Cody AP Blog

“Ode on a Grecian Urn” by John Keats is a very unique poem that has to do with art and nature. Along with the art and mainly the nature that occurs in this poem there is also an opposite theme. Many things in this poem have opposites including the changeab;e aspect to the permanent aspect and also the nature vs. art. Another thing I learned was how this poem related to the beauty of life, but it goes into more detail. For example it talks about how when she is frozen her beauty will never leave compared to the mortal love that is not permanent and won’ t last forever. “She cannot fade” and “human passion” are examples. Other things that I researched had to deal with the archaic language in this poem. Words such as bliss, piping, timbrel, and ditties just to name a few, had very interesting meanings. Tambourine for timbrel, happiness for bliss, piping having to do with music, and songs/poems for ditties. Those were all relative but just goes to show how old this poem really is. After looking at the diction I did a little background check on the author and saw that he was a romantic poet who lived a short life. His short life was ironic because in the poem he talked about the nature of immortality and mortality. It seems like he almost wanted to believe his statement of how beautiful life was so he mentioned it throughout the poem.

There are a quite a few things I would do if I could rewrite my essay. One would be to create a thesis that has a theme involved in it. Right now there isn’t a clear theme making the essay unstable. Without a clear theme all my supporting paragraphs would have nothing to refer back too. Another thing I would do different would be making a plan before I start so that I have a clear structure and it will be organized. Clarity is a big thing that I would definitely want to change if I could rewrite the essay. Points were made in the essay but weren’t really expanded upon so that would be something to change. Theme is the biggest concern because when you don’t include one you can’t use concrete details to support your theme. Then as if mere details relate back to the thesis is enough you won’t get as an effective essay without including some sort of relation back to a theme, or universal idea. Structure, clarity, and a theme can all be easy fixes if you make a plan before writing. Making a plan is something I would do if i could rewrite in order to achieve a better score and provide a stronger essay.

Discuss a significant person, experience or achievement that has meaning to you.

This story was very interesting to me, while also really confusing. I really want to know the significance in all the different sections that the author split the story up into. For the most part I think it separated the different parts but what was the significance of the clever titles? Another thing that confused me was why the narrator stays unhappy? He becomes unhappy because of his news about his deafness and then the tumor but after almost fully gaining back his hearing and realizing the tumor posed no threat, he still remained bitter. The elements of this story go much deeper into the meaning of everyday life, but I can’t figure out just what it is. From the weird indian family he meets in the hospital to the other activities he does in his life while taking care of his two sons because the wife is gone, all are things that show the character of the narrator. It seemed like the narrator had a connection with his “drunk” of a father for the last line proves that sometimes only those closest to you can understand what you’re thinking. “But none of them laughed as hard about my beautiful brain as I knew my father—the drunk bastard—would have” (14).

Paul’s Case: Who you are might bring you temporary happiness, but what you want to become might make you kill yourself in the end so save you the pain.

Blue Blue Blue. His Blue eyes were like “blue stones”. “Big blue eyes”, and “his eyes were blue fire”. Blue for the most part is a very calm color that usually is good for relaxing people. When you think of blue you don’t think of harshness. Fire contradicts the blue symbolizing the calm passion that Paul possesss’. His glossy blue eyes when he has extreme concentration on the horse represents his dynamic feature. Other symbolic things have to do with the whispering voices. How creepy were those? They represented ghosts that were greedy for more. they were never satisfied. The main allegory has to do with Paul. Through the symbols of this story Paul is trying to bring money to satisfy his family but most importantly his mom. However the difficulty in which he brings about the success, represents how difficult it is in the world to be successful and happy at the same time. Paul tried so hard and all of his work was for nothing when he died and his mother lost something more important than the money, him.

Archetypes are repeated patterns that occur more than once. The Task of “The Lottery” was a huge archetype that really stood out to me. The whole village coming together to perform this monstrous task is so absurd yet they go about it without a complaint.  Somehow no one finds a fault in what they are doing. The main universal archetype of this story is seen throughout the world only manifested much differently. Instead of stoning the winner, in many cases people get lottery tickets and the winner instead gets rewarded with money. There are many different ways a lottery can be performed but the main ideas are all the same. The archetype of the “black box” shows how the color black, meaning death or darkness, comes into play when ultimately whoever picks the paper out of the box with the dot will die. The “scapegoat character” archetype also comes into effect in “The Lottery”. Mrs. Hutchinson will be the scapegoat for she gets the punishment from the whole village for doing absolutely nothing. She did not do anything wrong but just happened to have the worst luck. She was the scapegoat for the town.

In the story “Paul’s Case”, written by Willa Cather Paul has the main case of social superiority or inferiority rather. His social status is what causes Paul to want to be farther up in the social ladder. He is constantly talking about how he is displeased with his home life and school life but when he is surrounded by upper class people at his job, it is like a huge burden has been lifted up off of his shoulders. “Paul never went up Cordelia Street without a shudder of loathing”. (238) That shows his increased disappointment of his house and the location of where he lived. Words like “ugly, old, grimy, cracked, dripping, and hairy”, were all used to describe his house. Those show a tone of sorrow and disappointment. “Paul had had often hung about the hotel, watching the people go in and out, longing to enter and leave schoolmasters and dull care behind him forever.” (237) Paul said this which shows extremely how he wishes to leave his washed up home and school life to become something bigger on the social chain. He wishes to move up, because he feels he is socially inferior to most.

“The lesson” by Cade Bambara, produces a static character in Sylvia who stays the same throughout the story. In the beginning Sylvia shows how she is very arrogant, independent, and acts harshly. In no way throughout the story does she change her way of thinking, or the way she acts. From the beginning she believed that only her and Sugar were, “the only ones right..” Her actions in the story are still harsh no matter what people do or say to change that. She still goes about her business thinking she is the best and no one will be better than she is. “But ain’t nobody gonna be me at nuthin” (202) was the very last sentence of the story showing that no matter what happened that day nothing changed her mind or way of thinking. Sylvia from the beginning was the only “good” person along with sugar and to Sylvia it stayed that way until the end. She was unchanged.

In the story “Gooseberries”, by Anton Chekhov, the over-arching theme of the story has to do with people going about their business and trying to achieve their goals no matter what the cost. As you read the story you hear about Ivan’s brother who achieves his goal of owning his very own farm, but for him to have achieved that he hurt a few people along the way. His wife was a huge one in which he didnt treat her very well at all. “He went on living frugally after marrying her, and kept her short of food, while he put her money in the bank in his name” (pg. 207). That is something that helped Ivan’s brother achieve his goal but it was done with mistreatment to his wife. He achieved his goals without being a nice person, and some of the time whether you think so or not the bad people will achieve their goals even if they hurt people along the way.