P&P Blog 1

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."

After reading this quote, it is clear that marriage and status were two important concepts in the time period in which this story took place. The word choice in the beginning of the quote suggests that this statement is something that everyone knows and should not come as a surprise to whoever is being spoken to. This tells a lot about the importance of those two concepts. It is clear that the ideas of social status and rigid class systems were important simply because it was made a point that this man was wealthy, rather than just referring to him as a common man that all readers could relate themselves to. Towards the end of the quote is when it may become controversial. It is known that in olden days, women were not quite considered equal to men. This can be confirmed when seeing how the speaker seems to refer to a wife as somewhat of an object, something that all men want to possess. It also suggests that men of high status tend to want a wife even more because they have already gotten everything else that they could possibly long for. This makes the theme of society and roles of women and men within those societies a conceivable option when attempting to discover what the theme of Pride & Prejudice may be.

Scarlet Letter Blog #2

Hawthorne often succeeds in symbolizing Pearl as an angel, using descriptions such as "So magnificent was the small figure...Pearls own proper beauty, shining through the gorgeous robes which might have extinguished a paler loveliness, that there was an absolute circle of radiance around her, on the darksome cottage floor" and "wild-flower prettiness of a peasant-baby, and the pomp, in little, of an infant princess" (82). These excerpts in no way infer that Pearl is anything but an innocent, young angel with an undeniably positive aura surrounding her. This element of Hawthorne's writing concludes that he believes some good things can come out of evil situations.

Scarlet Letter Blog #1

By making the scarlet letter "A" beautifully decorated, Nathanial Hawthorne is trying to get an important message across to his readers. He is trying to represent the fact that Hester is a strong woman who is trying to see the light through all the darkness in her life. Hester is simply making the best out of a bad situation; ' "She hath good skill at her needle, that's certain," remarked one of her female spectators; "but did ever a woman before this brazen hussy, contrive such a way of showing it! Why, gossips, what is it but to laugh in the faces of our godly magistrates, and make a pride out of what they, worthy gentlemen, meant for a punishment?". (pg 51) She knows she has committed adultery and deserves punishment, yet she also knows that she is still beautiful inside and out and is not willing to let that one mistake break her. She is not going to hang her head and feel bad about herself because of it, she is going to move on and continue living her life despite how differently people may treat her.

MLK Syllogism Extra Credit

True Syllogism:

MLK feels strongly against how the police force treats blacks.
When a person feels extremely strongly about a cause, they want to inform others of this ugly truth.
MLK wants to inform others of the ugly truth of how the police force treats blacks.

This syllogism is true because when someone feels strongly about a cause that may even affect them directly, they want to inform others of this cause. This is how Martin Luther King Jr feels about the ugly truth of how the police force is unjust towards blacks. In his letter from Birmingham Jail, he uses horrific imagery and parallelism to get this point across to his readers and persuade them to feel the same way.

False Syllogism:

MLK feels strongly against how the police force treats blacks.
When a person feels extremely strongly about a cause, they want to inform others of this ugly truth.
All people feel strongly about this cause.

This is false because the true syllogism states that MLK feels strongly about this issue, and wants others to also, but not that they already do.

True Syllogism:

MLK is in Birmingham because injustice is there.
Injustice can be caused by segregation, racism, and discrimination.
Segregation, racism, and discrimination are in Birmingham.

This syllogism is true because MLK blatantly states that his reason for being in Birmingham is because injustice is there. Injustice, more often than not, includes segregation, racism, and discrimination, therefore, segregation, racism, and discrimination can be found in Birmingham.

False Syllogism:

MLK is in Birmingham because injustice is there.
Injustice can be caused by segregation, racism, and discrimination.
MLK is racist and discriminatory.

This syllogism is false because, although the first two premises are correct, the conclusion states something completely false. MLK is in Birmingham because injustice is there, but that does not mean he is an unjust person.

The Crucible Debate Winners-Proctor vs. Abigail

Choosing a winner in this debate was very difficult for me. In the end, it came down to who had better rebuttals and challenged the other group more. In my opinion, it was the group that was arguing that Abigail was to blame that did this. Both groups had very well structured arguments, but Emmeline and Sarah came together and formed better rebuttals on the spot that directly addressed many of the points brought up by Dasomi, Ceilli, and Brittany. Overall, this debate could go either way because of how evenly well both sides argued their points but in the end, I was more convinced that Abigail was to blame for the happenings of the Salem Witch Trials.

Syllogism Blog

Three True Syllogisms:

All people need love.
I am a person.
I need love.

All teachers are educated.
Miss. Kim is a teacher.
Miss. Kim is educated.

All southern states have warm climates.
Florida has a warm climate.
Florida is a southern state.


Three False Syllogisms:

All cats are male.
Nala, my family pet, is a cat.
Nala is a male.

All hockey players are boys.
My friend, Jen, plays hockey.
Jen is a boy.

Only sophomores take geometry.
Randy takes geometry.
Randy is a sophomore.

Crucible Blog #2

The trials that we have studied thus far in The Crucible are based on illogical fallicy due to the fact that the accusers contain no true evidence. All that is used in court to decide whether the women are innocent or guilty are stories. Stories in which the people of Salem could have easily made up in order to avenge such women whom they may have had problems with in the past. Due to this unfair system, it is quite possible that many of the lives that were taken during the Salem Witch Trials were those of innocent and wrongly accused women. This realization lead me to the conclusion that Arthur Miller's message on truth may have simply been that it is often irrelevant. The aspect of truth may be seen this way when manipulation is put into action and those involved pay more attention to what could possibly help them than letting the truth be known. If truth were a major component in the court system, people would not get away with wrongfully accusing others and innocent lives would not be taken.

The Crucible Assignment #1

Prompt:
"The Salem tragedy...is a paradox in whose grip we still live, and there is no prospect yet that we will discover its resolution."
What, according to Miller, is the "Salem tragedy" and why is it a paradox? How does he relate those times to the "modern" era?

