Allegory of the Cave Sonnet

1. What a life we have here in this dark cave,
2. It is all we know, except for the brave.
3. They dare to turn their heads to the bright light,
4. And fight the shackles to reach the close day.
5. We're scared to venture into the unknown.
6. By sitting here, all of our lives are blown.
7. We're limited in what we see and do.
8. Most of the people do not have a clue.
9. There are shadows of something behind us.
10. But we choose to ignore it without fuss.
11. It is time to break these chains and be free.
12. The only thing stopping myself is me.
13. It takes some time for my eyes to adjust.
14. Once they do, there's a whole new world for us.

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

1. I think this means that we mentally imprison ourselves and only we can set ourselves free. It represents that we look straight and only believe what is being presented to us. We don’t try to think outside of the box and question what else there is.

2. The cave represents a place of ignorance. The shackles represent limits. The shadows represent images that you have to question.
3. It is saying that we as students don’t want to go through the extra work and go outside of the cave because we want to stay in our own little comfort zone.
4. The imagery of shackles and the cave suggest that the prisoners only have that one perspective of the dark cave and have never left and are unable to leave to see the light outside of the cave. They are being controlled and limited to what they can do and see.
5. In society today, things like going with the flow and just doing the bare minimum shackle people. Everybody wants to stick with what they know and what they are comfortable with, and never want to try anything else because it is too much work. Nobody wants to change the way they do things or how they learn because they are content with the way it already is. They do not want to think about what could be.
6. The free prisoners can explore outside of the cave. They prefer their initial situation though because they are used to it and that is what they have known their whole lives. They are unsure about the outside world so they do not bother going out there.
7. The freed prisoner is blinded by the sun at first and how much light at first. When he goes back into the cave, his eyes need to adjust to the darkness.
8. To get free, the prisoners have to want to get out. Others tell them about the outside. It takes people who are willing to ask questions. They have to uncomfortably turn their heads and when they see the light, the chains break.
9. There is a big difference between appearances and reality. Everything in this world is not what it may seem. When you are lost in the desert and you see a mirage, it’s not actually there. You are just seeing images that you are imagining.
10. There is no truth. There are only versions of the truth. Reality is self-deceptive and you believe anything that you see.

Big Question

Is there ever a just war?

Lit Anal #3

Brave new world by Aldous Huxley
 

GENERAL

 

1. This story takes place in the future. It is about 2500 London. The people in this story are created and not born. The government controls these people's lives and wants to create a perfect world. There was a war that destroyed all of civilization. The people pretty much worship Henry Ford because of his work. They start a new era of Ford. Everybody who is made has one of five different castes Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. There are 10 controllers who have the power of the world. The world is maintained by brainwashing babies and giving adults the soma which helps people stay happy. Marrage is not allowed because the babies are produced in factories. So everybody has sex with everybody, but being together longer than a few months is bad.

2. The theme of the story is the threat of Genetic engineering. Huxley talks about how his new world breeds prescribed numbers of humans artificially for specified qualities. This whole story shows an example of what could happen if the world started using more and more genetic engineering to a point where every person on the earth was created and born.

3. The tone of the story is dramatic. The author uses a lot of flashy words that illustrate the perfect picture of what he is trying to say. Although there are a lot of big words that are hard to understand. it is very easy to read and makes the reader have to think and let their imagination run wild with his fascinating ideas. It is also humorous in a few ways. Like when the students in the classroom feel sick whenever they hear the word mother. Just the way he makes people talk and with his ideas of how life is at that time, he kinda jokes around a bit of the things people say do these days in the reader's present.

4. Imagery- he uses imagery of humans to animals like when he says they have the stupid curiosity of animals.

repetition- “straight from the horses mouth”

irony- “Community, Identity, Stability” is ironic because how are you supposed to be your own person when you are told how to feel and think.
Oxymoron- The blossoms described on pg 15 are an oxymoron between beauty and death/suffering.

Foreshadowing- “What man has joined, nature is powerless to assunder.” This foreshadows that because society is unatural, nature will break it apart and become natural again.

Hypocricy- The controllers are making children think how they want them to think, but the controllers are just people with their own beleifs and they are thinking the way that they want to think, why cant everybody else?

