Literature Analysis #1

The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider

1. This book begins in the middle of a teenage nightmare. Ezra was the "It" guy. Captain of varsity tennis, homecoming king, and student council President. Until he had his one tragedy, one night that changed everything and freed him from the expectations of everyone around him. He left a party after a fight with his girlfriend and is the victim of a crippling car accident. And as he is spending weeks in the hospital, not one of his "friends" or teammates is there to visit him. Not one. He should care more, but...that isn't the life he wanted. Reconnecting with his old friend Toby who suffered his own personal tragedy in seventh grade (catching the severed head of a Chinese tourist at Disneyland) and befriending the new girl in town with mystery surrounding her Ezra is finally able to start deciding who he wants to be. While this is easier said than done he cannot wish to change what happened to him. From tennis team to debate team, he couldn't ask for what this personal tragedy has done to him to be taken away, because he is grateful for it. Heartache, self-discovery, and severed head jokes for every day of the year allow readers to watch Ezra come in to his own, with his cane in one hand and leash to his giant poodle who might as well be Gatsby in the other.

2. The theme of the novel is overcoming the odds on the journey to self discovery. That is truly the only way to describe it. Ezra is the victim of a hit and run leaving his knee shattered and ending his ability to play sports, or walk without a cane. He has so much to overcome and while it would be easy to wallow in it or quit trying, he believes his tragedy has given him the gift of a new start. He is no longer obligated to sit with the dull-witted jocks or spend hours playing a sport he has no passion for just to please his father. This book is about deciding who you are and when it's time to start acting like it.

3. The tone was very sincere. The main character took things as they were and did not believe in sugar-coating what had happened to him, his situation, or his feelings while also keeping things quite hopeful.
"I can't say I forgive her for refusing to indulge the perhapsness of what might have been, but I understand why she chose to do it, and she never asked for my forgiveness."

"I don't know if he's right, but I do know I spent a long time existing, and now, I intend to live."

"I still think that everyone's life, no matter how unremarkable, has a singular tragic encounter after which everything that really matters will happen."

4.

• Foreshadowing: "It was as though I was collecting memories of her; as though I knew, or suspected, what was coming."
• metaphor: "Her eyes were a hurricane, and there was nowhere for me to seek cover.
• sarcasm: "I don't know why people say 'hit by a car' as though the other vehicle lashes out like some sort of champion boxer."
• amplification: "What hit me first was my airbag, and then my steering wheel, and I suppose the driver's side door and whatever that part is called that your knee jams up against."
• imagery: "there was the stink of my engine dying under the front hood, like burnt rubber, but salty and metallic."
• cacophony: "The impact was deafening, and everything just seemed to slam toward me and crunch."
• Characterization: Toby is at first just the old friend who caught the severed head on a Disneyland ride, but eventually becomes Ezra's salvation by way of giving him the second chance he has longed for.
• Conflict: Ezra is forced to overcome his crippling knee injury and find his true path.
• Flashback: Ezra begins a flashback to the night of his accident with "I had just turned seventeen, was embarrassingly popular, earned good grades, and was threatening to become eternally extraordinary."
• Juxtaposition: The author allows Ezra to reflect on his current situation in comparison to where he would have been.

Canterbury Tales (I)

• Chaucer saw first hand the different types of people making the Pilgrimage to Canterbury
• He was raised by his merchant father but spent time working for people of all walks of life
• He wrote for the common people about the things they witnessed within the "upper class" on a day to day basis that was often overlooked in literature.
• I thought it was particularly interesting that Chaucer went in to so much detail with each character. Their physical description either complemented or completely disproved their inner selves.

I really want to read more about the Nun because you know she must have a good story since she tries SO very hard to appear perfect. I'm also hoping to get more of the story for the Friar.

Character Study (II)

This is it. The day it all begins. Ree knew she was ready for anything...so long as it didn't involve spiders. She had signed up for this new reality series in the hopes of proving that she could be spontaneous and wild. Enough of the perfectly put together girl everyone saw. It was time for something crazy. She was outside the headquarters for the TV station producing the show. Infamous for it's wild antics and tendency to push the envelope she hoped to God she wouldn't regret this. The journey was about to begin. The first step was to meet her cast mates. With a few carefully calculated steps she was right in front of the door. No turning back now. With a shallow breath in and a deep and sure exhale she reached forward and pushed the door open, taking a step inside. Here goes everything.

