VOCABULARY 2

• Accoutrements: personal clothing, accessories, etc.
• The young man gathered his accoutrements and left for the station with his unit.
• Apogee:   the point in the orbit of a heavenly body, especially the moon, or of a man-made satellite at which it is farthest from the earth; the highest or most distant point; climax.
• The novel was rather dull, and the plot hardly ever left the ground until one of the characters was brutally murdered, forcing the novel to reach its apogee and making things much more exciting.
• Apropos:  fitting; at the right time; to the purpose; opportunely/opportune.
• Most clichés are found to be quite apropos as long as they are fitting to the situation or discussion at hand. 
• Bicker:  to engage in petulant or peevish argument; wrangle.
• It is unhealthy in a relationship to constantly bicker over every little thing.
• Coalesce:  to unite so as to form one mass, community, etc.
• The two raindrops on my window met and coalesced into one big raindrop.
• Contretemps:  an inopportune occurrence; an embarrassing mischance.
• She caused a contretemps by spilling red wine all over the new carpet.
• Convolution:  a rolled up or coiled condition.
• The artist rolled a piece of twine until it became a small, spiraled convolution that he could use for his work.
• Cull:  to choose; select; pick.
• The bird culled only the best twigs and branches for his developing nest.
• Disparate:  distinct in kind; essentially different; dissimilar.
• As the only African American President in the history of the United States, Barrack Obama is quite disparate in color from his predecessors. 
• Dogmatic:  asserting opinions in a doctrinaire or arrogant manner; stubbornly opinionated.
• The dogmatic reverend only allowed himself to believe that Baptism is the true way to salvation, and he never consulted with other cultures or beliefs. 
• Licentious:  unrestrained by law or general morality; lawless; immoral.
• Miley Cyrus displayed licentious behavior on national television through promiscuous dancing and sexual harassment.
• Mete:  to distribute or apportion by measure; allot; dole.
• I sat quietly as my parents meted a proper punishment for my behavior.
• Noxious:  harmful or injurious to health or physical well-being.
• In some science laboratories, safety masks must be worn, because it is detrimental to breathe in the noxious gases within the vicinity.
• Polemic:  a controversial argument, as one against some opinion, doctrine, etc; a person who argues in opposition to another; controversialist.
• Even after the Cold War era, the polemic against communism still exists today in democratic America.
• Populous:  jammed or crowded with people.
• China is so populous that its people have resorted to bicycling from place to place, because traffic is so bad.
• Probity:  integrity and uprightness; honesty.
• That young lady possesses such probity that I trust her to do the right thing under any circumstance.
• Repartee:  a quick, witty reply or skill in making quick, witty replies.
• Kids who are familiar with being bullied verbally eventually develop repartee against their bullies.
• Supervene:  to take place or occur as something additional or extraneous.
• Pneumonia could supervene if you do not take it easy while diagnosed with a soar throat.
• Truncate:  to shorten by cutting off a part; cut short.
• The announcer truncated the man in the middle of his horribly long speech in order to save the crowd from boredom. 
• Unimpeachable:  above suspicion; impossible to discredit; impeccable.
• President Reagan is known to be unimpeachable for doing magnificent things for our country.

BEOWULF READING QUESTIONS

I was fortunate enough to receive help from my friends Edmond Yi, Mia Levy, Eli Esparza, and Javier Solis.
The first 14 questions were delegated to me.  The rest can be found in order on Edmond, Mia, Eli, and Javier's blogs respectively.

I found the text at this website <http://hs.auburn.cnyric.org/teachers/michael_sullivan/ap/s0095617f?textonly=>
I referred to SparkNotes when I needed help understanding the text.

Prologue: The Rise of a Danish Nation:

1. Shield was an orphan who was found in a boat on the waters, and he was a "late-bloomer," which made him highly unlikely to obtain power and rule the Danes.  When he died, he was given a huge funeral service where his body was cast away to sea, covered in armor and treasure.  Hrothgar is the great, great grandson to Shield.

