Reading Question

1. Find three heroic epithets. Explain how you think these epithets were useful to the singer of poems in the Greek oral tradition.

My three heroic epithets are 1. The red-haired king (used for king nestor) 2. Odysseus gleamed like a god 3. The shinning goddess (Circe) 

I feel that these epithets were both used to elogate the story by a bit (as they are slightly over used) introduce characters and what they looked like and so that the poet could have a few seconds to remember where they are in the story so they don't stutter or skip a bit. 

Reading Question

Do a close reading of the proem of The Odyssey (the part on the first page that begins, "Speak, Memory," and ends, "And tell the tale once more in our time." Explain what this section tells us about the nature of The Odyssey and also describe the themes that it is setting up, as we discussed in class.

I believe that this section is something that an oral singer or poet would say so that it makes the story of the Odyssey more believable. This is because it ends up with the singer asking for the gods do channel the story through him so as to say that the singer isn't singing a story but really an accurate historical piece. He/she uses the gods as a grounding point so that the story remains a truth just like we use books as a grounding point. It lets people know something to be true without them having seen it themselves. 

Free Blog Post

In this blog post I want to talk about how books have affected my life. When I was a kid I used to not be able to read for the longest time because I would get very bad headaches if I tried for too long. So after a long while during a routine checkup at my doctors I soon found out I have awful eyesight. After I got glasses I could read more and more and I loved reading. I skyrocketed to a 8th grade reading level in 4th grade. I was reading everything put in front of me and books helped me to develop the craziest imagination. It also helped me to want to complete all my goals just like the characters in these books. I also read a lot of nonfiction science books that boosted my overall knowledge of the world far above my peers. Then once I started to become cool and popular I slowed up on reading nonfictions for pleasure and just started to get lazy. I've been drifting on my initial knowledge of things from back when I was in grade school and have only picked up little things along the way. Well saying that makes me feel dumb.

P.S. I seem to be awful at novel writing and so such I don't think I am going to finish NaNoWriMo. I will talk more to you about this later today but that is why I wrote this post.

Reading Question - Repost

Analyze Maus using the conflict theory of sociological perspective.

In Maus the conflict theory is a major part of what is happening in the book as almost all of the book is about the conflict between the Jews an the nazi party. The harder part is explaining why this conflict is necessary. The reason it is necessary is because when there is conflict there is extreme scientific advancement, though used for bad, that can be used for good and allows us to be where we are today. An example is the Saturn V, the rocket we used to get to the moon, was originally built by the nazis as a long range ICBM. Conflict allows us to find the keys to science much faster and though the keys are first used on the doorway to evil than can just as easily open the door to a bright future full of possibilities.

Reading Question

1. On pp. 102-105, Art includes a copy of another graphic story, "Prisoner on Hell Planet," that he wrote about his mother's suicide. To what extent to you think the events of the Holocaust might have caused her suicide, and why do you think Art Speigelman chose to share "Prisoner on Hell Planet" in Maus.

I think that the envents in the holocaust might have played a pretty major factor in Art's mom's suicide but I'm sure that the way her life was after the Holocaust also must have played a part in that situation. Living life after a tragedy like the holocaust was very hard on everyone and I don't think its very unusual for people to not be able to integrate back into regular society. The weird thing is that the drawing done in the comic is very different than that of Maus and such is why I think he put it in the book to both give us a backround of him and his life, explaine a bit of story, and show what his other work is like all in one swoop. I think it worked pretty well and I enjoyed the change in style for those few pages. 

Reading Question

1. Part I of Maus is called, "My Father Bleeds History." Why do you think Spiegalman chose to call it that?
2. Well I belive that it is called that becasue the entire part is about the dads history and how he lived before and durring the war. It is acociated with bleeding because all of the memorys acociated with the war are mourful and sad and so it is almost like reopening old wounds and causing more pain for the perpous to spread the story.

Free Blog Post

This is a free blog post and I would like to take this opportunity to talk about how I have caused myself unhappiness due to desensitizing myself and going to the highest level of humor that I no longer find a lot of things genuinely funny and I am unaffected by gore or violence. This is something all my own doing and was so much fun along the way but now only things that are obscene and offensive are genuinely funny as well as blood and gore does a fraction of what it used to do to my psyche. I would love to blame the internet and say it is the awful one who did this but in truth its not but in reality I did this to myself. It is like if you have a butchers knife it is useful for many things but not many people cut their own finger off just to see what would happen. Well I cut my finger off and theres no going back. The internet is a tool, a useful one at that, but I have abused it and the consequences of that have made me into a more unhappy person today. I really hope no one other than Ms. Harrison reads this and if they do don't talk to me about it.

Reading Question

For this question we were to write about anything we want and I want to take this opportunity to rant a little about how little sections of the book made sence. I will start with the omens and how utterly ridiculous they are. Their meaning changes repeatedly throughout the book and that not to mention how often they are talked about when it really has no effect to the story. For instance at the begining of the book a butterfly is a good omen but is never mentioned again. Plus did that butterfly do anything to progress the story? No it was just a distraction from the main quest. This happens all throughout the story and it makes the story unnececarily religious in a way.

Reading Question

What is the purpose of omens in The Alchemist?

I believe that in the Alchemist omens are something that reminds characters that their personal legend is still there waiting for them. For instance Santiago has Urim and Thummim and they fall out of his bag after he is about to leave the crystal shop, reminding him of the king and his personal legend. It also appears that anything can be taken as a good omen or a bad one and it all depends on the person whether their good, bad, or even recognized. This is something that is a bit weird as it could well be that omens still exist and happen all around us and we just choose to not pay attention to them.

Reading Question

On page 24, the king of Salem tells Santiago, "When you want something, all the universe conspires to help you achieve it." Do you believe that this is true? Why or why not?

I think that what the king had to say was very true in many ways for when the story is placed but is sadly not true nowadays. The story takes place sometime in the 15th century if I were to have to guess and back then anyone could really accomplish anything as that was the time in which people were becoming less segregated into their social classes and could move up or down the social ladder based on skill and devotion instead of who you were born to, so I think the king is right in the fact that in that case if you wanted to do something great then everything would seem to come together perfectly for you to be able to do it. I don't think this is true anymore though as earths sheer mass of people combined with politics and economy have made it so if you want to really do something it takes a lot of work and effort to see it through instead of the world coming together to help you everything and everyone seems to be conspiring against you. This is why we aren't having as many hugely impactful discoveries as was possible in the renaissance.

Reading Question

On page 9, reread the passage that begins, "The only things that concerned the sheep were the food and water," and ends with, "They trust me, and they've forgotten how to rely on their own instincts, because I lead them to nourishment." Do you think that the sheep symbolize something? If so, what?

I belive that the sheep simbolize young children that are concerned only with food and water. Just like young kids, the sheep follow and trust anyone who feeds them and gives them water and the sheep also seem to just sit around and observe their surroundings learning and listening just like a young child does. I also think that the amount that Santiago cares for them and raises them almost like they are his own children makes me think they are supposed to represent a major emotional loss when he has to sell them for boat money.

What do you hope to get out of English Language Arts this year?

This year I hope to read some great books and learn a ton in english class. I have horrible grammar and hate writing but I love reading and have an expanse vocabulary because of that. I typically dislike english class because I usually end up with mean teachers that grade like nazis but I see this year being a year where I look forward to class instead of dreading it and attempting to go to the nurse saying I'm sick.