Thinking Outside The Box

             Plato describes the limitations of our thinking through knowledge whereas Sartes describes our limitations through isolation. Through "Allegory in the Cave", Plato expresses that people are oblivious to the world around them and only have it within themselves to find greater knowledge. People were scared to embrace new knowledge at first but found in time that there was so much to be discovered. From this we learned that the only way to gain more knowledge is to pursue it.

          From Sartes point of view our knowledge is limited by what other people tell us; their truths and lies. It is as if we have no control over what we know if we can't discern what is truth and what is fiction. In order to gain knowledge it is up to us to surround ourselves with people who will be honest and help us further our knowledge. Both Plato and Sartes show that only open-mindedness can allow us to gain knowledge.

Ap Lit Term

Farce: A boisterous comedy involving ludicrous action and dialogue; foolish show; mockery; a ridiculous sham; a light, humorous play in which the plot depends upon a skillfully exploited situation rather than upon the development of character.


Frasier:

Cartoon Farce 

Big Question Revised

What environmental, social, and psychological factors lead to the development of a serial killer?

Literature Analysis 3

The Great Gatsby

1.The Great Gatsby is focused around Nick Carraway, a young man from Minnesota, who moves to New York in the summer of 1922. He finds himself in West Egg, an area that is populated by the rich. Nick Carraway's neighbor is Jay Gatsby, a rich, highly mysterious man, who throws lavish over the top parties every weekend. Nick gets invited to one of Gatsby's parties, and through Nick's newfound love interest, Jordan, Nick is able to learn a bit about Gatsby. He founds out Gatsby is madly in love with a woman named Daisy, who he has not spoken to in years. Daisy happens to be Nick's cousin and married to a man name Tom. Regardless of this marriage, Gatsby and Daisy start a love affair. Things turn awry when Tom confronts Gatsby. This confrontation leads to a distressed Daisy taking Gatsby's car and driving off. In the midst of all this chaos Daisy ends up hitting and killing a woman named Myrtle. Myrtle's husband thinking Gatsby was driving the car ends up shooting Gatsby and killing him. Nick throws a funeral for Gatsby where there is little attendance. Nick then ends up cutting off all relationships he has in West Egg and returns to the Midwest.

2. The theme of the novel The Great Gatsby the destruction of the  American Dream. These characters were after wealth rather than happiness. Being so consumed by money and social status eventually led to the corruption of the true American Dream. This corruption not only destroyed the American Dream, but also destroyed relationships, like that of Gatsby and Daisy.

3. The author's tone in The Great Gatsby is cynical.

-"This was untrue. I am not even faintly like a rose."

-"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made..."

-"I shook hands with him; it seemed silly not to, for I felt suddenly as though I were talking to a child."

4. The author used similes, imagery, symbolism, allusion, and foreshadowing in order to convey the theme and tone.

Simile: Similes occur regularly throughout this novel

-"In his blue garden men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars."

Imagery: The author is very detailed when describing the world that Nick has entered.

An example of imagery is the constant use of the color green throughout the novel

Symbolism: The green light at Daisy's house represented the unattainable for Gatsby

-"A single green light, minute and faraway, that might have been the end of a dock..." 

Allusion: There are numerous references throughout the entire work to literature, such as the John L Stoddard Lectures, and Hopalong Cassidy.

Foreshadowing: Throughout the entire novel the author foreshadows the demise of Gatsby

-"He snatched the book from me and placed it hastily on its shelf muttering that if one brick was removed the whole library was liable to collapse.”

Question

Is there any correlation between serial killers and people with mental illnesses?

Performative Utterance

            Performative Utterance is a sentence, which does something in the world rather than describing something about it. Throughout the entire Hamlet play Hamlet’s actions were written in words, which is the basis of performative utterance. The words that Hamlet spoke constituted his actions and decisions. Performative utterance is not only affects Shakespeare’s works characters, but also affects everyday people.

            The entire plot of Hamlet was set in motion by performative utterance. For instance, Hamlet’s revenge towards his uncle was written in words. It was right there for the reader to see. "Foul deeds will rise, Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes." Hamlet’s intentions were laid out on the page. In everyday live although our lives are not compromised in books, peformative utterance can be seen. In life when you say statements like “I’m sorry”, or “Your fired”, your words are performing an action. Without performative utterance words would have no use.

