Debunking the Myth

Watkins 1

Morgan Watkins
Mrs. Parkinson
English III
12 April 2016

On Dumpster Diving

       Lars Eighner seemed very educated. Based on the fact that I had to look up almost ten words in the dictionary showed that. He was a Dumpster diver and he himself debunked that myth of Dumpster diving. He speaks very highly of Dumpsters, saying in the first paragraph,  "Long before I began Dumpster diving I was impressed with Dumpsters" (Eighner 712). When he said this, he showed us that he was us, looking at Dumpsters, but he admired them instead of being disgusted by them. He later introduced a specific stigma that new Dumpsters, or scavengers as he liked to call them and himself, "cannot erase from their mind" (Eighner 718). This new scavengers cannot get over how gross it all is, but then, it passes with experience. True scavengers, have only a few "precious" (Eighner 720) courtesies. One of them is that they hate to have good stuff go to waste, so what they will do is set it out in plain sight for other scavengers to have, a sort of community, even when the other scavengers are competition.

      The way that Eighner talked about the scavengers so highly and how intricate their lives actually were, it made us realize that Dumpster divers are actually scavengers, and they are educated and they are smart--they have to be smart--so that they can pick out what's good and what's bad. Eighner completed debunked the stigma using his tales of scavengers, but mostly using himself. 

Dreams

Morgan Watkins

Mrs. Parkinson

English III

15 March 2016

Dreams

    For so long, George and Lennie had a dream: A dream to “live off the fatta the lan’ ” (Steinbeck 14). They were working towards this goal to buy a plot of land for sale that has kept them motivated for a long time. The only thing was, George never thought it was going to happen. It was just a nice dream that comforted Lennie. But as soon as Candy offered his money and his will, George and Lennie realized “This thing they had never really believed in was coming true” (Steinbeck 60). The visualization of a goal, helped make their dream happen. This visualization is similar to the cross country coach telling us to set our goals for the season; especially the BHAG—Big Hairy Audacious Goal. Our coach has us set these huge goals to reach during our season that we think might be unreachable. Our picturing of this BHAG actually gives us a better chance of reaching it. In this case the house and the farm and the land was the BHAG. And George and Lennie—with the help of Candy—are that much closer to making it a possibility.

Tableau

Morgan Watkins

Mrs. Parkinson

English III

7 March 2016

“Tableau” by Countee Cullen

Countee Cullen titled a scene between two kids—one black and one white—“Tableau”, which is a picture or scene that is striking. Striking can either mean impressive, noticeable, or both. The boys are both noticeable and impressive when they are getting judged and stared at behind “lowered blinds”(5) by the “dark folk”(5), as the author compares them to “That lightning as brilliant as a sword”(11). And yet, they do not think of themselves as noticeable or impressive. “Oblivious to look and word / They pass, and see no wonder”(9-10). The boys are in pleasant oblivion. Just as they ignore, we should ignore. Do not listen to the whispers and the gossip and be in that pleasant oblivion.

Analyzing Writer's Voice in "House on Mango Street"

 I have just read the first chapter of House on Mango Street. It's about a girl with a big family who can't afford to live in a house and they move to a house on Mango Street. I have found three aspects of writing voice in this writing piece:

   They often employ techniques of narrative
In this piece, I found that there was movement; in the beginning, the author introduces her story and describes the house they just moved to and then at the end of the piece, the author transitions to her argument of wanting a "real" house: "I knew then I had to have a house. A real one." (5). The author also uses imagery to give us an image in our heads of the house on Mango Street: "It's small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you'd think they were holding their breath" (4). The author also uses dialogue to move the plot along. In the example used in the text, someone confronts the main character about her house: "Where do you live? she asked. There, I said pointing up to the third floor. You live there?" (5) This moves the plot in the direction of her wanting a new house that people won't look at and judge. She wants a house she "could point to" (5).

