Best Final Ever

Sartre vs. Plato

It’s amazing how one can characterize a person based on one little action. Depending on how that person reacts, whether it is calmly, rushed, or angrily, can show just what kind of a person he or she is.  In bothThe Allegory of the Cave by Plato and No Exit by Sartre, Plato and Sartre create unique characters that all react differently to certain circumstances.           I believe the escaped prisoner from The Allegory of the Cave will adapt well to any changes. When the prisoner was first released from his shackles, he had a decision to make. Should he stay inside the cave he has known all his life or should he take the chance to explore a whole new world he has no idea about? By going into the whole new world, I was able to characterize him as a brave man. Walking into a new situation can be very terrifying. If the escaped prisoner can overcome this, then I predict that he can overcome any new situation.           However, Estelle from No Exit would not react well to any changes. When Estelle was in Hell all she could do was deny the fact she was sent here and complain that there must have been some kind of mistake. If she were to encounter any difficult situation, I feel she would just turn the other cheek. Estelle would ignore anything that would cause her to feel scared or uncomfortable.           In conclusion, the difference between the ways the two characters would react not only says a lot about the characters themselves, but also about the authors and their stories. Estelle helps to show Sartre’s point of how “Hell is other people” and how people have a hard time trying to find themselves. The escaped prisoner helps to show how one should always take the opportunity to learn from new circumstances. Even though you are scared you should always go for it as what you believe, or the appearance of something, is different from the reality.

Literature Analysis "Great Expectations"

1) Pip is a young boy who was raised by his mean sister Joe. Her husband Joe is Pip's best friend and he is the father figure in Pip's life as his parents are dead.  One day while Pip is in the cemeter,y he gets attacks by a convict who scares Pip into bringing him a file and some food. Pip does this and he is very nervous the rest of the days that someone will find out what he did. He also starts to get scared that his convict will get caught. When his convict gets caught fighting another man, he takes the blame for stealing the food that Pip stole. A few days later a wealthy lady named Miss Havisham invites Pip to come play with her adopted daughter Estella. She has raised Estella to become a heartbreaker in order to achieve revenge in the male species. In the Satis house all the plants are dead, the clocks are stopped at the same time, and there is a wedding cake full of mold and rats. Miss Havisham was abandoned on her wedding day and she never cleaned anything up and is still in her dirty wedding dress. As Pip and Estella play, Estella comments on Pip's thick boots and clothes and makes him feel bad to the point he even starts crying. On another day when Pip comes back to the house, he politely agrees to fight a little boy in the backyard and he wins. Estella then allows Pip to give her a kiss on her cheek. Miss Havisham allows Pip to invite Mr. Joe over and Pip excitedly tells Joe. At a bar, a man who is using the file Pip gave his convict to stir his coffe leaves Pip with a lot of cash. At the house Miss Havisham gives Joe a lot of money too as an investment for Pip's apprentice dream. Pip is depressed about the visit unlike Joe as he believed Miss Havisham was going to ask for permission to adopt Joe. Pip tries really hard to become worthy of Estella. He does this by asking Biddy to teach him everything she knows. Later on, Mrs. Joe  is attacked and lost her hearing and most if her vision. They don't know who the attacker was as it could be either Orlick, Joe's worker who got in a fight with her, or the strange man who have Pip cash. Biddy then comes to live with them an Pip starts to imagine himself marrying her. Then a lawyer comes to present Pip with a lot of money from an anonymous benefactor who wants him to become a gentleman. Pip agrees and Joe is disappointed. In London Pip recognizes Herbert  as the little boy he bought at Miss Havisham's house. Pip gets renamed Handel by Herbert. Pip is still head over heels in love with Estella but Estella still acts nonchalant about it all. Miss Joe does and that's when Pip starts to feel a bit guilty about not spending a lot of time with them. Pip finds out Drummle is dating Estella and Pip is outraged. Pip also finds out that his benefactor is his convict, Magwitch, who Mr.Jaggers confirms. He is then depressed that he left Joe for this false hope of marrying Estella. Magwitch wants to stay with Pip and see him turn into a gentleman but he also needs to hide from the authorities. Magwitch and his friend Compeyson became partners in crime and they were the ones who set up Miss Havisham and took her money. Compeyson is the man who was going to marry Miss Havisham and he had another partner named Arthur who was Miss Havisham's half brother. Herbert helps Pip come up with a plan to go far away with Magwitch but first Pip needs to do something. He goes back to the Satis house and declares his love for Estella who says he doesn't feel the same way. Estella says she will marry Drummle. Pip gets a note from Wemmick saying not to go come as Compeyson is probably in town. Magwitch changes his name to Mr. Cambell and they come up with a plan if rowing him far away. Later Mr. Wemmick tells Molly's story, the housekeeper. She was accused of murdering another women and that she killed her own child. The child was a girl and Pip believes her child is Estella. Pip asks Miss Havisham to invest in Herbert's career and she agrees as long as Pip will forgive her. Pip also asks her to try and heal Estellas frozen heart. Miss Havisham's dress catches on fire and Pip saves her but it is unknown if she tried to commit suicide or not. Pip finds out Magwitch is Estella's father and Molly set him up. Jagger's and Wemmick however tell him nothing good will come out of reporting this. Pip is attacked by Orlick who is drunk and is angry Pip turned biddy against him and admits he killed Mrs.Joe. Pip is soon saved by his friends. On the boat ride to get Magwitch away Compeyson comes and takes Magwitch under the water but Magwitch wins. He is then taken by authorities and Pip begs Jagger's to help him but he says it's a lost cause. Pip is then not worries about money, but instead, about his friend Magwitch. Magwitch gets a long sentence and soon dies but not after pip tells him that his daughter is alive. Pip then gets really sick and Joe takes care of him. He also paid off all of his bills but he calls Pip sir which makes Pip really sad. Joe tells him that miss Havesham's is dead and Orlick is in jail. Pip decides he will marry Biddy and work beside Joe but he finds out Biddy married Joe. Pip wishes them luck and happiness Pip goes off to work with Herbert. A few years later Biddy and Joe have a kid who looks just like Pip. Biddy asks about Estella if Pip thinks about her and he says yes and then heads off to the Satire house. Pip sees Estella there and Pip was right when he thought Drummle would beat Estella. Pip and Estella decide to be friends.

