"Inheritance"--An Epic Conclusion to A Beloved Series

Literary Analysis of Inheritance By Christopher Paolini

GENERAL

1.  In Christopher Paolini's Inheritance, a maturing Dragon Rider named Eragon fights alongside a rebelling army called the Varden.  They are in revolt against a terrible king that was also once a Dragon Rider but betrayed his brotherhood because of greed.  

2. A big theme of this book is ethics and responsibility, along with life's meaning, and even the idea of a god.

3. Throughout the book, Paolini comes across as eloquent and deeply knowledgeable, despite his young age and teen-like appearance.      

4. I picked up on quite a few literary elements in Inheritance, such as elegant syntax and a radiating diction on the part of Paolini.  Also, there seemes to be a vast amount of foreshadowing, which leads to some pretty drastic plot twists, along with a few allusions to Christianity and relgion.  The entire story is told from three character's points of view, but in third person limited omnicient.

CHARACTERIZATION

1.  When focusing on different characters, Paolini tends to tell each character's story very differently for the sake of keeping individuality alive and awesome.  Each character has his or her specific way of portraying their feelings to the reader and to other characters.  I think that Paolini does a masterful job of bringing his characters leaping off the pages.  

2.  Eragon is definitely a dynamic protagonist.  As the story progresses he finds out more and more about himself and why he does what he does for the Varden.  Young Eragon must learn to hone his thoughts and conceal his emotions in order to confront the king.  On a side quest for knowledge, Eragon learns about himself more than he ever thought possible, for he found out his secret name, of which very few have found voluntarily.  This is a major turning point in Eragon's fight against the king.

3.  I definitely feel as if I've meet someone coming away from this book.  All the characters are relatable and interesting, even if they seem to be a little on the darker side of the battle.  

The Medium is the Message

I remember watching the Disney rendition of "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" as a kid and thinking to myself, That guy is so freaking skinny, how did he eat so much?  But now that I've read the story, I know that there was a lot more to this guy's story than I really knew.  The book produced so much more of a humorous look at Ichabod Crane.  Also, after reading the book, I noticed that Disney left out a whole lot of things that made the book so much more, in-depth, and that made the movie that much more childish (well, duh.).  The movie just showed the thing between him and Brom Bones as the main problem in the story.

Overall, dug the story way more than the movie.

Vocabulary Fall List #10

Pedagogue:  A teacher or instructor, specifically one that is very strict or straight-laced.

Or this.

Cavernous:  Referring to a cave in shape, size, or atmosphere.

Coquettish:  Continually flirtatious, usually in a lighthearted and teasing manner.

Tete-a-tete:  A private conversation.

Suffice:  To be enough or adequate.

Amorous:  Showing feeling;  In love.

Vocabulary Fall List: #7

Ad infinitum-  To infinity; endlessly; without limit.
 Apportion-  To distribute or allocate proportionally; divide and assign according to some rule of proportional distribution: to apportion expenses among the three men.
 Bona fide-  1)  Made, done, or presented in good faith; W/o deception or fraud.  2)  Authentic, true.
 Buoyant-  Attempting to float in a liquid.   Capable of keeping a body afloat.  Not easily depressed, cheerful.  Cheering or invigorating.
 Clique-  A small, exclusive group of people.
 Concede-  To acknowledge as true, just, or proper.  To acknowledge before something is officially established.
 Congenial-  Agreeable, suitable, or pleasing in nature or character.  Suited or adapted in spirit.
 Lofty-  Extending high into the air; of imposing height; towering.  Exalted in rank, dignity, and character.    
 Migration-  The process or act of moving a group of people, animals, or things, from one place to another.
 Perceive-  To become aware of, know, or identify by means of the senses.
 Perverse-  Willfully determined or disposed to go counter to what is expected or desired; contrary
 Prelude-  Any action that comes before another action. 
 Rancid-  A rank, unpleasant, stale smell or taste, especially as through decomposition.
 Rustic-  Of, pertaining to, or living in the country, as distinguished from cities and towns.  Simple, artless, or unsophisticated.  Uncouth, rude, or boorish.
 Sever-  To separate a part from a whole as by cutting or the like.
 Sordid-  Morally ignoble or base; vile.
 Untenable-  Incapable of being defended, as in an argument or thesis.
 Versatile-  Capable of or adapted for turning from one thing to another of various tasks.
 Vindicate-  To clear, as in an accusation, imputation, suspicion, or the like.
 Wane-  To decrease in ferocity, intensity, ect.

