AP Lang Golden Review!Theresa Ellsworth

Block B2

Socrates

PlatoAristotle

Golden Mean

The Power of Words

Truth

Beauty

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Table of ContentsMiscellaneous…………………………………………………………………..1

o Rhetorico Sentence Imitationo Essay Typeso Writing Suggestionso M/C Suggestions

Schemes and Tropes…………………………………………………………..4o Schemes of Constructiono Tropes

AP Lang Vocabulary………………………………………………………….5Tone…………………………………………………………………………….6Criteria of Truth……………………………………………………………….8Logical Fallacies……………………………………………………………….9Criteria of Beauty…………………………………………………………….10Sophie’s World…………………………………………………………….....11

o Plot Summaryo Termso Philosopherso Golden Lineso About the Author

In Cold Blood………………………………………………………………....17o Plot Summaryo Noteso Connectionso About the Author

1984…………………………………………………………………………….18o Plot Summaryo Noteso Connectionso About the Author

The Picture of Dorian Gray…………………………………………………..19o Plot Summaryo Noteso Connectionso About the Author

Conversations, Connections and Content………………………………….20

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Speaker

Subject Audience

Context/Aim

MISCELLANEOUSRhetoric

Definition: rhetoric is the art of observing in any given case the “available means of persuasion”Rhetorical Triangle (Aristotle): the three most important parts of rhetoric are interconnectedo Audienceo Speakero Subject

Rhetorical relationship is crucial (strengthened with logos, pathos and ethos)o Logos: reasono Pathos: emotiono Ethos: validity, credibility (believing in the messenger)

Two more elements of rhetoric: context (situation) & aim (purpose)5 Canons of classical rhetoric:o Invention

Knowledgeo Arrangement

Ethos, pathos, logoso Style

Voice (based on audience)o Memoryo Delivery

Eye contact, hand gestures (if presenting)

POWER OF WORDSo Socrates questioned the sophists (holders of knowledge; gave

knowledge to people in return for payment)o The sophists changed words to manipulate the POWER OF

WORDSo Example:

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Philo (brotherly love) sophySteve Jobs

His speech was broken down into three partsSimple language, but the organization and the message combined created a powerful speech“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

Martin Luther King: I Have A DreamAcknowledges the crowd confidentlyWord choice: “Five score years ago” relates to the audienceVoice: never monotonicFigurative language

o Anaphora (repetition): “100 years later”; “Now is the time”o Metaphors: “bank of justice is bankrupt”

Knows when to speak; he’s silent when the audience cheersRaises his voice as he gets to the climax of the speech

Sentence ImitationsThe Appositive Phrase:

Appositive phrases are noun phrases that identify or rename adjacent (next-door) nouns or pronouns.The Model Sentence, from Jessamyn West’s, “A Time for Learning”:That night in the south upstairs chamber, a hot little room where a full-leafed chinaberry tree shut all the air from the single window, Emmett lay in a kind of trance.

The Present Participial Phrase:Participles describe nouns or pronouns. Present participles always end in -ing.The Model Sentence, from Ernest Hemingway’s, A Farewell to Arms:Sitting up in bed eating breakfast, we could see the lake and the mountains across the lake on the French side.

The Absolute Phrase:Absolutes are sentence parts that describe the rest of the sentence in which they appear. Absolutes are almost complete sentences. As a test, you can make any absolute a sentence by adding was or were. From Theodore Dreiser’s, An American Tragedy:She returned to her bench, her face showing all the unhappiness that had suddenly overtaken her.

The Prepositional Phrase:Prepositional phrases are sentence parts that describe people, things, or actions. From Zenna Henderson’s The Believing Child:With a quick, guilty hand, she covered the tear, her shoulders bunching to hide her face.

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The Adjective Clause:Adjective clauses are sentence parts that describe whatever is mentioned to the left of them in the same sentence. Most begin with the words: who, which, whose, or where. They can occur as subject-verb splits, or sentence closers.From Stephan King’s Needful Things:Keeton, who overtopped Norris by five inches and outweighed him by a hundred pounds, gave the deputy a harsh little shake...

The Adverb Clause:Adverb clauses are sentence parts that tell more about the rest of the sentence in which they appear. They usually tell why, how, when, or under what condition something was done. Most begin with the words after, if, because, although, when, as before, until, for, or since (subordinators). They can occur as sentence openers, subject-verb splits, or sentence closers.From Harper Lee’s To Kill a MockingbirdBecause its primary reason for existence was government, Maycomb was spared the grubbiness that distinguished most Alabama towns its size.

Essay TypesSynthesis

o Combine sources—create a ‘conversation’Argument

o Provide clear evidence from readings or observationsAnalysis

o Annotate a passage; look for tone

Writing Suggestions1. Be clear before being clever2. Follow clear instructions; underscore operative words3. Be concise and precise4. Quote integration: the main area of concern5. Do not simply list quotes and lit. devices6. For persuasive paragraphs, offer a concessionary argument7. Use a statistic or a fact (make the effort)8. Stop writing broad generalizations—be precise (avoid “most people”,

“same people”)9. Don’t begin sentence with ‘however’10. Don’t use contractions (ex. Shouldn’t, wouldn’t, etc) in formal

writing11. Cut ‘I believe’, ‘I think’, I feel’… make it tighter12. Pronouns are dangerous (who is ‘they’)13. Support, refute or qualify (agreeing and disagreeing at the

same time)14. Avoid fancy phrasing that is completely unnecessary

M/C Suggestions

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1. Do not wait until the end to begin bubbling in the Scantrons2. Order of responses in excerpts or individual items does not matter—

all questions are weighted equally.3. Process of elimination4. Tonal analysis of paragraphs—positive, negative or neutral5. Look for INTER reliability of questions6. Read questions first to identify passage hotspots7. Annotate with vigor

Schemes and tropesSchemes of Construction

Parallelismo “I knew that long, dark hair and that round, pale face.”

