Fresno State Audition

I've been hesitating to talk about this on my blog but I do think that it is time. The pieces that I am required to play and the piece that I chose to many people are a piece of cake...but to me they are really hard pieces. I've been practicing Monday through Friday for about thirty minutes to an hour. The reason I don't practice for more then that time is due to a limited schedule or no place to be able to practice peacefully. Also a friend of mine told me it's bad to over practice anyways. Well... The big day in about seven hours..
My auditions are Flute Studio auditions at 12:00 pm
and Bulldog Marching Band auditions at 2:30pm
and somewhere in between those two times I believe I have to take some sort of music theory text.
Anyways I know people who can play my auditions as if they have been playing them for ages but to me it's different.
I as compared to those people have never had a private lesson before in my life which they obtain weekly. Also  a lot of people thought I was foolish to be so excited to be getting in Fresno (the only school I applied for) but to me and my family it was a great accomplishment. This is my next step in living out MY DREAM! MY GOALS!
Anyways, I have this full week to practice and after that I get to put myself out there and reach for the stars! I'm working hard because I know this is my life and what is going to decide my future.
OH! And hopefully I get to be the radio for our journal on Friday at school which would give me a great opportunity to get my piece ahead! ^^

Nerves are building up! FRESNO HERE I COME~! SOOOOON!!!!(:

Lit Anal Spring Semester #1

  “Cat on the Hot Tin Roof” by Tennessee Williams

GENERAL
1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read, and explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of same).

The play “Cat on the Hot Tin Roof” by Tennessee William shows  dysfunctional family that is forced to hide through deceptions and hypocrisy. The story takes place in Big Daddy's cotton plantation in Mississippi, Delta, and and also in Margaret and Brick’ bedroom. Brick and Margaret came back to celebrate Big Daddy's sixty fifth birthday. As well as Gooper (Brick's brother), Mae and their five children. The truth deep under the harmony cover is evil and ugly. Big Daddy has been sick for very long time. Big Mama and Big Daddy were informed that he is sick of spastic colon. However, they plan to tell Big Daddy that he has been diagnosed of cancer and he will be dying soon. Everyone is fighting to get Big Daddy's inheritance. Margaret is jealousy of Mae; because they have five children. Since she doesn't have child, Margaret believes that they has disadvantage to receive Big Daddy's inheritance. During the birthday party, Big Daddy tries to have a conversation with Brick. Other family believes that Brick has an abnormal friendship with Skipper. Brick refused to talk about Skipper, who has died. And that is the biggest cause of Brick's alcoholism. Brick told Big Daddy the truth; Big Daddy is devastated by the news. Margaret announces that she is pregnant; Gooper and Mae knew that she was lying. The play ends with Margaret says that she loves Brick and tries to make her lie true. Brick replies with "Wouldn't it be funny if that were true?"

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

The main themes of this play are mendacity, death and alcoholism. Pollitt's family is full with deceptions. The children lie about Big Daddy's cancer. Big Daddy doesn't love Big Mama, but he pretends that he cares about her. In addition, the biggest lie Margaret told is that she is pregnant, which is impossible. Brick never sleep with Margaret ever since they married. Brick is a “broke man”. He is unable to get himself back after his best friend Skipper’s death. Brick tries to find his way out of mendacity through alcohol and death. Death and alcohol can’t resolve the problems but creates conflicts. Problems remain unsolvable if everyone avoids facing the conflict. Greed is another theme of the play. They all try to get Big Daddy’s inheritance. In other words, the ugliest truth is buried by beautiful lies.

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

I think author's tone is vicious and melodramatic. In a plantation house, the family is celebrating the sixty fifth birthday of the Big Daddy, they are flattering Big Daddy and try to get advantage to inherit his properties. For Gooper and Mae, they think they have the advantage which is their kids. And Mae uses lots of vicious actions/words to remind Margaret that they don't have kid. Their greed for inheritance elicits the ferocious and evil part of humanity. They all lives as a cat, who scream, scratch to get out the cage they live in. They are uncomfortable and insecure as the proverbial "cat on a hot tin roof."Furthermore, I think not only those characters are very dramatic and plot of the play is very dramatic as well. For example: Big Mama and Big Daddy. Big Daddy leaves the party after he found out he is dying of cancer. Then, after a while, he came back and accepted this devastating news.

4. Describe a minimum of ten literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your readers. (Please include edition and page numbers for easy reference.)

