Blog Post #21

Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse now have many things in common to start out they are on a boat with a small group of people which relates to when Kurtz and Marlow are on the boat. Second there are violent scenes in Apocalypse Now when they are being shot at as when in HOD when the African Americans are fighting back against the whites. Lastly the manager is very relatable to the general because it seems like they really don't  understand what is happening when they should and that there there for more economic reasons.

His name of Killgore could be related to the fact that he enjoys death which also explains why he is just throwing the playing cards onto the deceased. The manager in HOD seems to view the African Americans as less then people to by calling them savages. These could relate on how the general doesn't even think that they are worth his time so he throws playing card on them as well as the manager you calls the African Americans horrific names.

Yes it does help me clarify more by seeing it on a screen how that even though they are the natives that they aren't treated the same as any other person would be treated, they are being treated as less then human 

Blog Post #16

To start this off the first to lines are related. The first lines of The Hollow Men is, " We are the hollow men, We are the stuffed men". That pretty much sums up Gatsby. He is hallow with his personality because he can't let go of Daisy who is a part of him but he is stuffed with money and culture.
Within the Great Gatsby there is a lot to do with the Valley of Ashes, is the 3rd section of the Hollow Men TS Eliot uses images such as, "This is the dead land, This is cactus land, Here the stone images." This is directly compared to the valley of ashes.
Second in the 3rd stanza it says, "Those who have crossed, With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom, Remember us--if at all --not as lost." This is like the valley of ashes in Gatsby, which is like death's other Kingdom, Tom's mistress is from death's other Kingdom, and the direct eyes are those of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg.  These eyes can also be related to stanza 4:  "Eyes I dare not meet in dreams, In death's dream kingdom, These do not appear:, There, the eyes are, Sunlight on a broken column."  These lines relate to Eckleburg and their presence.

Blog Post #18

http://startedfromthebloggin.blogspot.com/2015/12/blog-post-15.html

Today I am going to highlight my girl Lil's blog.

I completely agree with Lily right off the bat that the passages show how much Gatsby loves Daisy. Next I also agree how yes the past can't come back but a love like there's will never go away. I like how Lily didn't agree yes or no but agreed with a little bit of both that the past can be relived. Lily and I agreed that Daisy has changed from the first person Gatsby fell in love with also. Lastly I agree with Lily on how his quest isn't hopeless. There is always hope but did they both change to much? 

Blog Post #15

I think that these passages tell us a lot about Gatsby. It gives us many impressions but these passage show us what isn't just the parties on the outside. 

I do believe that Gatsby is misusing the past and his memories to remember Daisy. Daisy and Gatsby were together a long time ago and Gatsby still sees Daisy as the same girl he fell in love with. But Daisy has gotten married and she has a kid, you can't expect her not to change, I mean her life has changed a lot since Gatsby was there. I believe that Gatsby may be trying just to liven the present and redo here whole relationship like it was when they were young but that obviously not going to happen.

Yes Gatsby's quest is hopeless like I said before Daisy has changed so you can't expect her to be the same or her to fell the same.

I don't believe that you can relive the past, yes you can try and get it back to where it was but something has probably happened in between to make at least one person change. You can't relive the past but you can make a future and live to the best of you abilities with the people and things that you love. n

Blogg Post #20

Here are my thoughts for the first part of Heart of Darkness.

• "We four.." For people on the journey???
• The lawyer and accountant important?? Names?? Main characters??
• Second page paragraph starting with "Forthwith a change.." represents all the men who are out at sea?
• "..has been one of the dark places on earth." symbol of darkness
• "The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much." shows against race and color
• "Flames glided in the river, small green flames, red flames, white fklames..." COLORS!!!!!
• "But there was on yet the biggest, the most blank, so to speak-that I had a hankering after." Africa????
• Mentions darkness within part 1 alot
• " The edge of a colossal jungle, so dark-green as to be almost black.." Mentions darkness??
• Vague images of dark colors/ things
• First mention of a white man by saying a white man. 