Antithesiso Knowledge is painful, ignorance is bliss.

Anastrophe (like Yoda)o “Your name they shout as they wait.”

Parenthesiso “When he thought about his mother’s death, and it had

happened so long ago, he wanted to forget the world and weep.”

Ellipseso “Secrets are the breakup of a friendship, fights of a band, and

shoving of a crowd.”Asyndeton

o “I ran, I wept, I sighed.” Or “I came, I saw, I conquered.”Alliteration

o “The bubbling buzz”Assonance

o “The great paved way.”Anaphora

o “Her few days of isolation had led her to thinking, had led her to planning, had led her to calling.”

Epistropheo “You will lay tortured if you fight! You will lay slain if you fight!

You will lay dead if you fight!”Anadiplosis

o “She was tired of adventures; adventures took up energy.”Climax

o “We have to be strong, strong for our families and our country and our world.”

Antimetaboleo “Don’t ask what I can do to help you; tell me how you can help

yourself.”Chiasmus

o “Battle is easy to run to, but battling is much harder.”Polyptoton

o “Don’t destroy the sequence, or suffer a consequence.”

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TropesMetaphor

o “I am the heart, giving you life as you need it.”Simile

o The book was like a heart as I had to give it back.”Synecdoche

o “White-collar criminals”Metonymy

o Pizza Hut will deliver in half an hour.”Anthimeria

o “Table that article now!”Pun

o “A dog has fur coat and pants.”Personification

o “The book flapped its pages.”Hyperbole

o “He ran a thousand miles an hour.”o “He was so hungry he could eat a cow.”

Litoteso “It’s not that bad—I only have to serve a lifetime in jail.”

Rhetorical Questiono “Am I talking to a wall?”

Verbal Ironyo “I was completely into the teacher’s lecture this morning.”

Onomatopoeiao “Thud, swoosh, buzz”

Oxymorono “Deafening silence”

Paradoxo “Mistrust her faith”

Ap lang vocabAllegory: Using character or story elements symbolically to represent an abstraction in addition to the literal meaning

o The Allegory of the Cave—Plato symbolizes reality and truthAlliteration: The repetition of sounds (“she sells sea shells”)Allusion: A direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known (referring to someone or something; ex. Referring to Greek mythology)Ambiguity: Multiple meanings of a word, phrase, sentence or passageAnalogy: A similarity or comparison between two different things (like comparing a library to a museum—both have someone in charge, both contain pieces of art, etc)Anticlimax: Using a sequence of ideas that abruptly diminish in dignity or importance at the end of a sentence (for a satirical effect)

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Aphorism: A terse statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or a moral principleAtmosphere: The emotional mood created by the entirety of a literary work (ex. Mark Twain’s Reading the River creates a somber mood, generating conflicting thoughts in a reader’s mind by saying that beauty is lost when it’s understood; it questions what beauty really is)Cliché: an overused expression (should be avoided)Connotation: The non-literal, associative meaning of a word; an implied, suggested meaning (ex. 1984—connotative meaning of memory holes is that the party can control the past through their use)Denotation: The strict, literal, dictionary definition of a word (ex. 1984—memory is something every person has, and a hole is empty—suggesting connotatively that memory holes cause holes in one’s memory)Diction: Related to style (an author’s diction can be plain, formal, fanciful, etc)Euphemism: polite substitutes for unpleasant words or concepts (ex. Saying someone ‘passed away’ as opposed to saying someone ‘died’; related directly to the idea of doublespeak)Extended metaphor: a metaphor developed at great length throughout a piece of work (Mark Twain’s Reading the River—contains a metaphor about the river)Irony: an implied contrast (used a lot in Shakespeare’s works to stir the audience’s emotions; also seen in 1984—where Winston goes to the proles seeking freedom and ends up being captured there by the thought police startled the readers)Motif: A main theme or subject (should look for this in articles; ‘so what’)Point of view: the person or intelligence the writer creates to tell a story (in Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, the point of view switches from time to time because it takes everybody who had some kind of involvement with the Clutters to tell the full story; created suspense as well, even though the readers knew from the beginning who the killers were and what was going to happen to them)Rhetoric: The skill of using spoken or written communication effectively (remember ‘putting every word on trial’)Satire: a literary work that ridicules various aspects of human behavior (ex. Animal Farm ridicules communism)Theme: What the author is saying about the subjects in his work (sometimes derived from the author’s own life)

ToneAdmiring: to regard with respect or approvalAmused: cause to find something funnyArrogant: revealing an exaggerated sense of one’s own abilities; haughtyAfraid: scared of something

