As we begin to read the play Much Ado About Nothing, consider all the characters in the play who engage in some form of lying. Please create a blog post in which you discuss whether or not lying is ever ethically or morally justified. Support your ideas with cited examples from the play and with examples pulled from real life. Remember, posts should be 2-3 paragraphs in length. The comments you leave on other's posts should respond to their IDEAS and you should provide backup/rationale for your agreement or disagreement with their ideas. Your initial post is due by 12-22. Your comments on other's posts are due by 1-10-08.
Throughout the play Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespear enhance the plot by making the characters taking part in various lies. In my personal opinion I don't think anyone should ever lie, its just taking the easy way out of situations plus its usually unethical to do so. One of the first times we witness these characters lie is at the mascarade party, the characters continuously lie about who they are and discover things that weren't ment for their ears. It's wrong of Benedick to tell Beatrice that he is not himself and that he doesn't even know a Signior Benedick, and by wrongful decieving her she tells him how much dis taste she has for him. It was wrong of him to do so but Beatrice was overly open about the things she said, saying them to someone she believed to be a stranger. Therefore I don't think Benedick should be blamed, its Beatrices fault for not checking he identity of some she was telling somewhat confidential information. I realize that in real life you would be able to tell if Benedick was really Benedick of some french guy, but Beatrice shoulod really watch what she say becaus ejust lie in the real world, gossip and such spreads liek wildfire and it eventualy comes back around to you.
Later on in the play the Prince, Leonato, Claudio, Hero, and Ursula all join together in tricking Beatrice and Benedick into falling in love with eachother by letting them overhear their fake conversations each saying ofne was in love with the other. This is a clever and complex plan, however they are lieing and decieving both Benedick and Beatrice which is wrong. I know they have the best intentions but I think its wrong to play with peoples hearts and this could potentially end badly with both of them discovering the truth that could have an ireversible negative effect of certain relationships. I think this whole plan is unethical but it isn't that extreame of terrible so I dont think really matters that much. They could have talked both Benedick and Beatrice into like the other without lies or trickery but I must admit this does spice up the plot a bit. Im sure this happens in the real world and i probably know someone ho has been involved in a sceem like this one.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Find And Discuss A Poem You Enjoy
Begin reading some poetry on your own. Feel free to explore more poems from the authors in our poetry packet, or begin to read the poetry of other authors. By the end of this week (12-2) find and choose a poem that resonated with you. Post it on your blog with a 2 paragraph analysis/explanation of what the poem explores and why you find it compelling. Next, read/comment on other people's poem selections by 12-7
o by the by by e.e.cummings
o by the by
has anybody seen
little you-I
who stood on a green
hill and threw
his wish at blue
with a swoop and a dart
out flew his wish
(it dived like a fish
but it climbed like a dream)
throbbing like a heart
singing like a flame
blue took it my
far beyond far
and high beyond high
bluer took it your
but bluest took it our
away beyond where
what a wonderful thing
is the end of a string
(murmurs little you-I
as the hill becomes nil)
and will somebody tell
me why people let go
T-also first line of poem, significant??
P- as life goes by, has anyone seen a small kid, stand on a hill & through a kite into the sky
as it flies the kid wish comes true, it darts around but is the childs dream, pounds in the wind and is un predictable
when i did it the kite went high and far, when you did the kite went higher and farther, when we worked together it went the highest and the furthest
its amazing what you can achieve by just holding a kite string, the child thinks, as the obstacles transform to nothing, but why do people give up
C- wish & dream = childhood, aspirations
blue & green = nice day, beautiful, fresh
dart & swoop = fun, carelessness, playing
A-joy, freedom, confusion
S- (22-23) from achievement to questioning
T- accomplishment, pride, success
D- onomatopeia: swoop, dart, singing
conotation: carefree, fun, happy
personification: "climbed like a dream" (10). "singing like a flame" (12).
similie: "dived like a fish" (9). "climbed like a dream" (10). throbbing like a heart" (11). "singing like a flame" (12).
metaphor: "and threw his wish at blue" his wish is the kite (5-6).
In the poem o by the by, e.e.cummings uses a tone of achievement and many similies to express how one should press on when faced with challanges. The goals and standards one sets for themselves can shape th lives of an individual. To encounter challanges in inevitable and the way one deals with these problems can truely tell alot about them as a person. From doing well on an assignment to conjuring up the courage to ride a roller coaster, overcoming the obstacles in ones way is the only way to achieve these goals. In this poem, the narrator describes a bit child who wants to fly a kite, and when his goal is finally reached he says:
(it dived like a fish
but it climbed like a dream)
throbbing like a heart
singing like a flame (9-12).
