Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Notes~Unit 4

BATTLE OF BIRMINGHAM-
this was about a protest that was going on. A little girl asked her mom if she could go down and protest too. Her mother said no, but she could go to the church and pray. Later on when the girl went to the church, it got blown up and the girl and other people died.

MALCOM X-
Malcolm X was an African-American Muslim minister, public speaker, and human rights activist. He stood up for the rights of African-Americans.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
Mart luther king was a very immportant role model to the african-americans. He was an activist and a leader in the african american civil rights movement. He led the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955. Then in 1963 he led the March on Washington where he presented his very famous speech called "I Have a Dream".He was later assassinated for standing up for what rights he should have on April 4, 1968.

COMING OF AGE IN MISSISSIPPI.
Written by Anne Moody. This books shows how much a difference a few people can make. She and two others went to a sit in and the whites or most threw things at them. (Did not sit in the "proper" place for blacks). Things like mustard, ketchup, sugar, pies, and more. (Another thing they did was grabbing one by her hair and dragged her across the floor). They stayed to stand up for their beliefs. A whit woman named Joan even joined them after Memphis was kicked repeatedly in the face and then arrested (along with man who did it to him). She was even taken out of the store, but came right back in. She, like them, would not back down. More and more come to join them, but people still do not back down. They would not get over the fact that they were sitting where they were "not" supposed to. It is just crazy that these people would even think to treat them this way. During another rally they show them that they will keep standing up for their beliefs and overcome in order to do so.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Declaration of Independence

The list of complaints begins with "He..."
1. Why do they repeat it? They repeat it to make it more meaningful. They want it to be really personable; so when they say He, they mean the King. The king is doing all the mean things to these people.
2. Why do they make it personal? To make it more meaningful and dramatic. They want this to really mean something. They are so badly wanting independence from England (Great Britian). They really want England to realize what they are doing to innocent people.


3. How does the D.I. anticipate its audiences resistance to change? it shows that even if they dont really want it, in the end it will be good and nessicary for them to have. Most people want this though. People's lives will be better off.

4. How does the D.I. use parallelism? How does it impact the effectiveness of the piece? it shows that every example is important, one isn't better than the other. Since they make each one such a big deal, it means that this D.I. is so important to the people.

parallelism: when a writer uses similar grammatical forms or sentence patterns to express ideas of equal importance.


5.What to you is the most convincing example stated in the D.I.? Why?
When they say "He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people." I think this because its cruel. The people do not derserve this.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Until 3/ gothic lit notes

Gothic lit- characteristics- violent events, grotesque characters, and bizarre situations.
19h century from Europe
2 big authors are Poe and Hawthorne, Irving

Romantic writer-
limitation of reason
celebrate the individual reason
emotions
imagination
spenders of nature- they were ruled by the fear of god, but the romantics were fascinated by the supernatural
There works exhibited- atmosphere, optimism, and sentiment
Transcendentalists

-Transcendent forms of truth exist beyond reason and experience
Every Person is capable of discovering this higher truth on his or her own, through intuition.

Gothic Archit.- Cavernous Gothic cathedrals with there irregular placed towers and their high stained glass windows to make it awe and fear.
Gargoyles are like there Mascot
Imaginative distortion of reality threshold of unknown were the fantastic, insane, and demonic dark side of individualism is Gothic

Romantics see hope
Gothics see potential evil

Poe- dark, decaying castles, ancient estates. Settings for weird and terrifying events
Poes females narr.- beautiful woman dead or dying
Poes males narr.- insane man
His plots are live burials, physical and mental torture and retribution from beyond the grave

