The Conclusion

Over the year with the blogs I have learned to remember to do them. Also that there is more to a piece of literature then what the text literally states. My blogs have developed me personally as a writer. I now ask better questions and I have learned to understand the text in depth instead of taking what it says literally. The ones about a literal written piece has made understanding something in a significant way and even farther in depth. The farther you go in a text, the more details you can add to your essay. The main point of these blogs is to excel into a better writer and help people comprehend the books we have read. The questions for Great Expectations, helped us understand what we were reading more by our peers comments. Most of these questions helped write better essays, because they create another environment to where one can write formally and ask questions about things. The blog about Pip's chains had us expand the symbol for chains to its actual meaning of lies. We then put that into consideration as we wrote an experienced based paragraph about our chains. The Mockingbird blog emphasized the meaning of motif by having us find a motif and write about it and examine the overall meaning of it and how it contributes to the whole book. With the Victorian Research blog we explained how it was back then with the gender roles and how the book The Importance of Being Earnest, explaining examples of the roles and how Oscar Wilde took that aspect and put it into context. Although after all of these blogs and comments helping me improve my writing, I still definitely feel it can be much more detailed and use different word choices. As Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet, "My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: Words without thoughts never to heaven go." Meaning the words in our blogs would have never happened if we had not been thinking in depth on what the blog is about and how to make it sophisticated, such that we will understand what we are writing and others will understand what we are writing. Overall these blogs are good for us, to look back on, and to expand our writing to new heights in word choice, and to take it to new depths in the details of the chosen literature. With all of that said, I ended up liking the blogs even though they are troublesome. Eventually I will look back on these to see how I used to write and I will have improved on my redundancies and word choices. Hopefully. Have a good summer!

Challenges and Conquests

Over the course of 9th grade Honors English, I have learned to write well developed essays. I have learned to use the book to support an idea and to really dig deep to analyze what the author is trying to say. I have also learned to not be repetitive, although it sometimes seems that I am, but I change the words into their synonyms to make them sound less redundant. I do believe that I am growing into be an accomplished essayist, but I do have troubles therefore I don't think I am all the way to accomplished yet. Analyzing the writing for literary elements is a good thing, even though it's a bit of a hassle. It can help you comprehend the text and to understand it, instead of just having it go over your head. The challenges of analyzing is that is can be hard to explain. You know how it goes in your head, but it's hard to put on paper.

So far after my finishing of my Romeo and Juliet essay, (I am still going to make it better) I think it is in the high B range. I'm still having trouble with redundancies and making it sound original and deeper than the meaning that is shown in the text. I am going to work on those things by using synonyms for repeating words and reading the text and try to get a deeper meaning of the play than what I have. I think I can possibly get it into a low A, but hopefully higher. After writing this blog I realize, I really have to work on the repetitive element.

Summer Reading List

If it was a total free summer and I didn't have to do anything for Honors 10 over the summer, I most likely would not read anything but the U.S. Boating Course handbook thing to help me get my boater's license, so I can drive our boat around. But since I most likely won't get a good grade for this blog unless I choose 2 books I would read.

I would read The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. I have seen the movie and it was pretty good. But as always the book is usally better then the movie, sometimes. My mom read it and she liked it alot and said I would like it if I read it. I will probable read that if I have time after the Honors reading assignment.

Another book I would like to try to read over the summer are the Harry Potter books by J.K. Roling. Like the other book I have seen the movies and those are pretty good and I hope the books are as good if not better then the movie. Everyone says the books are better then the movies, but I would like to see if that is right.

Culture Shock

The idea of Romeo and Juliet is all around. One idea that comes to mind is the new movie coming out in May Letters to Juliet. I have only seen the commercials so I don't know exactly what it's about, but it looks like it is about an elderly person that has lost her love sometime ago. A young girl finds a letter that has been written to someone sometime ago too. So the young girl says she has to write back and goes on this adventure to find the elderly woman's lost love. After they find him they probably celebrate a little I think they did by having dinner. Doesn't exactly portray Romeo and Juliet because they didn't die but they kind of did when they lost each other.

Extra Credit Post

I think this English class has been an experience for me. Doing things that I never thought I could do like read a 500 page book over the course of about a month, and writing essays, and also analysing a book, which I have never done before. I have learned alot in this class. I have learned many varieties of words from word power and to also to read in between the lines to understand what the author is trying to say instead of just having it go over my head. I have learned to remember things and not procrastinate such as remembering to do the blog even if I remember at 10 o'clock at night, but I still do it. And I have met new people by doing the group projects and things like that. Although I still have a fear of talking in front of the class and standing in front I have learned to relax, I'm not shaking anymore but my face still gets bright red, and my voice is really quiet sometimes and makes me not able to talk, but I get over it eventually.

Skits

One scene I would like to see performed is when Pip is in the marshes looking and reading the tombstone of his parents and his siblings, then Magwitch startles him and asks him who he is and what he's doing. Then he tells him to go get him food and a file or else he will have his friend eat his liver for dinner if he did not return and called the cops.

Another one is when Pip meets Jaggers for the first time and they talk about Pip moving to London and becoming a gentleman and all that, and Pip going to the tailor's to get some nice clothes and him meeting Trabb's boy and being sized for a suit.

And the last scene I would like to see performed is when Orlick attacks Pip from behind and tells him that he attacked his sister and it was all Pip's fault and when Trabb's boy and Herbert come to the rescue and save Pip.

More Questions

On page 348-349, chapter 42. When Magwitch is talking about his life story and what has happened to him. He gets to the part where he and Compeyson were fighting in the ditch after hes told who Compeyson is. Magwitch mentions his misstris, but then stops and goes on to tell Pip and Herbert about how he got convicted. He also mentions that Compeyson was better at everything and that he was a great speaker and well educated, but that was after he told about the fight. I am wondering if Magwitch was fighting Compeyson because of Magwitch's misstris like maybe they had an affair or something? Or was Magwitch fighting Compeyson because he just couldn't stand the fact that Compeyson was better than him and was more educated than him?