My Dashboard

netvibes is actually a pretty useful service that makes it so that i can have a dashboard set up for all my online homework.

Literary Analysis 1

Literary Analysis 1

“The Voyage Out” by: Virginia Woolf

1.     Rachel who’s greatest adventure in
life is going down town to look at her future purchase goes on a ship that
hauls her down from London to South America. The waters bring change and self-discovery
on a boat that has more character then most of the passengers. After touching
the edges of the cabin mates some characters mainly Rachel come the conclusion
that the world though vast and intricate so are the personal worlds of every
person, but when you break those worlds down to just what is immediately happening
they become closed off and stale. Upon reaching this anonymous South American village
most of these actions are put into mundane little voyages out of the ship such
as shopping at the closest store to find small trinkets or gawk at the locals. All
while this is going on Rachel falls in love with a likeminded individual named
Terrence. After finally reconfirming that thy do in fact love each other and
want to create their own little expanse with one another, Rachel falls ill and
dies of a fever with her last deliberate actions being directed towards
Terrence and trying to solidify their love for one another. Once the news of Rachel’s
passing makes its way back to London the other characters reflect on what life
means to them, what’s next, and how a death could possibly hold light.

2.     Voyages both grand and mundane told
from the perspective of a curious girl, a boy looking for love, and anyone from
a misogynist to the wealthy carefree aunt. Every person’s head is their own
little universe and when they collide with others it either creates a new
entity entirely or becomes something toxic. This is the theme of the novel
discovery whether in oneself or discovering what other heads hold through the
voyages we have.

3.     Empathy in ones trials when in the
process of self-discovery.

“I feel so intensely the delights of shutting oneself up in a
little world of one’s own, with pictures and music and everything beautiful.”

      The Author also
expresses her distaste for violence by using another character as her voice.

“It is impossible for human beings constituted as they are
both to fight and to have ideals.”

      The author feels
that varying perspectives can change how others view us and has a reflective
tone towards discovery.

“To feel anything strongly was to create an abyss between
oneself and others who feel strongly perhaps but differently.”

4.     “the river which had a certain amount
of troubled yellow light…” pg.3

Woolf uses synesthesia in this quote to better illustrate
what she is describing, and also to create a connection between the senses in
this case sight and feeling.

            “Hewet
contemplated the angular young man…” pg.66

To describe someone as angular not only gives the reader
interesting visuals but also alludes to the personality of the person being
described.

            “What solitary
icebergs we are, Miss Vinrace! How little we can communicate!” pg.45

Using metaphor to show that people, much like icebergs only
show a fraction of what they ate before they melt, sink, or fuse to another
iceberg.

            “There’s an
abyss between us,…” pg.133

This metaphor was another way for Hirst to try and communicate
and say that he felt he was too complex of a person because he was a guy and
that women have it easier because in his mind they are simpler.

            “Finally,
Hirst’s odious words flickered his mind like a whip,…” pg.158

This is a simile used to describe his sudden realization. Woolf
will always use metaphor but when she uses similes it is usually used to describe
something that is happening rapidly so the reader doesn’t get confused and have
to think about what she is trying to express.

            “…the
evening was unusually dull, the women unusually badly dressed, the men unusually
fatuous.”pg.112

Repetition is used to better describe the mood of the party
and the event unfolding before the characters.

Characterization

            1.When Rachel
describes her aunt she tells Hewet that they are little frail and clean old ladies
who usually spend their time shopping this is direct characterization and is
used so that Rachel can express what she thinks about the people she lives with
out loud, and to paint a better picture of what her aunts are like to live
with.

            When Rachel
was being described in the beginning of the novel by the author she is
described as musical. This trait is also the reason why in school she was
allowed to learn nothing but music. Direct characterization was used by the
author to show what Rachel had a talent for rather than just folding clothes
and sheets.

            Rachel is
subjected to indirect characterization through her actions with Terence when
they still doubt each other’s love for one another, she becomes withdrawn and
shy not knowing what to do and letting fear take over her actions.

            Hewet acted
vey childish and stubborn when his prejudices were put under scrutiny by many
of the characters throughout the duration of the novel showing how he was
conditioned to believe that because he was a man and his opinion was always
justified and valid

            Authors such
as Woolf use direct characterization as a way for the characters to acknowledge
something about another character, or it is used for traits that are not so
obvious and need to be explicitly stated or else the reader may pass over them.

            Indirect
characterization is used in instances where a character trait is so obvious
that it requires no further mention and the reader can reach the same
conclusion as the author through inference alone.

            2. Throughout
the novel the author usually keeps the same syntax and diction and I think she
does this either for her own personal writing preferences of so that the reader
feels that all the characters share a common ground when they speak or think.