By using these similies to describe this amazing event e.e.cummings has created a picturing in our head of the child and the kite on this lovely summers day. These lines indepthly express the feelings of the childs achievment and creates a tone of joy and freedom. By trying his best the kid is not only feeling success from doing so but he has also reached his gaol and is happy about that. The tone created from not only these lines but also the other lines throughout the peom are of achievment. After reading the entire poem one feels as if they can do like the boy reach their full potential but this only possible if they overcome the obsticles in the way and try their best. Giving up is the last thing one should do if they want to feel successful and e.e.cummings describes this in the last line by questioning "and will someone tell me why people let go" (23-24). By asking this rhetorical question the poet makes the reader think of all the good reasons to endure hardships and to keep on trying in life. Through using a tone of achievment and similies to describe acomplishment, e.e.cummings show how one should overcome obstacles to achieve their goals and in doing so you will gain a feeling of success atleast for trying your hardest.
o by the by by e.e.cummings
o by the by
has anybody seen
little you-I
who stood on a green
hill and threw
his wish at blue
with a swoop and a dart
out flew his wish
(it dived like a fish
but it climbed like a dream)
throbbing like a heart
singing like a flame
blue took it my
far beyond far
and high beyond high
bluer took it your
but bluest took it our
away beyond where
what a wonderful thing
is the end of a string
(murmurs little you-I
as the hill becomes nil)
and will somebody tell
me why people let go
T-also first line of poem, significant??
P- as life goes by, has anyone seen a small kid, stand on a hill & through a kite into the sky
as it flies the kid wish comes true, it darts around but is the childs dream, pounds in the wind and is un predictable
when i did it the kite went high and far, when you did the kite went higher and farther, when we worked together it went the highest and the furthest
its amazing what you can achieve by just holding a kite string, the child thinks, as the obstacles transform to nothing, but why do people give up
C- wish & dream = childhood, aspirations
blue & green = nice day, beautiful, fresh
dart & swoop = fun, carelessness, playing
A-joy, freedom, confusion
S- (22-23) from achievement to questioning
T- accomplishment, pride, success
D- onomatopeia: swoop, dart, singing
conotation: carefree, fun, happy
personification: "climbed like a dream" (10). "singing like a flame" (12).
similie: "dived like a fish" (9). "climbed like a dream" (10). throbbing like a heart" (11). "singing like a flame" (12).
metaphor: "and threw his wish at blue" his wish is the kite (5-6).
In the poem o by the by, e.e.cummings uses a tone of achievement and many similies to express how one should press on when faced with challanges. The goals and standards one sets for themselves can shape th lives of an individual. To encounter challanges in inevitable and the way one deals with these problems can truely tell alot about them as a person. From doing well on an assignment to conjuring up the courage to ride a roller coaster, overcoming the obstacles in ones way is the only way to achieve these goals. In this poem, the narrator describes a bit child who wants to fly a kite, and when his goal is finally reached he says:
(it dived like a fish
but it climbed like a dream)
throbbing like a heart
singing like a flame (9-12).
By using these similies to describe this amazing event e.e.cummings has created a picturing in our head of the child and the kite on this lovely summers day. These lines indepthly express the feelings of the childs achievment and creates a tone of joy and freedom. By trying his best the kid is not only feeling success from doing so but he has also reached his gaol and is happy about that. The tone created from not only these lines but also the other lines throughout the peom are of achievment. After reading the entire poem one feels as if they can do like the boy reach their full potential but this only possible if they overcome the obsticles in the way and try their best. Giving up is the last thing one should do if they want to feel successful and e.e.cummings describes this in the last line by questioning "and will someone tell me why people let go" (23-24). By asking this rhetorical question the poet makes the reader think of all the good reasons to endure hardships and to keep on trying in life. Through using a tone of achievment and similies to describe acomplishment, e.e.cummings show how one should overcome obstacles to achieve their goals and in doing so you will gain a feeling of success atleast for trying your hardest.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Quarter One: Debrief
Meditate on the events of quarter one. How did you do in this class? What did you learn? Which of your academic skills improved? Where are you still struggling? How is the class environment? What can you do to further strengthen the learning community in our classroom? What are your goals for Q2? Basically, how did things go for you and what can you do to improve or to make things more successful for yourself and others?
When I arived in class on the first day of school I must admit that I was a bit intimidated because of the chanllenges I knew I would soon face achedemically and because I knew less than half the students in the class. However, as first quarter has gone by, I have gotten to know my piers and I feel comfortable in the class room. Achedemically I know recognize what is expected of me and I am motivated to achieve what i needed and to learn what you hve to teach me. I have learned quite a bit about thesis statements in specific and about the overall structure of essays, specifically five pararaph essays. I feel I could speek up more in class and ask questions to furthur my learning and I think this will become more and more natural as I become more comfortable in the class. I feel that I have been I god listener and this has helped me learn so far and it should continue to help.