---Direct Characterization:

 (Act 1, Pgs 29)--- “I’m sorry. I never could keep my fingers off a sore—I wish you would lose your looks. If you did it would make the martyrdom of Saint Maggie a little more bearable. But no such goddam luck. I actually believe you’ve gotten better looking since you've gone on the bottle. Yeah, a person who didn't know you would think you’d never had a tense nerve in you body or a strained muscle.” (Brick is a good-looking man. Even though, he is a heavy drinker; he is still in good-shape.)

---Indirect Characterization:

(Act 1, Pgs 21)--- “Well, you’ve been doin’ just about ev’rything in your power to bring it about, you’ve been doin’ ev’rything you can think of to aid and abet them in this scheme of theirs! Quit-tin’ work, devoting yourself to the occupation of drinkin’!—Breakin’ out ankle last night so the high school athletic field: doin’ what? Jumpin’ hurdles? At two or three in the morning? Just fantastic! Got in the paper.” (Margaret reveals that Brick is a “broken man”. Physically, he broke his ankles by jumping hurdles in school athletic field. Brick is also alcoholic.)

---Narrative:

   (Act 1, Pgs 1)--- “At the rise of the curtain someone is taking a shower in the bathroom, the door of which is half open. Margaret’s voice is both rapid and drawling. In her long speeches she has the vocal trick of a priest delivering a liturgical chant, the lines are almost sung...Water turns off and Brick calls out to her, but is still unseen...” (This is the opening of the play, it is very imaginary. Since it is a play, the speaker/narrator talk’s aside the stage.)

---Setting: The story mainly takes place in Brick and Margaret’s bedroom; because Brick broke his ankle. The family in the play similar to that of the typical 1950’s family by Big Daddy has power to control; Margaret and Brick doesn’t divorced even though they broke up physically and mentally. They don’t love each other but they still stay together. Whole family can’t accept Brick's abnormal relationship with Skipper. Also, Big Mama and Mae are kind of typical women in 1950’s. They listen and respect their husband.

---Simile:

(Act 2, Pgs 120-121) “What's that smell in this room? Didn't you notice it Brick? Didn't you notice a powerful and obnoxious odor of mendacity in this room? There ain't nothin' more powerful than the odor of mendacity...You can smell it. It smells like death.” (Big Daddy starts a conversation with Brick. He emphasizes that mendacity smells like death.)

---Hyperbole:

(Act 1, Pgs 18)—“I tell you I got so nervous at the table tonight I thought I would throw back my head and utter a scream you could hear across the Arkansas border an’ parts of Louisiana an’ Tennessee.”

---Juxtaposition:

(Act 1, Pgs 35)— “One man has one great good true thing in his life. One great good thing which is true! I had friendship with Skipper. You are namin' it dirty!” (When Margaret tries to talk about Skipper with Brick. Brick picks up his crutch and threat Margaret to stop about it.)

---Metaphor:

(Act 1, Pgs 31)—“What is the victory of a cat on a hot tin roof? —I wish I knew...Just staying on it, I guess, as long as she can...” (Margaret compares herself with a cat on a hot tin roof.)

---Compare/Contrast:

  Big Daddy and Brick shares lots of characteristics. For examples: Both of them are very “cool” to their life. They are stubborn of their belief. Also they are suffering of some degrees of sickness. Brick broken his ankle and Big Daddy is suffering of cancer. The differences between them are Brick has no desire for anything. He doesn't care if he will inherit Big Daddy's inheritance. In other hand, Big Daddy has desire for money, power and life. He wants to live longer and enjoy his life time. 

---Repetition/Restatement:

  (Act 1, Pgs 32)— “Oh, excuse me, forgive me, but laws of silence don't work! No, laws of silence don’t work... Laws of silence don't work...When something is festering in your memory or your imagination, laws of silence don't work, it’s just like shutting a door and locking it on a house on fire in hope of forgetting that the house is burning. But not facing a fire doesn’t put it out. Silence about a thing just magnifies it. It grows and festers in silence, becomes malignant...” (Margaret tries to make Brick to face the fact that Skipper died. Brick refused to talk about Skipper and Margaret tells him that: ‘law of silence don’t work!’.)

CHARACTERIZATION

1    1.    Describe two examples of direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization.  Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end (i.e., what is your lasting impression of the character as a result)?

---Direct Characterization:

(Act 1, pgs 1) “Margaret’s voice is both rapid and drawling. In her long speeches she has the vocal tricks of a priest delivering a liturgical chant, the lines are almost sung, always continuing a little beyond her breath so her has to gasp for another. Sometimes she intersperses the lines with a little wordless singing, such a ‘Da-da-daaaa!’)

(Act 1, pgs 1) “Water turns off and Brick calls out to her but is still unseen. A tone of politely feigned interest, masking indifference, or worse, is characteristic of his speech with Margaret.”

