AP Lit
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Conjoined Essay
Maddy Marvin
Period 7
Conjoined Essay
In the poem “Conjoined,” Judith Minty uses different literary devices to talk about her views and opinions on marriage. Throughout the poem Minty uses literary devices like diction, analogy, and metaphors to convey her pessimistic sort of views towards marriage.
The poet uses analogies to make his point. In the very first line, the onion is referred to as a monster. It is two onions only “joined by a transparent skin” (2). The skin is like the unification of marriage between the two onions. The deformity of the two onions “each half-round, then flat and deformed where it pressed and grew together” (3-4) puts a slight tilt on the joining. Where the two onions come into contact with each other they have warped and deformed into something uglier and less perfect. This transparent skin has changed the onion into one deformed unified onion. “Conjoined” is a troubling piece of writing that goes around in circles with definitions and analogies of a very unhappy union of two people.
In the second stanza of the poem Minty uses diction and metaphors to give further support to her argument. She starts out by giving one example of a physical thing that is conjoined that didn’t turn out well. She uses the analogy of a two-headed calf fighting to get milk from its mother. This is Minty talking about a troubled marriage where both sides are fighting against each other for what they want. The choice and use of diction in this line gives it a troubled tone as well. It says, “An accident, like the two-headed calf …”(Minty) Starting out the line stating that this two-headed calf is an accident really does give the impression that the calf is not meant to be, almost like the marriage she’s talking about is not meant to be. Past this example Minty talks about a set of Siamese twins saying, “Or like those other freaks, Chang and Eng, twins/ Joined at the chest by skin and muscle, doomed/ To live, even make love, together for sixty years.” (Minty) This example is an analogy just like the one about the calf. Minty is relating a marriage to the troubled situation of Siamese twins that must live together forever joined at the chest. Also, diction is again a very important part of these few lines because Minty uses derogatory terms like “freaks” to say that being a Siamese twin is a terrible thing to be, just as she believes some marriages are. Minty also uses the word “doomed” when she talks about how the twins will have to live together for the rest of their lives because of their condition. Using the words “freaks” and “doomed” here really brings out the pessimistic views that Minty has towards marriage.
In the final stanza, Minty again uses powerful diction and metaphors to show us her views on marriage. In this final stanza Minty returns to the previous analogies and metaphors that she has talked about, the Siamese twins and the onion in the kitchen. Minty opens up the stanza asking if you “can feel the skin that binds us (reference to the Siamese twins)/ Together as we move, heavy in this house?” (Minty) Minty has already used another important and powerful word here that makes us think about this situation in a negative way. The word Minty uses is “heavy” to describe the weight of us, or the marriage, as “we move in this house.” The word heavy in this context, suggests that it is uncomfortable and difficult to maneuver in the marriage. Minty then goes on to say that as a result of cutting the skin that binds the two together, one of the twins will be set free, but the other might die. This is another analogy that shows what Minty thinks about what might happen if you go about a divorce. From that line Minty thinks that in most cases of divorce, both sides do not end up fine. After this we get the last line of the poem where Minty says, “We cannot escape each other.” (Minty) This last line is an overall summary and conclusion of Minty’s final thoughts for her marriage. Minty feels that she cannot escape her marriage and that she is trapped in an uncomfortable relationship with her husband.
Many poems about marriage are full of life and happiness, but this one brings about the negative things. It is a sad piece of artwork that shows the unhappy side of a marriage. hroughout the poem Minty uses literary devices like diction, analogy, and metaphors to show how Pity and remorse are two emotions that come to the surface when reading the poem.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Maus Article
I'm not sure if this article has been used yet, but I found it quit useful. The article speaks directly about Maus. It explains why the book is so good, and pretty much summarizes the whole book for you. The article further explains that the book or "comic" showed beyond a shadow of a doubt that comics could be just as biographical, as moving and as real as any book, and deal with issues that you wouldn’t expect to be addressed in the medium. It also explained how it showed that comics can be personal, can be revealing and can provide the author with a very real, visual and direct way of communicating with their audience.
That article also points out how the total lack of color within the pages seems to amplify the starkness of the story. There’s just something about the pure black and white color scheme that gives the story more gravity – and unlike another take on the story of the Holocaust, Spiegelman’s doesn’t use occasional splashes of red like Spielberg’s Schindler’s List would some years later.
The article explains how the animals are used as characters. Every now and again you’ll accidentally find yourself accrediting the horrible acts that you see on the page down to the fact that the characters are animals, before very quickly realizing that the events depicted in the pages of this book were simultaneously very human and very inhumane. It almost goes without saying, but the book deals with some truly horrific and ugly experiences in a no holds barred sort of way. It obviously tackles the Holocaust, but it also focuses down on more intimate, less well known moments – the disgust of Spiegelman’s father when Art stops to pick up a black hitch-hiker, and the author’s amazement that a man who was the victim of a racist regime could he himself discriminate against someone because of their race.
I really found this article helpful, so I hope it is for someone else too. I’m pretty sure I will use this as my lens in my essay. Here is the link to the article. http://www.onemetal.com/2010/04/26/must-read-maus/
Friday, December 10, 2010
Cat's Cradle
The Lyotard and Postmoderism introduction includes Ihab Hassan’s table of differences between Modernism and Postmodernism. Though he lists a number of defining characteristics, one difference that relates the most to Cat’s Cradle is the comparison between design and chance. Modernism favors the focus on the purposeful design of all aspects of the universe. This supports the notion of religion because such religions usually depict one almighty creator becomes the “designer” of everything that occurs. This creator defines the reason and meaning to life; everything that happens is due to this creator’s will and purpose.
