Beloved: Part 1

Continue reading Beloved. Wherever you are in the novel at this point,
read through the 8th chapter (count them...it should be the same in every
edition).

Post a response to the following question on your blogs: "Can the past
every truly die? Or, is the past always with us?" Discuss this question
with regard to Beloved, The Piano Lesson, and any other life experiences
you might find relevant.


The past cannot ever truly die and it will always be with us. I believe you can see that in every person in the choices they make because it influences the decisions they decide to make. We like to believe that we make rational decisions when we're truly irrational creatures; our experiences, that is our past, influences us. This is exemplified in both Beloved and The Piano Lesson: Sethe unwilling to move from the house and committing infanticide and Berneice unwilling to let go of the Piano. Moreover, the book's nonlinear format further exemplifies this because it goes to flashbacks without any sign beforehand, often leaving its readers confused. Morrison's intention may be to showcase how our past influences us. 


Now in terms of physics: the past, present, and future is interesting in that they're all the same: having already occurred. Instead, because we're three-dimensional beings, we experience time in a linear fashion, sadly. 


If our past were to be erased or "die," we'd be lost. You can clearly see that dementia, Alzheimer's, and retrograde amnesia. People afflicted with these struggle to live because they can't remember their past. Furthermore, it seems to make a valid case in that we don't want to forget the past no matter how tortuous it may have been.That's when the past truly dies, for the person at least and the fear is almost unfathomable unless you experience it for yourself.  

I actually love taking benchmarks and tests; am I the only one?

Tonight:


Explain on your blog why almost all students missed questions 4, 7, 9, 13,
21, 24, & 54. What were these questions asking? What makes them difficult?


Also, looking at your benchmark and your essays from the last few weeks,
what are your SPECIFIC goals for the rest of this semester?


Please post before second block.


Begin reading Beloved.


Come ready to write!


I can only assume why so many students missed this, but I can only speak for myself somewhat (I eliminated most of these into two choices, but chose the wrong one sadly): 


4: asks for why he called the quotations by the author "vilely phrased"; difficult because... i was misunderstanding - simple. in retrospect, stupid mistake. The answer was obvious! It's pretentious/roundabout because the poet mentioned is comparing the beautiful furniture to nature. Nature! That is blasphemy right there. A shame to the immaculate quality of Oxford furniture because nature is not beautiful and so full of flaws. Anyways, what makes the question difficult is that it's comparing two things that associate with one another, but in two polar ways. 


7: "Primary rhetorical function." In retrospect, stupid mistake again. It was a digression from the central topic - so obvious! It was difficult because it relates to the topic of the sentence before it.


9: most of the choices were mentioned somewhere within the reading, but either in one speech or another. Projected my opinions again; didn't really get the vibe that "failures of nature inspire people to create."


13: "comedy" and "chiefly." All the choices could have been comedic, however only one is used primarily. Projected opinion again; thought it was superficial. 


21: Ah, Grammar. I probably have a lot of grammar mistakes right now. Personally thought this question was a trick question like the previous diagnostic, but it wasn't this time. Grammar gets people because the layman doesn't care beyond the basic. But this was basic. Oh, the horror! The horror! I thought "I" would be the direct object of "Lift." 


24: I think the term, idiosyncratic, got most people. I vaguely knew the term as something associated with uniqueness - still got the answer wrong. the three middle choices were obvious omissions. I didn't think tone would be something considered unique and I only checked the meter for the first two lines due to time. I should've check the whole thing! 


54: Finally, one that I actually got right. I suppose the part of the speech could have connote some of the choices like   colloquial, amorous, pedantic, or refined. However, the other descriptions were invalid and only the last answer seem to both reflect the speech. 


My specific goals for the rest of the semester is to: pass both the class and the AP exam and learn about and appreciate literature of course. Seriously, I think it's absurdly unfair how this school, in my time here, practically only has AP History classes to show. My strong subjects are the mathematics and sciences. AP Environmental Science is so elementary. I'm not going to waste my time taking a class I dislike purely because it's AP. 


In benchmarks: more active reading. I love marking the paper, but I need to be consistent and thoughtful about it. Be more conscious of what I'm doing, I suppose. However, I'm not happy with my grades until they're at least a B or an A without curving. Some general strategies I use: active reading and "one wrong is all wrong!" 