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Audacious: showing a willingness to take bold risksAlarmed: an anxious awareness of dangerAuthoritative: able to be trusted as accurate and trueAllusive: working by suggestion rather than by explicit mentionApologetic: regretful acknowledgingAmbivalent: having mixed feelings about something; unclearBenign: gentle; kindlyBurlesque: a parody or comically exaggerated imitation of somethingBiased: prejudice in favor of or against somethingBiting: harsh or cruelBitter: harsh or unpleasantCompassionate: showing sympathy and concern for othersColloquial: informal; casualComforting: a state of ease from painChildish: silly and immature Condescending: acting in a way that betrays a feeling of patronizing superiorityConfident: self-assuredCynical: believing that people are motivated by self interestDetached: disconnectedDetermined: having made a firm decision and not wanted to let it goDidactic: intending to teach somethingDelirious: in an acutely disturbed state of mindDreamy: reflecting a preoccupation with pleasant thoughtsEcstatic: feeling or expressing overwhelming happinessEffusive: difficult to find, catch or achieveElegiac: having a mournful qualityExcited: very enthusiastic and eagerFacetious: flippant; sarcastic in a friendly wayForgiving: tolerant; willing to forgiveFormal: having a structure or a set of rules Factual: concerned with what is actually the case as opposed to interpretations of itFanciful: over imaginative and unrealisticGiddy: disorienting and alarmingGrim: forbidding or uninvitingGrotesque: comically or repulsively uglyHesitant: tentative; unsureHumorous: causing light hearted laughter and amusementImpassioned: filled with great emotionsIncisive: clear thinking; accurate; intelligentInspiring: fill someone with the urge to do somethingIronic: happening in the opposite way someone expectedMalicious: intending to do harmMelancholy: sad, gloomy, depressedObjective: not influenced by personal feelings or opinions when considering the factsOptimistic: hopeful about the futureOutraged: an extremely strong reaction of angerOutspoken: frank in stating one’s opinions

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Patronizing: treat with an apparent kindness that betrays a feeling of superiorityPetty: of little importancePoignant: evoking a keen sense of sadness or regretProud: feeling deep pleasure as a result of one’s own achievementsPuzzled: cause someone to feel confused because they don’t understandRevengeful: eager for revengeSeductive: tempting and attractiveSerious: solemn or thoughtful in character or mannerShocking: causing indignation or disgustSincere: free from pretenseTaunting: a remark made in order to angerTheatrical: exaggerated and excessively dramaticTragic: suffering extreme distress or sorrowUrgent: requiring immediate actionVexed: difficult and much debated; problematicVibrant: full of energy and enthusiasmWary: feeling or showing caution about possible dangerWistful: showing a feeling of regretful longingWhimsical: playfully quaint of fancifulZealous: showing enthusiasm for a particular cause

THE CRITERIA OF TRUTHCustom

o Doing whatever is popular, following conformity; dress like others, listen to the same music, etc subconsciously, we accept current customs (trends) But, we can follow something wrong, lose perception

Traditiono What lasts for generations must be valid (ex. Turkey on

thanksgiving, presents on Christmas)Time

o The indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present and future regarded as a whole

Feelingso Individuals depend on subjective feelings to guide them

through decisionsInstinct

o Inherent inclination towards a given action/thought by a living organism

Huncho An impulsive generalization (based on a vague or undefined

notion); a intuitive feeling or premonitionIntuition

o The ability to acquire knowledge without inference or the use of reason; there is not necessarily a means by which to justify this information

Revelation

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o Source of intuition or direction that us from an unknown source and assumed to be a form of God people think God (who exists outside our logical realm) is the truth (not very reasonable)

Majority Ruleo This isn’t the best criteria of truth; seems inviting because

people don’t like being outcasts (it could leave half the population dissatisfied)

Consensus Gentiumo “Agreement of the people” states that “that which is

universal among men carries the weight of truth.” (trial by jury)

Naive Realismo Things are what they appear to be in our senses

Correspondenceo An idea which agrees with its object is true; facts that

correspond with reality (language is a failing tool)Authority

o Opinions of a highly trained person, who has mastered a particular subject (ex. Assemblies in congress credible and reliable reasoning)

Pragmatic Criterion of Trutho The workability of an idea determines its truth (ex. A math

formula—an idea that works, therefore it’s true (might work for one but not for another)—a limitation

Loose Consistencyo Any correct statements that do not directly contradict each

other are consistent (not statement vs. reality)Rigorous Consistency

o If A equals B and B equals C, then A must equal C—most mathematical; Aristotelian syllocism

Coherenceo A systematic consistent explanation of all facts of experience;

facts must be fitted into a system as a relevant or integral part

Logical fallaciesEmotive Language

o “That’s so cool!”o No meaning behind the words

Compositiono “He’s American and goes to SAS, so all students at SAS are

American.”Division

o “Singaporeans are good at math, so this Singaporean is good at math.”

Vicious Abstractiono “I hate people who love dogs.” “I hate people.”o Taken out of context

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Appeal to Pity (Misericordiam)o “I stole the money because my husband died and I have no

source of income to support my child.”Appeal to Prestige (Verecunmiam)

o “Stephen Hawking’s black hole theory must be true because he said it.”