Hawthorne looked at fear, grieve, vanity, mistrust and betrayal

The fall of the house of Usher
An old friend sends a letter to the narrator informing him that he is in need of help. Like a good friend should (no matter if they have not seen or heard from each other in so long) he went to visit the his friend. The man was Roderick Usher. The family and house are connected somehow, and since the family is dying or meant to, the house is also going to "die" or come to it's end. Roderick and his sister Madeline are the last Ushers alive. Roderick has a mental disability that causes him to bury his sister alive. He has gone mad. Madeline had a disease that was trance-like. It had to do with paralysis which at times made her seem dead because she would not wake up and her pulse could not be felt. Using this to his advantage Roderick attempted to kill her because it would end her suffering. She wakes up entombed, but escapes driven mad by this she finds Roderick and ends up killing him and herself. The narrator feels as if he is going crazy too when this is occurring around him. He has had enough and runs from the house. While turning back he sees the house collapse and sink into the ground symbolizing the death of the curse.

the signal man
Specter- ghost
The signalman seems to be having problems with hauntings or a ghost. The ghost is seemingly trying to warn him of bad happenings, but he cannot stop these bad things. A man is walking by and sees the signal man and soon befriends the man in a way. He is interested in these hauntings or strange happenings that the signalman informs him of. He tells about the how he keeps seeing this ghost right before the train comes leading to terrible events. In the end the signalman hears the ghosts warning again and with his curiosity in trying to stop it he goes down to the tracks. He does not hear the train coming. The train's instructor is yelling for him to to move and the man he befriended is at the top of the hill too. He is yelling for him to "Watch out!". These warnings are mixed, however, with the ghosts and the signalman doesn't even notice. He is hit by the train and dies. After all of this we see that the ghosts warnings were actually the warning of the signalman's own death.
The Raven
This poem was written by Edgar Allen Poe and is a story over a man grieving the loss of his love when a raven appears saying over and over"nevermore". One important part that makes the story is when the man asks the raven a question he knows the answer to (because the raven always says "never,more"). This sadness is what the man likes and asks this because of that.
-The raven is a bird of prophecy
-They have long been associated with mystery, evil omens, and death.
-End rhyme: similar or identical sounds at the ends of lines
-Internal rhymes: rhymes within a line
-Rhyme scheme: the basic pattern of the end rhymes
The masque of the red death
Allegory- two layers of meaning, literal and figurative in the story have these meanings (most of the persons, objects and events stand for abstract ideas or qualities)

