary techniques in this editorial to emphasize their point. They effectively used diction, syntax, and figurative language to create and emphasize meaning.
When reading this article, there were many examples of pejorative diction found that show the author's true feeling on the subject. For example, in the opening paragraph the author states, "this archaic system..." to talk about how old the electoral college system really is. The use of the word archaic makes the whole thing seem very old and outdated. If the author would have replaced it with another ordinary word, such as "old" than it would not have created such a strong meaning. Another example of this was when the author said, "...the system continues to calcify American politics," using the word "calcify" to show how the author thinks the electoral college restricts politics. Again, if replaced by another word, it would not have the same effect on the reader.
The types of diction that the author used did indeed help emphasize the meaning of the work, but so did some of the ways she formed her sentences, otherwise known as syntax. There were a few short sentences in the editorial, and although there were few, they were powerful. For example in the first paragraph the author wrote, "They were right, but they were ignored," about Democrats complaining about this system. Since the sentence is so short, it brings a lot of meaning and emphasis to it. It makes it much more powerful, than if the author was to write a long sentence about how they were ignored. Long sentences make it harder to get the point across, and the reader often loses interest in the topic. With this shorter sentence about how the Democrats were ignored, it gets right to the point with great meaning.
Lastly, the author used figurative language to show how things are more in favor of the Democrats now. For example, in the second paragraph, the author writes, "Now the demographic pendulum is swinging toward the Democrats." Of course there is no actual pendulum that is swinging towards them, but this is a creative way the author used to get across the point that the Democrats have more of the upper hand now about how the system should be.
All in all, the author of the editorial used many literary techniques to get the point across about the electoral college. Everything from the diction to the emphasis on the shorter sentences in the editorial create meaning and engage the reader.

Open Prompt #3

2008. In a literary work, a minor character, often known as a foil, possesses traits that emphasize, by contrast or comparison, the distinctive characteristics and qualities of the main character. For example, the ideas or behavior of a minor character might be used to highlight the weaknesses or strengths of the main character. Choose a novel or play in which a minor character serves as a foil for the main character. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the relation between the minor character and the major character illuminates the meaning of the work.

In the play, Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, there are many contrasting characters. When comparing these characters, we see that they really bring out the good and bad qualities in one another. Without Miller juxtaposing certain characters, a lot of their flaws or good deeds would go unnoticed. The minor character that serves as a foil to one of the major characters, Biff, is Bernard. Miller used Bernard as a foil to Biff to show the reader how Biff should have ended up as an adult, and how Willy, Biff's father, dreamed of Biff to end up like. 

One of the most obvious foils in this play is Biff and Bernard. One of the main ways that Miller juxtaposes these two characters is right from the beginning of the play. We see these two characters growing up together as high school friends, only Bernard is the "nerd" that focuses on his studies, and Biff is the popular athlete, that couldn't care less about school. Willy is fine with the fact that Biff doesn't care about school, because Willy thinks that the only thing that will get you far in life is being well-liked, and Biff was certainly well liked in high school. Bernard was not as well-liked, but he knows that what is really going to help him out in life is education, not popularity and this works out for him in the end. The differences in Biff and Bernards actual characters is seen here too. Biff is the typical jock character, and Bernard is the typical nerd, at the end of the food chain. Little did they know, that it would be the opposite in their adult lives. 

One key difference between Biff and Bernard is that Bernard becomes successful after high school, and Biff doesn't. Biff was too brainwashed by his father that everything was going to be great in his life as long as people liked him. This was probably the reason that he didn't do well in school, like failing math. Bernard on the other hand worked hard, because he knew that it didn't matter whether people liked him or not. He was not caught up in that. And ironically, Bernard turns out to be everything Willy wanted Biff to be. Willy made fun of Bernard and Charley, Bernard's father, for studying so much, but it turns out that they had the right idea all along. Bernard was studious, determined, and had a head on his shoulders, while Biff had his head in the clouds, thinking that he could get anywhere.