   They deliver interesting information
In this writing the author made the audience want to know more. In the beginning of the chapter, the author talks about how she has moved to many different places: "We didn't always live on Mango Street. Before that we lived on Loomis on the third floor, and before that we lived on Keeler. before Keeler it was Paulina, and before that I can't remember" (3). This makes the audience interested in what the authors life was like in that she had to move so much to so many different places that she couldn't even remember them.

   They exhibit perceptivity. (Show keen insight or understanding)
The author was always keen on imagery and describing the things around her. She described the house on Mango Street in great detail but what was interesting was she wrote all of those details in contrast to the house that she always dreamed about. "Hallway stairs" instead of "real stairs" (4), "no front yard" instead of  a "great big yard" (4).

Meaningful Vignette Moments in Catcher in the Rye

Holden was talking about his old roommate, Dick Slagle, and how he had cheap suitcases. Holden hates cheap suitcases, probably for the reason he hates a lot of other things; it’s phony. One detail I drew from this moment was when Holden was describing how Slagle described Holden’s things as bourgeois: “Everything I had was bourgeois as ----. Even my fountain pen was bourgeois. [Slagle] borrowed it off me all the time, but it was bourgeois anyway” (108). In this moment what I believe Holden was trying to tell us was people ridicule things that they wish they would have, but know they would never get. In this case Slagle wanted to have Holden’s things like the pen or the expensive suitcases or anything that was “bourgeois” of Holden’s, but instead he has the inexpensive suitcases and no fountain pen and nothing that could be considered “bourgeois”.

Catcher in the Rye 9-10

Catcher in the Rye 9-10

Morgan Watkins

In Chapter 10, Holden showed complex characteristics as a character that were exposed in this part of the book. One of the first instances in which he shows his complex character is when he was ordering a drink at the bar in the club that was located at the hotel he was staying at. He ordered a drink and when the bartender refused to give it to him without ID, Holden gave a “very cold stare, like he’d insulted the ---- out of me” (69). This shows annoyance and anger out of Holden which is not complex in and of itself but when paired with Holden’s next reaction, is complex. After the bartender kept refusing, Holden then “asked him very nicely and all” (69) and he finally accepted the bartender’s choice and realized how the bartender would be affected if he had given Holden alcohol. He acknowledged the punishment when he says, “They lose their jobs if they get caught selling to a minor. I’m a ----- minor” (70). This shows how complex of a character Holden is and how he can be all tough in one moment and totally sympathetic and sorry and accepting in the next. These complex characteristics can apply to the Romantic ideals that apply to Holden as a character. One way Holden’s characterization supports the Romantic ideal of the emphasis on feeling and intuition is Holden goes with whatever he is sentiment about in that moment: wanting alcohol and then not wanting for the bartender to get in trouble. He doesn’t think through it, but he goes with his gut. In this instance, Holden goes with his gut and tries to lie to get alcohol from the bartender, but as soon as he realizes the bartender won’t give it to him, he changes his mind and goes with a Coke. Trying to lie and then changing his mind all do with going with your gut and not thinking about it which is what Romanticism is about: feeling and intuition over reason and intellect. As you could see, Holden does not try to reason through what his gut tells him to. 

Something different...

So I wanted to mix it up since it's the LAST BLOG POST! I am going to blog about a book, that I haven't read yet.. Let's see how this goes!
 So I have always wanted to read to Kill A Mocking Bird. Apparently, it is not about physically killing a mocking bird. Thank goodness! And it is supposed to be a love story. I am ready to read this!
It is not about what the title says it to be. An example of not judging something by its cover. But I wondered why she decided to name it that.

So in a Yahoo!® answer(which is probably not the best source) they refered to a line in the text, "Atticus said to Jem one day, "I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the backyard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird." That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it. "Your father’s right," she said. "Mockingbirds don’t do one thing except make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corn cribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird."
I'm guessing that this was a pretty important line in the text. But the only way to understand is to read it!