            3. The protagonist
Rachel is a complex and dynamic character, halfway through the novel many of Rachel’s
beliefs about what life is about and how others act have changed. Rachel goes through
an internal metamorphosis and becomes more and more of the person she dreamt of
becoming with each chapter and experience that passes. She is a sensitive and
gentle individual that can also hold her ground and fight back when need be.
She acts illusive and timid when dealing with most of the characters for the
first time but later becomes open and unafraid. Rachel is a complex character
thrown in a simple world with simple dogmatic values.

            4. If I felt
like I met any character it would be Rachel, due to the constant insights into Rachel’s
thoughts and feelings her reactions and vibrancy as a person.  “She looked at him and smiled, but soon a
slight look of fatigue or perplexity came into her eyes and she shut them
again.” In this passage Rachel is clinging to life and is only having small
fits of consciousness but she uses those to communicate to her love happiness.

Beowulf the Modern Murderer

Beowulf does represent what a hero should be in the literal terms of the meaning of the word hero, which is more focused on the concept of courage rather than doing what is right. If Beowulf was a modern day hero his mantle of esteemed skill and power that seems to be closer to the magic creatures that he is intending to kill rather than the humans he seems so fond of, would mean that he died faster than he could swing his blade. A contemporary hero of our time is Captain America courageous, kind, and stands for justice, what America stood for at the time of his birth. This hero was a symbol of hope but modern hope and the ideology of trying to save everyone doesn’t grow well in the time of Beowulf’s upbringing. Courage and the traits of what make a hero great are relative to the time the story is told. Why do hero’s kill if the point of one is to protect?

            Tough over the top reinforced masculinity is how Beowulf would be described to anyone wondering what he’s like in person. If Beowulf operated under the same morals and principles with feminism added into his minds medieval mix, the same character would still want to kill the “bad guys”. But with the added bonus of believing that women weren’t created to serve his every need because he felt that he deserved it. This would also make him a more controversial character considering the time frame he lived in. Also contrary to popular belief if Beowulf was a feminist that doesn’t automatically mean that he would become female. Beowulf without his skills in combat is nothing more than a man who likes to tell of his skill but always wants to put I on display the next day. I would argue that Captain America is a greater hero in the context of what defines one. For Captain America without his powers he was still a hero though only one without the farthest reach and broadest skillset, he was chosen to take on great power because he was a strong person morally. Beowulf is strong morally but only to serve the purpose of killing one thing so it doesn’t kill another.

            Is someone considered still considered a hero if they continually have to kill in order to achieve their desired outcome. How would you call someone a hero if they kill more than the monsters that they need to stop, it’s a type of bloodshed that happens so often you can’t distinguish the innocents blood between the evil. Good and bad are both relative concepts and are greatly defined by the perspective of the character. Something small to Beowulf such as killing Grendal would seem almost traumatizing to someone such as Captain America. Morals and how those morals influence characters actions define characters as either good or bad according to the story’s reader. Someone such as Captain America reading about the tales of a young up and coming hero killing monsters and sacrificing his friends in the process would see some more evil in the story then just that of the monsters.

   Vocab Sentences List 2

1.      The accruements of clunky jewelry were forbidding the wearer from moving silently.

2.      The kickball rocketed high enough to make any apogee sentient if only so they could feel jealousy.

3.      The obnoxious child who usually makes car alarms seem docile was acting in a surprisingly apropos manner aboard the plane.

4.      During the debate both candidate bickers continued their futile bickering while ignoring the questions.

5.      By using the oil paints over the base coats of acrylics she was able to coalesce the two different mediums.

6.      To describe every high school student’s freshmen year as a series of contretemps would be sugar coating the actual events.

7.      The modern art sculpture’s plaque read that it was a human torso but the metal was convoluted to a point beyond recognizable.

8.      Pigs that have deformities or are sick are usually culled from the other pigs.

9.      Because the thoughts of the two student’s thoughts were so disparate the project included many unique blends of ideas.

10.  Some people’s thoughts are so dogmatic that you wonder if they belong to a cult or they are just stubborn.

11.  At school it’s considered licentious for the female students to show their shoulders while the male student’s shoulders hold no sexual implications, I guess shoulders are supposed to still be the indicator of a person’s morality.

12.  The overcooked meat was meted out to the rudest of customers.

13.  Words that escape people during a fit of rage give the most noxious fumes a worthy competitor.

14.  A polemic is only as strong as the credibility behind the opinion.

15.  During the first thirty seconds of the passing period the hallways hold the highest populous of students and slow walkers.

16.  People who hold positions of high power usually are held to a standard of probity until someone decides to search their name on the internet.

17.  There’s always one student who focuses more on their repartee when in a class rather then what the teacher is saying.

