Animal Farm Project

They started out

With these "great" ideas

Revolving around a rebellion.

I knew it wouldn't turn out good,

But no one listens to the donkey.

"Four legs good, two legs bad."

We gained controll of the farm,

Drove old Jones away,

And things started out good.

"Four legs good, two legs bad."

The rations were larger,

We were doing less work,

But like they say,

Good things don't last forever.

"Four legs good, two legs bad."

The pigs learned to read and write,

Inscribed the Seven Commandments on the barn,

And they became the law,

For every animal to abide by.

"Four legs good, two legs bad."

The talk of ideals continued,

Dreams of a windmill,

And three-day weeks were conjured,

Too good to be true.

That was when things changed.

"Four legs good, two legs bad."

Napoleon drove Snowball off the farm,

By use of the dogs he had taught,

Then had some animals

Executed for minor crimes.

The next day, the 6th Commandment read;

"No animal shall kill any other animal without cause."

"Four legs good, two legs bad."

By now the pigs were living in the farm house,

A place we said no one would ever enter again.

Word had long since spread

Of them sleeping in beds.

"Four legs good, two legs bad."

Slowly over the years,

The "ideals" Major had talked about,

Became nothing but a forgotten speach.

The pigs had now changed ever Commandment,

Into something that better suited them.

"Four legs good, two legs bad."

The other animals thought

That maybe they had remembered

Something different,

But Squealer was always able

To persuade them differently.

"Four legs good, two legs bad."

Not only did the pigs

Begin to wear clothes,

But they started walking on two legs.

By the end,

The only Commandment left was

"All animals are equal

But some animals are more equal that others."

"Four legs good, two legs even better."

POL performances: Facing It

I think that Branden Emanuel Wellington's performance of the poem "Facing It" by Yusef Komunyakaa was very effective and did justice to the poem. His voice was rough, as it should be, but not so much that you couldn't understand him. He used hand gestures, though not nervous ones or acted out the poem. His dramatization was not over the top nor could it have needed more. Wellington seemed confident, even though the poem is about a non-confident veteran losing his self identity.

I think that this poem is about a Vietnam War veteran feeling survivor's guilt that he survived but his comrades didn't. He looks at the names on the wall, feeling like his should be among them. Wellington enhanced this by sounding confused and sad as he said certain lines. His facial expressions helped with his dramatization and showing the meaning. You have to face it, whether it be your reflexion in the cold, hard granit, or a past full of unwanted memories you cannot change.

Mockingbird Motif

Reading To Kill A Mockingbird has helped me understand the meaning of the word "motif" because every other theme has something to do with an innocent person. The theme of prejudice is shown in the Tom Robinson case, where Tom was innocent. Children are generally viewed as innocent and many adults learn from Scout and other children throughout the book.

The mockingbird motif is the idea of innocence. Mockingbirds do not cause harm, but rather stay in their trees and sing like other birds. It is a sin to kill one because they do nothing but create songs for you to listen to. This adds a symbolic level of meaning to the other themes because it ties everything together; Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and the children. Every theme has something to do with someone being innocent or seen as innocent, whether it be not commiting a crime or being young and naive.

symbolism

Mayella Ewell has six red geraniums planted in chipped-enamel slop jars in one corner of the yard. I think that these flowers symbolize that she is different from the rest of her family. The geranium flower represents friendship, stupidity, and sadness. Mayella has never had a friend and thought Atticus was insulting her when he asked if she had one. She is stupid, for she had received under two years of schooling. Loneliness is another thing she is feeling. Being in the house all day watching after her younger siblings as if she was their mother has probably made her feel alone. When she sees Tom Robinson go by every day and learns that he will do whatever she asks, she begins to feel for him, but not real love. I believe she only felt lust and her loneliness drove her to such extremes. The six little geraniums pretty much describe who Mayella Ewell is and that is why they are the symbol I chose.

Flower meaning from: http://www.tokenz.com/meaning-of-flowers.html

Image from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardenprojects/3525575/Plant-containers-Time-to-cosy-up-to-your-bulbs.html

Life Lessons.

This is going to be one of the best times I will be able to describe this, so in other words, it's going to hit a nerve. Just bear with me. But because I do not have that raw, hurt, painful feeling right now, I'm going to put a few links in here to other things that I wrote while being depressed just to help you understand.

