The Conclusion

Before this year, I had never done a blog in my life. They never seemed that interesting to me, but then once we started doing them this year, I felt like they were actually a good assignment to have in honors english.
The blogs this year were a good way for me to express what I had to say in a way that wasn't in essay form. Over the course of this year, I have done 22 blog posts, excluding this blog. Each blog seemed to gradually become easier for me to write, and sounded more like my own writing, thoughts, ideas, and more like the answers had thought to them. Each blog I wrote had it's own subject or topic, but all the blogs can connect to show what kind of writer/person I am.
Some of my favorite blogs to write, were the blogs we wrote in the beginning of the year. I liked writing the "My three best friends" blog, the "Earliest moment" blog, and the "Life lessons" blog. These three blogs really let me describe how I felt, and what I think- my personal beliefs, my best friends, life experiences, and the things I'm learning as I go through life. These were my favorite for those reasons, because they were the simplest to write since everything on my mind just poured out, and because they were the most interesting and captivating blogs, in my opinion.
These blogs really let me express myself and everything that I feel toward a certain topic, in my own words without any guidelines or specific instructions. Over the course of this year, I feel like my entire perspective on writing has grown and I can write in many different ways now. I feel completely ready to move on, with confidence, and with all my writing, I'm confident that I will do well. As Dr. Seuss says, "Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind."

Essay writing: Challenges and Conquests

Over the course of this year, I have become much more of an experienced writer. I feel more confident in my essays and other writing pieces the more I write. I've come to grasp a better understanding of literary analysis - This year I'm much better at getting all of my thoughts for an essay conveyed through the text, embedding quotes the right way, and following essay formats as told. Writing essays are not one of my favorite things to do in honors English, but it has helped me a lot and I feel much more prepared for my following years of English. The reward of learning literary analysis, is having better confidence in my writing, also.

Some things from the B list, that may be in my essay is being slightly repetitive and possibly being slightly repetitive. My essay thesis was original, but was hard to support all the separate sub topics. I'm looking for ways to change them, because I would love to get an A on this essay. I've worked very hard on it. Though I'm becoming a more experienced writer, I still have some areas of needed improvement... But I'm sure everyone does in some way.

Summer reading list

So, I happen to be one of the people who haven't really thought of what books I will read this Summer. But now that I'm thinking of it, I have come up with a few books I really would like to read this Summer. One book I have been wanting to read is, The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks. I have read many of his other books and I can never put them down until I'm finished. He's one of my favorite authors, so I'm sure this book will be just as good. Another book I would like to read is, My Sister's keeper by Jodi Picoult. My mom suggested the book; She said it was one of the best books she has read in awhile. (I have not seen either of these movies, by the way). These are just two of the books I can't wait to read this Summer.

Theme and Motif: Fate

Since I was born on March 6th 1995, my Astrology sign is Pisces. According to Astrology my good traits are being imaginative, sensitive, compassionate, kind, selfless, unworldly, intuitive, and sympathetic. It also implies my negative traits as being an escapist, idealistic, secretive, vague, weak-willed, and easily led on. Almost all of these traits are accurate about me, but one or two aren't really right about me.

I check my horoscope every once in a while to see what could or might be happening.. Sometimes it's accurate and other times it's not. But I'm not the type of person who ties every happening in their life with Astrology, horoscopes, or the heavens. I believe that everything happens for a reason, and that life happenings could have something to do with those, but who knows. In the play Romeo and Juliet, all the characters fore see life events, or believe certain events will lead up to another important event in their life. For example, in the beginning of act three, Benvolio tells Mercutio to calm down, and to not go looking for a fight; He says that people become hot-blooded and ill-tempered when it's hot outside. In this, he's already predicting a fight will break out between them and the Capulets. Another example, is when Juliet tells Romeo, "Methinks I see thee, now thou art so low, As one dead in the bottom of a tomb." She is saying to Romeo he looks as though he is dead - She's predicting his death to be soon.

Culture Shock

"Oh, he's such a Romeo."
Romeo

1) An ardent lover
2) A man who is devoted to love-making, or the pursuit of love

People sometimes describe a man as a "Romeo" - It can negative, as in a man who always surrounds himself with women or is always in the pursuit of women. It can also be positive, as in a man who is very romantic and passionate about the person he loves. I wonder why no one ever says, "She's such a Juliet." ?

Extra credit Blog - English

My 9th grade Honors English class so far this year, has been much different than I had expected. I took the class hoping for it to be more of a challenge than my previous years of English. It was slightly harder than I had expected it to be, but it has been a positive influence on me and has driven me to work harder. I like the independence we have in the class; We don't always need to have someone else guide us the entire time. When I think back to all of the things we have done in the class this year, I'm really surprised with how much work I've done. I really like some of the things we do in class, certain essays and such. With Mrs. Gilman's class there is always something going on but you never really know what to expect. We do things such as horrible assignments (cough, cough - Great Expectations!...) to more interesting assignments such as annotating To Kill a Mockingbird, etc. I usually find myself having fun in this class. Some of my friends are in the class and there's always something to laugh about. I feel entertained (Great Expectations skits?) Overall, English has always been one of my favorite subjects in school and I feel like this years honors English class has encouraged me to push myself to do good in my following years of English and to finish off this year strong.

Skit Ideas

1) One scene from Great Expectations that I think would make a good skit, is the scene when Pip comes across Abel Magwitch for the very first time in the grave yard. The skit should be from when the convict first speaks to Pip, to the time he pushes Pip on the grave stone and demands that he brings food and a file to him the very next day. The skit should also include the quotes in which Magwitch tells Pip that if he does not return with the food and file, that there is another crazy man around, who will eat Pip. This was one of the only good scenes in the book.