Appeal to Force (Baculum)o “If you don’t believe in charity, I’ll beat you up.”

Appeal to Personal Ridicule (Ad Hominem)o “Should we really listen to him? He’s nothing but a…”o Attacks the person (no logical reason)

Appeal to the Masses (Populum)o “Hutus are the best; everyone thinks so; kill the Tutsi…”o Just because a lot of people agree with it doesn’t mean it’s

true—propagandaFalse Cause

o “Since I wore that shirt when I did my test well, the shirt helps me do the test well.”

o SuperstitionNon Sequiter

o “Since I like yellow, I like to sleep.”o These statements have nothing to do with each other

Begging the Question (Petitio Principii)o “I play tennis because it’s the best sport; it’s the best sport

because I play it.”o Circular reasoning

Tu Quoqueo “My parents drink, so I can drink too.”

Misplaced Authorityo Yo Yo Ma says socialism is the best form of government,

therefore it is the best form of government.”o Used in advertisements; it makes no sense

False Analogyo “Forcing us to stay at school is like Hitler forcing Jews to stay

in death camps.”Pathetic Fallacy

o “The atmosphere is like the ‘lungs’ of the earth.”o But the ‘atmosphere’ is not human

Criteria of beautyTime (if it’s unforgettable)The more people who like it, the better it is (Consensus Gentium—a criteria of truth)It informs/teaches peopleInspires someone (this is different for everyone, according to perspective)Smart people decide what’s art (But who decides who’s “smart”?)

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It makes moneyIt’s well known (Michelangelo, Picasso, etc)

Questions to ConsiderDo we appreciate art because it’s great or is art great because we appreciate it?Does art have to be purposeful?How do you feel when someone does not like art that you like?

Sophie’s WorldA Novel About the History of Philosophy

Jostein Gaarder

Plot SummaryA fourteen-year-old living in Norway named Sophie Amundsen begins a course on philosophy. Everyday, she receives a letter in the mailbox that contains a few questions for her to ponder on; later in the day, a package comes in the mail with typed pages describing the ideas of a philosopher who dealt with the issues raised by the questions. Sophie soon learns about many different philosophers, and the book takes a turn when the reader sees that Sophie’s story is a book within a book, and a character within Jostein Gaarder’s book is writing the book about Sophie.

TermsAgnostic

o The idea that we cannot know the truth about everything; we can’t know that God exists; relates to Skepticism

Empiricismo Knowledge comes from experience; sense experience is

important one should not rely on reason as mucho Is it possible for two people to experience the same thing?

Epicureano Idea comes from Socrates’ student; pleasure—to be

considered the highest good; pleasure calculationso Negative connotation in modern day; people we aspire to

be=epicurean; believed friendship could bring pleasure it’s not only material

Eroso One of the four kinds of Greek gods more passionate than

the others (lust Cupid—love is blind—giving into physical senses)

o Lust—normally ending badly; Plato compared Eros to philosophy (desire to learn)

o Applies to us—the desire or the passion to learn something; if Eros is controlled—can be logical in decisions

Fatalismo The idea that fate is already in place

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o Very similar to predestination—the actions are free but the end is inevitable

Golden Meano Developed by Aristotleo A balance between two extremes; used in a lot of different

philosophies; to achieve a harmonious life (by living in between); balance between work and play

o Extreme passion—do what you love; but moderation works for some people

Hellenismo Greek thought/idea (diverse); Stoics, cynics; architecture;

everything affects our culture today; a mixture of different cultures

o Alexander the GreatIdealism

o Asserts that reality, or reality as we know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial

o George Berkeley was a subjective idealist—anti realist about a mind-independent world

Logoso Began with Heraclituso Used as a term for principle of order and knowledgeo Aristotle applied the term to mean ‘the argument’ in rhetoric

Materialismo Karl Marx (a dialectic [everything is interrelated] & historical

materialist) someone who believes material can change everything

o Three things Conditions—what can be made in the environment Means—tools Mode of production—social and ideological way it

benefits peopleRationalism

o A view appealing to reasonSkepticism

o Sophist idea; there are some things we’ll never know; senses aren’t reliable; people should accept that we know nothing

o Related to taking tests there are answers, but we don’t necessarily know them

Stoicismo School of Hellenistic philosophy; humans should overcome

destructive emotions; should stay calm; necessary for a culture to move on from lingering pains

o Destructive emotions can cause people to think irrationallyRomanticism

o Shift from enlightenment to a more subjective viewo More loosely structuredo 3 things:

The world is connected Life is full of values and feelings

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Objectivity is NOT a good way to find trutho Emphasized individualism (everyone has their own views)

Enlightenmento Cultural movement centered in France (under the philosophes)

Voltaire: promoted tolerance of other religions Locke: Life, liberty & pursuit of happiness Hobbes

o Age of reasono Some empiricismo Free trade—increase economic activityo Do the enlightenment ideas still persist today? (Democracy,

freedom, etc)Dialectical Process

o Coined by Hegelo Discussion—not to prove a point, but to have an intellectual

discussion; uses reason to get to the trutho Hegel broke the process into 3 stages

