SOCRATIC SEMINAR NOTES

• Eliot uses a lot of symbolism: such as the yellow fog/ smog.
• Both Hamlet and Peufrock are similar in the manner that they can't bring their decisions to actions.
• But both are different in that one knows what to do but struggles and the other struggles to decide what to do.
• Prufrock's inability to take action makes him depressed and lonely.
• The poem is called Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock not because it's romantic or lovey-dovey (in fact, it's mourning and depressing). It's called that because of the possibility of Prufrock's life if he were to take action.
• Was Prufrock suicidal?
• Prufrock imagining himself "bald" and old proves his fear for his inability.
• The women coming and going could represent their status in society.

LITERATURE ANALYSIS # 3: THE ROAD BY CORMAC McCARTHY

1) Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read according to elements of plot that you've learned in the past courses. Explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose.

a) Introduction/Exposition: The beginning of the novel introduces the father, the son and then the setting they were currently in. The event of the apocalypse is revealed. Even though the apocalypse had occurred, and both the characters suffer from freezing weather with no food, they hadn't encountered danger in the initiation of the story. They both decide to head south because of another approaching winter in the mountains.

b) Rising Action: Both the father and son were resting in a car. Father was awoken by a noise and they both flee to the woods. The fathers spots a goon clutching the boy's throat and fires a bullet from his gun, hitting that man right in the middle of his head. The man lies dead while the father wonders about only one bullet in the gun.

c) Conflict: The repetition of food shortage and struggle for survival.

d) Climax: The moment the arrow is shot in the father's leg.

e) Falling Action: The father struggles to continue their journey and finally dies in a forest, the boy next to him.

f) Resolution: Another family progresses towards the boy and takes him (helps him).

The author uses a mixture of point of views (narratives) but mostly, it's third person omniscient. This third person omniscient perspective not only assisted the author in characterizing his characters and explaining their personalities, but also allowed him to shift his perspective towards the father. It allowed him to have descriptive settings, paragraphs of father's emotions, thoughts, and struggles, and also have justice towards the son.

2) Succinctly describe the theme of the novel.

Of course, like most novels, there are multiple themes of the book but what stood out to me was the strength and determination of both of the characters. They both had experienced so much from a near death to murder of someone else but their dedication to achieve what they had strove for did not decrease. They weren't discouraged by defeat or broken by sickness - they kept moving to survive. The author uses the relationship between the father and the son to increase the effect of the theme and the meaning behind it.

3) Describe the author's tone. Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrates your points.

The author has multiple tones, just like narrative. But the two most important ones are tender towards the duo - father and the son, and factual towards the the entire setting and situation. McCarthy is extremely talented in that his shifts in tone is noticeable and understandable at the same time.

4) Describe a minimum of ten literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your readers.

1) Foreshadowing: "But he knew that if he were a good father still it might well be as she had said. That the boy was all that stood between him and death." (Pg: 25)

2) Symbols: The revolver containing two bullets: the bullets could represent "life" and "death."

3) Imagery: "They crossed the river by an old concrete bridge and a few miles on they came upon a roadside gas station." (Pg: 5)

4) Irony: Throughout the entire book, the readers anticipated death by starvation of a character but the man ended up dying by an arrow (or his sickness, not cleared!).

5) Flashback: "They are going to rape us and kill us and eat us and you wont face it. You'd rather wait for it to happen. But I cant. I cant." (Pg: 48)

6) Personification: (The Woman) "I've taken a new lover. He can give me what you cannot."
                               (The Man) "Death is not a lover."
                               (The Woman) "Oh yes he is." (Pg: 48)

7) Metaphor: The road - collapse of capitalism (McCarthy clarified in an interview).

8) Simile: "Drawing down like something trying to preserve heat. In time to wink out forever." (Pg: 75)

9) Characterization: "He stood up. I'm begging you." (Pg: 49)

10) Point of View: "When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he'd reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him." (Pg: 1)

CHARACTERIZATION:

1) Describe two examples of direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization. Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end?

"He mistrusted all of that. He said the right dreams for a man in peril were dreams of peril and all else was the call of languor and of death." (Pg: 15) - Direct Characterization. "He was gone longer than he'd meant to be and he hurried his steps the best he could, the water swinging and gurgling in the shrunken swag of his gut." (Pg: 104) - Direct Characterization.
(The Boy) "Yes."
(The Man) "Dont pay any attention. There's no one here."
(The Boy) "Are they dead?"
(The Man) "I think so."
(The Boy) "I wish that little boy was with us."
(The Man) "Let's go." (Pg: 110-111) - Indirect Characterization. "You wanted to know what the bad guys looked like. Now you know. It may happen again. My job is to take care of you. I was appointed to do that by God. I will kill anyone who touches you. Do you understand?" (Pg: 65) - Indirect Characterization.

The author uses both direct and indirect characterization to develop both the characters more thoroughly. He uses indirect characterization more than direct because he 's the kind of writer that makes his readers interpret the characters and their personalities.

2) Does the author's syntax and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character? How? Example(s)?
The author's syntax changes when there is a dialogue between characters. They're brief, precise, and to the point.
(The Man) "We need to get out of the road.
(The Boy) "Why, Papa?"
(The Man) "Someone's coming."
(The Boy) "Is it bad guys?"
(The Man) "Yes. I'm afraid so."
(The Boy) "They could be good guys. Couldn't they?" (Pg: 87)
In terms of diction, it's doesn't change in terms of the elevation of the words, but it gets more innocent with the young boy.

