Dishonesty in The Importance of Being Earnest

One of the main themes in the play The Importance of Being Earnest is dishonesty. In the play, Oscar Wilde there is occasionly s selection of epigrams. An epigram is a brief, clever and memorable statement. An example of one is "the truth is rarely plain and never simple." This is the opposite of what we would think. The truth is always pure and usually never plain. The satire that occurs in this play has a lot to do with which class people were in. The rich, such as Lady Bracknell, only appreciate those who have great fourtune. Because she didn't know Cecily had a large profit she didn't like her. When she Lady Bracknell asked how much funding she had, Lady Bracknell soon had high respect for Cecily. Also since Jack was left at birth, Lady Bracknell did not like the thought of him not having high class parent. The name Ernest verses the trait to be earnest has to do with the pursuit of pleasure. Jack and Algernon both use Ernest for their own enjoyment and to have fun while not being earnest at all.

I believe with the theme being dishonesty, Oscar Wilde is saying that during the Victorian Era upper class people rarely told the truth if ever. Men could have a wife but go to a different women for pleasure. During this era, it seems that people didn't explain their true feelings or emotions. Lady Bracknell suspected the entire time that "bunburying" was not real but doesn't come out clearly accusing him of anything. When Gwendolyn and Cecily find out both of their Ernests' aren't really called Ernest they simply forgave them. This is a stereotype of women during the Victorian Era saying that they are indecisive and forgive easily. It also feels like Oscar Wilde was saying that women and men don't care about the connections between each other, just the fun.

Animal Farm Project Viewings!

Name: Hailey
Type of project: Poem
Literary elements: I thought Hailey's poem was very good. Her stanzas were clear and I knew exactly what she was talking about. She shows most important events that go on.

Name: Levi
Type of project: Movie
Literary elements: Levi's project is the best. He needs to show this in front of the class and explain how her made it! He used all of the elements needed and made it very entertaining to watch.

Name: Leanna
Type of project: Flyer
Literary Elements: Leanna displayed the theme and parallels very clearly. Very clear ideas!

Name: Annie
Project: Movie trailer
Literary elements: Annie and Austin did a one of a kind project that is unlike any I've seen so far. It gives you a re cap of the book and it's obvious they worked hard on it.

Name: Adora
Project: Poem
Literary elements: Adora's poem was deep. I could just picture Benjamin reciting it. She presented the theme through the poem.

Name: Daniel
Project: Drawing
Literary elements: In Daniel's drawing he shows the parallels to the Russian Revolution through the character drawn. The only thing I don't think he showed was foreshadowing.

Name: Angela
Project: Collage
Litterary elements: She successfully shows the seperation of power which is the theme and shows irony.

Name: Dan
Project: Comic strip
Literary elements: Dan shows the theme in the comic but doesn't show anything about the Russian Revolution

Name: Kayla
Project: Comic strip
Literary elements: This comic proved the corruption of power and paralleled this event to the entire theme. I liked this one!

Name: Giselle
Project: Slide show/diagram
Literary elements: This was a creative project. It gave a more sophisticate approach. She included the theme and did a very good job.

I think I did comparable to most of my classmates. Some of the projects I felt I did better work than and there were a couple that were above my work. I put a lot of thought and time into what I did for my project. I chose to do the pyramid of animal and human power because that is what Animal Farm is about. The theme, parallels and irony make the book. Instead of doing just one pyramid, I added a second one. The second pyramid I drew was the Human pyramid. With the colors I used it showed which characters were similar to the past times of Stalin.

Extra credit Blog: New Year's Resolution

Every year I make a list of New Year's resolutions that never end up being persued. This year I'm going to actually stick with what I have set, for the entire year of 2011. I have put a lot of thought into what my resolution should be and I finally came up with more of a fitness goal. My resolution is to continue eating healthy and to exercise everyday or every other day. Being fit and staying healthy is important to me for a couple different reasons. The first reason is because when I workout I feel better mentally and emotionally. Secondly, eating healthy is better for your body. A lot of packaged food has ingredients to make it not spoil as quickly and when we eat that food the unnatural ingredients go into our bodies. Thirdly, high school soccer is my main sport. During fall we'd been playing five days a week but now I've had such a long break between sports that I want to stay in shape. I know I will be able to make this resolution successful because I've made a planner and have gotten my family to do it with me. The more support the better. Past years I have made academic goals but this year I don't find

it is needed. High school has proven my skills and I am right where I want to be.

