Thinking Outside the Box

Both the “Allegory of the Cave” by Plato and “No Exit” by Sartre express the idea of limitations on the human mind. In Plato’s work, we see that people are limited to new knowledge because of themselves. They are too afraid to leave their comfort zone and explore what’s out there. We tend to go with the flow and limit ourselves. In “No Exit” the characters’ thinking is limited because they are isolated. They go with what they already know and listen to others’ opinions and thoughts. They see that as their only way of new knowledge.
Plato’s allegory uses dialogue that tells a story to illustrate his ideas, while Sartre uses an actual conversation between a few characters in order to set a specific tone and express the theme. In the “Allegory of the Cave” the people are limited to their thoughts not by force, but because they choose to. The “shackles” in the story represent the characters themselves. Even after the man who had escaped came back to teach them, they still refused. The scenario isn’t that they can’t understand, but that they themselves refuse to learn and understand. They set their own limitations. On the other hand, the people in “No Exit” have actual limitations. They can only learn from what’s in their surroundings. For example when Garcin was told he was ugly by Estelle, he had to go by others’ opinions and his memory on whether to believe it or not.
The major difference between these two stories is that the prisoners in the cave refused to think and lived a dull life being intrigued by shadows. In “The Exit”, the characters think about their situation and tried to escape the room which was symbolic of their position. Plato and Sartre’s works share the same idea about the limitations on the human mind. Their obvious distinction is that in one story the limitations are caused by the people themselves, and in the other the restrictions are made by other uncontrolled reasons.

Refined Big Question

Why is there a school dress code and why do teachers feel they should control students appearance?

Literary Term "Characterization"

Definition
 The means by which a writes reveals a character’s personality or appearance.
There are two types of characterization:
1.Direct Characterization
 The author directly describes the character.

 

The writer tells us directly how the finish look or act

 

 

 

 2. Indirect Characterization

The author uses actions as well as other characters’ actions, words and thoughts to describe that one specific character.

 

We can see the guy is attractive because of the girls' reactions.

 

Self Searching

When I searched my name I found a few things, but only one of them actually related to me. It was a photo of me at the Upward Bound program, the summer before my freshmen year. The other things I found were about a famous singer called Guadalupe Pérez Arias and a lot of links to different peoples' Facebooks and Myspace.

Literature Analysis

*The Tortilla Curtain, by T.C. Boyle is a novel about a man named Candido Rincon and his much younger wife, America, who entered the United States illegally, dreaming of a better life in California. Unfortunately, they are homeless and camping at the bottom of a hill in a national park. Another couple, Delaney and Kyra live in a gated community. Delaney is a writer and Kyra is a successful real estate agent. The two couples’ paths crossed unexpectedly after Delaney hit Candido with his car. They both decide not to call the police for certain reasons, but from that moment on, the two couples are constantly influenced by the one another.
After the accident Candido wasn’t able to get a job because of his injury. This causes many problems and even brings him shame. He is unable to feed his wife, who is pregnant. Candido tries to find a job in the city and even America finds a job, which can be very dangerous. Delaney’s family also has problems, but not as big. They struggle with a coyote running lose and potentially criminal, illegal aliens.
One night Candido causes a huge forest fire that reaches the gated community. In the midst of escaping the fire, America gave birth to their daughter Socorro. They hid in Delaney’s shack and their America confesses that she was raped one night and she things that might have caused the baby to become blind. Delaney is about to enter with a gun and confront them when the shack is knocked over by a landslide. America and Candido survived, but sadly the baby drowned in the river. The novel ends with Candido saving Delaney from drowning in the river.

*The theme of this novel is the fear and hatred towards foreigners.

*The author’s tone for this novel is very serious and sad. Boyle includes nothing but serious and sad events.
“He couldn’t seem to control his hands. ‘I’ve had an accident,’ he said to himself, repeating it over and over like a mantra, ‘I’ve had an accident.”
“It was crazy to refuse treatment like that, just crazy. But he had. And that meant he was illegal- go to the doctor, get deported.”
“A gabacho sat on the sidewalk with his long hair and begged for change and the sight of him struck her with terror: if he had to beg in his own country, what chance was there for her?”
*Boyle uses many different literary elements and techniques to express his theme and clarify his tone. Boyle uses imagery, diction, symbols, foreshadowing, and allegories. He is very descriptive throughout his entire novel and uses well-known vocabulary in order to have his entire audience understand what is being expressed.
“Everywhere he turned he saw those red-flecked eyes, the rictus of the mouth, the rotten teeth and incongruous shock of gray in the heavy black brush of the mustache- they infested his dreams, cut through his waking hours like a window on another reality.” ---Imagery
”He was dreaming still, dreaming with his eyes open, images shuffled like cards in a deck till he didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t” ---Diction
“Money had changed hands. There were no witnesses and the man was gone, out of his life forever.” ---Symbols
“And what about fire danger? The canyon was a tinderbox this time of year, everyone knew that.” --- Foreshadowing
“And Candido, despite his exhaustion, despite everything, began dragging the big balky sheet of plastic up through the unyielding brush, and as the branches tore at him and his fingers stiffened and the helicopters swooped overhead, he thought of Christ with his cross and his crown of thorns and wondered who had it worse.” ---Allegory

Big Question

Why do schools have a dress code policy? When was it first regulated?

