Conclusion Blog for the End of the Year

Honors English has taught me many things this year. I have been taught how to analyze and write poems, write solid essays, and pick apart literary elements from novels/literature. These tools have been constructed from my blogs. Even though that the blog is often annoying and just adds one more thing that I have to add to my schedule, I am really glad that I have done them. After reading over them they have shown me how much I have grown in writing and what my writing style is. Some have just been down right enjoyable. For instance, the Animal Farm project and finding modern day references to Romeo and Juliet.

"You become clever through your mistakes," says a Chinese proverb. Keeping this in mind, I have learned many things from reading over my blogs. One is that I need to spend more time editing before I finalize it as a complete project/paper. If I don't nip this in the butt then I am pretty sure that it will nip me in the butt. Another way I can make my blogs better is by explaining the point I am trying to get across better. Often times I will ramble or lose my focus on what I am trying to say. A time I noticed this a little bit was in the blog where we had to write about fate or dreams based off of the literature in Romeo and Juliet. I rambled on about how I thought that it was silly that you could tell your fate by looking at your birth date's astrology, and I repeated that many times. I didn't follow the prompt very well on my terms.

Well, those are the bad things. But, many good things have come from my blogs. I have improved my writing and thought more about my writing, rather than rushing through it. Also, based off of the questions Mrs. Gilman has posted for blogs, I have developed a higher educated way of thinking and I look at literature differently as a result. When I read literature at the beginning of the year I read the literal meaning of the literature. But, there is much more. There are interpretations and literary elements that the author might hide in his/her piece of writing. I have searched writing for hidden meanings and now writing has more value and means more to me.

My most valuable blog to me this year was the New Year's Resolution Blog. This blog helped me get my worries off of my chest and helped me set a clear goal for the future. I have never taken a New Year's Resolution seriously, and this blog helped me see the importance in it. Overall, these blogs have been very helpful to me.

Dear reader,
This year has had it's ups and downs, and I have seen myself grow in many ways. Many of you have made this possible. Thank you for being such great classmates and critizing my work to make it better. Thank you Mrs. Gilman for teaching me through my ups and downs and not giving up on me when I have become ignorant to your vast array of knowledge. You have made literature more important and enjoyable to me, and I see more things in literature than I have ever seen before (motif, extended metaphor, symbols, etc.). Thank you once again everybody for being patient and helping me learn. I hope you have enjoyed my blogs because I have enjoyed them and learned many thing from them.

Yours Truly, Michael Fairchild
P.S. Can't wait to see you guys next year to tackle sophomore year! Please comment.

Essay Writing: Challenges and Conguests

I have developed in many ways from the start of the school year. I have learned that I am not a bad writer, and because of that I hav eworked harder and have grown to love writing. Through the skills taught me through the ages yes, I do think I have become a good, and developing, essayist. Literary analysis is to dig deeper into literature so that you get a deeper understanding than what you would get when you just read over the source. It shows you themes, what the author is thinking, life lessons, character traits that could apply to you, and what life was like the time the author wrote the novel. It also provides challenges in that you don't always know what the author is saying at certain times, and you might not catch on to the symbolisms and motifs that may have a crucial part of the overall theme. When you screw those up you are looking for embarassement and/or a bad grade on an essay. The reward is that when you do get what the author is saying you get to look into the author's eyes and see a deeper understanding of the novel.

My shortcomings of essay are as follows: Weak hook, essay shows logical thought and reasoning but lacks original ideas, imprecise or repetitive diction, repetetive use of "this shows" in essay, and my transitions may be rough or lacking sometime. When I write an essay from the beginning these mistakes might take a role in the overall outcome of my grade. But, through rewriting and wonderful editing done by my friends, family members, and myslef, the essay gets polished and takes small steps towards perfaction. So I have my mistakes, but editing will solve thos, hopefully. Overall, I think that I will be noted on my logical thought and reasoning, but my lack for original ideas. Thank you for reading.