Over all fist quarter was fairly sucessful for me and I look forward to seeing what second quarter has in store. i am prepaired to give this class my all and I hope my grade will reflect that. My goals are to get at least an A- this quarter, to learn even more about cappers and attention getters because I have had some troubles with them, and to have some fun while getting socially and achedemically comfortable in class. I think getting things in on time should be easier for me now that im less busy and I will work had to make all dead lines. I hope quarter 2 is equally if not more sucessful than quarter 1.
When I arived in class on the first day of school I must admit that I was a bit intimidated because of the chanllenges I knew I would soon face achedemically and because I knew less than half the students in the class. However, as first quarter has gone by, I have gotten to know my piers and I feel comfortable in the class room. Achedemically I know recognize what is expected of me and I am motivated to achieve what i needed and to learn what you hve to teach me. I have learned quite a bit about thesis statements in specific and about the overall structure of essays, specifically five pararaph essays. I feel I could speek up more in class and ask questions to furthur my learning and I think this will become more and more natural as I become more comfortable in the class. I feel that I have been I god listener and this has helped me learn so far and it should continue to help.
Over all fist quarter was fairly sucessful for me and I look forward to seeing what second quarter has in store. i am prepaired to give this class my all and I hope my grade will reflect that. My goals are to get at least an A- this quarter, to learn even more about cappers and attention getters because I have had some troubles with them, and to have some fun while getting socially and achedemically comfortable in class. I think getting things in on time should be easier for me now that im less busy and I will work had to make all dead lines. I hope quarter 2 is equally if not more sucessful than quarter 1.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Thursday, November 1, 2007
There Are No Children Here
How is this novel similar to other pieces of literature (poems, novels, films) that we have studied in class?
While reading this novel I hadn't really thought of it connection to Lord of the Flies, but now that I'm done the connection is obviously evident. In Lord of the Flies the boys on the island are originally naive and self centered, and still boys at heart. However they are forced to take control and fend for themselves when they see there are no adults to help them and they themselves have to become the adults. This is similar to the way the children in There Are No Children Here grow up in their adolescence. Due to their negative and harsh surroundings the kids must stand up and find out who they are for themselves. Despite the yearning to help from their parents there isn't anything more they can do to prevent their children from growing up to fast and becoming the adults they will be for the rest of their lives, only in there teenage years. Kotlowitz said it him self, "despite all they have seen and done, they are-and we must constantly remind ourselves of this- still children" (Kotlowitz xi). They fact that they have experience much more than many who are older than them gives them a sense of maturity and it can be deceiving to those who interact with them.
Another book that I thought of while readin was Tuesday's with Morrie, even though these books have nothin in common plot wise I noticed thjat they both had many flash backs throughout the novels. In the novel Tuesdays with Morrie Mitch is a college student who admires Morrie and takes all of his avaliable lectures and classes. When he graduates he promises to keeping contact but it fails. His life proceedes and eventually his job fails and he is left uninspired in life. One day he sees Morrie on a tv interview and flies to Duluth to be reunited with his old teacher. We discover that Morrie has ASL, a disease that eats away atyour soul and slowly shuts down your body fnctions, never the less Mitch returns ever week to sit and talk with the proffessor and they re member back to the times when Morrie taught Mitch as a student. These numerous flashback is what is similar between this novel and There Are No Children Here. In Kotlowitz's novel LaJoe, the mother of the children, remebers alot about the 'projects', before they were ruined. She herself grew up as a child in the 'projects' and when she grew up se decide to stay there, despite the reckage it had become. In one section she says how when she was a girlscout she used to have her meetings in the basement of the complex, but as time went on it became a pit, groungy, ill infested, condemabhle, and compliled with loads of trash (Kotlowitz 121). LaJoe made many other references to her childhood but that one stuck out the most to me. The fact that a little girls oasis in a harsh life is now a garbage dump, so to speak, is a odd visualization. Over all these two novels are majorly relate due to their excessive flash back by the eldest and most noledgeable characters in the novels.
While reading this novel I hadn't really thought of it connection to Lord of the Flies, but now that I'm done the connection is obviously evident. In Lord of the Flies the boys on the island are originally naive and self centered, and still boys at heart. However they are forced to take control and fend for themselves when they see there are no adults to help them and they themselves have to become the adults. This is similar to the way the children in There Are No Children Here grow up in their adolescence. Due to their negative and harsh surroundings the kids must stand up and find out who they are for themselves. Despite the yearning to help from their parents there isn't anything more they can do to prevent their children from growing up to fast and becoming the adults they will be for the rest of their lives, only in there teenage years. Kotlowitz said it him self, "despite all they have seen and done, they are-and we must constantly remind ourselves of this- still children" (Kotlowitz xi). They fact that they have experience much more than many who are older than them gives them a sense of maturity and it can be deceiving to those who interact with them.