3) Is the protagonist static or dynamic? Flat or round? Explain.
The protagonist is a round, dynamic character because of the conscious choices that he makes and emotions that he shows towards his son and his protection. The manner in which he gives hope, strength, advice, and shows affection towards his son shows that he, as a character, is capable of making strong decisions just as a live individual in real world.

4) After reading the book did you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character? Analyze one textual example that illustrates your reaction.
I felt that I met a person not because of the plot, or setting or even theme, but only based on the characterization of the man. He seemed like my father, ready to protect his child at any moment - even if it meant him losing his life. This is what connected me to the book the most and made me believe that the story, the characters, and their situations and choices made to get out of the situations - victorious.

KUDOS TO YOU!!!

Hey guys! So the Kudos blog is up and the link is here! We are giving authorship soon and there is an intro on the blog explaining everything. So please check it out and leave questions, comments, concerns, suggestions, etc. as comments for now and pretty soon, you will be able to post any kind of kudos you wish!

LOVE SONG OF ALFRED J. PRUFROCK BY T.S.ELIOT - QUESTIONS

1) What is the role of time in this poem?
Time plays a great role in this poem because it is the one aspect in his life that pushes him to keep moving but at the same time pulls him back from taking action.
2) What is the significance of Eliot's allusions to Hamlet and the "eternal Footman"?
Prufrock is characterized to be the kind of character that struggles not only to convert his emotional and mental process to physical action but he's also characterized as someone who fails to understand many of his duties and responsibiliyies and also becomes a little procrastinating to bring about the desired action and results. He differs from Hamlet in this because Shakespeare characterized Hamlet to be an extremely intelligent young man who knows what is expected of him but he's troubled in the manner about what his actions will bring about for him and how it will affect him in the "unknown" future. But both these characters are similar in their struggle with time and the necessity to produce an action.

3) Choose a moment when Eliot uses figurative language and:

• interpret the image
• explain how the image and its meaning contribute to your understanding of the theme of the poem.

"Time to turn back and descend the stair, with a bald spot in the middle of my hair (They will say: "How his hair is growing thin!")

This moment in the poem contributes to the overall theme of the poem because it shows how Prufrock knows his inability to take action. His "baldness" and "thinning of the hair" foreshadows that the future is going to be same as how he is now.

COMPARISON OF POETRY

Poetry and ocean both require effort and analyzation to understand: both, at the shore, seem to be similar to their other respective kinds; but if "traveled" deeper and deeper, it is realized that they're as different as the polar ends of the world. Similarly, the poems "Everything is going to be alright" by Derek Mahon and "Where the Sidewalk Ends" by Shel Silverstein have similar themes approached through different paths of the road.

Mahon defines life to be hard with obstacles, pain, negativity, crime, etc. but he explains to his readera about the natural beauty of life and how hope and happiness arises from it - "the sun rises in spite of everything/ and the far cities are beautiful and bright." Throughout the entire poem, Mahon uses the sun as hope and how its rays of sunlight will shine bright over the darkness in everyone's life. He admits that life will one day end, "there will be dying, there will be dying, but there is no need to go into that," but he encourages the readers to not think about death while there can still be hope to acquire happiness in life. 

When he starts the poem, he asks to his readers about how can they not be happy when the dark clouds move aside and clear the sky for sunshine to shine through - "How should I not be glad to contemplate/the clouds clearing beyond the dormer window..." The clouds could symbolize the obstacles in one's life and he gives hope to the readers by making them realize the importance of the "clouds" clearing the "sky" one day and "sunshine" making the world a brighter place to live. Mahon achieves his theme of hope and standing up to the problems and having faith on life itself by using symbolism, rhetorical question and himself.

Silverstein, in his poem " Where the Sidewalk Ends," also highlights the theme of hope but instead of having faith on life and that the problems will end one day (Mahon), he asks the readers to seek for the positivity in their own life. He symbolizes the street as the normal, painful life and the end of the sidewalk is the place of happiness. He initiates a sense of movment and a requirement of taking action in the readers' hearts to find their own happiness. He admits there is pain, crime, negativity in everyone's lives but he also admits that there is a place (might be only emotional or mental, not necessarily physical) that we all need to approach to get what we want.

Unlike Mahon, Silverstein urges his readers to take action walk where the sidewalk ends - "Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black..." He also uses symbolism to increase the effect and intensity to his poem. Both the poets gives hope to their readers, assure them of the happiness the future consists and ask them to "hang on" but Silverstein, in particular, tells his readers to walk towards their own happiness if they want it. All in all, these two poems are like oceans: different temperature, different species present, different islands surrounding, but serves similar purpose to the world.

EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT - REMIX

Here is the link to our project remixing the poem "Everything is going to be alright" by Derek Mahon. Group members are: Lilly Navarrete, Susel Garcia, Antonia Arredondo, and me. Hope you enjoy!!!

INTRO TO POETRY

Everything is Going to be Alright
by Derek Mahon

How should I not be glad to contemplate
the clouds clearing beyond the dormer window
and a high tide reflected on the ceiling?
There will be dying, there will be dying,
but there is no need to go into that.
The poems flow from the hand unbidden
and the hidden source is the watchful heart;
the sun rises in spite of everything
and the far cities are beautiful and bright. 
I lie here in a riot of sunlight
watching the day break and the clouds flying.
Everything is going to be all right.

