Summary and Analysis of Ceremony

Author: 

The author is an Indian from the Laguna Pueblo tribe whose name is Leslie Marmon Silko.

Setting:

The main setting of the book is on an Indian reservation.

Significant Characters: 

Tayo: Tayo is the main character of the novel and the book's protagonist. Tayo struggles with being caught between two worlds because he is half Laguna Pueblo and half white. He fights in the war and comes back home with severe post traumatic stress which cannot be cured by the Laguna Pueblo. He then goes to find and fix himself through a journey to bring his two cultures together.

Auntie: Auntie is an interesting character because she is very appearance-driven. She puts off this exterior that she really cares about her culture and family when really all she cares about is how the community views her and thinks about her and her family. She lost her prize of a son, Rocky, in the war and didn't hide the fact that she wished it had been Tayo instead.

Betonie: He is a medicine man, he tries to bridge together white and Laguna Pueblo cultures together as he guides Tayo through his Ceremony.

Plot: 
      Ceremony begins showing Tayo deeply disturbed by the loss of his cousin/brother Rocky during the war. Later on we learn that Rocky and Tayo were very close friends. Obviously this is very traumatic for him. Back at the reservation, he lives with Auntie, Robert and Grandmother. Tayo is a very troubled person because he is half white and half Pueblo Indian. In his culture this has made it difficult for him because not only is he different but he doesn't know who he is. His mother left him at a very young age and he never knew his father. The closest thing he probably had to one was Josiah, who unfortunately passes away. Tayo is not the only war veteran struggling with post traumatic stress, his friends are as well. These friends are not a very good example because they are using alcohol to deal with their problems.
       Laguna Pueblo medicine does almost nothing to help Tayo. Tayo is sent by Ku'oosh to Betonie, a medicine man who will be good for Tayo because he has connections to white culture. He says that he must have a new ceremony to help Tayo and fix the drought. Tayo eventually finds the cattle and then he and Robert pick them up. Then Tayo learns that Emo (the villian of this story) and his friends are doing bad things and are blaming Tayo for them therefore he is in trouble with the police. Tayo is on the run and while he is hiding Emo and the gang tries to catch him, trying to lure him out of hiding by hurting Harley, but Tayo is too smart for that.  Tayo is then cured. 

Theme:A huge theme in this book is that one cannot totally connect both white and Laguna Pueblo cultures, but accept them into their lives and two equal parts of themselves.


Important Quotes:
"They never thought to blame the white people for any of it; they wanted white people for their friends. They never saw that it was the white people who gave them that feeling and it was the white people who took it away again when the war was over."

-This quote was really meaningful to me because it makes me sad and makes me think about how often people want to be like and want things from people who hurt them over and over again.

Response To Course Materials

Well, in class we have began reading Fifth Business and finally finished Ceremony. I have to say that even though it was my favorite book we have read so far, it was so long to annotate. It literally took forever….and over spring break…! Just very glad annotations are over. I am seriously stressing about the APs coming up so quickly, I cannot believe that senior year is coming to an end! But anyways, I enjoyed Ceremony, even though occasionally it was confusing which makes me even more upset that I missed the discussion days on the book because I am left with unanswered questions! But oh well, I can always look them up on my own I guess. I am hoping to be able to practice more on essay writing for the AP in the next couple weeks because I'm getting more and more nervous about that part of the test.

Summary and Analysis: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Author: Tom Stoppard

Setting: This play begins in an unknown forest, jumps to Elsanor, and then on a boat. 

Plot:

The play begins with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern traveling through the forest, they cannot remember where they had been that morning or where they are suppose to be going. Then they begin to flip a coin which keeps landing on heads. Again. And again, and again. They seem to be confused and they are amazed with the luck of this coin. During their confusion they realize that a messenger is the first thing that they remember and they then encounter the Tragedians where they meet the Player. The Tragedians really want to preform for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern but they don't really want to watch so after the Tragedians have started Ros and Guild leave and then they find themselves in Elsanor. 

Once in Elsanor they encounter Ophelia and Hamlet arguing, while Claudius and Polonius seem to be plotting. They are informed by Claudius and Gertrude to do some investigating on what is going on with Hamlet. Before they go to talk to Hamlet, they practice and act out a scenario in which one of the is Hamlet and one of them is questioning him. After they actually have an encounter with Hamlet they realize they did not find anything that would be useful out and tell Claudius they don't know why he is crazy. They think about and discuss death, a common theme throughout the play. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are in the Tragedians play in which their characters die which foreshadows their actual death later on in the play. 