Towards the end of the play, Biff ends up lost, insecure and wondering how to be happy in life. Bernard, on the other hand, is happy, mature and adjusted to adult life. Biff says himself in the play that he has had many jobs after high school and he lost all of them, unsure of how to be happy with what he is doing. At this point in the play, Biff was finally starting to figure out what Bernard already knew about life. You need to find yourself first and do what makes you happy, instead of worrying about becoming the wealthiest man in the city, or being the most well-like man around. That is how Bernard being a foil to Biff illuminates the meaning of this entire play, as well. The whole play is focused on how being well-liked and wealthy gets you respect and happiness, when in all reality, you should find your place in the world and do what you were always meant to do.

Bernard being a foil to Biff is important to the play as a whole because it shows Bernard being the son that Willy always wanted. Even down to the smallest things, like Bernard being married with two sons of his own, something Willy had said that he wanted Biff to be. It all comes down to the fact that Willy won't be able to accept Biff for how he is. Bernard was made a foil to Biff to show how Willy would have wanted Biff to end up in life. 

Response to Course Material #3

Last Friday we had the retake of the dreaded terms test. Fortunately, I did better on the retake, but it still wasn't my best work. To me, it seemed like there could be more than one answer for a lot of examples on the terms test, so I think that was what really messed me up. I was just happy to see I did better than last time!

We also recently started looking at the play Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller. We only watched the movie so far, which was pretty good, but we also had an in class forum about it. This was where we had multiple sheets of paper with different questions on each of them and we write responses to the question in class. It helped to do this in class first before having to write an analysis on it. It cleared up a few things and it also helped me annotate. I also liked reading some of the ideas that other people in the class had on the subject, and seeing how they compared with my ideas. That really helped me analyze the play as well. Some of the things that we were talking about were the characteristics of Post-Modernism in the play and talking about literary movements, and identifying the characteristics that we saw really help me distinguish between the literary movements.

Something pretty fun that we did in class was a project on how a character from The American Dream would feel about some of the ideas an author of one of the poems that we read (from chapter 4 in the textbook) had. We could have done a dialogue, a short skit, anything. My group did a short skit, and it was fun. It was kind of cool to connect the ideas from The American Dream to another poem that has absolutely nothing to do with it and see the similar ideas between the two. It helped me see the play and the poems in a whole new way. 

Summary and Analysis of The American Dream

 Author: Edward Albee- most commonly known for using techniques from The Theatre of the Absurd.

Setting- In Mommy, Daddy and Grandma’s apartment. Not much more information is given to the reader about the setting of the play.

Major Characters:

·      Mommy- She would be the antagonist of the play. She comes off as very mean and materialistic. She doesn’t see to care about anyone else but herself. She is very rude towards Grandma in the play, and is very controlling towards Daddy. I would have to say that she represents the “new American Dream”.

·      Daddy- seems like Mommy controls every aspect of his life. He is also very feminine and can’t state his own opinions or say anything without Mommy interfering or controlling what he is saying.

·      Grandma- seems to be the only character in the play that knows what is going on and has a good head on her shoulders. Stands for the “old American Dream”. Doesn’t get along too well with Mommy, but she doesn’t get too caught up in it.

·      Mrs. Barker- she runs the Bye-Bye Adoption Service. Gave Mommy and Daddy their first child twenty years ago, and does not think that the fact that they killed this child is wrong. She is clueless throughout most of the play, as well.

·      The Young Man- stands for the new American Dream. People only see his good looks and do not realize that there is nothing on the inside. He is the twin of Mommy and Daddy’s first child. Only grandma really understands him.