Midterm!!! (Oh, crap...)

I know there are some people out there that are now freaking the hell out about the Midterm, and that's fine.  I may not have stuck to my exact plan either.  But I found a website (Study Blue ) that not only has a great study technique, but it helps organize your work. When you get to the page, you should see a "join" button in the top right corner.  When you click it, just type in your information (it's completely free and confidential).  The site will give you the option of joining via Facebook, or you can sign up with an email.  Clicking on email will pop down a info table, and once you fill it out, click "Submit".  It will ask you to join a class, so type in "English 3, Preston" in the box.  It will take you to your "Backpack", which is the organization part.  You can create flashcards and other study material to help with whatever.  If you have time, explore the site and comment to this post with what you found, because I haven't looked at the whole site.  You're welcome!

HomeWork for 10/1

1. Spend time with "Dream Within a Dream"-- you'll need to be able to recite it from memory by Wednesday, 10.3
2. Take a walk by yourself.  Think.  Observe.  Write it all down.
3. Research Romanticism online and find 3 websites you think are credible.  Bookmark or cut/paste the URLs.
4. Using what you learned on these websites, read what you wrote and analyze whether it qualifies as Romantic literature.  Provide at least three reasons for your conclusion.
5. Post all the information from #1-3 to your blog by Monday, 10.1

1. Right now, I am sitting in a tall tree with a pad of paper an a pencil, and I can't help myself from thinking about the recent activities that have cropped up in my life.  Like how, just last week I fell out of a relationship, only to find myself jumping right back into one.  Sports are going not quite as planned, but still rock.  I realize that my life is not at all complex or terribly hard.  You might even say that I have it kind of easy (I would disagree, but whatever.) .  It's hard to clear my mind, because it seems to be going a mile a minute, and I can never focus on stuff for more than an hour (except for when it comes to books.  Pulled an all-nighter once reading all the books on my Kindle... about twelve of them, one more that 800 pages.).  And maybe music.  I love music.  It inspires me, makes me want to transcend the expectations of my stereotyped "teenage laziness" that my generation has been branded with.
2. 
   

• http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/romanticism.html
• http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/rom.html
• http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americannovel/timeline/romanticism.html

1. (3.)  Inferring from the research, I have come to the conclusion that I had almost written a Romantic piece of literature.  I used "I", but I did not include a lot of feeling and natural themes into my writing.  There was also not enough thoughts about what makes me human, according to the sites.  So yeah, almost.

Vocabulary: Fall List #6

1. Adroit-  An expert; deft.
2. Amicable-  Friendly.
3. Averse-  Unwilling.
4. Belligerent-  (adj.) Aggressively hostile.  (n.) A nation at war.
5. Benevolent-  Kind and charitable.
6. Cursory-  Hasty and superficial.
7. Duplicity-  Deceitfulness.  
8. Extol-  To praise highly.
9. Feasible-  Capable of being done, likely.
10. Grimace-  Facial expression indicating pain, disapproval, etc.
11. Holocaust-  Great destruction, especially by fire.  
12. Impervious-  Not allowing penetration; incapable of being affected.
13. Impetus-  Driving or moving force.
14. Jeopardy-  Hazard or risk of or exposure to loss, harm, death, or injury.  Peril or danger.  The danger or hazard of being found guilty, and of consequent punishment, undergone by criminal defendants on trial.
15. Meticulous-  Minutely careful.
16. Nostalgia-  Sentimental yearning for the past.
17. Quintessence-  The pure essence or most perfect example of something.
18. Retrogress-  Return to a more original or more primitive condition.  
19. Scrutinize-  To examine closely.
20. Tepid-  Lukewarm.

