DECLARATION OF LEARNING INDEPENDENCE

I value learning so much, in fact I love to learn. Though when it comes to my school curriculum I hardly gain any useful knowledge. I have hardly any choice of the matter in what I learn in other classes, but for this class I plan on taking part in what I learn. I plan on making every learning experience from here on out valuable. I WILL input my thoughts and ideas in my curriculum. My learning will become broad and not one sided. I will question why, when, where and how. If it does not have any of these things it does not pertain any value to me and certainly not be utilized in the long run.

I am not limited to only these things, but open to other ideas of learning and of challenging to gain better insight!

Literary Analysis #1

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

1. The setting takes place in Lexington, Kentucky winter of 1964. From the very beginning you have no insight of what is going to occur. The exposition displays a David Henry, a doctor, and his wife Nora rushing to the hospital for the birth of their first child. The couple seem completely in love, nothing out of the ordinary until David discovers his wife is giving birth to twins. Nora gives birth to a completely healthy boy, Paul and a girl, Phoebe, whom is born with Down's Syndrome. Scared of what might become of his daughter, he has a nurse Caroline Gill to take the baby away to an institute, but impulsively she leaves town and raises her as her own. The conflict arose when the "death" of their daughter has become a secret. A wall has been built between David and Nora's relationship, causing a strain on the family's relationship with one another as years pass. David lives his life through a camera, trying to make sense of life through his captured images and longing for the daughter he never knew. The climax occurs when David suddenly dies, his secret untold. Everyone is still coping with the death of David, routinely going about their lives. The resolution occurs when Caroline Gill pays a visit to Nora, she explains to her that her daughter still alive. At last Nora and Paul meet Phoebe, still in shock, but welcoming nonetheless.

2. The theme of the story I believe to be is the concept of time. We are only allotted a certain amount of time to perform actions. Ultimately we decide what we do with our time, we are promised right now and not tomorrow. Human motivation plays a big part of this as well. It is what guides us to make these decisions whether the outcome is right or wrong. All the characters face this at some point in the novel and each decision dramatically impacts each others lives whether they understand it or not. Their lives are in constant motion, often the characters want to pause, rewind and do things differently, but ultimately they cannot because time is always moving forward. Time stops for no one.

3. Solemn: this tone was present in many characters throughout the novel, no one got over the loss of Phoebe in their lives, so it was a constant struggle to survive, pg 368 'I'm okay, I'm okay, she had kept telling people who helped her out, who took her to the doctor. Brightly, unconcerned, blood seeping from her cuts: I'm okay. It was only later, alone and safe in her room, when she closed her eyes and felt the rush again, that loss of control, and wept. She felt this way now. Shaking, she held onto the edge of the table.

Bitterness: this tone was evident in each character, they were individually impacted by this secret and took out all these built up emotions on each other, playing a key element in the telling of this story, pg 200 "You and Mom." Paul said, his words bursting out, as if he'd been holding them back a long time. "What's wrong with you, anyway? You live like you don't care about anything. You don't have any joy." 

4. Foreshadowing: was present in the very beginning of this novel, the author foreshadowed that from that very moment on David Henry's actions would dramatically impact every character's futures: 

pg 17; He imagined her heart, the size of a plum and very possibly defective. He thought, Our world will never be the same.     

Theme: I believe to be is the concept of time. We are only allotted a certain amount of time to perform actions. Ultimately we decide what we do with our time, we are promised right now and not tomorrow. Human motivation plays a big part of this as well. It is what guides us to make these decisions whether the outcome is right or wrong. All the characters face this at some point in the novel and each decision dramatically impacts each others lives whether they understand it or not. Their lives are in constant motion, often the characters want to pause, rewind and do things differently, but ultimately they cannot because time is always moving forward. Time stops for no one.

Point of View: pg 6; Third person, Their eyes met then, and he was startled to see they were the same dark green as her coat. She smiled, amused and faintly dismissive.

Characterization: pg 173; To distract herself, she kept her gaze on Paul, who was running along the shore, a speck on the horizon. He was thirteen, and he'd shot up like a sapling in this last year. Tall and awkward, he ran ever morning as if he might escape from his own life.

Personification: pg 243; The undulating beach that was more than a beach, the curve of a woman's hip, then the smooth length of her leg, hidden among the dunes.

Setting: pg 241; April 1982, Caroline stood at the bus stop near the corner of Forbes and Braddock, watching the kinetic energy of the children on the playground, their happy shouts lifting up over the steady roar of traffic.

Dialogue:  pg 245; "David," she said. "Don't you know me?" He searched her face. "Have I changed so much? she whispered. "Caroline," he said at last, recovering. "Caroline Gill. An old friend," he added.

Tone: pg 247; bitterness is found in this passage displaying Caroline's anger towards David because up until recently he did not want anything to do with his daughter. "Do you really want to know?" she asked at last, looking at him straight in the eye, "Because you never wrote back, David. Except for that one time, you never asked a single thing about our lives. Not for years."

Imagery: pg 73; Paul, eleven months old, sat in the corner beside an old grape basket full of wooden blocks. He had just learned how to walk, and all afternoon he amused himself by stomping through this, their new house, in his first pair of shoes.

ALL OF THE ABOVE

SO, I missed these 28 questions out of the 61. That is 32 correct, in total..I did terrible. Most of it was not me knowing the vocabulary definitions, as well literary devices used. These two things will be what I will work on until it is time to take the AP exam again. I was confident when I first took the AP exam and thought that I would do well on this practice exam also. But NO! I did horrible. I only hope I can improve my skills in time to take this test again when spring comes back around.