In the last act of the play, Claudius informs Ros and Guild to go to England with Hamlet. They discover on the boat that they are supposed to deliver Hamlet to the King of England by whom he will be killed. Hamlet figures this out and replaces the letter that says to kill him with a letter that says to kill Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Then pirates attack the ship they are on and somehow Hamlet is no longer there. Ros and Guild discuss death and how this has happened to them and then they are killed. The play ends with the same speech that Horatio gives at the end of Hamlet. 

Significant Characters: 

Rosencrantz:  Hamlet's childhood friend who is called on by the King and Queen of Elsanor to come and help their son Hamlet in his depression and mental troubles. He and his dear friend Guildenstern are constantly mixed up as they supposedly look much alike one another. He seems pretty dim-witted at the beginning of the play but towards the end there seems to be more to him than anyone thought. 

Guildenstern: Hamlet's childhood friend who is called on by the King and Queen of Elsanor to come and help their son Hamlet in his depression and mental troubles. He and Rosencrantz are constantly mixed up as they supposedly look much alike one another.  Guildenstern seems to be very wise, always going on long tangents about what the meaning of life and death is. A very complex character. 

The Player:  The Player is more complicated then I thought during the first read, but I realized later on how wise he was. He is the leader of the Tragedians, a group of Actors that travels around. He also represents a god-like figure because he always seems to know what is going on and what has happened and what will happen. 

Quotes:

"Uncertainty is the normal state. You’re nobody special."      -The Player

• This quote by the player brings out the important theme in the play that life is unpredictable and that nothing is certain in anyones life. The world is ever changing.

"Give us this day our daily mask.” 

• This quote is important because one major thing in this play is the fact that they keep bringing up the Lord's prayer, but always with the wrong words.

Symbols/Motifs:

Coins: The coins that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern continue to encounter and flip throughout the play symbolize chance and the improbability of the world.

Death: Death is constantly brought up throughout the play and how it is inevitable. 

Hamlet: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are thrown into the story of Hamlet, which is shown in cues and actions from other characters along the story line of Hamlet. 

Acting vs. Real Life: It is constantly brought up in the play that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern know that they are acting on a stage in front of an audience. 

Narrator: This is a play so there is no one narrator. 

Theme: The extreme mystery of life and the world and the constant role of chance in our lives. 

Response to Course Material

We finally finished Rosencrantz and Guildenstern which I am quite happy about because I found it quite confusing and annoying. Oh well, can't be worried about it now that it is over and done with.  This last week we practiced writing prompts for the AP test which was helpful. Unfortunately I feel as if I wrote a completely wrong essay I think so I am glad that we get to re-do it tomorrow for more practice!
Also right now we are reading Ceremony on our own which is interesting so far. I am concerned that I won't be able to catch on to all the levels that Ms. Holmes says that this plays has. I'm glad we are reading something that isn't Shakespeare related! So should be exciting!

Response to Course Material- February 10

         Well lets see Hamlet was quite an adventure, it was a very long process to read and annotate that book trying to understand all the meaning behind everything. Unfortunately, we just began the most confusing book that I have ever read.  We just started to read Rosencranzt and Guildenstern and it is very complicated and repetitive so far, and I know that there is meaning behind everything they are saying it is just confusing to always catch on.
         I hope that we practice more writing and multiple choice for the AP test, I'm beginning to get really nervous for that test that is coming up in May.

Hamlet: Summary and Analysis

Hamlet:

Author: William Shakespeare, born in April of 1564, was an English poet and playwright. 

Setting: Elsanor- royal compound in Denmark

Narrative Tone/ Style: 

-Hamlet does not really have one singular tone because it is a play that lacks a narrator. It is possible for many different interpretations because of this. The reader is able to get all the characters points of view on how things are happening because of this creating multiple tones in the play. 

Plot: 

      The play begins with a scene where the watchmen and Hamlet's friend Horatio see a ghost that they find strange because it looks like the dead king, who was Hamlet's father. They decide to tell Hamlet about what they have seen. While this is occurring, the new King, Claudius, who is Hamlet's uncle, is telling his people that they do not want to go to war.  This scene shows Claudius and Gertrude (Hamlet's mother) together and man and wife. 
      Then we are introduced to Ophelia, Polonius, and Laertes who are a family. This scene consists of Polonius and Laertes telling Ophelia that Hamlet is not good for her and because she is not of high status that he is probably just trying to get into bed with her so they tell her to stop seeing him. Also in this scene Polonius gives Laertes a lot of life advice because he is going off the France and Polonius doesn't trust him to make good decisions. 

