The Invisible Man

On the huge list of AP Readings, I found an interesting book.

(76, 77, 78, 82, 83, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 91, 94, 95, 96, 97, 01, 03, 04, 05, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11) Those are the dates of it showing up on the exam.

From what I've read of the synopsis on the back cover, it sound very dark. Seeing that it has made the AP exam that many times, I figured it was a must read before May, and hey I would be killing two birds with one stone. Also from what I've read, it involves parallel universes and all that psychological confusion. My best friend and I sometimes just talk about parallel universes and instances in which we, as human beings, aren't able to comprehend yet. Things like if we were to move faster than time, or what if once we died, we lost all memories of a previous life until the last life of our chain where we experience a huge flash of all the memories from all of our life. The Invisible Man just seems like one of those books where the protagonist questions a lot of things about life.

Hamlet Learning Sources

http://shakespearean-headcanon.tumblr.com/

• I found this person on tumblr and he/she periodically posts about Shakepearean works. Sometime he/she talks about Hamlet which is good. They are largely opinionated posts like most others which I think is good because a different opinion than mine can lead to some thinking. 

http://shakespeare.nuvvo.com/discussions

• You have to make an account, but that's simple. They have some discussions going on about Hamlet, but not too many. If you ask about it, then they can probably answer you with valid questions. I've decided to start a thread on for personal learning use. Nuvvo seems to be a good learning community.

http://www.enotes.com/hamlet/discuss/students-studying-hamlet-55205

• They already have a discussion going because a student made the tread for the same cause, so this should be helpful

Pre-Will

1. I don't know anything besides the six words that are extremely famous. "To be or not to be". As for the "Melancholy Dane" I have no idea. Judging by the title, I can tell that it has something to do with sadness and citizens.

2. I do know about Shakespeare. He is considered a great playwright, and to me that reputation holds true. In the past, I have only read Romeo & Juliet and Julius Caesar but non of his others. From experience, Shakespeare uses iambic pentameter and he always has a tragedy in his poems.

3. I feel like students don't respect literature enough to like Shakespeare yet. In order to like Shakespeare, you have to like literature, so that seems like the main reason. Shakespeare is also pretty difficult to understand because of the style of writing, and if the audience can't understand the poem whats not to hate?

4.I could always write a song on Hamlet *hint* *hint*. I believe if the class really interacted with the poem and we did fun projects and group work, understanding Hamlet would come a lot easier, and we would not neglect it as much as we would.

Vocabulary #7

aberration - (noun) an optical phenomenon resulting from the failure of a lens or mirror to produce a good image; a disorder in one's mental state; a state or condition markedly different from the norm

• An aberration in his thought process restricts him from being normal.

Ad hoc- (adverb) for the special purpose or end presently under consideration

• After a tornado swept through the school, an ad hoc group of parents was formed to assist in the repairs.

bane - (noun) something causes misery or death

•  The death of his loved ones caused the city to experience the murderer's bane.

bathos - (noun) triteness or triviality of style; a change from a serious subject to a disappointing one; insincere pathos

•  The bathos in the novice story written by the college English major made me want to kill myself.

cantankerous - (adj.) having a difficult and contrary disposition; stubbornly obstructive and unwilling to cooperate

• His cantankerous attitude destroyed the hope of making a team.

casuistry - (noun) moral philosophy based on the application of general ethical principles to resolve moral dilemmas; argumentation that is specious or excessively subtle and intended to be misleading

•  However, I'm not convinced of such casuistry because I'm not convinced that self-regard and egocentrism are exactly the same thing.

de facto - (noun) in fact; in reality

•  Whales are ocean mammals, de facto they are the largest mammals.

depredation - (noun) an act of plundering and pillaging and marauding; (usually plural) a destructive action

•  The depredation of dinosaurs was tragic.

empathy - (noun) understanding and entering into another's feelings

• I feel empathy for other Asians who want to get into UCs.

harbinger - (noun) an indication of the approach of something or someone; verb foreshadow or presage

•  The harbinger of my death was apparent through the mafia wielding guns.

hedonism - (noun) an ethical system that evaluates the pursuit of pleasure as the highest good; the pursuit of pleasure as a matter of ethical principle

•  Hedonism is a central part of our Declaration of Independence.

lackluster - (adj.) lacking luster or shine; lacking brilliance or vitality

•  His lackluster attitude never achieved much in his lifetime.