Another book that I thought of while readin was Tuesday's with Morrie, even though these books have nothin in common plot wise I noticed thjat they both had many flash backs throughout the novels. In the novel Tuesdays with Morrie Mitch is a college student who admires Morrie and takes all of his avaliable lectures and classes. When he graduates he promises to keeping contact but it fails. His life proceedes and eventually his job fails and he is left uninspired in life. One day he sees Morrie on a tv interview and flies to Duluth to be reunited with his old teacher. We discover that Morrie has ASL, a disease that eats away atyour soul and slowly shuts down your body fnctions, never the less Mitch returns ever week to sit and talk with the proffessor and they re member back to the times when Morrie taught Mitch as a student. These numerous flashback is what is similar between this novel and There Are No Children Here. In Kotlowitz's novel LaJoe, the mother of the children, remebers alot about the 'projects', before they were ruined. She herself grew up as a child in the 'projects' and when she grew up se decide to stay there, despite the reckage it had become. In one section she says how when she was a girlscout she used to have her meetings in the basement of the complex, but as time went on it became a pit, groungy, ill infested, condemabhle, and compliled with loads of trash (Kotlowitz 121). LaJoe made many other references to her childhood but that one stuck out the most to me. The fact that a little girls oasis in a harsh life is now a garbage dump, so to speak, is a odd visualization. Over all these two novels are majorly relate due to their excessive flash back by the eldest and most noledgeable characters in the novels.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
There Are No Children Here
Who are the main characters of your book? Describe their personality and what seems to motivate them.
Some other flat characters mentioned in the book so far are:
Leonardo Anderson: Other wise know as Porkchop, he is a shy quiet boy, just a few years younger than Pharoah. He is another cousin of the boys and he and Pharoah have grown to become inseparable.
James Howard: A close friend and neighbor to Lafeyette, the two boys have grown up together in 'the projects'. He is an athletic, easygoing, energetic 12 year old boy who mischievous attitude is shown through his grin.
Dede: The boys' 9 year old cousin who likes to let loose and dance to L L Cool J rap
LaJoe: Layfeyette and Pharoah's mother, she is also 6 other children. She has to work had to support the family, considering her husband only lived at home from time to time.
Paul (sr.): The father af all 8 children and the husband of LaJoe. He isn't much of a romantic and he rarely sees any of his children.
LaShawn: The oldest child of LaJoe at the age of 20, she spent some time in the big house. She also dropped out of school to become a prostitute to pay for her excessive use of drugs.
Paul (jr.): Named after his father, he is LaJoe's second oldest kid, now the age of 19. He also dropped out of school and did time for a robbery in an Indian prison.
Terence: 17 years of age, he dropped out of school, did time in jail, and was LaJoe's biggest disappointment due to his selling and experimenting with drugs.
Timothy: First of the 4 year old triplets.
Tiffany: Another triplet, who resembles Tammie a lot.
Tammie: Another triplet, who resembles Tiffany a lot.
Some other flat characters mentioned in the book so far are:
Leonardo Anderson: Other wise know as Porkchop, he is a shy quiet boy, just a few years younger than Pharoah. He is another cousin of the boys and he and Pharoah have grown to become inseparable.
James Howard: A close friend and neighbor to Lafeyette, the two boys have grown up together in 'the projects'. He is an athletic, easygoing, energetic 12 year old boy who mischievous attitude is shown through his grin.
Dede: The boys' 9 year old cousin who likes to let loose and dance to L L Cool J rap
LaJoe: Layfeyette and Pharoah's mother, she is also 6 other children. She has to work had to support the family, considering her husband only lived at home from time to time.
Paul (sr.): The father af all 8 children and the husband of LaJoe. He isn't much of a romantic and he rarely sees any of his children.
LaShawn: The oldest child of LaJoe at the age of 20, she spent some time in the big house. She also dropped out of school to become a prostitute to pay for her excessive use of drugs.
Paul (jr.): Named after his father, he is LaJoe's second oldest kid, now the age of 19. He also dropped out of school and did time for a robbery in an Indian prison.
Terence: 17 years of age, he dropped out of school, did time in jail, and was LaJoe's biggest disappointment due to his selling and experimenting with drugs.
Timothy: First of the 4 year old triplets.
Tiffany: Another triplet, who resembles Tammie a lot.
Tammie: Another triplet, who resembles Tiffany a lot.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
There Are No Children Here
What are the major struggles and conflicts that your characters encounter? How do the characters face the conflicts and how does going through these conflicts help the characters to learn more about themselves?