Hyperbole- The storyies characters are really exhagerated.

 

CHARACTERIZATION
1. The author uses mostly indirect characterization in this story. Since it is from a 3^rd person point of view, he can explain what how every character thinks and feels to give us an idea on their personalities.
 2. The author's diction does change a little bit from when different characters are speaking. Like when Mustafa Mond is speaking, he makes him sound way more intelligent than when Lenina is talking.
3. The protagonist, John the savage, is a round character. He has many different personalities that separated him from the world around him. He questions the order of things and expresses ideas through a real personality. He is different than everybody else and looks at the world through christian views. You can see his struggle with the world views when Lenina wants sex.
4. I feel like I read a character in this story. Everybody is mostly the same in this book where they are all brainwashed except for john. He was the only one who was normal and actually questioned the system. Like he probably did what every one of the readers would have done as well and wasn't really a person that was all that diferent from the every day person in the present.

 

Vocab #11

Affinity- relationship by marriage.

I do not know most of my step dad's cousins very well because I only know them by affinity

Bilious- of or indicative of a peevish ill nature disposition.

My sister is openly Bilious to those she doesn't like.

Cognate- of the same nature.

In Spanish, when a word sounds similar in English as it does in Spanish, we call them cognates.

Corollary- A proposition inferred Immediately from a proved proposition with little or no additional proof.

When my mom grounded me because my sister told her a lie, and she didn't give me a chance to tell my part of the story, it was a corollary.

Cul-de-sac - a pouch/ dead end.

I never keep anything in my cul-de-sac because I don't want it to be stolen.

Derring-do- a daring action.

Stunt doubles always need to be ready for a derring-do.

Divination- The art or practice that seeks to foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge due to the interpretation of omens .

I wish I could study divination so that I could foretell the future and say that my team will win CIF.

Elixir- A substance capable of prolonging life indefinitely.

I drank an Elixir and now I can never die of old age.

Folderol- a useless accessory.

Guys do not wear many folderols.

Gamut- an entire range or series.

Every practice was just a small piece of our gamut to become league champions.

Hoi polloi- the General populace.

The hoi polloi all agree that we do not want a world war III.

Ineffable- incapable of being expressed in words .

I was so happy, it was ineffable.

Lucubration- to study by night.

I usually practice lucubration because my days are so buisy.

Mnemonic- intended to assist memory.

People with Alzheimer usually take a mnemonic.

Obloquy- abusive language.

Many people just use obloquy instead of actions.

Parameter- an independent variable used to express the coordinates of variable point and functions of them.

I had to search the parameter of the building.

Pundit- a learned man.

My grandpa sure is a pundit with all of his life experiances.

Risible- provoking laughter.

I love when my friends are risible.

Symptomatic- having the characteristics of a certain disease but arising of a different cause.

I had a symptomatic headache from hitting my head on the ground.

Volte-face- a reversal in policy.

Usually when laws aren't working out, the government sets a volte-face.

Sonnet

Tired with all these, for restful death I cry,
As to behold desert a beggar born,
And needy nothing trimm'd in jollity,
And purest faith unhappily forsworn,
And gilded honour shamefully misplaced,
And maiden virtue rudely strumpeted,
And right perfection wrongfully disgraced,
And strength by limping sway disabled
And art made tongue-tied by authority,
And folly, doctor-like, controlling skill,
And simple truth miscalled simplicity,
And captive good attending captain ill:
Tired with all these, from these would I be gone,
Save that, to die, I leave my love alone.

AP Hamlet PLN

http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/listhamletma1.html
I liked this website because it was a whole page that a high school library had put up to help their students study Hamlet.
http://deborahharris.edublogs.org/2010/04/16/ap-hamlet-essay-directions/
I liked this because there were a ton of views and a lot  people were obviously seeing this page.
http://www.enotes.com/hamlet/discuss/students-studying-hamlet-55205
I chose this website because although it was posted in 2009, the students are commenting with some good points on Halmet.
http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/shakespeare/hamlet.htm
I liked this website because it taught everything you need to know about Hamlet. It was pretty much a class on Hamlet online and it offered a lot of great questions.
http://thehamletweblog.blogspot.com/
I liked this blog because it was a whole blog dedicated to Hamlet and it is current.