2) The theme of the book was about the different levels or classes in a society. Pip was from the bottom class but he never really cared. However,when he met Estella, he began to realize this and became self-conciouss. He also began to doubt himself a lot and tried to make himself good enough to be around someone as great as Estella. Pip also tries to educate Joe so he will be someone who Pip won't feel bad hanging out with. At the end of the book Pip realizes that he will never become a true gentleman.

3) I believe the main tone in this book was remorsefulness. Throughout the book and definitely around the end, Pip felt guilty a lot. He felt bad that he began to ignore those who really helped him out in the beginning of his life; his family. When Mrs.Joe died Pip felt bad that he never spent anymore time with her before her death. When Pip began to feel lonely, he thought of Joe and how much he truly missed him. He also really felt depressed when Joe began to call him "sir" instead of Pip. 

4) Ten literary techniques:

-Parallelism: "A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old tag tied round his head." (Page 2)

-Imagery: "I pointed to where our village lay, on the flat inshore among the adler- trees and pollards, a mile or more from the church." (Page 2)

-Direct Characterization: "She was not a good-looking women, my sister." (Page 6)

-Symbolism: The wedding cake and clocks symbolize how Miss Havesham's heart an life stopped after the day her wedding got canceled and she is stuck in that moment

-Irony: Joe's Tickler sounds like something positive but really it was used for punishment on Pip. The Tickler was a cane with a wax end.

-Personification: "I got up and went downstairs; every board upon the way, and every crack in every board, calling after me, "Stop thief!" and "Get up, Mr.Joe!".

-Simile: "..and it drove still as if the east there were an eternity of cloud and wind." 

-Metaphor: "She really was a most charming girl, and might have passed for a captive fairy, whom that truculent orge, old Barley, had pressed into his service."

-Allusion: "Would you mind Handel for a familiar name? There's a charming piece of music by Handel called "The Harmorois Blacksmitch".

-Dialogue: "Biddy," I said, "I want to be a gentleman." "Oh, I wouldn't if I were you!" she returned. 