Heorot is Attacked:

1. Under Hrothgar, Heorot was built, a grand mead-hall filled with treasures and festivities.  Grendel, a descendant of Cain, attacked Heorot and slayed many men.  He has been attacking the Danes for 12 years.  The desperate Danes tried everything to cast the demon away, and they had even worshiped pagan shrines to harm Grendel.

The Hero Comes to Heorot:

1. When Beowulf hears of Grendel's terror over the Danes, he leaves his home with 14 men to slay the demon and help Hrothgar.
2. When they first landed on Danish land, the Geats first met a watchman who guards the territory.  They assured him that they are not pirates and that they had come to help the Danes.  The watchman leads them to Heorot and assigns a guard to watch over their boat.
3. They meet Wulfgar, a proud warrior and herald to Hrothgar who is known for his wisdom.  He questions why Beowulf has come, and he tells them that they look like brave men and that he will deliver their message to Hrothgar.  Wulfgar tells Hrothgar of Beowulf's arrival and pleads that he will welcome them with a reply.  Hrothgar knows of Beowulf not only from story but also from experience, because he once knew his father when he was young.  It is not shocking that he has heard the legend of Beowulf due to Beowulf's strength, but it is surprising to me that it is such a "small world" that he would know Beowulf's father outside of legend.
4. Beowulf announces to Hrothgar that he is mighty and will slay Grendel and purify Heorot.  Hrothgar had once helped Beowulf's father by settling a feud that the Geats had with another tribe by sending treasure to them.  The Geats have a sworn allegiance to the South Danes. 

Feast at Heorot:

1. Unferth accused Beowulf of losing a swimming contest against Breca.  Beowulf describes that sea monsters had pulled him to the depths of the ocean, and after he had slayed 9 sea monsters, he was washed ashore.  This story relates to the poem by giving yet another example of Beowulf's greatness and strength.  Beowulf accuses Unferth of being a cowardly drunkard who cannot fight against Grendel himself.
2. During the feasting, Queen Wealhtheow offers a goblet to drink from to all of the ranks of men in Heorot.

The Fight With Grendel:

1. Instead of arming himself for his upcoming fight to the death with Grendel, Beowulf decided to disarm himself, rendering himself as an equal to Grendel, armor-less and weapon-less.
2. Grendel blasts through the doors of Heorot and feasts on one of Beowulf's men.  When he reached for Beowulf, though, Beowulf caught him, wrestled him, and tore off his arm as he was trying to escape.  Although Grendel barely escaped with his life, Beowulf knew that he would die from the loss of blood eventually from his mutilated arm.

Celebration at Heorot:

1. Beowulf was similar to Sigemund, because he was courageous and very well-known like Sigemund.  He was not like Heremod, because King Heremod became anxious and condemned and later, evil.
2. Hrothgar adopted Beowulf in his heart as a son and offered him every worldly treasure.  Unferth had nothing to say, because the arm of Grendel was evidence to Beowulf's strength and heroism.
3. In the story of Finn, King Finn and his people won a battle against the Danes.  His Queen Hildeburh was Danish, and she lost her son and brother in the battle.  In the end, the Danes make a truce to live separately from Finn's men while living under Finn's rule at the same time, but, after spending a winter with Finn's people, the Danes rise against Finn and slay them.  Hildeburh is later returned to Denmark with the Danes.  This story suggests that Hildeburh, Finn's bride, made Finn soft as time passed, and the Danes were then able to conquer him eventually.  A woman's touch could heal spite and hatred at least for a time.
4. Wealhtheow then asked Hrothgar not to adopt Beowulf as a son to inherit the kingdom, but as a friend who will help the kin of Hrothgar rule.  She wanted Hrothulf, an older cousin of her sons, to take the kingdom, because he is older and would take care of her sons.  She wanted Hrothgar to determine who would inherit his crown when he dies.

