My Response to the Invisible Man

 By Joel B.    
    
     In chapter five of the Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, I found lines that not only impacted me but also inspired me to grow closer to God as well.  This line, which actually was a song, occurred when everyone was in church singing and praying.  The line states, "Lead me, lead me to a rock that is higher than I." (117)  I believe this is a great statement because not only are you surrendering your life up to God but you know that He is going to take care of you much better than you could ever take care of yourself.  Unfortunately, I haven't always lived by this principle and sometimes I want to go my own way and do my own things.  However, I never get very far because I chose not to have God with me, leading me to a rock higher than I will ever reach.  This reminds me of the parable in the Bible where it talks about one man building his house on the sand and one man building his house on the rock.  When the storm came, the house on the sand was destroyed but the house on the rock stood strong.  Today, if I choose God to be the rock of my life, the storms of this life will never destroy me.  I will never forget this parable because not only is it great to look to for the present but also it will be a great reminder in the future to always put my faith in God, so He can lead me.  He will always be bigger than I and I have to realize that without Him I can accomplish nothing.  However, with Him I can do anything, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me ." (Philippians 4:13)

Everyone Being Egual In a State of Nature

click to watch the book burn!

 Today in class Mrs. Elliott introduced us to our next unit. I found the transition from Gender and Class Inequality to Race Inequality to be very interesting. The parallels between being a women and a minority are pretty similar. Today I was fortunate to read the article about African-American migration from the South to Chicago. Several things in the article really stood out in my mind.
  In the beginning of the document in the pre-read part it talked about the newer generations of African Americans wanting to travel to the city to have a new life. Each generation of African Americans, as they moved farther and farther away from their slave ancestors, received more rights and education. As time slowly went forward they were awarded more opportunities than their forefathers. Until finally they got the courage to branch out and travel to the city.
 Of course their move to the city wasn't all sunshine daises. Hearing about the violence in Chicago and the amount of racial tension was unbelievable. It got to the point where African Americans were too scared to even come to work. The Red Cross, who usually comes to third world countries after disasters like floods and famine, had to be brought it to pass out supplies. It's hard to believe that in one of the finest cities in the world race riots and hate could escalate that high.
 To me the most difficult part to hear about is the innocent people being hurt. Whenever one person of one race does something to another person of a different race, their race has to retaliate. The excerpt also described situations where a black individual would do one heinous thing to a white person and then white people would go out into the street and kill 20 black people as revenge. Same goes with blacks having to kill innocent whites to try to get revenge on them. Fighting violence with more violence. An eye for an eye. Leaving the entire city blind to see what they were doing was just making everything worse.
 The amount of fear blacks and whites had for each other and the huge gender and class divides in 18th century England are both caused by the same problems. Division by society through labels. In society we label everyone and everything so it's easier to talk about. These labels just allow some people to float to the top and for other people to stay at the bottom. It almost makes one want to shed society completely and return to nature. In a state of nature we would all be equal and free. Everyone would be the same and we wouldn't have to worry about society's confines. Of course these transcendentalists ideals wouldn't work. We can't all just shed our clothes and run into the forest and start anew. It's human nature to form laws and create society. Soon enough everything would be back to the status quo.
 Of course as time goes on women and minorities become more and more equal. Modern day American is 100 times more tolerant than Chicago at the time, as evident by our black president. I know that change is possible and it happens everyday. I believe it is part of evolution for hate to disappear. As we and our society evolves hate will become less and less.

Tess fallen victim to fate?

