Paragraph- Short Story

Francesco Argentina

Casie Cobos

English Language Arts

12/8/17

Paragraph Practice

Prompt: What character do you find most interesting in the story? Why? Point to specific parts of the text to support this.

The grandmother is by far the most interesting character in the story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor. It is the way she constantly manipulates the other characters in the story, that makes her so interesting. For example, the first line of the story almost directly states this “The grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida. She wanted to go visit some of her connections in east Tennessee and she was seizing at every chance to change Bailey’s mind” (1). Another example of the grandmothers’ manipulation can be found in a quote where she tries to convince Bailey she is injured, to avoid being scolded and to gain some sympathy “The grandmother was curled up under the dashboard, hoping she was injured so that Bailey’s wrath would not come down on her all at once” (12). It is clear that the grandmother frequently engages in manipulative behavior throughout the book. This trait of her’s not only adds to the depth and complexity of her character, but indefinitely makes her the most interesting.   

OHP- Reflection

Francesco Argentina

Casie Cobos

English Language Arts

10/28/17

OHP- Reflection

Now that I have completed my oral history project, I discovered that there were things that went well and things that didn't go as well that I can improve the next time I participate in a similar project. To start, I will discuss the things that I feel went well. I think that the questions that my group came up with were very good questions, they were engaging and thorough which resulted in a lot of good content coming from the interviewee. Also we asked good follow up questions at the appropriate times and executed little details well, that generally helped the interview run smoothly. As well I think my group worked very well as a team, we were organized with the formatting and tech set up, we managed our time well, and we distributed the work evenly among each member. Overall I would call this project a success for our first time.

Although I would deem the project a success that doesn't mean that there isn't room for improvement. There were certainly a few things I wish I had known when we started the project. The first is that keeping a conversation going is no easy task, this is something we learned along the way during and after we had our interview. Even though our questions were engaging and the information we got back was valuable, we had nowhere near enough questions. Our interview ended at around 25 minutes when we thought we would easily exceed at least 35 minutes, however we now know that it's better to overshoot with the amount of questions you have and maybe not get to all of them, than to undershoot and not have enough to say. Also I think our class section could have done much better on our final movie that we made. I believe this is partially due to a lack of time, however that still is not a valid excuse. Our biggest problem was not having enough editors working on the project, as we underestimated the amount of work it was for them in comparison to the other groups. Although we made our mistakes, I am glad we got the opportunity to explore a completely new type of work that before this, was absolutely foreign. I had a great time participating in this and hope to work with oral history some more in the future.             

Journal Persepolis #3

Francesco Argentina

Casie Cobos

English Language Arts

10/25/17

Persepolis Journal

What led to Marjane's grandmother yelling at her? Was the yelling justified? Why or why not?

On page 291 we see Marjane’s grandmother yell at her for the first time in her life. This is because Marjane laughs at a story about her framing an innocent man for saying obscenities to her, as a way to get out of trouble with the guardians (Pages 285-287). In my opinion, her grandmother’s explosive reaction is without a doubt justified. First of all, It has been a long time since Marjane has been in contact with her grandmother so it makes perfect sense for her grandmother to be caught off guard in the moment, as she is not yet familiar with the modern rebellious Marjane. I don't think that a younger Marjane would commit such an act that would compromise her integrity considering her interests in becoming a prophet earlier on in her life (Pages 6-9). Also, her grandmother has had plenty of relatives in the past that have been wrongly accused and put in jail or put to death. She brought up Marjane’s grandfather and Anoosh as examples, and for Marjane to laugh it off as if she were glorifying the act she had done, it must have felt like a slap in the face to the grandmother. The yelling was definitely justified, however I think it was especially good for Marjane to hear it coming from somebody she trusts like her grandmother, so she can then take some time to reflect on her core values as a person.    

Journal Entry- Persepolis

Francesco Argentina

Dr. Cobos

ELA

9/29/17

Why does Marjane want to "make her past disappear" (194)? And how does this affect her development as a person?

