Vocabulary List #11

Affinity: relationship by marriage

Bilious: of or indicative of a peevish ill nature disposition

Cognate: of the same nature

Corollary: A proposition inferred immediately from a proved proposition with little or no additional proof

Cul-de-sac: a pouch

Derring-do: a daring action

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

Elixir: A substance capable of prolonging life indefinitely

Folderol: a useless accessory

Gamut: an entire range or series

Hoi polloi: the General populace

Ineffable: incapable of being expressed in words

Lucubration: to study by night

Mnemonic: intended to assist memory

Obloquy: abusive language

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

Pundit: a learned man

Risible: provoking laughter

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

Volte-face: a reversal in policy

Sentences coming soon...

Procrastination Problems

Feeling as though your procrastination habits are growing to an extent where you're thinking to yourself, "Man, this is getting ridiculous."? Well, I happen to have that feeling... nearly every day. So, I've decided to use the internet as a way to help get rid of this feeling.

http://depression.about.com/cs/selfhelp/a/procrastination.htm

Oh ho yeah, this really boost my self esteem. Thought I might share the ideas on this site on getting rid of procrastination. :)

Shakespeare Sonnet XII (12)

 
When I do count the clock that tells the time,
And see the brave day sunk in hideous night;
When I behold the violet past prime,
And sable curls, all silvered o'er with white;
When lofty trees I see barren of leaves,
Which erst from heat did canopy the herd,
And summer's green all girded up in sheaves,
Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard,
Then of thy beauty do I question make,
That thou among the wastes of time must go,
Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake
And die as fast as they see others grow;
And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defence
Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.

This is still undecided. This is one I really like though, but if I find one that I like better than this one then I shall post that other one instead. But here is the one that I currently am planning to do. :)

Growing My Plan

Researching those sites was difficult at first... probably because I wasn't exactly sure how to word what I really wanted to look up. So, after a thousand tries of wording what I wanted to search, I found some interesting sites and checked them out. Discarding the bunk, I went with my top five. I'm hoping to collaborate with other groups when diving into Hamlet by using our sources to study with. Commenting posts to our blogs will prove to be a productive way of gathering what we know and how we can channel them into a study session. Thus... this is my plan.

AP Hamlet PLN

http://aplove.blogspot.com/2007/11/ap-lit-hamlet-actscene-notes.html

This site is a very well said analysis of Hamlet. It's neat, easy to read, and it's also really helpful as a study guide. This was one of the top in my list for the easy access on Hamlet and the information you can find about the play on here.

http://www.gradesaver.com/hamlet/study-guide/short-summary/

I really liked the knowledge shared about Hamlet on this site becuase you could test yourself, study key facts about Hamlet, and share information with others or add input. I was wary about this site at first becuase of the advertisements showing every now and then but I liked how they set up the information on Hamlet.

http://www.artsvivants.ca/pdf/eth/activities/hamlet_guide.pdf

Okay, I gotta admit, I love pdf's. Mainly because they look neat and are easy to follow. But, anyway, this is a useful site to look up when studying Hamlet. There are questions to think about and are really important when pertaining to the play.

http://blogs.monashores.net/bradshawk/files/2010/02/Hamlet-ACT-I-V-Study-Guide.pdf

Much like the first one, this pdf also has great questions and references about Hamlet. Not much to say about anything else though. It's a good site that others should check.

http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xHamlet.html

This, too, was a really awesome site to check out for info on Hamlet. It has a LOT of things to say about the play and a great part about it is that it also gives references to the pages and textual quotes . All in all, it definitely gives satisfaction.

Vocabulary List #10

aficionado: an ardent devotee; fan, enthusiast


Jessica was a hardcore tennis aficionado and is very passionate in every game she plays.


browbeat: to intimidate by using overbearing looks or words; bully


Jack browbeats Piggy into giving him his glasses to start a fire.


commensurate: having the same measure; of equal extent or duratio, adequate


Jackie's talent with acting is commensurate along with Beka's talent for acting.


diaphanous: very sheer and light; almost completely transparent or translucent


The ghost's diaphanous appearance frightened Coraline.


emolument: profit or fees from office or employment


The emoluments were stored in Josh's greedy hands at Smarty Mart.


foray: a quick raid, usually for the purpose of taking plunder; a quick, sudden attack


The worm's foray lasted but a few minutes, leaving the citizens devastated with the mysterious lost of their belongings in Bikini Bottom.


genre: a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, technique, or content


Sarah quite enjoys the science fiction genre whereas Michelle perfers fantasy.


homily: usually of a nondoctrinal nature/an inspirational saying or cliche


The biblical homily that was said daily to John brought music to his ears everytime he heard it.