Thesis (to put) Antithesis (against) Synthesis (together)

o Writing uses this process—beginning thesis evidence paragraphs conclusion

Tabula rasao Blank slate—from the Romanso When we are born, we have nothing in our minds (more

nurture than nature)o Empirical thought

Sophistso Holders of knowledgeo Gave knowledge to people for money

PhilosophersDemocritus

o Last of the great natural philosopherso Believed that everything was made out of tiny, invisible and

eternal particles called atoms (like Lego—unbreakable); no immortal soul (soul atoms exist)

o Things flow but there has to be something solid behind thato Paved the way for scientists and philosophers

Socrateso Had faith in human reason; believed people were only happy

when they acted according to their reasono “He who knows right will do right” (because it will make them

happy)o Stayed in the city because he said that trees couldn’t teach

him anything; influenced Western culture by his way of teaching—questioning (Socratic seminars)

Platoo Student of Socrates; established “The Academy” (the first

school for philosophers); wrote dialogues

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o Theory of ideas: the reality behind the material world which contains the eternal and immutable patterns behind the various phenomena we come across in nature; believed in an eternal world—perfect forms and ideas; our world is simply a reflection of the idea world

o We know everything but we need experience to unlock itAristotle

o Pupil of Plato; “final” cause; women=unfinished men; categorized nature; founded logic

o Believed Plato’s world of ideas did not exist, but the eternal idea was really a concept—in the ‘idea’ of a horse that we have after seeing many of them

o We can learn through senseso GOLDEN MEAN

Heraclituso Called the weeping philosopher; thought humans were naïve;

dualismo Everything is constantly changing; unity of opponents (the

path up and the path down are the same); man’s laws are good; theory of gravity—what goes up must come down

Protagoraso According to Plato, he invented the role of sophistso “Man is the measure of all things”—meaning man decides

what’s good and what’s bado Ex. One could think it’s hot and the other that it’s cold; neither

can dispute the other because everything varies from person to person

Agnostico “Man is the measure of all things”—man decides what’s good

or bad (ex. One can think is hot and the other that it’s cold but neither can dispute each other because they perceive things in different ways)

Jesuso Taught his followers with parables; concept of “remission of

sins” is a radical departure from Greek philosophers (we cannot redeem ourselves)

St. Augustineo Christianized Platoo Tried to unite Greek and Jewish thought; believed that

salvation comes only through the churchSt. Thomas Aquinas

o Christianized Aristotleo Tried to show that reason and faith are the necessary tools to

get to the truth (they do not come into conflict)o Believed Aristotle about women being incomplete men

Luthero A German monk and professor of theology—Protestant

ReformationThomas Hobbes

o Famous for his political philosophy

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o Individuals—people looking out for themselveso Pessimistic about human nature—everyone’s selfish

Descarteso “Cogito ergo sum”

Spinozao Excommunicated from the Jewish communityo Found contradictions in the New Testamento Everything is God—nature is God—God is in everythingo Law of Nature—guides how everything happens

Lockeo British philosophero 2 big questions:

Where do we get our information from? Can we trust our senses?

o Tabula rasa: blank slateHume

o British empiricisto 3 main ideas: complex and simple ideas; humans have two

perceptionso He was a skeptic—said everything should have reason

Berkeleyo An empiricisto Everyone exists in someone else’s mind (ex. In God’s mind)

just like characters in a book—they exist inside the writer’s mind

o Reality has no substanceo “To be perceived”—what we perceive might not be real

(everything we do is governed by someone else)o Comparing life to dreaming—we wake up feeling it’s real even

though it was all in our headMontesquieu

o A political thinker who lived during the Enlightenmento Theory of separation of powers

Rousseauo Genovian philosopher (Romanticism)o Discourse of arts and sciences—not beneficial to human kind,

caused corruptiono True friendship is corruptedo Believed government should preserve individualismo Why we care: change in economy—see how citizens respond;

artists—why its done, question beliefso Meritocracy—the harder you work, the more merit you get

Kanto Idea of Numen = Noninouso Numen: truth is unpredictable and hard to take in like Plato’s

cave, it hurtso Noninous: ecstasy

Hegelo One of the creators of German idealism

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o Developed the concept that mind or spirit manifested itself in a set of contradictions and oppositions that it ultimately united

Kierkegaardo Everyone is unique; individualism; excessively critical of

societyo Believed in finding truths for themselves (subjective truth)o Aesthetic (instant gratification); ethical (reason); religious

(everything should resolve around being religious)Marx

o Communism—classless societyo Publications: Communist Manifesto inevitable revolution;

written during the height of the industrial revolution (when there was a large gap between the rich and the poor)

o Ex. North Koreao An in-depth analysis of work what does work mean for the

people; people want to feel that their labor means something, but people feel replaceable

Darwino Theory of evolutiono Today: biology; facts to prove evolution

Freudo Known to be crazyo Psychologist—said the consciousness is the tip of the ice berg,

and everything elseo Father of modern psychology

Golden Lines“Carpe diem”

o Came about during the baroque period; “seize the day”; live while you still can

o Madagascar—the idea of carpe diem is prominent in one part of the film; its funny to children while displaying the concept of carpe diem; animals have human feelings—they live in the moment when they realize they might die; they confess

“Everything flows”o Heraclituso Everything is always moving, changing

“Knowledge is power”o Appears in Thomas Hobbes work de Homineo Commonly attributed to Sir. Frances Bacon

“Know thyself”o Nothing in excesso Socrates, Pythagoras (Socrates—knows he knows nothing)o Two main different meanings; don’t give into majority); this is

a good way to know why you think certain thingso Modern world—stay strong; stick up against peer pressure

“Man is the measure of all things”o Man decides

“Momento mori”o Live like you will die tomorrow

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o Baroque period“Cogito ergo sum”

o Descartes—wanted to make sure life is not a dream; ties into fallacy (appeal to ignorance)

o Today—dreams seem real do we know if we’re going to wake up? Do we really exist?

