Thursday, October 30, 2008

Kate Chopin Comparison

Often times, writers tie aspects of their lives into their works. Examples range from where they were born to the number of children they have. Any monumental instance in an author’s life could affect what the author decides to include in the piece of literature. Kate Chopin, a nineteenth century author, included many facets of her life in “The Story of an Hour”.
“Her father was killed two months later when a train on which he was riding crossed a bridge that collapsed” (Wyatt). Chopin’s character Mr. Mallard was said to have died in a train accident, leaving his wife a widow. Both instances include a train causing death to a beloved family member. In the story, Mrs. Mallard’s husband is brought back to her and his alleged death is passed off as a misunderstanding. Although Mrs. Mallard is displeased that her husband is brought back to her, Kate Chopin probably included him coming back to her for a reason. Deep down, she probably wishes her father would have nonchalantly strolled through her door after being accused of being dead; she just wanted her father back.
“By all accounts he loved his wife, admired her independence, and intelligence, and “allowed” her unheard of freedom” (Wyatt). This description of Oscar Chopin’s love for his wife goes hand in hand with the love that Mr. Mallard was said to have for Mrs. Mallard. No matter how much love is present, Chopin and Mrs. Mallard were literally owned by their husbands. Not to say that this means that their husbands loved them any less, but neither woman had a real voice in any decisions that were to be made.
“Her sisters died in infancy and her brothers in their early twenties”, “her father was killed”, “Kate’s grandmother died”, and “Oscar died” (Wyatt). Kate Chopin had been faced with death ever since she was born. This ties into her story because there is a “death” which takes place, that of Mr. Mallard. With her having to deal with so many deaths, it is safe to assume that she wanted at least some, if not all, of the people who were gone to come back. Again, Chopin ties her hidden desires into her work. When she made Mr. Mallard come back from the dead, she wished she could switch places with all who knew him.
Chopin, like many other artists, included instances from her actual life in one of her works. By doing this, she lets the reader get a more personal look at her life.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Disturbia Character

Ashley, the new next-door neighbor of Kale, was a sweet and fun loving girl. Some of the things she did made her an unauthentic character. For starters, she was well aware that Kale was spying on her, but she doesn’t do anything about it. This is unrealistic, because in real life a person would have feared for their safety if someone was secretly watching them. They would not necessarily do something about it, but they would most likely not carry on their activity as if nothing was happening. It was also unrealistic when she went to Kale’s house and rang his doorbell, asking to come inside. First of all, she knew that he had some problems with the law. Secondly, she was aware that he was spying on her with binoculars, and that could easily mean that someone was psycho. All in all, from what was seen so far, Ashley did not play a very believable role.

Go Watch My "Audio Clip"!!!

WARNING: It is an absolute NECESSITY to follow the link posted on my profile. It is located directly underneath my astrological sign; you can't miss it. Failure to comply with this resquest may result in a dull life...disobey with caution. No, but seriously, everyone please just take a few minutes and go look at it (you, too, Ms. Brown). You should skip the first 2 min. and 20 seconds.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Sojourner Truth Ain't I a Woman Comparison

The 50 Essays book drastically changed Sojourner Truth's Ain't I a Woman speech. In the original text, Truth spoke strongly and shamelessly about what she felt was quite an issue. Although she was noticeably uneducated, it didn't take away from the fact that it was an extraordinarily powerful speech. It in fact strengthened her speech and gave it validity. Sojourner Truth was an African-American woman who didn’t get the privileges she felt that she deserved. The audience of the original text could discover much about her simply by listening to or reading the speech. The changes that the 50 Essays book made changed a lot about the speech. It took away from the strength and validity, because she was speaking from the heart and the only way she knew how. The audience of the edited speech must listen (or read) intently to even discern her ethnicity, where in the original text it was obvious. The book almost seems ashamed of her heritage in that they did not want to include her original speech.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Frederick Douglass Response

