Self Search

When searching my name, I found my Facebook and Myspace were the easiest to come across. Those and my Maxpreps stats from when I played basketball were the only sites that actually were referring to me. I found plenty other Nathan Seidenbergs which was suprising because that is not a very common name. I found a police officer, a history teacher, and many Nathan Seidenbergs who have already passed away.

Thinking Outside the Box

In Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" and in Sartre's "No Exit" they explain the limitations of the human mind. They have different ways of showing it, but both demonstrate that being closed-minded can limit you in ways you don't realize. (Because you're closed-minded)

In Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" he decribes people being chained up in a cave. He compares those people to people in his own culture. They are close minded, but it's not their fault because they don't know any better. They don't know whats out there. I think the only solution to this is to spread the word that there is always more out there that we don't know of.

In Sartre's "No Exit" there are 3 people in there own little hell together. They realize they're dead. but they lie to eachother as to why they are in hell. We are limited to what we know about other people because other people aren't always honest. The hell they are in doesn't cause physical pain and torture, just mental. The only solution is to open up their minds and be honest with eachother.

In both stories, their inability to think outside the box and get away from personal limitations keeps them trapped in there own ways. In order for them to be free from these limitations they must realize and accept their flaws, (No Exit) or think outside the box and expand your mind to what else is out there. (Allegory of the Cave)

Ap Term

Irony

Irony is the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, usually for a humorous effect.
Earlier today I was playing basketball with my friend and he slips and falls. I start laughing at him and making fun of him. 5 seconds later I drive to the basket and slip in the same spot. That's irony.

Literature Analysis #3

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

1. Lord of the Flies begins with a plane full of young boys crashing on an uninhabited island. Only the kids survived and they are forced to live on the island until they can figure out how to get home. They select Ralph as the chief and everything seems fine to start out. The boys start to separate and Jack becomes the chief of his own tribe called “the pig hunters.” After a while Ralph and Piggy realize more and more boys are going to Jack’s side and they are becoming the hunted rather than the hunters. The boys start acting more and more like animals and even Piggy is killed. Ralph becomes the pig hunters’ only target and just as they are going to kill him, they are rescued by a naval officer.

2. The main theme in this novel is a loss of innocence. At the beginning of the story, the boys play games and have fun because they don't have any parents to tell them what to do or how to live. Eventually, they start developing a savage lifestyle. They begin to plot and kill each other and almost become animals. The fact that they put a pig head on a stick and worshipped it like a “God” showed their transformation. It shows their change in attitude and their loss of innocence.

3. Golding’s tone is very dark. He has a very negative view on the plot. He is also very violent describing the actions between the boys.

- "Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!"
- "Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!"
- “There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast. . . . Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!


4.  Symbolism
- "The conch glimmered … a white blob against the place where the sun would rise. He pushed back his mop."

Foreshadowing
- "There was no light left save that of the stars."

Diction
- "The crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words … but the tearing of teeth and claws."

Imagery
- "The water rose farther and dressed Simon's coarse hair with brightness. The line of his cheek silvered and the turn of his shoulder became sculptured marble."

Characterization
- "He was shorter than the fair boy and very fat…looked up through thick spectacles."

The Big Question

What are the qualities of nonmainstream art that fail to resonate with a wide audience?

Performative Utterance in Hamlet

Hamlet is a man of indecision; he can’t make out what is going on in his thoughts. His problem is thinking too much. If he said everything he thought he would be considered mad, which he is. He has good ideas he just can’t put the proper thoughts to words, instead he just goes on and on about stupid things going on in his head. The way Hamlet speaks influences the reader as well as all the characters in the story. He comes across as a crazy man that really has no plan and just acts off of his emotion. He just makes it seem that way. His performative utterance is what makes him so smart. By rambling on and acting like he is stressing over little things he makes his opponents under estimate him when really he has a plan all along.

Hamlet has some anxiety, I can relate to how Hamlet is because I have similar thoughts. Not that I want to kill my uncle, just that I over think things. The only difference is my thoughts actually stay in my head. I don’t actually say them out loud like Hamlet does. When I reflect on my thoughts, I try not dwell on what came to mind. I usually realize it was irrational and it wasn’t important. If I get excited about something in my thoughts, I give it huge expectations and if whatever I was excited about doesn’t end up happening, I’ll be devastated.

