open prompt 10/30/2011

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.

Shakespeare often employs foils to prove a point.  In Much Ado About Nothing Don Pedro and Don Jon are foils. Don Pedro is good while Don Jon is evil.  Shakespeare uses Don Pedro to set an example of how you should live your life and what happens to Don Jon proves that.

First Don Pedro and Don Jon are foils. Don Pedro is a father and the ruler of the city.  He is generally well liked by the townspeople. While Don Jon is a "bastard." He has three followers. He is mean and is always trying to get back at people.  Don Pedro and Don Jon are booth manipulating, however Don Pedro uses his powers of manipulation for the good of others while Don Jon  manipulates people to further his own cause.

Next Don Pedro is used as an example. In the end Don Jon is exiled. This is Shakespeare's way of saying that you should not act similarly to Don Jon because you may face being exiled as well. Shakespeare argues that you should be giving and loving. You should be willing to do anything for the people you care about.  Particulary  if you are upper class.

Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing is used as an example as how people should live their lifes and Don Jon is used as an example of how you should not live your life.

response to class materials October 23

We have almost finished our closed reading of Albee's play The American dream. We looked at why Albee uses the pronoun "they" as frequently as he does. We compared what it means to be in artificial light verse what it means to be in natural light. I think many upper middle class people create artificial light, so they can appear to be more upper class, just as Mommy did. Many teenagers also create an artificial light because they want to be accepted.
I am really glad that we are almost finish with this play. It made feel uncomfortable and I really did not enjoy it to much. I am looking forward to beginning Death of a salesmen.

closed prompt 3 10/23/2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/opinion/sunday/will-dropouts-save-america.html?pagewanted=1&ref=opinion
Date published:10/22/2011 Date found: 10/23/2011 Published By: New York Times Auhor: Michael Ellsberg Title: Will dropouts save America?

Thesis: Ellsberg argues that only students who want to be a doctor,lawyer, or other professionals should go to college. He even argues that students should drop out, or not even go to college, to create start up companies.

Language: "I typed these words on a computer designed by apple co-founded by the college drop out Steve Jobs."  This is proving that people who drop out of college can be successful.
Language: "America has a shortage of job creators."  This states that going yo college does not mean that you will create jobs.
Language:"Simply put, from kindergarten through undergraduate and grad school, you learn very few skills or attitudes that would ever help you start a business."  This is worded very sharply and strongly. Again he points out that traditional education will not make you successful or even able to create jobs.
Language:" Assuming that college was responsible for their success gives higher education more credit than it deserves."  This is so strong.  First Ellsberg is saying that Students who are likely to succeed are also likely to go to college. Therefor saying that college was key to their success is a misnomer. Ellsberg clearly does not believe in college. He clearly thinks that the power of college so to speak is a myth. 


diction: "and nurtured by the degreeless Sean Parker."Here Ellsberg is still talking about other successful people with out a degree. I think the word degreeless is very strong. Instead of saying a man with out a degree he choose degreless. It drives home the point better. 
diction:"one thing is clear: our current educational system is acting as the brakes. "
diction:  "But, beyond regulated fields like these, the focus on higher education as the only path to stable employment is profoundly misguided, exacerbated by parents who see the classic professions as the best route to job security." Profoundly is a very strong word. He could have left it out or else he could have said a poorly misguided. 


details: "The National Bureau of Economic Research found that nearly all net job creation in America comes from start-up businesses, not small businesses per se." Research has found that start up businesses are job creators specifically.  
details: "Skills like sales, networking, creativity and comfort with failure." These are specific skills. They are details that make up a good business person. 
details: "You don't need a degree (and certainly not an M.B.A.)" The details of a good business person do include a college degree. And they certainly do not include degrees of higher degrees.  

Open Prompt 3 10/16/2011

1973. An effective literary work does not merely stop or cease; it concludes. In the view of some critics, a work that does not provide the pleasure of significant closure has terminated with an artistic fault. A satisfactory ending is not, however, always conclusive in every sense; significant closure may require the reader to abide with or adjust to ambiguity and uncertainty. In an essay, discuss the ending of a novel or play of acknowledged literary merit. Explain precisely how and why the ending appropriately or inappropriately concludes the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.

Personally I do not particularly care for cliff hangers. I much prefer when the work actually concludes. The ending of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is appropriate because it makes the reader understand what true love is. 

The ending of Romeo and Juliet is appropriate. Shakespeare does a beautiful job of concluding Romeo and Juliet. The ending does not leave you with questions. Romeo and Juliet die, the families discover that their feud was pointless. Case closed. There is nothing more. Shakespeare does not need to write Romeo and Juliet the sequel.  If he had ended with Juliet raising the knife to stab herself or with Romeo walking into the mausoleum to his death that ending would have been inappropriate because you do not know the ending. 

Next the ending of Romeo and Juliet proves that they were in what Shakespeare calls true love. For Shakespeare True love means that you will do anything to be with that person. Even when your families hate each other, as they do in Romeo and Juliet. In the cases of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet killed herself after realizing that Romeo has killed himself for her. This is the ultimate act of love because they would rather be dead than live without one another.

Finally for Shakespeare true love is a willingness to do anything for another person.  Romeo and Juliet are good examples of what you should do or be willing to do when you truly love someone.  He seems to be arguing that you should go to the ends of the universe and back for the person you love. He also argues that you should do this despite your situation. In Romeo and Juliet’s case their situation was that their families hated each other. Most people would have found it hard to love each other in such a difficult situation. Romeo and Juliet loved each other despite that.  Shakespeare’s definition of true love is that you would do anything despite outside factors for that person and Romeo and Juliet made the ultimate sacrifice for each other.

