Sunday, December 15, 2013

Keeping In-touch

After reading and discussing three of Langston Hughes' poems in class this week, we were asked what one of the themes he created was and how he used verisimilitude to foster his that theme. After thinking about all the poems collectively, I concluded that one theme was to stay connected to your roots and heritage. Hughes emphasizes his point of staying connected with your past in his poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers", when he writes "I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins"(Hughes). He is saying that he knows all this because he understands his ancestors, they have passed the knowledge down to him so he knows where they came from the the struggles they overcame ("human blood"). As the poem continues Hughes incorporates allusions such as the Euphrates, the Congo, the Nile, and many more known rivers. His allusions create verisimilitude, which, in turn, help foster the theme. The rivers he has mentioned have all contributed to great historical events, for example the Euphrates is located in the area of the world where civilizations was first formed. In his poem "The Weary Blues" Hughes also establishes verisimilitude by using colloquialism and first person point of view. The colloquialism add to his theme of connecting to our heritage because he is writing in the way his people actually speak. And finally, the use of first person brings in a personal touch to his pieces which allow readers to understand that he, himself, believes in the importance of being in touch with your roots.

Sunday, December 8, 2013

All that Glitters is not Gold

This week we read three of Francis Scott Fitzgerald's pieces in class, and as we read these pieces our class realized that Fitzgerald stuck to the same theme in all of them. The theme of human's disillusioned dreams ending in disaster was prevalent in all his stories. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby wanted Daisy, whom he viewed as the "American Dream",because she was beautiful and rich; On the surface she seemed perfect, but on the inside Daisy could really care less for Gatsby because she was a materialistic and selfish person. In the end Gatsby ended up dying for someone who didn't care about him. In Winter Dreams, Dexter was mesmerized by Judy Jones' beauty and riches, but once he got to know her he became disappointed because she did not live up to his expectations of her glamour. Finally, in The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, John Unger fell in love with the Washington's lavish lifestyle, but after he had spent enough time there he started to learn their secrets... their psychotic secrets. Most people would think that people with tremendous would enjoy sharing their wealth and would want other's to know of their status, but the Washington's basically killed or imprisoned anyone who found out. Because they were suffocated by the secret of their diamond, the Washingtons could not live normal and happy lives. These stories exemplify how people glamorize things more than they should and they build up their expectations until it all comes crashing down on them and they realize their mistake. Dexter and John were lucky enough to realize in the end that having everything you dreamed of does not mean you are happy or content, and they were able  to go off and live their lives with this new found knowledge. Those of us lucky enough to be in AP english have had the chance to break down these stories and learn from the mistakes of these three unfortunate men. Things are not always what they seem.