In essays: organization, literary devices, expanding my ideas, and thoughtfulness. You don't really leave a lot of feedback of my papers; I would like to talk about that someday. I assume there isn't much you can say, right? Besides restating what you've said plenty of times. In general, the school environment has conditioned me, if not most students, to think that fun/humor isn't important, that you must be serious in everything. It's one of the rare things I've experienced in class and it's quite fun to experience that learning is fun again. I love learning. And you've helped me found that appreciation in the school system and in literature again. There's still hope, haha. However, it's just as you said before about how it's different when students pick up a book on their own to read and when they're forced to by the teacher. I hate being forced to read mostly because I can't take my sweet time and it kind of ruins the enjoyable experience when you know you're being forced to; pretty sure I'll hate Harry Potter if you make me read it. And Amy Tan if I didn't think of wanting to read it first, which I haven't yet. Maybe soon, I hope. Also, I would love my essays to be worded as eloquently as Gingrich (did you know he went to Emory?) or Obama. So euphoric. And I'm still very proud of my two 9's, which I haven't been able to recreate yet. It's frustrating when it's so close!   


Maybe I'm not being specific enough. Overall, I think my current abilities will suffice. Also, it would be great if the sponges were more ironic/humorous since we suck at it so very much. 


"I like pressure. If I am not on the edge of failure, I'm not being sufficiently challenged." Your class have certainly given me that again and I finally feel up to par with my elitist friends at their elitist schools. And it's probably the only class that has given me that at Clarkston. 


Looking forward to Film Club! 

Huck Finn Debate

I thought Mr. Beddingfield won the debate. You were very explicit in
your opening statement and rebuttals. However, I thought you had
curved what you said previously. If I recall, I thought you had said
the debate was for or against the ban of the book, not the mere debate
of whether or not it should be taught. Your opening statement was rather... skewed(?). I felt that it was hard to argue your point because it seemed to pertain to your own class (however I found it very funny when you basically implied that we're your guinea pigs, because we are to the school system.) But that isn't the point I'm
interested in making as I think it's irrelevent. In debates, I don't
think you're allowed to know the stance of your opponent until their
opening statement anyway. Overall, the debate felt as if both sides
were arguing on different stances: your's on it shouldn't be taught
and our's on why it should be banned - two different stances.


The debate was... amusing, I suppose. I liked the camareaderie amongst
my classmates and our attempt at in being coherent under a five minute
limit. It was difficult also. With more people, sharing each thought
was more difficult. In the end, the loudest and most imposing often
gets the their point through. Our rebuttals were very incoherent
compared to your's and ultimately, it was easier to form a coherent
rebuttal if you were by yourself. We're not a hive mind and we don't
have telepathy. Again, I liked the subject matter but not how it was
implemented.  And now to my shortened, tangential rant...


We fear being wrong that we're unwilling to ever take chances. we're socially conditioned to be biased in reltaion to history. We're conditioned to think socialism and communism are bad. yet, both have their merits and are considered good, overall. 


You taught us HoD and TFA. Are you endorsing your students to uphold the stereotypes depicted within those books? Generalize a whole entire race? to dehumanize people? That white people are merely missionaries bent on destroying cultures? As a rebuttal to your scenario, on an all-white class being taught Huck Finn, this class itself could be seen as it's antithesis. You're the only white (besides Diana, I suppose) person amongst us (and by that, I meant it objectively and not of racist implication) Are you endorsing us to think that white people are evil? Conversely, you don't uphold those vices we've seen within the books. 


I think every novel (well everything really) is subjective.  Maybe it's my fondness for Solipsism, haha. Huck Finn is only giving a starker contrast. Why should students be "protected" all the time? Innocence of mind? We didn't ask for it. We want to be better people and determine for ourselves, our own opinion. A teacher shouldn't just be a sage of the stage, but also a guide of the side. But only I can speak for myself. Huck Finn also, on a more introspective level, is less about racism and more about what it meant to be a human and to treat one another with human qualities. 

