Thinking Outside the Box

Compare how Plato and Sartre describe the limitations of our thinking and imply solutions to the problem.  Be sure to analyze their literary techniques, especially their use of allegory and extended metaphor.


Plato and Sartre both describe the limitations of our thinking through their writing but in different ways. Both authors express the mental limitations in a way where we as readers are able to relate to these boundaries, as we have also experienced them. Plato believes we must set our minds free so as not to experience hell from keeping away from our curiousity while Sartre believes we should maintain our thoughts so they don't lead to hell.  As we continue to understand these limitations more in depth we will also find solutions which will set us free. The authors use literary techniques such as allegory and extended metaphor to let their ideas come across with more emphasis.


In "Allegory of the Cave" Plato uses symbolism to show how closed in our minds are. The shackles physically limit the prisoners to the cave which also imprisoned the minds of these men from reality itself and kept them in illusions.  The allegory used in the story is the cave itself which is a symbol for the lack of knowledge and the fear that keeps the prisoners from experiencing new things, real things such as the sun and its heat. Plato represents an extended metaphor that is to contrast the way in which we percieve and believe in what is reality.


Although many nineteenth century philosophers developed the concepts of existentialism, it was the French writer Jean Paul Sartre who popularized it. Existentialism is a 20th century philosophical movement embracing diverse doctrines but centering on analysis of individual existence in an unfathomable universe and the plight of the individual who must assume ultimate responsibility for acts of free will without any certain knowledge of what is right or wrong or good or bad. The thing is we as humans can only decipher what we believe in as much as our minds let us. Our thoughts go as far as our mental limitations go. Then we begin to look for someone else's opinion on ourselves. For example, professional physcologists are people we use when we ourselves are to afraid to go into the unknown. They slowly guide us to what most scares us and at some point we overcome that fear, which is a sense of freedom. The allegory used in Sartre is the room which represents the characters' own personal hell. Because in that room is what each character fears the most.  


Sartre and Plato both speak of limtations in our thinking with diiferent thoughts in mind but with the same outcome. That outcome is us and what we are permitted to wonder.

AP Term- Imagery

Definition: figures of speech or vivid description, conveying images through any of the senses.

• Imagery involves one or more of your five senses (hearing, taste, touch, smell, sight). An author uses a word or phrase to stimulate your memory of those senses.

Example(s):  

             "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.  

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.  

The following pictures provide further examples of imagery:

Imagery lets the reader experience the sound of heels hitting concrete as the girl runs towards her destination, the smell of the flower the little boy has chosen for his mother, or the sight of another beautiful day filled with smiling faces as the children run across the yard.

the BIG Question

Many cultural traditions have beliefs about when a person dies. Is there any empirical evidence we can use to confirm or reject these beliefs? How does the mystery of death influence the way we live?

Literature Analysis #3

1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read.

“The House on Mango Street” is a series of vignettes about Esperanza, a twelve year old Chicana girl, going through the phases of childhood. Esperanza has to cope with moving to a new home in a completely different neighborhood where she learns of the different lifestyles that could possibly be hers.  After Esperanza experiences the new friendships both good and bad, sexual assault, and the changes of her body as she grows into a woman she decides that she wants to leave the house on Mango Street and create a life where she has her own home that isn’t small or rundown but the way she wants it filled with a beautiful, happy family. Underneath this dream, though, she knows she can never fully escape this part of her life, her pas and those in it.

2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid clichés.

The theme of this story is “being the beholder of your own future”.  Throughout the plot, Esperanza serves us as a perfect example. Esperanza take the lives of those that surround her, such as neighbors, and this helps her form an outline of what her life could be. The characters that help her with this transformation are also beholders.

3. Describe the author's tone.  Include three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).

There are numerous tones found throughout the story. Each vignette/chapter is a different tone that goes along with the changes of point of view Esperanza goes through.

•      Disillusionment: “Sally, you lied. It wasn't what you said at all. What he did. Where he touched me. I didn't want it, Sally. The way they said it, the way it’s supposed to be, all the storybooks and movies, why did you lie to me?” Esperanza was disillusioned because she was expected “this” to be something out of a fairytale book but the fact that she was assaulted took it all away from her.
•       Denial: “He never hits me hard. She said her mama rubs lard on all the places where it hurts. Then at school she’d say she fell. That’s where all the blue places came from. That’s why her skin is always scarred. But who believes her…”  Sally seems in denial when it comes to her father’s physical abuse out of fear, probably.
•      Anxiety and Distress: “All brown around, we are safe. But watch us drive into a neighborhood of another color and our knees go shakity-shake and our car windows get rolled up tight and our eyes look straight. Yeah. That is how it goes and goes.” The fact that they are going through some where exceptionally dangerous, this causes anxiety and distress.

4. Describe five literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the theme and/or your sense of the tone.  Include three excerpts that will help your reader understand each one.

