Latin Roots #6

1.corp(or): body
2.cred: to believe; to trust
3.cur(r), curs, course: to run; to flow
4.dic(t): to speak; to say

Word List

1.benediction-the invocation of a divine blessing, as at the close of a religious service, a blessing or a state of blessedness

2.concourse-running or flowing together; a broad public walkway or hallway; a crowd or throng

3.concurrent-occurring at the same time; meeting or acting together

4.corporal-related to the physical body

5.corpulent-very stout; fleshy and obese; fat

6.credibility-the quality of being believable or trustworthy

7.credulity-the (naive) willingness to believe too easily without proof

8.cursory-done in a superficial or hasty manner

9.dictum-an authoritative saying or maxim

10.incorporate-to form into one body or functioning unit; to combine several different things into a whole

11.incredulous-not believing, skeptical, or doubt

12.indicative-a characteristic of or very much like; suggestive

Greek Drama Questions

1. Some of the prices given for choruses of worshipers were a bull or a goat.

2. There were fourteen thousand spectators in an open-air theater of Dionysus.

3. The masks amplified the actors voices.

4. Antigone was suspenseful to the audiences because they knew things the actors on stage did not.

5. The Shepard had to leave the infant lonely with hi ankles pinned together.

6. The riddle said by the Sphinx was "What creature goes on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?"

7. Oedipus's kids are Polyneices, Eteocles, Antigone, and Ismene.

8. After Oedipus's exile Polyneices and Eteocles alternated years ruling.

9. When someone died the familes would take turns beating the dead persons's face and ripped their hair out, while they sang and wailed.

Antigone Quick Write

            Between the chaos and devastating time in my life I had to move forward acting as if I was happy my uncle was now king. Just a couple months ago everything seemed like it was finally falling into place. Of course it was too good to be true.  Now my parents had lost their minds due to the “Anti-gone” machine and both my brothers were dead. They had killed each other in battle. To make things worst my uncle declared that my favorite brother Polyneices is to not be buried, while my other brother is buried like a hero. It’s so unfair when the real hero was Polyneices. My only family left is my sister. Its such a shame that she is too afraid of my uncle to do anything. There is one thing I am sure of, I can’t let my brother pass on without a proper burial. I know he was left at the city dump, now all I have to do is find my way there and take him to the cementery. My plan would start the next day when the sun sets. I went about my day as normal and when I noticed the sun beginning to hide in the horizon I went back home. My close friend was already there waiting to take me to the city dump. We made quiet movements and tried to mix in with everyone. We passed what seemed like a hundred alleys before we got to the city dump. It wasn’t hard to find my brother there since we just followed the trail of footprints. It was a bittersweet moment seeing him. I knew that this was exactly what needed to be done regardless the consequences. Although the consequences were drastic and could possibly lead to me being arrested it was all worth it. My brother couldn't rest until he was buried. We managed to move my brother’s body from the city dump to the cementery, which luckily for us was pretty close. It was a struggle getting passed the guards, but we were finally in the cementary. We put my brother in the ground and I tried holding back my tears as we covered his body. This was it the final good-bye.

Jonathan Safran Foer

A: The category of the book excerpt and webinar was persuasive, informative and in a way also inspiring.

B: It was presented by Jonathan Safran Foer.

C: The title of the video was "Jonathan Safran Foer."

E: The webinar was mainly about Safran Foer answering questions about his book. The questions asked were not only about his book, but also about his beliefs and background. In the webinar, Safran Foer addressed questions like why he decide to be a vagan or if he would ever eat meat again. 
He was opened to answering any question brought forth to him.

F: 1.The first quote that brought attention to me was "On average Americans eat the equivalent of 21,000 entire animals  in a lifetime." Sometimes when we eat we don't stop to think what we are putting in our bodies. We certainley don't stop to think how our meat ended up on ur hands. A burger might seem like nothings but it all adds up to a significant amount. 
2.When Safran Foer said that we shouldn't eat something that doesn't have to be killed I agree. Even though I am not a vegan or vegetarian it get me thinking how a poor animal had to suffer for me to eat that. There is so many good food that is good for us and natural why hurt animals right?
3.One of the biggest thing that I took from this excerpt is how people are hypocrite with what they eat. For example people say eating dogs is wrong and sad, but eating cows is delicious. Why should it be different to eat a dog than to eat a cow. Cows suffer just as much as a dog would suffer. Cows and pigs are as smart as dogs.

2.This presentation relates to me and my life because now I am more aware of what I put in my body. Even though I haven't read the full book listening to Safran Foer talk and reading that section really makes me think. Even though it doesn't get to the point that I think could turn me into a vegetarian I believe it makes me a more aware carnivore.

