Literary analysis #2

Grapes of Wrath
By: John Steinbeck

General
1. The story took place during the Great Depression, about mid 1930s. The main characters were a family that was traveling from Oklahoma to California because they wanted a better life. The whole book is really about their adventurous road trip and the many conflicts they encountered.

2. The main theme i found while reading this novel was to treat people the way you want to be treated. The joad family was treated very poorly while on their trip and for no reason really. Innocent people have to suffer because of the lack of judgment.

3. The author uses a lot of dialogue and indirect characterization which made me feel really bad for the characters. The author really wanted to grasp the severity of the situation and I say he nailed it. I learned a lot about the Great Depression but I've never felt so into it like you feel reading about a family in the middle of it.

Characterization
1. The author doesn't really use direct characterization. He uses indirect because the entire story is based around something much bigger than a characters appearance. When he explains Tom joads experience in life after getting out of jail for four year, he tells you how scared and frightened he is without using dialogue.

2. The story definitely changes as Steinbeck changes his diction and syntax. He just changes character points of view throughout the story.

3. The main character , Tom joad , is a dynamic character because in the beginning he didn't have any goals or or dreams to do anything. He just got out of jail and was just worried about what he was going to do the next day yet as the story goes on he learns what is like to be on his own and creates his dream life in his thoughts and hopes to achieve it in California.

4. I can honestly say I feel like I've met someone like a joad family member. I know people that are in the slums and have to worry about what there doing the next day and it breaks my heart but that's life and everyone has their problems.

Tools that change the way we think

I've found myself to be dry dependent on the Internet and all the resources that I have around me instead of sitting down and working out a problem. I personally don't think that looking an answer up on the Internet is considered cheating because now a days people post the work and how they got their answers so everywhere we go we are constantly learning. Even if we just wanted the answer we get an explanation whether we asked for it or not. When y parents were my age they didn't have their iPhones to pull out in class to look something up. They had to study hard and go to a library to find their answers whereas today we go into our library on our phones. I think technology is a blessing because its just another step forward that our generation is making and I hope we continue to move forward.

Vocab midterm autopsy

I did apsolutely awful on my midterm. I thought I was going to do a lot better because I studied so hard and I thought I knew most if the words pretty well. I recognized the words and definitions but I couldn't remember for the life of me what word went with which definition and it frustrated me so much that I basically gave up on it. I think next time I can start studying more in advance so I don't feel so rushed. It wasn't so much that I felt overwhelmed with the words because I knew most of them from the previous week but the thought of a midterm scares me and I panic. I just need to work on my test taking skills.

Fall vocab #9

Abortive: failing to produce the intended result

Bruit: spread a report or rumor widely

Contumelious: scornful and insulting behavior

Dictum: a formal pronouncement from an authoritative source; a short statement that expresses a general truth or principle


Ensconce: establish or settle

Iconoclastic: characterized by attack on established beliefs or institutions

In medias res: a narrative that begins somewhere in the middle of a story rather than the beginning

Internecine: destructive to both sides in a conflict

Maladroit: ineffective or bungling; clumsy

Maudlin: self-pitying or tearfully sentimental, often through drunkenness

Modulate: exert a modifying or controlling influence on


Portentous: of or like a portent; done in a pompously or overly solemn manner

Prescience: the power to foresee the future

Quid pro quo: a favor or advantage granted in return for something

Salubrious: health-giving, healthy; pleasant, not run-down

Saturnalia: the ancient Roman festival of Saturn in December; an occasion of wild revelry

Touchstone: a standard or criterion by which something is judged or recognized

Traumatic: emotionally disturbing or distressing; relating to or causing psychological trauma

Vitiate: spoil or impair the quality or efficiency of; destroy or impair the legal validity of

Waggish: humorous in a playful, mischievous, or facetious manner

Notes on hamlet

My thoughts on hamlet definitely changed since we started it because I had absolutely no idea what we wer talking about so it was hard to like it. I've learned to like it more since we've been doing a lot of collaboration in class. This book is seriously swtisted and backwards. The teenagers remind me of teens today but none of their beliefs compare to today's lifestyle. People don't just go and kill their uncles. It's an awkward idea to marry your brothers wife too.

Who is Shakespeare?

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford on Avon to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden. He was the eldest of four sons. He attended school, and in later years studied theatre, Latin literature, and history. After school, he became a teacher. Later, he married Anne Hathaway, and they had 3 children. Shakespeare is the most famous poet and playwright in history. His work included tragedies, comedies, histories, and sonnets.
Honestly most students absolutely hate Shakespeare I've learned because its not an easy concept to grasp and when it comes to getting graded on Shakespeare everyone seems to tank in it which alters their opinion of it.
I think I've learned to understand Shakespeare a lot more than I did two years ago when we started it.

To Facebook or not to Facebook

I joined Facebook just because it was just another social network that everyone was doing and it was free and seemed harmless. I didn't realize all the risks of being on Facebook and I never questioned how Facebook made its money since everything is free to use. I thought once you blocked something from someone to see was a great way of using security on a website but I didn't even think of the fact that once something is posted online it's there forever. It's just opened my mind to it all.

Fall Vocab #8

Abeyance-(N.) A state of temporary disuse or suspension.

Ambivalent- (Adj.) Having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone.

Beleaguer- (V.) Beset with difficulties

Carte blanche- (N.) Complete freedom to act as one wishes or thinks best.

Cataclysm- (N.) A sudden violent upheaval, esp. in a political or social context

Debauch- (V.) Destroy or debase the moral purity of; corrupt.
(N.) A bout of excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures, esp. eating and drinking

éclat- (N.) brilliant or conspicuous success

Fastidious- (Adj.) Very attentive to and concerned about accuracy and detail

Gambol- (V.) Run or jump about playfully

Imbue- (V.) Inspire or permeate with a feeling or quality: "imbued with deep piety".

Inchoate- (Adj.) Just begun and so not fully formed or developed

Lampoon- (V.) Publicly criticize (someone or something) by using ridicule or sarcasm.
(N.) A speech or text criticizing someone or something in this way

Malleable- (Adj.) Easily influenced; pliable

Nemesis- (N.) The inescapable or implacable agent of someone's or something's downfall

Opt- (V.) Make a choice from a range of
possibilities

Philistine- (N.) A person who is hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts, or who has no understanding of them

Picaresque- (Adj.) Of or relating to an episodic style of fiction dealing with the adventures of a rough and dishonest but appealing hero

Queasy- (Adj.) Nauseated; feeling sick

Refractory- (Adj.) Stubborn or unmanageable

Savoir-faire- (N.) The ability to act or speak appropriately in social situations.

Midterm Reflection

A. What went well?
-I think my confidence was the only thing that went well because I went into this test feeling fine and not that nervous. Until the test started of course.

B. What didn't go well?
-Once the test started I froze and forgot everything. I recognized the definitions and words so nothing was too new for me but I couldn't remember for the life of me which word went with which definition.

C. How much of the content will stick with you?
- Honestly not that much. I have always had a hard time memorizing things but when I can remember words in a unique way, like a rhyme scheme, then I can remember it for a long time.

D. What can you learn from the experience for next time?
-A much better study tactic. Mine was awful and didn't help at all. I'm too embarrassed to even say what it was.