Almost There!

This is just an extra little post for the (almost) end of the school year!  Woo!  Hope you've enjoyed this Honors English 9 blog throughout the school year!  :)

25 Interesting and Ridiculously Enticing Facts About Travis! Yes!

1. I have one Jack Russell Terrier.  Her name is Ellie, and I got her for Christmas in 2001.

2. I have big dreams, and I don't plan on allowing anything or anyone get in the way of living those dreams.

3. Someday, I want to live in Beverly Hills.

4. I absolutely love California.  I love the culture there - celebrities, fame, and fortune.

5. I love my family and friends.

6. Two of the most important people in my life are my grandparents.

7. I have never been out of the United States; however, I am definitely traveling abroad soon.

8. I try to eat as healthily (I didn't even know that was a word) as I can.

9. Overall health is very important to me.  I exercise every day and do yoga daily.

10. I love Panera Bread.

11 I love technology, and I don't know what I would do without it.

12. I love all things Apple.  I absolutely love my iPhone and iPad.

13. I play the trumpet.

14. Music is important to me - whether I'm listening to it, or playing it.

15. Whether I want to admit it or not, I learn something new every day.

16. I like school, but not when the last day of it is only 13 days away.

17. English is my favorite subject, and not only because I get to correct people's grammar.

18. I love the beach, and I go every summer on vacation.  This year, however, I'm going on a cruise and to California.

19. I love the atmosphere and feeling of a city.  I want one of my homes to be in New York when I'm older.

20. I fly ALL the time - usually to North Carolina.  So, next time I miss our long class on Monday, you know it's because I am in North Carolina.

21. I have two sisters.  Alex is 23 and Tracy is 21.  Speaking of my sister Alex, her birthday is today.

22. My favorite TV show is Saturday Night Live.  Live from New York, it's...Monday night.

23. I love to act.  It's what I want to do.

24. At school, I'm involved in band (4 different forms of band, actually) , musicals, chorus, and the Respect Life club.  Respect Life is really the only club in which I'm involved.

25. This first year at John Carroll has gone by so quickly.  Can I complain?  No - not if summer vacation is 13 days away.  This being said, however, I am so glad that I've met so many great people and learned so many enriching things over the course of the year.

Hooray!  There you go - 25 facts about Travis!  Your life has changed for the better.  Just kidding, I'm not that conceited.  :)  I hope you enjoyed!

Honors English 9 Adventure to Washington, D.C.! Hooray!

          Yesterday, the John Carroll Honors English 9 classes visited the Folger's Shakespeare Theater in our nation's capital.  Personally, I really enjoyed this trip.  I thought the true enjoyment of Shakespeare and his plays was really expressed by Bill's Buddies in their energy and excitement on stage.  After seeing their performance, I can say that I appreciate Shakespeare's works more than I previously did.  I thought that Bill's Buddies' performance did a wonderful job of showing everyone that Shakespeare is not really that hard to read and understand.  The techniques that they showed us on stage were really helpful in interpreting what Shakespeare actually meant when he wrote his plays.  All of Shakespeare's works are brilliant and beautiful literary works, and I think that learning how to interpret those works in a fun and enjoyable way was a great experience.  Anyway, I enjoyed the sights of D.C. while we walked to Folger's and to lunch.  The view of the capitol while we were walking back to the bus never ceases to amaze me.  It's so beautiful to see.  We ate lunch at Union Station, which was fun.  It was SO crowded, though.  My group only had one napkin, which I used to wipe the grease off of my pizza.  (The rest of the group wasn't too happy.)  So, we went to some other restaurant and asked for a napkin.  The woman informed us that we needed to pay for a napkin - great service.  After lunch, we went to Godiva for some chocolate, which was a little expensive (more like a lot).  Lindsay Kraus bought 4 truffles and it cost her $10.00.  Union Station is not cheap.  So, our trip was fun, and I thought that it was a great experience!

(Photo taken by Mrs. Zurkowski)

Caesar's and Brutus's Heroic Traits!