2) Another scene that would make a good skit would be when Pip first see's Miss Havisham in her dark and isolated room. The skit should include what Miss Havisham's room look's like (the clock's timing, the worn down wedding dress, Miss Havisham - pale, etc.), and everything Miss Havisham tells Pip and has him play. This was another interesting part of the book.


3) One other scene that would make a good skit would be when Miss Havisham catches on fire in her own home. It shows bad karma. The skit should include her catching on fire, and when Pip runs up to her room and saves her. This part of the book got my attention. I think it would make a good skit because of it's meaning.

Another Question.

In chapter 40, on pages 330 and 331, Magwitch is admiring his making of Pip into a gentleman. And he says that he's going to show"them" something. He wants to show someone that Pip is a gentleman. "And blast you all!... Blast every one, from the judge in his wig to the colonist a-stir-ring up on the dust, I'll show a better gentleman than the whole kit on you together!"(331)

It seems like Magwitch is trying to prove something or make a point to someone, but who and why?

Great Expectations: Question about a passage

Chapter 30, pages 246 through 247:

The passage on these pages were about Mr. Trabb's boy's behavior towards Pip. I do not understand why he first acts terrified of Pip, and then he makes fun of Pip by saying, "Don't know ya, don't know ya, 'pon my soul, don't know ya!" I don't understand why he is making fun of Pip, and what the relationship between them is.

Question: Exactly why was Mr. Trabb's boy making fun of Pip, and what is Pip's and Trabb's boy connection in the story?

Great Expectations photo...

I chose this image to represent this week's reading because it shows the long road Pip has chosen to take to make the life he wants. Pip has left everything behind - his family, Biddy, Joe, becoming a Blacksmith, and everything else he is accustomed to, so that he can come into good fortune and learn to be a gentleman with Mr. Jaggers in London. Pip has already come a long way, and I'm sure he still has a long road ahead in order to complete his goals.

Great Expectations - The first stage

In the novel, Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens, the main character Pip lives with his older sister and her husband Joe. Pip, who was raised "by hand" as his sister says, is very sensitive and thoughtful. At the end of chapter 9, Pip says, "Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the information of the first link on one memorable day." Pip is referring to how he lied to Joe, his sister and Mr. Pumblechook. Pip had been to Miss Havisham's house to play and this is the first day he met her and the first day that he met Estella. Estella was very cruel to him, and Miss Havisham was definitely strange. Pip was so concerned that nobody would understand what Miss Havisham or her home was like, and he was afraid of making her look bad... He wanted to protect her, so he lied about what happened at Miss Havisham's house, so that he could cover up how terrible Miss Havisham's was that day. This feeling of lying would soon lead to other things, like Pip being ashamed of his home life, and to him feeling so self conscious of what Estella and Miss Havisham would think of him, which makes Pip feel common and ignorant.

One memorable day that has started a "chain" effect, was when some friends and family began to notice that I have an eye for taking photographs. Ever since this day, it led to me thinking more artistically and more creatively with everything I do, especially photography. Since this time, I have bought a Nikon d3000, and I spend a lot of my time taking pictures. It's something that has added to my personality, and helped round my character. I can express myself through it, and it helps me to see things in a different way.

Group Essay

Thesis statement: In Oscar Wilde's play, The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde uses black humor and a satirical manner to show the shallow, and hypocritical views on marriage in the Victorian Era.

My group essay is topic one. For my individual paragraph, I'm writing on the overall views on marriage during the Victorian Era, and in the play The Importance of Being Earnest. My first CD is about marriage not being about pleasure, or being with someone who you truly like or love. My CM will be supporting this by explaining how people feel about the people they are married to, and why people marry the people they marry. The second CD is about Lady Bracknell not approving of Jack and Gwendolen being engage. My CM will support this by explaining how people didn't always get to choose who they married, and that parents usually wanted their daughters to marry someone of high status for money reasons. My last CD is about how people rushed into marriage. My CM will support this by explaining how people rushed into marriage for my reasons, for status reasons, and for all the other reasons.

If there is anything I should change, tell me!

-Nicole Dandridge

The Importance of Being Earnest/Victorian Research

After taking notes and doing plenty of research on the Victorian Era and on the life of Oscar Wilde, I can now see how it helped me to understand the play, The Importance of Being Earnest, and to get a better understanding of the lifestyle people lived in that time period. After I began reading the play, I noticed how I could understand more of what was going on, and I could see connections between what I was reading and the research I had done. The facts I had learned through my research that really connected with the play, were things such as marriage, social class, religion, education, gender status, etc. There were several references to all of the subjects throughout the play.

One example, is on marriage when Lady Bracknell talks about how much healthier her friend has been looking since her own husband had passed away. "I hadn't been there since her poor husband's death. I never saw a woman so altered; she looks quite twenty years younger." (p. 17) This comment by Lady Bracknell tells that marriage was not something people generally enjoyed. Marriage often started off with two people in love, then was nothing good. She is really saying people are much happier when they are not married. In the Victorian Era, women were raised to learn that they would marry and have children, and that they weren't there for anything else. Women usually married young and without a choice of who they marry. Another example, is on social class. Gwendolen and Cecily comment on one an other's social status and one an other's ways of living. There were many social classes in the Victorian Era, and each one had their own standards and jobs they had to do. A third example, is on gender status. "How absurd to talk of the equality of sexes!... men are infinitely beyond us."(p. 75) In the Victorian Era women were not thought of highly. Men always overruled the women and the women were only there to be married and have children (with the exception of lower class women, who were expected to work). Overall, many of these points are made constantly throughout the play and references and satirical jokes are made about these social institutions. After doing the Victorian Era research, I feel like it helped me to understand the play and how marriage, social status, gender, etc. were during the time period.

- Nicole Dandridge
1/28/10