1) The title is significant because it foreshadows the purpose, meaning, tone, and mood of the poem. The author might have chosen this title to get his readers thinking even before reading the poem and analyzing how the author will structure it.
2) The tone of the poem is hopeful, encouraging, assuring, inspiring, and calculating.
3) Our mood was hopeful, acquiring strength, and motivating.
4) Yes, there is a shift. The shift is "the sun rises...beautiful and bright." It shifts from darkness, pain, and negativity surrounding him to all of a sudden positivity, happiness, and calmness around him. It not only shifts tone and mood, but it also shifts to the actual theme, resolving the main conflict and progressing towards climax.
5) The theme of the poem, what we discussed, is it encourages his audience to not give up based on couple hardships going around. We also discussed how he initiates movement and motivates his readers by involving himself and saying he has suffered through dark times too but they ended and joy and light came: from "How should I not be glad to contemplate the clouds..." to "I lie here in a riot of sunlight watching the day break and the clouds flying."

P.S. At first, we thought the author was creating juxtaposition by using a negative word with a positive one to create effect - "riot" with "sunlight" but then when we searched for the different possible meanings of riot, we came across this (which was perfect!!!): Riot: an impressively large or varied display of something; like "the garden was riot of color".
Sounds a lot similar to "I lie here in a riot of sunlight..." The author was getting his point across about how just as pain, darkness, and problems come together at the same time, happiness and hopefulness can also come together at the same time.

WROTE IN JUNIOR YEAR FOR A WRITING CONTEST: BY ME

"Dream and give yourself permission to envision a you that you choose to be."1
Quote repeatedly aggravating me.
Irked and unnoticed by everyone,
What else could I have done?
My life wasn't the way people saw it,
Just a girl on a string performing a skit.
"What're you planning?"
"Debating."
Hope in the heart abolished,
Following what everyone wished.
I walk alone, fall alone,
Get up and try again alone.
In the midst of all the hubbub about my future,
No one noticed that I viewed myself as a failure.
Just someone ordinary,
No talent viewed as if extraordinary.
Destiny wanted my hope alive,
Magic entered my life.
Only a beginner,
Now being noticed as a winner.
Confusion, Anger, Suspicion,
My idol said, "Go achieve your mission."
"What did you do?"
"Gave the happiness that belongs to you.
Your writing, your passion can inspire"
"I trusted you with it; it's you I admire.
You published my life through my work,"
She said, with a smirk,
"You never believed that dreams could come true,
but you never realized that your passion did accrue."
My life took a different course,
Surprised - not a hint of remorse.
Suddenly, I was looking at myself,
I saw my sister lose hope in her own future self.
"Sister, do dreams come true?
If they do, you be my guru."
My chance to pay forward,
"Yes sister, like me you'll be spurred."





1 Quote by: Joy Page

HAMLET: AN ICEBERG

            “…Be all my sins remembered.” Hamlet, on the surface, seems to be about madness, about revenge, about death or suicide but it’s not. Hamlet is an iceberg: there’s much deeper into it than is visible. It is about betrayal, obscurity of human nature, difficulty in bringing about physical action from mental determination and most importantly, intricacy of human relationships. Hamlet is a very complexly developed, dynamic character with diverse and unique aspects in his personality, visible through his thoughts, his actions, his intelligence, and above all, his language. In the line in his predominant soliloquy, “…be all my sins remembered,” he assures the readers of his knowledge about the significance in Claudius’s death.

            “To be, or not to be: that is the question.” Hamlet delivered this soliloquy when he was struggling to act upon his duty as a son and responsibility as a prince. He was certain that Claudius needed to be killed for the betterment of Denmark, or the “prison” as he called it, and to avenge his father’s death but he could barely demonstrate his anger through speech, let alone action. His uncertainty in whether to change or to stay the same – “to be, or not to be” – prevented him from fighting the iniquitous and ending his emotional and mental struggle, “…or to take arms against the sea of troubles, and by opposing end them?” “To die: to sleep; No more.” Death, in this soliloquy, can be taken to be literal but it can also symbolize the future – the unknown. No individual is aware what the future consists of and how it will affect their respective lives – “for in that sleep of death what dreams may come.” The ambiguity of the future was what Hamlet feared; the insecurity of the future was what Hamlet feared; the “death” of the future (or rather, in the future) was what Hamlet feared.

             The ambiguity, the insecurity and the ultimate “death” that the future consists of forced Hamlet to stop before acting upon his instincts. He questioned the worth of being disciplined if killing Claudius was the morally right act. But he blamed his questioning on the fear of the future: if unaware of what it held, then why commit to a responsibility whose outcome was also unknown – “for who would bear the whips and scorns of time,” why would a being bear through the hardships and sufferings of the present: only because of greater fear of the unknown (“to grunt and sweat under a weary life, but that the dread of something after death”). Hamlet didn’t fear Claudius’s death or him killing Claudius, but he feared the outcome of his death: not only on Denmark, not only on his mother, but also on himself. An action can never be taken back and time can never be reversed: how would killing Claudius have an impact on his personality – “the undiscover’d country from whose bourn/no traveller returns…” This fear was what made Hamlet endure all his pain, of knowing the truth yet unable to do anything, and all his confusion, of the outcome of Claudius’s death – “…puzzles the will/and makes us rather bear those ills we have/than fly to others that we know not of?” And this fear was what made Hamlet act crazy (where the concept of Hamlet’s insanity comes to place) and appear to be weak (concept of “he wanted to commit suicide”) – “thus conscience does make cowards of us all.” Through all these fears and uncertainty, Hamlet “lost” his ability to reach a physical conclusion – “and lose the name of action.” Finally, he ends up requesting Ophelia to remember him in her prayers: “…be all my sins remembered.”

