Animal Farm Theme Video

Here it is!

Mockingbird Motif

At first I thought that motif was just another one of those terms we would have to know for the occasional vocab test. I didn't think it would actually be used a ton in novels, but I was very surprised. In To Kill a Mockingbird it is used to describe characters, such as Boo Radley or Tom Robinson. It also helps show themes such as racism.

A mockingbird is an innocent bird that just sings songs. When Jem and Scout get their guns, Atticus and Ms. Maudie tell them that it a sin to kill the birds, because they are just happy and cheerful. This is used as a motif and helps show the theme of racism. In the Tom Robinson case, Tom is clearly proven not guilty, so he is like an innocent mockingbird. All 9 jury members voted Tom to be guilty, giving him the death penalty, so that is like killing a mockingbird. The jury members were racist against blacks, so that is why they voted him to be guilty. Several other themes that the mockingbird motif is present in is justice vs. injustice, prejudice, and compassion. The motif of killing a mockingbird is used in compassion with Boo Radly when Heck Tate says that Mr. Ewell fell on his knife, not that Boo stabbed him. This is compassionate because he sees the mockingbird in Boo and wants to let him do whatever he wants.

Character Symbolism~ Judge Taylor

The symbol I chose for Judge Taylor is a gavel, because judges use gavels to restore order in the courtroom, and to close a court session.

life lessons

My dad really inspires me in many ways, and he has many sayings that motivate me, but one that I hear a lot is "Alex, go play your bassoon!" This probably sounds pretty dumb, but if he wasn't there to keep telling me to practice I wouldn't be any good, because I'm often too lazy to practice on my own.

This is pretty important for me because it doesn't only apply to me playing my bassoon, but also is sort of saying that if I don't work at anything or put any effort into anything, I'll never succeed at life. So I kind of think of "go play your bassoon" any time I don't feel studying or something.

My Best Freind...

I have known my best friend scince 8th grade, so just over a year. He is asian, with glasses, and is an incredibly smart student who easily got A's in all of his classes. In 7th grade, he was in geometry, and was the #1 kid in his class, even though he was 3 years ahead of grade level. he wanted to move on to honors algebra 2, in 8th grade, but Mr. Clarke didn't want him to be 4 years ahead in math. So, instead of taking algebra 2 during 8th grade, he did it over the summer. He was then taking pre-calculus, and he was only 13 years old! This year, he is in a super-nice prep school in Massechusettes, and is by far the smartest guy I know.

This guy is a very encouraging person, and he will always be thinking about what you want to do, not what sounds fun to him. I would say he is an ambivert and an altruist. He may sound like a nerdy guy, because he is so smart, and he didn't have any video games, or anything, but I definitely thought he was very cool.

Any guesses on who it is?

Point of view memories

One of my earliest memories is when I was only 14 or 15 months old. I was staying at my grandparent's house for the afternoon, and I faintly remember one part of the time I was staying there. Grammers and Grampers (which is what I called them since I couldn't say grandma and grandpa) had a tiny rocking horse that you sat in and just rocked back, and forth, back, and forth.

Another thing I used to do in that old beat-up horse is to scoot it around. "Scoot, scoot, scoot. wee," I thought, as I scooted around the ground. Grammers and Grampers had to tell me to stop, otherwise I would scrape their floor. But who cares about scraped wood floors? I was less that a year and a half old. I would scoot forward, and then I would scoot back until I hit a wall. This was so amusing for me, and I would spend most of my time at their house just rocking in the horse. Here's the horse (and me)...

 

Catcher in the Rye: irony

I think the author chose to make irony one of the dominant literary features to show how Holden, the main person, messes up his life and is very hypocritical to others. One example of this is when Holden is talking about how he hates cars, and people with nice cars are phonies and all, yet rides in taxis and buses all the time. He also says that all movies are bad and the actors are phony and are never life-like, yet often refers to the movies and took a date to a show.

More irony is that Holden goes to really nice schools, even though he flunks every subject except English. For some reason his parents keep trying to give him an education, probably because they still have hope for his success. That is why the author used irony so much, do describe how depressed and messed up Holden and his life are.

Something entertaining.

Check out this video!! Make sure you listen carefully. Sorry about the black and white, it's an old TV show vid.

So what do you think? 14 or 5? I almost thought it could've been 14, but no. Here's another one for you:

Q: How can you tell that a blonde's been baking chocolate chip cookies?

A: There's M&M shells all over the floor.

Ha Ha Ha!!!

Outside Reading

The book I am doing my outside reading on is Catcher in the Rye. So far I am really enjoying the book. I thought I might have to read for a while before I became attached to Holden (the main character) and his story, but it only took a couple of pages. My favorite part of the book so far is how it is in low diction, and the word choice makes it pleasing to read, not a hard task.

The literary element that I think is most common in my book is irony, because there's always something that Holden is saying that just isn't quite what you would expect. He also crashes several friendships because of his negative views on the world. I'm about 90% sure about irony being the most common one, but if you have read the book and think I'm wrong, you're most likely right, so please leave comments!

J. D. Salinger, the author, used a lot of irony in the story to demonstrate how Holden's brain is messed up, and his very negative views on life and his immaturity cause him to ruin events, friendships, and flunk school.

The tone of this novel is moralistically vexed, because Holden is very suspicious of everyone and thinks they are phony and mean. Sometimes he will call old friends and become homesick, which then makes the tone more nostalgically dramatic.

Again, if you have read Catcher in the Rye, please comment on this. Thx! (Even if you're Mrs. Gilman)

My (great) bassoon teacher. :)

This is my bassoon teacher next to me. He's a pretty nice guy, as you can see.

Gilman's blog assignment

I enjoy reading a lot. It is very relaxing to sit down at a comfy chair and read a book. Reading can calm you and help you relax. I generally will read before I go to sleep so that I get calmed down. I cannot read in front of the TV or when people are talking around me, because I get very distracted and I have to read back over a page several times. I have to be able to focus on what I am reading.

The book I chose to read for the summer assignment is The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. So far I am quite into the book because I like the teenager's view on things, not an experienced author's view.My favorite book is probably The Lord of the Rings, because of the intense action and fascinating characters. I am looking forward reading all the books and plays that we are going to read.