Literature Analysis 2

The House on Mango Street by, Sandra Sicneros
1.
The book consists of a series of events which even though they're relevant they are not tied together. In the story the main character Esperanza, who comes from a Latin family, has just moved to their new "home".  Without any real friends she decides to speak with the not so pleasant girls, Rachel and Lucy. Throughout the book however, all she really talks about is how she much she despises her house and how ashamed she is of it. She establishes her new life on Mango Street where the population is overwhelmed with Latinos, her own kind. She views others' sad lives they lead and she is determined to not end like any of them. Crimes, rape, police, arrests, child abuse were all expected on a daily basis. Never would she have known that actions such as those would affect her life and cause a great impact. The book ended with her absolute desire of moving away from Mango Street and commencing the change she needed in her life. She knows that she is the only one that can ever loosen ties with that town but never brake them.


2.
The theme of the novel is to "make a story for your life". According to Esperanza's character all she ever could do was make a story to try and let that become her reality. It later became her motivation and kept her optimism through the thick and thin.


3. 
The author uses various tones in her book considering that each passage takes place with different characters and are unlike each other in many ways.

1. Hostility: "They think we're dangerous, they think we'll attack them with shiny knives. They are stupid people who are lost and got here by mistake." Esperanza shows her anger in seeing a white man/woman go into the Latino community only to show fear as if they were criminals. She shows that she reflects the same fears when she goes into a white people community and yet she doesn't treat them like criminals, just goes on about her way without being bothersome.
2. Prideful: "I am an ugly daughter. I am the one nobody comes for... I have begun my own quiet war. Simple. Sure. I am one who leaves the table like a man, without putting back the chair or picking up the plate." In this passage Esperanza shows that she has no shame in herself or of her actions. She is proud to be who she is and the way she is. She isn't afraid of what others may think, but only of herself and what she would think if she acted like someone else.
3. Confusion/Disappointment: "Sally, you lied. It wasn't what you said at all. What he did. Where he touched me. I didn't want it, Sally." In this excerpt Esperanza is behind her humiliation and disappointment to an unrealistic Sally. (She is unrealistic because she is absent at that moment) She is pouring out her feelings to something that will never really respond to all her questions or be there as support for her.

4.

• Characters: Each character came with a specific background story that helped us view more of what Esperanza was constantly being exposed to. None of the characters had a type of life that she would ever want to lead. I was able to recognize why she so desperately wanted to leave Mango Street. She wanted to avoid becoming a failure in life and ultimately being stuck in jail or at home being abused by the man she would end up marrying. For example: "Earl lives next door in Edna's basement...Earl works nights," "They are bad those Vargases, and how can they help it with only one mother who is tired all the time from buttoning and bottling and babying, and who cries every day for the man who left," "Minerva is a little bit older than me but already has two kids and a husband who left." Those are only three of the dozens of characters that were each independently introduced with their background.
• Point of View: With the story being told from a first person point of view I was able to see, feel, and develop her character within myself. Everything she spoke or thought was so real and she was willing to share the information with the readers. With her speaking the whole time of what she encountered everyday a scene was able to play in my mind causing imagery. For Example: "In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting." Here definition of her name was all the more powerful and goes more into depth of what she is facing at that moment. 
• Setting: All the sulking, depression, bad memories, pessimism was centered around that one street, Mango Street. The meaning of her lack of existence and the pain endured by Esperanza had been shaped and revolved around the street which she refused to call her home. Her goal in life was to come up with a new setting for herself and that's all she really cared for. However, Mango Street was of great significance because it was what held her back and she kept trying to push away. The strong gravitational pull would never allow her to abandon it. For example: "But the house on Mango Street is not the way they told it all. It's small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you'd think they were holding their breath."
• Imagery:The details described in the book had my imagination painting pictures of the scenes during the sequence of the course of the book. Sandra Cisneros made some explanations into depth and that allowed me to view what the character herself was viewing as well. For example: "Up, up, up the stairs she went with the baby boy in the blue blanket, the man carrying her suitcases, her lavender hatboxes, a dozen boxes of satin high heels." The description was adequate enough to let us observe a big lady walking up the stairs with too much of what she doesn't truly need.
• Irony: Sally the very innocent girl that only wanted to brake the chains she had with her father hadn't realized that in doing so she would only find herself caught in a different set of chains. For example: "Until one day Sally's father catches her talking to a boy and the next day she doesn't come back to school.And the next." Then when she is married, "And he doesn't like her friends, so nobody gets to visit her unless she is working. She sits at home because she is afraid to go outside without his permission." Sally only worsened her situation when she got married. She expected freedom but the only thing she received was less company and double the amount of fear.

