- Overall year reflection
- Eastern vs. Western culture essay
- Life of Pi essay
- The Plague: close reading
- Final Novel Presentation: The Plague
- Character Sketch: Pilate
- Kabul Poem: A Thousand Splendid Suns essay
- Piano Lesson Presentation: work songs
- The Gold essay: Song of Solomon
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Table of Contents
Overall Reflection
This year our AP12 English class read books that had culture infused into them. We read books about the African American culture, along with books dealing with the muslim culture. All of these books were very interesting to read about. They were mostly sad books with conflicts, but that is what left the biggest impression on me.
My favorite book was A thousand Splendid Suns. The writing and story left a strong impact on me, which caused it to stand out the most. The book fist started off with a girl who is forced to marry young because her mother had killed herself, and her father didn't want to keep her because she wasn't seen as good as his other children because her mom was one of the maids. She was forced to marry Rasheed, who was older than her and looking for her to have a new son for him because his had died. She was not able to full fill his one wish, which caused their marriage to go downhill. Their relationship was filled with anger, sorrow, and abuse. Another girl, Laila came into the picture when her parents had been killed by a rocket. Laila was being treated at Rasheeds house, and a few days later she was forced to marry him because she had nowhere else to go. She winds up giving birth to a girl and boy, and as life gets worse Laila decides she is going to run away with Marrium to live a better life. She was able to successfully do this with Tariq, but Marrium was forced to stay behind because she had killed Rasheed and wanted the kids and Laila to live a happy life.
With all of these books we read, we also were writing essays every week. This caused us to train ourselves to think fast and write fast in preperation for the AP exam. Because Am class is only around 40 minutes, we had to be able to learn how to time management with planning time and actual writing time in this short amount. Practicing this every week has made it very easy to pump out well written essays in a short time frame. Also our teacher graded and made corrections to the essays, so that we would be able to improve our way of writing to get the highest score we can on the AP exam.
In class we had many group discussions and projets, which i enjoyed a lot. By working in groups we were able to help out each other and cover a wider range of information. Also it is more appealing to listen to classmates talk, instead of having a teacher just stand in the front of the class and lecture the entire class. With group discussions, I was exposed to more views and ideas that I had not thought of. I thought that was helpful when the essay time came around because I went into prompts more opened minded, so I was able to view the prompts in different lights in order to analyze it better.
Overall I enjoyed this year in Am class. I because a better writer, which is shown in my essays in my blog. I was able to better support and come up with a better thesis. Also, I enjoyed the books we read this year because of their use of symbolism and motifs, along with a lot of culture. The stories were sad, but exposed the class to many hardships and lives people live. It has taught me to make use of the fact that I am a girl who is able to go to school and go far in life, get rid of all that sh** thats holding you back, and "power to the people".
Eastern vs. Western Culture
Reflection: In class, we had group discussions about religious points in the book, A thousand Splendid Suns. Kids were broken into groups and had to come up with questions and lead discussions on different aspects of the book. When we had finished with this, we had to write an essay on one of the aspects that we discussed to show our full understanding of the topic. I chose to write about the Eastern and Western culture that were present throughout the book. This becomes one of the main struggles with women in Afghanistan because they have no rights and are not treated fairly. This allows husbands to take advantage of their wives by beating them. This issue stood out to me because i do believe in the power of us women. We are just as strong mentally and capable of doing anything men can do, which is why I chose this subject of Eastern vs. Western culture in the book.
Prompt: Talk about the presence of Eastern and Western ideology at different periods in Laila's life.
Throughout history the Eastern and Western culture has been viewed as two totally different views. The Western culture is less strict then the Eastern, where women have specific roles and duties in society. In the first half of Laila's life, she had more of a presence of Western culture, but as she lived more with Rasheed, here was a shift to a presence of Eastern culture.
