Literary Fiction & Empathy

How can reading fiction help you understand others?  Use Hamlet as an example to explore your own thinking process and reactions to a character's innermost thoughts/struggles. 
        Reading this article took a turn on my brain. Before I would have thought that people that read the more popular modern novels relate and interpret the novels more on a personal basis because the popular novels talk about and are based on today's society. Reading literary works from the past to me can be very interesting because I enjoy history, but let's be honest, most of those works are extremely boring and contain no interest in an 18 year old. When I read a boring story I lose interest immediately and don't fully grasp and understand what the author is trying to get across within the relationships or the purpose of the characters. I agree with the statement that reading fiction can help boost the readers social perception and emotional intelligence and in a way that the readers can relate to the situations because they occur in real every day lives. For instance, in Hamlet when we discover that his mother, after his father dies, marrys his uncle. I understand and can relate to his perspective because of that were to happen to me and I were in that position I would have  been extremely angry and have created a huge resentment towards my mother and "uncle". While reading the emotions and thoughts of chatacters portrayed in fiction novels/stories, the audience is able to relate to the emotions and feelings as if they were experiencing a situation like that themselves. 

Vocabulary #6

Abase: (Verb) behave in a way so as to belittle or degrade

Ex: It’s disappointing to see the amount of guys who like to abase girls in my grade.
abdicate: (verb) (of a monarch) renounce one's throne

Ex: The prince had to abdicate his throne because of unknown causes.
abomination: (Noun) a thing that causes disgust or hatred:

Ex: In many stories, there is always that one character that is an abomination because of how cruel they are to people.
brusque: (adjective) abrupt or offhand in speech or manner:

Ex: My friend speaks in such brusquemanner that I can’t tell if he is joking or not.
saboteur: (noun) a person who engages in sabotage.

Ex: Sometimes I like to believe that karma is my saboteur to my life.
debauchery: (noun) excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures.

Ex: I have a friend who is always up to debauchery, and it concerns me for his health.

proliferate: (verb) increase rapidly in numbers; multiply:

Ex: To proliferate money with less work would be an awe-struck sight to see.
anachronism: (noun) a thing belonging or appropriate to a period other than that in which it exists, esp. a thing that is conspicuously old-fashioned:

Ex: Sometimes I like to believe I’m ananachronism because the teenagers at my school are idiotic and ill-minded.
nomenclature: (noun) the devising or choosing of names for things, esp. in a science or other discipline.

Ex: Whenever I talk to my friends, I tend to make up nomenclature when I can’t think of the real name for objects.
expurgate: (verb) to remove matter thought to be objectional or unsuitable from a book 

Ex: If someone were to expurgate a section from a book, it must be something that is truly offensive.
bellicose: (adjective) demonstrating aggression and willingness to fight:

Ex: Sometimes my sister likes to have a bellicose attitude because she wants to show who is boss.
gauche: (adjective) lacking ease or grace; unsophisticated and socially awkward.

Ex: MOST OF MY FRIENDS HAVE A GAUCHETRAIT IN THEM WHICH IS EXTREMELY FUNNY.
rapacious: (adjective) aggressively greedy or grasping

Ex: Sometimes I like to think that I’m better than everyone because then do I ever get to act in a rapacious way.
paradox: (noun) a statement or proposition that, despite sound (or apparently sound) reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory:

Ex: A paradox is usually seen in plays to create a certain effect for readers.
conundrum: (noun) a confusing and difficult problem or question

Ex: I’m always stuck in conundrums with my friends because they just don’t seem to understand me or they are just assholes.
anomaly: (noun) something that deviates from what is standard, normal, or expected

Ex: I like to date a guy who can be unique and be an anomaly.
ephemeral: (adjective) lasting for a very short time:

Ex: Wow, it seems like my friendship with The Clan was meant to be ephemeral for me.
rancorous: (adjective) characterized by bitterness or resentment

Ex:I have been very rancorous lately due to the fact that my friends have completely forgotten me.
churlish: (adjective) rude in a mean-spirited and surly way

Ex: Sometimes I do not miss the churlishactions my friends had towards me.
precipitous ( adjective) dangerously high or steep.

Ex: Since I’m not scared of heights, I love to be in precipitous places.

Canterbury Tales 2 (What a character!)

Green Eggs and Hamlet

A.) Honestly I do not know one thing about Hamlet. I've never been introduced to his work before, but I am interested and curious to see what it's going to be like and if I'm going to enjoy it or not. 

B.) I don't really know anything about Shakespeare as a person ( I probably did but that was freshman year and I forgot) but I have read the famous Romeo and Juliet.

C.) Many students involuntarily frown when they hear the name Shakespeare because he's writing is so hard to read and understand throughout his stories. Old English is an extremely difficult language and not the slightest bit enjoyable. 

D.) We should make this enjoyable and fun by reading the play in class and doing a fun activity with it such as remaking the scenes or doing our own little play so we learn in depth what each scene should portray. 

Vocabulary #5

shenanigans - secret or dishonest activity or maneuvering.

Ex: Students engage in youthful shenanigans during the last day of school.

ricochet - noun a glancing rebound; verb spring back; spring away from an impact

Ex: The jack-in-the-box ricocheted back when the handle was done turning
schism - noun division of a group into opposing factions; the formal separation of a church into two churches or the gwithdrawal of one group over doctrinal differences

Ex: A schism occurred during the French Revolution
eschew - verb avoid and stay away from deliberately; stay clear of

Ex: Eschew the dogs children!
plethora - noun extreme excess

Ex: The cake decorator went to the plethora when making my wedding cake.
ebullient - adj. cheerful and full of energy 

Ex: She was ebullient and happy
garrulous - adj. excessively talkative, especially on trivial matters.

Ex: The man is portrayed as a foolish and garrulous old man.
harangue - noun a lengthy aggressive speech 

Ex: The man was the type of guy who shouted harangues at people walking the streets about global warming.
interdependence - noun a reciprocal relation between interdependent entities (objects or individuals or groups)

Ex: The US citizens had relieved interdependence.
capricious - adj. determined by chance or impulse or whim rather than by necessity or reason; changeable

Ex: The brave man took on this dangerous journey with a capricious mind set.
loquacious - adj. tending to talk a great deal; talkative.

Ex: The toddler at church was extremely loquacious.
ephemeral - adj. lasting a very short time; nounanything short-lived, as an insect that lives only for a day in its winged form 

Ex: The butterfly is only a caterpillar for an ephemeral time.
inchoate - adj. just begun and so not fully formed or developed; rudimentary.

Ex: A still inchoate democracy
juxtapose - verb place side by side

Ex: Black and white pictures were juxtaposed next to bright colorful images at the art show.
perspicacious - adj. acutely insightful and wise;mentally acute or penetratingly discerning

Ex: Grandmother Willow in Pocahontas is a very perspicacious tree to Pocahontas.
codswallop - noun nonsensical talk or writing Ex: The whole protest was codswallop.

sesquipedalian - adj. characterized by long words; long-winded.

Ex: The essay contained sesquipedalian words that no one could pronounce.  

wonky - adj. inclined to shake as from weakness or defect; turned or twisted toward one side. 

Ex: The man had a wonky arm that he felt very uncomfortable with. 

diphthong. - also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable.

Ex: The word toy is a diphthong.