Plot- The play starts out with Mommy and Daddy sitting in the living room of their apartment, waiting for some visitors to arrive, and Mommy starts complaining about the color of a hat she had bought. She repeatedly stops to make sure that Daddy is giving her his full attention. They repeatedly talk about never being able to get satisfaction. Grandma enters soon enough with a lot of nicely wrapped boxes that she dumps at Daddy’s feet. Mommy only notices that the boxes are nicely wrapped and never gives a though to what might be inside. At this point, Mommy and Daddy seem to feel bad for grandma and talk about how she is getting old and that she should just leave with the “van man”. There continues to be more conversation about wanting to get satisfaction from Mommy and Daddy, with occasionally interjection from Grandma when Mrs. Barker arrives. Daddy gets up to answer the door, but hesitates. Mommy tries to encourage him by telling him how masculine he is, so he opens it. They meet Mrs. Barker and Mommy and Daddy don’t know why Mrs. Barker is there, but Grandma apparently does, so she gives Mrs. Barker a hint as to why she is there and figures out the fact that they had adopted a child twenty years back, but mutilated the child after getting no satisfaction from it. At this point, Mommy and Daddy go looking for water and grandma’s television in the apartment because grandma was being “bad”. Another person comes to the door and it is the Young Man. Grandma, at first, believes it is the van man coming to take her away just like Mommy and Daddy had threatened, but realizes that he is not. He is the twin of the mutilated first child. All he has is looks, and is unable to feel, or love. Grandma pretends that he is the van man to Mrs. Barker and has him take all of her boxes outside. She says good-bye to Mrs. Barker and leaves. When grandma has left, Mommy and Daddy think the van man has actually taken her away and Mommy is very sad, but then meets the Young Man and immediately forgets that Grandma had left. The play ends by grandma speaking to the audience.

Albee’s Style- Throughout the play, Albee used many literary techniques to emphasize meaning. For tone, there was a lot of shifting between characters, especially with Mommy and other characters. Mommy would be rude to Daddy one minute and then be telling him how masculine he is the next. There was a lot of symbolism in the play as well. Grandma’s boxes were a symbol, as well as grandma herself. Mrs. Barker and the Young Man are also considered symbols in the play. There was no point of view in the play.

Important Quotes-

1.     Daddy: “Don’t mention tubes to me.”

Mommy: Oh! Mommy forgot! (To Mrs. Barker) Daddy has tubes now, where he used to have tracts” (p. 90).

This quote from the play ties directly with the theme of emasculation of Daddy. Mommy is the one who is constantly emasculating him and he does not do anything about it. This shows reversed roles in a typical American family; Daddy is the more feminine one.

2.     Mommy: “WHAT a masculine Daddy! Isn’t he a masculine Daddy?

(Grandma and Mommy say something irrelevant in between)

Daddy: “Maybe we can send them away…”

Mommy: “Oh look at you! You’re turning into jelly; you’re indecisive; you’re a woman” (pg. 75).

This quote shows a different side of Mommy. The real side. She tries to bring Daddy up, telling him he is masculine, but then tears him down, demeaning him like she always does. This shows her bad qualities.

Theme: A new American Dream that is only cares about consumerism and getting satisfaction is replacing the old American Dream, which Grandma represents.

Support: In the play, Albee presents many examples of how the old American Dream, Grandma’s American dream, is getting replaced by Mommy and Daddy’s generation, who are obsessed with consumerism. Albee shows this with symbolism with Grandma's boxes. In those boxes is Grandma's discarded life, or in other words, the Old American Dream. This shows that the old American Dream is fading away. Also, Mommy talks about how she gets the rights to all of Daddy’s money since she married him. This ties into consumerism because all she wants to do is have money and buy things. That is all she cares about and Daddy doesn’t have a problem with it. He doesn't care that she only loves his money. But Grandma does. She is a genuine, hardworking person and she remembers how the American Dream is really supposed to be. I thought that Grandma leaving at the end of the play really showed that the old dream was gone. Overall, Albee effectively got the point across that the New American Dream was taking over. 