Laila grew up with parents who were not traditionally following the norms of Afghan culture. Laila's mother would talk back her husband and be more dominate over him, which is not typical. Usually men had control over their wives, and the wives cooked, cleaned, and took care of the children. Laila's father wanted Laila to have an education and not marry young. He wanted her to be educated an have a job before having children. Young girls are usually taught to clean and cook. The role of a women is traditionally to get married, have children, clean, and cook. Women did not have a lot of economic opportunities or even rights, so Laila's father taught her more view of Western culture starting at a young age. This Western culture is also shown when Laila and Tariq are together all of the time. They were not married, so it was perceived as bad by others in the town. When Laila married Rasheed, she still kept with her the Western views. Western views are based on freedom and independence for all, so when Marrium is getting beaten by Rasheed, the Western influence on Laila causes her to stand up for Marrium and fight back. It is also shown when Laila steels money from Rasheed and plans to run away. Throughout the first half of Laila's life she shows her eagerness for freedom, which is translated by her actions. She does things most women wouldn't because she is influenced by Western views of independence, equality, and freedom.
After a while, Laila started to give into the Eastern culture. This is first shown by Laila covering up for Rasheed when going outside. Laila becomes obedient and is cooking, cleaning, and having children for Rasheed. This role she takes is now how Afghan women are suppose to act. Due to Laila's parents being killed by a rocket hitting their house, this forces Laila to be married at a young age. She is forced to have sexual relations with a man who is much older than she is, which causes Laila to become pregnant with a second child. This series of events are what caused Laila to have more of an Eastern presence. She doesn't have an education or any rights, so she is becoming like every other Afghan women. This is also shown when Rasheed beats Laila and Laila lets him. This shows that Laila had allowed Rasheed to be dominant over her and lost her view of integrity.
Laila had goals and dreams in life. She had views of being a strong, independent women, which are views found in Western culture. As time passed, those views had been forgotten, and Laila started to follow a lifestyle traditionally lived by Afghanistan women. This is a life of cleaning, cooking, and children, which are views from the Eastern culture.
Prompt: Talk about the presence of Eastern and Western ideology at different periods in Laila's life.
Throughout history the Eastern and Western culture has been viewed as two totally different views. The Western culture is less strict then the Eastern, where women have specific roles and duties in society. In the first half of Laila's life, she had more of a presence of Western culture, but as she lived more with Rasheed, here was a shift to a presence of Eastern culture.
Laila grew up with parents who were not traditionally following the norms of Afghan culture. Laila's mother would talk back her husband and be more dominate over him, which is not typical. Usually men had control over their wives, and the wives cooked, cleaned, and took care of the children. Laila's father wanted Laila to have an education and not marry young. He wanted her to be educated an have a job before having children. Young girls are usually taught to clean and cook. The role of a women is traditionally to get married, have children, clean, and cook. Women did not have a lot of economic opportunities or even rights, so Laila's father taught her more view of Western culture starting at a young age. This Western culture is also shown when Laila and Tariq are together all of the time. They were not married, so it was perceived as bad by others in the town. When Laila married Rasheed, she still kept with her the Western views. Western views are based on freedom and independence for all, so when Marrium is getting beaten by Rasheed, the Western influence on Laila causes her to stand up for Marrium and fight back. It is also shown when Laila steels money from Rasheed and plans to run away. Throughout the first half of Laila's life she shows her eagerness for freedom, which is translated by her actions. She does things most women wouldn't because she is influenced by Western views of independence, equality, and freedom.
After a while, Laila started to give into the Eastern culture. This is first shown by Laila covering up for Rasheed when going outside. Laila becomes obedient and is cooking, cleaning, and having children for Rasheed. This role she takes is now how Afghan women are suppose to act. Due to Laila's parents being killed by a rocket hitting their house, this forces Laila to be married at a young age. She is forced to have sexual relations with a man who is much older than she is, which causes Laila to become pregnant with a second child. This series of events are what caused Laila to have more of an Eastern presence. She doesn't have an education or any rights, so she is becoming like every other Afghan women. This is also shown when Rasheed beats Laila and Laila lets him. This shows that Laila had allowed Rasheed to be dominant over her and lost her view of integrity.
Laila had goals and dreams in life. She had views of being a strong, independent women, which are views found in Western culture. As time passed, those views had been forgotten, and Laila started to follow a lifestyle traditionally lived by Afghanistan women. This is a life of cleaning, cooking, and children, which are views from the Eastern culture.