Latin Roots #5

1. cent(i)-hundred
2. cid(e)-cut, kill
3. clam, claim-cry out, declare
4. cord, cour-heart

Word List

1. bicentennial-(related to) a celebration of a two hundredth anniversary. Mexico celebrated their bicentennial by throwing a big party.
2. centenarian-a person who has lived to be one hundred years old. My neighbor turned to a centurion last week.
3. centurion-a Roman officer commanding one hundred men. The centurion had to be a strong, intelligent man.
4. clamorous-noisily complaining. The class was clamorous when the teacher assigned work. 
5. concise-covering much in few words. The best plays are usually written in concise.
6. concordance-a condition of harmony or agreement. Finally the landowners and the workers came to a concordance.
7. cordial-warm and friendly. My friend gave me a cordial invitation to her party.
8. discordant-(sounding) harsh or inharmonious; clashing. You can here the discordant argument outside my house.
9. genocide-extermination of an ethnic group. Hitler used genocide on the Jews.
10. incisive--keenly penetrating; cutting into. The edge of the table was incisive to me.
11. proclamation-an official statement or announcement that informs or honors. After the women gave her proclamation she let us get back to work.
12. reclaim--to claim again. The airline lady reclaimed the passengers' ticket.

. reincarnation- a thing that is reborn, or comes back into being, although perhaps in a different (bodily) form 

Literature Analysis #1

                     The Scarlet Letter

1. The story starts of at the jail where Hester Prynne is being set free before she has to parade through town with her daughter Pearl. Hester was in jail for adultery and the baby in her arms in the biggest proof. Hester’s husband had been gone for two years, so in his absence she fell in love with Minister Dimmesdale and had an affair with him. For her sin she is forced to wear a scarlet letter A on her chest. Hester protects her daughter’s father so he won’t be punished. Throughout the novel she keeps his name a secret. Things get complicated when her husband, who was said to be dead, comes back in disguise to find the man she cheated on him with. He goes around saying he’s a physician named Roger Chillingworth. Chillingworth notices right away that Mr.Dimmensdale is probably Pearl’s father. Even with the constant questions and examinations from Chillingworth, Mr.Dimmensdale doesn’t speak up. Seven years pass and Hester notices that Chillingworth, her husband, has been messing with her lover’s head. She finally decides to tell Mr.Dimmensdale the truth about her husband and they decide to run away with Pearl to England. Mr.Dimmensdale ends up backing up and says the truth to the whole town in the same place where Hester was humiliated seven years before after coming out of jail. He also shows them the scar on his chest in the shape of an A. Time for a happy ending? Will Hester and Mr.Dimmensdale be able to enjoy their love or will they suffer the consequences? What about little Pearl she’s only 7? Want to know what happens next? Read The Scarlet Letter I promise you won’t regret it!

2. In the Scarlet Letter there can be multiple themes. I think the two main themes are love and fear.  Love is obvious to find throughout the book. Hester and Mr.Dimmesdale secretly falling in love and having an affair from which Pearl was born is the biggest sign of love. Hester never revealed the name of her daughter’s father to keep him safe. Everything things she did was out of love either to Mr.Dimmesdale or Pearl. Fear can be interpreted in various ways. Fear of society, of the unknown, or of being different. In a society where everyone watches what you do and judges you for your mistakes there’s a lot to fear. Mr.Dimmesdale was scared of what could happen to him and Hester if people knew the truth about their affair. Hester not naming her child’s father wasn’t just out of love for him, but out of fear of the consequences. In some cases, like this one, fear and love accompany each other.

3. To be honest the reason I chose this book was because I kind of saw my name on it. I didn’t know which book to read and this was the first thing that came to my head. I had already heard about The Scarlet Letter by my English teacher, Mrs. Davis, last year. I thought it would be dead boing but I was surprised to see that it can get you hooked on some parts.

4. I found this book to be quite realistic. Although the punishments and some of the prejudices from that time don’t fit in society now, many of the themes are still around today. For example the fear of being different is still very common in most societies. I identified myself with Hester in some ways. She was pointed at for being different but she was proud to be different because the choices she made were hers and no one should have a say.

5. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses different types of tones depending on the subject. We can first see his harsh side against Hester in chapter 5 when he says “…their imaginations had a story about the scarlet letter which we might readily workup into a terrific legend…that the symbol was not mere scarlet cloth, tinged in an earthly dye-pot, but was red-hot with infernal fire, and could be seen glowing all alight, whenever Hester Prynne walked abroad in the nighttime…perhaps there was more truth in the rumor than our modern incredulity may be inclined to admit.” (Hawthorne 66) We can also see the love Hester feels for her daughter Pearl when Hawthorne says “Beholding it, Hester was constrained to rush towards the child,-to pursue the little elf in the flight which she invariably began,-to snatch her to her bosom, with a close pressure and earnest kisses,-not so much from overflowing love, as to assure herself that Pearl was flesh and blood, and not utterly delusive.” (Hawthorne 69) At the beginning of chapter two we get a view of the Puritan Society and the women’s criticism against other women. This happens when Hester is walking out of the jail and the whole town is gathered to see her. “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there not law for it? Truly, there is, both in the Scripture and the statue-book. Then let the magistrates, who have made it of no effect, thank themselves if their own wives and daughters go astray!” (Hawthorne 39)