According to Miller, the "Salem tragedy" is another name for the Witch Trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts in the 1600's. Miller says that in an attempt to keep the community together, the people of Salem developed a combination of state and religious power, known as a theocracy. It is for this reason that the tragic event of the witch trials, in which many innocent people were wrongly accused of practicing witchcraft and forced to face gruesome deaths, can easily be considered a paradox. It is a paradox due to the fact that Salem was based around theocratic beliefs, beliefs of doing things as God would do them. Interestingly, everything that took place during this tragic time period is the complete opposite. While making this connection, Miller is also successful in relating this time period to more modern days. People may not be accused of witchcraft or other ridiculous claims, but to this day people all around the world are being persecuted for situations in which they may, in fact, be innocent. Therefore, what took place during the Salem Witch Trials is taking place everyday in modern society, only to a much lesser degree.

Summer Reading Assignment #2

Melissa Johnson
AP Language and Composition
Summer Reading Assignment-Essay 2
July 15th, 2010

Going Through Changes


I have lived my whole life in Waltham, Massachusetts. The first 14 years of my life were spent in the same house, on the northern side of Waltham. My neighborhood was commonly known as “Lakeview”, because it was set around Hardy Pond. I grew up listening to stories from my mother and father, who were also raised in this neighborhood. These stories consisted of going swimming in the pond, watching baseball games at the park down the street, and playing kickball or street hockey with their friends for hours at a time. Both of my parents are one of four children, and were raised very similarly to how my siblings and me have been brought up. My father could go on for hours, usually blabbing about the good times he had at his father’s camp in Vermont growing up. Most of the stories sound something like; “Oh, and I’ll never forget that time me and my brother took dad’s speedboat out and forced our sisters to stop being babies and try water skiing. Watching them wipe out over and over again was definitely worth the deep shit we were in only when dad looked out his window and saw us half way across the lake!” And of course, there’s the infamous 21st birthday party that my father and his buddies threw at the camp. My sisters and I are pretty sure that every time this story is told it starts off differently, but it always seems to end with one-armed Larry being thrown in the lake in his sleeping bag. The end of the story, of course, always told at a volume at least four notches higher than the rest of the story. The stories of his teen years in Waltham tend to be a bit different, consisting more of crashing his Harley and the numerous nights spend with his best friend Billy that ended in my Grandfather receiving calls from the Waltham Police Department. All of my siblings and I tend to have the same reactions when hearing these stories, almost always being one of these two: “how did mom end up marrying you?” and “if we did half these things, you guys would kill us!”. My mother’s stories tend to be a bit less crazy, but we all know that one day she will decide to tell us what really went on when she was younger rather than the stories of “making quilts with my great grandmother” and “going to the drive-in every Friday night with the family”. As for now, the fondest memories I have with my sisters consist of spending every summer day growing up together. We always somehow found something to do, whether it was making up our own games on the trampoline, making bead animals and selling them at our “bead animal stands”, or playing outside with the neighborhood kids until we would refuse to come in for dinner. The biggest threat known to man back then was, and would always be: “I’m pretty sure the ice cream mans supposed to come around tonight, but if you don’t come in and eat dinner you’re not getting anything from him either!”. My mother got us around the table in a matter of 10 seconds each time we heard those words being yelled from the porch. Although we all feel like we got a lot from growing up in Lakeview, hearing their stories make it clear that we had never seen the kind of simple fun that they were able to experience, basically due to the difference in the time periods that we were forced to grow up in. Hardy Pond is now too contaminated for almost anything to live in, meaning to swim in it is now illegal. The complex that used to be a roller skating rink, arcade, and five-cent bowling alley has now been turned into yet another CVS and Staples complex, with a parking lot way bigger than that which is necessary even during school supply shopping week. I may only be 15, going on 16 on July 24th, but it is clear to me that times have changed immensely over the past 40 or so years. To be honest, I think they have changed for the worst. It is scary to imagine how my children will have grow up 20 years from now, but it is even scarier to think that there is nothing we can do about it. The summer days that I remember waking up early to go outside and run around with my sisters, play soccer, and meet up with friends are now spent very differently by my 12 year old brother. He usually sleeps until 12:30-1:00 every day, and wakes up only to plop himself in front of the TV, turn his Xbox on, and spend the day there. The time that I would be spending outside using my imagination are now spent in front of the TV, trying to kill as many people possible and trash talking to “friends” through microphones and headsets. Some days I feel as though the only conversations between my brother and I are him asking where my iPod is, or for me to make him something to eat. When my parents grew up, it wasn’t very common for kids to move out and go to college then be on their own, it was more likely that they stay home for a while. This isn’t the case now, which is why it has been difficult for my sisters to build a relationship with my younger brother. They have both been out of the house since the ages of 17 or 18, and without the use of texting or websites such as Facebook, I would probably only speak to them about once a month. This is how things have been for my brother since he was 9, which is sad. I hate the thought that with each generation, the stories we will be passing down to our children get more and more boring, but it seems as though that is the reality of today. Now that I am almost 16, my parents have gotten divorced, my sisters have moved out, and we have moved to the opposite side of town. Where we now live, it is very rare to see children outside playing, my mother is more comfortable with keeping us in the house as much as possible, acting like there will be drug dealers at every corner we turn, and my brother and I only see our father a couple times a month. It may sound like all I’m doing is complaining, but I feel as though my generation is forced to sit back and relax while the world just continues to complicate itself. I really just hope that I’m able to put myself on the path of making changes for the better, and building my own stories to pass down and be remembered by. At the same time I just want to help my brother out, pull him to the side and make sure he realizes the importance of making the most out of life despite the circumstances today’s world may tangle him up in.