“God is dead”o Nietzsche (almost agnostic)o No evidence to prove God existedo Everyone should be self servingo We should do right because it is right (good for the sake of

good)o People wouldn’t be nasty or evil if they actually believed in

God“Existence precedes essence”

o Human beings are born on a blank slateo Its wrong to treat humans as objectso Ex. Keys existed in the creator’s mind before it was made

ConnectionsPlato’s Allegory of the Cave

o Illustrates “our nature in its education and our want of education”

o Describes shadows on a cave wall as the closest thing to reality the prisoners of the cave will get to see

o A philosopher is someone who escapes this prison and comes to understand that the shadows are just a form of reality—that more exists outside what they can see

o His message about a philosopher’s job: to enlighten the people, who are unable to see beyond the shadows

George Berkeleyo His idea of ‘living in someone else’s mind’ is exactly what

Gaarder is doing when he writes a ‘book within a book’—all the characters live within the writer’s mind

About the AuthorJostein Gaarder is a Norwegian intellectual and author, hence the original language of his novel (Norwegian). He often writes from the perspective of children (Sophie) and allows them to wonder about the world (philosophy lessons). He also uses metafiction in his work, which involves writing stories within story—this is prominent in Sophie’s World.

In Cold BloodTruman Capote

Plot Summary

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Truman Capote writes about the murder of the Clutter family in this book, starting out with vivid descriptions of the family members, creating immediate sympathy when they die. The story revolves between many different points of views, including the killers. Truman Capote goes into great detail to describe the killers and give some background of both of them, which makes the ending a lot sadder than it would have been otherwise.

NotesNature vs. Nurture

o Was Perry born the way he was or did he become like that because of his past?

o Would a different upbringing have made Perry different?o Truman Capote makes the readers sympathize with the killers

Capote’s backgroundo Sympathized more with Perryo Similar to Perry

Capote gets to choose how to portray Dick and Perryo Should Dick have been allowed to be killed? Perry?

ConnectionsOn Keeping a Notebook by Joan Didion

Didion looks back at what she’s written and won’t remember exactly what truth is (what happened) except with the words in her notebookShe describes the truth as a feeling—“how it felt to me”The explanations/descriptions from neighbors was what the Clutter family was to them and though it may not be the exact truth, Capote used the closest thing he had to truth

Shooting an Elephant by George OrwellHis reason for shooting an elephant was to avoid looking like a foolWhen Capote describes the scene where Perry and Dick kills the Clutter family, it all seems like it could have been avoided—their reasons weren’t because they had any motive; it was the simple fact that both of them were there, and one didn’t want to look like a coward to the otherThe only difference was that what Perry and Dick did wasn’t ‘legally right’

About the AuthorTruman Capote was inspired to write In Cold Blood after reading a 300-word article about the murder of the Clutter family. He traveled to Holcomb to visit the scene of the crime himself and became acquainted with everyone involved in the crime (whether they were friends, family or the killers themselves). Capote committed all the interviews to memory. When describing the process of writing the book, Capote commented: “But I never knew… when I was even halfway through the book, when I have been working on it for a year and a half, I didn’t honestly know whether I would go on with it or now, whether it would finally evolve itself into something that would be worth all that effort. Because it was a

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tremendous effort.” This contrasts well with the character of Perry, who never knew he could go through with killing the Clutters. It’s said that Capote and Perry got close towards the end, and it was hard for Capote to see him go.

1984George Orwell

Plot SummaryThe novel revolves around the life of Winston Smith, who is a low ranking member of the ruling party in London, Oceania. The party controls everything in Oceania, including history (memory holes) and language (newspeak). The book is a dark dystopia symbolizing the power of a government. The party gives Winston and Julia (another person who doesn’t agree with the party) false hope and ends up breaking them.

Notes“Yes, they swallowed it. Parsons swallowed it easily, with the stupidity of an animal. The eyeless creature at the other table swallowed it fanatically, passionately, with a furious desire to track down, denounce, and vaporize anyone who should suggest that last week the ration had been thirty grams. Syme, too—in some more complex way, involving doublethink—Syme swallowed it. Was he, then, alone in the possession of a memory?”

o “They swallowed it”—reveals how easy it is for so many different people to believe what the party is saying; swallowing is a conscious act—do people know what they’re doing, then?

o This is where the readers get the full brunt of the party’s influence

o Everybody seems to have their own ‘memory hole’, to erase what they know and replace it with what the party wants them to know

o Power over the past determines truthWays the party controlled the people

o Gave the proles ‘freedom’o Telescreens—where they watched what every citizen was up

to so that they could make sure no one was planning anything against them

o Big Brother—he was someone everyone thought was watchingo Wars—if the people thought they were against other countries,

they wouldn’t turn against their own government; the government was always doing something to ‘help’ them (‘increase’ rations)

o Memory holes—the party controlled the past, which let them control the future (“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”)

