The Importance of Being Earnest...

Alright so I'm writing my paragraph on the white lies that add up throughout the play and help contribute to our view of victorian society.

I'm going to set this out as a list in the hope that it will be easier to follow.

Topic sentence:

In the play 'The Importance of being Earnest' by Oscar Wilde he uses white lies to satirize, mock and make fun of victorian society and the upper-class in particular.

My concrete details are:

1: Algernon pretends to be confused when all of the cucumber sandwiches are gone after he ate them. (p.18)

2: " Jack: I am a liberal unionist. Lady Bracknell: Oh, they count as Tories. They dine with us." (p.25)

3: Lady Bracknell proceeds to call Cecily attractive only after she becomes aware of the 130 Pound fortune attached to her.

My commentary for the CD's are:

1: This shows that Algernon is a hypocrite, and that he is dishonest and disrespectful of his family because he ate the sandwiches him self. Which contributes to the satirization of victorian society.

2: This shows that Lady Bracknell will change her rules and regulations to suit her own wishes.

It's also funny because it implies that she wouldn't dine with anyone who isn't a 'Torie" ( The nickname given to members of the Conservative party in Britain)

3: It implies morbidly the ridiculous attitude that marriage was second to money in the Victorian Era. It shows how greed governs the lives of the upper class and that marriage was a business rather than a quest. This supports my thesis because it satirizes the upper-class by using white lies.

Thanks. Don't forget to comment!

The victorian research that i did in class was very helpful in understanding the play. I wouldn't have understood the subtext or underlying meaning as well if i hadn't looked up some of my victorian areas of interest such as education. I learned that education was made compulsory during the victorian age, and that it was mainly taken seriously by the upper-class as they would commonly be home educated. This is what makes Cecily so funny. She constantly complains that she doesn't like her german lessons when she should be grateful for them: "I don't like german. It isn't at all a becoming language." p. 37

Also throughout the book marriage is portrayed more as a market rather than a quest for love.

Lady Bracknel Wont let her daughter marry Jack because he doesn't have enough social status.

The younger characters in the book are seeking true-love where the older, family leaders are only seeking to up their standing in society. I did research on marriage in the victorian age and found that this was truly the case. Marriage was allot less love-oriented in the victorian age and the play that it is in modern society.

Berkano's New years resolution

One of my 2010 new years resolution is to spend more time with my family. I only ever see my brother at the bus stop in the morning and a few times during weekends because we don't have very many common interests. My step brother and sister see even less of me, they go to elementary school so i don't see them in the morning like my other brother. Sometimes i'll go 2 whole weeks without saying one word to them, Once i get home from school i have to do homework, and by the time I'm done it's usually their bedtime. Lastly, my mother, she sees plenty more of me than anyone else in our family. but we never really spend any quality bonding time together. during the week she's busy with the other children, and on the weekends I'm always with friends.

I will achieve my goal by setting aside at least half an hour a day during the week for each of my family members where we can spend time together and do things that are fun. And by giving more ideas for fun family outings that we can all go on. If i have to rearrange my schedule I'm willing to do that. Just so long as i get to know them better and see them more i'll be content (so long as i don't have to play dress-up or doll-house too much with my little sister). I think if i do these things I will have no difficulty achieving this goal.

Happy new year everyone, and good luck with all of your 2010 resolutions.

Animal farm project: Poem

WHEN POWER CORUPTS

Napoleon the boar,

Drove snowball away,

He took control,

In every possible way.

He was greedy for power

And he failed to see,

The impact of his decisions,

And how devastating they could be.

He upped the work,

He cut the rations,

he was the farms new nemesis,

In his very own fashion.

He promised sanctuary to the animals,

And a better life,

That all would be equal,

That all would be right.

But as he said this,

The power addicted him,

He used it to his own benefit,

And failed to view what they had entered in.

The animals believed him,

They had so much hope,

For sugar-candy mountain,

And a land with no ropes.

Their commandments were changed,

Napoleon killed their friends,

He sold the eggs for money,

He broke the hearts of the hens.

He used his power corruptly,

He put himself always first,

Never looked back,

And left the others the worst.

Things are evil when selfishness prevails

When one serves only ones self,

When all pure motives fail.

Things are tragic,

When greed erupts,

When morals collapse,

When power corrupts.

Poetry performances

Sophia Elena Soberon
"Bilingual/Bilingüe" by Rhina P. Espaillat

Her voice was radiant and clear, she had a nice spanish accent and articulation and perfect english too which added to the poems mood. She didn't recite in a sing song manner. Her physical presence was excellent, she was confident throughout the performance and seemed perfectly at ease and un-tense. She had good eye contact, constantly scanning the crowd and looking away only to emphasize some words. She used dramatization appropriately and definitely didn't present in a monotone manner. It wasn't too easy. The level of difficulty was good, the content was great and the length wasn't too short or too long. Sophia showed an in depth understanding of the poem and was without hesitation.

"Bilingual/Bilingüe" is about growing up in a bilingual household, and how one language is abandoned in favor of the other. They are separated from the one another and alienated. The meaning is enhanced when she recites "english outside this door, spanish inside!". It shows how her father believed in keeping the languages separate attempts to alienate the latino heritage of the girl.

The character I played in the trail was Atticus Finch. I chose a justice scale to symbolize him. I think this is symbolic because Atticus has good morals, views, a good sense of right or wrong and justice. The Justice scale symbolizes all of these things.

I was around 9 and a half when my ex-stepfather ( who was my stepfather at the time) said something to me that changed my view on life. He said to me, "Berkano, Think before you believe what you hear and watch before you believe what you see". He said this after a kid in my class said something about his Father being an astronaut, which i didn't really believe and was hurt because of the way the kid lied to me without a second thought.

From the time when i heard this i have learned that people are too easy to accept something with absolutely no proof of truth. I have learned to not believe every rumor that might spread around at school and to think twice before accepting something completely. I think that there was a spiritual meaning to what he said. He meant something that is said to you is just vibrations in the air, they don't last forever, and they only represent a persons verbal thoughts at the time. If somebody does something day after day, month after month, and year after year the person has proved to you what they are trying to tell you is true without doubt and that they mean it sincerely.