6. The Scarlet Letter has many examples of literary terms especially symbolism. Amongst those were:           

1.The most obvious symbol was the large scarlet letter A embroided on Hester’s dress. Hester was forced to wear the letter A as a sign of her adultery. It represented shame at first, but throughout the novel the meaning started to change. As Hester seems proud to walk around with the scarlet A the letters starts to symbolize able and is portrayed as a powerful identity due to her accomplishments.  

“Man had marked this woman’s sin by a scarlet letter, which had such potent and disastrous efficacy that no human sympathy could reach her, save it were sinful as herself.” (Hawthorne 67)                                               

2. After Hester and Arthur’s daughter is born, Pearl herself becomes a symbol. She starts by being a symbol of Hester’s adultery and sin. She reminds Hester of the scarlet letter constantly and leads both Hester and Mr.Dimmesdale to admit their sin. Not only does Pearl symbolize a sin, but also the love between her parents.

“It was meant for a blessing for the one blessing of her life! It was meant, doubtless, as the mother herself hath told us, for a retribution, too; a torture to be felt at many an unthought-of moment; a pang, a sting, an ever-recurring agony, in the midst of a troubled joy! Hath she not expressed this thought in the grab of the poor child, so forcibly reminding us of that red symbol which sears her bosom?” (Hawthorne 86-87)

3. The rose bushes that grow outside the jail is a metaphor because it is trying to say that even in the coldest and darkest climates something beautiful can blossom. Maybe it is referring to Pearl being born from a sin. Even though adultery was an unforgiving sin little, beautiful Pearl was born. The rose bushes could also signify hope. For example it was the middle of winter and it was cold, but the rose bush was still alive. The rose bush could be the little piece of hope Hester has for her love.

“This rose-bush, by a strange chance, has been kept alive in history; but weather it has merely urvived out of the stern old wilderness…or weather, as there is fair authority for believing, it had sprung up under the footsteps of the sainted Anne Hutchinson, as she entered the prison-door…It may serve, let us hope, to symbolize some sweet moral blossom.” (Hawthorne 35-36)

                                              

4. The mark on Mr.Dimmesdale chest is a scar in the shape of an A. Apparently Hester is not the only one with a reminder of her sinful yet romantic love affair. How or when Mr.Dimmesdale got that scar isn’t clear, but it’s a hurtful reminder that tells us Hester was not alone in her shame.

“With a convulsive motion, he tore away the ministerial band from before his breast. It was revealed! But it were irreverent to describe that revelation…the gaze of horror…stricken multitude was concentrated on the ghastly miracle…minister stood, with a flush of triumph in his face.” (Hawthorne 196)

                                                   

5. The scaffold is one of the biggest symbols in The Scarlet Letter. It is the place where Hester was made of after being released from jail. It is also the place where Mr.Dimmesdale confessed the truth about his sin, and exposed his scar.  It stands for sin and punishment.

“At last!-at last!-I stand upon the spot where, seven years since, I should have stood; here, with this woman, whose arm, more than the little strength wherewith I have crept hitherward, sustains me, at his dreadful moment.” (Hawthorne 196)

6. Hester’s husband, known as Roger Chillingworth, is a symbol of Hester’s past. When he comes back he is a reminder to both Hester and Mr.Dimmesdale that she is not a free woman. He reminds her of Hester’s fear for him.

“A writhing horror twisted itself across his features, like a snake gliding swiftly over them, and making one little pause, with all its wrenched intervolutions in open sight.” (Hawthorne 45)

“She pressed her infant to her bosom with so convulsive a force that the poor babe uttered another cry of pain. But the mother did not seem to hear it.” (Hawthorne 45)

7. Hawthorne uses the forest to symbolize the home of sin and trouble.

"She had wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness; as vast, as intricate and shadowy, as the untamed forest.” (Hawthorne 81)

8. The color scarlet is also a symbol of love and passion. Hawthorne chose to make the letter scarlet because Hester and Mr.Dimmesdale committed adultery out of their passion. Pearl wearing the color of her mother’s letter also symbolizes the bond between Hester and Pearl. In the next quote Mr.Wilson compliments Pearls clothes and after sees the scarlet bird.

“What little bird of scarlet plumage may this be? Methinks I have seen just such figures, when the sun has been shining through a richly painted window, and tracing out the golden and crimson images across the floor.”

                      

9. The meteor that crosses the sky when Hester, Pearl, and Mr.Dimmesdale are on the scaffold signifies to Mr.Dimmesdale as a sign of god that wants him to say his secret.

