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.

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.

My AF Project

Click on this link to get to my Animal Farm project:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/46050413

Have a nice day!

Poetry Out Loud: I wandered Lonely as a Cloud (by William Wordsworth ((whose words are worthy!))) :)

I chose the poem, "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud", by William Wordsworth. I chose it partly because it sounds pretty, and the theme is interesting. It just made me feel happy and peaceful inside. The poem is about a person dreaming about watching and marveling over daffodils from a cloud's perspective. Sometimes having the privilege of seeing something really beautiful can make you a lot richer than what money can give you.
I really like flowers, though I don't exactly have a personal connection with daffodils.
The person who is speaking in the poem is changed by what he/she sees, and is a different person at the end than at the beginning. I want to convey this change by putting on facial expressions that change as the poem goes on; generally kind of peaceful at the beginning, then excited and happy, then peaceful, then excited again, but not alternating. I just can't think of the exact words off the top of my head right now.
I want to look peaceful, and like I am looking off into space during the parts when the person is describing his/her dream/daydream. I will make the mood obvious to the audience and judges with gestures and facial expressions. When the poet refers to things, I want to look like I am actually seeing it.

P.S. This was a fun blog.
P.P.S. It was really fun annotating and analizing my poem.

Poetry Out LOUD

Part One
1)Contraction
2)November Cotton Flower
3)Israfel
4)Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
5) I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

5)Cold Blooded Creatures

Part Two
·I liked I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth, because it was a little ironic and made me wonder. How could a crowd of daffodils beat a whole ocean in beauty? The tone was also very peaceful and calm.
·I didn't like Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night because I didn't really understand why the author hated night time so much and why he had to be so mean to it.
·I am most interested in studying farther I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud because it is really peaceful and quiet, and there's a lot to ponder about the author's purposes of word choice and theme.
·I really like flowers and one of my favorite places to be is the beach.

Part Three

·I think evidence of understanding will be easiest for me because I'll need to interpret things like meanings, messages, allusions, irony, and tones of voice. In class I have done a lot of annotating and I feel I am pretty good at it. Also, I think I will do well on the voice and articulation because I'm good at expressing things.

·I think I will score a bit lower on the level of difficulty because the poem I am considering is fairly easy and short. I also think that it will be hard for me to get a higher grade on dramatic appropriateness because sometimes when I talk I tend to make meaningless hand-motions and that would distract the audience from my poem.

Part Four
Writ on the Steps of Puorto Rican Harlem, by Gregory Corso. Recited by Stanely Andrew Jackson: This was a successful performance because of the way Stanley used a lot of gestures at appropriate moments, and it was kind of like he was preaching. His facial expressions and tone of voice reflected the various moods throughout the poem very well. I really enjoyed his performance because of the way he expressed everything, like he really enjoyed the poem. If I were to read that same poem to myself I would probably have been bored, but the way he recited it made the poem really interesting.

Bilingual/bilingue, by Rhina P. Espaillat Recited by Sophia Elena Soberon: This was a successful performance because Sophia used a lot of body language and talked like she was the girl from poem, using very good voice. It was interesting how after Sopia introduced herself she lowered her head, and when she looked back up it was like she was a different person. Her facial also expressions fit the moods very well.

Part Five

I think the competition will be a little scary and I will dread it, but it won't turn out to be that bad and will go by quickly. I think I will do pretty good and the competition will be memorable.

Something Interesting About Lobsters

When I read the poem "lobsters" for the first time the meaning of the last line had seemed obious: people are like lobsters (in a way). "...the flame that boils the water..." I just could not figure out what the flame and what the water is. When we had our discussion about the poem and this particular line was mentioned, I heard other thoughts and opinions that had never ocurred to me before. For humans, the water is what surrounds us, and what surounds us will eventually be what kills us.
I think that the water and flame in the last line of the poem are very symbolic. The water is something we take for granted and can't survive without. Then one day something unknown will turn it into our death.

Sooooo many paragraphs, sooooo many skills!

I think a "good paper" needs to have correctly embedded quotes. Listening to my classmates read their paragraphs and critiquing them, I noticed that a lot of people had forgotten to embed their quotes. I think people should thoroughly read the checklist and grading rubric, that Mrs. Gilman so graciously offered us, before turning their essays in. Another key to a "good paper" is the presence of proofreading. Before printing out your piece of writing you should always read through it a couple times.
In order to improve my writing skills for a future 5 part paragragh I think that I need to read through the checklist more thoroughly. I also should look something up if I don't know exactly what it is. Like how to embed quotes correctly.

P.S. This is kind of random, but I am so glad we use the Gilman method to write 5 part paragraghs, and not 5 part essays with 5 individual paragraphs like Ms. Clear made us do!