Thursday, January 27

Dishonesty in The Importance of Being Earnest

           In the novel, The Importance of Being Earnest, dishonesty is pictured and is the main topic throughout the play. There is dishonest humor because most of the jokes, rants on marriage and woman have to do with the fact that Jack and Algy were dishonest and lying about having a brother names Ernest and a friend named Mr. Bunbury. For satire of social institutions, Lady Bracknell is being dishonest when she said that Cecily was attractive, she honestly didn’t care about all of her background except that she was wealthy. As soon as Jack announced that she was rich, Lady Bracknell was complementing her and giving her consent as quick as the words would come out of her mouth. Cecily admitted to be exaggerating her age “only” when she goes to dinner parties. In the play, there was the “pun” of the main character who pretends to be Ernest and throughout time, he discovers what it really means to be earnest. Algernon also decided he wants to change his name to Ernest too along with Jack because Cecily will only marry a man whose name is Ernest and Algernon likes her too much to let that stop him. Changing names to Ernest is being dishonest to yourself, to the name you were christened with. Changing it just wouldn’t be right to everyone else. In the end of the play, Jack realized that all the lies he made up, having a brother, were true. The pursuit of pleasures are more important than duties in the play. It seems to be that telling the truth is just for pleasure and that pleasure comes over duties of a gentle men. Dishonesty is streaked in and out of the play, it is used in many forms like epigrams, satire, references and pleasure. This whole piece is really all about dishonesty and how one little lie and came a huge commotion and problem but then again, this time, Jack found out his background thanks to that little lie.
          Wilde seems to be saying that dishonesty carries through every person, including the rich, the poor, the slaves and more. Jack and Algernon pretend to be people that they aren’t, Ernest and Bunbury. Lady Bracknell lies to Cecily just so that she’ll like her more and keep being interested in Algernon while Lady Bracknell tries to get her hands on some of her money. Lane lied for Algernon after Lady Bracknell asked for her cucumber sandwiches and Algernon ate them all. Jack never told Gwendolen that he was guardian of a beautiful 18 year old girl. He is saying that almost most of the time, no matter what lie you tell, how long you keep it up, or how big it is, it’s going to be discovered and you’ll be stuck in an awkward situation. Through some of the speeches the characters had, I realized that when Wilde wrote this, dishonesty must have been popular and the “cool” thing to do. Wilde really showed personalities, social classes and some lives of a few different people in the Victorian age, including how being dishonest could effect a lot of things.

Sunday, January 9

Extra Credit New Years.




For New years I really want to pass my tests in math. The grades that I'm getting are not to my pleasing. So this year I am going to do everything that I can to help my grade in math go up. I hate asking for help in anything, i absolutely hate it. If i never had to ask for help, I wouldn't. So that's where I'm going to start. If i don't understand something I wont just wing it, 'm going to ask for help. Then I'm going to study really hard and make sure that I understand all the concepts that the test is going to cover. For the rest of this year I am going to try to get better and not let my test grades go in the hole, I am going to get better scores and understand math better with getting over my "fear" of asking questions

Animal Farm Evaluation

1. Donna Wilson
2. Video
3. Donna did a really good job portraying all the aspects of the novel. I could follow her video and all the important parts of the novel were in her video. I also liked how she put the song the beasts of England in her project.

1. Reagan
2. Poem
3. I really really really like Reagan's poem. It was very creative and original, she put a twist in her poem. Instead of just writing down words she bolded and underlined one letter and in the end of her poem she asks "what is this? tyranny" and thats what those letters spell out.

1. Sherwin, Ketl, Chase and Zack
2. Video
3. I liked how they sang/ recited both versions of Beats of England. The one that Major sang and the one that Napoleon replaced. I was kinda confused what the beating was but it worked with the song. I liked how they all had a speaking part and you could hear individual voices like you would in a group.

1. Leah
2. Comic
3. I like how Leah put a quote from the book that Squealer spoke in one column but in the other she put what he was really saying. She showed the main meaning of the book and how words twisted can be translated into something totally different.

1. Will
2. Time line
3. Will had an interesting time line. It was kinda hard to follow because there wasn't much information but it did show that the pigs on the farm took over. It showed that as the pigs gained more power, they changed the rules, they went from being naked and standing on four legs to wearing clothing and standing on two legs.

1. Melanie
2. Video
3. She showed some of the main characters, their traits to the novel and some main parts of the book, like the seven commandments. She did a good job explaining what she put in her slide show too.

1. Katie
2. Picture
3. She showed an important part in the novel. The part where Frederick is giving the pigs fake money, it's a good drawing and you can tell what's going on.

1. Olivia
2. Haiku
3. Her haiku was good. I like who even a few words in a couple lines can intend a greater meaning. It's kinda like read in between the lines. There's more to the story than what is just on the screen.

1. Grace, Molly, Sarah and Katie
2. Video
3. I really liked it. This, I think, was the best project, they really captured my attention. They went to a real farm, with real farm animals. It was cool. I really enjoyed watching it.

1. Sara E.
2. Picture
3. Her picture showed the farm and how the pigs were above everyone. It was a really good picture and fun to look at.

I think that I did a good job on my project. Sure there was projects that were better than mine but I think mine was up there in that rang. I think mine could have been more neater and easier to read but other wise I can't think of anything else.