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

Animal Farm Project - Abuse of Language

Poetry Out Loud Performances

Joshua Kelly was one of the top performances for Poetry out loud. His recitation of Dulce et Decorum Est was done extremely well. His voice and articulation was right-on, he spoke clearly, his voice was audible at all times, and he spoke at a good pace so you could understand every word in the poem. His appropriateness of dramatization was very good too. He was dramatic, but not over the top - He does just enough for you to show the poem's graphic scenes and haunting war images. His overall performance was very good, and I thought he grasped the meaning of the poem well, and his performance made the poem much more interesting to listen to.

I interpreted the poem, Dulce et Decorum Est, as how people see war as something to be idolized and glorified, but the soldiers of the war are stripping away all of that, to show how bitter and terrible the war truly is. They reveal how horrible everything is, and it is nothing to be proud of. "Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning..." {Second Stanza} This was a very good example of how the soldiers are sharing their pain of the war with other people, and making the war no longer seem so glorified. Overall, I thought the entire performance of the poem was done very well, and the meaning was well shown.


-Nicole Dandridge

Mockingbird Motif

In the beginning of the year when we had to know all the definitions of the literary terms, Motif was one of the literary terms I just couldn't grasp. None of the definitions could explain well enough what exactly a Motif was. After reading To Kill a Mockingbird I finally understand what exactly a Motif is. A Motif is a reoccurring symbol or event in a novel that enhances the theme/themes in a novel. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the 'Mockingbird Motif' was a symbol meaning that it's a sin to kill a mocking bird.

Harper Lee says it's a sin to kill a mockingbird, because they don't ever do anything wrong they're put on the Earth to do good things. In the novel, Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are considered mockingbirds. They were both innocent people who were trying to do something good for someone else. Tom Robinson was considered a mockingbird because he was put on trial and then killed because the jury thought Tom was guilty of the raping and beating of Mayella Ewell, even though he did not do anything to her. And Boo Radley is considered a mockingbird because he was always there for Jem and Scout and he was always doing something right for them, and people were always brought up thinking he was a bad insane man, but he really was a good man. Both Tom Robinson and Boo Radley were good, innocent people trying to do good for other people - They are like mockingbirds.

-Nicole Dandridge

Life Lessons

Through out my life, my parents have always had many little lessons for me but there is one that has proved to be the toughest one to learn, but is also the best one they have ever given me. Their lesson to me is, once a person shows you who they really are, you need to believe them. I have most recently discovered how true this is. People can be very hurtful and cruel, and they often make bad choices. So, once a person shows you that they do these things, you need to know that's how they really are. You need to learn it, accept it, and move on.


The reason this has had such a strong influence over me, is that I have had friends in my life who I thought were the best, and that I cared for strongly, who made really dumb choices or treated me badly; They just weren't good friends to me. They showed me what kind of people they are and what kind of choices they choose to make on a regular basis. No matter how much it was upsetting to give them up, I accepted them for what kind of people they are, and I moved on. After a few weeks, I have realized how much better off I am without people like that in my life. I have learned a lot from my parents, and their opinions and lessons they teach me almost always have an impact on my opinions and thoughts.

-Nicole Dandridge

My three best friends

My three best friends.

I do not only have one best friend, but I have three - Ariana Burdick, Nikki Herbison, and Chase Labranche. I love them all the same. So, I couldn't just write about one.


I'll start off by describing Ariana Burdick. Ariana is very tall and very thin. She has blond hair that is almost white. She is amazing at basketball, but doesn't like any other sports. Also, she is very outspoken and she speaks her mind most of the time. Ariana is a very bubbly, lively, sweet person. The next best friend I'll tell about is Nikki Herbison. Nikki comes off as very quiet and shy, but is very talkative once you get to know her a little better. Nikki is average height, and is thin, like Ariana. She doesn't do sports, but she is very creative with art and pictures. She is seen by other people as very sweet, and shy. Nikki is the opposite of Ariana, as in she doesn't speak her mind very often (which is okay!). You could say she is just more conservative with her thoughts than most people. My last best friend to describe, is Chase Labranche. Chase has long, lovely dirty blond hair and is average height for a guy. He skateboards amazingly, and loves good rock music. People perceive Chase as quiet, and shy. He talks more as you get to know him. People make friends with Chase very easily, because he is extremely nice and easy going. The same goes for all three of my best friends.

To start off, none of my best friends are egoists or egotists. I have a hard time getting along with people who are conceited. All three of my best friends are very different, but very alike in some senses. Nikki is an ambivert but tends to lean towards introvert, but only when shes around a large group of people. I say this because she is so shy and quiet most of the time, and she's extremely creative and very smart. Ariana on the other hand, is leaning towards extrovert. She is extremely outgoing, loves meeting new people and being adventurous. And then Chase is right in between. Id say hes probably an ambivert, because hes not an extrovert or an introvert. He is all of those physical descriptions. Overall, even though we are all three very different, and are all ideally individualistic, we are all best friends. I suppose that's why we are - because were all so different.

-Nicole Dandridge

Earliest Moment

One of my earliest memories is from kindergarten, when I was about five years old. I was at my uncle's appartment with my little brother, Ian, and my two cousins, Brandi and Ashley, who are older than me. We decided to go to the small park behind the house to play on the toys. Being the adventurous person that I am, I decided to try something a little more exciting. I ran over to the monkey bars, climbed up, and tried to jump and reach not the first bar, but the third or fourth (it would have been too easy to reach the very first one!). As I leapt off of the platform, I realized I would never make it, and instead of grabbing the bar, I fell and landed with my arm out and behind me at a very strange angle - CRACK! Everyone went crazy--they started yelling for my uncle and running around!

The last thing I remember was my oldest cousin, Brandi, picking me up off of the ground and running to the house to get my uncle. Before I knew it, we were speeding down the freeway to get to St. Peter Hospital. As we pulled up, I recall my dad picking me up and taking me in. I remember they gave me a teddy bear and some medicine that made me very sleepy! It was scary when the doctor said I would need surgery to repair the compound fracture right by my elbow, but the worst part was when the nurse had to cut my shirt off to get me ready for surgery! It was my FAVORITE! It was a white shirt with the coolest sparkly heart on the front--the kind every five year old must have! I woke up hours later in a hospital room, with a cast on my entire arm. They put my arm back together but two long silver pins held the bones in place and had to stay in for about six to eight weeks. It was really wierd because they stuck out of my arm. I'd rather not mention what it felt like when they pulled those out!

Another big part of this that I remember, is being in a commercial and in an ad for the paper for St Peter Hospital. My mom is a pharmacist at the hospital, so we did an interview, a photo shoot and commercial (with make-up, hair and everything). It was pretty cool, actually.

-Nicole Dandridge