Vocabulary List #3

Accolade- any award, honor, or laudatory notice

• The prestigious university was awarded accolades for their excellent science department.

Acerbity- sourness or acidness of taste, character, or tone.

•  The old man's acerbity flared when he found his house covered in toilet paper.

Attrition- a reduction or decrease in numbers, size, or strength.

• After the 2010 graduating class, the attrition of the school band was horrifying. 

Bromide- A person who is platitudinous and boring

• The bromide chemistry teacher never went beyond teaching his students basic chemistry and allowing them only fundamental experiments.

Chauvinist- A person who is prejudice in the superiority of one's own gender, group, or kind.

• The time of the Civil Rights Movement was a chauvinistic time for white Americans.

Chronic- habitual

• Many people say that marijuana is a gateway drug to the more chronic drugs like meth and heroine.

Expound- to set forth or state in detail

• The speech was expounded in such detail that it left the audience both astounded and weary.

Factionalism- of a faction or factions

• The US government has adapted factionalism into the country.

Immaculate- free from fault or flaw

•  In paradise, it is said that one can regulate self-hate and immaculate wealth.

Imprecation-  the act of cursing

• The witches imprecation of the voodoo doll paranoid the victim beyond survival.

Ineluctable- incapable of being evaded.

• The ineluctable fate of speaking in front of an audience haunts many people.

Mercurial- animated; lively

• The mercurial dog tackled everyone the moment he saw strangers.

Palliate- to relieve or lessen without curing

• The ice pack palliated the injury the football player was victim to.

Protocol- the customs and regulations dealing with diplomaticformality, precedence, and etiquette

• The military protocol called for proper respect to the king's son as he was drafted into the military.

Resplendent- shining brilliantly; splendid

• The resplendent meteor shower this year was truly a once in a lifetime experience.

Stigmatize- to set some mark of disgrace or infamy

•  Darwin was stigmatized by the Christian community because of his ideas.

Sub rosa- secretly; privately

• The practice was held sub rosa because the coach did not want outsiders to know the plans.

Vainglory- excessive elation or pride

• Many civilians viewed the prince of having too much vainglory.

Vestige- a mark, trace, or visible evidence of something that is no longer present or in existence

•  The vestige of the dinosaurs are only contained in the collected bones.

Volition- the act of resolving, choosing, or resolving

• The volition of President Bush to engage Iraq in war is widely hated by the people of the United States.

Beowulf Questions

Kathryn and I are a group. We worked individually. I did the first half of the questions and she did the second half.

[Prologue: The Rise of the Danish Nation]
1. Shield was an orphan when he was found, so it is unusual that he became a king with his background. Shield was a respected king so they put him on a boat with treasures and sailed him out to sea. Hrothgar is Shield's heir after his son Grain.

[Heorot is Attacked]
1. Hrothgar undertook the task of making the Danes into a prosperous land. A demon from Cain attacked and killed 30 men. The demon was Grendel. The attacks lasted for 12 years, and the Danes kept offering sacrifices and gifts.

[The Hero Comes to Heorot]
1. Beowulf travels to Danes along with 14 others to aid Danes in defeating the demon.
2. Beowulf meets the first guard of the Danish coast. The guard questions the warriors, but allows them to pass after Beowulf mentions that he is the son of Ecgtheow and he is loyal to Hygelac.
3. Hrothgar's herald is a news messenger named Wulfgar. Wulfgar asks Beowulf what business he has with Hrothgar. Beowulf tells him that he is here to help the Danes, and Wulfgar takes the news immediately to Hrothgar. Hrothgar mentions that he remembers Beowulf. I'm not surprised because Hrothgar and Ecgtheow knows each other.
4. Beowulf offers to fight Grendel with his bare hands. Beowulf's father killed Heatholaf a member of the Wulfing tribe, and Hrothgar sent treasure to the Wulfings to cease the fighting.

[Feast at Heorot]
1.  Unferth accuses Beowulf of his vanity and losing a swimming match, and Beowulf retaliates by calling Unferth a drunk and pointing out how he is a failure at fighting Grendel. The scene compares to the poem because it shows differences in boastfulness.
2. Queen Wealtheow says that she wants Beowulf to befriend and guide her children, Hrethric and Hrothmund, when Hrothgar passes.