On page 194, Marjane reveals to us that she wants the past to disappear. This statement, makes us as the reader really start to wonder, considering how far in the book we've come, and how much we've learned about Marjane already. I chose this prompt because I feel that there is no direct answer to this question and it invites an interesting conversation. We know that Marjane is proud to be Iranian and has a lot of love for her country as it states on page 197 where she lashes out on a group of friends at the cafe “You are going to shut up or I am going to make you, I am Iranian and proud of it!” But where there is love, there is also hurt and pain which I believe Marjane is feeling when she says this. The pain of her past may be too much for her to bear at this moment in the book, and she wishes nothing more but to just let it go, However she can not. This also greatly affects the way Marjane grows as an individual. A quote that supports this is on page 222 where she says “This is how, for love, I began my career as a drug dealer. Hadn’t I followed my mother's advice? To give the best of myself? I was no longer a simple junkie, but now my school's official dealer.” This quote really gives us an insight to how Marjane is feeling at her current situation in life. It seems that she thinks she has not only let her mother down, but herself as well. It’s interesting to imagine how Marjane would have developed if she was still under her mother's influence in Iran, instead of in Europe making her own decisions. To conclude this post, I believe that although the past can be hard at times, at least for Marjane’s sake, she shouldn't try to forget it, because her difficult past is what is responsible for shaping her into the woman she has become.  

Blog Post 26

Francesco Argentina

Ms. Harrison

ELA

21, May 2017

Blog post 26

    For the last blog post of the year, we were asked to read a final book of our choice, and blog about it.  The book I chose to read was called The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, who was actually associated with the Lost Generation documentary that we were assigned to watch in preparation for the Great Gatsby. The book summed up is all about an old Cuban fisherman by the name of Santiago. He and a young boy named Manolin have been on an eighty four day “unlucky streak” where they have not caught a single fish.  The boy’s parents eventually transfer him to a more prosperous boat. On the eighty fifth day however the old man finds the biggest fish of his career, a gigantic Marlin, however it’s not very easy to catch. He goes through a grueling three day process of attempting to tire the fish out, but the fish puts up a fight. He eventually shoots the Marlin with his harpoon, but on his sail back to shore, sharks start surrounding it and eat all of the meat leaving just a skeleton to remain. When he gets back to shore, he sleeps all night, and wakes up to being reunited with the boy who was very worried by his absence. Finally, he sees that nearby observers have gathered around to admire the marvelous skeletal frame of the fish. In my opinion, this book was very pleasurable to read. Although there were not many characters, and some could argue that the plot wasn't very complex, I noticed that this is the beauty of Hemingway’s style. His writing was so simple, yet so powerful with the way he communicated the story.  I would definitely recommend this book to others because it is simple enough that those of a lower reading level could understand it, but would still be an engaging read to those more advanced. 

Blog Post 25

Francesco Argentina

Ms. Harrison

ELA

16 May, 2017

Blog Post #25

Prompt: Of all the texts that we've read this year, which one is your favorite, and why? Which one is your least favorite, and why?

    Considering all of the books we have read in ELA class this year, I would say I enjoyed reading most of them, but there were definitely a select few I would consider superior to others. My favorite book would have to be The Great Gatsby one, because it is fresh in my mind being the most recent book we read. And also because I feel this book did the best job of contextualizing Fitzgerald's life, and the time period where he decided to write the book. I feel it was through all of the contextual studies we did inside and outside of class that really provided me with a better appreciation of the novel, The Lost Generation documentary especially. My least favorite book however would have to be The Odyssey. I have never been a fan of greek mythology, and this book directly expressed my dissatisfaction with it. Combined with the fact it was written in a poem like format, this was not a recipe for my indulgence. Sure there were moments in the book I enjoyed, but evidently it resulted in an unpleasant experience.  

Blog Post 24

Francesco Argentina

Ms. Harrison

English Literature

7, May, 2017

Movie vs Book

This past Wednesday I had the privilege of watching the film The Great Gatsby, which is of course an adaptation of the book, The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This week for my blog, I chose to write about my overall thoughts about the movie in contrast to the book, and how I thought it was represented. After finishing it, I thought the movie adaptation stayed very truthful to the book in many ways and was represented very accurately. I thought that the choice of cast was very intelligent and worked very well, especially Nick Carraway's character played by Tobey Maguire and Jay Gatsby’s character played by Leonardo DiCaprio. A few minor details such as a few of the songs used in the movie were confusing to me as they didn't really fit the situation in my opinion and I think a different song choice would be better suited. However this small detail didn't take away from the films overall brilliance. Something that I thought was interesting was Nick’s little subplot with the doctor who referred to him as “morbidly alcoholic” and how it showed him looking back on the experiences with Gatsby, then proceeding to write it down by hand and eventually type it into his finished work. This was an interesting addition to the movie that I thought for the most part worked quite well. For the rest of the film, it stayed right on track with the book without any major differences, other than little details of course, that I could find.      