-Prince Prospero and chosen others secluded themselves in a castellated abbey to keep away from the disease (plague)
*happiness inside - "Red Death" outside
-Prince decided to have a ball with those who were inside
-According to the story the buildings had apartments that were irregularly disposed so that it made the vision embraced but little more than one at a time
-Sharp turns were every 20 or 30 yards, at each a novel effect. To the right and left a Gothic window was in the middle of each wall that looked out to a closed corridor (stained glass)
-Each room had separate color schemes, except for one. It was all black, but had scarlet red colored panes.
-Not one apartment had a lamp and no light emanating the room, but in the corridor there were braziers opposite to each window. The rays projected through the stained glass windows illumining the rooms.
-Something about the black room made some fear entry. There was a gigantic ebony clock in this room also.
-Each time it chimed people stopped almost nervous, but went back to what they were doing after it stopped.
-The duke's (or Prince's) tastes were strange, peculiar, and some thought him mad, but not his followers.
-Masqueraders in this are compared to dreams and a madman's fancies. None venture into the 7th room.
-While the other rooms are filled with excitement or at least until the clock chimes again this time striking 12 strokes and they stop waiting for it to end.
-During this chiming, however, some start to realize a masked figure that had not been seen before. They find surprise and soon terror then horror.
-The prince was angered at his presence. He had out "Heroded" Herod.
-The prince orders his people to seize this stranger, but they do not.
-He runs through the apartments being chased by this stranger and the others do not help.
-A dagger is pulled and the prince is killed.
-Then the people seize him, but only to find nothing under the figures costume.
meanings: *Prince/ even a prince dies eventually/ position won't save you
*Abbey/ sort of safe haven/ walls can't protect you from everything
*Seven rooms/ all rooms had life, but black/ there are many seasons of life
*Clock/ life is a ticking clock/ days are numbered
*Stranger/ bringer of death/ can't escape death no matter what you do
The devil and Tom Walker
A pirate named Kidd buried a treasure near the swamp long ago. He was hung and therefore never came back to retrieve it. The Devil now watches over it.
-Tom Walker and his wife live in England, but are not vey well off. They are greedy and always try to cheat each other out of money.
-One day Tom cuts through the swamp because it is faster in order to reach his home. When he comes across a fort he decides to sit down for a moment to rest. He begins to start poking around with his staff in the mold or rotten vegetables.
-Then his staff comes across something hard which is found to be an old Indian skull with tomahawk and all.
-While he is looking at it he hears a voice warning him to leave it be.
-The stanger appears, but does not seem to be of any race. Not Indian nor negro, but with black all over the figure.
Devil's appearance- black har, dingy and sooty face, an axe over his shoulder. Also, Red Eyes.
-He began to notice thast the trees in the forest all had names on them which portrayed the lives of people. The devil had control over the lives.
-When he finds out about the treasure he wants it and begins to ponder what he could do to get it.
-The devil leaves a fingerprint on his forehead that will not go away.
-When Tom returns home he tells his wife of this encounter and she wants the treasure for her own. She wants him to sell his soul so they can have it.
-He will not thouugh, but only because he wants to disagree with his wife. She then decides sh will go on her own then.
-She meets with the devil and has to come back with a "propitiatory" offering or all of that she owned that had value. She went again and was never seen again. Many stories weree told on what happned to her, but no one can know for sure.
-It was said that Tom went bcak and found his wife's apron with a heart and liver inside not the valuables as expected.
-Tom thought that the devil had killed her, but she put up a fight since he found some of her hair. (May have been because she was so sassy and greedy). Tom was actually relieved that his wife was gone it was one more thing off his back.
-Tom then decides he will do anything to get the treasure so he does make the promise. He becomes a broker/usurer in Boston and becomes very rich.
-He did things that would impress others like building a big house.
*He begins to start fearing his afterlife when he gets older. This results in him becoming an avid churchgoer and seems to go a little mad.
-A customer that he had driven penniless makes him angry one day when he makes the uge mistake of saying "The devil take me if I have made a far thing!" or that if he had made even a penny. (sarcastic) The devil then appears and takes him away by horse to the swamp. It is said by some that he was taken to the fort and it burst into flames leaving his belongings to ash.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Gothic Literature, Romanticism, and Transcendentalism


Gothic Literature: is a genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. As a genre, it is generally believed to have been invented by the English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto. Prominent features of Gothic fiction include terror (both psychological and physical), mystery, the supernatural, ghostes, haunted houses, and Gothic architechure, castles, darkness, death, decay, doubles, madness, secrets, and hereditary curses.
Further contributions to the Gothic genre were provided in the work of the Romantic poets. Prominent examples include Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Christabel and Keats' La Belle Dame Sans Merci which feature mysteriously fey ladies.
hough it is sometimes asserted that the Gothic had played itself out by the Victorian era and had declined into the cheap horror fiction of the "Penny Blood" or "Penny Dreadful" type, exemplified by the serial novel Varney the Vampire, in many ways Gothic was now entering its most creative phase - even if it was no longer a dominant literary genre (in fact the form's popularity as an established genre had already begun to erode with the success of the historical romance).
http://www.askart.com/AskART/images/glossary/Romanticism_John_S._Copley.jpg
Romanticism is a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th centery in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Industerial Reveloution.It was partly a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Entertainment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature, and was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature.
In a basic sense, the term "Romanticism" has been used to refer to certain artists, poets, musicians, as well as potlictial and philosophical and social thinkers of the late 18th and early to mid 19th centuries. It has equally been used to refer to various artistic, intellectual, and social trends of that era.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1swYPe25esYSfYtNNob7ySCuCDQRCQu5pVhffGmDCcdd3cFAEjwbKXAye0pN0vjFszCMykNT4ITmLOPkBZDKoRgL_pcir2OF07zOk6lFRSjoRU_w8Z-IlZml4IM8qwyev1EyWffzDHebK/s400/transcendentalists.gif

