Literary Analysis #1

1. In the summer of 1942 Gene and Phineas become best friends. Gene is an introverted intellectual while Phineas is a handsome, taunting , daredevil athlete that usually is able to get away with anything because of his charisma. After Phineas breaks a school record; Gene begins to start having hatred towards him because he believes Phineas is trying to sabotage his studies so they won't be "equals". Then Gene realizes that those were never Phineas' true intentions, yet still upset; he jounces the branch they were standing on,  causing Phineas to fall from the tree and brake his leg.Gene begins to feel guilty and later on tells Phineas what he did, but Phineas doesn't believe him so Gene ends up leaving his house. In Devon, Gene is considering to enlist but after Phineas returns he sets aside the idea and starts training for the 1944 Olympic Games. Gene gets a telegram in the Winter Carnival from Leper, so Gene goes and visits him but gets freaked out because Leper is a little nuts and because he knows what happened up in the tree with Phineas. The guy s in Devon want to clear up what happened in the tree so the have a meeting in the middle of the night and Leper ends up insinuating that it was Gene, so Phineas gets upset and leaves but then falls down the stairs and breaks his leg again. Gene ends up going to the infirmary and although they do have a little quarrel they patch things up the nest day, sadly when Gene returns to visit Phineas he finds out that he died, because some bone marrow got into his heart. Gene ends up feeling like a part of him died and ends up enlisting to.
2. Although there was a war going on I feel that the author was trying to say the there isn't always enmity in someones heart.
3.  Overall I feel like the author really admired Phineas' character it brought light into a time period of mainly pure desolation. He was very sincere in his view of the book and gave the reader a new perspective towards the war times, but with reverent. For example:
* “It seemed clear that wars were not made by generations and their special stupidities, but that wars were made instead by something ignorant in the human heart”- I feel like this was something that was not found in a heart like Phineas', because even Gene realizes that Phineas wouldn't be best suited for the army because Phineas would be like a peacemaker and next thing you know there would be a lull in fighting.“Phineas just walked serenely on, or rather flowed on, rolling forward in his white sneakers with such unthinking unity of movement that "walk" didn't describe it.” -  The author is really good at making Phineas distinctive from everyone else, because he has the qualities be a set example of how  we should be. “Phineas created an atmosphere in which I continued now to live, a way of sizing up the world with erratic and entirely personal reservations, letting its rocklike facts sift through and be accepted only a little at a time, only as much as he could assimilate without a sense of chaos and loss.” 
4. Symbolism: The tree represented the supposedly first act of courage that students would take when they were going into the war.
Flashback: During most of the book you realize that the author made it seem as the character was reflecting on something painful like something he had lost so he structures it as a reflection so towards the end everything is revealed.
Foreshadowing: Gene's reflections on Devon foreshadow a sad incident, and the way Gene described the tree it just felt as a matter of time before something happened.
Imagery: The author used imagery when describing the way Phineas used to walk to the way he walked after the accident; he portrayed Phineas' walk as something so graceful that it almost seemed as flouting . “Phineas just walked serenely on, or rather flowed on, rolling forward in his white sneakers with such unthinking unity of movement that "walk" didn't describe it.”
Bandwagon: Phineas was very persuasive, charismatic, and popular so he was able to  have everyone following him and even to his sometimes crazy ideas.
 Incongruous: The older Gene would speak during the time of his reflections, for example when he said, “But I was used to finding something deadly in things that attracted me; there was always something deadly lurking in anything I wanted, anything I loved.” 
Metaphor:“I did not stop to think that one wave is inevitably followed by another even larger and more powerful, when the tide is coming in.” 
Chiasmus: “I did no know everything there was to know about myself, and knew that I did not know it.”
Allusion:  “...it seemed clear that wars were not made by generations and their special stupidities, but that wars were made instead by something ignorant in the human heart.” 
Gradation: “Nothing endures. Not a tree. Not love. Not even death by violence.” 

Characterization
1. Direct Characterization: " Leper had the kind of fragile fair skin given to high unhealthy coloring. He was all color, painted at random, but none of it highlighted his grief." " Finny , my best friend, and also unique able to get away with anything at all..He got away with everything because of the extraordinary kind of person he was." 
Indirect Characterization: " I said nothing, my mind exploring the new dimensions of isolation around me. Any fear I had of the tree was nothing beside this" - Gene just finds out that Phineas is not jealous of him. “I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there.” 
The used direct and indirect because he wanted us to figure out some of the people on our own. Gene was really good at being the narrator because we got to know how others were but at the same time we got to know him as well. So we were able to grow along with him.
2. It does change especially when he was talking about himself in the past tense so through syntax it would change every now and then to accommodate the reference to the flashback. For example “But I was used to finding something deadly in things that attracted me; there was always something deadly lurking in anything I wanted, anything I loved. And if it wasn't there, as for example with Phineas, then I put it there myself.”  the author uses past tense and since the narrator is speaking it brings it back to the person who has the reflection. 
3. The protagonist in this case being Gene, is a dynamic round character because he does change a lot internally with the help of Phineas. He begins as a character that is insecure and has the urge to always win, yet by the end even though he might still have some of the same fears is afraid that he is the same  boy he was back then. We do get to know him more throughout the book enough to know his fears.
4. I felt like I met a person, because I to have a best friend and it is normal at least I think so that you sometimes envy or hold someone in higher regard, I don't think I would do something so drastic as to make someone fall from a tree but I wouldn't know either. Sometimes having insecurities about yourself may lead you away from things that you think are much higher than yourself, and by the end you just end up making yourself feel inferior.“I felt that I was not, never had been and never would be a living part of this overpoweringly solid and deeply meaningful world around me.” 