malcontent - (adj.) discontented as toward authority; noun a person who is discontented or disgusted

•  A lot of young Americans are malcontent that marijuana is not legal.

mellifluous - (adj.) pleasing to the ear

• The ambiance of Shlohmo is mellifluous. 

nepotism - noun favoritism shown to relatives or close friends by those in power (as by giving them jobs)

•  Often times in corrupt government, mepotism is a large component.

pander - (noun) someone who procures customers for whores (in England they call a pimp a ponce); verb arrange for sexual partners for others; yield (to); give satisfaction to

• The pander was shunned upon in society.

peccadillo - (noun) a petty misdeed

• The peccadillo was not grave enough to put him behind bars.

piece de resistance - (noun) the most noteworthy or prized feature, aspect, event, article, etc., of a series or group; special item or attraction.

•  The piece de resistance that we received from the company showed our excellence.

remand - (noun) the act of sending an accused person back into custody to await trial (or the continuation of the trial); verb refer (a matter or legal case) to another committee or authority or court for decision; lock up or confine, in or as in a jail

• I was remanded for there was controversy over the crime I committed.

syndrome - (noun) a complex of concurrent things; a pattern of symptoms indicative of some disease

• Down syndrome is a terrible disease that has only the parent to blame.

Literature Analysis #1 As I Lay Dying

1. Basically the whole story is about a person, Addie. She falls really ill and eventually dies, but before she dies, she asks that she be buried in a town called Jefferson. In order to fulfill her death wish, her husband Anse and her children Jewel, Darl, Cash, Dewey, and Vardaman venture to bury her.

2. The theme of this novel is questionable existence and identity. For example, Darl, after his mother dies, questions whether she still exists since she is now a "was" not an "is".

3. The way Faulkner writes makes it so that there are multiple tones because of all the narrators. The most noticeable tones are tragic, comical, and detached.

•  "He kilt her. He kilt her." The life in him runs under the skin, under my hand, running through the splotches, smelling up into my nose where the sickness is beginning to cry, vomiting the crying, and then I can breathe, vomiting it."
•  "My mother is a fish"
•  "Jewel and I come up from the field, following the path in single file. Although I am fifteen feet ahead of him, anyone watching us from the cottonhouse can see Jewel's frayed and broken straw hat a full head above my own."

 4. Literary Devices

•  Imagery
•  "It was Darl. He come to the door and stood there, looking at his dying mother. He just looked at her."
• "Vardaman comes around the house, blody as a hog to his knees, and that ere fish chopped up with the axe like as not,..."
• "The boards looked like strips of sulphur."
• I tried to find another one that I really had in mind, but I forgot where it was. It described how they drilled two holes in the coffin straight through the wood and the corpse inside.

• Symbolism
• Vardaman's fish relates to Christianity. He catches the fish and cleans it and he relates this to his mother. "My mother is a fish"
•  Eyes seem to be a prominent role in the novel because a lot of describing of characters are done through it. "Jewel's pale eyes"
• New Hope Church. This one is really literal because of the obvious Christian connection in the novel but when they see the sign that says "New Hope Church" it is around the same time when they gain hope.
• Allusions
• Reference to Christianity. "Nobody can't guard against the hand of God"
• The title As I Lay Dying is from on of Faulkner's favorite epics. The Odyssey. 
• Onomatopoeia
• "Cluck Cluck Cluck"
• "Hush"
• "Sho"

• Profane/Strong Language- adds to the tone of the novel, how tragic or angry a charcter is
• "God damn it"
• "Bitch"
• "Hell"

Vocabulary #6

beatitude- Supreme blessedness

• The beatitude of religion is so strong in society today.

bete noire- a detested person (disliked or avoided)

• The morbid man in the sketchy trench coat was bete noire.

bode- Be an omen of a particular outcome

•  The bode of having killed a man haunted him until suicide.

dank- Disagreeably damp, musty, and typically cold

• The subways of New York are dank places for homeless people to sleep.

ecumenical- Promoting or relating to unity among the world's Christian churches

• A lot of Christians are ecumenical of their religion and try to get everyone to convert.

fervid- Intensely enthusiastic or passionate

• Some of the most brilliant pianists in history were not so fervid of the art.

fetid- Smelling extremely unpleasant

• My friend bought a bottle of spray that was intentionally fetid just to joke around.