Summer Reading Assignment #1

Melissa Johnson
AP Language and Composition
Summer Reading Assignment-Essay 1
July 15th, 2010


Midget Dreams, Giant Abilities

Growing up, it is easy to say that I do not recall many happy memories of time spent with my father. It seemed as though he was always returning home from work, too tired to pay any real attention to what was going on in the lives of my siblings and me. If we were lucky, he would have the energy to ask how our days went at school, and occasionally comb our hair while watching the Boston Bruins play. My sisters and I cherished those moments, which always ended when we were dragged up to our bedrooms and put to bed, with a fight, because we were unable to watch the end of the third period. These one-hour memories continued to be all we really knew of our father until my oldest sister, Kristin, turned ten. This is when my dad decided to sign her up for the in-town soccer league, in which we all knew the reason for. We were positive it was not because of the “potential” he saw in her, or the fact that “being dedicated to something could really help her in the long run”. It was simply so there would be set times during the week, the Tuesday and Thursday 7:00 pick up after practice, and the Saturday morning games, that he could act like a committed father and put on a show for us, our mother, and the other parents. After watching her games and becoming friends with almost all the coaches in the league, my father grew a real interest in the sport. This is when things began to spiral out of control. Before we knew it, my eight year old sister, Alicia, was heading to practice on Mondays and Wednesdays, and I was being forced to go play in the under-eight Saturday league at the ripe young age of five. By the time I was old enough to play in the big time in-town league, my father had already bought rule books, skill sheets, and even a mini white board with a soccer field drawn on, in order to show me where to be at all times, in every position. I had begun to hate who he was trying to make me become. Kristin finally spoke up, breaking my father’s heart by telling him that she wanted to take up dance, in turn, dropping soccer. Alicia and I sat back and watched how that decision had affected their relationship, and tried not to, but couldn’t help but listen to the arguments between my mother and father that lasted that entire week. My father refused to attend Kristin’s first few recitals, and with his new free time, decided to become the assistant coach for my first travel team. The speeches I had always been forced to listen to before and after every game had now become the soundtrack to every practice and what filled my ears every time I reached the sidelines during a game. The rides home consisted of “you played well today, but…” and “next time you get put in that position during a game, this is what you should do…”. My sister and I had become accustomed to his own kind of “constructive criticism” and eventually learned to love it. We began to realize that he had actually started to care, and the fact that we had both started to really appreciate the sport put a bigger smile on his face than I had ever seen before. We knew how badly he had wanted to make something of himself in hockey when he was young, before his knee injury that ended his career, and once we were old enough, we realized he had simply been treating us the only way he had known how to. Our father had grown up watching the Bruins and going to as many games he was able to, in order to see first person the potential he had, and that had become the reason for his commitment to our success on the soccer field. He wanted us to realize our ability, which slowly became a reality through going to numbers Boston Breaker and New England Revolution games with him. He no longer had to give us incentives of ice cream as soon as we returned home from practice, or being taken out to lunch after a win. We now wanted to improve and be able to help our team as much as possible. We knew that it not only made our father proud, but it gave us a reason to be proud of ourselves. Once he realized how happy we were to spend our time playing this sport, he became more accepting of Kristin’s dedication to what she loved, dance. Her recitals had become time for the whole family to come together and watch something beautiful, such as soccer games and tournaments had already been for years. We no longer only heard the call from the living room to join him on the couch and watch games that he had on film in order to listen to everything that we had done incorrectly, and how we should do it next time. “Kids get in here! You can see Kristin perfectly in this number, she’s right up front!” had also become something we were forced to hear over and over, but none of us minded. Those years had surprisingly become the best years of my life, which unfortunately took me until the time my family began falling apart to realize. Going into my freshman year of high school, my parents got divorced and I moved in with my mom. I missed all the conversations with my father about not only soccer, but life. Those conversations were built by our mutual love for something so simple, and my soccer games once again became the only time I got to see him. This didn’t affect Kristin or Alicia so much, considering Alicia was off at college, and Kristin had moved in with her boyfriend in Vermont. They had already become used to not seeing our parents every day, while I was forced to become used to it while still being young and unable to understand why everything had to happen that way or why I was being forced to go through that. Somewhere along the way, the unexpected had happened. Despite how many times my father had begun telling me the amount of potential I had, I was unable to see it. This lasted until the day that I realized I couldn’t fight anymore, I had actually fallen in love. Unlike many of the kinds of love that go around today, the love of a high school sweetheart, a best friend, or even a dog, my love for this sport will always be with me. Soccer is not something that can let me down, for it will always be there. It is not something that can detach itself from me, for our only attachment is the amount of love and understanding of the game that we share. My father taught me what it means to be passionate, while at the same time teaching me the tough lesson that despite how much love you may share with another, it may not always last forever. That is what happened with him and my mother, and I understand that now. Because of my father, I also understand that the love you can have with a sport, or anything else in life, may happen to outlive even the most important yet common kind of love for another. I will be forever grateful for the relationship that this sport built between my father and I, and seeing him at the sidelines of every single one of my games to this day makes me happier than I had ever imagined something so simple would. The habitual “GO NUMBER 38!” and endless conversations filled with “constructive criticism” on the car rides home will never get old.

F451 Assignment #10

"I remember. Montag clung to the earth. I remember. Chicago. Chicago, a long time ago. Millie and I. That's where we met! I remember now. Chicago. A long time ago" (Bradbury 160). Montag was finally realizing the importance of remembering things. Because of the belief of all books being bad which led to no means of keeping records, those who had already had this revelation trained themselves to be capable of memorizing and being able to recite large amounts of information. When it came to the hobos he met on his journey, some of them had even memorized entire books. Not one, but multiple. Montag would have to train himself at this skill and it started by simply piecing his life back together in his brain, starting with the return of the memory of where he and Millie had first met. Not only were these hobos more intelligent than almost all of the people Montag had encountered throughout his entire life when it came to memorizing, they were also a lot more aware of other important aspects of their lives: "There was a silly damn bird called a phoenix back before Christ, every few hundred years he built a pyre and burnt himself up...But everytime he burnt himself up he sprang out of the ashes, he got himself born all over again. And it looks like we're doing the same thing over and over, but we've got one damn thing the phoenix never had...We know all the damn silly things we've done for a thousand years and as long as we know that and always have it around where we can see it, someday we'll stop making the goddam funeral pures and jumping in the middle of them. We pick up a few more people that remember every generation" (Bradbury 163). These hobos knew what we being done by burning books and the damage that it had already caused and that it would cause in the future if it were to continue. They were so aware of this because they also knew how great books truly were and how important they were to the growth of mankind. The fact that they were familiar with these ideas and were planning on taking action in order to be sure their knowledge continued to spread until books were to come back onto the scene proved that although not many believed in the kind of knowledge that they had anymore, it really was the knowledge that would be everlasting.

