Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Young Goodman Brown

Antonia Sanders
October 20, 2009
AP English III
Yong Goodman Brown
By Nathaniel Hawthorne
The forest is a big part in the story because it is where everything happens and where readers find out the shocking news. The forest however is described in sort of a gothic style. “He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through… it was all as lonely as could be”. This quote is significant because readers can get a vivid image on how this place looked. This forest represents sin because it was where all the evil people did their dirt.
The names used in this story play an important role. The names given to the people in the story doesn’t fit their character at all. Faith’s name sort of fits how she acts like she’s so religious but she really isn’t because she attends the witches sabbath. The ribbon she wears in her hair is pink which is probably to persuade people that she is this innocent figure. Deacon Gookin is supposed to me this man who goes to church and does good by people, but instead he commits sin by attending the witches sabbath. When readers look at the name Goody Cloyse when you first think that he is a good person and does nothing wrong to people, but as readers can see he isn’t. Martha Carrier seems like a nice lady by the name, but is a Salem resident who wants to be the queen of hell.
Goodman Brown I think has problems with the good and bad as far as religious reasons. He called himself a good Christian and that he has been a race of honest men. When his wife, Faith, and he talk they speak with very religiously. “Then God bless you! said Faith… Amen! cried Goodman Brown… Say thy prayers, dear Faith, and go to bed at dusk, and no harm will come to thee”. In these statements I find it kind of funny on how they communicate because they talk to each other so religiously. In these lines it is significant because it shows readers how religion played an important role in their marriage. I find Faith’s name important because it represents a lady who strongly beliefs are in God. Readers don’t know if the whole story was a dream or reality that Goodman had though. I find it strange that a man who thinks he’s so Christian has such a dream (if it was). While getting lead by the Devil he learns that not everyone are good people and they own have their secret lives, even ones close to you. The situation that occurred in his life made him a different person. He now finds it hard to trust people and lives miserable.

The Ministers Black Veil

Antonia Sanders
October 20, 2009
AP English III
The Ministers Black Veil
By Nathaniel Hawthorne
In this story Nathaniel Hawthorne talks about how a reverend changes his identity by wearing a black veil. This veil is worn for the simple reason which is that he has done wrong and committed a sin. The fact that he wears this veil is important to him, but what he doesn’t realize is that others look at him differently.
The black veil could represent a lot of things. I think it does have something to do with Reverend Mr. Hooper being a sinner and now he is ashamed of what he has done. The veil could have been any color but the author chooses “black”. This could have been to represent how Mr. Hooper felt about his wrong doings, and the color black could have been picked to represent the secret he was hiding. “If I hide my face for sorrow, there is cause enough and if I cover it for secret sin, what mortal might not do the same”. In this quote Mr. Hooper says how he can’t uncover his face because he has done wrong.“It was tinged, rather more darkly than usual, with the gentle gloom of Mr. Hooper’s temperament. The subject had reference to secret sin, and those sad mysteries which we hide from our nearest and dearest”. In this quote the reverend is basically speaking about his self and saying that he has done sin which he hides from his loved ones. This quote also shows a mood of someone who acts like something is bothering them or they have done something but just won’t say. The diction Nathaniel Hawthorne uses in this quote like: temperament, gloom, and sad shows that he’s his personality is full of depression.
With the reverend wearing this veil it makes a lot of people think different of him. “I don’t like it… He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face… Our parson has gone mad”. The people in his community have all these opinions about him for his new style. This veil affected the way the people looked at Mr. Hooper because they couldn’t understand why and what was the purpose of this. Basically he just suddenly turned himself into this awful person who kept his self concealed. Since he refused to take off the veil for his loved one, Elizabeth, she had a change of heart of staying with him and soon tells him “Then farewell”.