Julius Caesar	Marcus Brutus
Caesar is confident with his own ideas.  He is not afraid to lead his country his way.	Brutus is a natural leader.  He is not afraid to stand up and be the leader in a group, such as the group of conspirators against Caesar.
Caesar has a natural motivation to lead Rome and the people of Rome.	Brutus is selfless.  He justifies his actions by saying that he did it for another person or being.
He does not let the common superstitions of the time affect him and his ruling of Rome.  He relies on his own ideas and beliefs.	Brutus genuinely cares for Rome and the people of Rome.  He does not want Caesar to ruin Rome.
Caesar believed that he was a major factor in the success of the Roman government and general civilization.	He is considerate of others’ feelings.  For example, Caesar treats his wife with the compassion and respect with which Brutus treats his wife.
He believes that he is more important than others around him, which allows for his want for power and control in Rome.	Brutus does not seek to be higher or more respected than anyone else, unlike Caesar.  His appears humble and only wants to help those around him.

Tragic Flaws of Caesar and Brutus:


Caesar

• Caesar had the intent to become an all-powerful leader, constantly wanting more and more power and support.
• Caesar's intelligence and power was used in the wrong way.
• Caesar strongly believed in strong superstitions.
• Caesar was stubborn, which was why he chose to ignore the signs that going to the Senate was a dangerous thing to do.

Brutus

• He will do anything for Rome and for his friends.  
• Brutus too easily trusts people.  He easily believed the motives of others, even if those motives were false.
• Brutus tends to be too extreme, as he killed his friend when he became too ambitious, and he killed himself during battle.  Also, he put his public life above his personal life, which caused him to be blinded to his own feelings.

http://karenswhimsy.com/julius-caesar.shtm

http://www.englishunitplans.com/juliuscaesar

Working Hard!

Nothing major, just a little update as to what we're doing!

Honors English 9 is exploding with more grammar and Shakespearean literature than ever before!  We're just about finished a grammar unit on parts of sentence (hooray for fun grammar!), and we've just started Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.  Just keeping everyone updated in Honors English blog world! 

Image: http://www.datesphere.com/blog/2011/01/13/site-update/

Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Reflective Analysis and Review

           Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God is truly a literary masterpiece, bundled with brilliant imagery, beautiful symbolic and metaphorical language, and an inspiring story.  Hurston captured African American culture, crunched it all together, and released it all into this novel.  The people, the dialogue, and the way of life were all flawlessly illustrated by Hurston.  Personally, I thought that the novel gives a very inspiring and motivating message.  Janie's grandmother was raped, which led to her pregnancy with Janie's mother.  Janie's mother was raped by her schoolteacher, gave birth to Janie, and ran off.  She was never heard from or seen by her family again.  Janie's family obviously had a rough past; however, that did not stop Janie from aspiring to do what she wanted.  She wanted to find love and travel to the horizon and back.  After two failed marriages, Janie finally found true love with her soulmate, Tea Cake.  At the end of the story, she had accomplished what she wanted in life and was at last fulfilled.  I find Janie's adventure through life to be very inspiring.  Even through her most difficult hardships, Janie did not lose hope and motivation to do what she wanted to do.  Janie's story shows us that if we keep searching for our own new horizons and continue to push our own limits, it will all pay off in the end in the form of self-fulfillment and true happiness.
           Their Eyes Were Watching God is the first Zora Neale Hurston novel I have read; however, just from reading this book, I can already sense Hurston's extremely developed form of writing, as well as her immense talent as a writer.  I absolutely admire her varied and common use of vivid imagery to enhance the reading experience.  I would definitely recommend Their Eyes Were Watching God to teenage readers.  I think the varied themes of the novel (romance, abuse, and et cetera) will appeal to teenagers everywhere.  I give Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God five out of five stars.  

*****/*****

Does Reading Their Eyes Were Watching God Compel Creating an Imagery Chart Like the Sun the Day?