F451 Assignment #9

"One of them had to stop burning. The sun wouldn't certainly. So it looked as if it had to be Montag and and the people he had worked with until a few short hours ago. Somewhere the saving and putting away had to begin again and someone had to do the saving and keeping, one way or another, in books, in records, in people's heads, any way at all so long as it was safe" (Bradbury 141). Montag was finally realizing the actual importance of history being written down, and the importance of the firemen becoming aware of the damage they were doing. By burning books, they were burning all memories and events that did not exist anymore other than in these books or stories. Montag was beginning to believe that the fact that he had helped to destroy all this evidence of the past would continue to haunt him throughout his entire life. In order to avoid this, he was going to be sure that this destruction of the past did not continue and that people began keeping record of events that took place again. Later that same night, we saw the first example that Montag's previous job may have begun haunting him: "He saw the fire ahead. The fire was gone, then back again, like a winking eye. He stopped, afraid he might blow the fire out with a single breath...That small motion, the white and red color, a strange fire because it meant a different thing to him. It was not burning. It was warming...He hadn't known fire could look this way. He had never thought in his life that it could give as well as take. Even it's smell was different" (Bradbury 146). He was looking at this fire in a completely different light than he had only a few days earlier. He was now aware that fire was not only meant to be used to destroy, but it could be used for good. It could be used for warmth and light, it could even cause happiness rather than feelings of loss of knowledge and even death.

F451 Assignment #7

Beatty and the majority of people in Montag's day were extremely rule oriented and did not tolerate people attempting to step out of the box that society had put them in. We see this when Beatty is telling Montag about the dream he had involving a debate between them over books: "And you, quoting Dr. Johnson, said 'Knowledge is more than eqivalent to force!' and I said, "Well, Dr. Johnson also said, dear boy, that "He is no wise man that will quit a certainty for an uncertainty." Stick with the firemen, Montag. All else is dreary chaos!" (Bradbury 106). Beatty clearly believes that by letting his curiousity get the best of him, Montag was "quitting a certainty for an uncertainty", simply because he was putting his steady job as a fireman at risk to simply feed his desire of learning why some people were so fascinated by books. Because of this, Beatty tried to talk Montag into stepping back into the box that he and the majority of society lived in: "What traitors books can be! You think they're backing you up, and then they turn on you. Others can use them, too, and there you are, lost in the middle of the moor, in a great welter of nouns and verbs and adjectives" (Bradbury 107). He had hoped that this would make Montag realize that books really did cause more harm than happiness, therefore he would lure Montag back to believing no good could come from books. Once this happened, Beatty would be able to return to his everyday routine and feel satisfied that all of his men believed exactly what he believed and followed the rules he had set.

F451 Assignment #6

"It's not books you need, it's some of the things that once were in books...There is nothing magical in them at all. The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe into one garment for us" (Bradbury 83). The fact that books were being burned every single day in this society was not what was harming the citizens, the loss of history and knowledge to be learned through reading these books is what caused these people to be missing out. Things that were once almost second nature to people due to how familiar they had become with certain texts and authors were now completely lost, leaving nothing more than the emptiness inside and love of the parlor walls as the factors that wove all people together in the garment of life. Without these factors it had become impossible for people to learn from eachother and grow in all aspects of life: "Those who don't build must burn" (Bradbury 89). Nothing in Montag's world was building anymore because the main building blocks, books, were completely melting away and disappearing from society. Because of this, people were becoming more and more useless. They were no longer learning or building, therefore they had no choice but to slowly burn out and be forgotten.

F451 Assignment #5

"But Clarisse's favorite subject wasn't herself. It was everyone else, and me. She was the first person in a good many years I've really liked. She was the first person I can remember who looked straight at me as if I counted" (Bradbury 72). This quote explains why Clarisse had such a big impact on Montag in the little time they had known eachother. Due to the lack of true interaction and conversation between people of their time, Clarisse was refreshing to Montag. She was actually interested in talking about varieties of topics rather than herself and her monotonous everyday life. This brought Clarisse and Montag together immediately because he was astonished by how she carried herself and how she spoke to him. This was as shocking as it was to Montag because of his lack of experience with people like her. A good example of how most, other than Clarisse, acted towards Montag and everyone else they came across is represented by Mildred: "See what you're doing? You'll ruin us! Who's more important, me or that Bible?" (Bradbury 76). Mildred was the complete opposite of Clarisse in that she was not interested in her husband's curiousity in books and their importance. In fact, Mildred was not interested in much outside of herself and her "family" on TV. Because of this, Montag is currently beginning to question his relationship and happiness with her.

F451 Assignment #4

-Explain Beatty's idea that, "A book is a loaded gun in the house next door"(58).

By comparing a book to a loaded gun, Beatty is getting at how dangerous someone possessing a book could be to their society as a whole. Beatty is basically making a reference that makes it easier for readers in our time to understand the extent of how bad they considered owning books to be. In this case, when they get a call to go search a house believed to contain books, it is the equivalent to firemen or police officers being sent to a house believed to be filled with drugs or weapons. He is saying that those who own books automatically become a threat to them because they are capable of much more due to the knowledge that they had gained from reading. He also makes it clear how imperative it was that they do their job and make sure they empty all houses of such "weapons".


-Refute Beatty's claim that "If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none"(61).

This statement is saying that in order for Beatty and his firemen to gain even more power and for the people of those days to be happy, society must not allow them to think. They must give them no options in any aspects of their life. Beatty believed that if this happened, they would be happy with whatever they are given because they had never gotten the chance to know anything else. I disagree with this because I believe this is, in some ways, taking away free will that God has give all of his people. God created people so that they could think, feel, and make decisions for themselves. If men are allowed to do this, they are allowed the opportunity to be happy. If they are given no choice other than to do,say, or feel what society and the people in charge tell them, in no way will they lead normal and happy lives.

F451 Assignment #3

-Why do you think Bradbury incorporates the scene with the woman? What is this woman supposed to represent?

I think this woman is supposed to represent the damage that is really being done by Guy's job. Before this, Guy had never realized the importance that books might really have on people and what he was doing by destroying them. By burning these books, he very well might be taking away a part of these people, which is what he saw when he came across this woman. Because of this scene, Guy is beginning to realize that the actions that had become second nature to him are wrong and I think from here on we are going to see him question them more and more and start becoming more human as opposed to how robotic he had become because of his job.

-What does Guy mean by this quote, "Well, this fire'll last me the rest of my life. God! I've been trying to put it out, in my mind, all night. I'm crazy with trying (51). Try and relate it to another quote in the reading.