Summer Reading List

This summer, when I am on the couch doing nothing, I will read two books. My first book is called The Pacific, and is written by Hugh Ambrose. My second book is called We Die Alone, and is written by David Howarth. I have been meaning to read these World War II non-fiction novels for some time, but all they have done is collected dust off of my shelf. Both of these books were given to me as gifts, and I am very excited to read them. This first book, is about a couple men who fought in the pacific theater. The next book is about a man who is stranded from his squad and is being chased by Nazis through the freezing cold. It is about his survival story. Both books are supposed to be great reads and I am very excited. Let summer come!

Theme and Motif: Fate

According to my birth date's astrology, I am a very unsocial but very wise person. It also says I am very irrirtable to live with because of my "higher standard of expectation," and it makes me grouchy. Then it goes on saying that I am a peaceful and affectionate soul. I am also charming and refined. I was born in The Chinese Year of the Dog. Looking at this information, if you want to call it that, I call it garbage. Some things I agree with, like my dislike of confusion, but isn't that everybody? I disagree with these thing because sometimes I think they make traits that are compatible with almost anybody. For example: not liking confusion.

In the same way, I think that in Romeo and Juliet when they use the stars to determine their fate, it is taking it a step too far. I think that having a bad feeling about something, like the calm before the storm, is all right, but not looking up to the heavans and seeing something (or by analyzing your birth date). Similarly, in act three when Juliet says that the fate is cast in the stars, so to speak, I think it's kind of strange. Overall, I don't agree that your fate is "cast in the stars", but, like most people, I find it entertaining to see the information behind the astrology of your birth date. I think in Romeo and Juliet they use it as direct meaning to their fate, but I think it also gives them something to vent on, or blame, when something bad does actually happen.

Culture Shock-Romeo and Juliet

We see here two different movie covers, referring to two different movies, both having to do with Shakespeare's novel, Romeo and Juliet. This novel has lasted throughout the decades and it still has an effect on our culture today, as seen here. Bottom line, Shakespeare has written a timeless novel that has been celebrated through many decades.

English reflection

Honors English is a very different environment for me. Most of the time, when I hear "Honors English", I cringe. All the work that we do each week seems pointless sometimes. But, when I think back to summertime when I was doing the summer project, I realize that I have grown and learned a lot in English. Honors English to me is a blessing in disguise. I hate doing the work, but I know that it will get me ready for next year, which is what this class is about. All in all, I am glad that I am in Honors English.

Great Expectations: Skit Prep

Overall, I think that there could be many great places in the book to do skits off of. But these are the three that I think would be the best:

1.) When Miss Havisham's hair catches on fire and Pip saves her. This would be fun to do in class because it would involve one person screaming, another person saving her, and other people coming in to take care of the person that was caught on fire. It is very dramatic.
2.) When Pip and the search party go to find Pip's convict. This would also be fun to do in class because it takes a lot of people, and it is an action scene (Compeyson and Magwitch fighting). I think it would be fun to see the fake blows shared between the people who are portraying Magwitch and Compeyson.
3.) Thed dinner at Mr. Jagger's house with all of Pip's friends (Drummle, Herbert, Startop, etc.). This takes many character roles, and it would fun to do because of the commentary shared between the characters at dinner time.

Thanks for reading. Please comment about my ideas.

More Questions about Great Expectations

My question has to do with the new characters Compeyson and Arthur. In Chapter 42 on pages 348+349 it says that Arthur sees Miss Havisham in a vision and is deathly afraid of her. So deathly afraid, infact, that he ends up dying having a dream about her. My question: if compeyson is pressumably Miss Havisham's lover, and leaves her on the altar, why is Arthur so deathly afraid of her instaed of Compeyson?

Great Expectations: Question about a Passage

My question has to do with a quote in Chapter 33 on page 270. Pip says, "I should have been chary of discussing my gaurdian too freely even with her, but I should have gone on with the subject so far as to describe the dinner in Gerrard Street, if she had not then come into a sudden glare of gas. It seemed, while it lasted, to be all alight and alive with that inexplicable feeling I had had before; and when we were out of it, I was as much dazed for a few moments as if I had been in lightning." What is this gas and why is Pip so startled by it that it brings back his past feelings?