Close Reading #2

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/17/opinion/the-exclusive-eight-high-schools.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

An editorial posted on October 16, 2012, called "The Exclusive Eight", talks about a complaint that was made with the United States Department of Education over some admissions policies of New York City's "specialized" high schools. The compliant focuses on a two and a half hour multiple choice test that determines who gets admitted to these high schools. The author uses many examples of diction, details, and syntax to get the point of this debate across.

There was a lot of diction in this editorial that I saw. Most of it was pejorative, as well. For example, in the very first sentence of this editorial where the author says, "Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City was distressingly dismissive this month..." has two examples of pejorative diction right in a row. The author's use of the words "distressingly" and "dismissive" in the sentence gives the topic a more serious feel. Another example of some diction in this editorial was when the author said, "...highlights a serious problem that has festered for decades,". The word "festering" is most definitely an example of pejorative diction in the article. This gives off the feeling that this problem has been around for a while, but it isn't getting any better. The problem is just getting messier. The use of the word "festering" in that sentence is also an example of figurative language for the same reason. It gives off the feeling that the problem has been around for a while, and that the problem is continuously getting worse, just like something that would be festering.

Details was something else that I saw a lot of in this editorial. The author chose to state in the in the sixth paragraph that this test favors families that can provide their kids with expensive tutors and prep-courses because the test material is not covered in many middle schools. When I read this, I got the feeling that the schools only want to admit people that can afford things like this. I felt that the author was trying to state his or her opinion by saying this, too. That this is completely unfair to the kids and the families who cannot afford this. Another example of details is in the third paragraph where the author says, "The complaint, filed by a coalition including the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund...". The authors decision to include the names of the groups involved in this debate make the whole problem seem more serious. I think the author is trying to show by adding that detail was that this is not a problem to take lightly if these types of groups are getting involved, and it also puts a negative light on the whole thing.

Lastly, I saw some syntax in this editorial that puts emphasis on certain things. For example, in the eighth paragraph, it starts off with a short sentence, "All this would be bad enough." and goes on to describe two other arguments that were made by civil rights lawyers. The short sentence puts a lot of emphasis on what comes after it. Again, it made everything seem more serious. Most of the syntax that I saw in the editorial had to do with short sentences putting emphasis on what comes after it.

 Overall, the author did a nice job of incorporating some literary techniques that gets the point of this debate across. Everything that he or she used helped with the the meaning and the tone of the whole editorial.

Open Prompt #2

1988. Choose a distinguished novel or play in which some of the most significant events are mental or psychological; for example, awakenings, discoveries, changes in consciousness. In a well-organized essay, describe how the author manages to give these internal events the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax usually associated with external action. Do not merely summarize the plot.

One of the most controversial books of all time is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. This novel is known for having many significant internal breakthroughs through the character of Huck Finn. Mark Twain shows the many internal conflicts of Huck as he is growing up and realizing that society does not always know what is best. Twain does a remarkable job of incorporating these internal conflicts and breakthroughs with exciting plot events in the story.
Huck had one of his biggest moral breakthroughs in the novel towards the end of the book when the duke and dauphin had sold his trusty friend Jim, who is also a runaway slave. Huck, scared and alone in this part of the book, decides it would be best to tell the Widow what has become of her slave, but at the last minute decides not to. This was the biggest moment in the book because you really see how Huck has grown up and decided that society does not know everything. All his life society had been telling him that having slaves of was normal, and that it was okay. At that moment though, Huck decides for himself that he was going to help his friend Jim get free. Twain gives some excitement to this moral breakthrough by sending Huck on a huge mission to get Jim back, which brings back another big character in the novel, Tom Sawyer. So not only so you see how Huck's morals have changed, but you are kept on the edge of your seat as Huck and Tom come to Jim's rescue. Twain's combination of a moral lesson plus an exciting mission makes this the novel's climax.
Another significant event that Huck learned from had to do with telling lies. Huck had told many lies to many different people in the novel. He always thought that telling lies were harmless until he met the Duke and the dauphin. He saw them lie to numerous innocent people and hurt a lot of them. Huck thought of them as horrible people for lying to everyone, but he does the same thing himself. He starts to feel bad for lying to a lot of people until he had to tell his biggest lie of all. One of the most notable lies that Huck told was to the slave hunter looking for Jim. Huck lied that his family had been exposed to smallpox and that it was highly contagious. This was a big conflict for him because throughout the novel he has learned that lying and conning people was bad, but in that certain circumstance he had to. Although this was confusing for Huck, he learned that it was okay to lie depending on the circumstance. I think that this situation was Twain's way of showing how Huck is breaking out of society's shell, and he is learning things on his own. If Huck had stuck with society's rules, he would have lost a great friend. Twain also makes this moral lesson much more exciting by making the person that Huck was lying to the slave hunter, and if Huck had told the truth, it would have created chaos in Jim's life.
Overall, Twain incorporates many exciting events with some serious moral lessons that Huck learns throughout the novel of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain is able to keep the reader on the edge of their seat, as well as get the main points across. 