About a month ago, I went through a period of a week where I was absolutely depressed, crying all night, not sleeping, barely talking, and just not feeling good about anything. Though my reasons changed throughout the week, the one that started it all was my sister. Everyone can say that they love their sibling(s) and they enjoy having one. Only children even say they wish they did have one. The majority of the time, I hate mine. http://grasshoppergirl.deviantart.com/art/My-Life-124239779 Please read author's comments for some reasons why. So one evening while I was trying to make my parents understand something for once, my mom told me, "You cannot change who someone else is."

As a result, not much has changed. I finally realized I was being stupid and needed to do what was best for me - a lesson I am still learning. I got away from my family by going to a sleepover and came back feeling better. Until my sister hurt me again. She will never see how bad it feels or how often I cry because she will never pay attention to anyone but her, but I know it is something I cannot change.

http://grasshoppergirl.deviantart.com/art/Letters-to-Myself-139075850

Best Friends! Yay!

Well, to start off, Wyatt had short-ish blond hair and stands about 5' 8" or so. (yes, Wyatt, 5' 8". I'm 5' 7 1/2".) Her clothes are different than what most people wear but still totally awesome. She's sort of spontaneous and sometimes yells things that shouldn't be yelled. Wyatt spend a lot of her time (or so I'm guessing) drawing. She is amazing at art and very often makes me jealous. But then, pretty much anyone that can draw makes me jealous. Sewing is another thing she does very well. Last year she made her Halloween costume and it was beautiful. I wonder what she's making this year. . . .

Wyatt is creative, thus the amazing art and everything else. She is most defiantly not an egoist, she is not greedy or selfish. She's more of an extrovert if anything. A lot of things she says can be TMI. Wyatt is friendly and nice and beautiful and just over all wonderful. She's patient and helpful. She is the bestest friend anyone could ask for.

(please don't kill me Wyatt.)

Point of view: early memory.

ok, my memory sucks past a certain point so here we go.

when I was really little, I had the fear most kids did: being sucked down the bathtub drain. I was terrified. So one night I had a dream - nightmare actually - where I was sucked down the bathtub drain. I woke up with a start right as I started going down into that endless black hole, and went downstairs with my teddy bear to spend the rest of the night in my parent's bed.

Then the next evening at dinner, my dad asked me what my bad dream was about. I do not remember my reply, or if I even gave one, but my dad started asking if there were certain animals in my dream. I was like, wait a minute, and, looking down at my shirt, realized he was just saying all the zoo animals that were across my shirt. I got exceptionally mad at him for not taking my fear of being sucked down the bathtub drain seriously.

Frankenstein, Motif

The main literary element of Frankenstein is the motifs monstrocity and secrecy. Not only is the monster Victor created a monster, but so is Victor himself. The monster kills people, but Victor tells no one the truth of who did it. He let Justine be condemed for the murder of his brother William, but though he feels guilty, he does not take the blame for it.

Victor Frankestein does not tell anyone about his obsession with creating life or his killing monster. The moster also keeps his existance a secret, not telling the DeLacy's that he spent many months in their abandoned pig sty.

The author, in my opinion, uses motifs so strongly is to connect Victor to the monster he wants no business with.

i be reading a book.

So far, i am enjoying Frankenstein. I think it would be a little harder to get in to if i hadn't listened to the book talk on it and had only gone by how hollywood has it. It's sort of slow and not much happens for the first five chapters until he creates the monster. (i hope everyone knew he did that becaus other wise i just gave away a major part of the book.)

at this point, the dominate literary feature is motifs. There are about five main motifs that occure a lot so it was sort of obvious after i thought about it.

The author may be using these because they're trying to say that even though Victor is a fictional character, he is still like the rest of us and suffers from regular problems. He may be a mad scientist and trying to bring something back to life, he has issues.

The tone of the novel is sort of somber and a bit gloomy because two members of his family have died and one of them was murdered. The tone shifts a bit from chapter to chapter because one chapter he was almost happy and the first chapter was about his childhood and was sentimental.

Writing about reading

i read books. <3 <3 <3
i like to read in me room on me bed with me music playing loudly. i don't get into a book if the first few pages don't capture my attention. the book must be interesting with a good turn of events for me to like it.

i tend to lose my concentration when there is a lot of excess noise around me like conversations and the such. it just gets too hard to concentrate and get into the book when there is so much other stuff going on.

my reading style is usually fiction and fantasy. i love books that have nothing to do with the real world because i can live it only in my head. it's not like i can walk out my front door and get on a dragon to go to hogwarts. (man i really wish i could.) reading fantasy, to me, is just something to survive. if i read lots of non-fiction, i would die of boredom.