The Eternal Struggle

Dear Diagnostic C,

You weren't as difficult to complete like I thought you would be. Compared to the others, you were the easiest. It seemt as though you were more concentrated on the tone, literary devices, etc. of the poems and passages than you were about inferring it. That didn't settle too well with me. For once, I actually understood all of the poems and proses. However, I had trouble when it came down to the vocabulary. There were certain things that I had difficulty remembering like "anaphora", "assonance", "apostrophe", etc. as well as the types of poems. Let me remind you that literature is not my forte. On the bright side, I was able to read all of the poems, proses, and questions with a tad bit of time leftover to run back through a couple of questions.

To improve our relationship, I think you should make me a list; a list of all of the common literary devices seen on the AP test. Then I could probably create some index cards. I know it sounds very elementary, but we have to start from the ground up if this is going to work out. We can also gear our sponges toward tone/literary device type questions. It's just a suggestion. Next time, I'll be ready for you.

Your Test Taker,
Sandy Nguyen

Oh Oprah!

Sandy Nguyen

Mr. Beddingfield

AP Literature/Composition

March 12, 2012

Beloved

The 1998 movie adaptation of Beloved, directed by Jonathan Demme, wasn’t an overall good portrayal of the novel. The scenes were all very brief and it provided few details and/or moments for the characters to fully develop. 

The first few chapters of the book were presented within the first five minutes of the movie-if even. It starts right at the haunting of 124 when the spirit injures their dog, Here Boy, and Sethe’s two sons, Howard and Buglar, runs away from home. There was nothing much about Baby Suggs or her colors which was one of the main motifs in the novel. 

Eight years later we have the arrival of Paul D. Let me start off by saying that he was not nearly as handsome as I thought he would have been whatsoever! He was an old, hairy, and crusty man . Yuck, Beloved! The “red light” that appears as Paul D is entering 124 was also a bit harsh and unrealistic. I found that and the combination of camera angles, creepy music, and kid voices to be very odd. As for Sethe, I had no idea that Oprah was to play the role. She was a pretty good actor, but I found myself too stuck on who she was (Oprah Winfrey) to concentrate on her acting. 

Denver, on the other hand, was just as I expected her to be-attention hungry. Beloved was a bit too much for me though. She had bugs crawling all over her and that face, those eyes. They were like those of a play doll. When she first opened her mouth it creeped me the hell out. I guess you can say I eventually got use to it. From the novel, I thought that Beloved eventually got herself together and behaved more human-like than she did in the movie. She looked like a zombie or a possessed being with her eerie, baby-like movements. 

Despite the brevity of the movie in comparison to the novel, there were certain aspects of the movie that the book itself didn’t contain; for example, music. Because movies do not have a certain type of diction, they have music instead. The opening scene had some African singing in the background. The carnival had some content music, Sethe’s discovery that Halle was in the barn with her that one night had sad music, there was relief music when her and Amy reached the river, and so on so forth. There were also a couple scenes of trees, nature, and water. 

However, the movie was still a poor portrayal of the novel. The flashback scenes were very quick and back and forth. It just wasn’t as deep as Toni Morrison’s Beloved. There weren’t even any roses when the family went to the carnival. And how would I know that Sethe’s sudden urge to urinate when she first sees Beloved has anything to do with labor? If I were to only watch the movie (having never read the book before), I would be missing out on alot of big key points, motifs, symbols, and themes. The movie is like an animated Sparknotes of the novel. You may get the jist of the plot, but you can’t unfold the hidden layers it’s meaning unless you read it. Literary devices actually do make a difference.

Who Won the Debate?

Haha! The real question is, "Are you seriously asking me that?"

I honestly believe that my group won the debate today. We brought up many valid points and presented them in a firm and precise manner. To me, the other group was very repetitive and doubtful in their presentations. Their information was unorganized and the speaker for their conclusion statement was quite confused herself. How are you going to try to persuade something to us when it doesn't even seem like you're sure of it yourself?

To keep the debate going, however, if prejudice doesn't matter then why are people being bullied or even killed for being "gay" or "lesbian"? Are you saying that that issue is no big deal? If it really didn't matter then there will be no protests, rallies, or even acts such as "Don't Ask Don't Tell." All of these exist because prejudice matters. BAM BANG BOOM!

Yeah, I just wanted to get that off of my chest. I believe we won and I believe that you, Mr. Beddingfield, know that we've won. End of my blog.

Now, about that cookie ...