Character Study (I)

*THWACK* And she's down. Again. She has just tripped over yet another miscellaneous item that lay on the floor of her room. If you can call it that. There isn't so much "room" as surface area now unrecognizable due to random this, that, and the other covering every inch of spare space. She's always referred to as the "responsible" one, with everything figured out. Perfectly composed in the midst of any situation. Even a spontaneous journey like the one she is about to set off on. Looking around from her new (and admittedly pathetic) vantage point she can finally see the other shoe she was looking for wedged underneath her bed. And there is her brand new shirt she planned on bringing for a special occasion...right under her dog who smells decidedly less than pleasant. Perfect. If only all her friends could see her now, sprawled out on the ground in her vat of perfectly disorganized chaos. Maybe they might finally notice a chink in her feigned shining armor. Every other time it is always "Ree, you're so on top of things. I wish I could be that put together!" Ha! Sure you do. She wipes sweat from her brow as she picks herself  up off the floor. At least she thinks it's a floor. Her mother claims to have not seen anything resembling a floor in decades. Good one Mom but she's seventeen and therefore hasn't been around for decades. Joke's on you! A glance at the clock takes her straight out of her reverie. Twenty minutes to finish packing and not even half way done? Yeah, that sounds about right.

NETVIBES

Net is not vibing for me yet...

I don't get it. I am not really sure how to customize it. I set up my "dashboard" for world news and then a separate dashboard has social media but I'm not sure how to make the two cohesive. Overall at this point I am pretty confused but I set up an account. Help?

VOCAB #6

1. obsequious: obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree

• Private schools have a reputation of having multiple obsequious students.

2. beatitude: supreme blessedness

• Her beauty was viewed as beatitude.

3. bete noire: a person or thing that one particularly dislikes or dreads

• Math analysis is a common bête noire among high school students.

4. bode: to announce beforehand, or predict

• This does not bode well for you.

5. dank: disagreeably damp, musty, and typically cold

• The cave was excessively dank after the recent storms along the coast.

6. ecumenical: representing a number of different Christian churches; nondenominational

• Some families choose to be ecumenical and even non-practicing.  

7. fervid: intensely enthusiastic or passionate, to an excessive degree

• I have a fervid desire to download the new Drake album.

8. fetid: smelling extremely unpleasant

• The cheese factory was fetid.

9. gargantuan: enormous

• I had a gargantuan bruise on my shin after my soccer game.

10. heyday: the period of a person's or thing's greatest success, popularity, or power

• Sammie Sweetheart from Jersey Shore has long since passed her heyday.

11. inveigle: persuade to do something by means of flattery or deception

• It wasn't hard for that girl to inveigle more money out of her adoring parents.

12. kudos: praise and honor received for an achievement

• Kudos to anyone who understands AP Statistics.

13. lagniappe: something given as a bonus or extra gift

• We received a lagniappe on our last vocab test for drawing a doodle.

14. prolix: using or containing too many words, tediously lengthy

• This vocab assignment is a bit prolix if you get what I mean.

15. protégé: a person who is guided by an older and more experienced person

• The Karate Kid was a protégé to that old guy.

16. prototype: a first model of something

• Apple often creates prototypes of new technology.

17. sycophant: a person who acts obsequiously toward someone important in order to gain an advantage

• Sometimes a teacher's favorite student can appear as a sycophant to their peers.

18. tautology: the saying of the same thing twice in different words

• Emerson uses tautology to help us "understand" concepts.

19. truckle: to submit or behave obediently

• Many people are forced to truckle beneath the power of forceful governments.

20. incubus: something that causes somebody much worry or anxiety

• Homework is a definite incubus to students.

21. infrastructure: basic organization, structure, set up

• The engineer designed the infrastructure for the new library.

22. accolade: (n) public recognition, tribute, praise

• The Lincoln monument is an accolade.

