Fall Vocabulary #2

accoutrements: personal clothing,accessories; the equipment including weapons and clothing of a soldier

- The soldiers marched onto the battle field carrying their accoutrements.

apogee: the highest or most distant point; climax

- The best part of a book is when the reader teaches the apogee, the most intense part of the book.

apropos: opportune; pertinent; at the right time

- His arrival was apropos as he came right when it was his turn to go on stage.

bicker: to engage in petulant or peevish argument; an angry dispute

- My grandparents always bicker about what happened in the past.

Beowulf Questions

I worked in a group with Amara Sharp, Breanna Timmons, Connor Albright, Rachel Nolan, and Whitney Houg. We divided the questions into 6 sections and each took one to complete and share with the group.

[Further Celebration at Heorot] (lines 1651-1798, pp. 68-71)

1.What does Beowulf give to Hrothgar?

1987 AP Essay- Question #2

 A Doll is Changing Tradition

   Breaking the rules, traditions, and social norms are apart of the changing world, in the play A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen Nora Helmer breaks the social norms and more specifically the marital norms of the nineteenth century. First Nora broke the rules by borrowing money by forging her fathers signature and without her husbands consent or knowledge. Secondly, she leaves Torvald because they did not understand each other, in this time period divorcing was almost unheard of.

   Ibsen expresses his want for change in tradition through Nora and her actions. Nora making her own decisions to borrow money and forge

My Opinion Isn't (A) Right

These notes are from my reading of "The Right to Your Opinion" and an in class discussion about the reading. 

The 1987 AP English Literature and Composition Test

Multiple Choice:

1. C

2. A

3. C

4. E

5. D

6. E

7. D

8. B

9. E

10. C

11. B

Reflections on Week 1

1. I think my public speaking will affect my participation in this class but I am working on that not being a problem. Also my iPhone will affect my participation but in a positive way so I can look up definitions of words I don't know or read of my phone for the journal or a text we are reading. My family also may affect me because my sister took tis closures last year and can help me if I can't contact anyone else.

2. My best ever learning experience that changed me is everyday. This is sort of a general answer but I do believe that everyday I get another chance to live my life and learn something new or further in depth. Everywhere I go I can learn something whether it be an interesting fact or an actual lesson. In life a lot of times I don't know what is happening but that is part of the "awesome best ever learning experience".

3. I am most excited for focusing on college applications and scholarships in this class. That is also what I am most concerned about since I will most likely be stressed out of my mind. This will definitely make a practical difference in my life and it will decide or lead to a decision of what and where the next four years or so of my life are going. 

Fall Vocabulary #1

adumbrate- to produce a faint image or resemblance of; to outline or sketch.

The author adumbrates in the book to give hints of what is coming next.

Essay #1

The Exile of Leah Price

  Edward Said- "Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience.  It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home; its essential sadness can never be surmounted." Exile can be an enriching and potent experience because being thrown outside of your comfort zone will force you to adapt and grow like Leah Price did in the Poisonwood Bible. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver focuses on an American family moving to Congo, Africa this move causes many changes in the family as a whole and individuals. Leah Price shows how this exile effected her views and life.


   When the Price family moved to the Congo for the father, Nathan Price, to spread the idea of God to the people of Kilanga. The religious beliefs differed  between the natives and the foreigners, causing Leah and the rest of her family to be alienated from their new home. Throughout the novel Nathan keeps pursuing his idea of baptism and religion on the natives the wedge grows bigger between the family and their neighbors. Leah is also exiling herself from her father's beliefs and changing her morals. "I felt the breathe of God go cold on my skin." At this point in the novel Leah's faith in her father and his view of God was changing and being replaced.
   Out of all the Price family Leah adapted and grew the most from their experience in Kilanga. Leah is still living in Africa without a lot of Western influence. Never being attached to the materialistic ways of the west, like her sister Rachel is, Leah seemed to happily be exiled from the American culture, therefore, an open mind of living in Kilanga. Although the transition was rough and once Leah got married it was still hard because she was still not accepted by all because of her skin. Leah's life shaped from being forced out of her home in America to find her true home in Africa.
   Leah Price was exiled from the fourteen years of life she originally knew in the United States, but she grew with an open mind and heart to accept and learn about the new culture she lived in. Her new home and self have been found because of the difficult times Leah and the Prices' went through leaving their comfort zones. This enriching experience of exile aided Leah to adapt and develop her views and life.

BIG Question

How can one's mood change by a small thing (picture, word(s), lyrics, melody, name, etc.)?

-Please comment any websites/articles/opinions :)

Poetry #1

1. From what poem/author does this commercial borrow (without credit)? 
- The Laughing Heart by Charles Buwoski
2. Why might the use of this poem by a corporation be considered ironic?
- The commercial is ironic because the poem has a deeper more complex meaning and the commercial is advertising blue jeans which are simple and straight forward.
3. Does the poem reflect the reputation of the author? Why/why not? 
- I believe the poem reflects the reputation of Buwoski because he had a hard life but still searched for the good moments.4. How did you find the answers to #1 & #3? Describe your research process and your sources in detail.
- I searched "your life is your life" in Google and then my blog from last year remembering this assignment.

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