Kymber Rias
10-23-08
AP English III
Period 11

Frederick Douglass was a slave born in Maryland in 1818. He later went on to New York and became a leader in the abolitionist movement. He learned to read and write on his own for the most part. Being a slave, he was not allowed to read or write for fear that this would give slaves the knowledge that would make them more apt to get up and revolt. Despite his obstacles, Frederick Douglass was persistent in his quest to learn to read and write, and eventually he accomplished his goals because of his commitment. “Learning to Read and Write” is taken from Douglass’s autobiography, Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglas. In this essay, Douglass uses many forms of rhetoric in his essay to appeal to the reader.
Douglass uses pathos very often in “Learning to Read and Write”. “I wished I could be as free as they would be when they got to be men” (Douglass, p.102). This quote appeals to the emotion of the reader because Douglass is comparing himself to a white person who doesn’t have the burden of being a slave for all of their life. It points out to the reader that not only did he have to deal with the agonies of his life as a slave, but he had to look at other children frolic around without a care in the world. His life and the life of the free Caucasian children contrast quite greatly. Douglass included this sentence in his essay to let the reader witness this contrast. “In moments of agony, I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity” (Douglass, p. 103). Even though Douglass is being relieved of the difficulty of not being able to read at all, he is faced with another, almost equal difficulty: getting a better look at the mistreatment of him and his people. He admitted that often times he would have rather been another of his fellow slaves, one who could not read. He then would not have such an up-close look at how badly African Americans were treated. The notion of his race being mistreated upsets Douglass, so he sometimes feels that he would rather not know at all. Douglass uses the word “agony” to describe to the reader how horrible his feeling was. This was very painful for him, because he felt as though if he has one thing, he can not have the other. If he has knowledge, he can not have peace of mind about his life, and vice-versa.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass Essay

From the narratives written by Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass, it can be concluded that the two of them had much in common. Both Jacobs and Douglass were slaves at one time who wished and dreamed for a better life. They were not ignorant to the fact that they were mistreated as humans, and it posed a serious issue to both of their lives. Both of their narratives use pathos as a rhetorical device to attempt to get the reader to understand his/her point of view.
“Why does the slave ever love?” (Chapter 7, Jacobs). The first sentence from Harriet Jacobs’ narrative is a rhetorical question that grabs the reader’s attention. Jacobs tries to achieve pathos by making the reader feel sorry for her situation. Love, something that may come quite easily to someone who is free, is not so easy to deal with when you’re a slave. Something that many people take for granted is not promised to this woman, simply because she is a slave. She wants the reader to sympathize with her and consider what she was forced to go through. “The white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege” (Chapter 1, Douglass). Frederick Douglass, too, is attempting to touch the reader’s emotions. A privilege for all whites isn’t a privilege for him, just because he is black. He thinks that this is an injustice and makes it a point to let the reader know his feelings. This is establishing pathos because it makes the reader feel sorry for him because he was mistreated in that particular instance.
Caucasian authors vouched for these African American slave writers. L. Maria Child has an introduction to Harriet Jacobs’ narrative, and Wendell Phillips and William Lloyd Garrison have prefaces in Frederick Douglass’ narrative. This is most likely because they wanted to prove that what the two slave writers were saying was actually correct and that you didn’t have to be African American to have a sense of what’s moral. This establishes the ethos of the text because an outsider’s opinion is coming from well known people, and these people are very strongly supporting the accuracy of the slave writers. The authors’ primary audience, then, is the general public. By having someone from another race vouch for them, they are letting the reader know that not only African Americans believe in what he does, and if someone from the offending race is agreeing, so should everyone else. They are writing to the public so that they will have the knowledge and so that history doesn’t repeat itself.

Poet's Corner

Look over yonder, what do you see?
God's a-going to trouble the water
The Holy Ghost a-coming on me
God's a-going to trouble the water

CHANGES TO

Look that way, and what is visible?
God will put many blessings in the water.
The spirit of the Lord is taking hold of me.
God will put many blessings in the water.