Animal Farm Project- Paralleling

My poem!

The poem I ended up choosing for Poetry Out Loud is The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. Each time I recite it I get the same pictures in my mind of one time when I was seven or eight and I went on a nature walk with my mom, my friend and her mom. While we were on the walk I collected all different shapes and colors of leaves. When we came to a bend in the road, we together chose which way we wanted to go, sometimes wondering what would have been different if we had taken the other trail. Sure I have been on plenty of other walks but this was I time when I wasn't good with directions and every little thing interested me.

With the metaphorical meaning of this poem it makes me think of when I have had to make decisions. I've never had big decisions to make but my parents have and it would have affected my life if they had made different choices. For instance, my dad was going to go to law school but he thought he chose journalism school. Also, he was offered a job in San Francisco before he met my mom and if they had never met I wouldn't even be here. When my parents made the decision to move to Washington from Kentucky. I wonder sometimes what life would be like if other decisions were made but I never want to go back. Which is like the line from the poem that says, "I doubted if I should ever go back.

To show the meaning of this poem in my performance I am going to have a somber look with a little bit of happiness because he is serious but then he chooses the road he takes still looking back on the road not taken. I am going to wear a nice outfit that shows I am prepared to preform this great poem. I plan to not use any gestures because I don't want to distract the audience from what I am saying and it is not a natural thing I do when I speak. I am going to speak slowly and take my time while I am up there. I have noticed teens today often mumble and rush when they are speaking and I am going to do the opposite. The reason I will slow down the speed of my poem is so I have people in the audience thinking about what it means to them.

Extra Credit Blog!

Before I began writing my second 5 part paragraph I looked back to what I needed to work on with my To Kill a Mockingbird paragraph. I felt that I had a strong first 5 part paragraph but some of the things I would change were the dead words and other words that didn't need to be in the sentences. Mistakes made various times in our class were lack of transitions but I thought mine were included very clearly. In this paper, I made sure my transitions were obvious and clear. The way I developed these skills were looking at the blog of what I needed to work on but the most helpful for me was having the final draft of my other 5 part paragraph where Ms. Gilman changed a couple words. To see what she would have changed about the paper made me understand what to change in this paragraph.

Poetry Out Loud

Part One:

1. Eagle Plain

2. Keeping Things Whole

3. Nude Descending a Staircase

4. A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky and The Luggage

Part Two:

1. The poem I like they most was A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky by Lewis Carroll because of how he uses language that relates to Alice in Wonderland. Also, I believe the words he uses create images in my mind of what is going on to help me understand.

2. I did not like the poem Eagle Plain because to me, the word weren't interesting and I didn't get what the meaning of writing the poem was.

3. I would like to study A Boat Beneath a sunny sky because Lewis Carroll, also author of Alice in Wonderland relates the poem. Or I might do Happiness because I love the meaning and the symbolism used.

4. The poem that connected with me was how I had vivid pictures with the Alice in Wonderland and with the other poem I connected with it because I know how it feels to be happy and to have those feelings.

Part Three:

1. The criteria that will be easiest for me is physical appearance because I have good posture and will be confident with what I am reading.

2. Voice and articulation will be the hardest for me because sometimes I have trouble slowing down while I talk so it comes out with a slur of words.

3. You need to focus on what you look like, how well you recite the poem, how much you get into the poem, how hard your poem is and how you read it. Also, you will get judged on your overall performance.

Part four:

Allison Strong recited the poem My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun and it was very well done because she sounded like she enjoyed every word of what she was saying and because of her dramatic output.

Madison Neirmeyer recited I Am Waiting. I liked how she read the poem and how she got into it. It made her sound strong and seemed like she felt song about the poem. Madison made me like the poem she was reading and appreciate it.

Part Five: Poetry out Loud seems like a strong program in which many students in the US recite poems from this website. I think the competition will be scary at first but fun to listen to what they have chosen to say as their poem.