What do you guys think? Did the movie do Fitzgerald's masterpiece justice?

Blog post 23

Francesco Argentina

Ms. Harrison

ELA

5/1/17

Blog post 23

            Choose one of the themes in the book that we identified and discussed in class (this should be in your notes) and decide which one you believe is the primary theme of The Great Gatsby. Explain why you think this is the primary theme and provide three pieces of textual evidence to support your position.

        In the Great Gatsby we discussed in class what possible themes could be for the book. We also studied what exactly differentiates a theme from a topic because there is some confusion there, for example, some people would say the theme of the Great Gatsby would be “The American Dream”. This would be incorrect because the American Dream is a topic of the Great Gatsby, but a theme would need to be a complete sentence. For instance, I would say the theme of the Great Gatsby is related to the topic of the American Dream, but it would need to be said like this; The American Dream is an unrealistic goal that will ultimately disillusion anyone who strives for it. A piece of textual evidence to support my claim would be on the last page of the book where Nick says “He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close… Into the past” pg.180. What I took away from this small passage in the book was that Nick is saying Gatsby ended up spending all this time on reaching his goal of the American Dream and it was wasted in a sense because he ended up wishing his life away instead of enjoying it. On page 161 Nick says “If that was true, he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream”. I think what Nick is saying that a person should have a variety of goals and interests and that if there is just one single motivation behind every decision you make than you can miss out on incredible opportunities and experiences. Overall, there are many themes to be identified inside of the great Gatsby, but the one I previously stated is the most important because examples of it can be found all throughout the book and it seems to be what drives the plot of the story.

Blog Post 22

Francesco Argentina

Ms. Harrison

ELA

4/24/17

Blog Post 22

What is the climax (turning point) of the novel? How do you know? How is the central conflict addressed in the climax? Use textual evidence to back up your claims.

    For this weeks blog post, I chose to write about what I thought the climax of the story was. Finding the climax of this story was incredibly difficult for me to clearly identify and it wasn't until after I read the last three chapters that could truly see a few possibilities. It was interesting to me that the climax came so late in the story as from personal experience I would have predicted it to be earlier in the story than it was, but up until chapter 7 there weren't really any central conflicts that were presented. In chapters 7 and 8 however, there were a few possible climaxes I could point out, for example, when Tom confronts Gatsby in the suite, (Then Tom's voice incredulous and insulting…Tom glanced around to see if we mirrored his disbelief, but we were all looking at Gatsby. Pg. 129) when Myrtle gets hit by the car (Myrtle Wilson’s body wrapped up in a blanket… Pg.138) or when Gatsby gets shot (The chauffeur- he was one of wolfsheim’s proteges- heard the shots… Pg.161). I came to the conclusion that when Myrtle gets hit by the car fits the climax role the best as It is when everything starts to go downhill for Gatsby. This part of the book really convinced me to think it was the climax because it is the first really big obstacle that faces Gatsby so far. And even though it doesn't even directly involve him, It later affects his future incredibly as this incident leads him to getting shot.   

Blog Post 21

Francesco Argentina

Ms. Harrison

ELA

4/17/17

Blog Post 21

Prompt: In chapter 5, what is revealed about the characters of Gatsby and Daisy based upon their reactions to each other when they finally meet?

    In chapter 5, Nick throws a tea party in attempt to reintroduce Gatsby and Daisy to each other, so Gatsby can try to win back Daisy’s heart just like he did in Louisville. By the end of this whole experience, a lot of light is shown upon a different side of Gatsby’s personality that is quite interesting. First off, Gatsby shows up an hour earlier than the event was supposed to start, perhaps giving the impression that this is indeed was very important to him, and that much thought went into preparing for it. Then, after he gets there, he begins to have second thoughts about the whole idea and starts to skepticize if Daisy will even come. And Finally once Daisy does actually show up, just before, Gatsby runs out of the room and appears at the front door creating the illusion that he wasn't waiting for her all this time. As soon as the two meet, Gatsby instantly becomes incredibly awkward especially when he knocks over Nick’s clock, but eventually the two become comfortable with each others presence and it seems to be going smoothly. After they talk for a while, Nick leaves the room for around 30 minutes and returns to Daisy crying joyfully and Gatsby glowing as the two have finally admitted their feelings for each other.

