Animal Farm project

Jackson Hille recited the poem Forgetfulness, by Billy Collins. His physical presence was very well done. He used his hands to portray the emotion you should feel with the words he was saying. He properly plays the roll of a man, losing his memory yet he is (i hope) way to young to.He had good volume and articulation and he was easy to understand. So obviously you can tell that he isn't the one the poem was written about! He kept the audience pretty intrigued by the way he "poised" his questions and statements. The performance could have been a little better if he had changed his tone a little more.

This poem was about people forgetting things, hence receiving the title Forgetfulness. The last stanza is really about the authors past life and how he was affected by memory loss. When he talks about the planets, he is saying how those memories disappeared. Also, when he mentions that "something else is slipping away", he doesn't only mean the flowers and the uncles, but all of the other knickknacks stored in the back of his brain. When he says " the moon in the window seems to have drifted out " it shows how his last glimmer of actual memory is slowly fading until they finally disappear.

mockingbird motif

In the beginning of the year, a had only a primary understanding of what "motif" was. After reading To Kill a Mockingbird, I know have a broader understanding of the term. Yay. I guess getting an actual example helped. The main motif in the novel, is, well, the mockingbird motif. It represents that we shouldn't accuse innocent people of kill them-like you shouldn't kill a mockingbird because it's an innocent songbird and it didn't do anything.

"'Well, it'd be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird, wouldn't it?'" Scout said this when she was trying to tell Atticus that she understood what had happened after Bob Ewell had attacked them. The mockingbird motif represents how it's a sin to accuse someone innocent. Boo Radley and Tom Robinson were the main "mockingbirds" in the novel. The night that Bob Ewell attacked Jem and Scout, Boo Radley came and saved them by stabbing the attacker. Boo, hadn't barely ever come out of his house, so he wouldn't really have been be "able" commit the crime. If they put him in court, it would be like killing an innocent one. Pointless. Tom Robinson was a dead man the minute the trial began. This was because of the prejudice trials they had in this time period. If a black person was accused of something and the case went to court, they would almost automatically be either sent to prison or they received the death penalty.The motif highlighted the theme of children's innocence and also many other themes of the novel.

Symbolism; Judge Taylor

Judge Taylor, the main judge in Tom Robinson's case rules the courthouse. He is decision maker in this case, and therefore the gavel represents him, because number one, the gavel has the power to overrule the jury and silence everyone (and also, he's a judge so this symbol is perfect for him)! He is a strong man who tries to encourage others to make the right decisions, and in the story I think that if he had the ability to choose the verdict he would have chosen that Tom was not guilty.

random and pointless influential things

"Be grateful for the things you have". Someone probably told be this for the first time when I was really little and I was telling them what I wanted for Christmas and the list was probably a mile long. It seems that it would be a very common quote. Yet, in my life it has probably been one of the most meaningful. When we went to Africa last year, I saw so many people that were worse off than me. Some were literally living in the middle of nowhere, without running water or electricity. It's hard to imagine what it would be like- with no computer, or even lights to cook with, and for that matter it would be impossible to cook instant mac and cheese. A very big problem!!! Many of them wore the same clothes for a week straight feeling lucky they can change the next week. Not to be stereotypical, but most American people have WAY to much stuff. We wear a different item of clothing every single day. I'm definitely not saying that that's a bad thing, until you wear a different thing every day of the year. That would be scary. But to some people, one tiny toy car made from sticks and wood would be the best present they ever got, and they might like it more than a Wii. Just saying.

When most people see a lot of presents, and they know they're for them, they feel an urge to open one, say a quick "thank you", and rip open the next one. I've never been that way. I like to draw out my present opening and let it last as long as it can...until I explode and can't resist. Just kidding. Don't get me wrong by thinking that I'm "perfect" according to my examples. Although I don't always think before I speak or do something, I've learned to appreciate what I have. In many books, this quote is the main theme for the plot. Usually they're about someone who is greedy and want more and more, and then all the sudden something bad happens to them and they realize that there is more than "things" to life. Like those books, this quote writes the book of my life.

Best friends...

It's the first day of kindergarten. There are a ton of other people in the classroom. For some reason, I wander over to the plastic animals where one other girl is. We start playing together and at circle time we sit next to each other. She's tall and I'm short. That's just how it's always been since the day we met. We both have dirty blondish hair. She's had braces twice, and lucky me(I haven't). Another thing to contrast us, she has two brothers and I'm an only child. She was born in Maryland, and I was born in ordinary Olympia. She and I both used to do Irish dance, although she kept with dance and I with soccer. We seemed to form a special bond that we still have today. Every Wednesday, every Friday, and any other day that would do we would spend time together.

I never really thought about her as a pet/animal person until she and her two brothers took their two gerbils taking turns all the way cross country to Vermont to their new home on their laps in the car (In a cage just in case you were wondering). They had, and have a cat who is about 19 years old and have a 3 year old black lab. She is definitely not an egoist since she always puts others before her making her a true altruist. After she moved, we've tried to see her every year. But you know how that goes. She's still super tall. We're long distance buddies. That still hasn't changed.