[Fight with Grendel]
1. Beowulf refuses armor and weapons. He walks into battle completely unarmed.
2. When Grendel enters Heorot, he kills some of the Geatish warriors, but Beowulf pins Grendel down as he tries to escape. Grendel eventually escapes, but he dies in a swamp. Beowulf is rewarded with Grendel's arm that he tore off.

[Celebration at Heorot]
1. Beowulf and Sigemund are similar in that they both fought giant monsters. Beowulf and Heremod are different because Beowulf is loyal to his people and Heremod is not.
2. Hrothgar rewards Beowulf for his deed by praising him and offering him gifts. Unferth basically takes back all his insults because Beowulf did the task.
3. The Finn story is about the Danish losing to the Frisians, and the Danish used a woman to call a truce between forces and the Frisians agreed. This shows that women are undervalued because they are so easily disposable to others.
4. Wealtheow tells Hrothgar not to tell anyone.
5. Wealtheow asked Beowulf to take care of her children. With the necklace Beowulf received from Wealtheow, he gives it to Hygd.
6. The men stayed in the drinking hall because they were drunk and didn't know any better. Grendel's mother took revenge on the Danes by killing the men in the drinking hall.

[Another Attack]
1. Grendel's mother only wanted to avenge her son's death.
2. Hrothgar demanded that Beowulf kill Grendel's mother because she killed Hrothgar's friend and his counselor.
3. The mere is a scary, swampy area where Grendel's mother's lair is.

[Beowulf Fights Grendel's Mother]
1. If Beowulf is killed, he told Hrothgar to return his things to Hygelac and take care of the Geats.
2. Before Beowulf enters the mere with his soldiers, they find Aeschere's head.
3. Beowulf covers himself in armor and Unferth equips him with a sword named Hrunting.
4. When Beowulf enters the mere, he is immediately attacked by Grendel's mother. It was surprising that the monster would live at the bottom of the mere.
5. The Hrunting can't cut Grendel's mother's head.
6. When Grendel's mother is sitting on top of Beowulf, Beowulf manages to hurt the monster, and that moves her off of him.
7. Beowulf uses the sword of the giants to cut her throat, then he proceeds to decapitate her and takes her head as a reward. The sword begins to melt.
8. When Beowulf emerges as the victor, his men take off his armor and congratulate him because they did not expect to see him alive.

Further Celebration at Heorot
1. Beowulf presents Hrothgar with Grendel's head and the sword hilt which killed him.
2. He tells him how a great leader looks for eternal and not earthly rewards. Heremod was evil and disloyal which was contrasted with Beowulf's goodness. Heremod died from deserting his people for the Jutes and died from betrayal. This should have taught Beowulf that loyalty and godness will keep him alive and will keep the gods on his side, instead of taking the easy route and dying in the process.
3. He returns Hrunting.

Beowulf Returns Home
1. He predicts he will be a good and generous ruler with a great future.
2. Hygd is Hygelac's wife, the queen. She is young, wise, and righteous, unlike Modthryth who was evil and killed her innocent citizens when she thought they were offending her.
3. The intention of the marriage is to bring peace to the warring kingdoms. He predicts that once they see each other wearing plundered goods as their own that it will start up new tensions and the fighting will recommense. We are surprised that he is being pessimistic and thinking the worst of people. Generally, he is kind and thinks all is good besides definite evil.
4. He reports accurately, but emphasizes and exaggerates the struggles and strengths of the monsters. He especially tells of his rewards and merit for performing the daunting feat of might and courage.
5. He gives most of it away to Hygd and Hygelac, including horses, a necklace, and suits of armor. In return, he recieved large amounts of treasure and his own land to rule.

BEOWULF AND THE DRAGON

The Dragon Wakes
1. There is a fifty year time skip, in which Hygelac dies and the throne is left to Beowulf. There is a dragon ranpaging towards Beowulf's castle.
2. The dragon's anrgy because it had been guarding a buried treasure for 300 years and he awoke to find a slave had stolen a goblet right from under him. The treasure was there because the last of an ancient race knew the treasure would do him no good because he was destined to die along with all his ancestors.
3. The dragon burns down villages and homes and Beowulf's throne-hall.
4. He thought he had lost favor with the gods. The shield is to protect him from the fiery breath of the dragon whom he plans on defeating himself. He wants to fight it alone, in open ground, with a sword and some armour. He will be defeated because he doesn't realize he's fifty years older than when he fought Grendel and much feebler.
5. Hygelac died in combat at Friesland. After his death, Beowulf served as guardian and advisor to his son until he was able to rightfully take the throne. He was offered the position of King but didn't accept it due to throwing off the royalty succession. He only took the throne when Hygelac's son died.
6. He dies in a skirmish against the Swedes. Beowulf later ceased tensions with the Swedes.
7. He takes eleven men to survey the sorroundings and investigate, but he alone goes to fight the dragon.
8. Herebeald died in the castle from Grendel's attack, causing the king unbearable grief and sorrow and need for revenge. The Swedes and Geats finally came to a peace agreement under Beowulf.