            Hamlet’s “to be, or not to be” served a purpose of not only “self-overhearing” for Hamlet, but also to clarify for the audience that Hamlet, being a very determined and definite individual, is wavering not because of his “insanity” but because of his perplexity about the outcome of his actions in the future. Hamlet declares his definite knowledge of the value of killing Claudius, “when he himself might his quietus make/with a bare bodkin?” – locutionary effect; Hamlet delivers “to be, or not to be” to not only self-overhear but to create a sense of understanding for the audience, “and lose the name of action” – illocutionary effect; Finally, Hamlet elucidates his inability to act to the audience, “with this regard their currents turn awry, and lose the name of action” – perlocutionary effect. With the usage of the theory of performativity, the effect of Hamlet’s language and his speech results in a new intensity of depth. With this depth, Shakespeare was able to achieve the formation of Hamlet to be an iceberg: there’s much deeper into it than is visible. 

HAMLET ACT IV

• There were two parts to Claudius's solution for Hamlet: one, get rid of Hamlet and his (Claudius) sins with him.
• How will hamlet compare himself with the soldier?
• What's the difference between a purposeless man and a dumb animal?
• People who do bad are so much better than me: Hamlet
• On one hand: we have capabilities of reason; distinguishes between humans and animals. On other hand: take action first, then ask for reason.

RESPECT DAY VIDEOS

It's amazing how talented these kids are!! Hope this talent, appreciation, and positivity progresses in the right direction!!!

UN OSO Y UN AMOR (A BEAR AND A LOVE): SPANISH PROJECT

Here is the link to our project: Made by Lilly Navarrete, Gianni Rasgado, Antonia Arredondo, Kurt Gabriel, and me!!

Thank you so much guys for all your hard work and dedication towards finishing this project. It turned out amazing and a little comical (even though Mr. Brown said "no comic relief"!). But I'm glad that it did because we wouldn't have been able to understand it to this extent if it weren't. So, thanks again! You guys are awesome!!!

RESPECT DAY VS. LOCKDOWN

As everybody knows, this was Righetti's second lockdown in this month. Where are we going wrong? Are we, as upper classmen teaching the right lessons to the lower classmen? On the day of the lockdown, 19th November 2014, Lilly and I went to El Camino Jr. High School to volunteers as leaders for respect day, where we explained, discussed, and taught the consequences of bullying, prejudice, stereotypes, racism, etc. It is so ironic how students like us, who want the  negativity surrounding everyone to decrease - if not stop. And then students of our school represent us in such a way that's embarrassing and degrading.

These two amazing leaders are trying to evoke change in young minds through sharing their personal stories and requesting and encouraging students to get rid of the hatred, pain, and negativity from their hearts.

I'm extremely proud that I could be a part of these (picture above) students' lives and hopefully ignite a change in them that they can eventually spread to the rest of the community. I'm proud that they all had the courage to share their stories and admit what was wrong from right. They now are a part of a small family where they have us and the fellow group members to communicate their feelings instead of take it out on someone that had no fault in it.

I hope that my group members, in the future, become the leaders and the reason of change.

*I will upload some videos in the next blog post.

WORDS AND ACTION

            "Have more than you show, speak less than you know." This quote by Shakespeare defines Hamlet to be the most intelligent young man who knows how to manipulate those around him. All of Shakespeare’s characters serve to be self-motivating and self-overhearing characters. Hamlet, a Shakespearean character, is a smart, intelligent, wise, and determined individual, who is passionate and unwavering about his duties and decisions. But he struggles to bring about a practical response to his decisions and thoughts. Hamlet’s speech constitutes locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary forces – theory of performativity conceived and constructed by J.L. Austin. As described in The Performative Utterance in Hamlet by Fredrik deBoer, Hamlet has “aesthetic power, descriptive power, artistic power” in his language and speech. His soliloquies and dialogues are self-convincing and self-reflecting, but they lack to evoke the drive in Hamlet to convert them into action.

            Hamlet, being a maturely developed, having complex psychological abilities, and transcending expectations of any teenager, is fettered by “cognitive paralysis,” where he is incapable of bringing his mental assurances to physical confirmation. “..That patient merit of the unworthy takes, when he himself might his quietus make/with a bare bodkin?,” Hamlet clearly distinguishes between the expectation from his father and the real-world result that he faces. He knows he must kill Claudius to avenge his father’s death, but his inability to bring about the expected action frustrates him. According to deBoer, Shakespeare has an unstated requirement to use the theory of performativity and the method of self-overhearing to reveal the inner personalities of his characters. If Hamlet did not have soliloquies in the middle, it would be extremely difficult for the readers to analyze and psychoanalyze Hamlet to understand his emotions, internal and external struggle, and his distinct ability to make intact decisions. Shakespeare’s technique to have Hamlet reveal his thoughts not as thoughts but as spoken speech creates a sense of reality for the readers.