By: Audrey T
I think that fate is a really interesting concept that appears in Tess. To me, fate is Hardy's answer to the question "Why, if God is just, would he allow the good to suffer?" It must be that everyone has a set plan that they are destined to follow no matter how good or bad they are. So does this mean that nothing can change one's fate and that there is a plan for everyone set from birth? Or is it that a person comes upon a coincidence in life that leads to another and another, ultimately leading them to a fate they cannot avoid? Tess is extremely good and moral -- almost to the point of sainthood -- yet God still allows her to endure a terrible and unfair life. Hardy even asks, "...where was Tess's guardian angel?" on the night that she was raped by Alec. It seems as if Hardy is trying to draw attention to the fact that people put too much faith in God to control all situations and change them for the better, when, in fact, he is standing by letting bad things happen to people all the time. Throughout the novel Tess can never seem to catch a break. She continues to move on with her life after she is raped and after her baby dies, and even when amazing opportunities are presented to her, like when Angel proposes to her, she sticks to her morals and turns him down; sure that her past has ruined her. It is Tess's persistent faith and strength that causes her to transform from a mere girl into something holier. If Tess's struggles are what make her so holy, then is it God's neglect in her time of need that has made her this way? Maybe God is allowing people to suffer so that they can grow and transcend the harsh realities of the world and not simply that fate dictates one's life.

Important Words Paper

          Throughout my life, words have played a major role in describing what I do and what I believe. The knowledge of these words began when I was just a little child with my parents reading me stories and telling me how to act as I grew older. Strength, determination, responsibility, as well as faith, hope, and love are words that I have found were the most meaningful and significant in my life.
          Strength is the property of being physically or mentally tough or the power to resist stress or force. This word has meant so much to me in my life because it reminds me that every time a situation in life brings me down, God has given me the strength to get right back up again, “He sends a cross, but He also sends the strength to bear it.” (Tolstoy) Determination is the quality of being unwavering when trying to achieve something. This is very similar to strength in where I strive, no matter what the cost, to never give up and finish the race, “The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination.” (Lasorda) This is one of the most important words to me because in baseball there are many times when I feel like giving up when I have been defeated, but it takes real determination to be able to get back up and face the next challenge ahead.
          Another word that has influenced my life greatly is responsibility. Responsibility is a form of trustworthiness. Ever since I was young my parents always wanted me to learn this word and apply it to my own life. I believe as I grew older and more mature I realized that this word is very essential in building trust. It is important to me that people know that if I am asked to accomplish a task I will be responsible enough to complete it. Responsibility is especially important when a person is in leadership and has a great deal of power, “Remember, with great power, comes great responsibility.” (Spiderman) So many people in today’s world don’t see the need for responsibility, but I believe that if people lived by being more responsible everyone would be highly respected, trusted, and honored.
          Eventually, all the words that have meant so much to me in my life will fade and only three will remain. These three words are faith, hope, and love and have influenced my life since I was born. Faith is having a confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. My faith in God is what gives purpose to my life and without Him I would be lost with no sense of direction. Hope is the virtue and desire to search for a future good in all situations. This can be difficult, but it is not impossible to attain this perspective with God's help. I put my hope in God when things seem impossible and with His help I can do anything. The most significant word of them all to me is love. Love can have different meanings and be experienced at different levels but my goal is to love people by seeing them the way that God sees them. I try my best to love everyone no matter how they treat me in return, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13) These three words have a great impact on my life and the way I treat others.
          All of these words describe my intentions in what I try to accomplish. Even though sometimes I may fall short, I try my best to have strength, be determined, take responsibility, and do things with faith, hope, and love. Ever since I was a child my parents have taught me the right words to live by and I hope to continue to live by these words as I keep on growing to be all that God created me to be.

College Supplement.

The person is my father, the place is Lake Havasu, Arizona. Here, he and I would revisit the places where he taught me how to ride a bike, how to dive, and how to lace my shoes. I would let him know that these are the same places where he taught me that the most expensive things in life are those that do not bear a price tag. I would show him that these are the same places where he instilled in me the values of patience, respect, and open-mindedness, the same way he continues to teach me today.

-Christian Dade

Use Figurative Language Again Woody (Taken from "Play It Again Sam")

 While study figurative language this week in English we were given this definition;"words or phrases that require interpretation and inference to determine the meaning." To check for my own understanding I tried to think of examples on my own. The first thing that came to me was this, "Some guy hit my fender, and I told him 'be fruitful, and multiply.' But not in those words." This is a joke from the great Woody Allen, one of my favorite film makers of all time. This got me thinking about the use of figurative language in not only literature but film as well.