Life of Pi essay
Life of Pi essay
Reflection: I really enjoyed reading this book. The story was very interesting because of what an impact the events made. This is because the events were extremely disgusting and unimaginable. I also like the way the story was written, although the book was predictable, the style of it was nice. I also enjoyed the amount of symbolism and different elements that went into the book. Personally, I believe the animal story, which is the story i enjoyed more. Initially there was a point taken off for this essay in the content and knowledge part of this essay. In order to fix it, more detail was added to the introduction. There were also more examples added to my main connections in order to support them better.
Prompt: In a well developed essay, describe the themes/symbols the author used to portray Pi's will to live.
Most people are not able to go through suffering like Pi. He had to totally change his lifestyle and adapt to living on the boat. Pi went from being taken care of and fed by his parents, to having to survive all by himself. He had to push himself to fight hunger, thirst, and physical and mental weakness to survive. In the book Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, the author uses the tiger, the ocean, and the island to develop the theme of the will to live.
When Pi was first on the boat, he didn't know what to do, which makes him not have food for water for the first few days. He isn't use to having to hunt for his own food. He then decides he needs to adapt to survive. Pi starts his transformation with the first fish he catches. At first he cries, but then goes on to get use to catching fish and eating them. This shows more of animal instincts coming out. He starts eating anything and everything that he catches. This is shown with the raw meat he eats of fish and turtles. The raw meat of the animals become to taste good to him. Richard Parker does the same. Richard Parker is a savage eater, which is what Pi turns into. Pi has to eat everything he can in order to survive, which shows he has a very strong and persistent will to live.
Throughout the book, Pi is very spiritual. He is looking to create a closer relationship to god and love god. The ocean represents Christianity. When Pi first decides that he has a will to survive, he said that he will only survive if god is with him. The ocean is around the boat in mass amounts, so this shows that Pi's faith of god is always with him to get him through his suffering. When Pi and Richard Parker get flying fish coming up at them from the ocean, Pi thanks god for giving the fish to them. This shows that Pi was able to keep his will to live, even when he was suffering because Pi kept his his faith. He thought that god was with him so he will do what he needs to do to survive.
Pi is very thankful that he finds the island although becomes suspicious when Richard Parker comes back to the boat every night. Pi first sees how dead fish rise up from one of the holes in the island, and then finds teeth in the tree. Pi concluded that this island was man eating The island had to eat whatever came its way, along with a human, to survive. This shows what Pi has turned into by the end of his journey. Pi was eating every part of all the animals he was catching, and even was starting to get use to the taste. Pi even resorted to cannibalism with the sailor. He used the flesh for bait to catch more fish to feed himself and Richard Parker. He also ate some of the man's flesh himself. This showed the extremes of Pi's will to live. At first he didn't want to kill a fish, and now he is using a dead human to survive.
Pi's transformation into a savage eater kept him from dying. He had to do everything he could to survive. He had to be innovative, along with his animal like instincts to over come his suffering. Pi also kept his faith, in return this helped him to keep his will to live.
Reflection: I really enjoyed reading this book. The story was very interesting because of what an impact the events made. This is because the events were extremely disgusting and unimaginable. I also like the way the story was written, although the book was predictable, the style of it was nice. I also enjoyed the amount of symbolism and different elements that went into the book. Personally, I believe the animal story, which is the story i enjoyed more. Initially there was a point taken off for this essay in the content and knowledge part of this essay. In order to fix it, more detail was added to the introduction. There were also more examples added to my main connections in order to support them better.
Prompt: In a well developed essay, describe the themes/symbols the author used to portray Pi's will to live.
Most people are not able to go through suffering like Pi. He had to totally change his lifestyle and adapt to living on the boat. Pi went from being taken care of and fed by his parents, to having to survive all by himself. He had to push himself to fight hunger, thirst, and physical and mental weakness to survive. In the book Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, the author uses the tiger, the ocean, and the island to develop the theme of the will to live.
