Alyssa’s AP Blog

Whenever I look up pieces of literature or poetry, I always have to look up the author first. I find it very interesting and feel like I get a better insight into the point that the author or poet was trying to make. When I researched Keats I found that he lived a very short, tragic life. He died as a twenty-five year old from tuberculosis (just like his brother and mother). There are many parts in this poem about where he speaks of “life” and “eternity”. I think this was his way of grasping life before he was dead. Both of Keat’s parents died before he was ten and he was the guardian of his brother while he was dying. That gave him a better understand of what life is and just how short it is. “Ode on a Grecian Urn” has that same central idea that life is beautiful and we must live it to it’s fullest.

” ‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty,-that is all/Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.’ “ Keats made it so the Grecian urn was to symbolize life itself. One of the websites that I was reading said that Keats was trying to express how beautiful the lives of the people carved into the urns were. He mentions “Tempe” and “Arcady” in the first stanza, which are two Grecian towns, known for their beauty.

Just one other tidbit that I thought was interesting was that the poem has mentioned the cold a few times and grecian urns were usually made of marble. The first thing I think of about marble is that it’s cold. I wonder if Keats made that connection too?

I’m going to apply to the University of Washington (Seattle) so I figured it would probably be a good idea to address one of those prompts. I chose to evaluate a significant experience/achievement/ risk I have taken and its impact on me.

The short story “War Dances” by Sherman Alexie, uses bugs to help display her to tone towards native Americans. His uses of references to them, with word choice like “vermin”, “cockroaches”, “locust” and “beehive” help convey the overall theme. These references are made to be an open symbol to help direct the reader to how the narrator feels about his situation as a Native American. The narrator makes a connection between himself and the cockroaches on the first page by thinking about what it feels like to die without a tribe. I thought that was interesting how the author had the character point out a connection instead of making the reader do it entirely by him/herself. I thought this story was interesting and intriguing, even though I HATE cockroaches!

                  I thought this story was a literary fiction piece, because the in depth symbols and characters made in it. (Also in class Ms. Robison mentioned that it was most likely literary because that’s just that kind of class that we’re in.) The characters seemed to be dynamic and have many layers to them.

Alyssa and Ghee-hee’s theme statement: People shouldn’t desperately search or yearn for intangible things in life. Focusing so much on the materialistic can lead to a warped view of reality, twisting and changing what really matters. Precious thing should be used sparingly rather than relying on unstable circumstances such as luck for replenishment.

             The short story “The Rocking Horse Winner”, by D.H. Lawrence, is oozing with symbolism. The voices in the house that whisper were symbols of greed.  The more money the family had, the more these voices expressed that “there must be more money” (294). There was never enough; they always wanted more (just like the mom, who wanted the whole 5 thousand at once). The money was also another example of greed. The more there was, the more it kept building on itself. Those electrifying blue eyes that Paul had were also more than just a body part. They expressed his passion and mood. When he was trying to figure out what horse would win in the Derby, his eyes were “blazing” and when he was unconsciousthey were “blue stones”. This expressive nature made the reader know exactly how Paul felt. The main allegory that I noticed was the rocking horse. It was the tangiblesymbol for the abstract concept for luck. Like luck, the rocking horse was unstable and quickly changed back and forth. By balancing all of his power on luck, Paul ended up winning money, but loosing his life.

The story “The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson, had a few literary archetypes in it. One of them was the color black which almost always represents death, and in this case it was shown by the black box and the dot on the paper of the person stoned to death. Old Man Warner and his old traditional way of thinking was an example of the elders in the community that know the only correct way is the way of the past. The women in the town were stereotypicalin the way that they all came together in the beginning to “exchange bits of gossip” (252). The most important archetype was that of the “scapegoat”, where everyone thinks that by having the “lottery in June, corn be heavy soon” (256). It is a scapegoatbecause the entire town will let someone die so the rest of them can have a nice crop and not having control of their own futures. All of these archetypes are prevalent in many other stories and follow the same stereotypes, but “The Lottery” has a unique spin that changes these archetypes participation in the story.

In the story”Paul’s Case”, by Willa Cather, the protagonist has a bad case of social inferiority and wanting to switch  out his drab lower-class life for the ritzy, glamorous upper-class lifestyle. When Paul goes to Carnegie Hall, he gets a small dose of this lifestyle. Even the way he dresses in front of his teachers in the introduction shows that he is trying to better his social standings. Going to New York gives Paul is just enough to fill the prescription of his fantasies. Though in the end, Paul realized that it takes more than a magic pill to get him to where he wants to be. Like the flower that couldn’t stand the snow to see the spring, he too couldn’t wait to see his fantasy come to life.

In the story”The Lesson”, by Toni Cade Bambara, the character Sylvia is an example of a dynamic character. At the beginning of the story she said “everyone was old and stupid or young and foolish and me and Sugar were the only ones just right” (195). This was written in past tense, implying that things/she is different now. She was haughty and arrogant with a perception of the world that everyone was wrong but her friend and her. By the end of the story would rather go off by herself and “think this day through” (202) instead of going to spend her money with Sugar, like how she would have before she was taught a lesson.

              In the story “Gooseberries”, by Anton Chekhov, there was a reoccurring theme of passion and happiness/sadness mood swings. Ivan’s brother Nikolay had a passion for getting land and even owning a patch of gooseberry bushes. He used that passion to drive him to achieving that dream and live the life that he really wanted. Ivan was not all to proud of his brother for having done this. Through out the story he switches his mood back and forth. By the end though, he realized that happiness was contentment and that he too could be happy.

In the story “Good Country People”, by Flannery O’ Connor, a theme of Christian Redemption was found in daily life. At the beginning of the story, Hulga was atheist and didn’t believe there was anything beyond the present life, when everything was fine. Then she had her heart ripped out by Manley Pointer, who was just using her to snatch away her security blanket, her wooden leg. It wasn’t until a time of the worst circumstances that she began to realise that she had to be dependent on someone or something with a greater power.