Huck Finn: Mark Twain drops the N-bomb

I find it quite amusing that some of the criticisms were centered around his use of the n bomb and made it into a huge controversy. I don't think that it's serious because the book isn't a racist book; it's simply depicting what life was like back in the south when slavery still existed: raw and unedited. Afterall, we should experience history just as it is and not sugar-coated. Even history books can be bias. We're socially conditioned to think certain things and I think that was most of what Twain was depicting in Huck Finn. Huck, as a child, is questioning the social dogma around him because he's been condition to think that blacks are second-class citizens and the aspects of religion, specifically Christianity. However in the end, he's unwilling to accept that and I think that's what makes the book great. Accept things that you like and not what you're forced to. 

My favorite criticism would be T.S. Eliot's. He explicitly states certain aspects of the book I didn't clearly understand or knew during the book. Most of all, he talked a lot about how the book was influenced by Twain himself. Also, when many of the criticisms judged Twain or rather, Huck Finn, Eliot simply states that Twain was just writing from the vantage point of an observer. He allows us to judge for ourselves whether the book was good or bad; he was objective in his book's depiction of the antebellum south. Eliot also talks about the river as an archetypal device and Huck and Jim in relation to another. While many other critics talk about each other as separate entities, Eliot believes that they were ultimately one entity in the sense that the two of them formed the book and they would be incomplete without each other. Eliot forms a rather sympathetic view on Jim because he's been through so much "bear, and bear along, the responsibility of a man."   

Braindead Teen only capable of rolling eyes and texting

http://www.theonion.com/video/braindead-teen-only-capable-of-rolling-eyes-and-te,27225/

Well, you can't euthanize a kid for just being like that. they're mocking teenagers of today. well, making it humorous draws attention while also making it more serious that it has to be, paradoxically, i suppose. If they said it directly, it'll just be like what every parent say and it's boring.

Dear Mr. Twain...

Dear Mr. Twain,

Huck Finn is surely an amusing book to read and the funniest I've read in a literature class. It's satirical nature attracts readers and it also brings up many social issues like racism, morality, ethics, and my favorite, human nature. Moreover, you seem to make almost every character morally ambiguous. As a reader, I have conflicted feelings on almost every character! The conflicted feeling is invited however. In life, no one is truly good or bad and I think it's best to say that it's either the good or the bad deeds that outweighs the others. You certainly have the talent to make serious topics rather funny. However, have you ever thought that by making serious topics less serious would undermine what you were trying to convey to your readers? Your use of the word, "N," does provide a rather profound effect on society. It's amazing how one word used in your book could have a profound affect on people and education. ]


Overall, I would love to hear your inspiration on your work of Huck Finn. The book seems to almost mirror someone's life, perhaps your's? he dialect within this book is so genuine and distinct from the two characters, Jim and Huck. The book is very rich in themes and symbols and my favorite must by Huck's introspective nature. He questions almost every social dogma and he witnesses so much "bad" as a child, I wonder how it'll change him. Some people eventually turn into bad people themselves and use that as an excuse while others become better people.

Huck Finn Part 1

Haha, I used Shakespeare's famous line (in a way) as the title of my research: "To fear or not to fear: the role of NMDA receptors in appetitive and aversive learning."

Overall, I feel as if the river serves as an allusion to the biblical snake that persuades Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. As Huck goes further down (or up?) the river, it seems as if the events he witnesses just get worse and worse; it seems as if he's losing hope for humanity and developing a digust towards it. First, when he witnesses the shooting of a drunk man in front of his daughter, then the lynching mob followed be an ironic turn of events, when Sherburn confronts the mob with a rifle. It seems as if Huck is also witnessing social revolution in away. Then primarily, tagging along with the fake Duke and daulphin. Huck feels utterly repulsed by them because they just lie and con again and again.

Theme-wise, Twain seems to question social conformity. Therefore, I suppose, one of it's theme would be "always be observant and never conform to a society without thinking 'Why?'" Huck witnesses very extreme social conventions and he does question them unlike the others. For example, the cause of feud between the Grangerfords and Sheperdsons are unknown yet they still fight. Why does racism exist? Why are women/children considered second-class citizens? Is it okay to lie? What is friendship? Twain generally seems to satirize western society.