gargantuan- of great mass

• The gargantuan man was much larger than the anorexic man.

heyday- The period of a person's or thing's greatest success or popularity

• Just as Rockefeller started the Standard Oil business, he met his heyday.

incubus- A cause of distress or anxiety like a nightmare

•  The fourteen essays and three exams all in the following day was incubus.

infrastructure- The basic physical and organizational structures and facilities needed for the operation

•  The infrastructure of the United States is the Constitution.

inveigle- Persuade (someone) to do something by means of deception or flattery

•  I sometimes inveigle my mother into letting me go to a party on a busy weekday.

kudos- Praise and honor received for an achievement

•  I gave my kudos to my friend who discovered a way to make humans fly.

lagniappe- Something given as a bonus or extra gift

• As a lagniappe, I gave my younger brother $5 for doing my homework.

prolix- Using or containing too many words; tediously lengthy

•  People begin to lose interest if your book is prolix.

protege- a person who receives support and protection from an influential patron who furthers the protege's career

• I was a protege of my father's skills in Martial Arts.

prototype- A first or preliminary model of something, esp. a machine, from which other forms are developed or copied

• I broke the rare prototype to the newly created iPad.

sycophant- A person who acts obsequiously toward someone in order to gain advantage; a servile flatterer

• Sometimes I have to be sycophantic to get my mother to say yes.

tautology- The saying of the same thing twice in different words

•  In hip-hop, a lot of rappers use tautology without us even realizing it.

truckle- Submit or behave obsequiously

•  The student truckle to the the A in the class while others worked hard for their grade.

2011 AP Test Essay Rubric Notes

9-8

• addresses whole prompt effectively. 
• not only effectively, but also the essay answers the prompt strongly
• persuasive analysis
• strong use of literary devices
• specific use of textual examples
• significant understanding and insight

7-6

• Not fully effective insight on the prompt
• lesser use of literary devices and textual example than 9-8
• writing is less persuasive than 9-8
• has potential for 9-8 but its not quite there

5

• less strong than 7-6
• relies on plot summary
• vague textual examples and literary devices
• simplistic understanding

4-3

• adequate understanding
• examples/lit devices are irrelevant or unsupported
• very little analysis, more reliance on plot summaries
• noticeable amounts of grammar and spelling errors

2-1

• attempt to respond to the prompt
• distracting grammar or spelling errors
• vague/brief representation of information 

0

• does not relate to prompt

Pg. 64-82 Notes

Gilgamesh

• A king that built a place for the Gods Anu and Ishtar
•  Uruk= ancient sumerian city
• 1/3 man, 2/3 god

Iliad

• Achilleus and Hektor battle out
• Ach wants revenge for his countrymen that Hektor killed.
• Athene thinks it is fate for Hektor to die so she abandons Hektor and aids Achilleus.
• Hektor killed Achilleus' partner, Patroklos
• Hektor gets stabbed in the neck with a spear and is forced to sit, bleeding as vengence

A History of the English Church and People

• Belgic Gaul is south of English island
• prosperous and promising English land
• Latin medium for scriptures
• Britons-original inhabitants
• then Scythians came to north Isish coast (W of Britain) and found Scots
• Pictish settlers rejected from settling in Ireland
• sent to go to Britain, promised help to fight if they resisted
• settles in north, Britons in south
• king comes from lady's side as part of agreement to marry into Pictish families, if needed
• Ireland more pleasant with no reptiles or snakes, immune to poison
• Scots originally from Ireland, migrated to Britain

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

•  East Anglia and Northumbria harrassed Wessex
• Wessex built large ships to fight off
• Danes and King Alfred fought? at the Isle of Wales?
• Danes lost but saved by tide.

Vocabulary #5

acumen - noun a tapering point; shrewdness shown by keen insight

• My acumen was needed for the discussion to continue.

adjudicate - verb bring to an end; settle conclusively; put on trial or hear a case and sit as the judge at the trial of

• All I see on Facebook are statuses about how teenage girls want to adjudicate heart brake from their lives.

anachronism - noun an artifact that belongs to another time; a person who seems to be displaced in time; who belongs to another age; something located at a time when it could not have existed or occurred

• In a century my iPod will the an anachronism of the 21st century.

apocryphal - adj. being of questionable authenticity; of or belonging to the Apocrypha

• The gold watch that my mother found on the ground was apocryphal.

