Tuesday, June 9, 2009

The Interpreter of Maladies

Foreshadowing is when there is a warning or an indication of a future event. The author focuses on this moment so that we will know that something will happen later on in this short story because one of the kids is paler than the others. Since Mr. Kapasi is an interpreter of maladies, he might have noticed that the boy may be ill with something, and it could be serious because he is so pale.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

The Red Convertible

1) An Indian reservation where Lyman and his brother Henry live.

2) He thinks that the army completely changed his brother and turned him into a totally different person.

3) Symbolism is an indirect suggestion to express ideas, emotions and states of mind. The red convertible represents Henry. When they first bought it, it was a lot of fun and looked brand new. After a while it got beat up and wasn't as fun anymore, but one night it was just as fun as it used to be when they had first bought it. Then it got stuck in the rushing currents of the river and never came back, like Henry.

4) The Cold War/The Vietnam War had just ended in the 70's, so this would be where the author got most of his story and ideas from.

Friday, May 15, 2009

A White Heron

She felt a connection with the heron because she knew that it was helpless. She knew that the heron depended on her completely. The heron represents and is symbolic of trust. The relationship between Sylvia and the cow was that she felt like the cow Moolly was her best friend. She also loved taking care of her and spending time with her.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Ending: The Body of Christopher Creed

The Body of Christopher Creed was a great book, although I was kind of confused at the end of it. I loved the book, especially the surprise twist ending. In a way, it's almost better that Chris was never found. There is not really any closure in this story at all other than the fact that the body of Bob Haines was finally found after years of people wondering where he had gone.
One theory that I have is that maybe Chris has been standing by watching his hometown and Torey go through all kinds of trouble just to find him. Maybe that is all that Chris wanted to do, just to see how much people actually care about him. Also, Chris may be communicating with Torey secretly through Torey's site. For example, the note that he received on his site came from someone who obviously had a lot to say about the situation and had a fairly good idea of the way things possibly could have really happened with Creed before his disappearance.

Monday, April 27, 2009

"Woobees"

A woobee is something that is used to calm someone done. Like pacifiers for babies or stuffed animals and "blankies" for children. When something is bothering them or they are scared, those things help them to calm down and feel better/more secure.Torey's woobee is his guitar. He was freaking out and all that he had to do was play his guitar and he calmed down and felt better about the situation. 
When I was younger, I had a blue stuffed animal teddy bear. I named him Teddy because I couldn't think of a name and every time I was scared or upset I would hold onto him and everything felt like it would get better and I wasn't so scared or upset anymore.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

The Body of Christopher Creed Quote

In chapter 2 on the bottom of page 19, Torey was bored in church. While looking at a stained glass window inside the church, he noticed that Christ was wearing a loincloth while being crucified. Then he remembered that Christ was actually naked when he was crucified. It bothered him that they had changed what supposedly really did happen into something else because "the truth was too disgusting." It made him wonder if people did that all the time and he just never realized it.
"I wondered if it was a good thing to change a story because the truth is too disgusting." (ch. 2 pg. 19) This quote is very important to the story because we know that Torey will have to convince people that Christopher Creed is really still alive. What if he really does think that changing a story to make it less disgusting was a good thing? If people found out that he was changing stories because he couldn't handle the truth, no one would ever believe him. This also shows us that Torey thinks a lot about what other people might be doing or thinking.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Chapter 23 (IKWCBS)

Students, parents and esteemed colleagues. You have all come so far in these past 4 years. Many of the goals that you had set for yourselves in your freshman year, you have accomplished. And this now shows you, that you are capable of achieving your dreams.
To see how far African-American people have come in the past 40 years is incredible. There are absolutely no limits to the things that you can become and the things that you can do. For people like Barrack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and Martin Luther King Jr., who saw how hard it was to work you're way up in a world that saw them differently and thought little of the things that they could do proves how strong you really are. It also shows what can be accomplished if you keep working towards your goal, no matter what stands in your way.
All of you intelligent men and women have proven that you are capable of doing anything if you just set your mind to it. No matter the color of your skin, or what you religion may be, each one of you is a strong individual who has worked their way up and proven time and time again that we are all equal. And that success should not be about what you look like or you believe in, but how you got to where you are now, and what you had to overcome.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