When Guy says this he means that usually he doesn't feel any guilt after burning a house down but, in this case, his eyes were somewhat opened to the meaning that books must have on people. He is baffled as to why the woman would have stayed in the burning house until he realized that she was a human being just like him and that means there must really be something in the books that causes women like her to fight for them. This is hard for him to rationalize the fact that his job is to simply burn these things that clearly really do mean something to people. He no longer saw his job as just burning books, but he saw it as burning people. This bothered him.

F451 Assignment #2

- What do we learn about firemen in this section? Both who the firemen are, and their history?

In this part of our reading we learn a lot about how the firemen actually feel about their job. We also learn that they all HAD to look the same in order to not come off as individual human beings to those whose stuff they were burning. When it comes to how they felt about their occupation, we learned that they actually enjoyed it and did not question their actions whatsoever. They were brought up on the fact that books should be burnt, therefore they felt a sense of accomplishment by doing so.

-Why does Clarisse not fit in at school? What is strange about the definitions she uses? Does that remind you of anything?

Clarisse doesn't seem to fit in at school simply because she is different from her classmates. She isn't the typical girl of her age and enjoys nature oriented things rather than doing what everyone else enjoys and trying to follow the other kids her age in order to fit in. She also struggles to fit in at school because of how smart beyond her years she is, which can also explain why the way she speaks is considered strange. When she speaks, it's clear that she uses her own, mature, definitions for things. We see this when she explains how she would define "social" and "anti social". Her definition of being anti social reminded me of society today and how many people act. Today, many people can believe they are extremely social when, in reality, they are too afraid to really talk to others and simply find themselves communicating through all different kinds of technology.

F451 Assignment #1

-What is revealed about the world of the novel by the things that Clarisse says about why people think she is strange?

The fact that Clarisse admits that other people view her differently and think she is strange because of how she takes the time out of her life to stop and look at nature and the things around her shows a lot about how people live in this story. She explained that many people rush through their lives and rather than stopping to see the beautiful flower beds and natural wonders of the world, they let everything simply pass by them as blurs. This makes it clear that in the world they live in, very few people acknowledge the everyday beauty around them and do not focus on examining and learning about things.

-What do we learn about Mildred and Guy's relationship by Mildred's suicide attempt?

If at any point in someone's life they attempt to commit suicide, it should become extremely clear that they are unhappy with some aspect of their life. In Mildred's case, it could very well prove that her and Guy do not have a very healthy relationship and that she is uncomfortable with his job and how it was affecting her and may other people's lives.

Native Son #14

"Mr. Max, I know the folks who sent me here to die hated me; I know that. B-b-but you reckon th-they was like m-me, trying to g-get something like I was, and when I'm dead and gone they'll be saying like I'm saying now that they didn't mean to hurt nobody...th-that they was t-trying to get something too...?" (Wright 425). This quote sums up why I disagree with how Wright ended this story. I believe if he made it so that Bigger was allowed to live, even if he was forced to spend life in prison, the ending would have had more meaning. It would have been the first time Bigger was given a chance at something from the white world, even though it was only to spend his life in prison, it would have been better than them simply killing him proving that his life had no meaning. This is true because although he had finally stuck up for himself,no one besides Max would ever hear his side of the story because he were to be put to death immediately after. Therefore, Bigger did not succeed in changing anyone's views of the black world and by them sentencing him to death, the white world only proved yet again to be all powerful.

Native Son #12

"He was alone, profoundly, inescapably. He rolled on the floor and sobbed, wondering what it was that had hold of him, why he was here" (Wright 310). He didn't know why it was that he could not even speak to the men, let alone stick up for himself. There was a power that he could not overcome and the fact that he didn't know what it was caused him to become very emotional. This is one of the few moments we have seen in the book of him expressing his emotions, which he hated so much to do. He knew what was ahead for him and although he acted as if he didn't care before, this proves that he does have a heart and does care that he has no hope for the rest of his days. He knows he is going to be put to death and he is finally looking back and wondering what it was that caused him to get himself into this position and have his life turn out this way.

Native Son #11

"He wanted to shoot, but remembered that he had but three bullets left. He would shoot when they were closer and he would save one bullet for himself. They would not take him alive" (Wright 267). Bigger's life was not worth living anymore. Everything had gone wrong and he no longer knew how to handle it. The excitement of keeping a secret from the white world had faded and his focus had turned to simply staying alive. At this point, even that light was dwindling. At this point it seemed as though there was no chance for his life to be normal again, so he wanted to go out with a bang. He would make his final statement by shooting the cops, once again defeating the whites and proving to himself he was capable of doing damage in the world. He would then end his own life, actually being remembered for something even though he was black.

Native Son #10

"But what was he after? What did he want? What did he love and what did he hate? He did not know. There was something he knew and something he felt; something the world gave him and something he himself had; something spread out in front of him and something spread out in back' and never in all his life, with this black skin of his, had the two worlds, thought and feeling, will and mind, aspiration and satisfaction, been together; never had he felt a sense of wholeness" (Wright 240). Bigger's whole life had been like that of all other blacks. Routine, meaningless, oppressed. He had become used to doing the same the over and over, hanging out, drinking, playing pool with his friends and staying out of any kind of spotlight. At the same time, Bigger knew deep down inside that this attention and spotlight was in fact what he was craving. He had craved the need to feel complete, like he had done something in his life in order to get his name known. Killing Mary was his way of achieving this fame and although he wanted to get away with it, he felt as though he needed to tell people so they knew that despite his black skin he was capable of doing something notable.

Native Son #9

"It was all over. He had to save himself. But it was familiar, this running away. All his life he had been knowing that sooner or later something like this would come to him. And now, here it was. He had always felt outside of this white world, and now it was true" (Wright 221). Bigger's entire life had been spent trying to run away from the white world. From how they treated him, what they expected of him, and how that made him feel. Finally, he was doing what all the whites expected of him. He was not running from them metaphorically anymore, but literally. He had committed a crime, exactly as expected of him due to the fact that hes black, and was now trying to avoid facing the punishment he deserved from the whites. This situation was not a surprise to him. This is so simply because he had heard so many times from the whites that he was a no good, black, criminal. They said it so much that sadly, he began believing them. It was official that he could never fit in in the white world, he had tried and quickly failed. Now that he had that experience, all that was left to do in his life was whatever he could to survive.