disparity - noun inequality or difference in some respect

• Younger siblings are always treated with disparity.

dissimulate - verb hide (feelings) from other people

• Teenage girls tend to say that they are dissimulating from society.

empirical - adj. derived from experiment and observation rather than theory; relying on medical quackery

• The empirical data from the chemistry lab was disappointing.

flamboyant - adj. richly and brilliantly colorful; elaborately or excessively ornamented; noun showy tropical tree or shrub native to Madagascar; widely planted in tropical regions for its immense racemes of scarlet and orange flowers; sometimes placed in genus Poinciana

• Flamboyant backgrounds are usually very appealing to art critics.

fulsome - adj. unpleasantly and excessively suave or ingratiating in manner or speech

• The fulsome man looked very shady and untrustworthy.

immolate - verb offer as a sacrifice by killing or by giving up to destruction

• In polytheistic societies, immolation was popular for their religion.

imperceptible - adj. impossible or difficult to perceive by the mind or senses

• The wild painting was very imperceptible.

lackey - noun a male servant (especially a footman); a person who tries to please someone in order to gain a personal advantage

• High school is known for their amount of lackeys. 

liaison - noun a channel for communication between groups; a usually secretive or illicit sexual relationship

• I serve as a liaison for many organizations in the world.

monolithic - adj. characterized by massiveness and rigidity and total uniformity; imposing in size or bulk or solidity.

•  The monolithic marching band impressed the whole audience.

mot juste - noun the approprite word or expression

• Sometimes the mot juste of everyday speech never comes to mind.

nihilism - noun a revolutionary doctrine that advocates destruction of the social system for its own sake; complete denial of all established authority and institutions; the delusion that things (or everything, including the self) do not exist; a sense that everything is unreal

• The failure of a society called for the complete nihilism of the nation.

patrician - adj. of the hereditary aristocracy or ruling class of ancient Rome or medieval Europe; of honorary nobility in the Byzantine empire; belonging to or characteristic of the nobility or aristocracy; noun a person of refined upbringing and manners; a member of the aristocracy

•  Patricians were treated with so much honor in the past, but it seems like that has died down since the rise of democracy.

propitiate - verb make peace with

• After an argument with a friend, we always propitiate to ensure that we don't lose each other.

sic - adv. intentionally so written (used after a printed word or phrase); verb urge a dog to attack someone

• Getting sicced by a dog is a trite idea used by many children.

sublimate - adj. made pure; noun the product of vaporization of a solid; verb direct energy or urges into useful activities; vaporize and then condense right back again; change or cause to change directly from a solid into a vapor without first melting; remove impurities from, increase the concentration of, and separate through the process of distillation; make more subtle or refined

• I have completely forgotten the process of sublimination that we learned about in Chemistry last year.

From Old to New

Meanehwæl, baccat meaddehæle, monstær lurccen;
Fulle few too many drincce, hie luccen for fyht.
Ðen Hreorfneorhtðhwr, son of Hrwærowþheororthwl,
Æsccen æwful jeork to steop outsyd. Þhud! Bashe! Crasch! Beoom! Ðe bigge gye
Eallum his bon brak, byt his nose offe;
Wicced Godsylla wæld on his asse.
Monstær moppe fleor wyþ eallum men in hælle.
Beowulf in bacceroome fonecall bamaccen wæs;
Hearen sond of ruccus sæd, "Hwæt ðe helle?"
Graben sheold strang ond swich-blæd scharp
Stond feorth to fyht ðe grimlic foe. "Me," Godsylla sæd, "mac ðe minsemete."
Heoro cwyc geten heold wiþ fæmed half-nelson
Ond flyng him lic frisbe bac to fen
Beowulf belly up to meaddehæle bar,
Sæd, "Ne foe beaten mie færsom cung-fu."
Eorderen cocca-cohla yce-coeld, ðe reol þyng.

Meanwhile, back at Middle Hell, the monster lurks
Feeling too many drinks, he's lookin for fight
Then Jim, son of John,
Asked the awful jerk to step outside. Thud! Bash! Crash! Boom! The big guy
All of his bones broke, bit his nose off;
Wicked Godzilla wailed on his ass.
Monster mopped the floor with all of the men in hell.
Beowulf in the back room on a phonecall with batman was;
Hearing the sound of a ruccus said, "What the hell?"
Grabbed shield strong and switch-blade sharp
Stand forth to fight the gramlin monster. "I," Godzilla said, "make thee mincemeat."
He quickly got held in the famous half-nelson
And flung him like a frisbee back to hell
Beowulf drunk at Middle Hell Bar
Said, "The foe beat my fearsome kung-fu."
He ordered Coca-Cola Ice-Cold, the real thing.