23. acerbity: (n) bitterness

• I tend to speak with too much acerbity when I'm tired.

24. attrition: (n) gradual reduction in the size of a work force

• Companies often undergo attrition when their stock reduces in value.

25. bromide: (n) saying that lacks originality

• Raining cats and dogs is a bromide.

26. chauvinist: (n) somebody with a sense of superiority, sexist, homophobe

•  Romney.

27. chronic: (adj) long-lasting, continuing, ever present

•  I have a chronic knee injury.

28. expound: (v) expand on, explain, talk about

• I'm going to need you to expound upon that topic.

29. factionalism: (n) existence of groups within a larger group.

• Many sci-fi books experiment with factionalism.

30. immaculate: (adj) perfect, spotlessly clean

• My room has never been immaculate.

31. imprecation: (n) curse, swearword, expletive

•  Rap music is filled with imprecations.

32. ineluctable: (adj) not to be avoided, inevitable

• Growing older is ineluctable.

33. mercurial: (adj) lively and unpredictable

• Adam Sandler is a highly mercurial actor.

34. palliate:(v) alleviate symptons, cure, heal, treat

• Doctors are trained to palliate all different illnesses and injuries.

35. protocol: (n) a set of guidelines or rules

• There is a specific protocol for every professional job.

36. resplendent:(adj) dazzling, impressive, splendid

• Waterfalls are a resplendent part of nature.

37. stigmatize: (v) label as socially undesirable

• Many cancer organizations have stigmatized smoking in public due to second hand smoke.

38. sub rosa: (adv) secretly or privately

• They decided it was best to handle the situation sub rosa.

39. vainglory: (n) excessive pride, boastfulness in personal ability

• Beowulf expressed a bit of vainglory while speaking to Unferth.

40. vestige: (n) a trace or sign of something that is no longer present.

• There was a vestige of the woman's bold perfume in the air.

41. volition: (n) choice, wish, decision

• My mother did not agree with my final volition because she deemed it irresponsible.

WHAT A CHARACTER

A character I know that I will remember for a long time is Miles "Pudge" Halter from Looking For Alaska by John Green. He is a special character for me because he is the first male character that I have ever been able to deeply and wholeheartedly understand and connect with. The desire he harbors for the "Great Perhaps" and his confusion for the world around him is something that I haven't been able to get off my mind since I first read it. We are so similar I feel like a piece of him is in the back of my mind at all times. I read a lot of books. Not many characters have been able to stick out of the blur of fiction and information I have picked up the way Miles has.

Declaration of Learning Independence

My declaration is going to be about understanding. I want to really understand more about my Big Questions, not answer them if that's even possible, but to really understand more about them. I want to understand more about myself and how the literature I read in class and for the literature analysis truly relates to and effects me.

Vocab #5

1. obsequious: obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree

2. beatitude: supreme blessedness

3. bete noire: a person or thing that one particularly dislikes or dreads

4. bode: to announce beforehand, or predict

5. dank: disagreeably damp, musty, and typically cold

6. ecumenical: representing a number of different Christian churches; nondenominational

7. fervid: intensely enthusiastic or passionate, to an excessive degree

8. fetid: smelling extremely unpleasant

9. gargantuan: enormous

10. heyday: the period of a person's or thing's greatest success, popularity, or power

11. inveigle: persuade to do something by means of flattery or deception

12. kudos: praise and honor received for an achievement

13. lagniappe: something given as a bonus or extra gift

14. prolix: using or containing too many words, tediously lengthy

15. protege: a person who is guided by an older and more experienced person

16. prototype: a first model of something

17. sycophant: a person who acts obsequiously toward someone important in order to gain an advantage

18. tautology: the saying of the same thing twice in different words

19. truckle: to submit or behave obediently

20. incubus: something that causes somebody much worry or anxiety

21. infrastructure: basic organization, structure, set up

ALL OF THE ABOVE

To be honest I didn't know what to expect going into the 1987 AP exam. I was really surprised when I was able to answer as many questions as I did correctly.  The questions that tripped me up the most were the questions in the poetry selections asking which format was used (iambic pentameter, etc.). The essay portion was difficult in my opinion and I tried to time myself during writing to make it more realistic and found my final result satisfactory but not my best work. Most of the vocabulary I was able to recognize which made me feel pretty good!

