Friday, March 20, 2009

Blake's Poetry

1) I agree with the editors of the textbook that Blake's poetry had the power to enact social change by appealing to the imagination of the reader. As readers, we tend to look at the physical aspects of child labor. When you think about it people feelbad for the children because of the harsh labor conditions. The children are extremely tired and their health is begins to fail. They work long hours in unsanitary environments and are often very hungry. People tend to feel bad because of the physical affects of child labor. These thoughts appeal to the emotion but Blake takes it a step further when he makes the reader think about the Physiological aspect of child labor. He wants the reader to put him/herself in the childrens shoes. He has the readers to think beyond having compassion for the children but what if they had to have compassioin for themselves becuase thay are one of the children. Could you imagine being a child forced to perform hard unfair labor and knowing that your parents are behind it all? Could you imagine constantly feeling hungry, tired , and sick for hours every day for years so that your parents could get a tiny sum of money? The people that pray for you, your parents, are the same ones that sold you into the life of hard labor. This is Blake's way of making the tex more personal. This is how Blake's peotry had the power to enact social change. He not only struct emotion but he gives the reader a sense of imagination.

Jonathan Swift Teacher prep work

In my teacher group, we focused on three major questions A) 1. What is your initial reaction to the actions and behavior of the Lilliputians amongst themselves and towards Gulliver?
“When this shower of arrows was over, I fell a-groaning with grief and pain, and then striving again to get loose, they discharged another volley larger than the first, and some of them attempted with spears to stick me in the sides; but, by good luck, I had on me a buff jerkin,4 which they could not pierce. I thought it the most prudent method to lie still, and my design was to continue so till night, when, my left hand being already loose, I could easily free myself: And as for the inhabitants, I had reason to believe I might be a match for the greatest armies they could bring against me, if they were all of the same size with him that I saw.”This question will get students to simply voice their opinions about the story and show any likes or dislikes that students have about the excerpt.
2. Is there a connection between this story and any modern political systems or social structures?
“From whence one of them, who seemed to be a person of quality, made me a long speech, whereof I understood not one syllable. But I should have mentioned, that before the principal person began his oration, he cried out three times, Langro dehul san (these words and the former were afterward repeated and explained to me). Whereupon immediately about fifty of the inhabitants came and cut the strings that fastened the left side of my head, which gave me the liberty of turning it to the right, and of observing the person and gesture of him who was to speak.”This question will challenge students to compare of contrast the general theme and situations in Gulliver’s travels to modern life therefore causing students to analyze the text more closely.
3. How has Gulliver been able to overcome the language barrier between himself and the Lilliputians?
“He acted every part of an orator, and I could observe many periods of threatening, and others of promises, pity, and kindness.”“I found the demands of nature so strong upon me, that I could not forbear showing my impatience (perhaps against the strict rules of decency) by putting my finger frequently on my mouth, to signify that I wanted food. The Hurgo5 (for so they call a great lord, as I afterward learnt) understood me very well.”

B) In my teacher group, I came to realize that it is not very easy to think like a teacher. In doin so you must take the text and ask yourself questions that you know the author does not give clear answers to in the text. You have to realize that these are the questions that students will ask. My group realized that when teaching a piece of text, you must look beyond what is written and fill in some of the blanks with history that you already know. In some cases, this assignment was fairly easy because as students, we already know what kind of "how" and "why" questions would be asked by our peers. Hardest part for us was to look beyond what we read and find the answers to questions with knowledge that we already had. Since we have a limited knowledge of the stories subject, it was difficult to look beyond the written text.

1984 Writing assignment

The doctrine that O'Brien proclaims to Winston in 1984 plays a major role in maintaining the system of oligarchic collectivsm and in Winston's fate. Winston was a character who had no choice but to be secretive. Everything he did or thought was always subject to be reviewed as political rebellion by the Party. Winston's diary entries was his only sacred expression of being free. His love for Julia was his only hope for surviving that lifestyle. O'Brien's doctrine was so important because O'Brien pretty much knew that what he was saying to Winston was nothing but music to Winston's ears. It was everything that Winston had ever hoped for and dreamed of being. It was the only tool that could maintain Winston's sanity.
O' Brien knew exactly just how desperate Winston was for freedom and how much Winston hayed the Party. He knew that Winston would be a supporter of anyone who even looked like thay were against the Party. Winston was a very confused character. Being as though his life was not his own, and he was forced to speak a language that deleted his actual emotions, it was hard for him to to be able to judge who was for him or against him. This is why his Diary was basically his best friend. Therefore, O'Brien's cleverness and conceit is what caused Winston's fate. Winston's only hope throughout the story was to recall things that use to happen in the past with the things that were happening now. It seems as if us, the readers and O'Brien were the only ones who had actual knowledge of Winston's naive ways. Therefore, the readers and O'Brien were able to conclude just how Winston would react to his fate.


In my analysis of 1984, I would like to focus on Winston's emotions of the Party. The Party watches him through telescreens and everywhere he looks he sees the Party's leader who is known as "Big Brother." The Party controls everything in Oceania, even the people's history and language. It even forced the invention of a new language called Newspeak, which attempted to prevent political rebellion. Winston feels frustrated because he does not like control of the Party. It prohibits free thought, sex, and any expression of individuality. Winston dislikes the party and has illegally bought a diary so that he could write his criminal thoughts. He has also become interested in a powerful Party member named O'Brien, whom Winston believes is a secret member of the Brotherhood. TheBrotherhood is a legendary group that works to overthrow the Party.
Winston is troubled by the Party's control of history. The Party claims that Oceania has always been allied with Eastasia in a war against Eurasia, but Winston remembers a time when this was not true. The Party also claims that Emmanuel Goldstein is the most dangerous man alive, but this does not seem true to Winston. One day, Winston receives a note from the dark-haired girl that reads “I love you.” She tells him her name isJulia, and they begin to have an affair, always on the lookout for signs of Party monitoring. Eventually they rent a room above the secondhand store in the prole district where Winston bought the diary. This relationship lasts for some time. Winston is sure that they will be caught and punished sooner or later. As Winston's affair with Julia progresses, his hatred for the Party grows more and more intense.
Sadly, Winston and Julia were tricked by Obrien, the spy. They were both captured and forced to belive that "Big Brother" was the best decision for them. Winston was brainwashed into thinking that he had no feelings for Julia. He was confronted with his worst fear, rats, and completely converted to the ways of "Big Brother." Winston's love for Julia and freedom seemed to have been very strong throughout the story but obviously not strong enough because he allowed fear and peer pressure to overcome his feelings of being free and his relationship with Julia.