Response to Course Material #2

As the weeks have gone by, we have really started to set the foundation by learning some analyzing techniques and trends in literature that will help us later on in the year and on the AP exam. Something that has helped me tremendously so far was DIDLS: Diction, imagery, details, language and syntax. We practiced this over and over again in class, annotating numerous pieces. We also practiced a free response on the poem The Century Quilt, something like what would be on the AP exam and that really opened my eyes as to how important knowing DIDLS would be, and how I should be able to find examples of this in a piece of writing. Because I memorized DIDLS beforehand, I was able to find numerous examples in The Century Quilt. I realized how being able to pick out examples of this would be a crucial part of the prompt on the AP exam as well, so even though I know what DIDLS stands for, I still think I should practice picking out examples more and applying it to the meaning of the work. I learned that you can't just memorize something in this class, you must be able to apply it as well.

Something else that we did in class that really helped me was filling out the chart on Trends in the History of Western Literature. I was really able to see the trends as we went down the line from Classical lit, to medieval, and all the way down to postmodernist era. I knew beforehand that the literature in these times were different from one another, but I never realized how it was a downward trend. For example, I saw that the literary protagonists in classical lit were the gods and epic heroes, but for the postmodernist era, they were the lower and middle class, even the anti hero. So it was a lot easier for me to remember the little details and the trend by filling out this chart. 

Close Reading

10 Keys to Preventing Childhood Obesity

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/food-revolution/childhood-obesity-10-keys-to-preventing-it_b_1902717.html?utm_hp_ref=health-news&ir=Health%20News

This article is about something that has been a rising issue for many years: Childhood Obesity. The article, by Keeley Drotz, gives readers the 10 keys to preventing childhood obesity. Drotz uses different methods and techniques from the rhetorical situation, such as diction, details and syntax, to get the message across that childhood obesity is a rising problem, and that there are ways to prevent it.

You can see one of these methods just from the first sentence. She starts with, "Obesity has reached epidemic proportions around the world, not only among adults, but in children and adolescents as well," and the diction that she used in this sentence really helps grab the readers attention. Using words like "epidemic" makes the topic sound very serious, and many people are more likely to pay attention if you used a word like that as opposed to something not as strong, like the word "big". That would be an example of a pejorative word, a word that gives a sentence a kind of negative feel to it, that she uses to convey the message.

 I also noticed some details that Drotz used. In the sentence, "In American alone, rates of obesity skyrocketed over the course of a few decades primarily as a result of changes in lifestyle habits," I could see some details that Drotz put there for a reason to help her readers understand the severity of the issue. She chose to put the fact that in America alone, obesity has skyrocketed. This creates meaning because she is saying that this is happening all around the world, but just in one country, so much damage has occurred in not that much time. Also, she added some detail when she put in the bit about the changes in lifestyle habits over the decades. That creates a lot of meaning for the whole article because it is where she got down to the root of the issue.