      Imagery is "the formation of mental images, figures, or likenesses of things, or of such images" (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/imagery).  Using imagery in writing certainly enhances it.  While reading, it is extremely helpful to have formed a mental image of what is going on in the story.  You cannot read Their Eyes Were Watching God without noticing Zora Neale Hurston's beautifully crafted metaphorical language.  Below is a chart detailing some of the imagery from the novel.

Chapter	Image: Quotation	Explanation
1	“Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board.  For some they come in with the tide.  For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time.  That is the life of men” (1). “The men noticed her firm buttocks like she had grape fruits in her hip pockets; the great rope of black hair swinging to her waist and unraveling in the wind like a plume; then her pugnacious breasts truing to bore holes in her shirt” (2).	The ships out at sea are the dreams of men, while the Watcher is the dreamer.  The man continues to watch his dreams, longing for them to come true; however, he never takes any effective action in making them come true.  Eventually, they just disappear with time. This image shows elaborates on Janie’s good looks.  It further describes what people found attractive about her.
2	“Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone.  Dawn and doom was in the branches’ (8). “Nanny’s words made Janie’s kiss across the gatepost seem like a manure pile after a rain” (13).	This shows us how Janie came to see her own life and her experiences thus far.  She thought that her life was a tree, and her experiences were the leaves that branched out from the tree. This image shows the great disapproval that Nanny had for Janie’s kiss with Johnny.   A kiss is supposed to be romantic and sentimental; however, relating a kiss to a pile of manure after a rainstorm totally reduces the sentimentality of it all.
3	“Did marriage compel love like the sun the day” (21)? She knew that God tore down the old world every evening and built a new one by sun-up.  It was wonderful to see it take form with the sun and emerge from the gray dust of its making” (25).	This image shows us that Janie is wondering if her marriage will ever bring her to love her husband, Logan Killicks.  The sun’s rising leads to day; therefore, marriage must lead to love.  This was Janie’s train of thought. This image represents the fresh, new start of each day.  Maybe this shows Janie’s hope that with each day comes new opportunity.
4	The morning road air was like a new dress” (32). “They sat on the boarding house porch and saw the sun plunge into the same crack in the earth from which the night emerged” (33).	This image describes the freshness and crispness of the air as Janie was about to run off with Joe. This image shows the bond that Joe and Janie shared.  They just sat on their porch and admired nature.   They were just two people who were spending time together.
5	“Take for instance that new house of his.  It had two stories with porches, with bannisters and such things.  The rest of the town looked like servants’ quarters surrounding the ‘big house’” (47). “It was bad enough for white people, but when one of your own color could be so different it put you on a wonder.  It was like seeing your sister turn into a ‘gator” (48).	This gives us an insight on the size and significance of Joe and Janie’s home.  If it makes the rest of the houses in Eatonville look like servants’ quarters, then the house must be decently sized. This image represents the difference between Janie and Joe and the townspeople.  Joe was the mayor Eatonville, and he had power.  Janie, being the wife of the mayor, also had power and class.  The townspeople practically bowed down to Joe, as he was power hungry.  It was one thing for white people to be more powerful than black people, but differences in power and/or class within the African American race was shocking.
6	“When the people sat around on the porch and passed around the pictures of their thoughts for the others to look at and see, it was nice.  The fact that the thought pictures were always crayon enlargements of life made it even nicer to listen to” (51). “Up there, mule-angels would have people to ride on and from his place beside the flittering throne, the dear departed brother would look down into hell and see the devil plowing Matt Bonner all day long in a hell-hot sun and laying the raw-hide to his back” (61).	Janie enjoyed hearing what people had to say to each other while sitting around on the porch.  The thoughts that people share are described as pictures and “crayon enlargements of life.”  Janie found something that actually made working in the store enjoyable. This image goes back to the very poor treatment of the mule.  Even though the mule was treated extremely badly during its life, it would be able to look down onto its former owner in hell.  It also shows Janie’s feelings toward the way Matt Bonner treated the mule.