Monday, October 19, 2009

The Devil and Tom Walker

Antonia Sanders
October 19, 2009
AP English III
The Devil and Tom Walker
By Washington Irving

In the story The Devil and Tom Walker it portrays a man name Tome Walker involves with two people who are characterized as the “devil”. Washington gives descriptions of these people by using imagery and gothic.
While describing how the swamp looked in this story Irving uses a lot of gothic. “The swamp was thickly grown with great gloomy pines and hemlocks, some of them ninety feet high; which made it dark at noonday, a retreat for all the owls of the neighborhood”. These lines give readers a description and imagery on how this swamp looks. Its creepy because its dark at noonday and is the hangout spot for the owls. “In this lonely melancholy place… to the evil spirit… listening to the bonding cry of the tree toad”. When Washington states this in his story I kind of get a sense that it’s lonely because no one would dare walk into that scary swamp by themselves or with anyone else, but one person. Also he says that the tree toads get together and form a group and cry which is probably because they are living in this swamp which has many evil spirits. “This wild lonely place, would have shaken any man’s nerves: but Tom was a hard-minded fellow, not easily daunted, and he had lived so long with a termagant wife, that he did not even fear the devil”. This quote once again gives gothic details about this place but gives you Tom’s character also. I know for a fact that I can say this man was brave for even going into that swamp, but also the writer says that he was hard-minded and not easily daunted.
Washington Irving describes the man in the woods as “a great black man” who went by various names such as Wild Huntsman, Black Miner, and Black Woodsman. These names are very dark and fearful. “The stranger was neither negro nor Indian… but his face was neither black nor copper colour, but swarthy and dingy and begrimed with soot… he had a shock of coarse black hair… a pair of great red eyes”. This person is being described as a monster because he’s so dark with bad hair any red eyes. In the story he is even called the “devil”.
There is another person in story who had a dark, wicked, and mischievous description. “Tom’s wife was a tall termagant, fierce of temper, loud of tongue, and strong of arm. Her voice was often heard in wordy warfare with her husband; and his face sometimes showed signs that their conflicts were not confined to words”. Not only does this quote show that this lady (not given a real name) was not taking no stuff from her husband, but she actually abused him as far as what the text says. We readers know that she’s a loud woman who has a short temper, and she’s very strong. Washington also gives Tom’s wife the name devil probably because of her character and how she acts. With him giving her this name it shows that she probably is an evil woman who is cruel.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Sojourner Truth

