All that David Copperfed kind of crap

I've seen the movie "Gone With the Wind" just about a hundred times, and there's that scene where Melanie Wilkes is reading David Copperfield and says,"Chapter One:  I am born." That was all I really needed to hear to assume, and correctly, that David Copperfeld is incredibly boring and focuses on a lot of tiny details just to introduce characters or show the setting, etc. He didn't do that so much in Great Expectations, but Salinger was trying to make people understand that this wasn't going to be a boring book, so don't expect it to be. Dickens does tend to focus a lot on what things look like, even though Great Expectations is told through the eyes of a child through some parts, and The Catcher In the Rye doesn't at all.

AP prep post 1: Siddhartha

1. A bildungsroman, or coming-of-age novel, recounts the psychological or moral development of its protagonist from youth to maturity, when this character recognizes his or her place in the world. Select a single pivotal moment in the psychological or moral development of the protagonist of a bildungsroman. Then write a well-organized essay that analyzes how that single moment shapes the meaning of the work as a whole.

I'm not going to write an essay, but I would write something about how often times, a "bildungsroman" has felt, for a while, that they don't belong in the group, family, etc. in which they were raised, and meets someone or realizes something that is their call to action on their journey. That moment shapes the rest of the meaning of the work because it makes it about finding yourself not conforming to society/others around one.

2. During his stay with the Samanas, Siddhartha did all of the following except
a. grew his beard
b. aided the poor
c. went without food
d. abjured humanity
e. meditated deeply

I can't answer this one because I've never read the novel.

3. After learning the main tenets of Gotama’s Eightfold Path, what does Siddhartha do?
(A) Questions Gotama privately about the specifics of his spiritual recommendations
(B) Acknowledges Gotama’s beliefs as making up the one true faith
(C) Insists to Govinda that they leave immediately
(D) Attempts to return to the Samanas, but fails to locate their whereabouts

Can't answer this one either

4. If you were the river, would you be enlightenment or would you know enlightenment? In other words, what's up with the river? What is it’s relation to enlightenment? What does enlightenment look like in Siddhartha? Is it a feeling? An attitude?

Again, I can't really answer this one, but I think it sounds interesting now that I know there is some sort of conscious river in it.

5. Explain Siddhartha’s journey in terms of a “quest;” at the same time explain how Siddhartha is an allegory for Buddhism itself.

Siddhartha's journey is about finding himself, and Buddhism is about focusing on yourself and reincarnation, which is a journey itself.

For the AP exam. I would have to have a lo of knowledge about other things that I otherwise  wouldn't, like Buddhism. You can't google Buddhism in the middle of an exam, so it's kind of difficult to know what you'll need to know before you take the test. You have to be able to put yourself in the shoes of the character that the question is asking about.

Literary terms

allegory-- As a literary device, an allegory in its most general sense is an extended metaphor
alliteration-- use of similar consonants: a poetic or literary effect achieved by using several words that begin with the same or similar consonants
allusion-- Allusion is a figure of speech, in which one refers covertly or indirectly to an object or circumstance from an external context.
ambiguity-- doubt about meaning: a situation in which something can be understood in more than one way and it is not clear which meaning is intended
anachronism-- chronological mistake: something from a different period of time, e.g. a modern idea or invention wrongly placed in a historical setting in fiction or drama
analogy-- comparison: a comparison between two things that are similar in some way, often used to help explain something or make it easier to understand
analysis-- the process of breaking down a something into its parts to learn what they do and how they relate to one another.
anaphora-- repetition for effect: the use of the same word or phrase at the beginning of several successive clauses, sentences, lines, or verses, usually for emphasis or rhetorical effect.
anecdote-- somebody's account of something: a short personal account of an incident or event
antagonist-- a character, group of characters, or institution that represents the opposition against which the protagonist or protagonists must contend
antithesis-- used in writing or speech either as a proposition that contrasts with or reverses some previously mentioned proposition, or when two opposites are introduced together for contrasting effect.
aphorism-- succinct comment: a succinct statement expressing an opinion or a general truth
apologia-- justification: a formal, usually written, defense or justification of a belief, theory, or policy
apostrophe-- rhetorical term for breaking off discourse to address some absent person or thing.
argument-- disagreement: a disagreement in which different views are expressed, often angrily
assumption-- something taken for granted: something that is believed to be true without proof
audience-- people watching performance: a group of people assembled to watch and listen to a show, concert, movie, or speech
characterization-- portrayal of fictional character: the way in which the writer portrays the characters in a book, play, or movie
chiasmus-- inverted word order in phrase: a rhetorical construction in which the order of the words in the second of two paired phrases is the reverse of the order in the first.

Siddhartha notes

Find theme, plot, characterization, central message, tone

Central message-- Don't be restricted by your culture or your parents or anything else. Finding out who you are is a part of life that shouldn't be avoided.
Theme-- Loss of self
Plot-- Leaving family to do his own thing. Whatever he wants to do, he now can without fear of backlash from anyone.
Tone-- The author leaves a lot up to the reader to decide (as explained by Dr. Preston). The attitude toward Siddhartha is understanding, like at one point the author felt the way Siddhartha does.
Characterization-- A lot of the characterization is indirect, told by Siddhartha himself. "How deaf and stupid I have been, he thought, walking on quickly." When he says this, we know that he is hard on himself. He is also intuitive, seeing that others fit in with the Brahmins while he maybe wasn't meant to.
Dr. Preston dared me to do this, so I'm just going to include that while he was reading the passage as it was projected on the board, I was reading along mentally in Cartman's voice and had a really hard time not laughing.