RESUMÉ ACCENT CODES

Here is a list of accent codes for the keyboard; so you can type things like áéíóú on your resumés!

http://symbolcodes.tlt.psu.edu/bylanguage/spanish.html

MY OPINION ISN'T (A) RIGHT

READING/SEMINAR NOTES

-The narrator threatens to take legal action against his child for denying him his sleeping rights
-"You don't have the rights you think you do"
-I don't have a "right to my own opinion"
-When debating, I can't say that I'm entitled to my opinion and expect my rival to change his opinion
-I DO have the right to have an opinion, but I DO NOT have a right to my opinion
-Interdependence- shared authority between other people
-My opinion needs facts and supporting evidence before it can be credible enough to change another's
-Limbic- emotional part of the brain that overtakes reason when flustered
-schema- routines of thinking to make things work

VOCABULARY 1

• Adumbrate: to outline; give a faint indication of.
• Great thinkers like Benjamin Franklin adumbrated their thoughts briefly to others while also recording them on paper.
• Apotheosis: the elevation or exaltation of a person to the rank of a god.
• After one of my piano recitals, an elderly woman approached me and embarrassed me to be the apotheosis of skill.
• Ascetic: a person who dedicates his or her life to a pursuit of contemplative ideals and practices extreme self-denial or self-mortification for religious reasons; exceedingly strict or severe in religious exercises or self-mortification.
• In some Catholic societies, there are a few ascetics who punish themselves physically for sinning in the eyes of their God.
• Bauble: a showy, usually cheap, ornament; trinket.
• As a child, I remember winning an unusual bauble in class that looked like it came from the dollar store.
• Beguile: to influence by trickery, flattery, etc.; mislead; delude.
• Be weary of the common thief who beguiles his victims artistically before he strikes.
• Burgeon: to grow or develop quickly; flourish.
• The small village burgeoned into a metropolis in only a few decades.
• Complement: something that completes or makes perfect.
• The flavorful dipping sauce served as the ideal complement to the party chips.
• Contumacious: stubbornly perverse or rebellious; willfully and obstinately disobedient.
• My little, contumacious cousin delights in badgering his father, especially after being asked to stop.
• Curmudgeon: a bad-tempered, difficult, cantankerous person.
• The old, Irish man was known to be the town's curmudgeon who seemingly hated most people and hollered at any passersby to stay off his property.
• Didactic: intended for instruction; instructive.
• The didactic parable's intention was to teach children the consequences of stealing.
• Disingenuous: lacking in frankness, candor, or sincerity; falsely or hypocritically ingenuous; insincere.
• Her enthusiasm for attending the new charter school down the road seemed disingenuous.
• Exculpate: to clear from a charge of guilt or fault; free from blame; vindicate.
• Martin Luther King Jr. was exculpated from prison because of his righteous intentions.
• Faux pas: a slip or blunder in etiquette, manners, or conduct; an embarrassing social blunder or indiscretion.
• In the older generations, maintaining proper etiquette was so important that a minor faux pas in front of an audience at any social gathering could damage a reputation.
• Fulminate: to explode with a loud noise; detonate.
• If I listen closely, I can hear Mr. Ferrari fulminate at his students from my calculus classroom.
• Fustian: a stout fabric of cotton and flax; pompous or bombastic, as language.
• My Aunt is known to be a fustian entrepreneur who shows off every little thing to the world in the most ridiculous and ostentatious manner.
• Hauteur: haughty manner or spirit; arrogance.
• That man may be rich, but he is greatly disliked because of his pride and hauteur.
• Inhibit: to prohibit; forbid.
• I inhibited my baby sister from playing outside in the cold weather without a coat.
• Jeremiad: a prolonged lamentation or mournful complaint.
• The strict teacher showed no sympathy for the student's jeremiad about the ridiculous amount of homework.
• Opportunist: a person who practices opportunism, or the policy of adapting actions, decisions, etc., to effectiveness regardless of the sacrifice of ethical principles.
• He is an extreme opportunist who would willingly jump head-first into any bargain for his desired results.
• Unconscionable: not guided by conscience; conscienceless.
• The unconscionable inmate never consulted reason or his conscience before assaulting a child.