 As for syntax, I saw Drotz use in the article was putting emphasis on the shorter sentences in the article. We learned that shorter sentences often convey actions and ideas more forcefully than longer sentences. The sentence, "These are issues that the medical community never imagined possible," is one of the shorter sentences in the article. This conveys more meaning because of the fact that it is one of the shorter ones, and it gives the reader the idea that this is actually a very serious issue.

Open Prompt #1

1991. Many plays and novels use contrasting places (for example, two countries, two cities or towns, two houses, or the land and the sea) to represent opposed forces or ideas that are central to the meaning of the work. Choose a novel or play that contrasts two such places. Write an essay explaining how the places differ, what each place represents, and how their contrast contributes to the meaning of the work.

One novel that comes to mind when thinking about contrasting places is The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald. As those who have read this novel know, Fitzgerald put two contrasting cities in this story: the West Egg, and the East Egg. There are some key differences between these two cities, which you find out through reading and interpreting the text. Fiztgerald shows the differences in these two contrasting cities in many ways, the main one being that the East Egg represents old aristocracy and the West Egg represents the newly rich.

The fact that the West Egg represents the newly rich is very important to the novel. In the novel, people from the West Egg are portrayed as loud, and lacking social graces. For example, Gatsby throws many parties with hundreds of people, who by the end of the night, aren't acting very polite. His house is also very flashy and everything about him seems to shout out that he has a lot of money. Those are two of the ways that Fitzgerald shows that the people from the West Egg haven't had their money for too long and they don't really know how to use it. Aside from the money aspect of it though, the only reason Gatsby is living this lifestyle is for Daisy Buchanan, the one he loves. The fact that he would do all of that for Daisy shows how loyal he is to her. This ties into another characteristic of the people who live on the West Egg; they are more loyal, and care more about people than money, unlike the East Egg.

The East Egg is portrayed much differently. Daisy and Tom Buchanan live on the East Egg, and they represent old aristocracy, or "old money". It seems as though the people who come from the East Egg are much more put together, and possess some social graces. But although the people from East Egg seem polite, they are also shallow and fake. As the novel goes on, you continue to see how Daisy and Tom only really care about their money, and not about hurting the people who care about them the most. For example, at the end of the novel, after Gatsby died, Daisy and Tom just move away without even attending his funeral. That just shows how heartless they can be.

The West and the East Egg are completely different when it comes to social graces, but there is also a deeper meaning that is very important to the novel as a whole. The East Egg is associated with people who care more about money than loyalty to their family and friends, and the West Egg is associated with kind-hearted people who care more about the people in their life, instead of the money. The two main characters are perfect examples of this also. Gatsby waited his whole life for Daisy, and he would have done anything for her, but Daisy betrayed him by marrying Tom and shutting him out of her life. So, although the West and East Egg are contrasting cities because of the money, they're also different when it comes to the characters who live there. 

Response to Course Material

I've only been in AP Lit for a week, and I have already learned so much. Of course, there are still some things that I need to work on, which I realized after taking the terms test on Friday. I'll be sure to work on that throughout the year. What really stuck with me was learning about the Rhetorical Situation this week. I've heard about it before, but never really thought this much in depth about it. I realized how it connected to basically everything; the AP exam, college essays etc. And a lot of these things we are in the middle of working on right now. Before writing anything, including arguments which we also talked about, you have to look at the rhetorical situation, such as the audience, and the persona you want to use. Like I said...it connects to everything. I learned that this is also a helpful thing to keep in mind when it comes to the AP Exam. That was only the stuff that I learned the first few days of school. I actually learned a lot over the summer too, by reading How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster, and The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing by Michael Harvey. I've been able to identify themes, and symbols like never before. Who knew so many Disney movies had so many symbols? For example, I connected a theme from the movie The Lion King, to Hamlet. I never thought that I would be able to do that. I am also pretty confident that my writing will get significantly better after reading Harvey's book. You won't see me putting unnecessary details in my writing anymore, thanks to Harvey. I haven't been in AP Lit for that long, but I have definitely learned some significant things already.