            “So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word; It is ‘Adieu, adieu! remember me.’ I have sworn’t.” These words by Hamlet to his father reveal a sense of action to the audience where the viewers are assured that Hamlet is completely certain to kill Claudius. Every statement, as such, moves the plot forward and characterizes him and others a little deeper. In this quote, his certainty towards avenging his father’s death assures the viewers of Claudius being the villain of Denmark. His ability to reflect on his “love” for Ophelia, respect for his father, anger for his mother, and hatred for Claudius in his speech proves Austin’s theory of performativity to be accurate. His speech clearly conveying his emotions across, hatred towards Claudius, – locutionary force – and through his emotions, he brings about a responsive action, he will kill Claudius, – illocutionary force – and finally, him evoking feelings of sympathy and anger from the readers – perlocutionary force. Shakespeare is capable of using theory of performativity in all of Hamlet’s soliloquies, which are an act of self-overhearing – where in each dialogue Hamlet and the readers realize one unique quality of him every time.

            The Performative Utterance in Hamlet takes Hamlet and its analysis to a higher level than just a superficial analysis of a “crazy, confused, and suicidal” teenager, which by the way is the most illogical conclusions reached based on reading the text only on the surface. He is a very smart teenager in ways that he knows and plans his “plays” to make Claudius admit to his sinful deeds. It’s extremely doubtful if a crazy and confused teenager would refuse to kill Claudius when he was praying because Hamlet did not want to send him to heaven – it’s an act of desire of pure revenge. Hence, his use of language to convey his emotions (such as anger and frustration to his mother both before and after killing Polonius, mistaking him to be Claudius) is immensely impacted by performativity, as Hamlet is a character of words. With him having much more than he shows, and speaks much less than he knows, he is definitely one of the most fitting Shakespearean character and one of the best one yet!

CONVERSATION (NOTES) ON HAMLET AND "PERFORMATIVE UTTERANCE..."

• State of being flexible is extremely important in the world.
• As a successful learner, you have to acknowledge new information and change your mind accordingly.
• Hamlet is convinced of his duty but he is unable to act on it.
• If you say something, it creates a sense of reality and not just ideas and thoughts put in words.
• Talking creates understanding.
• Talking to ourselves creates a sense of understanding for us and ourselves.
• An expectation for an action was set by King Hamlet.
• Perlocutionary: dictionary definition: relating to an act preformed by a speaker upon a listener.
• Self fulfilling prophecy: confirm what we know. An action that tends to support a hypothesis.
• Hamlet is reinforcing his thoughts and beliefs.
• He concludes based on his thought process that he will not be able to act upon his duty.
• There is no difference between words and action.
• Polonius is a character of words and Claudius is a character of actions.
• Why is Polonius more similar to Hamlet than Claudius is? Because Polonius is a creature of words and language.
• Hamlet's motive is not to just get rid of Claudius but to take revenge and send Claudius to hell.
• Is not killing Gertrude and punishing Claudius a sexist act?
• Letting Gertrude suffer through her guilt is the biggest punishment the ghost wanted to give her.
• Claudius finally realizes that Hamlet knows what he did and he needs to take an action against him by sending him away and getting rid of him.
• Chorus is a group of people in a play that stands on a side and sings what happens in the play and explains it.
• Killing Polonius moved Hamlet from a character of words to a character of action.
• It served as a spark for Hamlet to evoke his emotions and let out his anger.
• For the first time, Hamlet has integrity: he was ready to kill Claudius. He finally proved himself to be a murderer.
• 
  

HAMLET ACT III: NOTES

• In this act, Claudius and Polonius both send Ophelia to talk to Hamlet so they could spy on them.
• Hamlet says his "to be or not to be" soliloquy.
• Claudius senses that Hamlet knows something that can be damaging for him so he decides to send him somewhere outside of Denmark.
• Polonius still believes that Hamlet's behavior is because of lost love.
• Hamlet hints his regret of living Ophelia and tells her to go to a nunnery.
• He tells her that a woman destroys a man's life and turns him into a monster.
• He also hints Claudius' death by saying only one couple shall live.
• Hamlet requests Horatio to play close attention to both Claudius and Gertrude and their reaction to the play.
• He informs Horatio that Claudius killed King Hamlet.
• Claudius flees the scene of the play.
• Hamlet does not kill Claudius even though he had a chance to.
• Claudius admits to his sin.
• Death of Polonius by Hamlet by accident.
• Why did Shakespeare have Hamlet  accidentally kill Polonius? What could the death of Polonius serve as a purpose to the story?
• What did not killing Claudius when he was praying symbolize for the audience? what could the audience analyze from it?

THE PERFORMATIVE UTTERANCE IN HAMLET: NOTES

• A play about a man who couldn't make real what was found in his mind.
• He does not waver a bit as to his decision towards his understanding of his duty to complete it with dedication.
• He wavers to convert his mental dedication towards physical space.
• The entire play is spent on Hamlet's narrative to enact his determination and duty towards his dad and murder Claudius: he's able to speak and think but not do.
• J.L. Austin's work, How to do Things with Words (1962), captures the idea: "how certain language does not merely describe action but acts in being spoken."
• Performative language acts: can affect real change in the world.
• Three forces of performative language: the locutionary force, the illocutionary force, and the perlocutionary force.
• Locutionary force: ability of language to deliver a message, the force of mutual intelligibility.
• Illocutionary force: what is done in being said; denying a request or giving an order.
• Perlocutionary force: what is achieved by being said, the consequences of one's utterance; an order being followed.
• Philosophy of doing-language: represents a bridge between the business of language and the business of the "real."
• Sky Marsen: "use utterance strategically in combination with physical act so as to influence the surrounding reality and contest the mistaken philosophical belief that speakers produce only statements that describe this reality."
• Harold Bloom in Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human (1998): "Shakespeare's characters frequently develop through "self-overhearing."
• Thought to language to action: locutinary meaning of an utterance creating the illocutionary effect of that utterance which in turn drives the perlocutionary effect.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE: MY VERSION!

