Lizbeth Estrada's AP Lit Comp Blog: February 2013

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Lit Terms

Realism

Refrain

Requiem

Resolution

Restatement

Rhetoric

Rising Action

Romanticism

Satire

Scansion

Setting

Simile

Soliloquy

Spiritual

Speaker

Stereotype

Structure

Style

Subordination

Surrealism

Symbol

Synesthesia

Syntax

Theme

Thesis

Tone

Tragedy

Understatement

Vernacular

Voice

Zeitgeist

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

I spent most of my time in class discussing scholarship information and updates with Pablo. Sometimes it's good to know you are not alone. It's nice to have some time to discuss concerns with other students who are going through the tedious process of scholarships and then the dreaded wait. No only do we have scholarships to apply for, but we also have to keep up with school and forget about our social life. At least I have. I used to spend my weekends with my family or just watching t.v. but now I spend my weekends and weekdays working on college stuff and stressing.

What's The Story

Dickens wrote this novel aimed at people of our age. This is seen through the ideas presented in the novel. It's a novel about finding oneself. It's about being afraid to face what we are and having to create a person that doesn't exist but to us is our true identity. It's about being harmed by people you love and being in love with people that hate you. Dickens uses contrast when attempting to compare characters and their affects on Pip. Pip is stuck in a wold in which things aren't what they appear to be and it's his job to understand and decipher the true meaning of people and himself.

Dickens Map

1) I don't really have a reading schedule. I read on the go or whenever I have time. I'm a slow reader but I get it done. I read most of my books on the weekends because I have a greater amount of time. I also read when I go to bed because it helps me fall asleep quicker.

2)

In this novel, things are often not what they seem. Discuss how the theme of "expectations" is illustrated by and through the major characters in this book. How are Pip's expectations different from and similar to those of Joe Gargery, Miss Havisham, Estella and Magwitch?
Share your thoughts

Why do you think it is one of Magwitch's principal conditions that Pip "always bear the name of Pip" (which is actually his childhood nickname) in order to receive his financial support?
Share your thoughts

If Pip had not received his "great expectations" and never left Joe's forge, how do you think his life would have been different? Are the lessons he learns during his physical and emotional journey necessary for him to arrive at the wisdom he displays as the middle-aged narrator of this tale? In what ways?
Share your thoughts

Why do you think Miss Havisham manipulates and misleads Pip into thinking she is his secret benefactor? What, if anything, does she derive from this action?
Share your thoughts

Given Dickens' portrayal of Estella, what do you think attracts Pip to her in the first place, and what, when he learns of her cold-blooded manipulation of men, keeps Pip devoted to her until the end, loving her, as he says, "against reason, against promise, against peace"? (page 594)
Share your thoughts

http://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/Great-Expectations-by-Charles-Dickens-Reading-Questions#ixzz2K5RNkhJR

3) The best way to test our knowledge would be through an essay but that can be tedious work so i would prefer a multiple choice test. If an essay is absolutely necessary then it should be a take home essay that way we don't feel pressured by time causing us to preform at a lower level than if we were to take it home.