immure: to enclose within walls/to shut in, seclude or confine; to imprison


Students argue that they feel as though the school is trying to immure them by adding more fence around the perimeter.


insouciant: free from concern, worry or anxiety; carefree; nonchalant


Timon and Pumba are both insouciant with their lives with the simple phrase: Hakuna Matata


matrix: something that constitutes the place or point from which something else originates, takes form, or develops/a formative part


The gelatinous monster enveloped the matrix from which he arrived.


obsequies: funeral rites or ceremony


The obsequies for the victim of a shark attack was performed in the ocean.


panache: a grand or flamboyant manner; verve; style; flair


Brittany's Halloween party was panache and flashy to a point where it resembled a rave.


persona: the narrator of a character in a literary work, person's perceived or evident personality


Roger's personas take a dramatic turn whenever he takes his characters too far and starts trouble.


philippic: any speech or discourse of bitter denunciation


Both men raged on in a fury of nasty philippics to one another during the heated debate.


prurient: having, inclined to have, or characterized by lascivious or lustful thoughts, desire


Shakespeare has an odd way of showing his prurient fascination towards death in his plays.


sacrosanct: extremely sacred or inviolable; not to be tresspassed or entered upon


Cows are extremely sacrosanct to people in India and I find it unexplainable.


systemic:of or pertaining to a system/pertaining to or affecting the body as a whole


The systemic vitamins taken by Nikki were helping her from catching the spreading cold.


tendentious:having or showing a definite tendency, bias, or purpose


Most of my friends are very tendentious when it comes between studying and partying.


vicissitude: change or variation in the course of something; alteration or interchange


Kelli's vicissitude in school when becoming sick really screwed her over as she fell behind in her work.

Literary Analysis: Lord of the Flies

GENERAL

1. A horrific plane crash sends a group of young British boys—youngest six and oldest twelve—stranded on an island with a dead pilot. The plane was evacuating the boys away from Britain during a raging war. Two boys, Ralph and Piggy, are found alone on the beach and discover a conch, which gives Ralph the idea to rally up the other boys that were on the plane with the conch. As the boys gather, they agree that Ralph will be their leader. Jack, a leader of the boys’ choir group, argues that he should be leader but Ralph compromises that he will be the leader of the hunting group to which Jack agrees. As the plot moves forward, Jack and his group of hunters begin to question Ralph’s authority as leader. Being the leader of a large group of boys proved to be difficult to Ralph as no one seemed to want to build a fire seriously as a way to contact a rescue. The boys start to grow nervous about a ‘monster’ hiding in the jungle and are convinced even more so when they stumble upon a dead man with a parachute draped over him, believing it was a deformed ape by how it was hunched over. (There was an airplane battle over the sleeping boys from which the dead man came from.) Jack’s bloodlust for killing pigs has increased and a chaotic revelry is thrown for their success. They had decapitated a pig and mounted the head on a stick as a sacrifice to the ‘monster’, which his pig is later defined as the Lord of the Flies. Simon, another innocent boy, discovers that the ‘monster’ is actually a dead man and that it was all their imagination. Simon, unfortunately, is killed by the boys that night when they believe him to be the monster. Jack forms his own tribe and leaves Ralph, Piggy, and a pair of twin boys to survive by themselves. Ralph and Piggy go to confront Jack. Jack and Ralph engage in a fight and Piggy is killed by one of the boys dismantling a boulder and letting it crush Piggy, shattering the conch. Ralph flees from the animalistic boys trying to kill him and Jack sets the island on fire, trying to smoke out Ralph’s hiding place in the jungle. Ralph stumbles upon a navy officer on the beach from which they were signaled by the fire and is so traumatized by the past events that he weeps. The other boys weep as well when they see that an adult is now amongst their midst. Their upsetting experience on the island was finally over.

 
2. The theme of the novel circles around the idea of a base of government and how we govern ourselves. William Golding had a most creative idea towards removing authoritative adults from a society that is ruled by preadolescents. The fact that they are preadolescents makes the situation even worse. It’s maintaining a civilized structure of living that makes it a challenge to these young boys. Most of them don’t even know how to take care of themselves with the youngest being around six years old. It’s easy to switch from living a life where rules were followed to living a life where freedom is put to extreme measures. We see these within the characters, too, where Ralph is all for civility and Jack is one who swells in power. That animalistic impulse still lies within those characters and are carried off when split apart from an organized society.