Antonia Sanders
October 9, 2009
AP English III
Sojourner Truth
Both Aren’t I Woman and 1881 Account by Frances Gage (or is it by Sojourner Truth? The Debate Continues) speeches are giving the same message but they both have different meaning. One is written in the perspective of a Caucasian woman and one is the original message that Sojourner Truth has wrote. I would say that the original one would be the one I could relate to better by text is wrote by Sojourner Truth.
In that case I would simply go with the passage that had the most slang written in it. I think that she wrote this story with the slang in it because I know for a fact that most slaves where illiterate and non educated. I can also relate better with that passage because I understand it better and I clearly get what she is saying. “I have borne thirteen chilern, and seen ‘em mos’ all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And a’n’t I a woman?” While saying this quote Sojourner uses a courageous tone because she saying even though she has lost her own children and have seen them get sold into slavery she still stood a strong woman. She also uses ethos to show her audience even though she has been through rough times that she is a woman who won’t let anything get her down. “Dat man ober dar say dat womin needs to be helped into carriages, and lifted ober ditches, and to hab de best place everywhere. Nobody eber helps me into carriages, or ober mud puddles, or gibs me any best place!” And raising herself to her full height , and her voice to a pitch like rolling thunders, she asked “Ans a’n’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! (and she bared her right arm to the shoulder, showing her tremendous muscular power)”. Well in this quote she’s actually going off. She uses a simile when she compares her voice to thunder to explain and show how she can act just like a man but she can do it better, and she shows off her tremendous muscles. She says how nobody helps her do not a damn thing, but look she can do bad all by herself. She doesn’t need a man to help her do this and that she’s a “woman” and those are things that make you a woman. Sojourner speaks with empowerment in her quotes and uses them with pathos and ethos. She doesn’t give in certain details to how she is feeling about certain things but her punctuations and diction shows it in a way. “And her voice to a pitch like rolling thunders, she asked “And a’n’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at me! Look at my arm!”. The word thunder describes how high and loud she was talking, and all the exclamation marks points out that she was angry which is significant.
In the other story Sojourner Truth: Aren’t I a Woman? I agree that Frances Gage wrote that story. The way she writes the message changes the whole meaning. Her text is more formal and more literate. I find it way more boring to read her story than I would the other one because the way she states things. “What’s that got to do with woman’s rights or Negroes’ rights?” I usually don’t hear a lot of African Americans referring to themselves as “Negroes” that’s why I find it a little awkward for Sojourner Truth to have wrote this story, and that I believe Frances Gage wrote it over but in her own words. Her words don’t make me get excited and inspired from reading it at all.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Antonia Sanders
October 5, 2009
AP English III
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs
In this story a slave girl by the name of Linda tells us about all the things she has been through with being a slave. She uses different writing styles like pathos, ethos, diction, and tone to show how and what she felt about certain things. As you can see even though she actually wrote this story, the authors name says Harriet Jacobs. This is significant because you see how African Americans had no voice.
While reading this story I saw that these slave owners had different personalities. They all showed that they were in control by words or actions. A lot of slave owners made the slaves feel bad and uncomfortable from the cold looks, cold words, and cold treatment they gave. “Dr. Flint was an epicure. The cook never sent a dinner to his table without fear and trembling; for if there happened to be a dish not to his liking, he would either order her to be whipped, or compel her to eat every mouthful of it in his presence”. In these I look at Dr. Flint as an abusive monster from the diction the writer uses. The words fear, trembling, whipped, and compel gives me this impression. Only someone who is cruel forces people to eat things and would whip them for something dumb. “This poor woman endured many cruelties from her master and mistress; sometimes she was locked up, away from her nursing baby, for a whole day and night”. These lines show that these slave owners had no heart and were selfish. They imprisoned someone and kept them from her baby with no problem. “I saw the cowhide still wet with blood, and the boards all covered with gore”. This quote shows how badly beaten slaves were. They were beaten until blood came out of their bodies. “The mistress, who ought to protect the helpless victim, has no other feelings towards her but those of jealousy and rage”. What the writer is basically trying to say is that since the men have sex with the slave girls this makes the mistresses angry which makes them act violent. They get jealous knowing that there husband is having sex with another girl (a slave at that), but why is it the slaves fault?
The treatment that Linda has received makes her as well as others feel like they are nothing. They are the property of others which means they can’t hold any property. The parents who had children basically were not in charge anymore because their children had to listen to their master before their parent. “They thought he had spoiled his children, by teaching them to feel that they were human being. This was blasphemous doctrine for a slave to teach; presumptuous in him and dangerous to the masters”. This quote is full of cramp in my opinion because basically what is being told is that parents weren’t allowed to teach their child that they were human. Masters found this disrespectful, for what reason though? “He peopled my young mind with unclean images, such as only a vile monster could think of. I turned from him with disgust and hatred”. Linda uses pathos to express her feeling about her master by using the word hatred and disgust. At the end of the story Linda states “O, what days and nights of fear and sorrow that man caused me”. Without saying exactly what her master did to her readers should get a good understanding that she has been raped plenty of times because in the quote above she calls him a vile monster. In this quote she doesn’t say his name she refers to him as “that man” which I see that she has no respect for him. He has beat her, raped her, said file things to her, lowered her self-esteem, degraded her, and just messed up her whole life so yea she should feel that way about him.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The Story of An Hour