Beowulf Attacks The Dragon
1. He tells them to go away and let go him fight alone.
2. In the first battle, Veowulf realizes his sword and armour aren't enough. All but Wiglaf flee in terror, but Wiglaf stays to fight alongside his king to give some hope of victory. He tried to coax the others into joining him by reminding them of their oaths but to no avail. He goes alone to asist Beowulf.
3. The second time, Beowulf's sword breaks and Wiglaf comes to the rescue and stabs the dragon in the stomach. Then Beowulf pulls a knife and stabs the beast in the flank, a fatal blow. But the dragon had bit Beowulf in the neck with a venomous bite and both were destined to die.
4. He wasks Wiglaf to bring him the treasure to see what he had liberated. He is satisfied with the riches he won for his people and tells Wiglaf to build him a barrow to be buried in called "Beowulf's Barrow"

Beowulf's Funeral
1. The soldiers find Wiglaf mourning the death of their ruler, and are bitterly welcomed by him. He scorns their cowardice, saying Beowulf's generosity was wasted on them and adumbrates the Geats will face many foreign warlords trying to defeat them without Beowulf.
2. The messenger tells the results of the battle and warns them against attack from the Franks, Frisians, and Swedes.
3. He tells of Beowulf's dying wish and prepares them for the construction of his barrow.
4. The dragon's corpse is thrown into a body of water.
5. The people burn his body and mourn his death.
6. They claimed he was mild, kind and pariseworthy. We would expect him to be describes as mighty, or victorious, or valiant, not as a meek ruler who brought prosperous times on his kingdom.

1987 Ap Test Essays: Peer Feedback #1 : Poisonwood Bible

Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible shows the social change that is forced upon foreign people. In the novel. The Congolese people are forced into believing a religion that they have never heard about. Christianity has a certain attitude of trying to enforce the religion on to people. A major part of the religion is to go out and preach in order to spread and multiply the amount of people that believe in God. The author, however, wishes to change that idea that religion forces people into belief by showing a situation where the converting failed and the converters are kicked out of the country for their disrespect and shame.

The whole book is based around the character Nathan. He moves to the Congo in order to convert the Congolese hoping to give them "hope". But he fails miserably. Then he proceeds to try and civilize the Congolese which again fails. Nathan can't realize the fact that these people are beyond able to be civilized. His character is symbolic of nations that try to civilize third-world countries that cannot be civil. Nathan portrays the aggressive nature of religion and strong countries to enforce their beliefs on others.

The author uses the whole Price family to symbolize the impossibility of what Nathan is trying to achieve. Orleanna shows the persistence of the people that try to enforce their beliefs, Leah and Adah represent the inevitable failure of trying to make a copy of a nation, Rachel represents the corrupt, sycophantic attitude of the enforcers., and Ruth May represents the little hope that ends up dying because of failure. Throughout the whole novel, it shows how each character fails in the Congo when they try to intervene in foreign affairs.

The Poisonwood Bible personifies the essence of failure into a family of different people in order to show the outcome of trying to civilize a nation. Kingsolver modifies what religion and a lot of strong forces of nature try to do to vulnerable, weak victums; however, she doesn't show the success of the attempt, rather the failure of it. By using symbolism through the main protagonists, Kingsolver influences the audience's view of mainstream religion and power.

1987 Ap Test Essays: Peer Feedback #1 : George Eliot

"Leisure is gone." George Eliot's depiction of old leisure suggests a craving nostalgia for the leisure she remembers. At the same time, Eliot thinks of old leisure as some force that powers life itself, and she implies that without the feeling of it around, society slowly begins to wither away. Her leisure has changed into a type of leisure where simplicity and relaxation has died off. Eliot personifies leisure as a simple person that is ignorant of life.