 
3. The author’s tone is daunting, suspenseful, and rather heart-rending. Speaking in third person, Golding really emphasizes his tone in important scenes that deal with symbolism or foreshadowing such as the death of characters. His suspenseful tone is used during Jack’s first hunt for a pig. The suspense of him killing the pig is forceful onto the readers when Jack finally strikes that blow or lowers the knife. The daunting tone reflects off of the symbolic pig’s head absolutely covered in flies. When the Lord of the Flies (pig) speaks to Simon, there is a very chilling feel to it that has the readers on edge. Plus, the imagery also captures that daunting tone. The heart-rending tone comes with the death of characters such as Piggy and Simon. Piggy’s death, especially, since the readers had a connection to that character and felt sympathy for Piggy’s struggles.


4. Symbolism: This really helped me understand the book with how Golding used symbolism to create foreshadowing, an establishment of the theme, and how it was used to move the plot. The conch is an excellent example of symbolizing a ground set of rules and how they are followed. It symbolizes order in society. “They obeyed the summons on the conch, partly because Ralph blew it, and he was big enough to be a link with the adult world of authority.” Pg. 50.

 Foreshadowing: I pointed out some foreshadowing that dealt with the deaths of Piggy and Simon. Simon began with the Lord of the Flies scene where the pig head mentioned having fun with Simon. This tells the reader that something horrible will happen with Simon. Also, in the beginning of chapter six, boulders begin rolling off the Castle Rock cliff, foreshadowing Piggy’s death.

 Imagery: Golding adds a lot of details to the imagery in nearly every scene. His descriptions of the island, the crash, the characters, and the monsters inside the island and the boys is detailed enough to place the reader into the story. This also really helps the reader picture the situation as if a painting is shown right in front of them. It’s a powerful message that Golding uses to his advantage in the book.

Simile: This device was mainly used when describing the scenery or when one of the characters was performing an action. It’s also one of the few devices that are easily pointed out in the story. Golding used many. “Ralph lolled in the water. Sleep enveloped him like the swathing mirages that were wrestling with the brilliance of the lagoon.” Pg. 9. “Inside was peacock water, rocks and weed showing as in an aquarium.” Pg. 26.  

 Personification: The readers get a feel of the animation happening with Golding’s device, personification. The inanimate objects come to life and it clarifies that each inanimate object has a feeling of life in them. “Clouds of birds rose from the tree-tops, and the something squealed and ran in the undergrowth.” Pg. 12.

 
CHARACTERIZATION

1. In the beginning of the story, Golding uses direct characterizations with the characters, Piggy and Ralph. Piggy was described as a short, fat boy with round glasses who is asthmatic. Ralph was described as a skinny boy with fare hair and a rather pale complexion. The indirect characterization comes with the character Jack. He describes him with direct characterization but then describes his personal character with indirect characterization. He describes Jack’s nature by how he acts when leading the slaughtering. My impression of Jack at the end was that he was: “You’re a beast and a swine and a bloody, bloody thief!” Pg. 117. It completely changed from innocence to a cold blooded murderer; a dictator who deals with too much power.

 
2. Golding’s diction and syntax is fairly simple to understand; simple and powerful to each character. His diction is fairly static throughout the book, but his intensity increases with certain characters. Simon is a good example when focusing on him. Golding writes him as an innocent character and plays around with how Simon speaks and the description of the character. They are nice and short sentences, but it conveys a message that Simon is more than likely going to be an important character later on when speaking of his innocence. Jack is a whole other story. He’s the antagonist of the story, which he is given detail to his actions and his dialogue is more demanding and lengthy than Simon’s. So Golding really expresses his characters through the change of diction.

 
3. The protagonist, Ralph, is pretty much static/ flat through the entire story because he has leadership that never wavers EXCEPT for in the scene when Simon is killed. Both Piggy and Ralph become caught up in the tribe’s animalistic nature of chants. They’re blind to the fact that the beast doesn’t exists because, even though they don’t contribute in the killing of Simon, they still believe that Simon was the monster when emerging from the bushes. They didn’t stop the tribe from killing Simon nor did they stop chanting along with the group. But, they’re behaviors became back on track after the traumatic realization that they had killed a close friend on the island. They still maintained that sense of civility.

 
4. I felt as though I had come back feeling like I had met a person. The character I had a connection to the most was Piggy. This mainly goes towards my childhood being fairly similar to Piggy’s and how similar we were. I was a weak link in elementary and junior high and was picked on by friends. But it was also how Golding wrote Piggy’s character. His quotes spoke to me every time he tried to say something worth saying. I became frustrated when no one would listen to Piggy except Ralph and Simon. I felt VERY emotional with the death of Piggy and I felt as though something detached from me personally. “How can you expect to be rescued if you don’t put first things first and act proper?”

 
Favorite quotes: “Sucks to you’re ass-mar!”

                           “Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!”

                           “Maybe there is a beast… maybe it’s only us.”