All That David Copperfield Kind Of Crap

The first line of J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye is, "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth." What does Salinger mean when he says, "all that David Copperfield kind of crap"? What is he referring to? Salinger is referring to Dickens' autobiographical work, titled David Cooperfield. Many of the elements in this novel follow Dickens' own life. It has a very personal touch to it, sharing Dickens' personal thoughts and experiences. So, when Salinger says he's not going to get into "all that David Copperfield kind of crap", he means he's not going to bring his personal life into his work like Dickens is so famous for. I believe this is Salinger's way of saying that his past doesn't have any relevance to his current topic he's trying to convey. 

Interesting Conversation with Stevie Wisz

Me and Stevie talked about how we found it was interesting that Dickens used Jaggers and Joe as foils and related their personalities to pip. It was interesting that the two male figures were so different yet, they both contributed and related to pip as a child. 

Great Expectations Lecture Notes

Great expectations 

Coming of age story-  buildons romon 

Pip: (protagonist) main character

Orphan, feels unwanted and feels the normal path of life (family job etc) isn't going to fulfill him

Vulnerable, adopts role models and try to mimick their lives such as...

Magwitch: guy in church graveyard, eats like an animal( not governed by civilization) wickedness and brutality. Showing the animals need to survive and shows the strand of abandonment that pip may become.

Havasham: having shame, witch like figure that has a shining promise or horrible decay. Sacrificed her life to moralize dead hope and betrayal. Her house has not moved or been touched since she was left and abandoned at her alter (wedding) she's the monster side of the female. Havasham has trained Estella to be a heartbreaker and destroyer of men. Represents dual possibility of adult hood. She's rich and adopted Stella (positive pip takes) on the other hand she and Estella are not what they seem. 

Havasham and Estella remind him of himself and his working class background 

Magwitch reminds pip of his violent side

Question in his mind: am I wicked? Do I deserve what has happened in my life?

Novel of childhood fantasy

Imagines what his life would be life but he doesn't see what it's going to require of him (typical child idealism) 

He meets two father figures named Joe Grogery and Jagger's......

•Joe is the blacksmith , physical strength. Lives by feeling and goes with his gut/heart. He's not a success because he's not rich but he's happy and has a great romantic life. Doesn't judge people's appearances and is kinda of romantic. Joe comes across mother and his children and keeps them together living a happy life. 

•Jaggers knows things about people. Knows secrets. And he holds then over people to keep them loyal( blackmail). He's cold hearted and goes by the book. Doesn't believe in people or ideas. Not successful emotionally, but does have a lot of money. 

Separates mother and child, sells child to Havasham and keeps mother as a slave. 

People like Jaggers: Estella, Molly, Havasham, early magwich

•Wemick plays off of jaggers. Clerk that works with jags. Different guy at home and at work. Lover of Mrs skifins. Pip plays both Wemick and magwich. 

•Magwitch: he identifies with pip as an orphan. Also has a double life: evil life of a child or life after pip influenced a positive life. 

1.Havasham is not his fairy godmother 

2.Estella is not intended for pip and was just part of her training process. 

3. Magwich has authored and created pips expectations. 

4. Pip comes to an understanding that what's old is new again, ideas that we've had before are still there. A young person coming up to a discovery of his own and not an adult telling and showing him a set out path. 

Pip is a fantasist not a realist and that how he differs from joe and jaggers. 

Joe and jags understand that they live in a real world and there's consequences. 

Pip becomes a snob. Attracts to a women that's nothing but horrible (Estella). Conveys his impurity by talking about his bad attitude with joe.. We see he knows he's not in a fantasy world but still doesn't quite get it. 

By the end of the book pip and Estella are a middle age couple that failed. Pip returns to the forge at the end of the novel. Joe and his wife have a son named pip.

College Acceptances

Got accepted into 2 out of my 4 schools I've applied to! Fresno State and University of Arizona so far! Still waiting on San Diego State and Cal Poly.... the wait continues!

Sidartha Notes

He lived a depressing life and had no home for years 

In the beginning of the passage it is very depressing, there looks like there is no hope for the young man

A Brahmin (most religious in India and are thought highly of) of high standing, an extremely  religious man

He felt very alone, did not know where he belonged in life or the type of person he needed to be

He began to think about these things and moved on. He was ready for a new beginning, not looking backwards. He was maturing. Finding who he really was and what he really needed to do in life. 

He had grown in a Brahmin lifestyle where he was always expected of so highly and lived under such a high expectations and he wants to get away from that. 

The snake in his path as he stands paralyzed symbolizes the devil/evil. 

Snakes "shed" their skin like he shuffles off his old identify and begins a new one in a new skin. 

Who he's going to be is yet undefined. 

He's no longer looking back to what had prohibited him from being the person he is destined to be. 

The town is overwhelming and stressed because he is suddenly brought upon himself a massive bunch of ideas of who he is and has been and who he should be. 

The story, instead of keeping a depressing tone, turned out to be a positive thing because he finally figured himself and gave himself that boost t a new life and the person he needed/wanted to be.

Hacking My Education

This semester I want to really focus on creating my master piece the ultimate best it can be. I'm a huge procrastinator, but I really want to make this happen because this is something I'm highly interested in! When we were discussing in class which book we wanted to read first, I was highly interested in reading Great Expectations! I'm glad we picked this one first! I'm excited to read McBeth also because my other classmates in other classes have already read it and loved it! If I were to change anything about this class it would be absolutely nothing! I love the way you teach this class and the freedom we have. We have the ability to not have the "typical" school structure with every assignment we get and it's amazing. I'm looking forward to having an amazing last semester of high school and enjoying every minute possible! :)

Vocabulary #7

Allegory: a tale in prose or verse in which characters, actions, or settings represent abstract ideas or moral qualities; a story that uses symbols to make a point

Alliteration: the repetition of similar initial sounds, usually consonants, in a group of words

Allusion: a reference to a person, a place, an event, or a literary work that a writer expects a reader to recognize

Ambiguity: something uncertain as to interpretation

Anachronism: something that shows up in the wrong place or the wrong time

Analogy: a comparison made between two things to show the similarities between them

Analysis: a method in which a work or idea is separated into its parts, and those parts given rigorous and detailed scrutiny

Anaphora: a device or repetition in which a word or words are repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences

Anecdote: a very short story used to illustrate a point

Antagonist: a person or force opposing the protagonist in a drama or narrative

Antithesis: a balancing of one term against another for emphasis or stylistic effectiveness

Aphorism: a terse, pointed statement expressing some wise or clever observation about life

Apologia: a defense or justification for some doctrine, piece of writing, cause, or action; also apology

Apostrophe: a figure of speech in which an absent or dead person, an abstract quality, or something inanimate or nonhuman is addressed directly

Argument(ation): the process of convincing a reader by proving either the truth or the falsity of an idea or proposition; also, the thesis or proposition itself

Assumption: the act of supposing, or taking for granted that a thing is true

Audience: the intended listener or listeners

Characterization: the means by which a writer reveals a character’s personality

Chiasmus: a reversal in the order off words so that the second half of a statement balances the first half in inverted word order