I felt a Funeral in my Brain Analysis

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,

And Mourners to and fro

Kept treading - treading - till it seemed

That Sense was breaking through -

And when they all were seated,

A Service, like a Drum -

Kept beating - beating - till I thought

My mind was going numb -

And then I heard them lift a Box

And creak across my Soul

With those same Boots of Lead, again,

Then Space - began to toll,

As all the Heavens were a Bell,

And Being, but an Ear,

And I, and Silence, some strange Race,

Wrecked, solitary, here -

And then a Plank in Reason, broke,

And I dropped down, and down -

And hit a World, at every plunge,

And Finished knowing - then -

Meaning	The meaning of the poem is to convey what a mental breakdown feels like.
Antecedent Scenario	This poem is about the process of a mental breakdown.
Structural Parts	The first stanza relates the mental breakdown process to that of a funeral.  Parts of yourself say goodbye to others that may not come back. The beating of the second stanza represents the ritual of the funeral or it could be the beating of a her heart that overwhelms her. The third stanza is the end of the funeral and when her empty soul begins to yearn for the the thing that died. The fourth stanza she is talking about being a silent listener where she seems to be cozy with silence. The last stanza expresses the end of the breakdown and has stopped thinking.
Climax	It occurs at the end of the last stanza.
Other Parts	The author is very religious when talking about the funeral but is very personal when talking about her mind.

Skeleton	The tone of the poem keeps a constant sense of morbidity.
Content Genre- games	The solitude poem.
Tone	I feel like the poem when read aloud has a bit of sarcasm and insanity in it as she's losing her mind/herself.
Agency	Emily Dickinson
Roads Not Taken	This could be written by someone who has a morbid outlook on life but otherwise the poem would lose the meaning.
Speech Acts	An explanation.
Outer and Inner Structural Forms	Has rhyme, stanzas, imagery
Imagination	The poet has created a dark world in her mind that resembles a funeral.

Makes me want to go to Austrailia...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/college-tourist/10-reasons-why-you-should-study-abroad-in-australia_b_6963060.html?utm_hp_ref=travel&ir=Travel

Lit Analysis #3 Catch-22

1. Catch-22 is a novel about an American bomb fighter named John Yossarian who sees war as the reality it truly is, absolute carnage. The craziness he experiences in world war 2 makes him want to escape the military but his colonel tries to keep him there by making him go through more missions. Eventually all of his friends die and he begins to shirk off his duties. The story takes place during world war 2. The narrative fulfills the author's purpose by condemning war in the novel through uses of satire and sarcasm.
 2. The theme of the novel is to condemn the idea of war instead of praising it. The men that go through a war experience horrors that they cannot forget and to praise something that is absolute evil is absurd. Men are praised as heroes when they come back, but most don't fell that way after they've seen the carnage.
 3.
The author used a lot of satire within the novel and it created a very sarcastic tone. This help set the mood for how Yossarian felt about war especially when his friends began to die. Also, the story is told through third person omniscient which allows the reader to see Yossarian from an outsider's perspective. The story is fragmented with flashbacks of the war.
 4.
Yossarian was in the hospital with a pain in his liver that fell just short of being jaundice. The

doctors were puzzled by the fact that it wasn't quite jaundice. If it became jaundice they could treat

it. If it didn't become jaundice and went away they could discharge him. But this just being short of

jaundice all the time confused them.Irony

Yossarian had everything he wanted in the hospital.


Reference

Catch-22 required that each censored letter bear

the censoring officer's name.


Imagery

He had been smuggled

into the ward during the night, and the men had no idea he was among them until they awoke in the

morning and saw the two strange legs hoisted from the hips, the two strange arms anchored up

perpendicularly, all four limbs pinioned strangely in air by lead weights suspended darkly above

him that never moved. Sewn into the bandages over the insides of both elbows were zippered lips

through which he was fed clear fluid from a clear jar.Personification/Onomatopoeia

Even in Yossarian's ward, almost three

hundred feet away, they could hear the roar of the blaze and the sharp cracks of flaming timber.

Symbolism

Yossarian straightened sharply when he spied the tiny silver cross on the other side of the chaplain's

collar. He was thoroughly astonished, for he had never really talked with a chaplain before.Simile
Aarfy was like an eerie ogre in a dream, incapable of being bruised or evaded, and Yossarian dreaded him for a complex of reasons he was too petrified to untangle.


Metaphor

An innocent nest of

ancient pimple pricks lay in the basin of each cheek.Irony

Dunbar was working so hard at

increasing his life span that Yossarian thought he was dead.Allusion

As far back as Yossarian could recall, he explained to Clevinger with a patient smile, somebody

was always hatching a plot to kill him. There were people who cared for him and people who didn't,

and those who didn't hated him and were out to get him. They hated him because he was Assyrian.

