Another Question

Another thing I don't get in the book is the whole argument about Compeyson's wife. On page 348, Compeyson, or Abel Magwitch, I can't really tell which one, said "Compeyson's wife and me took him up to bed agen, and he raved most dreadful. 'Why look ay her!' he cries out. 'She's a-shaking the shroud at me! Don't you see her? Look at her eyes! Ain't it awful to see her so mad?' Next, he cries, 'She'll pit it on me, and then I'm done for! Take it away from her, take it away!' And he catched hold of us, and kep on a-talking to her, and answering of her, till I half-believed I see her myself." So, my question is what is it about Compeyson's wife that drives the convict crazy? Also, I'm pretty sure she's dead, because he says, 'I half-believed I see her myself' which means he does not see her very often or at all, so either she has died or is some secluded creature. What is it about her mad eyes that scares the convict?

Questions About A Passage

So looking through my annotations, I realized I didn't have any questions. Actually, I didn't know we could have question annotations. So I kind of just found one that was minor and insignificant, even though I want to know the answer. So excuse me if it's not legit enough. Okay, so in the second page of Chapter 31, page 255 to be exact, there's a play that Pip went to. I don't know what it's called, but it is in Denmark and apparently a lot of Danish was there. He did say the 'whole of the Danish nobility.' Anyways, that's not my question. My question is, during the play, when there was some sort of funeral, people were throwing nuts at the actors? I mean, why? Wait, are the actors throwing nuts at the other actors or are audience members throwing them?

I'm actually really confused about the whole play. Why did they go there? What is the point of putting that they watched a play in the middle of a book? I think it must have some sort of significance to the book as a whole because it's actually long, and a major event. So I hearby declare my question to officially be, "What is the importance of the play that Pip, Herbert, and Mr. Wopsle attend in Chapter 31?"

Great Expectations Photo Post

Yeah, so I know this isn't very creative, but it works, okay? I was looking for other opposite pictures but all I got were pictures of... dinosaurs and something. I chose the colors black and white. They are so different, opposites even, yet they are still the same thing; a color. I chose this to represent the difference between Pip's hometown where he was born and raised and London, where he went with Mr. Jaggers to become a gentleman. He used to live near a marsh, common apparently where he was born. It was just a place for middle-class/common people would live during that time. The 'country.' London, Pip described, was in awe yet grossed-out by how bad it smelled because of how many people were in one spot.

Collaborating Paragraph

In my paragraph about The Importance of Being Earnest, I am writing about the last level of dishonesty, because that's the topic we are doing. Our thesis is basically the prompt, but we changed the words around a little, whoops. (: Anyways, the last level of dishonesty is how Jack lies about himself and what he does, and how he makes another person just to get out of family matters, and dinners and stuff. He lied about his whole life and who he is, and so did Algernon. The irony of it is that he actually was Ernest in the end of the book, and that he actually had a brother. Like the concrete detail that I am going to paraphrase, 'I am Jack in the country and Ernest in the city.' About how he invented a brother just so he could be two different people in two different places. This was the highest level only because he invented a PERSON.

I'm almost 100% sure that none of my group's concrete details will overlap, since our topics are totally different, since they're different levels and all. Keenan's writing about the lowest level, like white lies. But basically it's just about cucumber sandwiches, and how Algernon lied to Jack about not eating them, then he ate them, and lied again to Lady Bracknell about how they didn't have them, even though it was him who ate them. Nicole is writing about the baby issue, about how Miss Prism lost a baby and lied about it sort of, how she forgot. We were going to put this as the top level, but then I brought up a point that Miss Prism didn't mean to lose a baby, she just wasn't paying attention when she was holding the volumes she wrote.

Victorian Era

The research that we did on the Victorian Era honestly didn't 'enhance my understanding of the play' much. I think that the play didn't include much Victorian culture without explaining it first somehow in the play. Maybe that's just me. But it did slightly help me understand the marriage, classes, and gender roles, even though I for the most part knew them from past history classes in middle school or other books I've read before. The research I did with the questions forced me to learn all I can about the Era, and I do think that helped me at least a little bit.

In my research I found that social class is very important during the era. For example, when Lady Bracknell comes to interrogate Jack on why he should marry Gwendolen. She won't let him marry her daughter just because he wasn't born into a high class. Or so they think. He was found in a purse in a train station or something, so he can't advance Lady Bracknell's family with his social class, even though he is rich. For a concrete detail, on pg. 24, Lady Bracknell says "Fortunately in England, at an rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square." That proves that education doesn't matter when you get married, it's actually your social class.

I also found that women in the era were separated into very strict, yet blended together, stereotypes. Lady Bracknell was the typical mother of a high class family, and wants the best for her family, not just her daughter. She will do anything to advance her family and cares minimally for feelings and emotions. Cecily is the naive, careless young girl who is overly dramatic when it comes to feelings. Miss Prism is the well educated, teacher-like character who is strict and also doesn't much care about emotions. And Gwendolen kind of the working, obedient daughter who has the qualities to make an excellent wife and mother. Since I did the research before reading the book, I wouldn't really know if it helped me understand or not, but I sure hope it did.

Animal Farm

Full, Non Cut-Off Version

Poetry Out Loud Performances

Okay, so I watched "Sonnet CXXX My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun", by William Shakespeare, performed by Allison Strong. Her physical presence was really great, but her voice and articulation was amazing. Well, not amazing. How can someone who is reciting poems be amazing? I'll say it's... very good. Yep. She articulated the words crisp and clearly. You could obviously tell she actually got the meaning of the poem/sonnet. She spoke loud and fast at some parts to accentuates some parts of the poem, and soft and slow at others, creating 'texture' for the listener. She also had a lot of confidence. And the poem rhymed, and she didn't do it in a 'sing song'y voice.


For me, the poem was super hard to interpret. I didn't really see so much of a literal meaning, more of a symbolicish meaning. It was kinda about unconditional love, emotion, passion that kind of stuff. I think he's describing his mistress/wife... I think he was comparing his wife to a goddess or something. No, that's the opposite. Even though she is kinda ugly and gross and 'her breath reeks', he still has to love her anyway. In my opinion, the meaning lies in the metaphors and similes Shakespeare applies, even though he doesn’t use them to desribe his mistress, but to describe what she’s not. It's kind of ironic.