Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Dishonesty in The Importance of Being Earnest

In the book, The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde uses humor, satire of social institutions, references to earnest/Ernest, and the persuit of pleasure to express his opinions on dishonesty. Wilde often uses satire of marriage. Jack and Algernon are lying about their names and have fake identities so they can have some fun and get away from their boring lives of being serious and chivalrous. But they fall in love and become engaged to women who fall in love with their fake names. Also, since Jack is posing as Ernest, and its very ironic because the word earnest means sincere and serious. The name Ernest means serious. The one going by this name is neither. Jack and Algernon are constantly persuing pleasure and lying to make it easier. Jack's gettaways and Algernom's Buburying result in a huge misunderstanding. Another example of dishonesty is the way Cecily lies to herself through her diary. And though Algernon is only a little surprised and he brushes it aside, it will probably cause some kind of problem later on in the book.

Jack and Algernon are always persuing pleasure. And look what happens. Dishonesty comes with consequences. I think this is part of the theme Oscar Wilde was trying to communicate with this book. Life comes with stuff that bothers you, but you just have to live with it, instead of lying to get out of it. What seems like harmless fun always turns out to be a lot more.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Animal Farm Project Evaluation

1. Porter
2. artwork
3. The irony and hopelessness was conveyed very well and the plot was nicely summarized.


1. Conor
2. artwork
3. The project was well organized and showed a clear understanding of the way the story of Animanl Farm reflected the Russian Revelution.

1. Britta
2. poem
3. I thought Britta's project was very descriptive and showed the irony in the book.

1. Enola
2. video
3. Though the pictures were pretty accurate, the video didn't show any literary elements in Animal Farm.

1. Aaron
2. artwork
3. The project showed good understanding of the plot and things we discussed in class. It also showed the transitions the story went through as it progressed.

1. Kyra
2. video
3. This project was very creative and the scenes showed the evil of the pigs.

1. Kady
2. video
3. The elements were well reflected and the music really helped convey the moods.

1. Adrienne
2. video
3. The project was very creative, and showed how the pigs came to power.

1. Meghann
2. artwork
3. I thought Meghann's project was very good, and showed a clear understandeing of the things we discussed in class.

1. Daryl
2. artwork
3. I liked how the project had symbolism and reflected the Russian Revelution.