Native Son #8

"Again the thought that he had the chance to walk out of here and be clear of it all came to him, and again he brushed it aside. He was tensely eager to stay and see how it would all end, even if that end swallowed him in blackness. He felt that he was living upon a high pinnacle where bracing winds whipped about him" (Wright 189). Bigger had never been in such a position. He had never actually had options of what to do when it came to important things, things that could change his life forever. It was exciting for him to know that he could easily just up and leave, being just as "free" as he was before and leaving this whole messy situation behind.Yet for some reason, he did not want to do this. His whole life had been basically the same routine day in and day out, and now some excitement had entered which he was not willing to leave behind. He liked the feeling of having a secret and constantly being around others whom he felt superior to, due to knowing what they were frantically trying to figure out. It made him feel more powerful than he had ever imagined and he wasn't about to leave this feeling behind, even if he was putting his life at stake by doing this.

Native Son #7

"Unwittingly, Jan's desire to protect Mary had helped him. Jan's denial of having come to the home would not be believed now; it would make Mr. Dalton and Britten feel that he was trying to cover up something of even much greater seriousness" (Wright 169). Bigger's plan was working out perfectly at this point. He knew Jan was going to try his hardest to stick up for Mary and keep her out of trouble, which would consequently lead him to looking even more guilty. Everyone's focus would then turn to Jan, giving Bigger time to find Bessie and complete the ransom note plan. He did not even think twice as to whether or not Bessie would go through with helping him because he knew how well he was doing at tricking everyone. To the Mr. Dalton and Britten, he succeeded in making himself simply look like a confused black man who was overwhelmed with the situation and didn't know what to say. To Bessie, he was doing the right thing that would bring them both more money. Overall, every part of Bigger's plan was working perfectly. Although Jan's desire to protect Mary helped Bigger look innocent, it also made him feel increasingly guilty each time he tried to stick up for the woman he loved. Overall, Bigger's success in this situation was only making him more uneasy and angry as a person, most likely leading to more mistakes or crimes later in the story.

Native Son #6

"They wanted him to draw the picture and he would draw it like he wanted it. He was trembling with excitement. In the past had they not always drawn the picture for him? He could tell them anything he wanted and what could they do about it?" (Wright 158). This was a completely foreign experience for Bigger. Never in his life had he felt so powerful. What gave him this feeling was having a secret that was completely his own, which he had never had before. Everything in his life was either shared or controlled by other people. He lived in a one bedroom apartment with his whole family, leaving no privacy or room for him to have things to himself. When he was outside of that one bedroom apartment, he still had no freedom. Everything Bigger, and all other blacks did completely followed the stereotype that the white world had made them a part of. Because of this, it is logical to blame the whites for all the crimes and other bad things most blacks were responsible for. As we see in Bigger, by lashing out and taking some type of "revenge" on the whites, the blacks become excited and feel free. These are good feelings that don't come too often for them, leading them to committing these crimes more and more. Bigger loved this sense of power and the fact that a white man wouldn't be able to prove his story wrong will most likely cause him to do other things that he believes he can get away with.

Native Son #5

"He was confident. During the last day and night new fears had come, but new feelings had helped to allay those fears. The moment when he had stood above Mary's bed and found that she was dead the fear of electrocution had entered his flesh and blood. But at home at the breakfast table with his mother and sister and brother, seeing how blind they were; and overhearing Peggy and Mrs. Dalton talking in the kitchen, a new feeling had been born in him, a feeling that all but blotted out the fear of death" (Wright 149). At first, when realizing what he had done, he had expected nothing less than being caught and killed for it. He had killed, not just anyone, but a white girl. He was officially afraid, afraid of what the white force was capable of doing to him. As time passed and he realized that no one else knew, and it was simply his little secret, he began feeling more and more powerful. He was not used to having control over anything or being able to truly live, therefore he had never experienced how it felt to hold a secret to himself. Now that he felt like this, powerful and more free than ever, he loved it. Every trace of fear of the whites had vanished. By killing Mary, and realizing he was capable of getting away with it, he had gotten revenge on all whites that suppressed him over the years and freed himself from the boundaries they had made him feel tied down by. He loved this feeling and planned on going with it for as long as possible.

Native Son #4

"To Bigger and his kind white people were not really people; they were a sort of great natural force, like a stormy sky looming overhead, or like a deep swirling river stretching suddenly at one's feet in the dark. As long as he and his black folks did not go beyond certain limits, there was no need to fear that white force" (Wright 114). Bigger did not see Mary as a person. As said here, he simply saw her as a part of the force that had an insane amount of power over himself and all other black people. Because of this, he did not feel the least bit guilty for killing her. Internally, he felt as though by killing Mary, he was freeing all black people from the white force and how they made them feel. Mary could not experience how this "force" felt because how she looked at it, she was trying to help Bigger. Even though this was true, the fact of how she approached him and simply expected him to forget all previous encounters he had with white people and change how he felt about them because he had met one that treated him equally, really ended up causing Bigger to hate her even more than he had those who were racist towards him.

Native Son #3

"She doubled up with laughter. He tightened with hate. Again she was looking inside of him and he did not like it" (Wright 81). Mary's goal was to simply get to know Bigger, in order to feel as though she was becoming more familiar with the kind of people she wanted to help with her Communist ideas. She had begun feeling as though she was achieving this, while Bigger just continued to hate her more and more. This is a simple quote, but I think it shows a lot about the differing mentalities of these two characters. Mary was a curious, rich, white girl who was willing to befriend someone considered to be below her, a black man. On the other hand, Bigger was not nearly as open to this idea. He had grown up being familiarized of the boundaries between blacks and whites, and by how Mary and Jan were treating him, they were crossing those boundaries. If he were to interact with them in the same way he would with fellow black people, he would also be passing these same boundaries, and he would not allow himself to do this. He was not going to let Mary think she had figured him out.

