Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Metaphor

A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea. Which means is the comparison of two unlike things. One example of a metaphor is,He was drowning in paperwork In which having to deal with a lot of paperwork is being compared to drowning in an ocean of water. Another example of metaphor is "Her home was a prison" which means her home has some characteristics of a prison. We mainly imagine, She could not leave her home, or her mom doesn't like her to go outside that's why she may feel her home is like a prison.

Another way to understand metaphor is to view a metaphor as a personification. Personification is when we make a thing, idea, or an animal do something only humans can do. An example of personification is "Wind yells while blowing" This is an example of personification because the wind can not yell. Only a living thing can yell. 

Simile relates to metaphor, the only thing is that simile uses like or as. A simile is the comparison of two unlike things using like or as. An example of a simile is "My love is like a red, red rose." As you can see this example is a simile because it uses the word "is" and also because it compares love to a red rose, which love and red rose are two unlike things.
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of uniquely human characteristics to non-human creatures and beings, natural and supernatural phenomena, material states and objects or abstract concepts. An example of an Anthropomorphism is "The dog in bathoven was playing basketball and wearing sneakers." This is an Anthropomorphism because is a dog and they giving a human characteristic.


Hyperbole is exaggeration or overstatement. An example of a Hyperbole is "It is going to take a bazillion year to make it out of Medical School"This is a Hyperbole because it exaggerates the amount of year of 
completing something. 


A parable is a story with a moral, or a story that teaches a particular lesson. It usually involves familiar people, places or objects, which differentiates it from a fable.

Fable is a legendary story of supernatural happenings, narration intended to enforce a useful truth; one in which animals speak and act like human beings. One example of fable is "A crow was sitting on a branch of a tree with a piece of cheese in her beak when a Fox observed her and set his wits to work to discover some way of getting the cheese."

Analogy is the comparison of two pairs which have the same relationship. The key is to ascertain the relationship between the first so you can choose the correct second pair. Part to whole, opposites, results of are types of relationships you should find. An example of analogy is "The relationship between them began to thaw. This means that the relationship was changing."

Metaphors are use to help us understand the unknown, because we use what we know in comparison with something we don't know to get a better understanding of the unknown. Metaphor works in many levels in poetry. Utilized by poets and novelists to bring their literary imagery to life, metaphors are an important component of reading closely and appreciating literature.

In the study of metaphor we would use the poem "Joy" by Starfields
 
Just when you thought

that winter

would be here forever,

that it could never end,

you saw: 
Amidst the frozen white,

a tiny tip of green,

first blade of grass,

the messenger of spring.

The grass is not a messenger, but a person can be a mesenger. The way the metaphor is use in this poem is so we can understand what the messenger does. The grass doesn't move far from where it belongs, but when winter is gone the grass shows spring, that's the reason why we see it as a messenger because is saying the spring is coming.

The next poem I used was "Play"
Random raindrops

on the window pane.

Touch them with your finger tip -

but there's the barrier of glass.

You know that if you wanted

to become involved

you should be on

the other side.
 
In reality we are not feeling the water drops on our finger. A simile is the two comparison of two unlike things using like or as.
 

"Elephant" cartoon is showing five blind man standing by an elephant. One of the man is holding the trunk and says "An elephant is like an empty oil pipeline." That quote is a simile because it used "like".Another of the blind man is holding the leg and Say's " An elephant is like a tree killed by global warming."This quote is also a simile because it uses "like" as well.

The poem "Nature chorus"  is an example of personification. "Willows bend to their partners while the spruces curtsy in response." The trees does not have partners and curtsy only people do.

