5/19/2012

Rules of the Game
One Christmas Waverly Jong's brother received a chess set.  She became obsessed with chess and started going to the park learning from some old men who played chess regularly.  She became a very good chess player and went to many tournaments and won them but her mom wasn't always satisfied with her win's because she wanted her to dominate.  One day she came home late and her mom gets very upset and she goes to her room where she imagines a chess match between herself and her mother.

The Voice from the Wall
This story follows Lena St. Clair who has a mother who is from china and doesn't know very good English and a father who is English and knows very little Mandarin.  Her parents cant really speak to each other so Lena is often used to translate for them and often changes what her mother and what her father says.  Lena's mom becomes pregnant but the baby ends up dying.  Her moms goes crazy while Lena becomes friends with the girl next door.

Half and Half
This story follows Rose who is older and wants to find a man to support her.  Rose wanted to marry Ted who was American but her mother didn't approve along with Ted's family.  Both sides of the family were trying to push them apart but in the end they ended up getting married but that didn't last long.  When Rose went to the beach with her family, she was put in charge of her youngest brother Bing,  she took her eyes off him for a moment and he fell in the water.  She now realizes she can no more save her marriage than recover Bing.

Two Kind
This story follows Jing-Mei and her mother Suyuan who is trying to make her daughter into another prodigy like Waverly Jong. She put her into piano lessons with a def piano instructor but she put in no effort to get better and the instructor didn't know she was playing terribly.  She entered her into the church talent show with all of the Joy Luck Club watching she played terrible trying to make her mom look bad.  Her mom was very disappointed and ended up dying.  Jing-Mei had the old piano restored and sat down and realized she could actually play.

Sentences 5-2-12

arid- the desert was very arid 
assiduous- the student was very assiduous
asylum- Many criminals go to insane asylum's
benevolent- a gift from a benevolent donor
camaraderie- they have devolved a real camaraderie after working so long together
censure- the people censured the bill
circuitous- he took a circuitous turn in the race helping him get 1st
clairvoyant- eagles have clairvoyant eye site
collaborate- we collaborated during the science to find the answer
compassion- she showed compassion toward the stray cat

3-21-12

Key:

Repetition

Odd Diction 

Punctuation

Aliteration

Imagery

Jarvis sat, deeply moved. Whether because this was his son, whether because this was almost the last act of his son, he could not say. Whether because there was some quality in the words, that too he could not say, for he had given little time in his life to the savouring and judging of words. Whether because there was some quality in the ideas, that too he could not say, for he had given little time to study of these particular matters. He rose and went up the stairs to his room, and was glad to find his wife not there, for here was a sequence not to be interrupted. He picked up the Abraham Lincoln and went down to the study again, and there opened the book at the Second Inaugural Address of the great president. He read it through, and felt with a sudden lifting of the spirit that here was a secret unfolding, a track picked up again. There was increasing knowledge of a stranger. He began to understand why the picture of this man was in the house of his son, and the multitude of books.

3/3/12

Paton doesn't speak very highly of women in the novel putting men above them by saying "women scratch at the dirt" (Paton p.4-). He also singles out women by saying men rather then they which could show that women aren't really important and don't get recognized for the problems they have too. In society they are seen of as less important and lie second to men. This shows that people in South Africa are sexist rather than in America during the time when racism was a big problem.

Weekend HW 2/13/12 (Late)

Passage 5

"looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger," this lets us know that jack has taken on a new character and embodies something other then himself.  "Liberated from shame and self-consciousness," this is the most important line for that it tells us he is hiding behind the mask and will do things he otherwise wouldn't do.  The author might be getting at that you shouldn't hide your emotions.

February 8th, 2012

Golding uses an alliteration on page 31 "Curtain of creepers" to describe what the piglet is caught in.  This gives rhythm to the phrase.  It gives imagery of something large and frightening having this piggy hostage.  This puts you in the eyes of Ralph and Jack showing there in a larger than life scene that is a very scary place to be.  It shows that there is no way of escaping.  This foreshadows that to get off the island there will be obstacles. This foreshadows that Piggy is going to die......