10 Literary Devices from "You shall know our Velocity!"

Repetition

“Bebbe! Bebbe” “Meester! Meester!”

Pg 46

Simile

The air like breathing through wool

Pg 55

Allusion

Janet Jackson was tinkling from the speakers asking what we had done for her as of late.

Pg 57

Alliteration

I followed Hand and Raymond the two steps to the taxis.

Pg 66

Anaphora

You’re here. You came here. You left the hotel. You walk these streets; you allow your path to be chosen by me… You open the door. You inhale.

Pg 66-67

Chiasmus

If you inhale the chaos, you give the chaos, the chaos gives back.

Pg 67

Metaphor

The men are mice and the women are cattle.

Pg 69

Personification

After rolling up the thundering silver door...

Pg 80

Assonance

In the sun seeming heaving, like mercury.

Pg 98

Hyperbole

“I want to marry this country.” “It’s a good country.” “I want to spend a life time here.”

Pg 110

OY

And I say the same thing every single time (8)

The question “what drives one’s morality” inherits a variety of answers for there are a variety of moral dilemmas. I think that my set of moral is like a typical person that is driven by common sense. Don’t steal, don’t cheat, don’t lie, and don’t kill. With that being said, it is a prominent fact that gray areas do exist within these concepts. Inside those gray areas is where peoples’ morals are questioned and put in a difficult situation where they may have to alter their principles of right and wrong. For example, would you steal food if it was to save your starving family who would not be able to last another day without eating, or you lie if it was to save your best friend from being expelled? In situations like these ones would have to use more than common sense to solve them. What drives my morality is summed up of four factors: experiences, peers, mind, and heart. Past experiences may help me figure out what to do in certain situations because the consequences are not worth risking. Furthermore, my peers have a lot to do with moral dilemmas as well. If I witnessed a homosexual being bullied by one of my friends, would I step in, or would I not do anything because of my pride? In addition, my mind contributes to all situations excessively. The idea of karma constantly lingers and spins cobwebs in my head whenever I know I’m about to something wrong. Lastly, on very special occasions, heart comes into play. Heart, is when I disregard everything that I have known, know, and will know so only pure emotional judgment makes my decision.

What am I truly afraid of and why?

           People fear many odd things, from pain to war to spiders or even to the fear of eating peanut butter because people are scared that it will stick to the roof of their mouth and suffocate them. I believe that the reason people fear certain things are because of their own imaginiations overthinking scenarios into paranoia. Fear is strictly in the mind and can be simply overcome.

Knowing this I am not without fear; infact I have fear of most trivial things such as moths, heights, death, pain, and tight spaces. Sometimes these fears stay or go according to my minds whim however I have one peminent fear that is also one of the most helpful factors in my life. I am truly and sincerely afraid of failing. When I say failing, I don’t mean failing a test or even failing a course. I mean failing my family’s expectations.

Starting from highschool, my parents adapted to my ever-changing rate of maturity and decided to give me absolute freedom to do what I wanted, when I wanted, wherever I wanted. This was not without love this was because they wanted me to learn responsibility, to take care of myself and to learn the natural consequences that life hurls at you. Before, they did let me loose, they left me with an elongated explanation of how they wanted me to succeed in life because of all the sacrifices that my gradfather and they have made and all their hope was entrusted in me. Before, immature and naïve, I always considered their hope in me in to be a burden. It was always holding me back from doing what I wanted.

Now being sixteeen and having a greater comprehension of what my parents want for me, I am enlightened and fearful of letting down my family. Nevertheless, this rare mixture of fear and understanding has become my motivation, my drive and intention to try my best in school.

Fear has always been in the mind, but I never thought that it would be a foundation to success.

1337 and my feet are cold.

In this world there is a variety of styles for a variety of things. For example, in self-defense one could use submissions to defend themselves or with blocks and kicks. Both are the generally the same thing but in a different style. This is the same with computer language and texting abbreviations as well. It is all derived from the English and is a natural evolution of the language. 

           These new terms invented by people should definitely not be prevented. The human race constantly finds new things to improve on or change throughout time and the evolution of language should never be neglected. Within spontaneous online conversations or texting, people should say whatever that can to express how they feel however they want to using the English language. However, to simplify how one may feel, they abbreviate words or use emoticons. For example, LOL is to laugh out loud or OMG is “Oh My Gosh/God. These words have become so common that sometimes it has a reverse effect. People will say words that they would normally say in an online conversation; like “IDK”. These are some of the many abbreviations that people use to express how they feel and are even advertised in the media.