Native Son #2

"She was an odd girl, all right. He felt something in her over and above the fear she inspired in him. She responded to him as if he were human, as if he lived in the same world as she. And he had never felt that before in a white person. But why? Was this some kind of game? The guarded feeling of freedom he had while listening to her was tangled with the hard fact that she was white and rich, a part of the world of poeple who told him what he could and could not do" (Wright 65). In this quote, we see that Bigger is experiencing something completely foreign to him. Never in his life had he felt comfortable with a white person, nevermind a rich white person, until he met Miss. Dalton. She was completely different than any white person he had come in contact with before. Despite the sense of fear that her crazy and strange personality set in him, Bigger saw something deeper within Miss. Dalton. Although right now the barriers he had set against white people his whole life were keeping him from learning what this was, as this story unravels, the relationship between these two characters will only become more and more interesting.

Native Son #1

"Blum was alone and the store was empty of customers. Yes; they would have had time to rob the store; in fact, they still had time. He had ied to Gus and G.H. and Jack. He walked on; there was not a policeman in sight. Yes; they could have robbed the store and could have gotten away. He hoped the fight he had had with Gus covered up what he was trying to hide. At least the fight made him feel the equal of the,. And he felt the equal of Doc, too; had he not slashed his table and dared him to use his gun?" (Wright 41). Often times when feeling pressured or responsible for doing something that you dont necessarily want to do, people react in strange ways. Bigger is a perfect example of one of these people. Rather than telling his friends he did not want to rob Blum's store, he hid his feelings and lashed out at the last minute by getting into a fight with Gus, in order to avoid going to Blum's all together. This scene was a great example of Bigger's anger problems and violent tendencies that had been referred to earlier in the book. Throughout the rest of this story, I think we will see many more examples of Bigger's inner emotions getting the best of him.

1984 #14

"Ah, it was more than a Eurasion army that had perished! Much had changed in him since the first day in the Ministry of Love, but the final, indispensable, healing change had never happened, until this moment" (Orwell 297). Since the beginning of the Big Brother's reign, an uncountable amount of events and beliefs had been altered. Not only in Oceania in general, but within Winston. He was not only responsible for altering the past, being a first hand witness to how powerful the Party was, but he had personally experienced his ways of thought and life changing immensely. Despite all these changes that had occured over the past years, the change Winston was feeling at this moment was without a doubt the most prominent in his mind. He was not only experiencing a feeling somewhat of relief, but the assuredness of everything coming to an end. Before, this feeling had seemed like the farthest thing from reality. Now that this feeling had become a reality, Winston could breath again. He may not have defeated the Party, but he had fought and survived, winning the battle within himself.

1984 #13

"He could not fight against the Party any longer. Besides, the Party was in the right. It must be so: how could the immortal, collective brain be mistaken? By what external standard could you check it's judgments? Sanity was statistical. It was merely a question of learning to think as they thought" (Orwell 277). Two and two makes five, freedom is slavery, it all makes sense. Due to the fact the majority of people understood and taught facts such as those, those were in fact true. Being sane was no longer based on what was true reality, it was based on whether or not you believed the same concepts as those around you. If you thought as the Party thought, you were sane. Winston was beginning to truly think this way, he now accepted that the past was alterable, but had never been altered, he accepted all concepts the Party preached. Before, he had been the one altering the past, now he has no recollection of that. None of it had ever happened, considering the events he was forced to alter never even existed. Winston had now become capable of training his mind to simply accept what needed to be accepted, without question.

1984 #12

"You knew this, Winston," said O'Brien. "Don't deceive yourself. You did know it-you have always known it" (Orwell 239). O'Brien was right. Winston had always known that with almost every move he made, he was stepping closer to death. At this point, it is also obvious that O'Brien was not who Winston believed him to be, and that not only was Winston figuratively approaching his death, but was soon to be getting closer and closer physically, too. There would soon be absolutely nothing for Winston to live for, considering he had recently lost any trace of happiness he had worked so hard to grasp, such as Julia. Winston could no longer even trick his own mind into believing otherwise, this was going to happen no matter what and there is no longer any possible way he could change that.

1984 #11

There are two quotes in the "Ignorance is Strength" chapter that clarify the fact that the members of Big Brother's parties are not in any way tied down, but simply all have the same beliefs. The first quote can be found on page 208, "membership in these three groups is not hereditary" and the second is "its rulers are not held together by blood ties but by adherance to a common doctrine" (Orwell 209).This shows that the possibility of a mutiny can't be completely ruled out, but proves that it can be considered unlikely because of how loyal all members are to Big Brother and his ideas. Orwell insists that the rulers are in no way blood related in order to be sure that it is not thought that there is any type of discrimination in the Party. The Party is made up of all different races, who must be chosen after an examination at a young age. The fact that all rulers are chosen at only age 16 is yet another representation of how successful the Party is in controlling the people of Oceania's ways of thought , even from a very young age. Because of this, any plan of mutiny that had crossed Winston's mind was surely becoming less and less of a possible reality.

1984 #10

"Cut off from contact with the outer world, and with the past, the citizen of Oceania is like a man in interstellar space, who has no way of knowing which direction is up and which is down" (Orwell 198). Because of the war, and the Party in general, the people of Oceania remain completely cut off from learning of any other way of life. Many do not know whether things such as constant war are considered common, everyday life, or if the war should be coming to an end somewhere in the near future. Because of how successful Big Brother has been in completely "brainwashing" some of the citizens of Oceania, it has come to the point of many not even being sure whether what the Party is doing is right or wrong, which is what is meant by saying they have "no way of knowing which direction is up and which is down". The people of Oceania are becoming unable to think for themselves, and Winston is being forced to watch the entire process take place before his own two eyes.

1984 #9

"Winston stopped reading, chiefly in order to appreciate the fact that he was reading, in comfort and safety. He was alone: no telescreen, no ear at the keyhole, no nervous impulse to glance over his shoulder or cover the page with his hand...It was bliss, it was eternity (Orwell 185)." This quote seemed significant to me because despite what is said in the book he is reading, "The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism", what is really going through his mind when he begins reading it is how he feels to be able to simply hold a book without having to worry about being caught and vaporized. This is an example of how much people living through this time period had to be thankful for the smallest things, considering those same things could get them killed. Reading is something that many people today, especially children and teenagers,dread. This would change if reading were to become one of the only senses of freedom we could experience.

