Progress on Our Final

• We haven't exactly decided on a name for our project yet. We are thinking either "Senior Memorobilia" or "2.0 Yearbook"
• We started interviewing our classmates this week and have made a lot of progress.
• We still need to film some extra clips of things other than the students/teachers, edit our video, etc.
• Our work will benefit others because it'll be something that the class of 2012 can refer to when we are older to describe all of our experiences here at Righetti High School. It's not some old picture that we can lose, or a yearbook we will never look at again. It is a video with our faces, voices, and humor all added into one making our memories come back alive.

MacBeth Test Corrections

Part 1
1. MacBeth won the respect of King Duncan by
(A) slaying the traitor MacDonwald
2. King Duncan rewarded MacBeth by dubbing him
(B) thane of cawdor
3. In addressing Banquo, the witches called him which of these?
(A) I and II --> "Lesser than MacBeth, and greater." "Not so happy as MacBeth, yet much happier."
4. When MacBeth said, "Two truths told/ as happy prologues." he was referring to
(C) the predictions made to Banquo and to himself.
5. "Nothing in his life/became him like the leaving it" is a reference to
(A) the traitorous thane of cawdor
6. Duncan's statement, "I have begun to plant thee and will labour/ to make thee full of growing" is an example of
(B) a metaphor
7. Lady MacBeth characterizes her husband as being
(B) "too full of the milk of human kindness."
8. When MacBeth agonizes over the possible killing of the king, which of these does he say?
(B) II and III --> "Duncan's virtues will 'plead like angels'" "I am his kinsman and his subject"
9. MacBeth's statement to his wife, "Bring forth men-children only" signifies that he
(C) has accepted the challenge to slay the king.
10. As part of the plan to kill the king, Lady MacBeth would
(A) get the chamberlains drunk
11. Trace MacBeth's transformation from a good man to an evil man

12. What motivates MacBeth to take the evil path that he chooses?

13. What influence do the witches have on MacBeth?

14. Contrast MacBeth's response to the witches' predictions with Banquo's.

15. Describe the relationship between MacBeth and Lady MacBeth. Trace how it changes over the course of the play.

Part 2
1. "Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible/ To feeling as to sight?" is a reference to the
(B) dagger
2. Lady MacBeth confessed that she would have killed King Duncan herself except for the fact that
(B) he looked like her father
3. Shakespeare introduced the Porter in order to
(B) remind the audience of the witches' prophecies
4. Malcolm and Donalbain flee after the murder
(A) because they fear the daggers in men's smiles
5. MacBeth arranges for Banqou's death by telling the hired killers that
(C) he will eradicate all records of their previous crimes
6. MacBeth startles his dinner guests by
(A) conversing with the Ghost of Banquo
7. The witches threw into the cauldron
(A) I and II --> "eye of bat and tongue of frog" "wool of bat and tongue of dog"
8. the three apparations which appeared to MacBeth were
(C) I, II, and III --> an armed head, a child with a crown, and a bloody child
9. In Act IV, Malcolm is at first lukewarm toward MacDuff because he
(B) suspects a trick
10. Birnam Woof comes to Dunsinane when
(B) the camoflauged soldiers make their advance
11. What is the significance of the line "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" (I, i, 10)?

12. How does MacBeth function as a morality play?

13. How does Shakespeare use the technique of dramatic irony in MacBeth?

14. How does Lady MacBeth overcome her husbands resistance to the idea of killing King Duncan?

15. Contrast MacDuff's response to the news of his wife's and children's deathes with MacBeth's response to being told Lady MacBeth is dead.

Macbeth Notes

Macbeth: cynical

*NOT FOR FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT

Background: 

Shakespeare's most intense play
Written in 1605-1606
Globe Theater, Blackfriars Theater

*Shakespeares fav: Holinshed's Chronicles of the History of England & Scotland

*Scotorum Historiae- 1527 by Hector Buece

*Discovery of Witchcraft- Reginald Scot

*Deamonologie- 1599 - King James 1. 

Important notes
Macbeth is an openly political play
Shakespeare changed history in Macbeth to add suspense
Understanding the background and history helps us understand the characters
"Macbeth was a man of penetrating genius, a high spirit, unbounded ambition. 
Intelligent and ambitious.