REFLECTIONS ON WEEK 1

1.  Only a few minor factors will keep me from full participation in the class, and those consist of ASB/SDMC meetings scheduled throughout the year and varsity boys' golf during the spring season will force my absence approximately two times per week.  Regardless, I should be more than capable to manage and follow the blog.

2.  The most inspiring learning experience that I have ever taken was a recent one.  I went to UCLA to attend a forum on medicine and leadership, since I would like to be very active in both fields in the future.  I was introduced to the way medical students practice, which is called "problem-based learning (PBL)."  Through PBL, I was initiated into various situations in which a team of students was given various scenarios with evidence, and we had to make inferences similar to "solving a mystery," except at the end of the scenario, we had to diagnose a patient.  The whole forum, in general, was amazing, and PBL introduced me into a whole new way of learning.

3.  I am excited for the democratized learning, and this teaching method interests me because I have never seen anything like it yet.  In learning, I tend to look forward to being introduced to new things; so I have high expectations for this class.  Like Dr. Preston said, "The internet is the central nervous system of the world, and if we can tap into it, we have given ourselves the advantage."  Although I paraphrased that last quotation, I find this to be true and as practical as can be.  Tying myself into an advanced, learning social network will not only improve but enhance my capabilities in the future.

1987 AP EXAM ESSAY 2

   In Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible, many political and social customs were altered from the other-worldly dynamic of the Congo.  Kingsolver created new perspectives on Christianity and even the President of the United States simply by directing attention to a nation that lost its savior and a family that lost a child.  By utilizing corruption and betrayal as key themes throughout the novel, the attitude of the Price family drastically changed in the fields of politics and religion.
     By religion alone did the Price family's story begin.  Nathan Price, being a hot-headed evangelist set on saving the children of the Congo, forced his family to stay longer than intended in Kilanga against their will.  Although the Price girls saw the Reverend as a powerful and protective being near the beginning of the novel, that all changed immediately after the death of their precious Ruth-May.  As Nathan Price simply spectated the vanishing trust in his family, the rest of the girls ultimately left him due to their feelings of betrayal.  Since the Reverend symbolized the dwindling power of religion, the Price family set out onto a non-affiliated path, because they wanted nothing more to do with religion after their experience.
     Many times in the novel did Orleanna and her daughters make reference to the picture of the President Dwight D. Eisenhower that hung in one of their rooms in Kilanga, but as time passed, the way by which they saw their President changed.  After the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the rightful leader of the Congo, rumors reached the Price family that Eisenhower was behind it all.  Unexpectedly, corruption and betrayal struck again in the hearts of the Price family through the lying eyes of the trusted President himself.  This was just another example by which Kingsolver created an alteration in political and social attitude.
     Just as people today change their views on the President and religion, the same happened and even amplified for the Price family in The Poisonwood Bible.  After leaving the Congo with one less sister and no God to turn to, the Price family served as the perfect example of change in perspective.  How one perceives an aspect of society in the beginning may alter in the blink of an eye.

1987 AP EXAM ESSAY 1

     George Eliot described in her excerpt that leisure is no longer what it used to be.  "Leisure is gone--gone where the spinning-wheels are gone."  She explained that leisure had taken a more fast-paced and "eager" turn over the years, and "old leisure" exists no more.  Eliot personified the more preferred, old leisure in a clever way in order to convey her message.
     Through personification, Eliot displayed the old leisure to be simplistic, ideal, and free from the bustling plague of innovation.  For example, the "old leisure" is described to be a stout gentleman who enjoyed the Sunday paper and the shorter, afternoon church sermons that allowed him to take naps.  He enjoyed the little things and a quality of sleep only to be experienced by those who relaxed in the older form of leisure.  This innocence and carefree experience contrasts greatly with the ambitious and innovative leisure of Eliot's day by which scholars apply their minds to some form of science and entrepreneurs dedicate themselves to some new scheme.
     Although the leisure time in Eliot's day contrasted the "old leisure," free time in today's society is even worse.  Lately, the average amount of free time spent by a normal student is hunting for a million scholarships for college or competing with their rivals in a mathematics competition.  If the "old leisure" was personified as a stout, carefree gentleman, leisure today would be personified as a stressed and starving child who constantly works to make a name for himself.