1984 #8

"Whatever happened you vanished, and neither you nor your actions were ever heard of again. You were lifted clean out of the stream of history. And yet to the people of only two generations ago, this would not have seemed all-important, because they were not attempting to alter history. They were governed by private loyalties which they did not question. What mattered were individual relationships, and a completely helpless gesture, and embrace, a tear, a word spoken to a dying man, could have value in itself (Orwell 165)." This quote is significant because it is a perfect example of how much the way of life had changed in only a short time span. It makes it clear that people who had lived only 20 years before would not be frightened by hearing of these changes, simply because they were completely unfamiliar with the Big Brother way of life. People in the days that Winston is suffering through do not get to experience all the little things in life that mean the most. Because the people of the previous generations were familiar with those little things, rather than simply living in fear and obeying the Party, they would not nearly understand how difficult it is to live such a restrained lifestyle.

1984 #7

"It was rather more of a shock to him when he discovered from some chance remark that she did not remember that Oceania, four years ago, had been at war with Eastasia and at peace with Eurasia..."I thought we'd always been at war with Eurasia," she said vaguely. It frightened him a little (Orwell 154." This is a good example of how the 12 year age difference is significant to how Winston and Julia's views of life and the world before the Party took control differ. Winston still has memory of how times were before the Party had taken over, while it seems as though Julia's memory of that time has been fading. Julia is a rebel who fights to be different and not obey the Party, but at the same time this quote shows that no matter how much she doesn't want it to, the Party is getting through to her. Without even realizing it, she had cleared her brain of the memory of events that were happening only a short four years ago. The fact that the Party may be succeeding in making Julia just another one of it's victims is what is beginning to frighten Winston. If they can take control of her, they can take control of anyone.

1984 #6

"It was as though they were intentionally stepping nearer to their graves. As she sat waiting on the edge of the bed he thought of the cellars of the Ministry of Love. It was curious how that predestined horror moved in and out of one's conscienceness. There it lay, fixed in future time, preceding death as surely as 99 precedes 100. One could not avoid it, but one could perhaps postpone it: and yet instead, every now and again, by a conscious, willful act, one chose to shorten the interval before it happened" (Orwell, 140). This quote proves how much Winston and Julia were willing to put on the line for the simplest things, such as seeing eachother and conversing for a half an hour. It also states how in this time, it was almost impossible for the thought of death or being vaporized to escape your mind for any long period of time. The concept of "thoughtcrime is death" is also brought back in this quote when saying "there it lay, fixed in future time, preceding death as surely as 99 precedes 100". In saying this, it is being said that it is 100% certain that what they were doing, such as their secret meetings and having sex, is surely going to lead to their deaths. It clarifys the fact that in this world, there is virtually no way to avoid being vaporized, but following all the rules the party has set will allow them to live longer. Winston and Julia do not care much. Rather than living long lives as robots, they are easily shortening and shortening their lives with every sneaky act of freedom they take.

1984 #5

Winston:"Listen. The more men you've had, the more I love you. Do you understand that?"
Julia: "Yes. Perfectly."
Winston: "I hate purity, I hate goodness. I dont want any virtue to exist anywhere. I want everyone to be corrupt to the bones."
Julia: "Well then, I ought to suit you, dear. Im corrupt to the bones."
(Orwell, 125).

This exchange between Winston and Julia shows a lot about their budding relationship. When reading this, it is very possible for the readers to misunderstand what Winston means by saying "the more men you've had, the more I love you". Some people may think he simply is only thinking of her sexual experience, when in reality he means that the more rebellious she is the more respect and love he has for her. The fact they they share, for the most part, the same beliefs about the Party, is a similarity that brings them much closer together. Both of them live somewhat on the edge and would rather put their lives at risk than become another victim of the Party. This is only one of many conversations we will see between Winston and Julia that will bring them closer together.

1984 #4

"And yet it was a fact that if Syme grasped, even for three seconds, the nature of his, Winston's, secret opinions, he would betray him instantly to the Thought Police. So would anybody else for that matter, but Syme more than most. Zeal was not enough. Orthodoxy was unconscienceness (Orwell, 55)." This quote emphasizes the fact that in this time, no one could be trusted. On many occasions, people who were believed to be friends or "comrades" ended up ratting eachother out on accounts of "thoughtcrime". This quote also somewhat shows what kind of a person Syme is, which may play into the plot later in the story. By saying "zeal was not enough, orthodoxy was unconscienceness", Orwell meant that no matter how fond people were of eachother, Big Brother had done his job by basically brainwashing the people to the point where they did not even think twice about telling the Party of eachothers' disobedience. This shows how scary of a world it must have been for Winston, constantly fearing everyone around him.

1984 #3

"Day by day almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be shown as documentary evidence to have been correct" (Orwell, 40). This is what Winston, and all other employees at the Ministry of Truth, were responsible of every day when they went to work. To rewrite the past in a way that was considered acceptable to the Party and especially to Big Brother himself. This was always the way that made Big Brother correct about all the events that took place, even if that required the past to be completely made up. The fact that changing history could be so easily done and was such a common thing was one of the biggest mental struggles for the people of Oceania to get used to. Like Winston, it was difficult for them to wrap their minds around the new way of thinking and make themselves believe that everything the Party said was in fact, the truth.

1984 #2

"the Ministry of Truth... his heart quailed before the enormous pyramidal shape. It was too strong, it could not be stormed. A thousand rocket bombs would not batter it down" (Orwell, 27). In this quote, the Ministry of Truth is used symbolically as how strong Winston believes the Party in general is and how difficult it will be to overcome it. He is basically saying that he believes it to be nearly impossible to defeat Big Brother. Realizing this upsets Winston because of how much he longs for freedom and a day when people will be able to think their own thoughts and live their own lives. In this reading we begin to see how much Winston really does question the way he is forced to live, and whether or not it is even possible for this way of life to come to an end.

1984 #1

"Within 30 seconds any pretense was always unnecessary. A hideous ectasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash faces in with a sledge hammer, seemed to flow through the whole group of people like an electric current, turning one even against one's will into a grimacing, screaming lunatic"(Orwell 14). This quote is a great representation of how much control Big Brother, the Party, the Thought Police, etc..have over the people. Simply through Goldstein speaking through a telescreen, he is capable of changing so many peoples moods and causing them to be angry and upset beyond belief. Just through seeing this, it is difficult to imagine how much the Brotherhood or the Party in general must effect these people and change how they look at life.