Literature Analysis #2

Okay so, I know we aren't really supposed to do lit analyses on short stories or poems or anything, but I came across a great article (that was actually really long) about how history is important to us today, which is what my masterpiece/big question is on. I doubt I will be able to find many books on the same topic. At least, not any interesting ones.

The Importance of History
by David Crabtree

Topics/Events
1. a) The article talked a lot about how history can be distorted based on how individuals bring past experiences with them when they are presented with a historical event. It makes it problematic when you're trying to teach people something because some people will take it differently than other people and two completely different versions of history emerge. The way that history is viewed can change with the progression of society. Learning from history is possible if we decide to listen, and yes, it can teach us how to solve the problems that we now face.
b)
2. I think he wrote about it because he's concerned with the lack of interest in history. He says that in this "time of progress," it would be backwards to look to the past when we're all about "going forward."
3. I read this article as part of the "next step" involving our big questions.
4. A lot of the theories it threw out there, including the one about how your past impacts how you view history, I hadn't heard before and I'm not really sure if I buy a lot of it. I know that history gets distorted a lot, sometimes by people who want it to fit their political agenda, but I've never heard of someone arriving at a different conclusion than someone else when presented with historical fact because they are or aren't religious. Some of it was believable, like how understanding history can help you solve similar problems in the future, but I think a lot of it was just his own opinion.

People
1. The only characters in the article are a short passage involving his kids, and the other authors he mentions. The passage with his kids isn't long enough to say anything about how he represented them based on experience (despite the fact that his kids sometimes get into arguments) but he used the other authors' books as evidence for his theory of history being understood differently. He took parts of the books and compared them with each other and used what the authors said to prove his theory. To do this, he had to draw conclusions on what the authors were like as people because of what they wrote. So, he could very well have fabricated some of what the authors were like and left the reader with a completely different mental picture of them than what they are.
2. There was no physical description of the kids or the other authors, but I would use direct characterization for the one that's religious and indirect characterization for the one that isn't and holds more sinister views of the subject that was being discussed. The religious one would be depicted as a happy optimist and, because I now associate the non-religious one with negativity. that author would be depicted as a pessimist and rather gloomy.
3. They weren't particularly interesting to write about, but they were necessary to mention because it provided the evidence for the theory that Crabtree introduced.

Style
1. Crabtree used a "journalistic" style, because it was an informative piece. "Howard Zinn’s portrayal of Columbus could scarcely be more different from Marshall’s. His presentation is rooted in a very different understanding of the essence and value of history. Zinn is outraged by the traditional
practice of telling the history of a nation as though all members of that nation shared the same interests."
2. Crabtree focuses a lot on the opinions of the other authors and the significant passages from their books.
3.
4.
5. Crabtree cites Christopher Columbus, Mariner by Samuel Eliot Morison, Columbus, the Tool of God by Peter Marshall, and Columbus, the Oppressor by Howard Zinn. It supported his theory but didn't address the issue of whether or not history is important.

Enduring Memory
I will remember this article because I had never thought about someone's life affecting how they react to a history lesson. That was a really interesting idea to me. And it made sense, because if a person is learning about someone that is religious, and the person has had really bad past experiences with religion or religious people, then they will take a different perspective than someone who is religious. "Peter Marshall has a very different perspective. He sees Columbus as a key figure in God’s grand plan to establish a very special country, unique in the history of the world....
From this perspective (Zinn), Columbus is the quintessential oppressor. From the outset of the expedition Columbus was intent on extracting wealth from the native."

Big question next steps

I was originally thinking about immortality and if such a thing is possible, and eventually that lead me to thinking about ancient history and how looking back to their civilizations and ways of life could help us further today's modern societies. I've always loved learning about history. It was always my favorite class in school, but it seems like there are a lot of people who don't retain the things they learn (or just don't consider it important). But it is important because "if you don't know history, you are doomed to repeat it" or something like that, and I think that's true. We've already pulled a lot of ancient ideas to use today, like forms of government. But eventually all of those civilizations fell, and that's not something people really think about. If history does repeat itself, then why can't we look back and try to find an accurate way to avoid it? Obviously, circumstances change and the world has different superpowers than it did thousands of years ago, so we can't exactly pinpoint how our country, or world, will fall apart. But there is no harm that could come from trying to avoid the mistakes made by people just like us thousands of years ago, and that goes for everybody. I hope it will get others to think about history more and put more value on it.
I don't think there are any skills required to learn about history, but finding ways to apply it to today could take some critical thinking.. My plan would be to go to the Getty Museum that houses artifacts from ancient Greece and Rome and just spend a day there learning about how people lived back then and what life was like because I don't think that, in their day to day life, they were that different. That's a huge thing to realize because at the end of the day, we're all the same, no matter where we're from or what era we live in. I don't think there's anyone in particular I would like to meet, but if there's a friendly curator who wouldn't mind spending the day talking about everything I see then that would be great. Obviously, I would like to take some people with me, so a car (or van, depending on how many want to go) I would need. The trip would be just to get an idea, and help others get an idea, of how important history is to us. I'll post updates of how things are going and working out, and a final post just to sum up what was learned and what everyone thought.

Something about poetry

I used to write poetry, or try to, but I don't anymore because honestly most of it wasn't that good. It's relaxing to write it though, and it feels good to get something off your chest. No one has to read it, but you can still keep it to find a few years later when you've forgotten all about it. I prefer reading it, and I like ones that tell stories, like "The Highwayman." "Gunga Din" is a good one, too. And if music is poetry, which it pretty much is, then I like listening to poetry, too. I think that writing something or singing something is the most powerful way to get a message across, especially if it has to do with something controversial and if the lyrics are impactful.