VOCABULARY #4

1. accolade: (n) public recognition, tribute, praise

• The Lincoln monument is a famous accolade.

2. acerbity: (n) bitterness

• I never understand why people choose to address others with such a high level of acerbity.

3. attrition: (n) gradual reduction in the size of a work force

• A few years ago the education system went through quite the attrition during nationwide budget cuts.

4. bromide: (n) saying that lacks originality

• Raining cats and dogs is an example of a bromide.

5. chauvinist: (n) somebody with a sense of superiority, sexist, homophobe

• In my opinion, Romney is a complete chauvinist.

6. chronic: (adj) long-lasting, continuing, ever present

• My doctor told me I have chronic tendonitis.

7. expound: (v) expand on, explain, talk about

• I found it unnecessary to expound the details of my vacation to everyone.

8. factionalism: (n) existence of groups within a larger group.

• Many dystopian novels are centered around the idea of factionalism.

9. immaculate: (adj) perfect, spotlessly clean

• I don't think my room will ever reach an immaculate state.

10. imprecation: (n) curse, swearword, expletive

• The amount of imprecations in his speech was unnecessary.

11. ineluctable: (adj) not to be avoided, inevitable

• Growing older is ineluctable.

12. mercurial: (adj) lively and unpredictable

• Will Ferrel is a highly mercurial actor.

13. palliate:(v) alleviate symptons, cure, heal, treat

• Doctors are trained to palliate all different illnesses and injuries.

14. protocol: (n) a set of guidelines or rules

• There is a specific protocol for every professional job.

15. resplendent:(adj) dazzling, impressive, splendid

• Waterfalls are a resplendent part of nature.

16. stigmatize: (v) label as socially undesirable

• Many cancer organizations have stigmatized smoking in public due to second hand smoke.

17. sub rosa: (adv) secretly or privately

• They decided it was best to handle the situation sub rosa.

18. vainglory: (n) excessive pride, boastfulness in personal ability

• Beowulf expressed a bit of vainglory while speaking to Unferth.

19. vestige: (n) a trace or sign of something that is no longer present.

• There was a vestige of the woman's bold perfume in the air.

20. volition: (n) choice, wish, decision

• My mother did not agree with my final volition because she deemed it irresponsible.

Beowulf Essay

Prompt: Compare Beowulf with a modern hero, both as characters and as symbols of the times in which both were created.  Support your thesis with at least three (3) literary techniques and three (3) textual examples that strengthen and illustrate your ideas for your readers.

    Heroes are known to act as symbols for different values and ideas that are important in specific time periods. Beowulf is perhaps one of the oldest heroes to be written about. Throughout the text there are hints at what traits are desirable to have within that time period and which people were considered the alphas. The same can be said for Movies like Hancock and characters such as Batman. Not only are the desirable qualities quite different, but so are the "monsters" they face.

    The characterization in Beowulf made it very clear that an extreme amount of confidence and bravado was desired in heroes. Beowulf had a confidence that in our society would come across as hubris especially when he was boasting to Unferth that "Truth I[Beowulf] claim it, that I had more might in the sea than anyone else". Strength and bravery were the most desired characteristics. While those still play an important role in our society, more often we have the case of heroes being "ordinary people who do extraordinary things". Characters such as Hancock and Batman may have accomplished great feats that most could not but they still have a level of relatability that is hard to reach with Beowulf. They have flaws such as Hancock's alcoholism and their respective fears of inadequacy.  Heroes in modern times are admired for their ability to overcome the flaws that hinder most people. In Beowulf's time, flaws went almost completely unacknowledged because that wasn't viewed as desirable of a hero. Beowulf was written without much internal conflict. He saw a threat, such as Grendel, and went to eliminate it. Heroes in our society often face multiple internal conflicts that set them apart from ancient heroes like Beowulf.

