Sunday, October 23, 2011

Lit analysis 2

The road

The road by cormac McCarthy is about a man and his son surviving after a post ApoColyptic world. Their main goal is to walk across a bare landscape trying to survive the long winter. The story does not say why the world ended. The father knows that they can't survive another winter so he takes his and him south to find the sea and "good guys" like them

The main theme of this story is never give up. Throughout the story the father and his son are trying their hardest to stay alive and find People like themselves. They encountered many bad people that were trying to kill them.

The tone of the story is enlightening sad and confusing at the same time. It's enlightening when the father and son survive each and every obstacle. It's sad to see them struggle. It's confusing in that we don't know how everything started

Many lit elements were used like flashbacks and symbolism. Throughout the story the author used flashbacks so we could understand the story a little better. The flashbacks helped me understand the story better. He also used to symbolism to represent real life events, for example the boy represents the "good" in society.  McCarthy also uses "carrying the fire" throughout he book which represents to carry on the human race.  He also uses many imagery to describe how everything is so bleak and grey.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

In search of..

When I first watched the TED video, my reaction was that the internet has a mind to its own.  The computer can actually tell what you like and it will match you up with other search engines that are similar.  Every time you search, it puts it into algorithm and uses it against you.  2 different people with the same search for example, Egypt, can get totally different possibilities for websites.

I tired different key words and phrases to search for William Shakespeare.  I used more specific phrases like "William Shakespeare's life" and "who was Shakespeare and what is he famous for." I used Google first to see what would come up. It was what I had expected.  Many different websites about Shakespeare.  I did the same searches but into Bing.  They were different websites and different pictures.  Lastly I used the same searches into Yahoo.  It was similar to Google, but had more advertisments.  Eventhough I used the same seache words, each search engine had different outcomes.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

"Notes on Hamlet"

When I first started to read Hamlet I wasn't sure of how I was going to like it.  I just wanted to get it over with.  But after reading Act III, I started to understand and enjoy the stroy.  Shakespeare started to develop and talk about Hamlet as a character.  Throughout Act III, Hamlet is trying to kill himself, because he is in great pain from his father's death.  He decided not to and instead to go after the the cause of the real pain, Claudius.  Hamlet said that he would find out the true background of his father's death.

"Who Was Shakespeare?"

As I read many articles I learned that Shakespeare was an English poet and playwriter, he was widely regarded as the greatest writer in English language history.  He was often called Englands national poet.  Over his life he wrote 38 plays and 154 sonnets. (wikipedia).  His most famous plays consist of "Hamlet", "Julius Caesar", and "Romeo and Juliet".  When students hear the name of William Shakepeare they think of old English style writing and old English style plays and dramas.  I still struggle with the old English style of writing and still don't understand some of the meanings of words and some of the messages of the plays.

"To Facebook or Not to Facebook?"

My first impressions on Facebook are that it is a scial network that allows people to talk with their friends and family over the computer.  Also, that it is a great way to reconnect with old friends.  The benefits of Facebook are that what I have already said, it''s a great way to connect with friends and family.  The risks of using Facebook is that once you start using it and start "liking" pages, your information is set throughtout the internet.  Also, your personal life, like photos, statuses, and friends are shown on your page.  By the reading the article, "Why Facebook Is After Your Kids", by Emily Bazelon, it showed me that Facebook has many tricks to it.  Once you have liked a page, they can tell what else you would like.  Also I learned that Facebook makes their money from ads on your own page.

Monday, October 10, 2011

(Don't) Be Hamlet

          Hamlet's soliloquy is full with imagery and allusions.  The soliloquy is Hamlet's outburst of extreme anguish and bitter revulsion. It also shows the start of his fall.  I believe that Hamlet should overcome all of the people that doubt and don't believe in him.
          Hamlet's real question is "To be or not to be" which basically means, should he kill himself or stay alive and forget the people who don;t believe in him. "or to take arms against a sea of troubles." Meaning should he face his troubles. And should when he faces them he should end them. "And, by opposing end them." Hamlet says in his soliloquy that when we die, what do we dream.  That is an arquement of to why he wants to die.  He also says that everbody puts up with superiors and from arrogant men, love and people in office.
          Hamlet's soliloquy has been depicted in many different ways.  Each person can have their own twist to it.  One person can say that he should dtay alive and face the troubles, or that he should die and hide from all the bad people and ideas.  I believe that Hamlet should stay alive and face the troubles ahead.