Extra Credit Post

Upon the page, she writes, "The moon shone through the open window as if someone had placed a light bulb in the sky. The light from the stars was equal to a million Christmas lights strung throughout outer space."

This darn writer's block, she thinks, sitting at her computer, blank thoughts racing across her mind. She found it so easy to memorize poems, the words came so freely in her essays, but why can't she write a simple blog post? It's just putting your thoughts on the Internet - she does that all the time. But why, when it counts for a grade, can she not do it?

She can put her opinion in an essay. Easy. She can express herself through poetry. Simple. She can breeze through the horrible DGP. Trouble free. She can voice her thoughts. Painless. She can participate in circle discussions more than the required number of times. Effortlessly. But write an English blog? Hard.

When everything is all said and done and the night is almost over, she is still sitting at her computer with a blank mind. It's a good thing it's only Tuesday and she has until 11:59 on Friday to think of something. Maybe she'll go write something in another story until inspiration pays a visit. Until then, this is goodbye, English blog. Time to wait hopelessly for a revelation.

Skits=Fun

Scene 1: When Pip first goes to Miss Havisham's and meets Estella. I think it would be interesting to see people's interpretations of the characters and afterwards by the brewery when Pip is crying and pulling his hair. It may be a little harder, but interesting nonetheless.

Scene 2: The fight between Joe, Orlick, and Mrs. Joe in the forge right before Mrs. Joe is attacked. This scene involves a lot of characterization and interpretation, which would make it very fun to do as a skit.

Scene 3: Depending upon the group size, when Pip, Joe, and Wopsle go to the marshes to look for the convicts in the beginning of the book. I think it would be interesting to see not only those three's reactions to finding the convicts, but also the fight between the convicts. I would like to see the portrayal of it, not just the fight.

In Love With a Spider?

In the end of chapter 39, pages 311-312, Pip talks to Estella after the ball/dance-thing, and Estella says she is not interested in Bentley Drummle. Then in the end of chapter 44, page364, she announces she is engaged to him. Is there something I missed? Did I fall asleep while I was reading and just kept turning the pages?

As I understood it, Estella knew Pip loves her and felt the same back, she just couldn't show it. But now she's marrying "the Spider" even after Pip confessed his soul to her.

So my question is, Does Estella love Pip or is she just playing with his emotions?

"I never was happy with her" Confusing Quote

"And still I stood looking at the house, thinking how happy I should be if I lived there with her, and knowing that I never was happy with her, but always miserable." (end of chapter 33, page 272 in my book)

This sentence greatly confused me. As I understood it, Pip was madly in love with Estella and wanted nothing but to be with her. But now he is saying, as he looks at the house Estella is now staying at, that he is only miserable when he is with her, but yet he wants to live with her. Earlier he talked about how he was miserable without her. She was so mean to him when they were younger, but hasn't she changed now? Estella is different now, but I thought Pip still loved her.

Does he love her or dread being with her?

Great Expectations Picture

The court papers that make Pip apprenticed to Joe become like a prison cell for him. They bind him to Joe, and through him, to common life. Pip greatly wishes to become a gentleman, but he knows if he completes his apprenticeship, he will have very little chance of advancement. Pip is trapped. He doesn't want to hurt Joe, but how else could he fulfill his dream? Is the only way to escape from prison to hurt the ones you love? This is probably the biggest problem for Pip so far. He never knew how a few simple papers could change your entire life, until he wanted so much more than he was set out for.

The First Stage

With that quote, Pip is referring to being born into a certain life. The "one memorable day" is the day that you were born. The links symbolize days or years that form one big chain that is your life. "Iron" is the common life, "gold" is the wealthy, high class life. Similarly, the "thorns" means a life of work and hardship, while the "flowers" represent a life of ease and admiration. People usually look upon thorns as being bad, but flowers are seen as pretty, fragile, and better than other plants, like a bush. Pip is saying once you are born into this life, you are bound to it. This has altered Pip's character because he now wishes to be a gentleman after spending so much time at Miss Havisham's house, but he knows he will never be anything but a common worker. Our young Pip has grown up and now cares about his social standings, as his character development shows. He is in love with Estella, thus wanting to be a gentleman so she will love him back. He is no longer the little boy that "believed in the forge was a glowing road to manhood." (106) Pip longs for something more than being a common blacksmith. He wants to be a gentleman.

It must've been the summer before sixth grade, or the summer of 2006, if you prefer, when i first got the insane idea to write a book. The concept seemed so impossible at the time, but just crazy enough to make me want to do it. That one day changed my life into one of unsure to one destined to write. I am always writing now. I have no idea what I would do with the little free time i have if I never started writing. The book is not finished yet, mind you, but give me a few years and you'll see my name in the book store window.

My Paragraph- Sermons

When Dr. Chausible asks Jack if he could allude to Earnest's death in his sermon on Sunday, Oscar Wilde is mocking how written publications are simply real life stories, but just use fake names and different places. Wilde is making fun of how authors at the time never came up with their own ideas, instead wrote about themselves or someone they know.

On that same note, authors also write what every other written work is about. Cecily says Chausible is smart since he's never published a book, meaning he can come up with his own ideas and doesn't base his sermons off other's he's read/heard. Wilde is saying how monotonous literature is and how it gets old soon.

Dr. Chausible uses the same sermon on the meaning of manna over and over again, he just changes it to fit the occasion. Oscar Wilde riducules prose with this statement. All three-volume novels have the same plot line, girl falls in love with the unlikely hero but a bad guy tries to tear them apart, the author just changes the characters to fit their own personality. For example, the main girl may be just a common farm girl if that is what the author was/who they fell for, depending upon the gender of the author.

If novels are based off reality, and they are all the same, does this then mean that reality is the same for each person?