---Indirect Characterization:

  (Act 2, p. 86) "Life is important. There's nothing else to hold on onto."Big Daddy gives his advice to Brick.”&"The human animal is a beast that dies but the fact that he's dying don't give him pity for others, no sir." 

  (Act 1, pg 29) “I wish you would lost your looks. If you did it would make the martyrdom of Saint Maggie a little more bearable. But no such goddam luck. I actually believe you’ve gotten better looking since you've gone on the bottle. Yeah, a person who didn't know you would think you’d never had a tense nerve in you body or a strained muscle.”

---I have complex impression toward these three characters: Big Daddy, Brick and Margaret. I don't like all of these characters when I just met them. As I read more about them, I developed a complex impression. For example: Big Daddy. I don’t like his androcentrism. He pretends that he cares about Big Mama, which he doesn’t. But, he does care about Brick, his son. The advice he gives to Brick is very meaningful.

2. Does the author's syntax and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character?  How?  Example(s)?

 Author doesn’t change her syntax/diction change when she focuses on character.

(Act 1, Pgs 21)--- “Well, you’ve been doin’ just about ev’rything in your power to bring it about, you’ve been doin’ ev’rything you can think of to aid and abet them in this scheme of theirs! Quit-tin’ work, devoting yourself to the occupation of drinkin’!—Breakin’ out ankle last night so the high school athletic field: doin’ what? Jumpin’ hurdles? At two or three in the morning? Just fantastic! Got in the paper.”

(Act 2, pg 99)— “I'd better sit by myself till I hear that click in my head, it's just a mechanical thing but it don't happen except when I'm alone or talking to no one.”

3. Is the protagonist static or dynamic?  Flat or round?  Explain.

The protagonist, Brick is a static but round character. Brick was a handsome, athletic man. However, after his best friend died, he totally gives up his life; and he also think his wife betrayed him. All of these conflicts destroy him. Brick refused to face to conflict ever since then. He become alcoholic. Brick says that “A click that I get in my head that makes me peaceful.” The crutch in the play not only shows that Brick broke his ankles. It also symbolizes that his broke within his heart. Furthermore, when every family is fighting over Big Daddy's inheritance. Brick has no desire of money, land and women.

4. After reading the book did you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character?  Analyze one textual example that illustrates your reaction.

  I felt that I want to meet Big Daddy, Brick and Margaret. The quote: “Ha, ha!-Pleasure!-pleasure with women! Yes, boy. I’ll tell you something that you might not guess. I still have desire for women and this is my sixty fifth birthday!” That is biggest reason I can overturn my stereotyping opinion on Big Daddy. I think he is disloyal to his marriage. But, I still want to meet him and ask why he can still live with Big Mama even though he doesn't love her at all. And I really want to meet Brick and Margaret. I do believe that Margaret loves Brick. And for Brick's attitude toward Margaret is still ambiguous at the end of the play. When Margaret asks Brick to make her lie true. He says: “Wouldn't it be funny if that were true?” It also makes me think, is there a true that we can believe?

Dickens Map

1) My reading schedule: As I please on my free time basically but also keeping the deadline in my mind. Also      I ride the bus every day to school and back home which gives me about 30 to 45 minutes daily to read a part of my book. At home I try to balance that with my smart goal practice hours.

2)1. In The Writing of Fiction (1925), novelist Edith Wharton states the following:

At every stage in the progress of his tale the novelist must rely on what may be called the illuminating incident to reveal and emphasize     the inner meaning of each situation. Illuminating incidents are the magic casements of fiction, its vistas on infinity.

Choose a novel or play that you have studied and write a well-organized essay in which you describe an "illuminating" episode or moment and explain how it functions as a "casement," a window that opens onto the meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

2.The opening lines of A Tale of Two Cities are some of the most famous in British literature. They introduce the contradictions in the world of the novel, between positive and negative forces: “light and darkness, wisdom and foolishness, hope and despair,” and so on.  In an essay analyze whether positive or negative forces triumph at the end of the novel.  Make sure you consider the fates of all the major characters in your analysis.

3)In great literature, no scene of violence exists for its own sake. Choose scene in A Tale of Two Cities that confronts the reader or audience with a scene or scenes of violence. In a well-organized essay, explain how the scene or scenes contribute to the meaning of the complete work. Avoid plot summary.

4) The French Revolution was of great interest to Americans in the early days of their own republic. Given today's polarities of extreme wealth and poverty and strongly expressed patriotism, as well as the interest in early America, what parallels might we draw between our own time and what happens in A Tale of Two Cities? What lessons?