Deconstructing Spiderman

Departure
Peter Parker, wanders into a secret lab of radioactive spiders. He gets bitten by one of them, and he turns into a freak to society with spider powers. He is called to adventure because whether he likes it or not, the person that turned supernatural is him and not someone else.

Initiation
The now, Spiderman, finds out that all the terror in the city can only be fought effectively by himself because he is the only innocent one with superpowers. When a crazy doctor turns himself into a lizard and starts to plot against the city, Spiderman has an obligation to fight crime and save the city from Lizard.

Return
In Spiderman's case, he refuses to return to his real life because now he is a hero, and he must continue to help the city from any crime and danger. He realizes the reason for his powers, and he senses more danger coming so he continues to live his alter ego.

Vocabulary #4

Apostate - adj. not faithful to religion or party or cause; noun a disloyal person who betrays or deserts his cause or religion or political party or friend etc.

• My apostate friend left me waiting in the supermarket for a girl he thought was cute.

Effusive - adj. extravagantly demonstrative; uttered with unrestrained enthusiasm

• The effusive drama club students were not shy in their efforts to act in public.

Impasse - noun a street with only one way in or out; a situation in which no progress can be made or no advancement is possible

• The government was once at an impasse because the economy was not getting any better.

Euphoria - noun a feeling of great (usually exaggerated) elation

• The euphoric melody of the song sent everyone's mind in a trance.

Lugubrious - adj. excessively mournful

• The lugubrious tree cried everyday of his life and never once felt the feeling on happiness.

Bravado - noun a swaggering show of courage

• The lion's bravado helped to win his pride's pride back from the hyenas.

Consensus - noun agreement in the judgment or opinion reached by a group as a whole

• A consensus was reached after long hours locked up in their bedrooms.

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

• The dichotomy of our government is Republicans and Democrats.

Constrict - verb become tight or as if tight; squeeze or press together

• Onix takes his rock-solid body structure to constrict his enemies until they give up.

Gothic - adj. characterized by gloom and mystery and the grotesque

• Poe's later poems where characterized with gothic traits.

Punctilio - noun strict observance of formalities; a fine point of etiquette or petty formality

• On Fridays, even the smallest punctilio formal attire makes a difference.

Metamorphosis - noun a complete change of physical form or substance especially as by magic or witchcraft; the marked and rapid transformation of a larva into an adult that occurs in some animals; a striking change in appearance or character or circumstances

• The metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a butterfly was a wonderful change to watch.

Raconteur - noun a person skilled in telling anecdotes

• The raconteur would make a great impromptu storyteller.

Sine qua non - an indispensable condition

• Your ugly facial feature are sine qua non.

Quixotic - adj. not sensible about practical matters; unrealistic

• Mournful trees are quixotic because trees don't have feelings.

Vendetta - noun a feud in which members of the opposing parties murder each other

• The vendetta issued to the head counselor was so slow and detailed that it was difficult to imagine.

Non Sequitur - an inference or a conclusion that does not follow from the premises.

•  To even think that I murdered a man was non sequitur.

Mystique - noun an aura of heightened value or interest or meaning surrounding a person or thing

•  The mystique of the man in the long, dark trenchcoat attracted much attention.

Quagmire - noun a soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot 

• The heavy rain in Washington turns all the dirt patches into quagmires.

Parlous - adj. fraught with danger

• The parlous saw was in the hands of a small, psycho boy.

As I Lay Dying

I've always wanted to read some Faulkner, but whenever my mind got around to opening that book, my mind got preoccupied with school or something else, or English class got the best of me and made me read a school book. I think it was around the time when we were reading Huck Finn in Nylander's class and I had to close the book in order to focus on Huck Finn. It has always been a book that I wanted to read because Faulkner was a well known author.

I always took interest in his writing as well. The way he takes a bunch of people's perspectives and puts them together in order to establish the plot. Faulkner was also reputed as one of the hardest authors to read in the 1920s, so I simply said, "Challenge Accepted" and bought Faulkner's As I Lay Dying.