1.   Imagery is such a strong literary technique that without it the impact of the story would not have been as great. Imagery gives the reader the chance to experience the events Esperanza goes through at its fullest. For example, when the characters felt fear as they went through the neighborhood of another color, the reader was able to feel that same fear because of imagery.
2.  A literary element would be characters. The characters are a main part of the story; they pretty much are the story.  It’s because of the character that Esperanza decides what she wants and what she doesn't want.
3.  Symbolism is another literary element used in “The House on Mango Street”. For example, in the chapter “Hairs” each family member’s hair in Esperanza’s family represents their personality. Papa's hair is stiff and stuck up like a broom in the air, it actually means that he is stuck up, strict, stiff, etc.
4.   Motifs were also used in the book. A motif I found was the fear of falling. An example would be Angel Vargas and Meme who both fall from significant heights. These falls cause Esperanza to hope she would never have to experience “falling”.
5. The last literary element I found in the story was personification.  At the end of the novel personification was used when Esperanza speaks of Mango Street as if it were someone and not something. "One day I will say goodbye to Mango. I am too strong for her to keep me here forever". The street represents what she is leaving behind. 

the Big Question

What happens after death?

Hamlet Essay 2

Hamlet’s use of language has a great impact on the characters in the play. Beowulf has also had a great impact but not in the same way; Beowulf affects his characters through his actions. Hamlet’s use of language is through his soliloquies, through the power of his voice. Beowulf uses past knowledge such as beliefs we are trained to believe. Take the term “epic hero”, which instantly makes you think “good guy”. There are all these things expected from this one person, such as the greater good. But with Hamlet we learn who he is, what his character is like through his use of language.

Pride would be a key theme that helps explain the difference between Hamlet and Beowulf. Pride is something mostly seen in a typical male figure, but then came women’s rights and now men better respect the equality between genders. In the time era of these two plays though things were still biased. The idea of a hero might start off as humble; to help the greater good but as time passes the respect that others have for this hero grows which makes the hero feel superior; this would be Beowulf. Hamlet on the other hand is “only human”. Humans can be strong or weak, and Hamlet is a weak human. Weakness can be seen in flaws and Hamlet’s flaw is indecisiveness. Indecisiveness is seen in Hamlet’s soliloquy “to be or not to be”. Because of hamlet’s flaws, especially his indecisiveness, we are able to understand and relate to his life much more than Beowulf.

Beowulf is a hero and Hamlet is set to be the future king. This has great significance because even though they are both high in society they are nothing alike. Something with more value than a social status would be reputation. You could be royalty but if your reputation has everyone thinking you are crazy no one is going to want to follow you, on the contrary they would want to be rid of any type of problem that you would cause. Hamlet wasn’t crazy; he was going through a tough time trying to get past the tragic events from his father’s murder to his mother remarrying the murderer.   

Not only his use of language but Hamlet himself differentiates from epic heroes such as Beowulf because the reader can relate more easily with Hamlet than Beowulf.  Beowulf kills monsters and Hamlet tells us what he is feeling and thinking through his soliloquies of thoughts.

               

Hamlet Essay

Performative Utterance has not only taken a big part in Hamlet but is also a main part of my thinking process. Taking performative utterance and the explanation of de Boer into thought we now know that the turn of events in Hamlet the play were constituted by the vocal power Hamlet possesses.  This is where “self-overhearing” also ties in because in this process you are forced to take all into consideration to produce a conclusion.  

As de Boer has stated, Hamlet was able to convince those around him he is mad, as in crazy. Because of this, his mother had feared him when they were in her room alone, shown when she called for help as if her life depended on it.  If Hamlet would have come off as a sane person who could be trusted, then his mother could have had a more stable, not to mention trustworthy, relationship. This would have caused her to realize, at some point, what Claudius was capable of and maybe even figure out what he had done to his brother. The performative utterance in this situation would be not that Hamlet is persuasive but what events his persuasion causes; the consequences. 

When we talk to ourselves, there is usually an idea being debated on.  Self- overhearing is a way to evaluate the decision we conclude with. Once we have come across this decision we become more assured of ourselves.  This could also be taken into another perspective. When we talk to ourselves, there can be a specific thought over-crowding our minds causing it to be all we think about. This causes us to let out steam when we have experienced something very dislikeable. Once we have let out steam we can think with a clear mind. The soliloquy of Hamlet, “to be or not to be” would be a great example of “self-overhearing”.

    Hamlet is a play that portrays performative utterance in a way where we can see decisions made throughout the thoughts and actions of the characters. Speech/vocal power is a key part of this idea. This key part had a great impact on the play. Another key part was “self-overhearing” which in a way goes with speech.

The Major Concept

One major concept that has stood out to me, because I can easily relate to it, is procrastination. I am a horrible procrastinator, well technically a great procrastinator; I do it too well. I am constantly told by my father that I always beat around the bush when it comes to getting something done. The thing is I easily get distracted. I have realized how social I can be when trying to get out of getting my work done. I have actually caught myself procrastinating; like when take a sec to check/update my Facebook or check my g-mail. I also tend to walk around the house a lot.  I am a “procrastaholic” and I need to be rid of this addiction before it is too late.

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