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Vocabulary #4

• It is an honor to receive an accolade  from the Queen of England for ones noble accomplishments.
• Jake fumed with anger because his team lost out on the championship game, every word was spat with bitter acerbity at the opposing team.
• Business was no longer booming they would half to start cutting the attrition of each payroll to keep the store open.
• Life is full of bromide sayings, cliches and stereotypes.
• Chauvinists often display favoritism towards one's beliefs, but it can also be interpreted as a form devotion.
• The meteorologist could not explain why there has been chronic occurrence of electrical storms over the past month.
• I always find it fascinating when those who passionately expound on a subject that they truly care about.
• The council had mixed feelings of the matter and turned into dichotomy of factionalism.
• I have never heard of anything like this, the way you describe this music sounds utterly immaculate!
• He was trapped in his own mind, the voices continued to grow louder and started to curse him with an imprecation.
• Delaney's fate was chosen long ago, there was no way she could escape her destiny, it is ineluctable.
• My brother has a mercurial mind every time we go out to eat at a restaurant and takes an incredibly long time to order.
• I was drowning, the weight of the water inching through every crevice of my lungs, there seemed no way to palliate the pain and gather oxygen.
• We have always followed the protocol of a fire drill even though we been through this procedure since kindergarten. 
• The ballroom of the palace was nearly flawless, every crevice shining with resplendent luster. 
• Tony broke every rule of his parents as a child, then grew up to break every law out there and now he was stigmatized by society as a criminal.
• No one approved of Romeo and Juliet's love for each other so they kept under a sub rosa.
• You would think that the star player of the hockey team would display any type of vainglory, but in fact he was quite the opposite.
• The fire was unexpected and consumed everything in flames leaving not a single vestige behind that there was once a home there.
• Once Carly set her mind on something there was no stopping her, you could not cage her volition.

Rant on Essays

I would rather memorize a 100 vocabulary words in one day than write an essay! Whether I'm just not familiarized with a certain topic or I just get caught in a funk. Essays have always been easy for me to write, but now it seems I can't even get past the introductory paragraph. I wrote my Beowulf essay and read it thinking it was good, but then I read it a few more times and thought it was terrible. I want to improve my essays to be able to have someone else read it and say, "This is a fantastic essay!" Now I freak out when writing because i'm afraid it will not be right. I compare myself to others writing and think its not as good. I just criticize myself too much. I need to develop my writing into something i'm proud of.

Beowulf Essay

            Upon time and time again heroes have saved lives in countless tales, on pages of books and of our imaginations. Heroes don’t just stop there; they transcend fantasy and make their way into our everyday lives. A hero such as Beowulf reflects a time period where honor, bravado, and fame were highly valued in society. A more modern hero such as a fire fighter symbolizes similar traits and values in the current age. Literary techniques such as pathos, anecdote, and allusion are used to convey to the reader the characteristics of each character and as symbols of the times in which both were created.

Beowulf is a tale of great measures, valor, and rigorous quests. As a character Beowulf presents himself as overly confident when he sets forth on quests unarmed and relying on only the help of God himself. This type of bravado can be mistaken as cockiness, but heroes need confidence. If Beowulf did not display confidence in him he would not be the leading hero, instead another worthy candidate would take charge. Beowulf does the honorable duty of slaying the monster Grendel for the people who cannot seem to do it on their own. Beowulf did not ask for a reward, but to defeat the monster.

Fire fighters accept the recognition that comes with the territory of saving lives, but that does not mean that they are not humbled by their work as well. Fire fighters save lives and maintain parlous fires from spreading. Of course they want to be rewarded with recognition for the work they perform every day. Fire fighters want society to be able to rely on them to get the job done and that they receive support from their community so fire fighters can save lives. Fire fighters are great heroes among the extraordinary.

Throughout the tale, Beowulf faces unimaginable dangers such as fighting off the monster Grendel or the dragon. Anecdote humanizes this concept of fighting these demons to fit modern times. For most cannot accomplish such a task on their own but need aid from another who is more than capable. Pathos appeals to the reader’s beliefs such as when Beowulf prays to God to protect him on his journey to slay the monster Grendel. Which reflects how during these times society, namely Christians, relied on their religion during hardships. Many would say this is a great leap of faith depending on such a higher power such as God, in this case Beowulf or a fire fighter, although most find it worth the risk. The tale of Beowulf illustrates a world of fantasy, monsters and kingdoms included. An allusion to Christianity and Paganism is present throughout the story. Beowulf represents the good and honorable that is Christianity and Grendel represents the evil and jealousy that is Paganism. These beliefs are present throughout many cultures such as Christmas, which is of Christian and Pagan origin.

Heroes are present throughout history, modern times and will continue surpass onto future generations. The reader is brought into this world of a hero through the use of pathos, anecdote, and allusion techniques. Whether the hero is of cultural fantasy such as Beowulf or a modern hero such as a fire fighter they will always be valued by society to accomplish tasks that the ordinary are not capable of. 

Thoughts on Tumblr

*Please excuse the cuss words*

I always find Tumblr more insightful than most people I know. Everyday we learn a new topic, life hack, or even about ourselves. Everyone does not not always come to a consensus, because less face it everyone is opinionated and does not like to be wrong. Though at times these petty arguments do turn into a polemic. When you are tumbling on the site you discover all sorts of things that you've never seen or heard of before. Such as sarcastic memes, different fandoms (fans and kingdoms combined), new music, world news..the list goes on. This site touches every subject you can think of! More often than not I learn more things on this site than I would at school. Every post and picture has such effusive meaning to each blogger. These posts reach into our inner depths and display what we cannot say aloud.

Tumblr is more than a social networking site. We have grown up together. By we I mean more than just a community of bloggers, I consider these people friends. We coalesce from all across the globe, all facing troubles, but when we log in to this site we reach a level of understanding that most people cannot even fathom. Troubles are left behind. We are free to be ourselves in this community known as Tumblr.