The most vivid struggles Pharoah and Lafeyette had to over come in the novel There Are No children Here was the potentially deadly dangers of their poverty stricken neighborhood. In these ghettos numerous gangs were threts to the citizens of this poor area of Chicago, including the children. One day when Lafeyette and his 9 year old cousin Dede are outside a sudden fight between two gangs erupts, "Suddenly, gunfire erupted. The frightened children fell to the ground. 'Hold your head down!'" (Kotlowitz 9). The fact that these children cannot help but witness the brutal actions of the gangs is heart breaking, its not their falt that they were born into such harsh and brutal situations. However, through out the novel you see the children tempted by curupt actions, yet held back by their own self consience and by the guidence of thier mother, LaJoe, who had 'failed' some of her previous children and neglected when they got into drugs, and other illegal actions. "In the late 1960s the nation's black ghettoes were filled with rage and fury, a stark contrast to the resigationand personal excesses of the late 1980s" (Kotlowitz 162). This quote just shows to what extent the 'projects' where a bad place for children to grow up. Its very hard for me to imagine the struggle LaJoe and her family percervired through inorder to survive and be contenders in the economy. I personally think their environment was hardest conflict to over come and it built their up character but allowing them to expoerience things many adults have not.
Another major conflict for Pharoah and Lafeyette through out the novel is their recognition of the racial descrimination they will have to over come not only in the present but in the future as well. The whites in America were keepiong things very segregated at the time of this novel, and it was extreamly hard for blacks to overcome these barriers, regardless of their monetary status. Major role models for blacks, such as Malcom X, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King Jr. were being shut down and the government wasnt being fare at all. "White America seems intent on ignoring pleas for equality in the schools, in housing, and in health care. ...'Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white-separate but unequal'" (Kotlowitz 162 & 163). The agnoledgement of the terible descrimination against blacks was neglected continuously, and for Pharoah and Lafeyette, it was very difficult for them to rise above it. They got in a few arguments with cops as they grew up, mainly because they were blacks, but we see the boys slowly but surely noticing the diffenet roles of blacks and whites in their point and time.
The most vivid struggles Pharoah and Lafeyette had to over come in the novel There Are No children Here was the potentially deadly dangers of their poverty stricken neighborhood. In these ghettos numerous gangs were threts to the citizens of this poor area of Chicago, including the children. One day when Lafeyette and his 9 year old cousin Dede are outside a sudden fight between two gangs erupts, "Suddenly, gunfire erupted. The frightened children fell to the ground. 'Hold your head down!'" (Kotlowitz 9). The fact that these children cannot help but witness the brutal actions of the gangs is heart breaking, its not their falt that they were born into such harsh and brutal situations. However, through out the novel you see the children tempted by curupt actions, yet held back by their own self consience and by the guidence of thier mother, LaJoe, who had 'failed' some of her previous children and neglected when they got into drugs, and other illegal actions. "In the late 1960s the nation's black ghettoes were filled with rage and fury, a stark contrast to the resigationand personal excesses of the late 1980s" (Kotlowitz 162). This quote just shows to what extent the 'projects' where a bad place for children to grow up. Its very hard for me to imagine the struggle LaJoe and her family percervired through inorder to survive and be contenders in the economy. I personally think their environment was hardest conflict to over come and it built their up character but allowing them to expoerience things many adults have not.
Another major conflict for Pharoah and Lafeyette through out the novel is their recognition of the racial descrimination they will have to over come not only in the present but in the future as well. The whites in America were keepiong things very segregated at the time of this novel, and it was extreamly hard for blacks to overcome these barriers, regardless of their monetary status. Major role models for blacks, such as Malcom X, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King Jr. were being shut down and the government wasnt being fare at all. "White America seems intent on ignoring pleas for equality in the schools, in housing, and in health care. ...'Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white-separate but unequal'" (Kotlowitz 162 & 163). The agnoledgement of the terible descrimination against blacks was neglected continuously, and for Pharoah and Lafeyette, it was very difficult for them to rise above it. They got in a few arguments with cops as they grew up, mainly because they were blacks, but we see the boys slowly but surely noticing the diffenet roles of blacks and whites in their point and time.
There Are No Children Here
How is this novel similar to other pieces of literature (poems, novels, films) that we have studied in class?
While reading There Are No Children Here, it reminded me of reading The Pearl my John Stienbeck in 8th grade. The Pearl is a short novel about a poor mexican family living in poverty in a bad neighborhood. They then find a large pearl in the ocean and ironically it brings them bad luck and terrible misfortune. The second part of the story isn't anything like There are no Children Here, but the setting is very similar. In the book I'm reading, the family is living in the the 'projects' of Chicago. This area used to be very nice and relativly wealthy, but then the middle-class blacks and whites moved away, leaving the area an undesireable living situation in poverty. Crime is a major problem for the family in TANCH, especially when it comes to their mailboxes on the first floor (Kotlowitz 9). Robery is also a threat for the family in TP, after discovering the large pearl, the community becomes jelous and some even try to steal the precious jewel. Overall these two stories are similar in that they are set in a poor neighborhood where he characters are just trying to get by.