Me Talk Pretty One Day- By David Sedaris

The rules found in The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing by Michael Harvey apply to even experienced writers like David Sedaris. Reading the essay "Me Talk Pretty One Day", I found it very hard to find something that broke the rules in this book. I did however find many things that Sedaris did right. I saw how concise he was, how he used some good opening sentences, and how he was able to effectively end the essay by closing the circle.
For starters, what I really liked about the essay was how concise Sedaris was. He got right to the point, and he didn't go on and on about unnecessary things. Also, just like Harvey wrote in the book, "Simplifying makes the sentence shorter and stronger," (Harvey 3).  It was a lot better to read, to say the least. Some examples that I found that show how concise he is was when he said, "I've moved to Paris in hopes of learning the language (Sedaris 11). Another example would be when he says, "Some accents were better than others, but the students exhibited an ease and confidence that I found intimidating," (Sedaris 11). What I like about sentences like these is that it gets right to the point, and you know exactly how he is feeling about the situation.
In The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing, Harvey states that the opening sentence of a paragraph usually tells readers what the paragraph is about. This is where the reader can also see how the paragraphs connect to one another (Harvey 71). I thought that Sedaris did a very nice job with his opening sentences and connecting the paragraphs. I saw a good example of this on page 13 of Sedaris's essay on the second half of the page where he describes his teacher. He does a great job at connecting the two paragraphs and making them flow.
Finally, we get to closing the circle. In the book, Harvey believes that this is one of the best ways to end an essay (Harvey 83). Going through the essay, I could see the full circle of emotions that Sedaris went through on this journey. He went from being nervous and uncomfortable (Sedaris 11), to him getting more confident when he understood what was being said in class (Sedaris 14). Here you can see that despite all of the struggles that he went through, he is happy that he went through this experience. He did not go through all of that for nothing, and it was a huge accomplishment for him to actually be able to understand what was going on.
Overall, I would have to say that Sedaris's essay is a good example of some of the rules in Harvey's book. You can see here how he portrayed many of these rules effectively and made this a good and interesting essay to read.

Poetry Study Goals

• Recognize the theme of a poem faster
• Understand the tone quicker
• Recognize allusions
• Know more terms
• Be able to understand the poet's overall message faster

After reading through the poetry questions in Peterson's AP English, I quickly realized what I needed to work on with poetry. When asked to find the theme of the poem, I had to re-read the poem a few times to fully understand what the theme was. I also had to do this when it came to recognizing the tone. The allusions were much harder for me to find. That is something that I most definitely need to work on this year. Same goes for the terms. Although I recognized a lot of them, there were still a few that seemed important to know. Overall though, it wasn't as bad as I thought. 

Peterson's Diagnostic Test

Well that didn't go as well as I had hoped. There I was, a few hours ago, thinking that this was going to be a piece of cake. Well, to be fair, it wasn't as hard as I thought. Section 1 was difficult at first, but after getting used to the multiple choice questions, I was fine. I was surprised at how similar all of the questions were. The Pride and Prejudice passage was probably the easiest thing to analyze. After all, that wasn't the first time I was asked to analyze a passage like that. I realized that my main struggle was poetry. This coming school year, something I should definitely work on is analyzing and recognizing the structure and styles of poems. So overall, section 1 wasn't a complete failure. I did find some things that I am good at, and some things that I will need to improve on. Section 2 on the other hand, didn't go so well. I realized that I need to become more familiar with more literary elements. Of course I know some of them from past English classes, but not enough to write a good essay on the elements used. This diagnostic test could have gone a lot better, but I am confident that in the next year I will improve my skills tremendously.