Tools that change the way we think

The extensive use of technology of today’s era makes our society as a whole lazier. We don’t challenge ourselves as we would if technology was more of a rarity. As a high school student most of us on some assignments can slack off and use the internet as a quick out to get a good grade. It’s easy to type something into Google, read the first few links and get what you need within a few minutes. But with that said some sights provide incorrect information or can be accessible to the public giving people access to alter the information. Technology leaves more room for procrastination because now everything is about getting something done in efficient time, why drag out the research process when technology cuts down the time immensely. If technology disappeared I honestly don’t think this generation would really know what to do with themselves. It provides thousands of distractions such as Face book , which is a way of how teens now connect with others and makes communication easier just as text messaging has also done.
Per.4

In Search Of

A) I learned that you don't have any control over your searches online and that your searches are filtered by what the website thinks you want to know.
B) I don't feel like I'm getting the vast abundance of information that the internet claims to give you. I feel ripped off.
C) My question would be that in the future, will Internet control what we think? 
D) You have to be precise in what you are searching for.

      From the video I was able to learn a lot, especially on how i can make my researching become more accurate based on the preciseness i provide. I notice on my search engine i typically use Google and the first few links tend to be Sparknotes, Wikipedia, and Ask.com. I usually tend to look at the first few links and then move on but now i realized that if I spend some extra time and move on to the next few pages of suggested links.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/08/theater/08bran.html?ref=williamshakespeare

Notes on Hamlet

At the start of the play I didn't have much background information on Hamlet but I thought he would come out successful. I thought he would avenge his fathers death. But he seems to be losing composure. He's just really unpredictable and as a reader it makes me unsure of what to think of him. I've noticed that with all the characters there is a central theme of lack of trust going on which will eventually just lead to more and more conflict. As of right now I can;t tell whether Ophelia is interested in him or what her purpose is so far.

Who Was Shakespeare?

Shakespeare to me has always just been a really old famous writer, and i really only associated him with "Romeo and Juliet" when i was younger.Once I did some research on him i learned quite a bit of new facts of him. William Shakespeare was born on April, 1564 and was the oldest out of his siblings. Shakespeare married Ann Hathaway on November, 1582. Later on three daughters were included into the family, Susanna, Judith and Hamnet. There is also good evidence that Shakespeare wrote his poems and plays is that a lot of them are not signed by him or contain his name as the author. I am curious why he never wrote his name as the author on all his works and what was Shakespeare's life in depth because all of it was kept a secret. Shakespeare is perceived by students as a man with amazing writing skills. I personally find him to be an author to be looked up to as an inspiring person because his works are well known today all over the English world and genius. Although it is very difficult for me to read and understand clearly i find with more practice it gets easier.

To Facebook Or Not To Facebook

Technology has come a long way, especially with social networking. I myself have a Facebook and it is a good way to keep in touch with some friends. I have a very close friend over seas in Afghanistan fighting in the Army so Facebook makes it very convenient. But from the article, I realize that even with the privacy settings, it's not actually private. I rarely post things but now I think I will be more alert when I do. I wish more people knew this information because what people post don't need to be posted even to their "friends" let alone anyone else who could possibly be looking. By posting online the more people learn about your life which makes me a little skeptical about the whole idea.

Don't Be Hamlet

 Hamlet's dilemma is one that many people have dealt with and still do to this day. The dilemma of life or death, and which is worse. Life may be, like in Hamlet's case, full of "slings and arrows" but death may be much worse, nobody really knows. The decision between the two really comes down to being afraid of the unkown or taking your own life, because that's death is.
                 I feel that although Hamlet is in a place of anguish, he should not end his life in the hopes that something better lies in the afterlife. No one knows what there is after death, or if there is anything at all. So why take the risk of ending it all and leaving behind friends, family, and life itself? Hamlet is somewhat fearful of what there is after death, and that is what keeps him from making a rash decision. "But that the dread of something after death, the undiscovered country..."
                Sure Hamlet doesn't have the greatest of lives but compared to many others, he can't really complain. And Hamlet has a duty to avenge his father so he can't just end his life due to some turmoil. Hamlet should "take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them." Many are just as afraid to face their life troubles as they are to face death. If Hamlet is afraid of one more than the other it should be the fear of death because he can fix the woes in his life.
                I feel life is the answer for Hamlet, but with that said no one can make that decision except Hamlet himself. He is dealing with his own demons and what others say probably won't affect his final decision. "To be, or not to be- that is the question:", and I don't have a solid answer. What Hamlet's ultimate decision is will be one that only he understands.