     When Hamlet is confronted with his fathers ghost the play really gets interesting. The ghost tells him that his father's death was not an accident in the garden like he thought, it was his uncle who poisoned him for his thrown and for his wife. He then instructs Hamlet to take revenge in his father's name by killing his uncle. Obviously this is troubling to Hamlet but he wants to avenge his father so he forms a plan to determine Claudius's guilt and tells Horatio of his plan. He begins to pretend to act mad. 

      Hamlet then acts mad in front of Ophelia, calling her horrible names and saying things that do not make sense. After hearing of this, Ophelia agrees to a plan to let Polonius and Claudius listen in on a conversation between Ophelia and Hamlet so they can see he has gone mad.

    Then the king orders Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, friends of Hamlets to spy on Hamlet and try to get him to reveal is plan and details of his madness. Then, Hamlet instructs actors that have come to the castle to put on this play that he uses to see if Claudius reacts to it and see if he can tell if he is guilty from it. Claudius gets up and leaves the performance, making Hamlet think he is guilty. Then, Gertrude calls Hamlet to her bed chamber where they engage in a huge argument about her, old Hamlet and Claudius. During this fight he hears someone behind a curtain/wall and ends up killing Polonius. 

       Claudius sends Hamlet to England with plans to have him killed while in Elsanor Ophelia commits suicide and Laertes is depressed about losing his sister. Thinking that this is entirely Hamlets fault he plans to kill him. During Ophelia's funeral Hamlet shows he is back form England and Claudius's plan failed. Claudius conspires with Laertes to stage a friendly fight with Hamlet but really have the sword poisoned and to kill Hamlet. 

    The play ends in a bloodbath. Before the fight begins Hamlet apologizes to Laertes and then Laertes realizes the Hamlet is not the bad guy and doesn't want to kill him. Meanwhile, Claudius has a back up plan to kill Hamlet with poisoned wine if he is not killed in the battle. Unfortunately, Gertrude takes a sip of the poisoned wine and dies. Both Laertes and Hamlet are injured by the poisoned sword and they both end up dying. Fortinbras comes in and everyone is dead and he takes over the throne of Denmark.

      

Significant Characters: 

Hamlet: The old King's son, whose death sets the plot and scene for the play. He is the main character, who holds the most lines in the play and is the center of the action. He is caught between his mother and his uncle, who he thinks is his father's murderer.It shows a great deal about his character that he is determined to make sure Claudius is guilty before he can take his revenge.  He is also very eloquent with his words, his relationship with language is something that is often analyzed about the play. 

Claudius: Hamlet's uncle, who is the suspect in the murder of Hamlet's father, and is now married to Hamlet's mother, Gertrude. Wanting to keep is status as King, he is determined to stop Hamlet's revenge on him and keep tabs on Hamlet's madness. 

Gertrude: Hamlet's mother, who is now married to his uncle after Hamlet's father, her husband, died. She is a confusing character because you cannot tell if her alliance is more towards Hamlet or Claudius. She is very frustrating because she is very selfish and dependent on men. 

Ophelia: Ophelia's character makes me sad because she loses Hamlet and she loses her father. She is hard to analyze because Shakespeare never really comes out and says she is pregnant but we believe she is and this and her confusing love for Hamlet and her strange relationship with her father that drives her to suicide.   

Theme: 

The main theme in Hamlet is revenge and how it never works out the way you want it to.

Important Quotes: 

1. "Get thee to a nunnery." - Hamlet

-This quote is significant because it shows the confusing relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia. In this scene he is very rude to her showing that he doesn't always think the highest of her but in the scene at Ophelia's grave he says he always loved her which makes no sense because he is literally telling her to get to a whorehouse. 

2. "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark."
-This quote is important because it shows that there is something wrong in Denmark. It does a little bit of foreshadowing towards the murder and the corruption of the royalty in Denmark. 

Response to Course Material

Well in class we have literally just been doing Hamlet for what seems like months now. It is different than any I have ever read and it is much different than the other Shakespeare I have read. My main problem is that I had a really hard time understanding what they were saying in the play while reading it. I was happy to watch the movie because it really helped me understand what was going on, but I hated how the first movie was done compared the second movie. I thought that the second movie was better because the acting and the scenes were way better done. Annotating Hamlet took FOREVER, it is just such a long play with so much to comment on, I honestly didn't think I would ever finish it!

I'm getting pretty worried about the final for this class, it seems like it is going to be all terms and that terms test was quite difficult the first time…so we shall see how it goes. I feel like i'm going to have to study a lot but I guess it will be good in preparation for the AP exam.

I think that is about it! I look forward to discussing Hamlet tomorrow in class! :)