Great Expectations: Photo

I chose this photo because in the book, when Mr. Pumblechook finds out Pip is going to be a gentleman, he shakes Pip's hand a lot. Mr. Pumblechook only does this because he found at that Pip is going to become a gentlemen. This gesture signafies Pip's emergence into the land of gentlemen and the way people try to suck up to him when they find this out. This is important in the book because Pip is getting really snobby (character develpment) and it shows the way people treat men when they are gentlemen (plot).

Great Expectation: The First Stage

When I read this over again, and try to contemplate what Pip is referring to, it is obvious to me that he is referring to his lies to Mr. Pumblechook and his sister. The lying has a big effect on Pip and he tells Joe about his mistake. This day has altered Pip because he has lied to two people straight in the face, and they believed him. Pip knew he had taken advantage of them and he confessed to his friend and guardian, Joe. Pip's character developed on this memorable day by realizing what he did was wrong and confessing it to someone he knew cared enough about him to say that it was wrong. He now knows not to do that again. One lie starts a chain of events, or worse, a chain of more lies.

I agree with Pip's quote on the "chains". When I have lied in the past to my parents I have felt terrible about it. Yet still try to hide the wrong thing that I have done. What I did wrong is usually found out anyways, and I found out that if you tell your parents what you did it before they find out you did it, then you feel better about yourslef and your parents can expect the truth from you. I used to lie about hurting my little brother. My parents would always find out. Either from confession or just the down right obvious. Also, a rule of life: the older brother NEVER wins. The best way to deal with lying is to confess to it. That's the easiest way.

Honors English group essay collaboration

The three points that I am making in my body paragraph are that the author uses large ways of being dishonest to drive the play along, the characters to pursue their pleasure, and to protect their relatives. My commentary takes place on pages 12, 64, and 48.

Jack: How should I make my conclusion to set you up for your body paragraph?

Mikaela: How are you making the small ways of being dishonest tie in to the play and your paper?

Mrs. Gilman: If my partners don"t make a blog, meaning I can't comment on their blog, does that mean I get marked down points for not doing it?

The Importance of Being Earnest/ Victorian Era research

Throughout the reading of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, there have been a lot of ties to the Victorian Era because that is when the story takes place. Some things that I have noticed about the History of the era and its ties the comedy are that it was common to marry your cousin in the Victorian era. I saw this in the book when Algernon is faking to be Ernest to hit on his cousin Cecily. Nowadays it is really wierd to marry your cousin, so if I didn't know that fact about how it was common to inbreed, I would have been confused.

Another tie I noticed between the history and the book is that there is a big difference between the social classes. This is shown in the book by the way Algernon treats his servant, Lane. Lane brings everything to Algernon on a silver platter, even if it is a small note. He always does what Algernon wants, at any moment. This is because Algernon is higher classed than Lane, so Lane is serving the food instead of getting served the food. Also, the higher class people are alot more respected and distinguished than the lower class people. Which is shown in the book by the way people treat Algernon.

My New Year's Resolution

My biggest downfall at the moment has to be my lack of confidence. Being a freshman at a new highschool has its pressures, of course, and I worry about them too much. I think that if I stop thinking and just go out to do what I know to do because that's the way i have been taught it then I'll do fine. But no, I think of all the ways i could fail. I have to get across my mind that failure is a part of life and that it takes wrong mistakes to make right decisions. I have to be confident that I will succed.

One of the ways that i can do this is by not comparing myself to others, because someone will always be better than myself. I can remember this by posting up clever slogans, proverbs, and Bible verses on my bathroom mirror and bedroom wall. I also need to find friends that are going through or have gone through what I am going through now so that we can help eachother with our struggles.

Thank you for reading my blog. I feel that this was more of a talk to myself rather than a writing to the reader, and I found it useful. Please comment.