Hello again! :)
Let me start with Ceremony. Can you say confusing? When I first finished the novel, I had no idea what had just happened. So, as always, I'm ecstatic to be going over all of this in class.
All the background insight into the Natives has really helped me understand the book. The articles we read for homework/the forums were pretty useful. I did not understand one of them (I think it was the PoCo one?) but the other was comprehensible. Its always fascinating to see what values to a culture manifest its self in other places. Yes, I am a huge history nerd, but I think it would be really cool to to read more of the Native legends and other stories that they have.
I'm starting to be able to piece together more and more of the novels with less help from my lovely classmates. Its something that I didn't know if I would ever be able to do and am therefore pretty happy about. But, there is still SO much more progress needed to be made before May. 5 months to go!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Close Reading December
The Pentagon is famous for two things, being the site where our national security is planned and executed, and having an excessive budget. According to the author, the Pentagon needs to reduce its budget to be affordable. The author uses details to emphasize his point.
Thinking of having a billion dollars, let alone spending a billion dollars, is slightly mind boggling. the author points out that last year's budget was "$530 billion" from their "basic budget" which does not include the costs for our current entanglements in the Middle East. Calling on the absurdity in needing more money, the author goes through a list of things that the Pentagon could cut. This use of detail generates anger at how our tax dollars are being spent. Instead of buying a purse to get the job done, the Pentagon is buying a Coach Purse and the bill is the proof. After it is all said and done, according to the author we could save $38 billion a year by cutting "unnecessary projects" with "all the bells and whistles". In addition another $600 billion could be saved if we cut back on nuclear-related programs
All in all, this editorial bashed the bloated budget of the Pentagon using details. The details amplified his point by adding a sense of astonishment at how out of control the Pentagon budget has become and that we should encourage their budget being cut.
Thinking of having a billion dollars, let alone spending a billion dollars, is slightly mind boggling. the author points out that last year's budget was "$530 billion" from their "basic budget" which does not include the costs for our current entanglements in the Middle East. Calling on the absurdity in needing more money, the author goes through a list of things that the Pentagon could cut. This use of detail generates anger at how our tax dollars are being spent. Instead of buying a purse to get the job done, the Pentagon is buying a Coach Purse and the bill is the proof. After it is all said and done, according to the author we could save $38 billion a year by cutting "unnecessary projects" with "all the bells and whistles". In addition another $600 billion could be saved if we cut back on nuclear-related programs
All in all, this editorial bashed the bloated budget of the Pentagon using details. The details amplified his point by adding a sense of astonishment at how out of control the Pentagon budget has become and that we should encourage their budget being cut.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
December Open Prompt 1
1976. The conflict created when the will of an individual opposes the will of the majority is the recurring theme of many novels, plays, and essays. Select the work of an essayist who is in opposition to his or her society; or from a work of recognized literary merit, select a fictional character who is in opposition to his or her society. In a critical essay, analyze the conflict and discuss the moral and ethical implications for both the individual and the society. Do not summarize the plot or action of the work you choose.
Conflict can arise out of almost any situation. Sometimes an individual opposes its society. In the play The American Dream, Albee wrote Grandma to be in opposition with the rest of society, or Mommy and Daddy, who represent the rest of society. Albee’s use of conflict through differing viewpoints can be shown through his diction and details.
Albee uses his dysfunctional family as a simplified cross section of America. Grandma represents the old American Dream, where rights, freedoms, values and the individual were valued. Albee makes his intent known through his choice in diction. Words like “Pioneer” and “fur-trading” are often attributed to Grandma throughout the text. Albee also uses details such as Grandma’s cook off winnings and her age to point us towards the conclusion that she is the old American Dream. Mommy and Daddy represent the new American Dream, filled with consumerism and a growing movement of uniform among communities and their people. Albee uses syntax in his repetitive phrases involving a lack of satisfaction. His details help explain that this lack of satisfaction is trying to be fulfilled by consumerism of a hat or son.
The main problem of the play arises as Grandma, the old American Dream, opposes the majority of the society of Mommy and Daddy or the new American Dream. Grandma, in her opposition, gets threatened with the van man to come take her away. Grandma wants them to get back to the old ways of values and an emphasis on the individual. America has strayed from that, as Albee’s play points out, and Grandma as a result comes to realize this. As she prepares to leave and step down for the new American Dream, she still holds hope for America to return to its old ways.
Mommy and Daddy as society don’t like to be reminded of the olden days when they didn’t get their kicks from consumerism. They don’t want to have Grandma around to remind them how shallow their lives and those of society have become in the wake of the Industrial Revolution. When Grandma leaves the house, and society, Mommy breaks down. She panics and wants the old American Dream back with its values until, that is, she meets the Young Man. Mommy and Daddy value the shiny new Young Man who is there to replace their dead, mangled son. He is a filler, a sense of false satisfaction generated out of the consumerism in buying your own child. The impact on society is that they become so absorbed into their new American Dream that they will not ever be truly happy for long periods of time.
Albee used Mommy and Daddy to act as a society and the new American Dream while he used Grandma as the individualistic old American Dream. His use of diction and details helped support his underlying meaning.
Conflict can arise out of almost any situation. Sometimes an individual opposes its society. In the play The American Dream, Albee wrote Grandma to be in opposition with the rest of society, or Mommy and Daddy, who represent the rest of society. Albee’s use of conflict through differing viewpoints can be shown through his diction and details.
Albee uses his dysfunctional family as a simplified cross section of America. Grandma represents the old American Dream, where rights, freedoms, values and the individual were valued. Albee makes his intent known through his choice in diction. Words like “Pioneer” and “fur-trading” are often attributed to Grandma throughout the text. Albee also uses details such as Grandma’s cook off winnings and her age to point us towards the conclusion that she is the old American Dream. Mommy and Daddy represent the new American Dream, filled with consumerism and a growing movement of uniform among communities and their people. Albee uses syntax in his repetitive phrases involving a lack of satisfaction. His details help explain that this lack of satisfaction is trying to be fulfilled by consumerism of a hat or son.
The main problem of the play arises as Grandma, the old American Dream, opposes the majority of the society of Mommy and Daddy or the new American Dream. Grandma, in her opposition, gets threatened with the van man to come take her away. Grandma wants them to get back to the old ways of values and an emphasis on the individual. America has strayed from that, as Albee’s play points out, and Grandma as a result comes to realize this. As she prepares to leave and step down for the new American Dream, she still holds hope for America to return to its old ways.
Mommy and Daddy as society don’t like to be reminded of the olden days when they didn’t get their kicks from consumerism. They don’t want to have Grandma around to remind them how shallow their lives and those of society have become in the wake of the Industrial Revolution. When Grandma leaves the house, and society, Mommy breaks down. She panics and wants the old American Dream back with its values until, that is, she meets the Young Man. Mommy and Daddy value the shiny new Young Man who is there to replace their dead, mangled son. He is a filler, a sense of false satisfaction generated out of the consumerism in buying your own child. The impact on society is that they become so absorbed into their new American Dream that they will not ever be truly happy for long periods of time.
Albee used Mommy and Daddy to act as a society and the new American Dream while he used Grandma as the individualistic old American Dream. His use of diction and details helped support his underlying meaning.
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