But they couldn't touch him, he told Clevinger, because he had a sound mind in a pure body and

was as strong as an ox. They couldn't touch him because he was Tarzan, Mandrake, Flash Gordon.

He was Bill Shakespeare. He was Cain, Ulysses, the Flying Dutchman; he was Lot in Sodom,

Deirdre of the Sorrows, Sweeney in the nightingales among trees. He was miracle ingredient Z-247.

He was -

'Crazy!' Clevinger interrupted, shrieking. 'That's what you are! Crazy!



CHARACTERIZATION
1.
Indirect

"After he had made up his mind to spend the rest of the war in the hospital, Yossarian wrote letters to

everyone he knew saying that he was in the hospital but never mentioning why. One day he had a

better idea. To everyone he knew he wrote that he was going on a very dangerous mission. 'They

asked for volunteers. It's very dangerous, but someone has to do it. I'll write you the instant I get

back.' And he had not written anyone since."

"As far back as Yossarian could recall, he explained to Clevinger with a patient smile, somebody

was always hatching a plot to kill him. There were people who cared for him and people who didn't,

and those who didn't hated him and were out to get him. They hated him because he was Assyrian.

But they couldn't touch him, he told Clevinger, because he had a sound mind in a pure body and

was as strong as an ox. They couldn't touch him because he was Tarzan, Mandrake, Flash Gordon.

He was Bill Shakespeare. He was Cain, Ulysses, the Flying Dutchman; he was Lot in Sodom,

Deirdre of the Sorrows, Sweeney in the nightingales among trees. He was miracle ingredient Z-247.

He was -

'Crazy!' Clevinger interrupted, shrieking. 'That's what you are! Crazy!"Through the use of indirect characterization, the author establishes the crazy side of Yossarian. Yossarian has bee living in his own world in the hospital and now he can't get out of it.
Direct

"I'm dead serious about those other wards,' Yossarian continued grimly. 'M.P.s won't protect you,

because they're craziest of all. I'd go with you myself, but I'm scared stiff: Insanity is contagious.

This is the only sane ward in the whole hospital. Everybody is crazy but us."

"But Yossarian couldn't be happy, even though the Texan didn't want him to be, because outside the

hospital there was still nothing funny going on. The only thing going on was a war, and no one

seemed to notice but Yossarian and Dunbar. And when Yossarian tried to remind people, they drew

away from him and thought he was crazy. Even Clevinger, who should have known better but didn't,

had told him he was crazy the last time they had seen each other, which was just before Yossarian

had fled into the hospital."The use of direct characterization shows that Yossarian couldn't be happy because he was scared to leave the hospital and be involved in a war. The hospital he fled to protected him from the outside world and that is why he didn't want to leave. He was afraid that if he left he would become crazy from all that he witnessed outside.

2.  When the author focuses on a character, he becomes very sescriptive and the sentences are drawn out to describe them in a flowy manner. The diction does not really change when he focuses on a character.

3. Yossarian is a dynamic and round character because he undergoes a sense of change. He goes from being someone who is afraid to go into the world because of what the war has done to him. In the end he wants to go and fight no matter what the cost is.
4.

"But Yossarian couldn't be happy, even though the Texan didn't want him to be, because outside the

hospital there was still nothing funny going on. The only thing going on was a war, and no one

seemed to notice but Yossarian and Dunbar. And when Yossarian tried to remind people, they drew

away from him and thought he was crazy. Even Clevinger, who should have known better but didn't,

had told him he was crazy the last time they had seen each other, which was just before Yossarian

had fled into the hospital."
After reading this novel I felt like I had known a person because of the turmoil Yossarian experienced. He was afraid to leave the hospital because he didn't want to have to fight a war only to lose his friends. The example above shows that he was not happy because there was a war going on outside of the hospital. Once you get past the patriotism and glory of war the only thing that is left os death, turmoil, and carnage.

Tobermory Explained

• satirical upon human society especially the upper class
• tobermory has dirt on everyone and explicitly puts it out there and within a few sentences these people's relationships with each other are ruined.
• human's become very simple and savage like, we say what we need to survive but it may kill us
• as for the last line I feel like this shows how our gossip of other people will lead to our demise.
• We can try all we want to establish these relationships and keep them, but the gossip will kill it

the best blogs!

Jayce

Anaya

A brave new world..