Transcendentalism was a group of new ideas in liturature, religion, culture, philosophily, that emerged in New England in the early to middle 19th century.
One way to look at the Transcendentalists is to see them as a generation of well educated people who lived in the decades before the American Civil War and the national division that it both reflected and helped to create. These people, mostly New Englanders, mostly around Boston, were attempting to create a uniquely American body of literature. It was already decades since the Americans had won independence from England. Now, these people believed, it was time for literary independence. And so they deliberately went about creating literature, essays, novels, philosophy, poetry, and other writing that were clearly different from anything from England, France, Germany, or any other European nation.

Another way to look at the Transcendentalists is to see them as a generation of people struggling to define spirituality and religion (our words, not necessarily theirs) in a way that took into account the new understandings their age made available.



Work Cited:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendentalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_fiction
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism
http://www.transcendentalists.com/what.htm

Friday, September 25, 2009

Act four
Proctor asks Elizabeth if she thinks that he should confess. He says that he does not hold out, like Rebecca and Martha, because of religious conviction. Rather, he does so out of spite because he wants his persecutors to feel the weight of guilt for seeing him hanged when they know he is innocent.
he men bring Rebecca to witness Proctor’s confession, hoping that she will follow his example. The sight of Rebecca shames Proctor. He offers his confession, and Danforth asks him if he ever saw Rebecca Nurse in the devil’s company. Proctor states that he did not. Danforth reads the names of the condemned out loud and asks if he ever saw any of them with the devil. Proctor again replies in the negative. Danforth pressures him to name other guilty parties, but Proctor declares that he will speak only about his own sins.

Proctor hesitates to sign the confession, saying that it is enough that the men have witnessed him admitting his alleged crimes. Under pressure, he signs his name but snatches the sheet from Danforth. Danforth demands the confession as proof to the village of Proctor’s witchcraft. Proctor refuses to allow him to nail the paper with his name on the church door and, after arguing with the magistrates, tears the confession in two and renounces it. Danforth calls for the marshal. Herrick leads the seven condemned prisoners, including Proctor, to the gallows. Hale and Parris plead with Elizabeth to remonstrate with Proctor, but she refuses to sway him from doing what he believes is just.

Act three
There is a trial in Salem. They ask Proctor about his personal beliefs. They also think that Proctors is trying to over through the court, but actually he only wants to free his wife.
John Proctor informs the court that Elizabeth is pregnant. So the court decides that she will not be hung until she gives birth to the baby.
John gets 91 farms to sign a paper stating the good characteristics of Elizabeth, marry and also Rebbecca.
In this chapter John Proctor leaps at Abigail and calls her a whore. He admits everything about the affair between him and Abigail. And explains that Elizabeth discovered it and fired Abigail. Danforth wants to know if this is true so he makes Abigail and John face opposite ways with there backs to each other and then he asks Elizabeth to come into the court room to answer the question about if John really did have an affair with Abigail. Elizabeth doesn't want to ruin her husbands name so she lies to the court about the affair. And Danforth then thinks that John is lieing about the affair.

Act two-

Act two
John sits down at the table with Elizabeth and Mary warren. he says that 12 girls are already in jail. Who ever Abigail and the girls point to and accuse witchcraft, they go to jail. so the Abigail accuses Elizabeth. The people come with a warrant for her. Hale comes to john proctors house and discusses and asks lots of questions about their church life and other things. As the days go by Hales mind about witchcraft changes. He no longer thinks that the proctor family is bewitched. John gets very mad when they come for her and he rips up the warrant and asks Hale why the accuser is always Innocent.