Blog Post #12

Great Gatsby Read Along!

• whoa that's a nice house
• Big party everyone must be invited?
• Where's Gatsby?
• Why isn't he drinking?
• Secret life?
• OLD SPORT
• Very good imagery 
• Confused why he isn't getting drunk?? Whats the fun of having a party? 
• Uses color yellow quite often. symbolism?   "...scampered like a brisk yellow bug.."
  "...two girls in twin yellow dresses..."
• Gatsby's smile=heart eyes!
• East egg, West egg rivalry?? 
• Nick meets Gatsby without knowing it, Gatsby's smile is like that of Daisy's voice, with greatness, maybe it foreshadows that they are meant to be.
• This drunken car crash, how did he turn around to and wreck in Gatsby's property?
• Nick likes Jourdan!

Blog Post #22

Heart of Darkness Part 3 Read Along!

• Kurtz makes us see revelations
• hes Russian
• "Save me! -save the ivory, you mean. Don't tell me. Save me!" Kurtz first words
• uses red and black as colors
• impenetrable darkness, darkness of his heart, heart of darkness. Foreshadowing??
• guy is bipolar goes from cheery to sad
• ivory highlights futility of Africa    The appetite for more ivory had got the better of the--what shall I say?  Less material aspirations."  
• Mr. Kurtz has changed
• Marlow is becoming the one who is changed by the darkness, he is oppressed by secrets.
• Kurtz became nothing more than a shadow to Marlow
• Confused on pages 59-61
• Horror, horror? Why??
• Kurtz thought he could change the darkness
• Marlow lies to the girl about Kurtz's last words

Blog Post #24

Overall this semester has been a rough one. Let me just say that senioritis hit me real hard. The other work within the class such as the reading/annotations and projects has been fine but the blogging has been the real issue, being that I don't think it is beneficial at all.

On the bright side I do believe I have improved in this class. I have learned how to properly annotate, how to write a intro and analysis and lastly I have learned how to get the deeper meaning within each of the books.
Even though I am not taking this class next semester I believe I did improve in this class and I think it will help me within the long run. I hope in the future I am able to find books that actually interest me and I hope to be able to find the deeper meaning within each of them. 

Out of all the books we had read this semester my favorite has to be The Great Gatsby. The first time I had heard anything about it was in the movie. Yes the movie was good but reading the book helped me clarify many things I got lost with in the movie. I loved how in class we did close readings and were able to find deeper meaning within the smallest of details such as weather and color.

Lastly I would like to thank Mr. Allen for putting up with me and I hope in the future to be able to apply these techniques in college. 

Blog Post #19

The Great Gatsby is a great book. It talks to us about society, class, love and wealth.

I have grown throughout this book. First off I actually read it on the correct dates of the assignment. I really enjoyed this book. I loved how there were so many themes jammed packed into one book. I also loved how almost every scene in the book I could relate to one of the themes. Throughout his book I have grown by actually comprehending the text rather then just guessing. I learned that each and every little description within the book I can relate to one of the themes. I rarely find books that I actually like and finding this one made me want to read so much more.

Overall this book has taught me no to give up on reading and that there are good books out there.

Blog Post #14

Blog Post #13

Cassie Sloan

To Myself by W.S. Merwin

     This poem was very odd the first time I read it. I honestly hated it. I had to read it about 8 times! The way to stanzas are organized is so odd, you have to really focus because when you think the idea of the sentence is over it just keeps going. I personally feel like the theme of this poem is that he is trying to find himself again. For example look at the poem carefully and try to point out one word that is repeated. When I look at it I notice the word you. At first when I read it I thought it may be about a loved one but then I realized it's about himself. As the poem goes on it talks about how he used to remember someone who he used to know. Then the 11th line down there is a clear split between the theme. After that line you start to see the author remember that old person he used to be. For example to line ,"..who pretend to be time but you are not time and who speak in words but you are not what they say who are not lost when I do not find you." This line specifically tells us that he remembers that old person but can't find him. This poem really makes you think and at first I didn’t like that but by the end of the poem I liked how I could solve the mystery of the poem.