4/18/09 7:15 PM
tomtom84: hey maya sup?
mayabaybayxo: ayy tommay, nm, hbu?
tomtom84: nm, just thinkin boutchu (;
mayabaybayxo: oOo.... lol
tomtom84: is dat all u got 2 say?
mayabaybayxo: idk... r u sayin u like mee??
tomtom84: i think so....
mayabaybayxo: idk wut 2 say
tomtom84: well...do u like me back?
mayabaybayxo: idk lol nvr rly thought bout it
mayabaybayxo: maybeee, im kinda surprised.....
tomtom84: oh haha i thought u might have known by noww
tomtom84: cuz ive liked u 4 a long time
mayabaybayxo: rly!? how long?
tomtom84: idk a long time lol
mayabaybayxo: oo kk
tomtom84: u wanna think bout it??
mayabaybayxo: sure 8)
tomtom84: saweet...sooo i guess ill c u 2moro at skool?
mayabaybayxo: kk c ya (:

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Chapters 17&18

"The lights hanging slack overhead, the soft ground underneath the canvas wall that faintly blew in and out, like cheeks puffed with air, made for the feeling of a county fair."(pg. 123)

This quotation is a description of the "church" that Marguerite attends with her family. Obviously, it is not your average church. Marguerite tells us that it is actually a collapsable tent that is used. Of course, there are no caucasian people that go to this church. The African-American community is extremely poor. They do not have enough money and can not afford a real church.
This is important to the story because is shows us the hard times that African-American's had to go through. It shows us how difficult it was for Marguerite to do simple things such as going to church. It also shows us exactly how poor these people were. The fact that they could not afford a place to perform their religion is horrible. It also shows us that the caucasian people would never help out the African-American people with anything.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Marguerite's Dream

In Marguerite's dreams, she sees herself as a white girl. "Wouldn't they be surprised when one day I woke out of my black ugly dream, and my real hair, which was long and blond, wold take the mass of the kinky mass that Momma wouldn't let me straighten? My light blue eyes were going to hypnotize them, after all the things they said about 'my daddy must have been a Chinaman' (I thought they meant made out of china, like a cup) because my eyes were all small and squinty."
After she describes her dream, she tells us how she really looks. Black hair, skinny legs, broad shoulders, big feet, and a huge gap in between her teeth.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Double Double Toil and Trouble

Slimy bugs, smelly feet
Ear wax and yellow teeth
Fingernails, a pair of old socks
Old chewed gum, the tail of a fox
Dog puke, lice in your hair
Last week's garbage, things that are not fair
Used and dirty toothbrush, your face getting a smack
Mud in your shoes, and hair on your back

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Act III: Story Time

Three magical witches told Macbeth that he would be a king one day. So Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth decided that they were going to do whatever it took to become the King and Queen of a place called Scotland. They made the king of Scotland disappear, and they didn't want anyone to find out. If someone found out what they had done, they would not ever be able to become the King and Queen.

Ever since the King had disappeared, many weird things had been happening. When the sun was supposed to be out, the moon was out instead. Everything was backwards and not the way it was supposed to be. One day, Macbeth's best friend found out what Macbeth and his wife had done. And he also knew why they did it. Banquo knew about the three magical witches and what they had said to Macbeth. Now, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth had to make Banquo dissapear. How would they make Banquo disappear without having all of Scotland think that they made the king disappear too?

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Greek Mythology

“Approach the chamber and destroy your sight/ With a new Gorgon…”

What Macduff is saying, is that Macbeth should do what Poseidon did to Medusa. He should take one of the most loved people in the land and turn him into someone everyone could hate. Or just kill him. By doing this, Macbeth will finally be king.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Scenes vi & vii, The Macbeths

A problem that the Macbeths have in their marriage would be that they do not have as strong of feelings that they used to have. It might be because they do not talk as much anymore because Macbeth has not been home. Something I would tell them to help their marriage would be to talk to each other more and let them see the things that they have in common again. 

1) Talk more to each other
2) Listen to what the other one is saying
3) Try to do different things together

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Blank verse is a form of a poem with no rhyme scheme or certain lengths or numbers of lines.

"But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?"
"Hold on a minute! Where is the light in that window coming from?"
(Romeo and Juliet)


"Thou art more lovely and more temperate."
"You're more lovely and holding your self back."
(Sonnets XVIII)

"If it were done when 'tis done, then t'were done well."
"If it was done the way it was supposed to be done, then it was good."
(Macbeth)

"Whither are they vanished?"
"Where did they go?"
(Macbeth)

Thou art a gnarling  horn-mad rabbit sucker.