7	“For the first time she could see a man’s head naked of its skull.  Saw the cunning thoughts race in and out through the caves and promontories of his mind long before they darted out of the tunnel of his mouth” (77). “Then Joe Starks realized all the meanings and his vanity bled like a flood. Janie had robbed him of his illusion of irresistible maleness that all men cherish” (79).	This image represents Joe’s aging and his slowing down.  Janie begins to see and realize that Joe is not who he used to be. Joe feels as though Janie has taken away his male character.  Everything that he was, in terms of personality and character, seemed to melt away.
8	“Then she noticed how baggy Joe was getting all over.  Like bags hanging from an ironing board.  A little sack hung from the corners of his eyes and rested on his cheek-bones; a loose-filled bag of   feathers hung from his ears and rested on his neck beneath his chin” (81). “’It’s ‘bout to kill me, Pheoby. Sorrow dogged by sorrow is in mah heart’” (83).	This image also shows Joe’s aging and slowing down.  It goes into detail about what he looks like as he ages. Janie is expressing her deep sadness for the situation in which she is.  She is being falsely accused of poisoning Joe.
9	“Joe’s funeral was the finest thing Orange Country had ever seen with Negro eyes . . . Then again the gold and red and purple, the gloat and glamor of the secret orders, each with its insinuation of power and glory undreamed of by the uninitiated” (88). “It was all according to the way you see things.  Some people could look at a mud-puddle and see an ocean with ships” (89).	This image represents the elaborateness of Joe’s funeral.  The people of Eatonville had never seen anything as fancy as this funeral. Janie is talking about her life and the way Nanny told her how to live her life.  She says that it is all about how one views the situation.  Someone could look at such a negative situation and see the positive aspects of it.
10	“Those full, lazy eyes with the lashes curling sharply away like drawn scimitars.  The lean, over-padded shoulders and narrow waist.  Even nice” (96)! “So she sat on the porch and watched the moon rise.  Soon its amber fluid was drenching the earth, and quenching the thirst of the day” (99).	Tea Cake is being described in this image.  Janie is obviously attracted to his features, including his eyes and build. This image beautifully describes the moon’s rising as Janie’s watching.
11	“He looked like the love thoughts of women.  He could be a bee to a blossom – a pear tree blossom in the spring.  He seemed to be crushing scent out of the world with his footsteps.  Crushing aromatic herbs with every step he   took.  Spices hung about him.  He was a glance from God” (106). “In the cool afternoon the fiend from hell specially sent to lovers arrived at Janie’s ear.  Doubt.  All the fears that circumstance could provide and the heart feel, attacked her on every side.  This was a new sensation for her, but no less excruciating.  If only Tea Cake would make her certain!  He did not return that night nor the next and so she plunged into the abyss and descended to the ninth darkness where light has never been” (108).	This image describes the way Janie saw Tea Cake.  They were in love, and this beautiful image certainly represents that love. At this point, Janie is sure that she wants to be with Tea Cake; however she is experiencing feelings of doubt that Tea Cake might not feel the same way.  She wants him to tell her how she feels in order to legitimize her feelings for him.
12	“’Dis ain’t no business proposition, and no race after property and titles.  Dis is uh love game.  Ah done lived Grandma’s way, now Ah means tuh live mine’” (114). “’He done taught me de maiden language all over’” (115).	Janie is saying that she does not want to be told how to love and live her life.  Nanny already did this to her, so she does not want it to happen again.  Janie is saying that love is not a business deal and it is not about wealth or material possessions, but rather the love between two people. Janie is using this imagery to show us the new thoughts and words that arose in their relationship. After she got used to this, their relationship flourished.
13	“He drifted off into sleep and Janie looked down on him and felt a self-crushing love.  So her soul crawled out from its hiding place" (128).	This image represents Janie’s strong love for Tea Cake.  This love is described as “self-crushing.”  It seems as if Janie has thrown her entire self into her relationship with Tea Cake.
