Tobermory Explained

The tone of the short story was serious but with some humor to it. Saki deliberately made it this way to accomplish more in the writing. Throughout the story, things that testify for this could be that  Cornelius Appin deserved sort of what he got coming to him. Yes, he did succesfully teach the cat to talk, but it backfired. Knowing this he ultimately failed and should have realized that teaching another animal like an elephant probably wasn't the greatest idea. Saki was ultimately trying to teach to learn from mistakes.
In doing this he did add in humor. The last sentence had humor in it when Clovis said,"If he was trying German Irregular verbs on the poor beast... he deserved all he got." Clovis was completely serious when saying this, but also sarcastic at the same time. Another example of humor is when the newspaper was mispelling Appin's name because Appin was messing up when teaching the German. Obviously Saki did this for a purpose, but it's hard to tell if the newspaper was also doing it on purpose.

Inspiration from Jiro

In spite of the Jiro providing inspiration for all of us, here are some quotes relating to Jiro:

"If you do what you love, you will never work a day in your life." - Marc Anthony

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” -Steve Jobs

“If your work is becoming uninteresting, so are you.  Work is an inanimate thing and can be made lively and interesting only by injecting yourself into it.  Your job is only as big as you are.”  ~ George Hubbs

Taking a Look at Other Blogs

There are some really interesting blogs out there. One in particular that I like is Joey's. He has both the posts that are assigned as well as topics that he has written about. The quality of the work is great and it keeps you entertained. Another blog I like is Miles' blog. He constructs his entries with fresh topics. Also, you can count on getting a good laugh every once in a while.

Stop and Smell the Roses

"Don 't hurry. Don't worry. You're only here for a short visit. So don't forget to stop and smell the roses." Walter Hagen
Hagen put it perfectly. We don't need to hurry, life is short, so smell the roses. Often times we get so busy and caught up in our lives that we forget to pause for a moment. Whether it is because of school, work, or just being busy, don't forget to smell the roses.

Lit Terms #5

Parallelism - the use of successive verbal constructions in poetry or prose that correspond in grammatical structure, sound, meter, meaning,etc. 

Parody - in use, is an imitative work created to imitate, or comment on an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of satiric or ironic imitation. 

Pathos - a quality that evokes pity or sadness.

Pedantry - excessive concern with minor details and rules.

Personification - the attribution of human natureor character to animals,inanimate objects, or abstractnotions, especially as a rhetoricalfigure.

Plot -  is a literary term defined as the events that make up a story, particularly as they relate to one another in a pattern, in a sequence, through cause and effect, how the reader views the story, or simply by coincidence.

Poignant- evoking a keen sense of sadness or regret.

Point of view- from where a readers perspective is taken 

Postmodernism - is a late-20th-century movement in the arts, architecture, and criticism that was a departure from modernism

Prose- written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure.

Protagonist- the leading character or one of the major characters in a drama, movie, novel, or other fictional text.

Pun - the humorous use of a word or phrase so as to emphasize or suggest its different meanings or applications, or the use of words that are alike or nearly alike in sound but different in meaning; a play on words. the word or phrase used in this way.

Purpose- the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists.

Realism- the attitude or practice of accepting a situation as it is and being prepared to deal with it accordingly.

Refrain- stop oneself from doing something.

Requiem- a musical composition setting parts of a requiem Mass, or of a similar character, an act or token of remembrance. 

Resolution - the action of solving a problem. 

Restatement- of the Law are a set of treatises on legal subjects that seek to inform judges and lawyers about general principles of common law.

Rhetoric- the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques. 

Rhetorical Question- is a figure of speech in the form of a question that is asked in order to make a point, rather than to elicit an answer

Notes and questions on Siddartha

Is the beginning a dream?

Where does this take place?

Why are the rhetorical questions significant?

Theme: inner transformation, moving on

Brahmin: highest class in India

He was finding himself and discovering himself. Asking questions and his dad didn't like it because he was a Brahmin.

"Standing still as snake was in his path" was repeated. Snake symbolizes evil and deceitfulness.

Shaking off old identity and becoming himself is sort of the same as a snake when they shed their skin

Tone: overwhelmed.  With the questions he evoked but it changes once he starts looking forward and 

Notes on Great Expectations

Novel of childhood fantasy. Imaginings of what life could be like. He sees them but doesn't see what will come from him. This makes him pure, mysterious. He has a very strong sense of being unwanted. He feels the normal life of black smithery and his life is not enough. There is this question of am I a good question, or am I wicked. From him there really isn't an answer. Pip is fatherless so he turns to these male figures for fatherhood. Pip means seed. 

Magwich- he eats like an animal. Not governed by civilization. Passion for wickedness and brutality. Represents the abandonment. Magwich represents what pip could become. 

Havasham- play on words, symbolizes horrible decay and shining promise. What could be a fairy godmother. Everything in her house is left the way it was since she was left at the alter. 

Pip does not talk truthfully to any character about magwich or havasham because it reminds him of what he could become. Mrs. Havasham and magwich vanish. Pip needs to see what he can do in his life to make what he wants to happen. 

Dickens uses both joe and Jaggers for pip to see which one he could be like. Joe is blacksmith and has power and strength. He can use it but he doesn't. Joe has many feelings, he is almost romantic. He is not completely financially stable but is content. Joe comes across a child and mother. He adopts the child and takes him in.

Jaggers also has power. He knows stuff, but won't uses it against them. Logic and reasoning are used a lot in his life. He is not successfully emotionally or spiritually, but he has a lot of money. Jaggers comes across a child and mom and sells the child to the highest bidder. 

Wemick- plays off Jaggers. Two people, one at home and one at work. A foil from both places. 

Magwich- plays off joe. Comes to represent pip from worse circumstances. Sort of like wemick in that he has a double life. 

Painful realizations- havasham is not his godmother. Pips thoughts were planted there by someone's influences. Pip was secretly happy when orlack attacks mrs. Joe, but not when he attacks him. Although, pip is still a fantasist even though he wants to be like joe and Jaggers. Pip wants the benefits but doesn't want to pay the piper. He becomes a snob because he can't come to a conclusion of who he really is.