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“Court Case Asks if ‘Big Brother’ is Spelled GPS” by Adam LiptakExplores the ideas expressed in 1984 about being watchedLiptak contrasts the invasion of privacy with examples of how the police may be coming close to breaking it because they places a GPS on a car to track down someone they suspected of being a criminal

Compare Emmanuel Goldstein’s book to the yellow book in The Picture of Dorian Gray

Both books have some sort of affect on the main character; it represents their most inner characters

Brave New World by Aldous HuxleyDescribes a dystopia (just like 1984) and ends morbidly, giving emphasis to the harsh life good people have to deal with when they find that there’s no way out of their ‘prison’—the only way out is to die or accept what everyone is sayingThe main character, John, hangs himself in the end, just as Winston gives in to the party and ends up loving Big Brother—in the end, the party has won

Miss Representation“The most common way people lose power is by thinking they don’t have any.” ~Alice Walker

About the AuthorGeorge Orwell was essentially a political writer who focused his attention on his own times. He’s described as “a man of intense feelings and fierce hate”. He was an opponent of totalitarianism, which can be seen through many of his works, including 1984. His novel creates a despairing atmosphere, giving readers an insight into his own personality and his views on politics.

The picture of Dorian grayOscar Wilde

Plot SummaryDorian Gray starts out as a pure perfection of beauty to Basil Hallward, a painter. Basil decides to paint a portrait of Dorian Gray, which leads into Dorian becoming obsessed with his beauty, and he makes a wish (curse) that allows him to remain beautiful and young for the rest of his life while his portrait starts to rot and show his true inner self. The book hints at sins Dorian Gray commits, but it never shows them. His painting becomes more and more corrupt. Dorian comes under the influence of Henry Wotton, who teaches him his views on life and ruins the innocence Dorian Gray first possessed at the beginning of the book.

NotesPeople are always changing (“Everything flows”) but Dorian Gray wanted to stay the same and experience worldly pleasures what’s beautiful one day may not be beautiful the next

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The yellow book—it’s a book on art within a book on art that affects the course the main character takesThe preface: “The artist is the creator of beautiful things…the artist can express everything. Thought and language are to the artist instruments of art… All art is quite useless.”

o Serves as a primer for how Wilde wants his novel to be read; the preface was added after accusations against Wilde for his novel and provides the reader with a means of interpreting many different aspects of society

o Wilde is an artist himself—his claim that “all art is quite useless” contrasts with his novel and the influences art has on his characters

ConnectionsFaust

Also made a deal with the devil—he exchanged his soul for unlimited knowledge and pleasures, just as Dorian Gray exchanged his soul for pleasuresInvolves surrendering moral integrity—giving up values

The yellow book and Emmanuel Goldstein’s book in 1984 (notes above)Beauty in our own world

Today, the media shows everyone what things should be likeIn a film, Miss Representation, girls are seen in movies as sex objects, and teenage girls believe that’s what they have to be; boys believe that’s what girls have to be like—the media says what is ‘beautiful’, and people do whatever it takes to get there, even if it means forgetting morals (making deals with the devil, in a way); ex. Plastic surgery, botox, etc

About the AuthorOscar Wilde had short-lived success, with The Picture of Dorian Gray as his only novel. Some people believed that what Wilde wrote in his novel (“unspeakable acts”) was a part of his own life. He led a double life, just like Dorian Gray, and his own novel was used in court against him. He was an artist, Irishman, dandiacal mocker of the standards of his own society, and a ‘gentleman’—he had a certain respect for reputation, as he described in his novel. As to why the novel was used in his court case In the introduction to his novel, it’s said that “Many reviewers believed they understood what Wilde was describing; and Wilde, despite his bravura and readiness to respond to ‘prurient’ reviewers with a flat denial of any suggestion of ‘immorality’ in his tale, may have feared that he, like Basil, had ‘put too much of himself’ in his works of art. Perhaps he had.”

Conversations, connections and Content-It’s What’s for Dinner

o Gary Stevenson became cannibalistic—people criticize him for this

o Freedom of religious freedomo Cannibalism

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o Is it not right because ‘moral values’ go against cannibalism?o Brings up the argument on what moral values are based upon

—criteria for truth-Where I lived and What I lived for (Henry David Thoreau)

o Combines a practical topic of residence with the meaning of life

o Thoreau is a mixture of practicality and philosophy according to everyday existence and to questions of final meaning and purpose

o “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately… and not, when I came to die, to discover I had not lived.”