Essay 11/8/11

Language, which it itself is a type of action, plays an important role in many stories and play. In the play Hamlet, we see Hamlet’s use of language majorly differentiate him from epic heroes such as Beowulf. Because of the self-overhearing and dialogues in Hamlet, the audience can clearly recognize what makes Hamlet different. Hamlet seems to be more clever, stronger, and has the ability to recognize what type of person he really is.
After reading and analyzing Hamlet’s “To be, or not to be” soliloquy, the audience can identify Hamlet as being more clever than other epic heroes. Unlike the hero Beowulf, Hamlet weighs the pros and cons of most situations. He thinks critically about what results might come from taking certain actions. “To be or not to be—that is the question.” Just in the first line alone of the soliloquy we see Hamlet’s cleverness as he sees both sides of a situation and figures out what the best thing to do would be, in this case it was whether to commit suicide or not. On the contrary, Beowulf would have gone with his first instinct and just acted.
Hamlet’s use of language also differentiates him in the sense that he is mentally stronger. Throughout the entire play we see Hamlet take many actions all based on an oath he made at the beginning of the play. He swore to avenge his father and he stayed focused and didn’t allow anything or anyone get in the way of his promise. He even murdered his friend Laertes for becoming an obstacle in the way of getting to Claudius.
The biggest use of language found in the play is Hamlet’s self-overhearing. Hamlet overhears himself and in doing so he gains self-knowledge. In his article The Performative Utterance in Hamlet, Bloom considers this, “the royal road to individuation.” Hamlet had the ability to speak out loud in any given opportunity in order to realize himself and who he is. Other epic heroes would not take even a second to try and realize who they were because they would be too determined on “slaying a dragon.”
Hamlet’s use of language greatly differentiates him from epic heroes such as Beowulf. We see him practice self-overhearing and question himself throughout the entire play which is what makes him stand out. Hamlet’s use of language makes him more clever, mentally stronger, and gives him the ability to realize himself.

"Procrastination"

After thinking about it for a while I realized that the major concept that I learned in this class was, “Procrastination is BAD!” Although we have been working very hard on the blogs and learning new ways to use technology and its pros/ cons, the biggest lesson I’ve gotten from it is not to procrastinate. From personal experiences I can say that I am a huge procrastinator. I tend to let myself get distracted with texting, Facebook, and anything else. We must take control of our lives in order to meet deadlines and achieve goals; mainly by pushing the bad habit of procrastination aside. If we let ourselves continue to procrastinate we will become stressed at the last minute and our work will be of very low quality.

Roy Christopher

• What got you involved?  Roy said he got into 80's BMX and there were magazines that they did. Eventually a we design began
• Is media good or bad?   Roy said it's a mix of both good and bad. Media makes new information more assessible, but it also causes distractions and makes it hard for us to focus. 

*The older generation doesn't trust the youth with technology. 
* Roy considers "Multi-tasking" as a myth. When you are doing more than one thing at a time, you divide your attention. You aren't 100% focused and the quality of the work decreases.  

 "We are fish in the water. The water (technology) is our environment.

Literature Analysis #2

1.      Dreaming in Cuban, by Cristina Garcia is a story of a family and their migration from Cuba. It portrays the problems that the Pino family faces. Problems such as mental illness, death in the family, and loyalty to ones country. It also shows the obstacles that part of the family has to overcome in moving to America, and the obstacles that the rest of the family faces staying behind in Cuba.

This novel is divided into three books. Each book consists of several chapters of narration and one or more chapters of letters written by Celia, which is the mother. Each chapter is from a different point in each characters life. It helps show the progression of the character into the present. Celia Del Pino and Jorge Del Pino are the parents of Lourdes, Felicia and Javier who each have children of their own. Half of the story takes place in Cuba during the communist revolution, and the other half takes place in modern day America. A big mystery in the beginning of the novel is whether Jorge is dead or not, at the end of the story we find out he is.

2.      The theme of this novel is “Family Relationships.” The novel shows the way in which families can be twisted by physical separation, politics, and lack of communication, But regardless of what happens, a family is still a family.

3.      The novel’s tone is both solemn and blissful. The Pino family is going through a very difficult time trying to migrate to America and forgetting the past. Although they have many obstacles in their way, they are still a happy family because they manage to stay somewhat united after everything and continue to have high hopes for a better future.

·         “Celia grieves for her husband, not for his death, not yet, but for his mixed allegiances.”

·         “He will bring you and your father peace, a peace you never knew while he lived on this earth.”

·         “A sudden wave engulfs her, and for a moment Celia is tempted to relax and drop.”

4.      Cristina Garcia has a very unique way of writing. She was clever in the way she wrote her novel and grabbed her audiences’ attention and maintained it throughout the entire novel. Some of the most helpful literary elements and techniques used to express her tone and theme were: imagery, allusions, structure, diction, and symbolism. These five elements successfully tied her story and made it flow perfectly. Cristina was extremely descriptive throughout the entire novel and her diction was understandable for all ages.