Blog Post #17

A Poison Tree By William Blake

The first time I read this poem the first stanza really stood out to me. It made me think of when you don’t talk to someone and you just get more and more mad. The first 2 lines in stanza 1 pretty much talks about how he is angry with a friend, he tells his friends about his anger and now he is happy again. Then in the last 2 lines of the 1st stanza the scenario changes and now he is angry with a foe but doesn't tell him so he just gets angrier and angrier. Now we go to the 2nd stanza, in this stanza he treats him anger almost like a plant. We see this when he uses figurative language such as " And I watered it in fears". As a plant grows it needs sunshine to survive, in this stanza smiles is representative of the sun. In this stanza we see the author compare growing of life(plant) and the growing of anger and I thought that was odd. Now we go to the 3rd stanza where we see his anger growing and growing until it turns into an apple. Now what does the apple represent? I say it represents happiness, the author is slowly getting happier. Lastly the 4th stanza, the first line of this stanza we see the enemy understands that the author is mad. One word that really stood out to me was "stole". This word is in the past tense form and I think there is significant meaning. It's almost like the stealing had happened previously. Lastly the word, "glad" interested me because is the author saying he is glad for my his enemy or is it more of a happy morning where he happens to see his enemy lying beneath a tee. I feel the overall theme for this poem is Anger. The one line that I think sums it all up is " I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end." Overall this poem is about getting over anger with each other.

Blog Post #23

Cassie Sloan

The Coming Of Wisdom With Time

 

For this poetry response I was looking through by book and thought why not challenge 

myself to a short poem. I knew that it would be hard but actually it was so easy. I read The 

Coming Of Wisdom With Time by William Butler Yeats. I loved this poem; even though it 

was so short the poem has so much meaning within it. Essentially this poem is talking about 

the foolishness of our youth. It is saying that when you are young there are endless 

possibilities of things to do, you believe you can do anything because that is what we are 

told. Our parents tell us stories of the easter bunny and santa claus painting a mystical 

world in our head, with good intentions of course. But it sucks when you grow up and 

realize the world isn’t as mystic as they told you. One day you have to go to college, get a job 

and become an adult. In the second line it says, “Through all the lying days of my youth”, 

which alludes to all the times youth are lied to growing up. The way Yeats uses flower the 

represent the beautiful lies we are told and then uses roots as a way of telling us that is how 

we grew up. In the last line Yeats says, “ Now I may wither into the truth”, this is 

representative as the sad reality of adulthood isn’t as far as you think. The poem as a whole 

shows us that there is a stereotype that adults must be smarter than children.

Blog Post #11

Throughout The Dead and Dark Rosaleen we see the idea of love. In Dark Rosaleen the man says he will do anything for her.

He uses imagery almost to identify how he will do anything for her. For example, "at its highest flood, I dash'd across unseen" and there he is saying that he would travel wherever just be with her. In the poem you also see thoughts of, "Shall glad your heart, shall give you hope, shall give you health, and help, and hope.." The author of Dark Rosaleen shows us how he will do anything for her.

Now within The Dead Micheal and Gretta love is kind of the opposite. But at the same time they are the same by the fact that Micheal is willing to die for Gretta even though she may not love him. In both of these loves is he ultimate sacrifice even if that means dying for it. 

Blog Post #10

In class essay number 2 was a struggle.

When I first read he prompt I was like okay I got this. But then it all disappeared. Its like I never even read the book even though I did. I sat there for awhile just thinking what to write. After I turned it in I was disappointed because I know that I could have done better.

