Poem

What is Collins trying to say with this poem?   That after childhood you have nothhing.  How does he capture childhood and the process of growing up?  Childhood the best time of your life and once you start growing up you will start becoming depressed.   What makes this poem effective?   All the description and detail of what you do as a child and how you thought as a child.  how does this fit into your own life experience?  My childhood was amazing and so much fun but I am also looking forward to the future and I love the place where I am now.

definition

Beauty is not what you are born with, but what you can do to yourself to look more appealing.  Beauty is not skin deep or in your skin at all, it is what you put on top of your skin.

Denial is what a person has when they do not agree with common culture.  Denial is frowned upon and isn't something a person should want.

Evil is everywhere and everyone.  It is constantly spreading its negative attitude on life.  Evil people are those who seem kind but go across seas to kill others they dont agree with.

Are there any fresh ideas enlisted in this definition? How would you have defined this idea? Are there ideas similar to it that you could choose to define?  Yes the idea that a yankee is kind has never occered to me.  I'm not sure how I would have defined this idea but it would have gone along with the idea of the baseball team.

There are allusions here: (1) to the musical Damn Yankees!, (2) to the Bible (the parable of the Good Samaritan), and (3) to a poem by Robert Frost. Do these allusions add anything to the essay or to your understanding of things? What if you didn't "get" the allusions?   If somebody were to able to understand these allusions, they are now able to look up all three and get a better understanding of what the writter means.

What techniques of development does the essay use in the process of definition? Do you think the writer dwelt too long on what a Yankee is not before moving on to what a Yankee is?   No I do not think the writer dwelt too long on what a Yankee is not because sometimes the best way to describe something, is to describe what it isn't.

Can you point to (write down) one sentence that functions as thesis statement in this essay?

That's what I think defines this dying breed of the American Yankee: an extraordinary sense of balance and reserve, a holding off — and yet, behind all that reserve, a reservoir of generosity and friendliness that can be nearly overwhelming.

spring break

Over spring break I went on a cruise!  I went with my best friend Moran.  The cruise went to Florida and the Bahamas.  I met many interesting people on the boat and ate lots of interesting food.  The downfall of the trip was when I got sick.  I thought I had food poisoning but then realized I had the flu.  I really hated staying on the boat while everyone else got to go to the beach and lay in the sun. 

Since I had a two week spring break, my second week was spent sleeping in.  Every morning I woke up around noon.  Although I had scheduled dance classes every day of the week, I still managed to find time to spend with friends and also find a job!  My brother is a manager of the subway on Polaris and he was able to get me a job.  This spring break I learned all the special ways to make the different types of subs.  Overall it was a great spring break full of relaxation, working, and spending time with my brother.

1. “A Modest Proposal” is an ironic essay: the author deliberately writes what he does not mean.  What is the real thesis?  Is there more than one?

The real thesis is the people saying to England and the kingdom that you oppress us so much that we might as well eat our children

  

  

2. Look closely at paragraphs 4, 6, and 7, and study how the appeals to logic are put in mathematical and economic terms.  Underline those words and phrases.

 am assured by our merchants, that a boy or a girl before twelve years old is no salable commodity; and even when they come to this age they will not yield above three pounds, or three pounds and half-a-crown at most on the exchange; which cannot turn to account either to the parents or kingdom, the charge of nutriment and rags having been at least four times that value.

3. When does the reader begin to realize that the essay is ironic?  Before or after the actual proposal is made in paragraph 10?

Before.  When the author talks about the children in paragraph 4
   

4. Which groups of people are singled out as special targets for Swifts’ attack?  Are the Irish presented completely as victims, or are they also to blame?

I believe that the rulers are to blame and the Irish people are not to blame.

 5. Does the essay merely function as a satirical attack?  Does Swift ever present any serious proposals for improving conditions?  If so, where?

No i didn't find any improving conditions

 6. What is the purpose of the last paragraph?

To show that he isn't doing this for himself but for others.

7. The character proposing the measure uses various techniques to convince. These include statistics and appeals to the authority of prominent figures. Can you spot any others? Have you done any sort of "labor" job? Did you resist your employer and, if you did, what forms did your resistance take?  Is there a strong link between humor, anger, or other emotional states and resistance? Can you give examples of things you did to vent frustration (particularly if they were funny?)

In paragraph six the author is giving facts about children and how much they weigh and how great of a meal they would make.  Yes I have done a labor job.  I never resisted my employer because I didn't want to lose my job.  there is a strong link to all of these emotions and resistance.  You can resist your employer by making jokes about how you really feel just to lighten the mood but also have a real message to tell him.

8. If you were, conversely, given the job of marketing babies, do you think it could be done, and how? We have a tradition, in English, of keeping the French names for the meats of animals eaten primarily by the rich. Would the first step be calling baby meat something French? Would it be by processing the baby to the point of non-recognition?

 

Ew.  No we could never ever sell children.

i want a wife

1. Does this essay have an explicitly stated thesis? If so, what is it? If you believe the thesis is implied, paraphrase it in your own words.

I want a wife that way life is easier.
2. Throughout the essay, Brady repeats the words “I want a wife.” What is the effect of this repetition? 

Stressing how its always the wife that does the duties, not the spouse but always the wife.

3. Do you think Brady really wants the kind of wife she describes—does this ideal spouse

actually exist? Explain why you think Brady wrote this essay.

Brady does not actually want a wife.  She wrote this essay to show how much she does and says she wants a wife just so she can give her duties to someone else.

4. How does Brady define what it means to be a “wife”? How does she organize the many services a wife provides her husband and family? What do you think of Brady’s characterization of a wife and her responsibilities? How do you think she wants her readers to respond to this characterization? Why?

She defines wife as somebody who cooks, cleans, mends, takes care of the children and her husband.  A wife who does everything that way the husband can focus on work.  I believe she wants the readers to respond to this characterization by realizing that the work should be split up equally betweent he husband and the wife.  She wants to be able to go back to school and get a higher education and work just like her husband.

5. Write a letter to Brady responding to “I Want a Wife.” Let her know what you admire or don’t admire about the essay and the extent to which you consider it effective and/or persuasive.

 

Dear Brady,

Your essay was very funny to me.  I understand that you were feeling that way but in the year 2012, we have many stay at home fathers.  The jobs are split up equally and the fathers show just as much affection to the children as the mothers do.  This may come to a shock to you but I would much rather stay at home with children than go to school.  No, I wouldnt want to have to always be home cleaning and cooking and entertaining but I would rather spend time with my children than have my husband do it.  Times have changed in this world.

From,

Madison

Tell me why you liked them.  Were they similar to other stories you've heard? Did Thurber surprise you in any way? How does he use satire (mocking or making fun of something else) in the story?

the little girl and the wolf
I liked this story because it made the girl sound a lot smarter than the original.  He surprised me when the girl pulled out a gun because its so different from the first.  He mocks the story by stating the moral that girls can't be fooled as easily. 

The bear
This story was not like any story I have ever heard so I enjoyed it.  Thurber surprised me by basically saying its fine to drink cause you're going to look stupid anyways.

The Fox and the Crow
I had heard a story like this before but never really understood the moral.  I like this story because Thurber surprised me by making not about the sneakiest animal but who was arrogant .  I believe that's how he made fun of the original