How Jim is portrayed in Huck Finn

Jim is portrayed as a poor slave. Even though he is a slave when Huck and Tom come across him and Tom wants to tie him up Huck says no. That shows that Huck sort of cares about Jim. So does Tom because he left money when he took things from Jim.

In the movie Jim is looking out for Huck and tells him to stay away from his dad. Jim is a family man and doesn't want to leave his family but he knows he has to.

Shrek :D

Exaggeration: to enlarge, increase, or represent something beyond normal bounds so that it becomes ridiculous and its faults can be seen

Exaggerating that she needs to get a man with a lot of money.

Incongruity: to present things that are out of place or are absurd in relation to its surroundings

The baking of the giant cookie and it going through the town.

Reversal: to present the opposite of the normal order (e.g. the order of events, hierarchical order)

When the fairy godmother found out that Fiona was already married.

Parody: to imitate the techniques and/or study of some person, place, or thing

Joan Rivers on the red carpet looking at people's outfits.

Huck Finn Journal 2

Huck doesn't like how he has to conform to what Miss Watson says. He doesn't want to wear nice clothes or get cleaned up. He'd rather stay outside and be in the woods. Huck also doesn't like how Miss Watson is trying to make him follow a certain religion. I think that Huck should be more appreciating of Miss Watson and Widow Douglas because they took him in and are giving him a better life. If it wasn't for them then he would be living with his father just wandering around which isn't good for a young boy. Now that he is being brought up in a nice home he can get an education and in the future have a career and a family and become more of a man that his father was.

Huck Finn Journal 3

Huck Finn is being verbally abused by his father. His father doesn't like that Huck is sort of rich now and all he wants from Huck is his money. Huck's father also doesn't like that Huck is becoming more educated than him. I don't think that Huck misses anything about his father but he doesn't like living with the Widow Douglas because he doesn't like how there trying to civilize him. Huck would rather live in the woods and be free but he does not want to live with his abusive father. I think that Huck is better off not living with his father because now he can actually make something of himself and not become someone who just wanders around and is a drunk like his father.

Huck Finn Journal 1

Chapter 2

Bob Jones sneaks out of the house to smoke marijuana. Bob and Huck's mischievousness comes from their curiosity. Their curiosity is dangerous and exciting, and it will lead to them gaining new knowledge. Unlike Huck, Jim isn't as curious because he has more to lose. For Jim, imagination is a playground he can't leave; Huck is free to frolic on the danger of thrils

Satire

Look in your dictionary, define satire. Can you think of any examples of satire from The Simpsons, Family Guy, Jon Stewart, or the Colbert Report?

Satire is the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or voices particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.

Note to a Critical Friend

Dear Michelle,

I would like to persuade people to break their addictions.

The greatest obstacles to this happening seem to be people not wanting to give up their addiction.

I am also worried about getting enough information on our topic.

What do you think of our topic?

Thanks for your help.

Sincerely,

Kat

Thoreau's Walden

1. Why did Thoreau move to Walden?

He wanted to show people that you can get things that are closer to home. He wanted to test the ideas of transcendentalism. To find peace and quiet so he could write a book about his brother who had passed away.

2. What was his life like there?

He grew beans and lived in a cabin. His cabin was by the water but not to close. Thoreau had a simple life when he lived in Walden. He documented his surroundings.

3. What did Thoreau criticize in modern life?

He didn't like that the people were becoming more advanced, he thought that the people should live a simple life.

4. Do you agree or disagree with his critique?

I disagree with Thoreau because I think its good that we were advancing with new machines and technology. It has made us what we are today.

Transcendentalism Song

Don't Answer Me

(Eric Woolfson - Lead Vocal)

If you believe in the power magic,
I can change your mind
And if you need to believe in someone,
Turn and look behind
When we were living in a dream world,
Clouds got in the way
We gave it up in a moment of madness
And threw it all away

Don't answer me, don't break the silence
Don't let me win
Don't answer me, stay on your island
Don't let me in

Run away and hide from everyone
Can you change the things we've said and done?

If you believe in the power of magic,
It's all a fantasy
So if you need to believe in someone,
Just pretend it's me
It ain't enough that we meet as strangers
I can't set you free
So will you turn your back forever on what you mean to me?

Don't answer me, don't break the silence
Don't let me win
Don't answer me, stay on your island
Don't let me in

Run away and hide from everyone
Can you change the things we've said and done?

Calvin and Hobbes/Music

Go to google and find a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip that shows a Transcendental idea. Post it in your blog.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPKTYXEfhB940zF1vvWs2D-lxd9HCF9m6qoy3MgTOVoTVnSu38kCGDrV20jYHFN4XlJJWRT0iDLah5rBb-6s8F94vrlh5v7BPWPoNOZbjExDoKFMM3UBsuWODFjjC1pzH7JSxVwzng0Je8/s400/calvin-and-hobbes-relativism.gif&imgrefurl=http://radaractive.blogspot.com/2009/07/insult-to-intelligence-fundamentalist.html&usg=__1FrPU72ryALJkL15jjuSTkaVLGQ=&h=400&w=317&sz=159&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=937ouMNk5xk6uM:&tbnh=141&tbnw=112&prev=/images%3Fq%3DCalvin%2Band%2BHobbes%2BTranscendental%2Bidea%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26client%3Dsafari%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Den%26biw%3D1156%26bih%3D612%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=129&vpy=52&dur=259&hovh=252&hovw=200&tx=86&ty=136&ei=kfzKTPjFJIbSsAPs38mLDg&oei=kfzKTPjFJIbSsAPs38mLDg&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=17&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0

Homework: Look at your favorite comic. Find an example that shows a Transcendental idea. Post the comic and explain how it expresses the idea.