AVID Wake-A-Thon

The AVID Wake-A-Thon is a fundraiser that AVID does every 2 years. We practically stay up all night and participate in good, clean, innocent fun. It's a chance to build a strong AVID family and support systems. (It's also great practice for pulling the unavoidable college all nighter.)The  reason why we are fundraising is so we can earn up enough money to go on college trips.

Vocabulary #3

accolade - noun a tangible symbol signifying approval or distinction
* My brother won an official accolade because of his dedication to music, from his favorite DJ.
acerbity - noun a sharp sour taste; a sharp bitterness; a rough and bitter manner
* The acerbity of the lemon was too much for my mother, her face instantly contorted. 
attrition - noun the act of rubbing together; wearing something down by friction; a wearing down to weaken or destroy; sorrow for sin arising from fear of damnation; the wearing down of rock particles by friction due to water or wind or ice; erosion by friction
* Marks' attrition with the rocks caused them to make a spark.
bromide - noun any of the salts of hydrobromic acid; formerly used as a sedative but now generally replaced by safer drugs; a trite or obvious remark
* People are called captain obvious when they make a bromide remark.
chauvinist - noun an extreme bellicose nationalist; a person with a prejudiced belief in the superiority of his or her own kind
*Mr. Darcy was a chauvinist because he thought himself and his kind to high up to associate with lower class women.
chronic - adj. being long-lasting and recurrent or characterized by long suffering
*Sadly a friend of mine got a chronic disease that will last for a very long time.
expound - verb add details, as to an account or idea; clarify the meaning of and discourse in a learned way, usually in writing; state
* The professor had a very vague explanation of the lesson so I asked a tutor to expound the material.
factionalism- adj. of a faction or factions; self-interested, partisan
* In Divergent types of people are divided into factions according to their characteristics.
immaculate - adj. completely neat and clean; free from stain or blemish; without fault or error
*The Virgin Mary is known to be immaculate.
imprecation - noun the act of calling down a curse that invokes evil (and usually serves as an insult); a slanderous accusation
*Witches in fairy-tales are known for casting an imprecation on princesses.
ineluctable - adj. impossible to avoid or evade:"inescapable conclusion"
* Death is an ineluctable fate that no one can escape. 
mercurial - adj. relating to or containing or caused by mercury;relating to or having characteristics (eloquence, shrewdness, swiftness, thievishness) attributed to the god Mercury; relating to or under the (astrological) influence of the planet Mercury; liable to sudden unpredictable change
*Gods and goddesses are known to have characteristics that apply to certain planets, for example mercurial.
palliate - verb provide physical relief, as from pain; lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of
* After my mom got a cramp I tried to palliate the relief by messaging her muscle.
protocol - noun code of correct conduct; forms of ceremony and etiquette observed by diplomats and heads of state; (computer science) rules determining the format and transmission of data
* When people are training for the army the have to follow a strict and serious protocol. 
resplendent - adj. having great beauty and splendor
* A resplendent women is bound to have many admirers.
stigmatize - verb mark with a stigma or stigmata; to accuse or condemn or openly or formally or brand as disgraceful
* The prisoner was stigmatized because of his many assassination. 
sub - noun a submersible warship usually armed with torpedoes; a large sandwich made of a long crusty roll split lengthwise and filled with meats and cheese (and tomato and onion and lettuce and condiments); different names are used in different sections of the United States; verb be a substitute
* Subs are used frequently in wars to prevent ships from entering our waters.
rosa - noun large genus of erect or climbing prickly shrubs including roses
* A rosa was outside in my backyard it seemed to bring the garden to life.
vainglory - noun outspoken conceit
* People's vainglory will get into their heads and grow even more conceited.
vestige - noun an indication that something has been present
* There is a growing vestige of the giant pandas.
volition - noun the act of making a choice; the capability of conscious choice and decision and intention

* It's a bad habit of mine to always look for someone else to help me make decisions which is why I can't make a volition.

Masterpiece in Progress

In all honesty I don't know what I want my masterpiece to be on; like always its hard for me to make choices, especially like these I always doubt myself whether I made the right choice or not and look at all that I may be giving up if I make a certain choice. I want to try my hardest to find the question that best suits me. So my masterpiece idea is still in progress.