·         "The sun yells at her through the paper window shades." - Imagery

·         ."Give the revolution a try, be a new socialist woman , a Fighter for Learning." –Allusions

·         Garcia’s structures her novel differently from most authors. She divided her it into three books. Each chapter is from a different person’s view point. Garcia also includes letters written by some of the characters. –Structure

·         “Her mother hurriedly wrapped gold-rimmed goblets with newspaper and packed them into a scuffed leather suitcase, all the while listening to the warnings on the radio.” –Diction

·         Symbolism is shown through the tree mentioned in the novel. It grows and forms new branches and after a while the leaves begin to fall off, but they never stop growing back, similar to a family. Families can go through many hardships and misfortunes, but they will always continue growing together as a family. -Symbolism

"Tools That Change the Way We Think."

"Back in 2004, I asked [Google founders] Page and Brin what they saw as the future of Google search. 'It will be included in people's brains,' said Page. 'When you think about something and don't really know much about it, you will automatically get information.'

'That's true,' said Brin. 'Ultimately I view Google as a way to augment your brain with the knowledge of the world. Right now you go into your computer and type a phrase, but you can imagine that it could be easier in the future, that you can have just devices you talk into, or you can have computers that pay attention to what's going on around them and suggest useful information.'

'Somebody introduces themselves to you, and your watch goes to your web page,' said Page. 'Or if you met this person two years ago, this is what they said to you... Eventually you'll have the implant, where if you think about a fact, it will just tell you the answer."

-From In the Plex by Steven Levy (p.67)

Answer this not-so-simple question: How does extensive Internet/media/technology use change the way you think? Focus on your memory, your ability to concentrate, your sense of time and priorities, and the subjects/topics that interest you most. If you find "thinking about your thinking" difficult to assess, try the following strategies: compare yourself with older people who did most of their formal learning before smart phones and 2.0 existed; compare yourself with contemporaries who don't use those tools much today; read up on what education leaders and thinkers have to say about generational differences in thinking (and remember to cite your sources).

The extensive use of Internet/media/technology has had both a negative and positive impact on me. Although I am learning a lot of new information faster, I feel like it is actually dumbing me down. I feel lazier and more dependent on technology. When I want to figure something out or learn about a new topic I usually just go on Google and read the first few links. It takes the challenge and fun out of searching for your answer for a long time. Before all this new technology came into my life I was more concentrated and focused. It’s a lot more difficult for me to stay focused on my work because either I’m listening to my IPod, texting someone, or checking my Facebook. There is so much more distractions. Even though I have all this overwhelming information I still feel like I’m not learning much. It’s so easy to find the answers that moments after reading them, I typically forget them. They aren’t engraved into my schemata. I kind of wish we didn’t have so much technology/media for a while just to see how much more or less we would actually learn. Unfortunately, I no longer think as hard and critically as I use to.

"In Search Of"

This information kind of scares me. I’m only being shown things that “it” thinks I want to see, but not the things I should really be seeing. Like Eric Schmidt said, “It will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for them.” Because of the filter bubbles we aren’t able to see the stud that is deleted.

First of all, now that I know about filters, I decided to not only do my research on my home computer, but also on my brother’s phone. I started with Google. The first few links that appeared were different. One was about his ancestry and schooling and the other was his biography and childhood. It surprised me to see that when I searched on my brother’s phone, no pictures came up.

"Notes on Hamlet"

To be completely honest, I really didn't want to read this novel. I thought it woud be pointless and annoying. Once I began reading it, the intense characters and action packed events caught my attention. I thought maybe Hamlet would be the only normal character in the play, but it turns out he is the most insane one. He is completely mad and cannot make a decision. It annoys me that he won't just kill his uncle right away, or atleast tell other what Claudius did. After Hmalet killed Polonious, I see Hamlet's life quickly going down. He will most likely be put in prison or killed and everyone will think he is crazy and turn against him.

"Who Was Shakespeare?"

It is said that William Shakespeare's actual birth day is unknown, but it is traditionally celebrated on the 23rd of April. We know he was intelligent due to his schooling. He began school at the age of 6 at

Stratford grammar school. Today's students dread the thought of Shakespeare. We relate his work to somthing boring and unnecessary. After beginning his famous play Hamlet, I realized that aside from the confusing words, the characters and events are very interesting. They sucked me in and want me to keep reading the rest of the play.  What still causes me struggles is the diction and syntax. Some of the words he uses are no longer used today.

To Facebook or Not to Facebook?"

Before becoming a user on Facebook, I felt like an outsider. I thought it was the top coolest thing and I was one of the only ones without one. Once starting my own account I was pleased to see that you can not only meet new people and send messages, but also post pictures or videos. In my eyes the greatest benefit is being able to keep in touch with far away family and friends for free. I'm able to communicate with family in Chicago, as well as in Mexico. Although facebook seems great, it still has its flaws. Some of the many risks is all the ads and pop-ups that come up. Also many people can make false accounts and unfortunately become friends with young children. It isn't a very safe program. After reading the article I now see that they really aren't even trying to improve the privacy on Facebook! What's up with that?