Homework Part II: Find a song that shows the ideas of Transcendentalism. Post the lyrics. Bring in the song to play in the class.

Annotated Bibliography

Michelle and I decided to do our Civil Disobedience project on addiction.

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/addiction/

American Literary Periods

How is the Colonial Period different from the Romantic Period? What are some characteristics of Transcendentalism? How did the Historical Context affect these Literary Periods?

The colonial period was centered more around religion and the romantic period broke away from that. The colonial periods had personal narratives and the romantic period has slave narratives. Romantic period was more expressive adn based on emotion and reasoning. Magazines, newspapers, and book publishing affected the historical context of the romantic period and predestination affected the colonial period.

Civil Disobedience Project

Pick your group. Brainstorm three ideas. Post the three ideas. Link to one .edu or .gov article for each idea. Cite the article using MLA format.

Teenage Suicide: http://www.health.ri.gov/family/ofyss/teens/tips/Tip16.php

Teen Pregnancy: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001516.htm

Food in schools: http://www.letsmove.gov/pdf/TFCO_Healthy_Food_in_Schools.pdf

Wordle

Copy and paste the essay by Thoreau, the speech by Martin Luther King Jr. and the song by Rage Against the Machine into wordle. The words that are the biggest are the most common words. What do you think this says about the themes of their writing? How do they all connect?
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/2578491/Essay_and_Speech

When I put the speech and the essay into wordle some of the bigger words were government, people, never, state, and man. These worlds are all connected because the state and the government were created to protect the people and if the people didn't like the government then they have the right to change it.

Teen Suicide

Why do so many teenagers commit suicide? Find a .gov or .edu site that has information about teenage suicide; make a link to it in your blog.

So many teens commit suicide because they feel pressured by society or by their parents to be something they're not. Most of them think they are not good enough or that they have no reason to live. When they don't know that they haven't even lived their life yet, they're young still and they have so much more to live for. Even when they feel pressured by their friends to do something or even when they feel like they don't have any friends they think that suicide is the only option.

http://www.hmc.psu.edu/childrens/healthinfo/s/suicide.htm

Favortie Presentation

-After watching the presentations today, which one was your favorite? Why?

-How do you think your Crucible Project turned out? What could you improve on for next time?

My favorite presentation was Mailei, Cindy, Irving, and Rahel's project. I like how they compared Abigail to modern day teenage girls. I thought that was really creative and funny. They also had good examples from the story.

I think my Crucible Project turned out really good. We had good examples of the story and the videos turned out to be good. One thing that I could have improved on would be to not say umm so much in the video.

Crucible Test

13 Ways of Looking at The Crucible

1

In 1692 Puritans in Salem only cared about their name

When something threatened that they’d do anything to prevent it

It all started with one little lie that destroyed the whole town

2

Abigail Williams was the ring leader

She had committed adultery with John Proctor and wanted him all to herself

And she would do anything to get him all to herself

3

She was caught dancing in the woods and wanted to cover up her name

The girls in the town didn’t want to get punished so they started telling lies

Reverend Hale was called to deal with this witchcraft

4

Reverend Hale came to Salem in search of witchcraft

He originally planted the idea of witches in Abigail's head

Once he realized this he quit the jury and tried to save the innocent people

5

One by one innocent people in the town were blamed for witchcraft

The trials got out of hand

The girls would pretend to see spirits to get the court to believe them

6

Puritan beliefs made the girls fear getting in trouble

They didn’t want to get their name blackened because of what they had done

These girls caused innocent people to die

7

John Proctor was a well respected man in the town

He had strong beliefs and it was important for him to keep a good name

That all changed when the town found out that he had committed adultery

8

Elizabeth Proctor was his wife

She was cold and uncaring in the beginning

But as the novel goes on she starts to show her sensitive side

9

She knew her husband had committed adultery

But when asked in court she denied it

This shows she really cared for him and didn’t want blacken his name

10

When told to confess so Proctor wouldn’t get hanged he couldn’t

They wanted to hang his confession on the church door

But to keep his name good for his future generations he ripped up the confession

11

He had finally forgave himself for the sins he had committed

Elizabeth was ok with him being hanged because she knew he finally had goodness

Proctor died an innocent man but kept his dignity and pride

12

Giles Corey accused his wife of reading strange books

Then he later he tells the court that Thomas Putnam is a liar

He wouldn’t confess who told him this and dies with rocks crushing him

Corey died and innocent man but also kept his dignity like Proctor

13

Abigail flees the town making her look guilty

She ended up killing many innocent people because of her own desires

Since she could manipulate people and was a good actress everyone fell for her tricks

If she would have just confessed this whole situation wouldn’t have gotten out of hand

Reflection

Reflect on the class so far. What have you learned about American Literature? What do the books have in common? How are they different? What have you learned about writing? What are some of the things you would still like to learn?

Read the posts of three other students. Write three comments.

This class is pretty cool! I feel like I've learned how to write a little bit better and how to not just to summarize the story but to analyze the story instead. I still want to become a better writer and to learn how to analyze the story better. The two books we read during the summer were alike because the main characters had similarities in their backgrounds. Those two were different from The Crucible because it was based mainly on religion.

Arthur Miller's Quote

"Most of us do not have the choices we think we have. We are responsible for our behavior, but men don't have limitless choices. Given our characters, maybe fewer choices than we think."

-Arthur Miller

Do you agree or disagree with this idea? Free write about it.

I disagree with this statement because I think that we can do whatever we want to if we put our mind to it. We're not limited to choices just because of our character. As we get older our attitude and character can change as we learn new things. So I think that if you really want to do something that might be out of character then you'll be able to.