Lit Elements in a Tale of Two Cities

diction, apostrophe (Lorry was speaking to the ghost, an abstract concept and being)

antithesis- "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times" (page 13)

Setting- uses England and France to address the theme. Also, the time period (Pre French Revolution)

theme- rebirth. Revolutions change a country. (example: "Recalled to Life")

symbolism

syntax- death and fate creating a metaphor

anaphora- repeating first phrase in the beginning of the book.

tone-creepy, gloomy, and dark (example: talking about death and destruction)

genre- historical fiction

dialect- "aint" and "holla" and "do ya"

metaphor- wine cask

Dickens- A Tale of Two Cities

Dickens is known for having self descriptive book titles. You can usually assume what the main character or situation is by simply reading the title. When it comes to A Tale of Two Cities you can guess that it will have something to do with two cities. The stories are about London, England and Paris, France. Dickens decided to write a comparative study between the two of these cities that involve the French Revolution. He wanted to figure out how England contrasted from France. Thus, the tale of two cities.

A Poem Worth Loving

Homework, Oh Homework! -Jack Prelutsky

Homework! Oh, Homework!
I hate you! You stink!
I wish I could wash you away in the sink,
if only a bomb
would explode you to bits.
Homework! Oh, homework!
You're giving me fits.
I'd rather take baths
with a man-eating shark,
or wrestle a lion
alone in the dark,
eat spinach and liver,
pet ten porcupines,
than tackle the homework,
my teacher assigns.
Homework! Oh, homework!
you're last on my list,
I simple can't see
why you even exist,
if you just disappeared
it would tickle me pink.
Homework! Oh, homework!
I hate you! You stink!


I've grown up loving this poem. When I was in second grade my parents bought me a book of Jack Prelutsky poems and this one has been my favorite poem of all time ever since.

AP Practice Exam/ Q.1

Authors have a way with words that can make a reader fall in love with a serial killer, or hate a saint. Writers use an array of literary techniques to make readers admire amoral characters such as Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye by J. D Salinger. Insight into the character's mind through silliloquies or personal thoughts, making the character relatable, and a good theme, can all make the reader sympathetic or admire the the depraved character.

Holden Caulfield participated in underage drinking, fornication, he fought, he lied, he flunked out of school, and he called people degrading names, yet he is one of the most beloved characters in American literature. But the author gives us insight into Holden's mind, the way he thinks, and the way he grew up, which offers Holden a chance to explain his actions and help the reader understand why he does the things he does. John Steinbeck said, "In every bit of honest writing in the world there is a base theme. Try to understand men, if you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and nearly always leads to love. There are shorter means, many of them. There is writing promoting social change, writing punishing injustice, writing in celebration of heroism, but always that base theme. Try to understand each other." When a reader can understand the character it becomes hard to dislike him, there's nothing but compassion and sympathy. The author produces this level of emotion in the reader through characterization, J.D Salinger has Holden be completely honest with the audience about his thoughts and feelings.

Because he is so blunt about his feelings Holden Caulfield is loved around the world by anyone who has experienced their teenage years, his rebellion and his angst are all relatable which allows readers to sympathize even further with him. Throughout the story Holden seems to be excluded from and victimized everyone surrounding him. As he says he feels trapped on “the other side” of life, and he tries to find his way in a world in which he feels he doesn’t belong.
But perhaps the fact that the story is only being told from Holden's point of view is the biggest reason he becomes admirable. Holden portrays his actions the way he wants them to be portrayed, and from his perspective his actions are acceptable, making the reader feel the same way. If Holden see's his actions as admirable, that's how they will come off to the reader.

The theme is another major role player in how an audience views a character. If the overall theme of the book is glorified or valued then the unethical character "doesn't seem so bad after all." If the character represents something good, then his actions and personality can also be seen as good. One of the themes of The Catcher in the Rye is the hardships of growing up. It's a theme anyone the world over can understand and relate to by being put into the shoes of someone experiencing it and seeing the world through their eyes it becomes easy for the audience to identify with and approve of the character.

Big Question Abstract

The struggle with famous Americans these days seems to be the lack of privacy. They aren't able to raise their own children or mature their family without constantly having to disguise who they actually are in simple places like the super market. Over time media coverage has become more and more in depth. Why is it that so many reporters a paparazzi are so desperate to take candid embarassing pictures and videos of our nation's celebrities?