Early memories

It was 95 stinking hot degrees out. The sun was pounding hot down onto my back as my cousins and I rode down the hill on my grandmas garden cart. A surprise. That was all they had told us. You'll just have to wait and see. Now if you have any common sense, you will understand that when your parents tell a four, a six and eight year old that their uncle has a surprise for them, they won't be able to concentrate on anything for very long. We tumbled down the hill, rolling down in the green grass. The whole backyard to ourselves, our parents playing cards on the deck. As we grew bored with that, we just lied there and stared at the clouds. A bunny, an elephant, a kangaroo or a dinosaur. Twenty-eight yellow balloons. Wait a second. As our minds clicked into gear we followed the string attached to the balloons we saw our uncle navigating this strange mass of balloons. Before you start making assumptions, let me tell you a little about me. Like most people who have at least one crazy member in my family, I have my uncle. The above time happened in 2001 when I was at my grandmas, my uncle decided to see if it was possible to tie balloons to a video camera to film and photograph the neighborhood from a birds eye view. Any sane person wouldn't think of this idea on a regular summer day. When the balloons started running out of air, he pulled the machine back down to add some new balloons. But of course, nothing works perfectly twice. It was really really AWESOME. Especially the multiple failed times when the balloons got a few feet off the ground and then came back down until he added new balloons. That time has always reminded me of the book The Big Red Balloon, and now more recently the movie Up.

After waiting eagerly until the next day to watch the movie, everyone gathered around the TV to watch. When we got the results, we had to watch a movie of like 20 minutes long to actually get a good glimpse of her neighborhood. It was really wobbly and went around in circles. But considering the circumstances, it actually went pretty well. As you probably expect, it took him a while to get a hang of controlling it. Whenever I look up at the clouds I always hope to see 28 yellow balloons floating above my head... I will always remember that time, until he comes up with a crazier idea to beat it!!!

Rebecca; Imagery

From the first page of the book Rebecca, the author uses an overwhelming amount of imagery to "enhance" the plot line. But at many points it seemed to drone on and on. The author uses about the first 30 pages to create an image of Manderley in the readers mind. The reader gets the picture, understanding the "hauntingness" of Manderley. The "echoing" and dark hallways lead you to think that "oh, something bad is going to happen". And, what a surprise. IT does. The way that the author uses imagery makes the plot somewhat predictable.
Nature reflects onto the characters moods. For example, if the author says "thunder rumbled through the valley and gray clouds covered the sky", the characters would be in a time of peril or argument. Mainly the author uses imagery to convey the influence of Manderley(the house where Rebecca lived). This helps the reader understand what it would be like to be a stranger going to this new place.

Outside Reading

Outside Reading- The book Rebecca, by Daphne DuMaurier, has kept me captivated even though it hasn't met the standards I had originally set for it(although I am only half way through). In the beginning, the book contains a lot of imagery and descriptions without much dialogue. As the story moves on, the amount of talking and action increases repelling the plot forward(making the book more interesting. The author uses tons of imagery to explain situations and places in the book and is a main part that makes the story suspenseful and tense.

So far I'm liking the book. It's different than most of the other books that I have read so it's kept me rather interested. The conflicts between the characters are real life problems which many people could probably relate to(which luckily, I am not one of). Two of the characters despise each other so the conversations between them are usually stiff and straight forward and can drag on for a while. The tone of the novel is "informatively dramatic", because the author gives you many details and descriptions in a dramatic manner (she uses suspense to propel the plot forward, and brings some unexpected visitors into the story).

Writing About Reading

Reading- Most of the time, I enjoy reading. I enjoy many different types of books (mainly fiction, science fiction, mysteries, etc.) but not non-fiction. To me, reading is something that you should do for fun, so you should always have something to read that you like.

Generally I can tell whether I like a book within the first few chapters. If the book is slow and contains minimal action, I tend to lose concentration and start to skip over certain words. If I don't like the book, than I will stop reading that one and start a different book until I find one that interests me. Normally books that are picked by a teacher I enjoy less and less depending on the work load that goes with the book. Books that are written in "high or formal diction" tend to lose me more quickly because the words require me to think more about what I''m reading than just reading the story.

My favorite place to read- I don't really have one favorite place to read, but if I had to pick one I would pick my bedroom. There is no one to bug or distract me, and I can wrap myself up in blankets and concentrate on my book. In the summer I like to lie in my hammock and read, just laying in the sun. Reading in places such as a soccer game or a busy classroom distract me to the point where I just put down my book and wait until I have a quieter place to read.

To me, there is no reason to read a book about something in real life when you could hide yourself in someone elses shoes and lead a much more exciting life for a certain amount of time. For the most part, characters in books have it pretty easy. Fiction books take your mind off of your life and create another world for you to escape to, while non-fiction books are strictly based upon real world things, people or events.I think that fiction is the best type of writing for many reasons, and there are so many different books you can choose from you never know where to start!!!

Hania M.