18.  Road trips can easily be supervened by faulty navigation devices or the navigators themselves.

19.  To truncate someone’s ponytail would most likely get you a reply that has more bruises then words.

20.  To be considered fact the supporting evidence should be unimpeachable.

Focus

https://www.focusatwill.com is a site that has been created by Scientists with the intent to boost productivity and focus, i find the music to help my mind stay on track, go check it out for yourself.

Vocab

here's the site that you can post your vocab lists to get all the definitions:
www.easydefine.com

Procrastination vs Pleasure

            Starting off the school year behind a majority of your peers is never the ideal situation for a student much less an AP student. To begin I would like to formally apologize to Mr. Preston for not completing the required reading material that would have benefited me greatly, considering the essay prompt was based on the material. I debated for a while whether or not to do what I have done all through my school career and fake my knowledge of a subject and hope the teacher doesn’t realize that what I wrote about was a combination of vague assumptions, spark notes, and desperation. If I am going to be the best that I can be I’m not going to start heading down that path by lying about who I am and not fully taking advantage of my abilities. I figured since I didn’t complete the reading because of my own procrastination I thought it would be beneficial for other students to learn about what procrastination is from a scientific perspective, and how to overcome it.

            Procrastination has sabotaged all of us on more than one occasion and continues to keep us from accomplishing tasks we either want to do or need to. This problem usually is the result of contributing factors such as laziness, fatigue, or even the overstimulation of the reward centers of our brains. If a human had the ability to never procrastinate and have a never fleeting focus then what task could they not accomplish, this theoretical person could be in college before they started puberty with average intelligence, if they put there will into learning. So as people who probably possess some form of above average intelligence why do we let procrastination best us on a regular basis when it’s the one predictability of our day. This is a self-affliction is done before we know it, in ways that have become habits that border the edge and regularly manifest as addiction.

            The limbic system drives you towards tasks or activities that are pleasant and rewarding to yourself but cuts the engine to the car once presented with a task that will require actual effort. After this everyone abuses the accelerator or in your brains case the prefrontal cortex to make the car go forward. Every human being at some point has been given a job that they find less than enjoyable and they keep telling themselves that they need to do this but they won’t make the effort to actually put the keys in. While using the prefrontal cortex you have to consciously use it instead of just thinking that you should. Pleasurable tasks such as watching your favorite series or eating peanut butter and chocolate in quantities that make your blood more sugar then cells we get rewarded mentally. As of now I’m thinking about ditching this essay and playing on my phone because one task is more easily attainable. The difference in the two tasks is the instant gratification task though quick and reusable only activates the reward system with dopamine for so long and in smaller doses. The harder more rewarding task creates more dopamine in larger quantities for an extended period of time. Your brain knows what task is more fulfilling but because your limbic system is wired to avoid pain and seek pleasure we usually choose the quickest way to feeling good.

            Addiction is the brains way of receiving the rush of endorphins and dopamine through any means necessary for an extended amount of time that is otherwise harmful to oneself. If you dismiss this and believe that you are not addicted to something such as your phone or more commonly the internet then try to go 48 hours completely without it and feel the cravings pollute your thoughts. A few years ago I didn’t believe that I was any way addicted to anything in my life, that notion quickly revolted against me when I took a trip to South America. In South America we didn’t use any electronic devices besides some flashlights and cameras. We were also put on a diet that consisted of mostly greens and lean meat that was only ever served with a glass of water. I craved sugar the most which drove me to leaving our housing in the middle of the night to see if a nearby store had anything that would at least give me a quick fix. As I continued my midnight excursion in a foreign country I had barely arrived in the store manager wouldn’t let me purchase the candy and soda I had selected. The only store open at this late hour was denying me my addictions source of food. I was more livid then I would like to admit but he explained that he wasn’t allowed to sell any food to people on the trip as instructed by our leader. After suffering a little over a week my cravings vanished. I told you that little story because we live in perpetual denial of facts such as addiction because we don’t believe them to be real until faced with the consequences.

            Procrastination can be managed by setting rewards for yourself if you complete the task. The most useful tactic is to just eliminate your distractions and suffering through what needs to be done, our minds usually over think how hard a task would be to complete instead of starting the task. The most successful students aren’t all the most intelligent or the most talented but they do get their work done and that’s more than a majority of us even try. If you come to one conclusion through reading this article I would hope that you know that you have all the potential now all you have to do is actually use it, and if you don’t then what’s the point of having the best tool for the job when you only ever use your bare hands.

Works Cited

"Procrastinate." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 13 Aug. 2014

"Drugs, Dopamine, and the Reward System." Addict Science Drugs Dopamine and the Reward System Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Aug. 2014

"Procrastination - Is Dopamine to Blame? - Neurogistics." Neurogistics. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Aug. 2014.

"Tips for Overcoming Procrastination." About.com Psychology. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Aug. 2014.

"The Science Behind Procrastination." Real Simple. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Aug. 2014.