Vocabulary Fall List #5

1. Allude-  Refer to something the author thinks you should know.
2. Clairvoyant-  To perceive beyond the senses.
3. Conclusive-  Being decisive; final.
4. Disreputable-  Of poor reputation.
5. Endemic-  Widespread to one area.
6. Exemplary-  Of noteworthy importance.
7. Fathom-  (n) Measure of nautical depth.  (v) to understand.
8. Guile-  Trickiness.
9. Integrity-  Integrate thought, word and action.
10. Itinerary-  Trip schedule.
11. Misconstrue-  (passive) Misunderstand.  (active) Misrepresent.
12. Obnoxious-  Rude; loud.
13. Placate-  To calm down.
14. Placid-  Peaceful.
15. Plagiarism-  Taking someone elses' work and showing it as your own.
16. Potent-  Powerfull.
17. Pretext-  A reason.
18. Protrude-  To stick out, out in the open.
19. Stark-  Obvious (Stark Tower is obviously home to Tony Stark)
20. Superficial-  Shallow.

"AHA!!!" Moment.

Reading simple things, like articles, has always been easy for me.  But reading MSS Parts I, II, and III was a bit of a challenge.  Before today, I wasn't quite understanding the whole "difference btwn signs and symbols" thing.  Now I know that a sign is something that makes us think of something else (occurs naturally), and a symbol is something that was put in a certain place to force a certain thought.  AHA!

Young Goodman Brown Symbols

Faith's Ribbons:  The ribbons show how Faith is the embodiment of innocence. When the ribbon floats down from the sky, Goodman Brown was doubting the purity of the people around him.  He perceives the ribbon's appearance as Faith's loss of innocence, but at the end of the story, when Faith's ribbons had been restored to their rightful place in her bonnet, Goodman Brown questions the authenticity of his adventures.
The Staff:  Encircled with a carving of a serpent, the staff was an obvious symbol for the Serpent in Adam and Eve.  Just as the Snake in the story leads Eve down the path of evil, the staff assists Goodman Brown in his unintentional quest for evil.
The Old Man:  Although not-so-obvious, the old man completely represents the devil himself.  He is dressed exactly like Goodman Brown, suggesting the evil in all of us.  His manner and style of speech all suggest evil beyond our comprehension.

Online Security

Since so much of our lives is spent online downloading information and friends, keeping your personal life locked down while surfing the web is a high priority.  What Ian was mentioning was, of course, common sense to all students, but the big thing that I saw that he centered around just not being stupid.  All the gimmicks that he showed were so simple yet so clever; the scroll bar that really isn't a scroll bar, and the Facebook security stuff.  The password stuff was really interesting, because I didn't think anybody could actually just leave 12345 as their password and think they're safe.  And to think that big companies like Sony can be just hacked like, "No biggie, dude, I do this all the time, hacking into huge companies with baller lawyers.  No sweat!"  But yeah, mainly Ian's talk was very helpful and I look forward to another presentation, if there is to be one.

Vocabulary Fall List #2

Intercede-  to plead on behalf on someone else.
 Hackneyed-  used so often as to lack freshness or origionality.
 Approbation-  the expression of approval or favorable opinoin, praise.
 Innuendo-  a hint, indirect suggestion or reference.
 Coalition-  a combination, union, or merger for some specific reason. 
 Elicit-  to draw forth, bring out form some source.
 Hiatus-  a gap, opening, break (in the sense that an element is missing)
 Assuage-  to make easier or milder, to relieve; to quiet, calm; to put an end to, to satisfy, appease, quench.
 Decadence-  decline, decay, or deteriouration; excessive self-indugence.
 Expostulate-  to attempt to dissuade someone from some course or decision by earnest reasoning.
 Simulate-  to make a pretense of, to imitate.
 Jaded-  wearied, worn-out, dulled.
 Umbrage-  shade cast by trees; overshadowing influence or power.
 Prerogative-  a special right or privilage.
 Lurid-  causing shock, horror, or revulsion; pale, or sallow in color.
 Transcend-  to rise above or beyond; to exceed.
 Provincial-  pertaining to an outlying area; local; narrow in mind or outlook; countrified in the sense of being limited or backward
 Petulant-  peevish, annoyed by trifles, easily irritated or upset.
 Unctuous-  excessivley smooth or smug; trying to hard to give an impression of eagerness, sincerity, or peity.
 Meritorious-  worthy, deserving of praise and recognition.