1987 AP EXAM

NOTES:

Due to the fact that I was extremely tired while doing the entire AP assignment (which is horrible, and I recommend never trying it), I found the "Old English" much harder to read and comprehend for some reason.  I'm not sure if it was just me, but I only got 21 questions right.  Like all AP exams, I did expect the test to start off easier and gradually increase in difficulty, but by the time I reached "The Eolian Harp," I couldn't comprehend whether or not he was talking about a muse or muted air.  Although I did limit myself on time, I found "The Eolian Harp" section to be extremely difficult for some reason, whether it be from fatigue at the end of section 1 of the test or simply the fact that I couldn't understand the verse and syntax of the poem.

1987 AP EXAM MULTIPLE CHOICE

1.  C

2.  E

3.  C

4.  E

5.  C

6.  D

7.  A

8.  C

9.  B

10.  C

11.  B

12.  B

13.  D

14.  C

15.  A

16.  A

17.  A

18.  E

19.  B

20.  B

21.  E

22.  C

23.  B

24.  A

25.  E

26.  E

27.  E

28.  C

29.  E

30.  B

31.  B

32.  E

47.  B

48.  A

49.  B

50.  D

51.  B

52.  C

53.  E

54.  E

55.  D

56.  A

57.  C

58.  D

59.  D

60.  D

61.  E

MONTAIGNE/AUSTEN ESSAY

"Apples and Oranges"

     Style in literature certainly reflects through its authors, yet similarities remain prevalent when comparing almost any two authors with one another.  In the case of Michel de Montaigne, the essayist, and Jane Austen, the romantic, both authors display various thoughts and predictions of human nature within their common societies.  Although at first, the two writers' styles come off as differently as "apples and oranges," it only takes a couple of minor similarities in order to draw the two together.
     David Foster Wallace once wrote, "What goes on inside is just too fast and huge and all interconnected for words to do more than barely sketch the outlines of at most one tiny little part of it at any given instant."  Mostly, Montaigne's style of writing agrees with Wallace's quote.  Montaigne literally scratched the surface of every philosophical topic in his collection of essays, and as much as he probably would have loved to extend his essays and travel even further into his philosophies on idleness and cruelty and the like, there are definitely places within philosophy and the human mind that words cannot express.  Although Montaigne portrayed his views on various philosophical topics and strung along many allusions and references from his education in classic literature, he concluded his immense list of essays with "Of Experience," where he finally stated that it is human nature to employ experience when words simply cannot do the trick.  "By various trials experience created art."  Only in his last essay does Montaigne contradict Wallace's notion.
     Relating back to human nature, Jane Austen spent the entire novel, Pride and Prejudice, reflecting on the subject as well.  Although Austen did not necessarily incorporate the universal inclinations of humans that will persist throughout existence into her novel, she focused on the values and inclinations of the people found within the society she knew, which consisted of a class system by which reputation and rank outweighed personality.  In Pride and Prejudice, Austen displayed the British society and the class system that created arrogance within the higher class, as seen with Mr. Darcy.  All in all, through the utilization of the common plot scheme and style seen in modern literature, Austen managed to show how human nature bends to the desire to find love, while Montaigne would have rather chosen to write an essay on it.
     Montaigne and Austen are completely different individuals, but, as stated before, all writers indirectly possess at least a few similarities.  Just as both of their pieces contained an older style of English diction and were both written quite some time ago, the common theme of human nature was justified as well.  Although both authors wrote about this theme in very different ways, they are similar regardless.  "Apples and oranges" might be completely different fruits, but, in the end, one cannot argue against the fact that they are both round in shape and contain at least one thing in common.