When Pi was first on the boat, he didn't know what to do, which makes him not have food for water for the first few days. He isn't use to having to hunt for his own food. He then decides he needs to adapt to survive. Pi starts his transformation with the first fish he catches. At first he cries, but then goes on to get use to catching fish and eating them. This shows more of animal instincts coming out. He starts eating anything and everything that he catches. This is shown with the raw meat he eats of fish and turtles. The raw meat of the animals become to taste good to him. Richard Parker does the same. Richard Parker is a savage eater, which is what Pi turns into. Pi has to eat everything he can in order to survive, which shows he has a very strong and persistent will to live.
Throughout the book, Pi is very spiritual. He is looking to create a closer relationship to god and love god. The ocean represents Christianity. When Pi first decides that he has a will to survive, he said that he will only survive if god is with him. The ocean is around the boat in mass amounts, so this shows that Pi's faith of god is always with him to get him through his suffering. When Pi and Richard Parker get flying fish coming up at them from the ocean, Pi thanks god for giving the fish to them. This shows that Pi was able to keep his will to live, even when he was suffering because Pi kept his his faith. He thought that god was with him so he will do what he needs to do to survive.
Pi is very thankful that he finds the island although becomes suspicious when Richard Parker comes back to the boat every night. Pi first sees how dead fish rise up from one of the holes in the island, and then finds teeth in the tree. Pi concluded that this island was man eating The island had to eat whatever came its way, along with a human, to survive. This shows what Pi has turned into by the end of his journey. Pi was eating every part of all the animals he was catching, and even was starting to get use to the taste. Pi even resorted to cannibalism with the sailor. He used the flesh for bait to catch more fish to feed himself and Richard Parker. He also ate some of the man's flesh himself. This showed the extremes of Pi's will to live. At first he didn't want to kill a fish, and now he is using a dead human to survive.
Pi's transformation into a savage eater kept him from dying. He had to do everything he could to survive. He had to be innovative, along with his animal like instincts to over come his suffering. Pi also kept his faith, in return this helped him to keep his will to live.
The Plague Close Reading
Final Close Reading: The Plague
Reflection:
All of these quotes relate to the themes of death, love, and rising above oneself. Death is shown throughout the book with the mass amounts of people dying due to the plague. Love is shown with the people feeling a need to be with their loved ones. Once the citizens of Oran realize how precious life is, they realize how much they really love their family members, relatives, and friends. The citizens come to realize how quickly life can be taken away from them, so they shouldn't take their loved ones for granted. Once the citizens come together, they give meaning to their lives by choosing to fight against the plague. These themes are used to present the philosophies of the author. In order for the citizens to realize how important life it, something had had to happen to them so that they stop taking life for granted. These quotes were picked because they show the author's style with words, along with illustrating an important message of the importance of life.
Close Reading:
For each quote decide which theme it associates with and any other thoughts about the quote:
“I have no idea what's awaiting me, or what will happen when this all ends. For the moment I know this: there are sick people and they need curing.”
“At that moment he knew what his mother was thinking, and that she loved him. But he knew, too, that to love someone means relatively little; or, rather, that love is never strong enough to find the words befitting it. Thus he and his mother would always love each other silently. And one day she--or he--would die, without ever, all their lives long, having gone farther than this by way of making their affection known.”
“And he knew, also, what the old man was thinking as his tears flowed, and he, Rieux, thought it too: that a loveless world is a dead world, and always there comes an hour when one is weary of prisons, of one's work, and of devotion to duty, and all one craves for is a loved face, the warmth and wonder of a loving heart.”
“Whereas during those months of separation time had never gone quickly enough for their liking and they were wanting to speed its flight, now that they were in sight of the town they would have liked to slow it down and hold each moment in suspense, once the breaks went on and the train was entering the station. For the sensation, confused perhaps, but none the less poingant for that, of all those days and weeks and months of life lost to their love made them vaguely feel they were entitled to some compensation; this present hour of joy should run at half the speed of those long hours of waiting.”
“And indeed it could be said that once the faintest stirring of hope became possible, the dominion of plague was ended.”