I like the whole concept of postmodernism and its somewhat rough and self-gratifying edges which is pretty much Cat’s Cradle. I like to compare it to Frank Gehry’s sketches, at first they just seem like random lines and squiggles, but instead they turn out to be this beautifully composed drawings of what will become a breathtaking piece of architecture… art, like Pablo Picasso once said “Art is the lie that tells the truth,” it is misleading yet straightforward at the same timei. Just what Bokonon says “all of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies.” Cat’s Cradle might seem like just a bunch of chapters strewn together that sort of fits, but upon looking at it as a whole the purpose of it comes across, just like Gehry’s sketches.
Cat’s Cradle breaks away from the traditional methods of writing; it defies the norm of the literary works before it. It separates itself from the “normal” structure and dives into literary anarchy. Small nonsensical chapters make up this delicate work of literature. The whole book is pretty much the epitome of postmodernism, even the title itself takes upon the sort of disorder of postmodernism as a whole. There’s “no damn cat, no damn cradle,” it is all just perception and can in reality be anything we want it to be, just like Newt’s painting which was perceived as a cat’s cradle and as hell. Vonnegut also implies the instability of a true religion with an ultimate “designer” of the universe. Instead, Vonnegut argues for the concept of chance that defines the reason to life, and this supports the idea of Postmodernism.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Developing a Topic for Brave New World
Well, that was definitely a different book… Not that I didn’t enjoy it, but it’s just not my type of book I guess. Just glad it’s over! Anyways, in my Brave New World essay, I’m leaning toward writing my essay on how the present day world is similar and different to the novel. In some way, I want to add that the world in Brave New World reflects the way our world today may start turning into. I will do this by describing and analyzing the many ways in which people in the novel are controlled and explaining how these are related to ways we are controlled in our current world. Some questions I wish to address in my essay are, what is Aldous Huxley’s warning for our society about allowing the government to control our ideas, and is any of the fantasy in the novel now reality? Some of my ideas I wish to consider are history and literature in the Brave New World, conditioning methods, drugs, and absence of pain and discomfort. Furthermore, my overall purpose for my essay is to convincingly argue that Brave New World describes what actually could happen, has happened, or is happening by linking happenings in the modern world with specific events and ideas in the novel.
As my examples, I want to use Sir Ken Robinson's youtube video, and Brave New World Revisited by Huxley. I would use Sir Ken Robinson’s video to pin point the similar things in today’s world to Brave New World, definitely that of the educational system. I would use Brave New World Revisited to describe what Huxley was thinking when he wrote it, the purpose of why he wrote it, and help me make the point that I am making when writing my essay.
Well, that’s it! Hopefully I write a good essay this time! :P
Monday, November 1, 2010
Brave New Education
I know this is a tad bit late, but I was busy all Thursday and Friday soo I planned to just finish my blog on Saturday, but unfortunately my glass shower door decided to shatter on me as I was getting out. So I pretty much spent my day in the Emergency Room, getting glass out of my feet. You’d imagine I would do it Sunday, but I kinda sorta forgot… So here I am on a Monday night finishing a blog that was due on Friday… Sorry! Anyways go ahead and read my sucky blog entry! J
After watching the video, "Changing Education Paradigms," Sir Ken Robinson points out our education in society today. He explains that education is created and formed in the model of "the interests of industrialization," with schools "organized on factory lines.” Ken Robinson’s lecture goes over the issue that education is not really educating us or helping us learn.
In the very beginning of the video, Robinson mentions the two false generalizations that most people believe; (The belief that there are “smart” people, and rest of the people are “non-smart” people.) Later on in the video, Robinson states that this mindset makes those who are considered smart think highly of themselves, while that makes the other “dumb” individuals reduce themselves to a much lower status in a humiliating way. Being labeled in a higher status, these people begin to believe this nonsense which results in society and education restraining their highest potentials.
In Brave New World, the Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons also have this problem. For example, If a Gamma was created to be a Gamma, he would immediately reduce himself to a much lower status. Furthermore, “Gammas are stupid” and “Alpha children are frightfully clever”, which labels the Gammas as “non-smart” people and the Alphas as the “smart” people.
That's it... Bye!!!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Brave New World Chapter 3
In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley's reveals a whole new world with a society that has been manipulated through human inventions. Pretty much everyone is made from scientific processes. From the moment they are made, the embryos are manipulated to fit society. They are then taught to feel or desire certain things. They got rid of unnecessary feelings because “feeling lurks in that interval of time between desire and its consummation. Shorten the interval, break down all those old unnecessary barriers.” Also, the word "family" does not exist like it does today. To be a parent is just asking to be an outcast. To me, this is just plain weird! To think that people are no long made by mommies and daddies (you know what I mean) is just crazy!
The people in Huxley’s world are taught no history. This is because the Controllers believe this will keep the citizens focused on consumption. The Controllers are a group of ten people that control different classes of people and they keep to their motto, "the machine turns, turns and must keep on turning - forever."
They don’t want the people to have “a moment to sit down and think.” People are even encouraged to act impulsively. They believe that, “Impulse arrested spills over, and the flood is feeling, the flood is passion, the flood is even madness: it depends on the force of the current, the height and strength of the barrier. The unchecked stream flows smoothly down its appointed channels into a calm well-being.“
This book somewhat reminds me of 1984. For example, like how the government dehumanized all mankind and made people have no sense of feelings, and families rarely even existed. Both books display how Humanity is now under the control of the government and manipulated for their own means.
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