One example of performative utterance in my life is memorizing Hamlets soliloquy. That was a huge struggle mentally. It was very hard to stay confident that I could do it, because as I was memorizing I caught my self thinking, “this will never work, I’ll never be able to memorize this.” Obviously those are not good thoughts to have when you are trying to memorize a soliloquy like “To be or not to be.”

I think it’s ironic that I experienced performative utterance while reading an article about performative utterance. It was a very long article and I had just gotten out of surgery, so I was tired and every part of me was telling me to stop reading and go to sleep, but I couldn’t let my self do that. I was fighting my thoughts just so I could finish the article and catch up with the rest of the class.

I don’t think Hamlet and I share much in common, but I know we share the traits of anxiety and over thinking. I’m just glad I can handle my sanity better than he can. He is very dramatic with his thoughts and it causes him to get in a lot of trouble. I just hope I never end up plotting to kill my uncle, he’s quite a nice man.

Hamlet and Beowulf Essay

There are many differences between Hamlet and Beowulf. Some people may say physical strength is the main difference, but their uses of language stick out as the major difference to me. Hamlet tends to talk to himself rather than other people. He just goes over things in his head again and again and then recites them in a ridiculous speech. He thinks about both the good and bad sides of his actions. Beowulf doesn't think through his actions or his thoughts out loud. He just tells us what he is going to do without any delay. He doesn’t debate on what to do he just goes out and does it.

                                              

Hamlet uses language mainly to think about, well just about everything, out loud.  Hamlet overhears himself giving him a better understanding of his own thoughts. He has a little debate with himself as if he has multiple personalities talking to one another. I think of him as a walking panic attack. "To sleep--perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub, For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause." This is an example of self overhearing. Hamlet uses this tool to gain a deeper understanding of how he is thinking. This information also helps us readers understand Hamlet better because we get to take a trip into his (extremely) active mind. 

On the other hand, Beowulf uses his language to tell us what he is going to do. He describes his plans briefly, but doesn't use his language to talk things through. "This fiend is a bold and famous fighter, but his claws and teeth... beating at my sword blade, would be helpless. I will meet him with my hands empty--unless his heart fails him, seeing a soldier waiting weaponless, unafraid. Let God in His wisdom extend His hand where He wills, reward whom he chooses!" Unlike Hamlet, Beowulf uses his language for the benefit of others rather then his own. He uses his words to motivate others and encourage them. Beowulf is also very wise and inspirational with his words "Often, for undaunted courage fate spares the man it has not already marked." Hamlet would just use words to beat him self up or debate about his own thoughts.
 

Hamlet and Beowulf are characters that use language in very different ways.  Hamlet uses language to deeply think things through and analyze them. Beowulf uses language to encourage others and state his plan without hesitation or fear. Language is the reason that two heroically similar characters are so drastically different.

Procrastination

I had the hardest time with procrastination. If I had multiple days to complete an assignment, I would wait until 10 PM the night before it's due, to start it. I had a serious problem and it was affecting my grades. This class really helped me get over my procrastinating ways. In this class, there's no way to procrastinate because if you do, you are already very far behind. This class is perfect for me in the long run because it has broken my habit of procrastinating just in time. Now I can go to college, and manage my time better since I have this practice.

Roy Christopher Notes

- Christopher said he got into all this by accident basically. He just wanted to write and didn’t really expect this.

- "The medium is the message.” The "medium" is within the message that we embrace that makes a relationship that allows the medium to influence how the message is viewed.

- This new online community spreads around the world and creates a mash up of all cultures. It creates different views and ideas from different cultures.

- Christopher’s generation had the TV and that was basically it for technology, but at the time it was advanced. We have the web and all these new technological items, but in the future what we have will be out of date and there will be something new.

 - By becoming aware of the technology we are using, we can help to not let it take us over. "Program or be programmed." In this case ignorance is definitely not bliss.

- Multi tasking was a subject that was talked about a lot. There are mixed views about multi tasking, but I think in the long run it is good to get used to multi tasking because it helps train our brain. This ties in with the whole “decision fatigue” conversation as well.