There is a lot we can learn from this whole tea experience with Gatsby and Daisy. For example, we found out that there is much more depth to Gatsby’s character he hasn't shown us yet. Referring to this situation specifically, he showed us an element of extreme nervousness, and discomfort, something I had no idea he was capable of. Daisy on the other hand didn't surprise me too much in terms of her actions, but I think it's incredibly important now that we know she probably has very strong feelings for Gatsby just like the two had in the past, and I’m intrigued to find out if she will cheat on her husband Tom, just like he has repeatedly done to her, and if what Gatsby believs to be true about recreating the past with his money. 

Blog post 20

Blog Post 20

Prompt: In the first two pages of the novel, Nick Carraway claims that he is "inclined to reserve all judgment." Do you find that this is true so far? Please provide textual evidence to support your position.

    The book The Great Gatsby starts off where we are introduced to our narrator of the story Nick Carraway. He claims that throughout the book he will not show any sign of him passing judgement about any of the other characters. He then proceeds to describe Gatsby as someone who “represented everything for which he has an unaffected scorn” and that “there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life”. Right away in the first two pages I get a vibe that he seems to be quite dishonest and not the man who he says he is at the very end of chapter 3 “Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known”. Throughout the first few chapters however, there are a few cases where one could make an argument that he is passing judgment upon another character. For the most part though, he seems to stick to his word when talking about anyone but Mr. Gatsby. When referring to Gatsby it is as if he puts him on a higher pedestal than the rest of the characters, and speaks as if Gatsby is like a god looking down on us mortals. This is only what I’ve noticed during the first few chapters, and I am inclined to see if his viewpoints change as we continue reading.

Blog post 19

Blog Post 19

This week the prompt was to discuss the characteristics of my play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and determine if it was a comedy, a history, or a tragedy. In my opinion this play was undoubtedly a comedy, there are so many features of it that fit the definition of a comedy. For instance I could tell it was one just by reading the major plot points of the twisted love triangle, the ass’ head, the ridiculous play put on by the laborers, and just the fact that everything is being manipulated by magical fairies. Even if somebody didn't know the structure/guidelines of a comedy, I think it would still be obvious to tell that it was one, however the play fits the Shakespearian format perfectly, as nobody dies throughout the story, and it ends in a huge wedding and a joke play. Concluding my argument, no other category would remotely make sense. There is no historical elements in the play and tragedies are usually filled with death which in this play there are none. Also there are tons of characters in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and a ton of sub plots which are typical for a comedy in contrast to a tragedy where there are few characters that drive the plot, for example Romeo and Juliet. 

Blog post 18

Blog post 18

        For my ELA response project I chose to film a movie with Sage, Andrew, and Xander included in my group.  For the most part, it went pretty well, there were definitely some things we did better on than others, and some things that needed much improvement looking back on the experience now. For example, I think that the screenplay was very good and the writing of the movie that was contributed by all four members of my group. Also there were bits and pieces during the acting part that really came together, and other instances where it didn't work as well. A way we could improve would be that I think we could have used more focus and tried harder to memorize our lines. Although the acting I felt was a very strong element in our production there were things we didn't do as well on. The biggest mistake we made on set was when we hadn't noticed that the camera was leaning slightly down in one of the scenes resulting in our heads being cropped out of the shot. And the mistake we made was that we trusted our cameraman Ilan’s judgement that the take was good, instead of reviewing it ourselves. Evidently this blooper made it into the final cut, as we had no other choice but to include it because it was our only good take. In conclusion to this project review, I would deem it a success and would definitely think about doing it again. Except next time, I’ll remember to review the all of the shots!   