   A major difference also lies within the way these different versions of heroes go about battling evil. Firstly, Beowulf would always be matched up against old school, evil monsters such as Grendel with  claws and razor sharp teeth. Hancock and Batman each face evil human beings with weapons and razor sharp intellect. The representations of evil itself have changed as much as the heroes. Part of Beowulf's heroism was his ability to go into a dangerous situation relying purely on himself without extra precautions like a bullet proof latex suit designed to withstand any threat that is commonly worn by heroes today.

    While these aspects clearly differ, some truths about heroes are still relevant today. Heroes are those willing to sacrifice anything be it love, happiness, or even their own life purely for the benefit of others. Beowulf showed this in his final battle where he gave every last breath he had against the dragon to let his people live another peaceful day. This is why firefighters and marines are called heroes just like Beowulf and Batman are. Heroes are those who are first to sacrifice so hopefully others don't have to.

  

WILL STUDY FOR FOOD

The scholarship I found information on today is the Elks Lodge 1538 "Student of the Month". Winners of the scholarship receive a $200 check as well as an additional $500 dollars at the end of the school year. Also, students who win "Student of the Month" automatically qualify to win a $1750 scholarship through a joint program called "Student of the Year". That is a potential $2450 towards college expenses. This is a good scholarship for me to apply for because even with financial aid I will need extra cash to help with personal expenses throughout my college career. I'm hoping to make as much as I can to be quite honest. I'm high maintenance ok.

VOCABULARY #3

1. apostate: (n) somebody who renounces a belief or allegiance, deserter.

2. effusive: (adj) unrestrained in expressing feelings, gushy, lavish

• I found the couple to be much too effusive in their vows.

3. impasse: (n) point at which no further progress can be made, standstill, blockade

• After we had been arguing for hours we found ourselves at an impasse.

4. euphoria: (n) extreme happiness

• If my mother would buy me One Direction tickets I would find myself in a state of euphoria.

5. lugubrious: (adj) gloomy, extremely mournful

• The Fault In Our Stars has a lugubrious ending.

6. bravado: (n) boldness or courage, swagger

• The athlete was only relatively talented and all his bravado didn't show results in the game.

7. consensus: (n) general or widespread unanimity, agreement, harmony 

• The panel reached a consensus only after comparing the numerous pros and cons of each choice.

8. dichotomy: (n) separation of different or contradictory things, contrast

• There is an extreme dichotomy between winter and summer.

9. constrict: (v) narrow, tighten

• The small room felt constricted once filled with people.

10. gothic: (adj) dark, barbarous, uncivilized

• Frankenstein is considered a gothic character.

11. punctilio: (n) observance of etiquette.

 

12. metamorphosis: (n) change in physical form, transformation

• Sometimes women look as if they have undergone a complete metamorphosis after plastic surgery.

13. raconteur: (n) somebody who tells entertaining stories

• As a child I was known to be somewhat of a raconteur during sleepovers.

14. sine qua non: (n) essential condition, prerequisite, requirement

• Having a pre-arranged absence form is a sine qua non for most on campus school activities.

15. quixotic: (adj) excessively romantic/romanticized, impractical

• It is quixotic to claim true love on a first date.

16. vendetta: (n) prolonged feud, quarrel

• Tweety Bird and Sylvester have quite the vendetta.

17. non sequitur: (n) incongruous statement, one statement does not follow the other.

• It is a non sequitur to state your love of pineapples after comparing apples to oranges.

18. mystique: (n) mysterious quality, air of mystery

• The girl who worked in the spell shop had a certain indescribable mystique.

19. quagmire: (n) difficult situation, awkward situation difficult to escape from

• The man found himself in a serious quagmire after being caught in his lie.

20. parlous: (adj) unsafe, dangerous

• Rock climbing can lead to many unforeseen, parlous events.

Why This Book...

The book I chose for the first literary analysis is Looking For Alaska by John Green. I chose this book because I am a really big fan of the author and have heard great things about it. I really like the fact that the main character goes deeper than the "typical teen" and has a lot of demons.  This book shows people my age dealing with issues a lot more complex than previous novels have given teens credit for and I find that really intriguing.