14	“To Janie’s strange eyes, everything in the Everglades was big and new.  Big Lake Okechobee, big beans, big cane, big weeds, big everything. Weeds that did well to grow waist high up the state were eight and often ten feet tall down there” (129). “Day by day now, the hordes of workers poured in.  Some came limping in with their shoes and sore feet from walking.  It’s hard trying to follow your shoe instead of your shoe following you” (131).	This imagery gives us a detailed view of the Everglades.  Vegetation is described, as well as the fertility of the area.  It is all   described as “big and new.” This image shows us the hard-working attitude of the muck workers.  The third sentence is saying how much harder it is to put your first foot forward than have your second foot follow it.
15	“They wrestled on until they were doped with their own fumes and emanations; till their clothes had been torn away; till he hurled her to the floor and held her there melting her resistance with the heat of his body, doing things with their bodies to express the inexpressible; kissed her until she arched her body to meet him and they fell asleep in sweet exhaustion” (138).	This beautifully crafted imagery details this situation.  It shows that their love is strong enough to withstand what Tea Cake was caught doing with Nunkie.
16	“He claimed that she had been shaped up by a cow kicking her from behind.  She was an ironing board with things throwed at it.  Then that same cow took and stepped in her mouth when she was a baby and left it wide and flat with her chin and nose almost meeting" (140). “He was a vanishing-looking kind of a man as if there used to be parts about him that stuck out individually but now he hadn’t a thing about him that wasn’t dwindled and blurred.  Just like he had been sand-papered down to a long oval mass” (144).	This details Mrs. Turner’s appearance, according to Tea Cake.  She had rounded shoulders, and her pelvis stuck out in front of her. This tells us about how Mr. and Mrs. Turner’s son looked.  It seems that Tea Cake found great joy in making fun of the physical appearances of the Turner family members.
17	“The way he petted and pampered her as if those two or three face slaps had nearly killed her made the women see visions and the helpless way she hung on him made men dream dreams” (147).	This tells us the envy that the men of the muck had for Tea Cake.  Tea Cake slapped Janie and seemed to have complete control over her.
18	“Then everybody but God and Old Peter flew off on a flying race to Jericho and back and John de Conquer won the race; went on down to hell, beat the old devil and passed out ice water to everybody down there” (157). “It woke up old Okechobee and the monster began to roll in his bed” (158).	This imagery can be interpreted to represent the rushing of people out of the muck to find safety from the hurricane heading their way. This imagery shows the power and might of nature in the form of this hurricane.  In the image, the monster is the lake who is woken by the hurricane.
19	“And then again Him-with-the-square-toes had gone back to his   house.  He stood once more and again in his high flat house without sides to it and without a roof with his soulless sword standing upright in his hand.  His pale white horse had galloped over waters, and thundered over land.  The time of dying was over.  It was time to bury the dead” (168). “She went on in her overalls.  She was too busy feeling grief to dress like grief” (189).	The hurricane is over and it is time to move on and take care of the damage.  The power of the storm killed many people, but since the storm was over, the “time of dying” was over as well. This represents Janie’s true grief and sorrow for Tea Cake’s passing.  Before Joe’s funeral, she dressed very nicely and put on a face of grief, as she was actually that sad that he died; however, she rises above this fake grief and dressy clothing to actually feel true sorrow for Tea Cake’s death.
20	“She pulled in her horizon like a great fish net.  Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder.  So much of life in its meshes!  She called in her soul to come and see” (193).	This beautiful last bit of imagery details Janie’s trip to the horizon and back.  It seems as if Janie is finally fulfilled with what she has accomplished in her life.

http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/filmnotes/fns07n9.html

My favorite example of imagery in this novel is: "Did marriage compel love like the sun the day?" (21).  I especially like this example because it represents what marriage really is about.  Janie's first marriage was forced, which means she never actually came to love her husband.  I believe that marriage is not about, nor does it form off of, wealth and property.  It is about the love that develops between two people.  Without love, marriage is nothing.