            Along with performative utterance comes the idea of self-overhearing. Self-overhearing is basically thinking about your own thinking, or thinking about the words you say. Self-overhearing can ultimately change what actions you take in life. For instance Hamlet’s “To be or not to be”, was an entire segment of self-overhearing. What Hamlet was saying out loud to himself caused him to rethink the pros and cons of death rather than making a rash decision. In my everyday experience I constantly self-overhear. For instance if I friend talks to me about a situation, then I go discuss that situation with someone else I find myself changing my views based on what I am saying out loud. In Hamlet, self-overhearing drove the plot of the play and ultimately, along with performative utterance decided the outcome of the play.

            When it came to memorizing the “To be or not to be” soliloquy, I found that the idea of self-overhearing was very relevant. As I read aloud the soliloquy I found myself deducing a different meaning than what I thought when I just read the words. I assume this was the same affect that Shakespeare had on his characters. When they read their thoughts aloud the meaning was different than what might have been assumed just by seeing words on paper. Voicing their thoughts, especially in Hamlet’s case, caused the characters to change their mind about ideas or decisions they had.

            Self-overhearing and performative utterance also changes expectation and real world results. In cases of self-overhearing, what one person might expect might change after they really think about say their thoughts allowed. Real world results are entirely connected performative utterance. They words you choose to say can relay in an action just like in Hamlet. Everything that was said resulted in some sort of action. Both self-overhearing and performative utterances are crucial to plays like Hamlet and to everyday life. They are some of the driving forces of our thought processes and actions.

Hamlet AP Essay

     The use of language in Hamlet differs greatly from epic tales like Beowulf or The Iliad. In epics the language is used to tell a story rather than to portray thoughts and feelings. In Hamlet language is used to get into the mind of the character and understand first hand how the character is feeling. This can't be said for epics like Beowulf and The Iliad.
         
     In Hamlet first hand emotions are witnessed due to the use of language. For instance, the entire "To be or not to be" soliloquy comes directly from the mind of Hamlet. The reader gets to delve into Hamlet's head and experience what his thought processes are. The language is used in a conversational matter rather than a in a narrative manner. This makes Hamlet a more realistic character because he deals with emotions and everyday conflicts.
      
       In epics like Beowulf, the language is used in a didactic manner. Because of this, epics like Beowulf and the Iliad, are not easily related to everyday life. Readers are not allowed to get into the minds of these characters and really find out what they think. The language used in epics creates an overview of the characters lives, unlike in Hamlet, where you are right along with him as he makes his decisions. 
       
       Language is also used in Hamlet to directly express how one characters feels towards another. For instance, when Hamlet and Ophelia talk they express there feelings towards each other verbally. This ends up with Hamlet telling Ophelia to go to a nunnery. In epics characters don't really use there language to express their feels towards each other. Relationships can be inferred but they are not as easily seen as they are in Hamlet. 
         
        Hamlet seems to be an easier story to relate to because the reader does get to be alongside Hamlet as he makes decisions and experience emotional turmoil. Language is not just used to tell a story in Hamlet, but it is also used to develop Hamlet. It is as if Hamlet is a real person because we get to see his emotions. In epics like Beowulf, characters are just that, characters. We don't get to see them develop as people. The use of language in Hamlet has a far greater impact than the use of language in epics.
   

   

What I've Learned

            The most important thing I have learned from this class is that your success is not measured by the letter grade, but by how much you take away from the course. If you only ever work to earn the grade you  hold yourself back from all the knowledge you can attain. I find that I am more involved in grasping as much information as I can in this class because I'm not just trying to get a letter grade on a piece of paper. Our success is based on how much we are willing to absorb throughout the course and how much we will strive to understand new ideas and concepts.

Roy Christopher Conference

Facts about Roy Christopher

• Roy didn't plan on getting involved in the computer culture, but now he owns four computers
• Worked for Frontwheeldrive.com for 10 years
• Self-published his book because he couldn't find a publisher and interview books don't sell well
• It took about four years before he got a big response to his book
• Working on a new book called Medium Picture

Important Ideas from the Conference

• Hip Hop culture is the blueprint to 21 century culture
• Older generations don't trust the youth with new technology
• Most people that use computers don't do programming 
• The internet can be both a time saver and a time waster

Quotes

• "Program or be programed"
• "Sometimes we will, sometimes we won't"