I wanted to recite this in class because I actually knew it, or rather know it, very well. But I didn't get a chance to, so here is a video of it, recorded in Dr. Preston's class!!

TO BE OR NOT TO BE: LILLY

Lilly Navarrete: This one's for you.. Had to put the first one too!! Too funny not to!Lol!! 

HAMLET REMIX: THE MODERN HAMLET

We made a video depicting a scene of a Hamlet but in a modern version. My group included Lilliyana Navarrete, Susel Garcia, Antonia Arredondo, Mellany Cunningham, Alec McFarland, Ephraim Rodriguez, Eric Jackson, and me. Susel and I wrote the song and sung it, Lilly filmed and edited it, Antonia and Alec played the piano, and the rest of the members were the actors (Alec included!). Here is the link to our video. Hope you enjoy it! If you have any feedback or opinion, please comment below! Thank you!

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

Instead of us individually reciting "To be or not to be," we decided to collaborate and do the recitation as a class, but with a twist! What is the twist?? Find out!!

LITERATURE ANALYSIS # 2: A PASSAGE TO INDIA BY E.M.FORSTER

1) Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read according to elements of plot you've learned in the past courses. Explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose.
a) Introduction/Exposition: The setting of the story is Chandrapore, British India (a fictional city). The book begins with the introduction of Adela and her elder friend Mrs. Moore, coming to British India. Dr. Aziz - an Indian Muslim - is introduced. He stops by a mosque (his favorite one) and witnesses an Englishwoman and gets upset at her. It turns out to be Mrs. Moore, who shares that she respects all customs. They soon become friends by chatting. Adela meets Mr. Fielding and he invites the women to a tea part, along with Aziz. Aziz, at the party, promises the women to take them to the Marabar caves.
b) Rising Action: Aziz takes the women to the caves. Mrs. Moore becomes claustrophobic and could not handle the echo and darkness. So Aziz and Adela are the only ones continuing. Adela angers Aziz, and he goes in a cave. After a while, he comes out and finds the guide to be alone and assumes Adela is lost. He finds her talking to another Englishwoman but they leave before talking to Aziz.
c) Conflict: When Aziz gets off the train, he's accused of raping Adela.
d) Climax: During the trial Adela starts having doubt of Aziz's guilt. She finally remembers she faced the same problem Mrs. Moore did and blamed Aziz in panic. She finally admitted that Aziz did not rape her.
e) Falling Action: Ronny Heaslop breaks the engagement with Adela. She explains everything to Fielding and left India, forever.
f) Resolution: Aziz was angry at Fielding for befriending Adela, and swears to never befriend a white person. Fielding comes back to India two years later, married to Mrs. Moore's daughter. Eventually, Aziz agrees to be friends with Fielding again.

The third person omniscient point of view allows the author to prevent the audience from being biased against Adela and for Aziz, which would take away the effect of the theme that the author was hoping to convey. With the readers reading and understanding each character's perspective, they could truly analyze the story, without feeling pity or anger.

2) Succinctly describe the theme of the novel.
There are many themes throughout the story: friendship, gender, power, justice, etc. One theme that stood out to me was race. The author uses the differences between the two races to highlight the possibility of uniting them. He used the friendship of Aziz and Fielding juxtaposing the relationship of Adela and Aziz to highlight the two possibilities of the two races bonding leaving the readers to think which one they should choose.

3) Describe the author's tone. Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrates your points.
Forster philosophical but neutral. He's philosophical in terms of choosing the characters and highlighting their choices throughout the story. However, he's an objective and neutral author who doesn't let his point of view towards the issue in the writing.

4) Describe a minimum of ten literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your readers.
1) Foreshadowing: "Except for the Marabar Caves - and they are twenty miles off - the city of Chandrapore presents nothing extraordinary" (Pg: 1)
2) Symbols: Flames: "The two flames approach and strive to unite, but cannot, because one of them breathes air, the other stone." (Pg: 137)
3) Imagery: "The night was still dark, but had acquired the temporary look that indicates its end." (Pg: 138)
4) Irony: It's ironic how Adela was the one who was extremely eager to meet Aziz and was curious about him but she was the one accusing him of rape.
5) Allusion: Author used allusion to Persian inscription: "And near it, under a low dome, should be his tomb, with a Persian inscription." (Pg: 17)
6) Personification: The example provided for the metaphor can be considered as personification.
7) Metaphor: "A mirror inlaid with lovely colours divides the lover, delicate stars of pink and grey interpose, exquisite nebulae, shadings fainter than the tail of a comet or the midday noon..." (Pg: 137)
8) Simile: "Immediately another flame rises in the depths of the rock and moves towards the surface like an imprisoned spirit..." (Pg: 137)
9) Characterization: Direct Characterization: "They are dark caves. Even when they open towards the sun, very little light penetrates down the entrance tunnel into the circular chamber." (Pg: 137)
10) Point of View: "Abandoning his bicycle, which fell before a servant could catch it, the young man sprang up on to the verandah." (Pg: 6) The author refers to the protagonist as "the young man," third person point of view.