-The Bet (Anton Chekov)o Knowledge and the difference between acquiring it from books

and acquiring it from the world connection with On the Ignorance of the Learned

o Greed can shadow people’s judgments—people don’t think of the consequences In Cold Blood

-Helen Kellero Hardships influence a growth of charactero Her being born blind and deaf gave her a reason to fight to be

heard and made her strongero Connect to modern day messages (Kelly Clarkson’s song

Stronger)o Overcoming a hardship proves the strength in character

-“On Keeping a Notebook” (Joan Didion)o Didion starts out her article with this: “Since the note is in my

notebook, it presumably has some meaning to me.” o She acknowledges how close she is to the truth of the event,

“how it felt to” her, saying that it’s not to preserve every observation she has. It’s what the event was to her and her alone.

o Her reason for keeping a notebook is so she can look back on a version of herself—a version that may be different from who she is today

Connects to “Everything flows”—everything’s changing, but it doesn’t mean that version of herself isn’t still the truth

-How Science Can Lead the Way (Lisa Randall)o Faith should have nothing to do with logico There is a “danger of replacing rational approaches with

religion in matters of public policy”-Reading the River (Mark Twain)

o Describes words as a river, and the majority of people will see the river for its beauty but not necessarily understand it

o But then soon, Twain discovers, the beauty doesn’t mean as much as it did the first time he laid eyes upon it. Perhaps he’s saying that beauty can only be appreciated for what it truly is if one doesn’t understand it fully—yet it contradicts with beauty itself

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o Compares it to reading between the lines, grasping the true meaning of it

o Is beauty the plain surface or the story behind it? If it is no longer new, can it still be called beauty?

-Shooting an Elephant (George Orwell)o How pressure can make a person do something they don’t

want to doo “I often wondered if any of the others grasped that I had done

it solely to avoid looking like a fool.” he had legally done the right thing, but out of all the reasons people thought he killed the elephant, it came down to him not wanting to look like a fool

-The Things They Carried (Tim O’Brien)o Describes what soldiers carry—both emotional and physicalo They carry guilt

-Biased but Brillianto “Scientific truth, according to this view, is established less by

the noble use of reason than by the stubborn exertion of will.”o People often work hard to support their beliefs and discount

other beliefs that go against it—the most pigheaded winso Anyone willing to go through great pains to prove that their

belief is true, even if it isn’t, will keep their belief alive—their ‘truth’

o This article combines pigheadedness with science—how they can facilitate each other—science doesn’t have to be pure and dispassionate

-What Makes Free Will Free (Gary Gutting)o If a choice has a cause, how is it free?o If someone can predict my choice, how is it considered free?

Does a choice have to be random?-The Wound in the Face (140)

o The “wound” refers to an image of the lips when it’s covered with lipstick

o The image is common and found on the faces of many women who want to look beautiful, “directly related to the social environment which produces it”

-Beauty: When the other dancer is the selfo Deals with a real woundo Gives the same message as The Wound in the Face: Women

should not wound their faces with unnatural substances like lipstick, because even a scar, permanent, is beauty with acceptance

-The Merchants of Coolo Is the media affecting teens or are teens affecting the media?o Miss Representation—the media shows how people are seen a

certain way and everyone believes this is how someone should look

o Describes “cool hunting”, where they look for the trendsetter who will influence all other teenagers

o “Teens are like Africa”—they’re a group to colonize

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o This is an age where information travels fasto “Blizzard of brands”o The media can’t live without teenagers, and teenagers can’t

live without the media-Arriving at Perfection (310)—Ben Franklin

o Schedules virtues: are humans something to be fixed then?o Describing change as if it can only be reached in a mechanical

manner-On Ben Franklin’s Virtues (473)—D.H. Lawrence

o Makes fun of Arriving at Perfectiono Perfection shouldn’t be schedules because the author “is not a

mechanical contrivance”o Word choice, “I am a moral animal” suggests that Franklin is a

machine while Lawrence is someone who has feelings; he’s human; he makes mistakes

-“Making Murder Respectable”o Explores euphemisms and their worldwide use todayo Described as a ‘cloak’ after laying out the many euphemisms

existing in different societieso Euphemisms “can be benign”—as in, they hide from cruel

honesty; euphemisms are “little white lies” used in order to justify the fact that they are, in fact, lies

-Politics and the English Language (George Orwell)o Explains how the English language is in a bad way and

provides several rules to make it bettero People tend to make great circles in order to say somethingo Connected to euphemismo Also connected to Orwell’s own novel, 1984 and the language

of newspeak, which shortens everythingo The irony is that Orwell himself breaks his own rules in writing

this article-Why Chinese Mothers are Superior

o Amy Chua describes the way she raises her children; her tactics are harsher (different) than Western parents, but her intentions are the same

o She challenges that being book smart is important, and does not allow her children to live the way ‘normal’ children do—at the same time, others disagree that learning through experience is important (Hazlitt)

-On the Ignorance of the Learned (William Hazlitt)o “The most sensible people to be met with in society are men

of business and of the world, who argue form what they see and know, instead of spinning cobweb distinctions of what things ought to be.”

o This phrase implies that men should not simply read a book and believe what it says, but they should think for themselves and draw their own conclusions—they can’t be influenced if their opinion is going to be true

-The Mogul Strikes Back (Peggy Noonan)

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o How Harvey Weinstein clawed his way back up to the top after loosing everything (adversity shows strength in character)

o Weinstein: “I regained my composure.” which is to say, he lost it somewhere along the way

-Arthur Schopenhauero Similar thoughts to William Hazlitto Asserts that thinking for oneself is what creates the

extraordinary thinkers that simply reading books weighs down the mind and disallows creativity from growing; reading directs one’s mind in one direction

o 1984—the party weighs down man’s creativity with their influence; books can have just as much influence (as seen in Dorian Gray—with the yellow book)

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