Antonia Sanders
September 29, 2009
AP English III
The Story of An Hour
Kate Chopin
Many women maybe in unhappy and unhealthy marriages which can have you act upon being an emotional rollercoaster. Kate Chopin writes this story to give readers a vivid picture on how things can affect you and make your heart become very ill. Something was told in this story and it had a great affect on a lady named Mrs. Mallard. She feels grief, freedom, and then sad again in this story.
When Mrs. Mallard hears the news about her husband she suddenly feels grief. She has great pain about hearing about her husband. “She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms”. In this quote you can see how Mrs. Mallard cries and how she abandons herself from the news. She also sits alone in room and looks out the window where she is “pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and reached into her soul”. This shows that physically the death is making her tired which also affects her soul and is taking a toll on her. Kate Chopin’s diction she uses helps readers get a better understanding on what emotions Mrs. Mallard is feeling. She uses words like crying, faintly, motionless, and dull.
Mrs. Mallard suddenly changes tremendously wants this sinks in her head. She suddenly begins to say “free, free, free!” These words show that she has opened her eyes to see that she can begin her a new life. Readers may think from her saying this that her marriage may have been bad, she wasn’t happy being with her husband, or she was locked down and couldn’t live her life how she wanted. The ways her eyes change from terror to them staying bright and keen shows a sign of relief and joy she feels. Kate Chopin states “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself”. This quote shows us that all along while being married Mrs. Mallard had no life of her own she was living her life for someone else. Now that she thinks her husband is dead she is free to do what she wants and likes to do.
Mrs. Mallard acted like an emotional rollercoaster which may had caused to her death. At first she was mourning about the death of her husband that she sometimes loved but often she didn’t. Then she had a change of heart about being sad because reality sunk in and she knew she was free. All of a sudden at the end of the story when her sister comes to her room she breaks down again. She then gets astonished from seeing her husband who was supposed to be dead coming in the house. As it was said in the beginning of the story Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with heart trouble. All the emotions that crossed her mind and ran through her body made it even worse and was the cause of her dying because of the heart disease.
In the end I saw that being in a marriage that you are not happy in can make break you, but once something bad comes along you may have many emotions. Kate Chopin main purpose was to show readers that Mrs. Mallard could have embarked a life of freedom that she didn’t see coming to her. Unfortunately she doesn’t get that chance because her freedom soon dies.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

The Wiz

Antonia Sanders
September 22, 2009
AP English III
The Wiz
Dorothy is a girl who has to find herself and ends up doing that when she is taken on a journey. She comes across people and many obstacles but still manages to find her way in the end. It takes her to go on this journey to become a woman instead of a young lady who was afraid of new things.
In the beginning of the story Dorothy depends on others to do things for her. She doesn’t know the meaning of “independence” because she has never left her home and experienced more places in her lifetime. She refuses to get a better job to where she can earn more money and she’s afraid or shy to have a boyfriend in her life. Her aunt wants her to get out and try things on her own. She doesn’t want Dorothy to have to depend on others for the rest of her life.
Well while being taken to another place Dorothy has to depend on herself if she wants to get back to her hometown. On her journey she comes across three people a scarecrow, tin- man, and a lion. All four of these characters have their own problems in which they deal with together. They quickly build a bond together and become like this family. They care for each other and help each other when something happens.
There was a scene when the lion tries to jump off a cliff but Dorothy saves him. They all begin to show a sign of independence after that incident and they sing a song. In the song they all say how they are a “lion” and are strong, brave, and courageous. This shows that all of them are starting to have faith in themselves. Courage, heart, and brain can best be described for Dorothy. In the beginning it didn’t seem like she didn’t have much of a big heart and she just tried to escape from others, her brain was only focused on one thing which made her not wanting to accomplish other things in life, and she didn’t have a lot of courage. While the movie progressed she met new people who she cared for and helped them with things they couldn’t do for themselves, and she began to feel more courage in herself.
In the movie The Wiz many of the characters each learned something new. They clicked together, helped each other, and became a family. Each one learned how to be independent and what it really meant to do things for themselves.