CHARACTERIZATION:

1) Describe two examples of direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization. Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end?
"They are dark caves. Even when they open towards the sun, very little light penetrates down the entrance tunnel into the circular chamber." (Pg: 137) - Direct Characterization. "'Madam, this is a mosque you have no right here at all; you should have taken off your shoes; this is a holy place for Moslems'" (Pg: 18) - Indirect Characterization. "She accepted his escort back to the club, and said at the gate that she wished she was a member, so that she could have asked him in." (Pg: 21) - Indirect Characterization. "Chandrapore appears to be a totally different place. It is a city of gardens. It is no city, but a forest sparsely scattered with huts." (Pg: 4) - Direct Characterization.

The author uses both of them to not only make the characters more realistic but also the setting of the story more realistic. Doing this, he allows the readers to connect with the story, the setting, and characters.

2) Does the author's syntax and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character? How? Example(s)?
The author's syntax and diction usually stays constant throughout the story, no matter who the character is or what the situation is. The only thing that might change is when once or twice, one of the Indian characters would talk in Hindi, the Indian national language. This allows the author to make the situation and the character in the story more realistic, more believable for the audience.

3) Is the protagonist static or dynamic? Flat or round? Explain.
The protagonist, Mr. Aziz, is a round and dynamic character. All of Aziz's beliefs, thoughts, actions were described through his actions, his dialogues, and his behavior with the other characters. Aziz is a caring, friendly, innocent doctor, who gets wrongly accused of rape by a woman whom he was showing around.

4) After reading the book did you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character? Analyze one textual example that illustrates your reaction.
I am an Indian myself, so reading a story related to the culture that I was most exposed to makes me feel as if I'm part of a story. Aziz fits perfectly with a "standard Indian individual." I definitely felt as if I'd met a person because the hardships that Aziz went through were extremely relatable. Everything that I learned in my history class in India was about the not getting along of Indians and British. It was nice to read that someone could and would and even did change the aspect of hating the entire British race instead of only those who were actually racists.;

LITERARY FICTION AND EMPATHY

I know I was only supposed to read the article but when I read about the research, I could not help but look it up and actually take the quiz. First of all, I had no idea humans' eyes could be so expressive. If all of our face is covered except our eyes, we can still have a legitimate and as important of a conversation as with words. My result came out to be 29 out of 36. The average result of an adult is 26 out of 36. The result also said that the light of the screen I'm using, and also the Caucasian faces could affect me because it might be hard to recognize the emotions. I like the idea of the research where they use the literary works and techniques used by both fictional and non fictional writers. I think along with society, school, and influential people - such as parents, teachers, or friends - the books that an  individual reads also majorly affects or changes perspective. Since I'm reading Hamlet right now, I have a different definition of love, hate, sorrow, despair, betrayal, power, etc. and that affected me in choosing an answer. Along with that, my personal experiences going on in my life also affects the results. All in all, the exposure to the surrounding environment constantly changes a person's viewpoint.

HAMLET ACT II SCENE II

Class notes:

• This is the first time Hamlet was introduced.
• Hamlet is upset with his uncle and mom because they got married only after a month of King Hamlet's death.
• Claudius was "yelling" at Hamlet to grow up, be a man, and he can't go to school - he has to stay with them.
• Hamlet's first dialogue: [Aside] "A little move than kin, and less than kind.
• Hamlet is extremely smart: almost acts like an investigative officer - questioning Horatio and Bernardo about the ghost of the King.

HAMLET ACT I SCENE I

My Notes:

• Bernardo, Francisco, and Marcellus are all guards - guarding the gate of the castle.
• Horatio is a scholar, who accompanied Marcellus. He's skeptical - only believes what he sees.
• All four of them see the ghost of the king and the three of the guards urged Horatio to talk to it.
• The ghost of the king - Hamlet Sr. - walked away without replying.
• All of them decided to talk to Hamlet Jr. 

Class Notes:

• Shakespeare attracts the audience's attention by keeping them in dark in terms of what the setting of the play is and how, when, and where events happened.
• The castle is in Denmark.
• The king died after acquiring land from Fortenbras.
• Fortenbras Jr. now seeks revenge to get back what was rightfully his all along.

"THE ART OF HOSTING GOOD CONVERSATIONS ONLINE" - PUT TO ACTION!

I emailed two English professors in colleges, and one high school English teacher - all teaching Hamlet at one point or another in the course of year. I'm eagerly waiting for their response to my following questions:

• What can/should I do to make my studying and learning Hamlet more effective but at the same time enjoy the struggle in understanding the deeper meaning of it?
• What purpose does Hamlet serve in students' lives currently, when the world has turned so "modern" and so "smart"?
• What is it about Shakespeare and his technique of writing that makes him so important, even after generations?

I used "The Art of Hosting Good Conversations Online" and its technique by doing the following:

• I introduced myself.
• I introduced Dr. Preston and the class.
• I explained Open Source Learning.
• I asked my question.
• And finally, I thanked the teacher/professor.