NaNoWriMo "Book"

Ok, I wrote this in 8th grade, so go easy on the grammar and writing.

"Young Goodman Brown" Q's.

The story "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is quite difficult to understand if you haven't already read Romeo and Juliet.  Words seemed flipped around, like Yoda-speech, and they also have unnecessary endings and "th's " all over the place.  Reading this piece, I had three problems:
1.)  I got lost towards the end of the story.  It was complicated and hard to discern what I needed to know and what was extra.
2.)  How did Faith get to the creepy-meeting-thingy?
and 3.)  How did the midnight meeting change Goodman Brown?

Socratic Seminar Notes.

Thread 1.) The Article Itself
Thread 2.) "Earth on Turtle's Back"
Thread 3.) Rhetoric
Thread 4.) Technology
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It seems that all Socratic Seminars that I have witnessed have fallen apart because everyone is to afraid that people won't agree or that their thoughts are stupid.  Those that are brave enough say whatever comes to mind first are seen as incoherent unless they throw some big words into their speech.  Along the way, there are minute flashes of brilliance that are soon engulfed by the wise-cracking brouhaha of their fellows.  Many kids will throw out their usual "Yeah, I agree with that..."  and never provide a true thought behind their agreement.  Still others change their minds much too quickly to have thought of any reason behind their sudden change of heart.  Sometimes, Socratic Seminars are great at bringing out the true brilliance of some people, if their peers wouldn't hold them back.

Reflections on Week #1: Looking Back, Moving Forward.

When I reviewed the past week, I tended to focus on all the hardships I endured;  Richard Cory reciting, vocab tests, and the drag of school.  But, there are things from this past week that I learned that, "Hey, I can't really do that," or "That worked well, I need to do that more often!"

Truthfully, a number of things could attract my focus in a bad way that takes away from my learning experience.  People in class being stupid, home troubles, time carved out to show my dogs some love (I'm a big dog person).  But I think I should be perfectly fine.  I adore the whole blogging concept!  Love it, love it, love it!!  To get back on topic, I do believe the best school-related event which changed my outlook on grades was reciting Richard Cory for Mrs. Byrne's English 2 Honors class and nailing it!  I felt so empowered, I was so stoked for the rest of the class period and the entire day, in fact.  That moment made me realize, "Why was I so worried about this?  I just mopped the floor with that poem!"  I feel so content with this english class.  I'm happy I'm going to get an AP like setting in which to find my true ability to excel in the school setting.

Blog Assignment #1

When I was choosing my classes (perk of being a teacher's kid) for the next year, I saw that Dr. Preston had  an AmLit class open.  I wasn't ready to give up the Honors/AP style of English, and a good friend and former student was just gushing about her blog and the class and the Doc.  So I was like, "Why not?  I've heard so much about his regular class being not much different from an AP class, and I want to prove to myself I can handle an AP class."

I believe that, under Dr. Preston's guidance, I can find in myself the confidence to speak and be heard.  I have always hated getting up and talking to my peers, even though talking to a room full of adults is no problem.  Being in Boy Scouts of America and inches from the rank of Eagle Scout has done that to me. But I don't expect the knowledge to just hit me.  I know I have to go into the work and find answers for my own quest of understanding and application.

I am so excited about establishing myself on the worldwide web.  I feel so... empowered!  It's exhilarating!  It might be a little too early, but I feel ready to take on Dr. Preston's AP Lit class Senior year.  It'll be fun and challenging.  I can't wait!

Welcome!

Blogging is a new skill that was daunting at first, but now I know it is so fun!  So sit back and enjoy the all-new Albright Blog!