When I got my essay back I was very surprise to see that I got a 5. I was expecting like a 3 or 4. After that we learned in class about analysis and I clarified a lot of things. One of the notes he wrote on my paper is that my analysis was shallow and underdeveloped. I went home that night thinking about that and realized I had no idea how to write an analysis. So that night I went online and looked it up. I realized that I had ideas in my head but I never really finished them off with an analysis, I just stopped after the examples. This reminded me of a softball bat swing, it won't be a good hit unless you finish your swing. The next in class essay was a question 2. When I got that one back I got a 5 again, I was disappointed. But then I looked at Mr.Allen's notes I saw that it said my analysis got better. That made me happy because I was really focusing on improving my analysis.

Even though I got 5 on the next essay I was still proud of myself for improving. Now I just have to get a little better each essay.

Blog Post #9

http://startedfromthebloggin.blogspot.com/2015/09/blog-post-7-college-essay.html#comment-form




Today I am going to reflect on my good friend Lily's blog. What I really want to talk about is her college essay.
Can I just say wow? Because wow.
I have know Lil for awhile now and as getting to know her, I truly believe I got to know her. 
This essay was eye opening because I feel bad for people who didn't know her like I did.
I love the way she used her morning routine to help introduce what the whole essay is about. This essay isn't just for her to let out the truth but its to be able to reflect of herself.

Overall this essay was truly inspiring and if I had the choice of whether to let her into a certain college then I would be proud to have someone of that quality that my school.

Blog Post #8

Blog Post #6

Senioritis. Its real. Its a truly real, scary thing. And I have it....BAD! It sucks because its like a light inside of you just died.


Timeline of how you get Senioritis. 

Freshman Year: Every night after I get done with practice I go home, eat dinner, do my homework. I take out my nicely organized planner and say this is what I have to do. And I get it done.

Sophomore Year: Go home, Eat dinner, take out my semi organized planner and say I guess i'll do this tonight.

Junior Year: Go home, eat dinner, take out my, oh wait! I forgot my planner at school. I'll do this assignment tonight and maybe do the other tomorrow, one day late isn't going to matter.

Senior Year: Go home, eat dinner, sit on the couch watch TV, realize at 10:00 PM I have homework and say to myself, "Nahhhhh, I'm not doing that."

Now will teachers please understand that its real!

Blog Post #5

Recently in Mr. Allen's class we were asked to highlight the light and dark words in Araby. I highlighted glow, gazed and lamps for light words. And for dark words I highlighted cold, blind and brown. Is there a specific pattern to these terms in paragraph 1 and 3?? No, I don't think so. Throughout the story of Araby we see the narrators emotions shift a lot. Does the distinct difference of light and dark mean something? Yes. It is the clear distinctions between all the battles we through in life. Nobodies life is perfect, we have our ups and we have our downs. In the end of the book the boy ends in darkness and I wonder if James Joyce did that on purpose. In this blog post as you can see I have asked a lot of question and this story just makes me wonder about all the different changes that Joyce did, and why. I believe the story ends in darkness to show where the boy is in life and how when the book ends he never finds his happiness.

Blog Post #7

Prompt: Why do you want to go to Fort Lewis?

I see a trail that’s looping around the whole school. ¨Stop Dad! Stop!¨  I get out of the car to feel the cold air coming off the mountains and I was freezing but I didn’t even care because all I could think about was the view around me. I was surrounded by the snowiest mountains and beautiful green trees with lite snow cover on them; I looked over the edge of the trail to see the town covered in white dust. I walked around the trail with a clear picture of what my future will be.

I want to go to Fort Lewis for the beautiful campus.

I hope to meet some great new people while i'm there.

I know I can make an impact on the Softball program.

I know that if I go there I will learn from the best of the best teachers.

I believe this is the best school to go to for my degree.

When exploring my college options I knew I had a lot of decisions to make, so I was nervous whether or not this was the place for me. When I stepped out on that trail, I knew. Just like when I was I was six years old playing my first game of softball, I knew that I loved the game. When I felt the cold mountain air I knew I couldn’t not be somewhere with mountains. When I look down onto the town of Durango I see myself walking down the streets hanging out with friends and having a great time. I felt it in my heart that Fort Lewis College was the place I wanted and needed to go.