Dishonesty

     In The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde portrays this theme of dishonesty through many of the characters. Whether it is lying to further their personal pleasure, or to avoid akward social gatherings, or to avoid having to reveal their true nature, these characters (most prominently Jack and Algernon) lie more than they tell any truth whatsoever. Through epigrams stated by Algernon one gets the feeling that he feels lying is quite common and not a horrible thing, rather the opposite. This is fairly ironic considering that he ends up lying to Cevily, saying his name is Ernest which is an allusion to truthfulness. The title seems to contradict the play, for most of it is lies and deception, however the title relays a message of how important it is to be truthful. Marriage in the play, as quoted from Algernon, is "business." The aristocratic people look at it as an opportunity to gain one of two things: inherited money or land. He also portrays the idea that just because someone got an education doesn't mean they're far superior or that they have a greater intelligence level. Wilde also seems to put satire on the religious practice of baptism. He makes it sound like a great and overwhelming ordeal, then contrasts that by basically saying it's the act of dumping water on a vulnerable child.
     In the play The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde greatly satirizes the aristocracy of the Victorian Age. He shows that they are able to do as they please and have little consequences. For example, Algernon has massive amounts of debt because he's able to blow money as he sees fit, for he will always inherit more. He puts heavy emphasis on the fact that dishonesty for your own pursuit of pleasure is wrong, and that it happens all the time. He shows that although this dishonesty is not very moral, there are people who may always get out of anything.

Animal Farm Project Evaluations

1.Kayla-

I think that Kayla's pyramid greatly represents the social structure of the animals in Animal Farm. Before the rebellion, I'm not sure but I feel that all of the animals were equally treated horribly by Mr. Jones. So I may be wrong about her pyramid that says "before" because it doesn't specify what it's before.

2.Brooke-

I felt that this song didn't flow well together, and that without explanation it would be hard to understand how it pertained to the novel. With the side explanations however, it worked to show the different themes of the novel.

3.Leah-

I liked Leah's comic, it portrayed irony very well. I liked how she showed Squealer's propaganda, and what it really means.

4.Rachel-

I thought that this powerpoint game was a very creative idea. It worked very well, and showed different aspects of the novel very well. I could tell a lot of work went into this project.

5.Kamron-

I'm not exactly sure what to call this project, the closest I can say is "comic." This project was hard to follow, but through his descriptions one could decipher how these images portrayed events in the novel.

6.Ting-

I really liked Ting's poem, I can tell she worked very hard on the word choice. The poem clearly shows irony in the novel, as well as corruption of power.

7.Alena and Mackenzie-

I thought that this movie trailer was a very well done project. I liked how they used the animal figures and showed irony, foreshadowing, and the corruption of power.

8.Sara-

I liked this graphic Sara made. I thought that it was very creative how she used different things in the image to represent different tones in the novel. Again, a project I can see had a lot of effort put into it.

9.D'andra-

This poem is another project that I really like. It feels very dramatic, and it portrays the events very well in a stylistic form.

10.Reagan-

Wow. This may be my favorite. This poem shows irony, foreshadowing, corruption of power, all in a very stylistic manner. Very well done, very creative.

I think that our project did well in comparison. There were those that I feel were better and worse. We definitely put a lot of work into it, and I am very happy with the final product. I think that it seems unique in comparison, which I like. I think that ours surely conveyed the element of irony, and also it conveys corruption of power.

New Years Resolution Extra Credit

     This New Year I made many resolutions, but I feel the most important one for me is my decision to learn to play an instrument. I have an acoustic guitar that I bought two summers ago, but never got around to playing it at all until this past summer, when I took about ten lessons. Since then I haven't played it until this past week while I've been attempting at teaching myself. I think that it is a good thing to know how to play an instrument, and it's something I've wanted to do for awhile. I'm hoping to broaden my interests, and I feel playing an instrument would be a commendable hobbie. After learning guitar, I think it will enable me to learn other string instruments (like ukulele or banjo) fairly easier. So far learning guitar has actually been going well, and I enjoy self-teaching, hopefully I will be able to continue this throughout the year.

Animal Farm Project

The beginning symbolizes the animals' hope through the song Beasts of England, yet this hope comes to an end when Napoleon rises to power. Squealer uses propoganda to convince the animals that everything Napoleon does is right, and just. A new version of Beasts of Englnd is written by one of the pigs named Minimus. Through the somber tune and our recitations the corruption of power aspect of the novel is portrayed.