 In conclusion Shakespeare uses Romeo and Juliet to prove what his definition of true love is.

closed prompt 2 Oct 9

• http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/opinion/sunday/loss-and-hope.html?_r=1&hpw
• published 9/11/2011 published by NY times
• date cited 10/09/11
• "Loss and Hope" 
• Author : Unknown

Thesis (depending on the question the thesis would be something along the lines of this) - In the article "Loss and Hope" the author argues that America was changed by 9/11 in a negative way. The author says that the xenophobia that came from the attacks makes it impossible to move forward and for Americans to be kind and compassionate.
effect: This paper questions whether the war in Iraq and the war against Terrorism  is really effective. It makes the reader question if these two wars are wroth the effort or if they are just a big waste of time.
meaning: the xenophobia that has occurred has hurt America. 9/11 did change America but because of the xenophobia and not the actual act. 
proof
Diction: "Pompeian"- Thick ash, It reminds us of a tragedy a very long time ago.  "enlarged"- proof that 9/11 changed American mindsets. "Absorbed" Again more proof that the author feels 9/11 changed the American mindset. "Xenophobia" The author began to talk about how fear is bad and debilitating. The Author could have said a "rise in fear" or "we began to fear the outside." The word xenophobia makes it stronger and really bringing attention to the fact that we feared the outside.  "Our civic life is tainted"- Tainted is not a positive word. our civic life was changed or harmed it was made darker.
Language: "Border between one realm and another" the way this is phrased makes it seem as though the impasse that America was at  was scary and almost unreal.  "Shock, grief and fear"- These feelings are strong feelings that many Americans felt during the period immediately after 9/11. It begins to show that the gripping fear is the thing that affected us more than the attack its self. "We have been drawn into a misdirected war that has exacted enormous costs in lives and money." Here the author argues that America is in a huge war.They argue that it is because of fear that we are in said war. They also argue that the war is meaningless. "As much hope as grief, as much love as anger." Americans felt conflicted with 9/11 and the author argues that the leader of America choose anger over love and hope. "We have done a better job of living with our fears sadly than nurturing the expansive spirit of community that arose in those early days." The author finally comes out and says that instead of compassion we chose anger and fear. "On 9/11 resides in the surge of compassion and hope that accompanied the shock and mourning of that September day" This means that the community that we should have nurtured would have been much better for America than the war and the fear. 
Imagery: "Pompeian ash" There are a few things here. One thing is that you can see the ash billowing and covering everything, and this going on for a long time. You can also feel the ash covering everything. You can feel it in your lungs and you can feel it on your skin. The Pompey explosion was a tragic accident, our accident was allowing the fear to take over. "stood at a junction." This makes me picture a train station. You are standing in the middle. On one side of you is a train going east and on the other side is a train headed west. For the author one direction was community and the other direction was fear and anger.  

response to class materials October 9

We began learning about DIDLS. This stands for diction, imagery, details,language and syntax. These are literary           devices. I find that the hardest one is syntax. I think that it is probably because in past English classes we have not really talked about syntax.  We also talked about how to write a good thesis.  Because of Debate I feel that writing a good thesis is not to much of a problem. However I tend to be wordy with introductions and it was helpful to talk about how to write a good but short introduction.
In AP English we recently did our first read of Edward Albee's " American Dream". I feel as if the entire play was about the inability to get "satisfaction". so to speak. I did not really  care for this play and I defiantly would not pay to see it(Unless of  course one of my very good friends was in it). The play made me feel uncomfortable. In my opinion Albee uses the young man who is described as " the American Dream" to show that the American Dream is actually unobtainable because perfection is unobtainable.
I have enjoyed being in AP Lit. I like to read and I enjoy my classmates.

open prompt 0ct 2 2011

1970. Choose a character from a novel or play of recognized literary merit and write an essay in which you (a) briefly describe the standards of the fictional society in which the character exists and (b) show how the character is affected by and responds to those standards. In your essay do not merely summarize the plot.

In the 1950s many African Americans choose to assimilate into white culture. However some African Americans choose to embrace their African heritage. In Lorraine Hansberry's play "A raisin in the Sun" she explores how that choice affected the dynamics of an African American  family. For many African Americans their choose to either embrace the white society around them or embrace their Family heritage affected their family's life style and affected their own life.

In Lorraine Hansberry's " A raisin in the Sun" the Young family lives in a small New York apartment. Because they were black they often faced racial segregation. They lived in an all black neighborhood, which was the worst part of town. For many of the characters it was hard to get a good education and a good education was almost not needed and certainly the white community around them did not want them to have a good education. Many African Americans, in the 1950s, were beginning to assimilate into white culture.

However for one character Bennetha Young, she wanted to get enough education to become a doctor. She disregarded the standards for African Americans at that time. She wore her hair in a more traditional way, she dressed in a more traditional way and she dreamed of going to Nigeria. This caused stress in her family because the rest of her family wanted her to assimilate into white culture. They did not understand her need to understand her own heritage. Her surroundings affected her in a way that maid her more independent. She did not agree with her family and she did not agree with the whites in her community. She did not want to be the perfect daughter for her mother. And she did not want to be the perfect African American for the whites in her community.

Lorraine Hansberry  took an almost sarcastic tone with assimilation into white culture. The characters that wanted to assimilate were less educated and almost stupider then the characters that did not want to assimilate. She was trying to show that African Americans should not assimilate. African Americans  should however be proud to be black.

In conclusion Lorraine Hansberry believed that African Americans should not assimilate into American or white culture. She does this by having the most educated and most driven character be the one charecter  that refuses to assimilate.