Blog post 17

Francesco Argentina
Ms. Harrison
ELA
2/21/17
Blog post 17
“Who was the protagonist in The Merchant of Venice”?
         For my blog this week I chose to write about who was the protagonist in the story, The Merchant of Venice. Really there are two characters that have enough relevance in the story to take the role of the protagonist, and those two characters are Antonio, and Shylock. In the story there is no direct indication which one is the protagonist so I will only be talking about my personal opinion. The English audience at that time would have definitely assumed the Christian Antonio as the protagonist, and Shylock as the evil villain, but now that we think more rationally as we asses Shakespeare's work it could be called either way. For my personal opinion I think that Shylock is the protagonist in this story, and he faces many conflicts through the antagonist Antonio mistreating him. This would mean that the end of the play would be a tragedy rather than a comedy which was originally suggested by the English audience.

The quality of mercy

Francesco Argentina

Ms. Harrison

ELA

February, 13

Blog post 16

Towards the end of the play, Portia disguised as a doctor, makes a very interesting speech on Antonio's behalf towards Shylock. She talks about the quality of mercy in contrast to justice. All this is just to save her husbands best friend from having a chunk of flesh carved out of him. She uses this speech to try and persuade Shylock to be merciful and spare Antonio. In this speech she stresses the importance of mercy, and explains how mercy is a blessing from the gods, and how it is the holy spirits way of making you do the right thing. She says that anyone can choose justice, but it takes a real courageous man to choose the act of mercy. I found some of this speech to be kind of ironic as Shylock, being jewish doesn't even believe in the god which she talks about in the speech which might be some of the reason as to why her attempt to persuade him did not even work. Overall however, I do believe what she is saying about how showing mercy might not be the easiest option and how it does take a lot of courage to show an act of mercy especially when someone that you hate is sitting right in front of you waiting for you to cut into him.        

blog post 15

Francesco Argentina

Ms. Harrison

ELA

1/29/17

Blog post 15

Prompt: Shylock's speech

In the play The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare presents this interesting concept through his writing and through the character Shylock where he gives a very thought provoking speech about Jews and their feelings about the way the Christians look down on them and shines some light on the anti-semitism based society in which Shakespeare lived. This particular speech by Shylock was especially significant during this time because of the effect it had on the audience of Shakespeare's play. I would assume that to the white christian male audience, that the idea of being sympathetic towards the Jews would be absurd and not socially acceptable. For example, another playwright Marlowe, had previously written a play called The Jew of Malta in which the Jewish character was portrayed as a horrible villain with no positive qualities, and this is what the culture thought was acceptable at the time. So for Shakespeare to go and put this speech in his play, it was an incredibly controversial thing that he did and was the first time that this way of thinking rationally about the Jew’s feelings was introduced. From Shakespeare's perspective, he was just thinking about selling tickets and making money, but maybe including this monologue was actually a great business move as it most likely caused a lot of drama in the media, resulting in people going to see his show, because as we all know, controversy is what sells. In conclusion, I think this message was very beneficial to the development of this society in terms of our consideration for other cultures feelings and opinions.        

Blog post 14

Francesco Argentina

Ms. Harrison

ELA

1/29/17

Blog post 14

Prompt: Discuss the major conflict in Act 1

There is one major conflict that emerges from what we have read so far in Act 1, The Merchant of Venice. The problem is that Bassanio is in need of money which he will use with the intention of pleasing the beautiful Portia. There is only one way that the book has introduced of him getting it, and that is through Shylock the Jew in whom he has little respect for, and vice versa. Bassanio's loyal friend Antonio would have loaned him the money, but is unable to, as all of his money is invested into his ships which are out at sea. Antonio and Bassanio come to Shylock with the proposition that he lends Bassanio the money. Shylock is first very insulting as he mocks the fact that Bassanio, someone whom he doesn't respect, is now in need of his assistance. This is understandable, as the two christians have talked down upon the Jew many times and have insulted him previously, there is a clear lack of trust between both sides. Shylock then claims that he will loan the money as long as it will be repaid by Antonio. If Antonio fails to do so however, Shylock is permitted to take a pound of flesh from Antonio from any body part he pleases. Antonio being the loyal friend he is, is willing. To conclude Act 1 the conflict is that Bassanio is in desperate need of money and his only source is someone he does not respect, as well as his closest friend putting a great deal of risk on his behalf.