UNPHOTOGRAPHABLE

So this is an Indian festival that we (my dad, aunt, uncle, cousin, and I) went to visit about 2 weeks ago. Usually, this celebration - where we dance to celebrate one of our goddess's victory over evil by dancing - lasts almost the entire night but here, it was only until about 11:30 to midnight. Try and spot me: it's not that hard. I apologize for the quality. Here is another one:

The previous one is faster than the latter. (The beginning of first one is a little too fast, I don't exactly know why)

I greatly enjoyed going there and this related to the unphotographable moment - where I chose to be in the moment and enjoy it by dancing my heart out until either my feet could not hold my weight, or my chest could not process the oxygen so fast, or until I sweated so much that I had to wait to take a breath. Even though I was celebrating the festival outside my birthplace, my homeland, I still felt at home, still felt connected. So I decided to share the moment. By the way, this festival is called Navratri. And I'm the one in the pink dress and black leggings.

VOCABULARY # 6

Definitions:

abase - verb cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of
abdicate - verb give up, such as power, as of monarchs and emperors, or duties and obligations
abomination - noun an action that is vicious or vile; an action that arouses disgust or abhorrence; a person who is loathsome or disgusting; hate coupled with disgust
brusque - adj. marked by rude or peremptory shortness
saboteur - noun someone who commits sabotage or deliberately causes wrecks; a member of a clandestine subversive organization who tries to help a potential invader
debauchery - noun a wild gathering involving excessive drinking and promiscuity
proliferate - verb cause to grow or increase rapidly; grow rapidly
anachronism - noun an artifact that belongs to another time; a person who seems to be displaced in time; who belongs to another age; something located at a time when it could not have existed or occurred
nomenclature - noun a system of words used to name things in a particular discipline
expurgate - verb edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate
bellicose - adj. having or showing a ready disposition to fight
gauche - adj. lacking social polish
rapacious - adj. excessively greedy and grasping; devouring or craving food in great quantities; living by preying on other animals especially by catching living prey
paradox - noun (logic) a statement that contradicts itself
conundrum - noun a difficult problem
anomaly - noun (astronomy) position of a planet as defined by its angular distance from its perihelion (as observed from the sun); a person who is unusual; deviation from the normal or common order or form or rule
ephemeral - adj. lasting a very short time; noun anything short-lived, as an insect that lives only for a day in its winged form
rancorous - adj. showing deep-seated resentment
churlish - adj. having a bad disposition; surly; rude and boorish
precipitous - adj. characterized by precipices; extremely steep;done with very great haste and without due deliberation

Sentences:

abase - When the student had a choice of either cheating by abasing her honesty and self respect or failing the test she chose the latter.
abdicate - So when she chose to fail the test, she did definitely abdicated her chance of becoming the valedictorian but she kept the trust in herself. 
abomination - When the environmentalist heard about the individual's abominating act towards the trees by cutting them and using them for his own benefit, she was more angry than upset.
brusque - When she did not reply to my question, I was surprised at her brusque behavior because she was one of the nicest person I knew.
saboteur - My best friend and I were so close until one of the other girls  in the group just became a saboteur and destroyed our trust and friendship.
debauchery - When I found out that there was a party thrown by seniors, as a freshman in college, I knew it was going to be a debauchery, so I refused to go.
proliferate - The business idea provided by the marketing manager of the company, the company proliferated as the buyers absolutely loved the scheme that the company provided.
anachronism - The minute I laid eyes on him, I could not help but think, "Is he an anachronism who accidentally landed in this time period?"
nomenclature - As his mom entered the room, he suddenly changed the nomenclature, so as to not get in trouble for using "that" kind of language.
expurgate - The editor of the newspaper basically expurgated half of her draft of her article.
bellicose - When he saw me with his best friend, he showed a bellicose attitude towards his best friend, as to prove to me that he's better.
gauche - When I first entered high school, I was the biggest gauche one could find in the world - filled with fear and anxiety.
rapacious - After hiking for 4 hours, I walked straight to the kitchen when I entered my house, I rapaciously gulped everything there was in the refrigerator.
paradox - The idea of having someone to always critic your work to guide you to success is the biggest yet the truest paradox one could find in life.
conundrum - For a preteen - entering high school - the biggest conundrum is to fit in.
anomaly - Being unique does not mean that a person is an anomaly.
ephemeral - My dad always says, "Success is ephemeral." You have to learn how to achieve it, then how to maintain it, and then how to cope once you lose it.
rancorous - Obviously you have rancorous hatred towards your archenemy.
churlish - You can't be churlish to others but at the same time expect others to be amiable to you.
precipitous - He is so talented that he doesn't think once before saying yes to mountain biking on a precipitous mountain.

TRANSMEDIA: CANTERBURY TALES DRAFT

I decided not to write anything out to experiment if my thoughts can be conveyed through just pictures and photos. As it has always been said, a picture is worth a 1000 words. Personally, I'm more of an imaginary individual who can picturize words written as text. But the technique of transmedia will allow me to learn something that I have never experienced before. Hopefully, I was able to convey it at least somewhat effectively compared to my writing.

CANTERBURY TALES ESSAY - TRANSMEDIA REMIX/COMPOSITION

           

                            

But still, we're all

Body Paragraph 1:

                     

   

   

Body Paragraph 2:

                                

Conclusion:

Thesis: Chaucer, while addressing every class of a population from wealthy to poor televises his writing (The Canterbury Tales) to the world in a way that is understandable to everybody, not just nobles. He achieves this by using a satirical tone and irony. By doing so he allows everyone to realize the basic characteristics of human nature, consisting of friendship and love, lies and deceit, holiness and spirituality, and competition and class all being part of each character - unifying all of them in one social class - humans.