Eliot has a strong passion towards older leisure because her idea leisure is the apotheosis of simplicity, but with the change of time from dominantly manual work to the productive industrial age, leisure has been taken over by the idea of production to better the lives of people. The way Eliot views leisure is different in that she longs for the continuation of spinning wheels, slow waggons, pedlars, and the pack-horses, but the change has rendered her hopeless of the leisure of society's current times. She tells the audience not to believe what people say about leisure because it is a vacuum for eagerness. By stating, "even idleness is eager now-eager for amusement," Eliot alienates the leisure of current time, and implicitly shows how her type of old leisure is essentially better.

The personification of leisure as a man who reads only one newspaper, is innocent of leaders, and is free from that periodicity of sensations which we call post-time, supports Eliot's notion of old leisure. By portraying an innocent, not yet corrupt society, Eliot implies that the change of leisure has done nothing but harm society itself. The man portrayed is ignorant of everything around him, and that is good because the knowledge of such topics would only cause him harm. The man is "happy in his inability to know the causes of things, preferring the things themselves."

Eliot shows a desire for the old leisure back and a passionate animosity for the what leisure has turned into in her time. She talks about the purity of preindustrial society and the devil that lives inside the change of leisure after productiveness and eagerness dominated people's minds. By personifying old leisure as a man that is innocent at heart, Eliot promotes the leisure she longs for.

Reflections on Week 1

Following the guidelines listed, I shouldn't have any problems. By that I mean that I have access to a phone, the computer, and transportation all at my disposal. The only way any of those wouldn't be available is if my phone lines died, my computer broke, my internet service ceased, or my car broke beyond repair. As far as family goes, I don't ask them for anything school related unless it's my mom signing paperwork. All the help and hassle business is directed towards my friends because I find that most of my friends are at my mentality level, so its safe to ask or argue on a topic.

A really ideal learning experience comes from live interaction with what I'm learning. The closest to that I can think of is learning Music. It was actually very recent, maybe a couple weeks ago when I was learning all my music for Drumline. Since I am on a new drum this year I need to learn all the music all over again. I was at Drumline practice in the band room along with our coach Robert, a fellow Righetti and Drumline Alumni. The way I learn in an interactive atmosphere is very different from a traditional sit down in class and listen to a lecture (one of the reasons I'm not excited for college). When I learn music, I always have a passion for it regardless of what instrument or genre of music it is. The initial physical interactions draw me in. I just can't sit still. I have to move or else my mind shuts off.

As previously noted, I'm excited for the amount of technology that is involved in the class. I think is great because how many high school teachers make you blog or let you pull out your iPad during class to take notes. When I first made my blog and wrote that first assignment, I said I wasn't ready to be concerned or nervous about anything, but now that a week has gone by, I'm starting to fear for my life. The work load was a lot more than I expected and it's hitting me hard. For one thing, this course is going to make me study and force myself out of my lazy schooling ways.

Essayus Interruptus

Allow me to start off by saying that the essay was not well written because of all the interruptions. I didn't really have a plan to go in and embarrass Preston for giving us such a measly prompt, and that is definitely not how it happened. Let me give you the pressure breakdown...
1. Montaigne
2. Time
3. I had forgotten my notes in my locker which was just another thing to stall/preoccupy my mind.

First of all, the prompt included Montaigne which put quite a lot of pressure on me considering that we, the class, had no clue what the hell Montaigne was blabbering about in this book. Second, time was short. I know it was relatively close to the time limit on an actual AP test, but during the test we don't get our stream of consciousness messed with by librarians. Lastly, my notes. Oh my notes... I can't believe I had forgotten them. Once Preston mentioned that they were due along with our test, I had to worry about that, and that didn't help me think.

After I left, no much happened. The idea of the essay slipped through my mind, and of course I was rushed with the question "WHAT WAS THE ESSAY PROMPT?!?!" I guess it was my mind telling me that I should be glad that I get this chance to write what I wanted to on my essay but didn't.

In my essay, I mentioned the references both authors made to older times, like Montaigne to Plato and Aristole, and Austen to the 1700s. I compared how both authors have a completely different style. Austen is dependent on plot and structure while Montaigne really didn't depend on anything. I just wish I could have written more examples to back up my statements because the rush made me want to finish with a brief but completed essay instead of a detailed incomplete one.