"…disease in his own eye and heart…the minister sees the meteor in the shape of an A in dull red light.”

10. The sun vanishing in chapter 21 symbolizes that Hester isn’t happy. The sun usually symbolizes happiness which is what she feels with Pearl, but when she tried to grab the sun it vanished meaning that Hester wasn’t happy.

“…the sunshine vanished…” (Hawthorne 180)

Characterization:

1. Hawthorne uses direct characterization when he describes Hester Prynne’s appearance. “The young woman was tall, with a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale. She had dark and abundant hair…a face…beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion, had the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes. She was lady like too.” (Hawthorne 40) When he describes Hester’s husband he is also direct characterization “He was small in structure, with a furrowed visage…there was a remarkable intelligence in his features…one of this man’s shoulders rose higher than the others.” (Hawthorne 45) Hawthorn uses indirect characterization when it comes to Hester’s personality. He uses what people say about her and her actions to portray her personality. Hawthorne also uses indirect characterization when he mentions Mr.Dimmesdale. He tells us about his physical appearance but now his emotions or character.

2. Hawthorne’s diction changes when he talks about Hester. Since she is the protagonist in this novel he gets more serious and harsh when he talks about her. He acts as though he were a Puritan judging her. Although he does mention her beauty, he portrays her as a sinner, but defends her once in a while.

3. The main character, Hester, is a round character. Throughout the novel she grows as a person. She starts of being afraid of her feelings toward Arthur and what the people might say or think of her. As the novel keeps going and she gives birth to her daughter, Pearl, she no longer cares what anyone thinks. She’s a proud mother and walks in public with her head held high. She ignores the finger pointing, the murmuring, and the fact that she has a scarlet letter embroided to her chest.   

4. I feel like I have actually met Hester Prynne. I can see the pain she felt, her unconditional love for Mr.Dimmesdale, her fear of losing Pearl and most of all how happy she was as a mother. Pearl had become a living proof of her love to Mr.Dimmesdale. She didn’t care what everyone thought of her or her daughter. She was a proud mother and loved her daughter deeply. No one could take that happiness from her. Not even the harsh, judging society could make her feel ashamed of her daughter.

“Beholding it, Hester was constrained to rush towards the child,-to pursue the little elf in the flight which she invariably began,-to snatch her to her bosom, with a close pressure and earnest kisses,-not so much from overflowing love, as to assure herself that Pearl was flesh and blood, and not utterly delusive.” (Hawthorne 69)

Enduring Memory:

One of the biggest lessons I’m taking from The Scarlet Letter is that you have to make sure your choices make you happy because people will judge anyways. Society is so quick to judge that they won’t even stop to think of what could have led to that or why you did what you did. When the town found out about Hester’s adultery they didn’t hesitate to call her a sinner. They didn’t stop to wonder if maybe she loved her child’s father or of the blessing being a mother is. All they did was point and judge as if they were perfect. “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there not law for it? Truly, there is, both in the Scripture and the statue-book. Then let the magistrates, who have made it of no effect, thank themselves if their own wives and daughters go astray!” (Hawthorne 39) Another lesson I learned was that fear won’t get you anywhere. Everyone in that town had a fear of something. It could have been fear of being different or fear of what people might say. No one should be afraid to show who they real are. We all say that it’s society’s fault for judging but think of it we are part of society.

                                                 

         

Latin Roots #3

aud(it) (hear): audience, auditorium, audition
avi (bird): aviation, aviculture, aviatrix
bell(i) (war): rebellion, rebel, belligerent, postbellum
ben(e) (good, well): benefit, benevolent, benediction, benefice, benison

-antebellum: before, especially the American Civil War, typical of how things were before any war; The antebellum changed a lot over time.
-audit: to check or examine a company's financial records; Due to the rough times in the wars the man had to audit the fields closely.
-auditory: related to the sense or hearing; The play auditory was loud and cheerful
-avian: characteristic of or pertaining to birds; 
-aviary: an elaborate structure for housing birds; I observed my dad design the aviary.
-avionics: the technology of using electronic equipment in aviation, missilery, and space flight; Thanks to the advanced avionics we were able to be undefeatable.
-bellicose: eager to fight or quarrel; hostile; People who are hostile aren't fun to be around.
-belligerency: the condition of warlike hostility; a hostile action; Wars usually start because of belligerency.
-benefactor: a person who gives another financial help; a patron; Benefactors are always necessary in community projects. 
beneficiary: one who receives a benefit (of payment), as from an insurance policy; The individuals that became beneficiary from the money were from downtown. 
-benign: not malignant; gracious and kindly; good-natured; The young lady was so benign every man wanted to marry her.
-inaudible: unable to be heard; The movie became inaudible when everyone started to talk.