“Well, personally, I've seen enough of people who die for an idea. I don't believe in heroism; I know it's easy and I've learned that it can be murderous. What interests me is living and dying for what one loves.”
Final Novel Presentation
Final Novel Presentation: The Plague
This book was chosen for independent reading, so that everyone in the class would be knowledgeable of a wide range of books for the AP exam. This book was written by the french author, Albert Camus, who integrated his personal philosophies on the importance of life into this extremely horrible events. The plot and story line of the book interested me and kept the story thrilling. I also enjoyed the underlying message of the book of giving meaning to ones life and the importance of living life to the fullest. The themes of love, death, and rising above oneself are present throughout the book and keep the book interesting and suspenseful. I would recommend this book because it is well written and it jumps straight into the story.
This book was chosen for independent reading, so that everyone in the class would be knowledgeable of a wide range of books for the AP exam. This book was written by the french author, Albert Camus, who integrated his personal philosophies on the importance of life into this extremely horrible events. The plot and story line of the book interested me and kept the story thrilling. I also enjoyed the underlying message of the book of giving meaning to ones life and the importance of living life to the fullest. The themes of love, death, and rising above oneself are present throughout the book and keep the book interesting and suspenseful. I would recommend this book because it is well written and it jumps straight into the story.
Friday, March 8, 2013
Character Sketch
Character Sketch
Pilate Dead
This project was for the book Song of Solomon. We had to pick a character in the book and describe them as we were them. This was difficult because we could not just describe ourselves, we had to go into depth about our character. We had to put ourselves in the character shoes to be able to describe their actual identity. I chose Pilate Dead for my character. I was drawn to her because i admire her morals of family and her strength.
Pilate Dead
My name, Pilate, was given to me by my father, who found the name in the Bible. When I was being born, my father had taken the Bible and randomly pointed at the name Pilate, which became my own. I am a single mother of one daughter named Reba. Reba also is a single mother, who has a daughter named Hagar. My brother is Macon, who has a son named milkman.
Being as
though I was on my own from a young age, and without a navel, I have lived a
different style of life. In my past I was never able to hold on to someone for
too long without my lack of a navel coming in a way. This has followed me to my
future, where I do keep within my family mostly. This has caused for me to have
a close-knit family.
My brother, Macon, has tried to
keep his family distant from me. He, along with others, think of me as dirty or
the way I live is unconventional. Reba,
Hagar, and myself grow and sell wine. We work all together in our house,
picking the grapes, and then pulverizing them. Also in our house is
unconventional. We don’t have any of the normal furniture one would usually
have. There are two rooms: one we all sleep in, and the other has all the open
space. We also do use candles for a source of light too.
Family is an extremely important
part of me. I dearly love all of my family and would do anything to save them.
I even had to put a knife up to a man just to get him to leave Reba alone. I
also would not let Macon kill his own baby when it was still inside of Ruth. I
was there to support her and help her. This strength that I have carries me
throughout the book, even with my older age. I also like to love people. I
can’t help but to open my heart up to others who need help. This is why I do
try to give away a lot of what I have. Throughout the book I was always there
for Milkman when he was on his own journey, trying to find himself. He came to
me and learned about his ancestral land from my sounds that we would sing at
night. I opened my heart up to milkman and others who needed me to lean on.
My characteristics of strength and
youth come from my roots. These are from my African American traditional
culture. I would consider myself to be a free spirited person. I do not follow
the norms of society; I live my life the way I like to. This shows my
individuality. My personal strength allows me to be the individual I am, and
therefore I am able to help others.
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/?ui=2&ik=bb23adc65c&view=att&th=13d4a0e307fb689a&attid=0.1&disp=safe&zw
if the first link doesn't work, copy and paste this web address below into a new window and see if that works instead.
file:///Users/margoricks/Desktop/Memo.m4a
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/?ui=2&ik=bb23adc65c&view=att&th=13d4a0e307fb689a&attid=0.1&disp=safe&zw
if the first link doesn't work, copy and paste this web address below into a new window and see if that works instead.
file:///Users/margoricks/Desktop/Memo.m4a
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)