“Community. Identity. Stability.” What price is a society willing to pay for such a social order? A conforming life of unconsciousness with an inward life of curiosity. John, ironically nicknamed Mr. Savage, leads such a life when he entered the world he had only heard stories about from his m---. John exemplifies the human tendency to conform in the name of community, identity, and stability only to find himself lost in the process.

                Initially John is characterized as being the black sheep on the Savage Reservation. Unsure of where he belongs, john attempts to conform to provide himself with any piece of identity, he even goes on to say that he could have lasted longer getting whipped. John’s transition into the new world gave him a sense of acceptance but in reality it was individualism. The communal beliefs of this brave new world were juxtaposed against his own. This drastic comparison caused John to be very stubborn in his own beliefs of God, emotions, and love. But an individual cannot reside in a community so John sought refuge in a lighthouse, a symbol of enlightenment.

                John’s individuality persisted until a mob of Alphas and Betas urged him to whip Lenina. The repetition of “Kill it” and “Orgy-porgy” created a dark mood, that reflected something of a cult. When the repetition becomes too much for John to bear, he becomes what society perceived him of being, a savage. Becoming a part of the unconscious community caused him to lose a part of himself. He wakes up the next morning conscious of what he’s done and chooses to end his life. Huxley indirectly describes the death scene through imagery which allows the audience to infer what has happened. The direction of the feet turning in a circle references a part in the novel where John is talking about King Lear. This allusion talks about how the gods’ punishments are dictated by those that rule over society. The dark, vicious place that we create for ourselves is one in which we lose ourselves. It’s a constant circle that we create and lose ourselves in and it is only to be repeated by others.

                John becomes a part of the community and loses his identity in the name of stability. The people of this society are part of an unconscious community that creates something stable but at what cost? None can stand as an individual because that would disrupt the community. Human tendency is to allow the outward existence t dominate the inward life to the point where a person is no longer an individual and is lost in a sea of unconsciousness.

The masterpiece experience is making me feel like...

A couple weeks ago I changed my masterpiece to being more about conversations. If you've ever read Tuesdays with Morrie, you'd understand. Or if you've ever had one of those rare conversations with someone where you've connected with them... That's what it's about. Basically I want people to connect on an emotional level and get past the first couple pages of a person. So, today I brought up this conversation idea partly to get people to start talking about their masterpiece and what they're passionate about but also partly to have one of those rare conversations with someone. Honestly, I'm a little disheartened by the experience. I think the conversation starters might work for the masterpieces, but as for a personal conversation I don't think it's going to go anywhere. With the exception of Erica and myself, I think about three people were interested. Which is fine, I get not everyone wants to get personal with other people  but the conversation could merely be what you're passionate about. I think this says a lot about the Class of 2015. We've gone through probably one of the best and worst year of our lives and we are more disunited than ever. The AP kids strictly hang out with AP kids and then there are sub-hierarchies within our group. Honestly I wonder how much of each other we really know. Anyways, I feel that the way to unite us is to learn about each other and maybe that won't be done through conversations but through other means. What I want to do is showcase the awesome amazing people of our class. Show them to the world so they can reach far. I want to show them off through their passions and accomplishments and differences. So that we can become more than the Class of 2015 and become the Class of Awe- Inspiring People. I have a few people in mind who might be able to help me jump start this and those people happen to be the ones that we're interested in the conversations. Also, if anyone is interested in still doing the more personal conversations, I'm definitely up for it.

Be Awesome

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/how-to-be-awesome-at-life.html

Is a brave new world on the horizon?

     As our world advances we find ourselves discovering new technology that is leading us to a world that could be as impersonal as the one Huxley writes about. What is the price of this brave new world? The costs of these new advancements involve losses of freedom. Through overpopulation individuals receive less and the must work more to compete. One would just have to look at college applications. Each year, more students apply to a limited number of spots and once they're in they will have to claw at the throats of others to get the classes they need. Huxley also warns of the dangers of subordination from over-organization. Today, any profitable corporation has is divided into departments which in turn is divided into different sub-departments which then proceeds to have a hierarchy over workers. Few make it to the top of the pyramid and those that do aren't willing to give up that spot.
     The competition among fortune 500 companies such as Apple and Samsung have brought great changes though. In a span of 30 years communication became portable and instantaneous. The world is now smaller than ever before. Despite these amazing feats, these companies keep striving towards a profitable future which will always involve competition. To outcompete, companies use advertising which subconsciously make us want to buy their products. The effects these ads have is incredible, but what if this form of mind control--I mean communication--were taken advantage of. The propaganda of the Hitler regime would be minor to what would happen today. Most people assume that what happened in history will never be repeated. But the hunger for power is ravenous and this passion may cause people to use our technological advances to build a world that mirrors the one Huxley describes.