POETRY #1

1.)  The commercial uses "The Laughing Heart" by Charles Bukowski.

2.)  It is ironic that the corporation is promoting individuality and the ability to transcend and "go forth," while, at the same time, the corporation wants the viewers to concede to their brand and purchase Levi jeans.

3.)  I believe the poem fits Bukowski's reputation as the child of European immigrants who sought for the American Dream, because the poem utilizes that transcendentalist feeling of reaching goals and going forth to make something of yourself.  Also, he was bullied as a child, but the ability to overcome obstacles like that in life is displayed well in the poem.  However, Bukowski was a harsh realist which contradicts the poem's dream-like quality.

4.)  In order to find the poem, I Googled the line "Your life is your life" and Charles Bukowski popped up.  That answered question one, but in order to answer question four, I skimmed various articles of Charles Bukowski online including articles from Wikipedia and other blogs.  I also verified my answer by checking the blogs of my peers which helped me gain a little more insight

Question 1: http://thebestamericanpoetry.typepad.com/the_best_american_poetry/2008/11/the-laughing-he.html
Question 4: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bukowski

Summer Reading Assignment Notes

The Poisonwood Bible

PLOT:
A missionary family (the Price family) move from their hometown in the States to live in Kilanga, a village in the Congo, in order to deliver God's Word to the people.  Nathan Price, the evangelist, is looked up to by te rest of the family.  He runs the church and tries very hard to convert the African people to God's will, but ends up failing time and time again, even while preaching with a translator, Anatole.  Political problems arise as Congo is fighting itself for independence.  The parrot, Methuselah, gets kicked out of the house and later dies.  Methuselah's death foreshadows more death and creates a time-change within the novel.  Things get more tense as Reverend Price shows no affection for her girls or her wife.  New aspects are gained from the Price family, and they show rebellion toward the master of the house.  Anatole and Leah grow close.  Army ants attack Kilanga.  Adah starts feeling betrayed by Orleanna.  Ruth May gets bit by a green mamba, which was planted by the local witch doctor.  Reverend Price still shows no response and forces family to live in Kilanga, but Orleanna packs the bags and decides to leave because the Congo is too dangerous.  Orleanna and Adah leave back to America.  Leah stays in the Congo and marries Anatole.  Rachel moves and marries many times throughout Africa and runs a hotel.  Later, they all meet up once Leah has kids and Adah is a doctor.  All of the girls remain forever changed from their experience in the Congo.

THEME:
The major theme of the story is betrayal.  Betrayal plays its part throughout the novel in the sense that the Bible should be shared, but instead, Reverend Price managed to create destruction for his family.  The kids and Orleanna feel betrayed by their father and even God Himself after the death of Ruth May.  They constantly question why bad things happened to good people.  "It's frightening when things you love appear suddenly changed from what you have always known"-Leah.

CHARACTERS:
Orleanna:  the mother of the family who shares the point of view of a loving, caring person
Rachel:  the drama queen who fixates on her appearance and social status. The eldest daughter.
Leah:  one of the twins who spent her youth influenced by her father.  She's a tomboy and very bright.
Adah: the other twin who overcomes her physical disability with her brilliance and wisdom
Ruth May: the baby of the family.  Her death ends the Price family relationship with Nathan Price
Nathan:  the pastor who tries to overcome his past in the infantry by walking with God.  Stubborn and ill-                    tempered
Anatole:  Leah's future husband.  Very wise, accepting, and kind.

OTHER:
The language of the Congo has various meanings for the same words.  Bangala could mean either poison-wood tree or precious.  When "Tata Price" preached that "Tata Jesus is Bangala," the title of the novel was expressed, because Reverend Price was teaching that Jesus is basically poison; hence The Poisonwood Bible.