A Fable called "The Wind and the Sun" talks about who was the stronger. This fable is a metaphor
because is using two objects that are unlike each other. Both the sun and the wind are very strong. A Emily Dickenson's poems she uses metaphors. One example of a poem called "Book" she said "There is no frigate like a book to take us land away." The simile is that the book has the same action as a frigate, it take us from land to land. Another of the poem is "The Stone"


Metaphors works in different ways in our life. The metaphor that apply's to me is "Battle" because everything in this world is a struggle. We struggle each day to become what we want and also to the best we can. In this world we are always either winning or loosing. It's also a competition for the best. This metaphor works for me but also it causes problems because I always want to win, basically do the right thing and don't like being wrong about it.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Choices

We make choices all the time. We hope we make good choices. I chose to come to school and finish high school. When I make choices I make sure is the right one for me. I am very happy with the choices I make.

In the poem The Road Not Taken the color of the woods where the road diverged was yellow. The other roads bend in the undergrowth. He took the other road because it was less traveled by. They were about the same. The wanderer of roads wouldn't return to the other road because it bend in the undergrowth. He would be telling this story with a sigh, Somewhere ages and ages hence . The tone the author's use is serious about the road he took. He took the one that looked grassy and wanted wear. Yes his choice was important. This poem speaks about choices that don't assume by looking at something that is going to be the right one. Sometimes we have to try both things to make a decision.

The  Hispanic Legend of La Llorona influenced the short story "Dead End" because they both talk about how they parent's would tell them about the Llorona. Maria choices was to take care of her sister and brother since her mom wasn't there no more and also she chose to keep going to school to become what she wanted to become for so long.  Maria promised her mom that she would never give up her dreams of getting a good education. Since her mom always told her she never had the chance to do it, her mother wanted Maria to finish school and Maria wanted to get a good education as well. Promises are important in making choices, because if you promise your self something and for some reason try to give up you will always remember the promise and keep going. Maria would see how the popular kids in her school would be cutting class and having some fun. Maria sometimes wondered why she couldn't be out there, dress like the other girls or sit in the backseat of Frankie car. Then one night Frankie passed by Maria house and Maria left with him and he was smoking weed and Maria tried it. Maria chose to be good as she always was and not be with the guy she like so much or be like the other girls she wanted to be, because education was more important for her. I agree with the choice she made at the end because she had to take responsibility since her mother wasn't there no more and take care of her brother and sister and also accomplish the promise she said to her mom. Once I had to make a choice into either go to school or drop out because I didn't have enough credit in my old school to finish on time, and I didn't want to stay there for another year. Until I found out about this school, my choice was to come to this school and finish high school because I really want to go to college and have a great future for my daughter and my self.

In The Tyranny of Choice talks about choices among your feelings. There's a connection between choice and happiness because if I feel like I don't want to do something my choice is that I'm most likely not doing it. If someone's choice is good, more is better for us. People who care about having infinite options will benefit from them. We are happy in making choice, but sometimes is difficult to make a choice in somethings such as going to school or staying home. Sometimes we too tired to go to school but the feeling of not wanting to go make my choice to not go to school,when I know the right choice is to go. I really think feelings has to do with the choice I make everyday. Sometimes I make choices that instead of making me happy actually makes are depress. As the gross domestic product more than double in the past 30 years, the proportion of the population describing itself as "very happy" declined by about 5%. This means more of us than ever are clinically depressed. I am a maximizer because I aim to make the best possible choice for my self. Regret can change my choice of saying to my self I should never chose to do that in the future. Or by saying I really regret making this choice. Remember your choices are not always going to be how I expect it to be. We actually have high expectations when making a choice because I really believe I made the greatest choice for my self.

 
The meaning to this cartoon about is about the choices we have to make a decision on. We basically ask our self if we sure about the choice we are about to make. We might say should I go for it or no, or maybe it would actually be a good choice. That's what this cartoon is trying to say.

Choice is something we make everyday, from the time we wakeup until we go back to sleep. People's emotions have to do with the choice we make. Sometimes the choice we make doesn't go the way we expect it to go but we have to deal with it and try to make a better choice next time. Choice is a really important thing because the choice we make now depends on our future. If our choice is to not go to school and just stay home being lazy the consequence of that choice is that we are not going to make it to college and live a miserable life for making the wrong choice.