Another novel that we had read and analized through out school it Warriors Don't Cry. In this novel the main characters are black highschool students who are trying to attent a white highschool in Little Rock, AR, and it is set back in a time when racial segregation in entirly different schools was compleatly normal and somewhat acceptable, by white that is. Through out the entire novel the other white students abuse the black students in horible ways such as steping on their heals til they bleed or splashing acid in their eyes. They continuously try to get the blacks to leave their white school, simply because of racial discrimination. This is similar to how Pharoah and Lafeyette feel at times, but less extreame. Life is hard for blacks in this time, but even harder for blacks in the lower class. It eventually becomes brutally evident that they are not being treated the same as whites and Pharoah thinks to himself, "the police probably don't like black children or something. The white polices don't like the black children. That's what I believe" (Kotlowitz 161). Incidence between the cops and Lafeyette arise throughout the book and increase of understanding of the extent of discrimination they are living in. These two novels are alike in their description of racial descrimination against blacks.
While reading There Are No Children Here, it reminded me of reading The Pearl my John Stienbeck in 8th grade. The Pearl is a short novel about a poor mexican family living in poverty in a bad neighborhood. They then find a large pearl in the ocean and ironically it brings them bad luck and terrible misfortune. The second part of the story isn't anything like There are no Children Here, but the setting is very similar. In the book I'm reading, the family is living in the the 'projects' of Chicago. This area used to be very nice and relativly wealthy, but then the middle-class blacks and whites moved away, leaving the area an undesireable living situation in poverty. Crime is a major problem for the family in TANCH, especially when it comes to their mailboxes on the first floor (Kotlowitz 9). Robery is also a threat for the family in TP, after discovering the large pearl, the community becomes jelous and some even try to steal the precious jewel. Overall these two stories are similar in that they are set in a poor neighborhood where he characters are just trying to get by.
Another novel that we had read and analized through out school it Warriors Don't Cry. In this novel the main characters are black highschool students who are trying to attent a white highschool in Little Rock, AR, and it is set back in a time when racial segregation in entirly different schools was compleatly normal and somewhat acceptable, by white that is. Through out the entire novel the other white students abuse the black students in horible ways such as steping on their heals til they bleed or splashing acid in their eyes. They continuously try to get the blacks to leave their white school, simply because of racial discrimination. This is similar to how Pharoah and Lafeyette feel at times, but less extreame. Life is hard for blacks in this time, but even harder for blacks in the lower class. It eventually becomes brutally evident that they are not being treated the same as whites and Pharoah thinks to himself, "the police probably don't like black children or something. The white polices don't like the black children. That's what I believe" (Kotlowitz 161). Incidence between the cops and Lafeyette arise throughout the book and increase of understanding of the extent of discrimination they are living in. These two novels are alike in their description of racial descrimination against blacks.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
There Are No Children Here
Who are the main characters of your book? Describe their personalities and what seems to motivate them.
First and foremost you need to know about my book before you know anything about the characters within it. I'm reading There are no Children Here by Alex Kotlowitz, a freelance journalist for The Wall Street Journal. Its a non-fiction book that was first inspired when Kotlowitz was doing an article on a family in poverty, living in 'the projects' of Chicago. One thing led to another and soon Kotlowitz grew close to the family and decided to write an entire novel about their lives and all the conflict and struggle they had prevailed through thus far.
The two main characters in this novel are 9 year old Pharoah Rivers and 11 year old Lafeyette Rivers. Pharoah is a typical little brother, rambunctious, naive, and alway looking up to Lafeyette as a role model. However, Pharoah has seen and experienced a lot of things the average 9 year old hasn't. Living in poverty, his life is full of dangerous events that could potentially turn deadly due to gangs and other such elements. One time Pharoh, Lafeyette, and some other boys were playing by the rail road track, trying to find a gardener snake, when a train full of white, middle class people rolled by. In fear for their lives the boys hide amongst the weed because they have heard that if they are caught trespassing they will be shot (Kotlowitz 7). Living in such harsh conditions has caused Pharoah to grow up and also lower his general expectations. When he and the boys are playing around the tracks, Pharoah described how he found this place to be relaxing and quite enjoyable. The fact that such a disheveled place is a nirvana to him show that his average way of live lacks in luxuries.
Lafeyette is the other main character, at the age of 11 he has to rise above the poverty that surrounds him and be there to guide his younger brother and to help his mother. He once said to Kotlowitz, "If i grow up, I'd like to be a bus driver," (Kotlowitz x) not only does this express his low expectations for himself, but it shows that this unstable lifestyle has led Lafeyette to even doubt his future, by use the word 'if'. The fact the his survival is up in the air is a terrifying concept for me. I have planned my life off the idea that I will live well into my adulthood and probably become a senior citizen. To be unsure that you will endure life and what it has in store to the point that you don't even plan the up coming years of your life is unthinkable to me and the majority of people I know. Finally, we have to remember that these kid are in fact kids. They have gained integrity, knowledge, and character from their harsh conditions but they are only 9 and 11.