This improvisation changes the effect of the song because this makes it more blunt and not so secretive. Being secretive was the purpose of the negro spirituals, so that the slave masters would not find out about the slaves' plans for escape.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Notes on Romanticism, Realism, Gothic, and Lit's Transition

http://www.answers.com/topic/romanticism
http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/realism.htm
http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/novel.htm

The Gettysburg Address

1) Lincoln should have mentioned some ways of how the people should honor those who fought for everyone's freedom. He did not clearly specify who was fighting who. He did not state where or when these people were fighting. 2) Lincoln states how he believes that being the citizens of the nation, which people fought for, the society should give respect towards the deceased by continuing to fight for colonial freedom as they did. Since Lincoln's main point was to convince his society to continue to fight for freedom for all, this sentence used pathos to grab the audience's hearts and strongly express to them how important it was to not allow the deceased to have died for nothing. This sentence allows Lincoln to try to convince the audience through their emotions. The function that it performs is implementing pathos in his address to the audience. I think it reached the audience's appeal to sorrow for those who died for freedom. My sentence would go like this: Why shall we allow our deceased- those who died for our freedom, justice, and overall equality- to have given up their lives for nothing.3) Both were written to convince the colonials to fight for freedom, from the British government and both described how their ideas were best for the people. The address was created to describe to the colonials how they should continue fighting for their freedom, so those who died did not for nothing. The Declaration of Independence was made to attack the King's quality of ruling and to list all the injustices the king committed. The Declaration of Independence had a harsher tone which was used to attack the king. The address had a more persuasive tone which was used to try to persuade colonials to continue fighting for freedom.4) During my speech class, I heard many persuasive speeches and informational speeches. The address, Declaration of Independence, and other speeches I have heard all use techniques of persuasion and facts to support their beliefs and main ideas.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Here ya go, Kat {Peer Editing}

One warm night in the middle of June 2002, I was sitting outside on the porch in front of my house in Dolton, IL with my mother. It was quite nice outside, many stars visible, although the street lights inhibited the visibility of some of them. It was quite, calm, and peaceful. The neighborhood in which I lived was partially small, therefore everyone knew everyone else. All my neighbors were quite friendly, especially those who lived next door. My neighbors to the right had a dog named Diamond, with whom I remember playing very often. The neighborhood was all one big family in which I felt safe and content.

My mother and I were simply looking up at the stars when she broke the silence with something that broke my heart; we were moving to some place called "South Holland"! My world crumbled at that very moment. I was worried about leaving the world I knew and loved. I was never good at adjusting to changes, and I just knew that this would be a change for the worse. I began to cry and plead with my mother for us to stay where we were. I was happy there and already had all my friends and neighbors, and I absolutely refused to leave them. But it ultimately was not my decision. We had to move because my mother re-married and her husband had 3 other kids; our house would not accommodate them all. I was crushed. We spent some time looking for a house, each of which I told my mother I hated. So she decided to choose one without it fitting my approval.

About a month later, three trucks pulled up into my driveway to take our things to the storage. I had accepted the fact that I was moving by this point, so they had few complaints out of me past that time. We moved in, and honestly I had begun to like the house; I was getting used to it. The rest of the summer passed quickly, but I kept in touch with all my old friends from my old school and neighborhood. In August it was time for school; I was a nervous wreck. The name of the school was McKinley Elementary School. I was afraid to attend because I had no clue how the students would like me. Everyone probably already had their group of friends and didn't have room for a new addition. I feared that I would be lonely, with no one to talk to.

Well I finally got to the school, and it was not at all what I had expected. The teachers and students alike were exceptionally friendly and helpful with getting me acquainted with the school and making me feel welcome. I quickly made many friends and had a great school year. I also made many friends in my neighborhood. The change was for the better.