Great Expectations Introduction Summary

          The novel began at a scene of a graveyard, in which an orphan named Pip is visiting his parents’ grave sites. An escaped convict approaches Pip, demanding food and a file to be brought to him the following day, or else a lunatic man will find Pip in his home and eat his liver and heart. Pip managed to steal some food from his sister, Mrs. Joe, and a file from her husband, Joe, who is a blacksmith. Upon receiving the stolen goods, the convict began sawing at the chain on his leg. Pip left home, obviously unaware that the convict was merely trying to intimidate him into bringing him what he wanted. Pip felt extremely guilty afterwards, afraid of what his stern sister would do if she discovered his act of theft.

Great Expectations Title

Charles Dickens named his novel Great Expectations because the story was of a young boy named Pip whom had great expectations for his future and aspired to become a gentleman and a man of high status, rather than a blacksmith’s apprentice. The title also hints that great things are to come for Pip in the future. 

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

I selected The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost because of the complexity and depth of the poem. At first glance, it would appear as if when the narrator appeared in front of a fork in the road, he walked the road less traveled. Upon further analyzing the poem, it appears the two roads were equally untraveled and although he had told himself he would come back another day and travel the other road, he knew he wouldn’t. Therefore, he told himself he took the road less traveled by, but he knew that was not true. The common misconception about this poem made it intriguing to opt and analyze. 

What I've Learned (and a video!)

This year I have learned many things that will surely help in my never-ending quest for knowledge, but one thing that continues to be shoved into my mind, with consent of course, is that if I do not embrace technological advances, society will chew me up, spit me out, stomp on me, eat me again, regurgitate me, light me on fire, laugh and leave me behind. Civilization, so I'm told, is changing rapidly whether I embrace the change or not. In order to adapt to these changes I must make use of any and all resources available to me. I must also acquire new technological skills so that I am not completely baffled at the sight of what civilization will become in the near future. In relation to the video, besides being a cool song with an amazing video, it is as if I am one of the buffalo, but no matter where I go, change is just around the corner and it is imminent. Luckily, unlike the buffalo, I have a blog, which will serve as my headquarters for mastering these technological advances.

Not-So-Simple-Question

I believe that extensive internet/media/technology use has not changed the way I think very much, but has perhaps made it lazier and has definitely influenced the way i think. The reason for the laziness is that with sources such as the internet, I am able to find whatever it may be that I must find out rather quickly and easy as well. As for the influence, with the internet, I am able to learn about an infinite number of subjects which may spark my interest or broaden my intellectual horizons at my own leisure. Although technology creates an abysmal amount of distractions, if used properly and with a goal or focus in mind, can greatly improve one's thinking.

Literature Analysis

1) The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is about the tragic tale of a woman, Hester Prynne, who has been convicted for adultery against her husband, Roger Chillingworth, and is sentenced to a lifelong public shame for it. Her punishment was to wear a large scarlet "A" upon her breast for as long as she lived. As she perseveres through this shame for several years, she does not reveal the identity of the man of which she committed adultery with. Although the man, who is Arthur Dimmesdale, is not revealed to their peers, both he and Hester are constantly tormented by the crime they had done together and reminded of it by the daughter, Pearl, that was conceived through this crime.Chillingworth eventually discovers that it was Dimmesdale who had partaken in the crime with his former wife and tortures him for it in subtle, but effective manners. Dimmesdale then finally reaches a breaking point where he would reveal to the village that it was him who had committed adultery with Hester Prynne on the very spot that she was publicly shamed years before. After confessing this fact, Dimmesdale falls dead and Hester and Pearl leave town for several years, but only Hester would return, still wearing the "A" upon her breast and would even be buried in there along with Dimmesdale.

2) The theme can best be described as one of shame and how those who are plagued by it cope with the shame in various ways, be it through repression or through acceptance and perserverance.

3) The author's tone towards the novel is serious, formal, and solemn.
     -Satan dropped it there, I take it, intending a scurrilous jest against your reverence. But, indeed, he was blind and foolish, as he ever and always is. A pure hand needs no glove to cover it!
     -Many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said that it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman's strength.
     -The physician knew then, that, in the minister's regard, he was no longer a trusted friend, but his bitterest enemy.

4)Five literary elements or techniques used within The Scarlet Letter are circumlocation, imagery, metaphor, symbolism, and chiasmus.
     -"I am my mother's child," answered the scarlet vision, "and my name is Pearl!"
     -On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter A. It was so artistically done, and with so much fertility and gorgeous luxuriance of fancy, that it had all the effect of a last and fitting decoration to to the apparel which she wore; and which was of a splendor in accordance with taste of the age, but greatly beyond what was allowed by the sumptuary regulations of the colony.
     -But Hester Prynne, with a mind of native courage and activity, and for so long a period not merely estranged, but outlawed, from society, had habituated herself to such latitude of speculation as was altogether foreign to the clergyman.