First and foremost you need to know about my book before you know anything about the characters within it. I'm reading There are no Children Here by Alex Kotlowitz, a freelance journalist for The Wall Street Journal. Its a non-fiction book that was first inspired when Kotlowitz was doing an article on a family in poverty, living in 'the projects' of Chicago. One thing led to another and soon Kotlowitz grew close to the family and decided to write an entire novel about their lives and all the conflict and struggle they had prevailed through thus far.
The two main characters in this novel are 9 year old Pharoah Rivers and 11 year old Lafeyette Rivers. Pharoah is a typical little brother, rambunctious, naive, and alway looking up to Lafeyette as a role model. However, Pharoah has seen and experienced a lot of things the average 9 year old hasn't. Living in poverty, his life is full of dangerous events that could potentially turn deadly due to gangs and other such elements. One time Pharoh, Lafeyette, and some other boys were playing by the rail road track, trying to find a gardener snake, when a train full of white, middle class people rolled by. In fear for their lives the boys hide amongst the weed because they have heard that if they are caught trespassing they will be shot (Kotlowitz 7). Living in such harsh conditions has caused Pharoah to grow up and also lower his general expectations. When he and the boys are playing around the tracks, Pharoah described how he found this place to be relaxing and quite enjoyable. The fact that such a disheveled place is a nirvana to him show that his average way of live lacks in luxuries.
Lafeyette is the other main character, at the age of 11 he has to rise above the poverty that surrounds him and be there to guide his younger brother and to help his mother. He once said to Kotlowitz, "If i grow up, I'd like to be a bus driver," (Kotlowitz x) not only does this express his low expectations for himself, but it shows that this unstable lifestyle has led Lafeyette to even doubt his future, by use the word 'if'. The fact the his survival is up in the air is a terrifying concept for me. I have planned my life off the idea that I will live well into my adulthood and probably become a senior citizen. To be unsure that you will endure life and what it has in store to the point that you don't even plan the up coming years of your life is unthinkable to me and the majority of people I know. Finally, we have to remember that these kid are in fact kids. They have gained integrity, knowledge, and character from their harsh conditions but they are only 9 and 11.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Why do people write memoirs? What power is there in telling our own stories?
Whether it's for expression, acknowledgment, understanding, and just for sharing, I think there are many reasons for people to write memoirs. Expressing your feelings can be a very relieving thing, and one way of doing this is through memoirs. When writing a memoir, especially the first draft, one tends to write EVERYTHING they remember feeling, seeing, smelling, hearing, and even tasting. By expressing these senses and your feelings toward them you can let go of bad events, relish is the good ones, and accept everything in between. Another reason many people write memoirs is to gain acknowledgement from others. If someone has experienced or witnessed an important or even devastation event, by writing a memoir others may realize a problem or achievement and even help out with it. Understanding is yet another reason to write memoirs. If someone has just experienced something life changing, by writing and reflecting back on it you can gain a lot of closure and comprehension of that event and its effects. Finally, a lot of people just write memoirs to share their life’s story with others. By sharing and communication we can find many similarities between our lives and the lives of others, and that is a really neat thing to achieve, just by writing a story.
The power of each and everyone’s story is quite great. When written well, a memoir can change someone’s opinion, stir up feeling, and even bring some one to tears. Sometime even more important than the story itself is the descriptions and word choice we can inject into our writing. These words can help the read truly visualize the setting of the story and then they can understand the writer’s point of view and what they are feeling. Memoirs can be harshly realistic, but that’s what really makes them a powerful way of writing. They are real stories from real people, and when read similarities and connections to the story and its characters are inevitable.
The power of each and everyone’s story is quite great. When written well, a memoir can change someone’s opinion, stir up feeling, and even bring some one to tears. Sometime even more important than the story itself is the descriptions and word choice we can inject into our writing. These words can help the read truly visualize the setting of the story and then they can understand the writer’s point of view and what they are feeling. Memoirs can be harshly realistic, but that’s what really makes them a powerful way of writing. They are real stories from real people, and when read similarities and connections to the story and its characters are inevitable.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
What types of things does Richard "hunger" for and what are the effects (pos. & neg.) of hunger?
Richard hungers many things through out the novel Black Boy, including a decent education, and the things that follow. For the most part, Richard has participated and achieved in his school, he was even named valedictorian of his class. However, he not only craved knowledge from school, he was also intrigued by writing. When his mother read him Bluebeard he was so over come by the story that all he wanted was to read and to become a writer from then on.