5) Dickens seems to have great sympathy for the poor, the sick and the powerless, but not all such characters are portrayed sympathetically. What does that say about his sympathies? Where does he intend our sympathies as readers to lie?

Testing: I think that I would personally like to work on essay question responses. I know most questions on the AP test are very broad and in order to be successful on the test I think to know how to narrow id down.

Lit Terms: 31-56

31. DICHOTOMY: Split or break between two opposing things.


32. DICTION: The choice of words use of words and phrases in speech or writing.


33. DIDACTIC: Intended to teach

34. Dogmatic: Rigid in beliefs and principles.


35. ELEGY: A poem or song of serious reflection, typically a mourning for the dead.


36. EPIC: Long narrative poem of a hero and his epic journey through history exploits.


37. EPIGRAM: Witty aphorism


38. EPITAPH: A phrase or statement written in memory of a person, esp. on a tombstone.


39. EPITHET: An adjective or descriptive phrase expressing a quality regarded as characteristic of the person or thing mentioned


40.EUPHEMISM: A mild or indirect word or expression for one too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.


41. EVOCATIVE: Bringing strong images, memories, or feelings to mind.
 makes you think of what used to be,

42. EXPOSITION: A comprehensive description and explanation of an idea or theory.


43. EXPRESSIONISM: A style of painting, music, or drama in which the artist or writer seeks to express emotional experience rather than impressions



44. FABLE:

A short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral.

45. FALLACY: A mistaken belief, esp. one based on unsound argument.

46. FARCE: A comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations.

47. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE: apt and imaginative language characterized by figures of speech. (such as metaphor and simile)

48. FLASHBACK: A sudden and disturbing vivid memory of an event in the past, typically as the result of psychological trauma or taking LSD.

49. FOIL: A person or thing, that by contrast makes another seem better or more prominent

50. FOLK TALE: Story passed on by word of mouth.

51. FORESHADOWING: A DEICE TO PREPARE THE READER FOR THE OUTCOME OF AN ACTION.

52. FREE VERSE: Poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular meter.

53. GENRE: A category or class of artistic endeavor having a particular form, technique, or content.

54. GOTHIC TALE: A style in literature characterized by gloomy settings, violent or grotesque action, and a mood of decay, degeneration, and decadence.

55. HYPERBOLE: An exaggerated statement often used as a figure of speech or to prove a point.

56. IMAGERY: Figures of speech or vivid description, conveying images through any of the senses.

AP Lit Terms 6-30

6.ANALYSIS: Detailed examination of the elements or structure of something, typically as a basis for discussion or interpretation.


7.ANAPHORA: The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.


8.ANECDOTE: A short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person.


9.ANTAGONIST:A person who actively opposes or is hostile to someone or something; an adversary


10.ANTITHESIS: contrary ideas expressed in a balanced sentence. It is the juxtaposition of two words, phrases, clauses, or sentences contrasted or opposed in meaning in such a way as to give emphasis to their contrasting ideas and give the effect of balance. This is a device often used in rhetoric.


11.APHORISM: A pithy observation that contains a general truth.


12.APOLOGIA:

A formal written defense of one's opinions or conduct.

13.APOSTROPHE: An exclamatory passage in a speech or poem addressed to a person (typically one who is dead or absent) 

14.ARGUMENT(ATION):

A reason or set of reasons given with the aim of persuading others that an action or idea is right or wrong.

15.ASSUMPTION: A thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof: "they made certain assumptions about the market".

16.AUDIENCE: The assembled spectators or listeners at a public event, such as a play, movie, concert, etc.

17.CHARACTERIZATION: The means by which an author reveals their character

18.CHIASMUS: 

2. A verbal pattern in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first but with the parts reversed.

   

   
   

   
   

   19.CIRCUMLOCUTION: 

   The use of many words where fewer would do, esp. in a deliberate attempt to be vague or evasive.

   
3. 20.CLASSICISM: The following of ancient Greek or Roman principles and style in art and literature
4. 
5. 21.CLICHE: a phrase or situation overused within society.
6. 
7. 22.CLIMAX:

   The most intense, exciting, or important point of something; a culmination or apex.

   

23. COLLOQUIALISM: Slang words or informal way of speech 

24.COMEDY:

A movie, play, or broadcast program intended to make an audience laugh.

25.CONFLICT: Struggle or problem in a story causing tension

26.CONNOTATIONAn idea or feeling that a word invokes for a person in addition to its literal or primary meaning

27.CONTRAST: where one item is thrown at another to prove clarity 

28.DENOTATION: Plain dictionary definition

29. DENOUEMENT:The final part of a play, movie, or narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are resolved.

30. DIALECT:language or certain people distinguishing them from others.