Beowulf Essay

Beowulf has been mentioned to be an artifact to his time period, and like every precious artifact it gives off a sense of life and not only that but their beliefs or teachings. Many still use Beowulf as an exemplary hero because he holds a lot of the traits that hero’s still have now a days for example courage, inner strength, and caring for those around them or their people, but there are also differences in which Beowulf and our current heroes don’t have in common like, gender. For example Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games sacrificed herself to save her sister and although it was an act of courage, Katniss doesn't have Beowulf’s confidence and his standards in living.

            Katniss had never seen herself as much in society, just as the hunter of a poor district 12 family, but coming from district 12, which meant  she didn't have the same advantage as the rest of the districts that  had schooling on how to survive and win. She didn't have confidence she had hope and that’s what leads to success in these contemporary heroes. Hope is the main motivation not the confidence in being able to win. This story also gives strength to the female race, something that wasn’t portrayed in Beowulf but only represented the women in the story something too small to even talk about or as something malignant.

            Sure Beowulf was a hero’s but he was a hero that was born in a rich family, so he  doesn't have those struggles that our heroes have in these day in which they give up something of themselves to grow or take a risk at success. His economic problems didn't bring him to fight with the dragon, sure maybe he just wanted to increase their profit but they would survive without the money. Katniss on the other hand had more of a possibility of having her name pulled out than many others because since her dad had died she had to provide for her family, this was not what led her to the Games, but it did talk about her character and her finance situation.

            Beowulf is a great hero but wouldn't fit in as well in our society as a hero compared to those that come from similar social standards and with the same motivations to success. His story would most likely be seen in an action movie and that’s because he conquers monsters, but views on characteristics for heroes has change to accommodate to the type of people, so people can feel that they see a little bit of themselves in the character. 

WILL STUDY FOR FOOD

I'm applying to the Hispanic Heritage Scholarship, the Elks and the Chamber of Commerce. I'm planning on using the money on tuition, school supplies, and living expenses, because I'm hoping to live on campus my freshmen year if its not that expansive. I honestly don't know exactly how much money I'm intending to get, so my answer to that is, as much as possible, because I need as much as I can get, and it would be a big relief to my family and I, to get most of the money issues off our shoulders; especially now that we have a baby on the way.

Vocabulary #2

accoutrements- noun. additional items of dress or equipment, or other items carried or worn by a person or used for a particular activity
* Putting on my accoutrements for paintball was a tedious process.
apogee - noun. apoapsis in Earth orbit; the point in its orbit where a satellite is at the greatest distance from the Earth; a final climactic stage
* I wonder if our cell phone service is slower when earth is at apogee.
apropos - adj. of an appropriate or pertinent nature; adv. by the way; at an opportune time
* Apropos is referring to or regarding a certain matter of a subject.
bicker - noun. a quarrel about petty points; verb argue over petty things
* I always hear noisy women bickering about, who said what.
coalesce - verb fuse or cause to grow together; mix together different elements
* When doing experiments in chemistry you usually have to coalesce chemicals to cause a reaction.
contretemps - noun. an awkward clash
* I dislike contretemps that happen when I'm dancing.
convolution - noun. the action of coiling or twisting or winding together; a convex fold or elevation in the surface of the brain; the shape of something rotating rapidly
*  A seizure is a great example convolution, because your muscles contract and relax repeatedly.
cull - noun. the person or thing that is rejected or set aside as inferior in quality; verb remove something that has been rejected;look for and gather
* People that are prideful about their status in society usually set a group of people as culls.
disparate - adj. including markedly dissimilar elements;fundamentally different or distinct in quality or kind
* Disparate are things that are completely different from eachother.
dogmatic - adj. characterized by assertion of unproved or unprovable principles; relating to or involving dogma; of or pertaining to or characteristic of a doctrine or code of beliefs accepted as authoritative
* Most religions are looked on as dogmatic because they apparently have no hard proof that there is a higher supernatural being or beings.
licentious - adj. lacking moral discipline; especially sexually unrestrained
* Licentious people think of sex as something just for pleasure.
mete - noun a line that indicates a boundary
* The mete between the United States and Mexico officially separates the land.
noxious - adj. injurious to physical or mental health
* A noxious person can be doing self harm to themselves, because they are not in the right state of mind.
polemic - adj. of or involving dispute or controversy; noun a controversy (especially over a belief or dogma); a writer who argues in opposition to others (especially in theology)
* Someone who is extremely religious may have a lot of polemic arguments with someone that does not have the same views as them.
populous - adj. densely populated
* Santa Maria is very populous.
probity - noun. complete and confirmed integrity; having strong moral principles
* Probity is something you don't find very often these days because many have forgotten there morals.
repartee - noun. adroitness and cleverness in reply
* If only someones adroitness would spread to me so I could be as clever as them.
supervene - verb take place as an additional or unexpected development
* I find it extremely funny when parents send chaperones   to supervene on their children.
truncate - adj. terminating abruptly by having or as if having an end or point cut off; verb make shorter as if by cutting off; approximate by ignoring all terms beyond a chosen one; replace a corner by a plane
* My guitar lessons ended truncately because my instructor went to Hawaii. 
unimpeachable - adj. beyond doubt or reproach; completely acceptable; not open to exception or reproach; free of guilt; not subject to blame
* I had so much hard proof of my argument that it was impeachable.