           Without such evolutions of language a large proportion of peoples’ creativity and emotions can be stripped from them. That being said, new slang that is invented through texting or online conversations should not be used in formal situations: such as essays, classroom assignments, or resumes. There are times when these colloquialism are acceptable and sometimes they are frowned upon because the lack of class. This is not to discriminate illegitimate words from the legitimate words, but to keep a level formality and class.

= )

First impression on Beloved

In the story Beloved written by Toni Morrison, the main protagonist is a black woman named Sethe who escapes from slavery and lives in Ohio several years after the Civil War. Personally I do not like how the beginning of the book is set up and the story line is difficult to relate to. Morrison introduces a setting and characters which are confusing and difficult to understand during the first read. My first impression of Sethe is neutral; I cannot say that she is distasteful but at the same time I certainly cannot relate to her. Sethe has complicated characteristics which are difficult to describe. She seems to live without a purpose, does not have any of her thoughts together, and keeps living in the past. However, she is confident and undisturbed by many things that would be distasteful to most people. Unfortunately, I would actually enjoy Sethe; however the narrator isn’t in sync with the characters and shows their point of view in a confusing way. Morrison confuses his readers by giving an imaginary setting such as a house haunted by a two-year-old baby that died and is “bringing forth hell” upon the house; then he switches to something very real and vivid such as Sethe’s seven brothers containing themselves from raping her sister by having intercourse with cows. In addition, the synopsis at the back of the novel says that Sethe is supposed to be a victim of slavery, yet the first chapters do not say anything about her imprisonment and misfortune. Furthermore, the introduction of the story is very disturbing as it is littered with incense and zoophilia. At first I thought that the author was referring to it on an imaginary level, however as the novel progresses Morrison describes it very literally. Even her own sons “held [her] down and took her milk” before they ran away from their haunted house. (p 21). Moreover, the characters are too different from the present day. I am not a narrow-minded person, nor an uneducated one; however Sethe seems like an unreal character with a “tree growing out of her back” (p 24). At first I thought that it was supposed to symbolize something deeper, but now I am truly confused because the narrator is so literal. In the end I predict that Sethe will evolve from a heart-chilling zombie, and hopefully become a warmer person.

Can I Has?

     In everyone’s life, they have a childhood, within that childhood; everyone needs and wants specific things. Whether it'd be toys, candy, or even lots of friends, every child strives so something. For me, my sole endeavor was approval; I always wanted to climb the ladder of approval from my family and teachers.  In my childhood I always lacked and worked for approval that made led to many challenges to my hard life.

     As a student I was always loud and obnoxious to the teachers. I just wanted their attention approval and I would do anything to achieve my goal. For example, I sped through assignments until I had cramps in my hand so I could finally execute me signature victory punch in to the air to be the first one done. Then I would call out for my teacher to come over and hope to God that she would be impressed. However, every time my teacher came over, she would scrutinize over my first grade work, brow unendingly tense, showing her wrinkles of focus as I sat their holding my breath like I was six feet underwater. After what seemed to be a life time, she always seemed to find a mistake and walked away on her heels in silence. Her heels echoed in my emptying heart as I would hate myself for not doing better. After beating myself up for the first half of the day, it was finally lunch time. Time to play go outside and play soccer with my buddies in our make shift field with tress as our goal posts.

           I was never the best at anything, always discouraged by my family and teachers, but when it came to my friends, I realize they were always there to help me back on my feet. While we were making teams for soccer, I usually picked close to first. Not because I was good at the sport but because my friends just liked having me on their team. Being accepted always got me through the day. After school, I had a little time to exchange a few words with my friends before I had to go home to face more disapproval from my parents.

           Everyday I was asked “How did you do in school?” I would tell them the half-truth by saying that I finished first on an assignment in class hoping that my parents would acknowledge me. However, my parents would never have faith in me and would search through my binder like I didn’t say anything only to find an assignment littered with careless mistakes. Then my parents would look down at me to tell me to try harder, but their words lacked a caring tone. Even when I did try my best and brought home an above average mark, they would still tell me to try harder. On days like these, I would go into my room and wonder why I couldn’t please anyone.

           After months and months of being depressed, I became more and more numb the want for approval. As I grew older, I realized that the reason why I was having such a hard time was because I fought with myself so hard to please others that I forgot to even please myself. I deprived my own self of approval. 

9.17.2010

Hi, my name is Andrew and this is the first post for my english 11 enriched class = )