FAVORITE QUOTE:
"Sometimes you just wanna lay down and look at the world sideways"-Ruth May.  I found that perspective is extremely important in this novel.  Since the story is told from many different points of view.  With Ruth May's simplistic style of speaking along with the way she incorporates perspective through a "sideways" world and how different everything looks, this quote struck a chord with me.


Pride and Prejudice

PLOT:
Mrs. Bennet is obsessed with marrying off each and every one of her 5 daughters.  Mr. Bingley, who is wealthy, is in town.  Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy go to a ball where the Bennet sisters go as well.  Jane hits it off with Mr. Bingley, but Mr. Darcy indirectly insults Elizabeth, the second eldest.  Mr. Darcy comes off as proud and egotistical.  Jane gets sick from traveling to Bingley's house; so she stays there.  Elizabeth visits her and meets Mr. Darcy again.  They still dislike each other.  Miss Bingley tries to get with Mr. Darcy constantly because he is apparently wealthy.  Mr. Collins, the man who will inherit the Bennet household comes in and tries to marry one of the Bennet girls.  He is annoying.  Wickham comes into the story and states that Mr. Darcy is selfish and jealous.  Elizabeth likes Wickham; plus, he is an officer who is charming.  Later, Mr. Darcy has Mr. Bingley leave because Jane seems to not love Bingley as he does for her, even though she is just shy.  Jane moves to London to try to find Bingley.  Charlotte, Elizabeth's best friend marries Mr. Collins for her own reasons.  Elizabeth visits Charlotte, which ultimately ends up in her visiting Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who is Darcy's aunt.  Darcy proposes to Elizabeth which she rejects.  She still dislikes him even though he loves her.  He writes Elizabeth a letter which clears his reputation.  Lydia runs away with Wickham.  Darcy ends up returning Lydia and paying Wickham's requested annual income for marrying Lydia, which restores the Bennet family's reputation.  Elizabeth's feelings for Darcy change, while Darcy's feelings for her remain unchanged.  Darcy and Bingley return to the are in which the Bennets live.  Bingley marries Jane, and Darcy marries Elizabeth.

THEME:
Love is one of the central themes.  It is a standard love story where love conquers all trials that stand between both Darcy and Elizabeth and Bingley and Jane.
Reputation is another theme, because the class system was very important during that era.  When Lydia also ran away with Wickham, the reputation of the Bennet family was on the line, which made the family very serious about the events that followed.
The last theme is the line, "don't judge a book by its cover."  Pride and Prejudice is a love story in which two characters misjudge each other from the start but ultimately fall in love after discovering their true personalities.

CHARACTERS:
Mrs. Bennet:  crazy mom who only wants to see her daughters married
Mr. Bennet: detached father who loves his daughters but thinks his wife is somewhat annoying and overly                          obsessed
Jane:  the eldest and most beautiful of the Bennet sisters who is shy and marries Bingley
Elizabeth:  the second eldest and most beautiful, who is witty and may be quick to judge.  Marries Darcy
Lydia:  the youngest and most immature and gossipy who marries Wickham
Darcy: a forward, honest, yet serious gentleman who says what he thinks.  He is extremely high-class
Bingley: an easy-going, generous, and wealthy gentleman

FAVORITE QUOTE:
"My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject forever"-Darcy.  I liked this quote because it sounded very cool to me as I read it.  Being a part of the romantic climax of the novel, this line displayed how Darcy was still madly in love with Elizabeth, yet he was willing to admit that he would have been willing to leave her alone if she so desired.