But knowledge wasn’t all Richard hungered; he also wanted to gain acceptance and inclusion from his family and his piers. One day Richard thinks about his life and broods over his seclusion, he says, " Passing relatives in the hallways of the crowded home and not speaking. Eating in silence at a table where prayers are said" (Wright 161) The fact that Richard is actually agnologing and describing his loneliness tell the reader that he has perhaps come to terms with it, but that also makes me think he wants acceptance more than ever.
One final thing Richard hungers in the literal answer, food. Richard father was the primary provider for Richard and the rest of his family and since his father has left the whole family has grown into a repetitive state of physical hunger. It isn’t long before Richard connects this hunger with his father's absence, he thinks to himself, "... it had never occurred to me that his absence would mean that there would be no food" (Wright 15). After a while Richard and his family break apart because they don’t have enough money to support them all and Richard has to get jobs to pay for his own food.
But knowledge wasn’t all Richard hungered; he also wanted to gain acceptance and inclusion from his family and his piers. One day Richard thinks about his life and broods over his seclusion, he says, " Passing relatives in the hallways of the crowded home and not speaking. Eating in silence at a table where prayers are said" (Wright 161) The fact that Richard is actually agnologing and describing his loneliness tell the reader that he has perhaps come to terms with it, but that also makes me think he wants acceptance more than ever.
One final thing Richard hungers in the literal answer, food. Richard father was the primary provider for Richard and the rest of his family and since his father has left the whole family has grown into a repetitive state of physical hunger. It isn’t long before Richard connects this hunger with his father's absence, he thinks to himself, "... it had never occurred to me that his absence would mean that there would be no food" (Wright 15). After a while Richard and his family break apart because they don’t have enough money to support them all and Richard has to get jobs to pay for his own food.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Is Richard a "bad" boy?
When should behavior be blamed on the person and when should it be blamed on the environment?
Nature vs. nurture; do people possess certain traits because they were born with them, or have their experiences shaped who they are as an individual? This is an everlasting debate that has no right or wrong answer. However, in Richard's case, I argue that he is not a bad person, but his unhealthy surroundings and some people in his life have taken advantage of his naive ways and caused him to do corrupt things.
The abusive life style Richard's parents have provided him with is, without a doubt, affecting his actions. Richard leads a harsh life filled with constant beatings for bad behavior, which cause him to do more negative things. The stubbornness and brutality Richard now possesses is caused from his parents' cruelty and neglect. Richard obviously feels lonely and unloved and this solitude is only causing more misbehavior. However, his parents aren't the only people negatively affecting Richard. For example, the older men in the saloon would give him beers and he would get drunk multiple nights in a row, even though he is just a child. Having bad role models inevitably cause Richard to act the same and when things are just shades gray it is hard to distinguish right from wrong. Another important thing to take into account is that Richard usually doesn't mean to do anything bad, but he constantly does. For example: in the very beginning of the book Richard is bored so he starts to light some straw on fire. One thing leads to another and before you know it the whole house is on fire. Richard obviously didn't mean to burn his home to the ground, but accidents happen, and frequently for Richard. I hope he grows up soon, and learns a little responsibility because if he doesn't he could potentially get into more trouble than before.
Nature vs. nurture; do people possess certain traits because they were born with them, or have their experiences shaped who they are as an individual? This is an everlasting debate that has no right or wrong answer. However, in Richard's case, I argue that he is not a bad person, but his unhealthy surroundings and some people in his life have taken advantage of his naive ways and caused him to do corrupt things.
The abusive life style Richard's parents have provided him with is, without a doubt, affecting his actions. Richard leads a harsh life filled with constant beatings for bad behavior, which cause him to do more negative things. The stubbornness and brutality Richard now possesses is caused from his parents' cruelty and neglect. Richard obviously feels lonely and unloved and this solitude is only causing more misbehavior. However, his parents aren't the only people negatively affecting Richard. For example, the older men in the saloon would give him beers and he would get drunk multiple nights in a row, even though he is just a child. Having bad role models inevitably cause Richard to act the same and when things are just shades gray it is hard to distinguish right from wrong. Another important thing to take into account is that Richard usually doesn't mean to do anything bad, but he constantly does. For example: in the very beginning of the book Richard is bored so he starts to light some straw on fire. One thing leads to another and before you know it the whole house is on fire. Richard obviously didn't mean to burn his home to the ground, but accidents happen, and frequently for Richard. I hope he grows up soon, and learns a little responsibility because if he doesn't he could potentially get into more trouble than before.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
opener
Hey, my blog works:)
Welcome to it, its for english class assignments.
I hope you like the dotted background, it's pretty nice, eh??
I don't quite understand the picture thing, but i might add one later.
Well that about sums it up.
I will be bloging again in about a week to do the first assignment.
Welcome to it, its for english class assignments.
I hope you like the dotted background, it's pretty nice, eh??
I don't quite understand the picture thing, but i might add one later.
Well that about sums it up.
I will be bloging again in about a week to do the first assignment.
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