The Importance of Being Earnest/Victorian Research

During my research of the Victorian age I discovered much valuable information that has given me more insight on the play, The Importance of Being Ernest. I learned that the Victorian age for most, was not a great time to be living in. Many people were poor and the people that weren't didn't care for anyone but themselves. This really shows in the play we are reading. One thing I notice as a reader is that Algernon has an extremely cynical attitude to almost everything. One example of this is on Pg. 38 he says, "I love hearing my relations abused...relations are simply a tedious pack of people who haven't got the remotest knowledge of how to live". As these comments keep going on, never seeming to end, the reader develops the gloomy, distressed attitude the writer is trying to portray.
Another example of a theme from the Victorian age that relates directly to the play is marriage. Marriage in the Victorian age is treated simply as the husband inheriting all of the possessions of the wife,and the possibility of the wife advancing in status if the husband is rich. No compassion or love is involved what so ever. This is displayed very clearly when Lady Bracknell is questioning Jack to determine whether he was eligible to marry Gwendolen on Pg. 25. Jack says, "I have lost both of my parents." Lady Bracknell replies, "Both? That seems like carelessness." In this short excerpt from the book it is clear Lady Bracknell doesn't care that Jack has never known his parents, all she cares about is that because he has no parents he has no status. This fits with the Victorian theme of marriage very well.

New Year's Resolution

Usually I'm sort of against the whole idea of a New Year's Resolution because if you really do plan on dramatically changing some part of your life (which I usually don't) then why wait till the New Year when everyone does this, you should be able to do this of your own accord. But, for the sake of this assignment I will think of some way I can make myself a better person in the year 2010. I think for the year 2010 I will make a committed effort to work out more often.

I am making this my New Years Resolution after a long shortage of exercise after winter break leaving me feeling very out of shape. With this feeling in mind I went to my athletic club today to exercise for a little bit and it gave me a huge amount of relief. I spend a lot of time exercising with my soccer club Blackhills, which keeps me in fairly good shape throughout the year. With this in mind I would like to step it up a little bit so to speak and get used to exercise more. As long as I keep exercising on my own I will still be able to stay in shape during extended periods of break. During these periods of break such as summer I still continue soccer, but my eating is not nearly as healthy. So now if i exercise even more I won't have to worry about this as much and after I finish exercising everyday I can just enjoy myself.

Animal Farm Movie Trailer

cool vid

Poetry Out Loud Performances

Forgetfulness
By: Billy Colins
Presented by Jackson Hille

Jackson Hille uses a very dry comedy, satirical type attitude when presenting this poem. He uses exactly the right timing when presenting this to give the poem a feeling of almost a comedy routine. He pauses to add dramatic effect to parts of the poem that may be funny to the audience, which portrays this poem to it's full potential. He uses his body language to show the audience a matter of fact attitude in the way he presents, he keeps both hands clasped together and moves in certain ways to emphasize separate parts of the poem.

This poem is a very wry interpretation of the forgetfulness that most everyone goes through. Colins makes the reader both think and laugh with lines like; "Whatever it is you are struggling to remember, it is not poised on the tip of your tongue, or even in some obscure corner of your spleen, it has drifted off down a dark mythological river which as far as you can remember begins with the letter "L." Lines like that leave the reader to interpret it for him/herself. It keeps you listening, fully intrigued and not wanting to miss a line with the fear of misinterpreting the next bit of comedy that comes along. Hille fully embraces this feeling the author has given to the poem by making definitive pauses where necessary for the reader to understand, and interpret each line for him/herself. Hille also grabs your attention at important moments of the poem by significant changes in tone or volume. All of these aspects from the poem and the expressions of the reader come together to create a very entertaining performance.

Mockingbird Motif

Reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" has enhanced my understanding of the word motif because, "To Kill a Mockingbird" has such a well exemplified motif. The "Mockingbird" motif is basically the idea that, to harm or mistreat something that has never hurt anyone else is one of the worst things you can do. This book is called "To Kill a Mockingbird" because this motif is based on the idea that a mockingbird has never done anything to hurt anyone, so to kill it is a sin.

This idea has many examples to back it up through out the book. One example is when Bob Ewell tries to kill Jem and Scout, Jem and Scout are completely innocent and have never harmed anyone so they represent mockingbirds and to kill them would be unimaginable. Another example is the idea to put Boo Radley up for trail after living peacefully in his house for years and only committing a crime to defend innocent children. Both of these examples of the Mockingbird motif specifically represent the theme of innocence in the book and how fragile it can be at times when other people don't understand how much it should be cherished.

Symbolism: Extra Credit

Bob Ewell This beer represents all that is wrong about Bob Ewell's life. When he drinks he throws away all of his family's money leaving his children with very little potential for their future. If Bob Ewell was the type of person that led a better life he wouldn't be racist, he wouldn't beat his daughter and he wouldn't abuse alcohol.

Life Lessons

The main life lesson my parents have ever taught me is that there is no strict set of rules that dictate how you life should be led. This is something they have taught me not just by sitting me down and saying it, but by the actions they have done in life and the way they have raised me. I don't think I can once remember my parents saying not to do something because it's too weird or too different, in reality they almost encourage me to be different. Looking back there are so many things I have done in my life that personally if I was there, watching myself from the past as me now, I wouldn't even think before telling me from the past to stop (take a second to process that whole sentence).

With this in mind, I personally do think some things are...a little weird, but rarely will I say that out loud because everyone has the right to express themselves in their own way. As I've grown older I've taken a lot from this whole life lesson. I know that no matter what I do even if the rest of the world judges me, my parents won't judge me (that's definitely not 100% true). Along with this affecting my personality in life it also affects how I treat other people. Although I said before that every once in a while I think other people are a bit weird, everyday I get a bit more accepting of other people and maybe, just maybe someday I'll be able to tolerate a weird messed up child such as myself.