 The biggest difference between a novel and a dictionary is figurative language. Perhaps this can also be used to distinguish between a comedic film and a documentary, or a dramatic film and a slasher. Writers, of film or literature, use figurative language to stir the reader's imagination. Get them involved in the text, by adding new layers of emotion and understanding. This can only be done by using the right connotations, not denotations, or through metaphor, simile, analogies, or symbols. In many of Woody Allen's films he plays very similar characters that are supposed to be a fictionalized version of himself. An old or middle aged Jewish man that's unlucky in love, has a phobia of death, frequently visits an analyst, and feels cynical about life. 

 Some of Woody Allen's best uses of figurative language come from his jokes about death; "I am not afraid of death, I just don't want to be there when it happens" or "The difference between sex and death is that with death you can do it alone and no one is going to make fun of you." and finally "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying." Allen's use of figurative language to express his character's irrational fear of death is very humorous in that it pokes fun at people who over think death. If Allen were to say these famous quotes again with out any figurative language they would just be morbid and confusing. "I'm very afraid of death and I want to avoid it" or "Sex and death are similar except death is more serious. People laugh at me during sex" and finally "I don't care if my work remains popular after I'm gone, I just don't want to die." Hence why figurative language is necessary; it makes the jokes.

 During our unit on figurative language I plan to look at everything we read with an open mind. Figurative language is very interesting to me, personally, because it can have a comedic effect. Also I just enjoy the fact that it's definition is so open, figuratively speaking (pun intended). Figurative language is all the ways of pushing past the literal meaning of a word or phrase to make the reader see something else.

The World is Too Much With Us

By: Audrey T 
     Figurative language is one of those things that I always knew was there, but I never really understood it's purpose. I could pick out what was literal and what was figurative, for the most part, because I understood the basic concept, but I usually just stopped at that point. While reading The World is Too Much With Us by William Wordsworth this past week I finally started to see how figurative language adds layer upon layer of deeper meaning to a poem -- or to any piece of literature for that matter.
     When I first read Wordsworth's poem, I'm not going to lie, I was utterly lost. I figured that the author was upset about something and that his point had something to do with nature, but other than that I had no idea what was going on. Poems have never really been my strong suit, so when we were asked to analyze it, I pretty much just gave up and waited to be told what the poem was saying. I was being lazy. I let the Wordsworth intimidate me with his complex ideas, unfamiliar references, and heightened vocabulary.   
     After Mrs. Elliott told us slow down our reading and look at the figurative language one piece at a time, I quickly started to pick up the numerous underlying meanings within the poem. When Wordsworth speaks of nature he is using it as a symbol. Nature stands for everything that has been created by God, and therefore represents our spirituality. The oxymoron "sordid boon" is speaking of our vile blessing which is the way that we "give our hearts away" or devote ourselves too obsessively to our secular world. It is a blessing in the sense that it is good for us, as humans, to be deeply connected with something, but it is shameful because we are devoting ourselves to the wrong thing. Also, when looking more closely at the word "suckled" it is obvious that Wordsworth means more than just feeds. He is using this specific word to symbolize a maternal, intimate connection, and in turn, he is pointing out how people today lack intimacy with nature and spirituality.
     Through his figurative language Wordsworth artfully makes a statement about how people are abandoning their religion for more secular things. His tone conveys just how disappointed he is with people and the way that they are too focused on day to day life, losing sight of spirituality. Wordsworth exhorts his readers to reconnect with nature on a spiritual level in order to be part of something more than their simple secular world.
     When I slowly take apart a poem it doesn't seem so scary. I understand that the figurative language isn't there to further confuse readers, but to help them along to a deeper understanding. It may take longer, but when I finally figure out what the author of a poem is trying to say it is more satisfying. Dealing with poetry isn't as much of a chore anymore, and with a better understanding of figurative language and it's many uses, I am ready for a poetry-filled year.