Essays of Michel de Montaigne

OVERVIEW:
This is a huge grouping of essays written by a French Renaissance essayist.  He displays many of his views on life.  It is a translated piece and is therefore very difficult to understand or comprehend.  The essays show a type of philosophy in which Montaigne analyzed through his many years of experience and deep thought the many universal truths that are held within the world.  Traits, characteristics, people in general, and any other thought that crossed his mind proved to be capable of an essay topic.  I have two favorite quotes from him.  "There is no desire more natural than that of knowledge.  We try all ways that can lead us to it; where reason is wanting, we therein employ experience."  This quote shares Montaigne's train of thought, and like all of his pieces, universal truth is found within every line.  "What do I know?" is my next favorite quote, because it poses a question only a philosopher like Montaigne would ask.  After writing countless essays on sleep, idleness, experience, lies, etc., he still contains a sense of modesty and humility within all pieces of his writing that the credit for his thoughts should almost not even be granted to him.  Although I found it extremely difficult to understand much of his writing, I enjoyed the many hidden gems that he had to offer.

BIG QUESTION

Do we help others for the sake of helping others, or do we simply do it to say we did it? To clarify, I look around at a humanitarian community service project and see all of the other volunteers seemingly fake their smiles and get through the day. I've always asked myself, do they really enjoy helping others or do they simply wish to add "save the world" to their resume to achieve a sense of higher merit? I guess my question could expand onto something more vague, like are people born good (even though I do believe they are)? Has society shaped the students of America to become so competitive with one another that their values for other human beings almost vanish?

Essay Assignment #1

Enlightenment From Exile

     To be exiled is to be alone.  In The Poisonwood Bible, Kingsolver utilized the true meaning of exile by creating a huge cultural and geographical distance between the Price family's familiar home to their mission in the Congo.  Although each and every member of the Price family found themselves stranded seemingly on an entirely different planet known as Kilanga, one special invalid truly adopted the life of loneliness.  Adah, the impaired twin of Leah, ventured throughout her life knowing that she would always be different from everyone else around, yet while she faced her disabilities and lived a lonely lifestyle, she also gained new, enlightening perspectives on betrayal, truth, and the ways of life through experience and years of deep thought.
     Throughout her teenage years, Adah could not relate to any of her peers.  Either due to physical disability or skin tone, Adah perceived herself as an outcast to the society she had been placed into.  Even her own family members regarded her as "slow" and placed her second on their list of protective priority as seen in the episode with the army ants.  Finding herself exiled by the rest of the world and marked as the girl who dragged her feet when she walked, the little invalid truly faced a life of exile.  As years passed, Adah replayed the incident with the army ants over and over again in her head and questioned her mother's choice to leave her for dead, and she felt from that day forward that she was truly alone in the world.  Although Adah did not express emotion like the others in the novel, she still managed to acquire the lingering emptiness that is gained through exile.  Once she had spent many chapters focusing on the events of her life and realized the ways in which the world turned its back on her, she remained a changed person throughout the rest of the novel.  As in reality, exile effects people in the same manner.
     Exile, similar to the many trials of life, may also have enriching effects on one's life.  Referring again to Adah from The Poisonwood Bible, she gained a sense of enlightenment through her exiled past.  Even as a teenager, Adah's introverted lifestyle gifted her with the ability to grasp secondary language and alternative meaning to everything.  Instead of communicating with the others around her, Adah chose to reflect on past events and gain deeper understanding of life.  Changed from her life in the Congo, she used her wisdom to set high goals and become accepted as a vital component in the field of medicine where she later grew as an individual and achieved great things.  Without her rough history as an exile, she would not have been able to achieve what she did.  Her loneliness as a child opened her mind passed her previous boundaries and enriched her future.
     Nobody on planet earth would want to feel the pain and emptiness felt while being exiled, but a life of self-reflection lacking outer influences could be a gift in itself.  Although the life of loneliness can be perceived as nothing more than a curse, this lifestyle still served Adah well in the end.  Whether viewed as a curse or a gift, exile, like all walks of life, could lead to a fulfilling sense of enlightenment.  Adah served as an example in order to teach readers to be willing to endure a life of struggle to ultimately obtain wisdom and success.