Characterization:

1) Charles Dickens uses both direct and indirect characterization because it leaves a greater effect of the characters to the readers. Direct characterization tells the readers directly what each character is like while indirect characterization gives the readers more freedom as they can characterize the characters themselves.

-Direct Characterization:

"She was not a good-looking women, my sister." 

"... said Uncle Pumblechook: a large hard breathing middle-aged slow man, with a mouth like a fish."

-Indirect Characterization: 

"She laughed contemptuously, pushed me out, and locked the gate upon me."

"Shall if I like,' growled Orlick, "Now, master! Come. No favoriting in this shop. Be a man!"

2) Dicken's syntax and diction did not change when he began to focus on one character. I feel like he kept both his syntax and diction constant throughout the whole book.

3) Pip is a dynamic character. Pip is dynamic because he changes as a person throughout the whole book. Great Expectations is a Bildungs Roman so the whole book is about Pip coming of age.

4) I feel like I did come away feeling like I met Pip. I felt this when he returned back to the Satire house when he confessed his love to Estella and made that amazing speech. I felt really bad for Pip because he seemed so lost the whole entire book. In the end when he finally realized what he had done and that he wanted to go back to his regular life but couldn't, I was really sad for him. 

No Exit

-written by Jean Paul Sartre

-he was French, literary critique and playwright

-Existentialism: stresses the individuals unique position as a self-determining agent responsible for the authenticity of his or her choices

-existence proceeds existence

-3 people trying to figure our existence in themselves; they have a hard time finding themselves

-famous line "Hell is other people"

-"people condemned to be free"

-entire play takes place in a drawing room

-only four characters: Valet, Garcin, Estelle, and Inez

- the rules: no sleep, no mirrors, no darkness

-Garcin is left in room and Valet exists but only a few seconds after Garcin calls on him and Valet enters with a new women, Inez who doesn't have questions

- Inez thinks she should be with Florence and she accuses Garcin as her torturer 

- Valet enters with Estelle who gets scared Garcin has no face and begs him not to look up

-Inez is gay and takes an interest in Estelle as does Garcin

-Estelle is angry there's no mirror as she needs to do her makeup and Inez offers to help but Estellle is interest in men not women 

-Estelle is in denial she is dead

-Inez accepts it and yells out they are in hell frequently 

-Garcin wants to be left alone as he thinks they will hurt each other so he doesn't speak

-Garcin: journalist in Rio who ran a newspaper and was shot for standing up to his principles 

-Estelle: poor girl whose parents died when she was young, married a wealthy man who was old enough to be her father so he could support her and her brother, she died of pneumonia 

-Inez: was a postal worker

-they are allowed glimpses from their lives; Garcin: watches his friend Gomez talk about their friends, Estelle: watches her friend Olga flirt with a boy who used to love her, Inez: watches her old apartment get closed up and then rented to someone else

-new stories come out as to why they are in hell; Garcin: an adulterer and his wife adored him but he he treated her poorly, Estelle: had an affair with a young man and got pregnant then fled to Switzerland to have the baby but then drowned the baby while the man watched, Inez: lived with her cousin and his wife Florence but turned wife against him and took her for herself

-Their hell= Garcin tortures Estelle because she wants him to love her but he won't, Estelle tortures Inez because Inez is attracted to Estelle, Inez tortures Garcin because he wants to feel like a hero and seeks Inez's approval but she won't give it to him

-they realize they are inseparable and they all break into laughter and fall on the three couches in the drawing room

1) Think about the place you have chosen as your hell. Does it look ordinary and bourgeois, like Sartre's drawing room, or is it equipped with literal instruments of torture like Dante's Inferno? Can the mind be in hell in a beautiful place? Is there a way to find peace in a hellish physical environment? Enter Sartre's space more fully and imagine how it would feel to live there endlessly, night and day

- My version of hell would be a place full of people and things I dislike or am scared of. Everyone's version of hell is different so some may appear ordinary and bourgeois compared to others. The mind can be in hell in a beautiful place because everyone has different perceptions so one may believe that beautiful place is their own place of hell. There is a way to find peace in a hellish physical environment. To do this, however, a person needs to be open and willing.

2) Could hell be described as too much of anything without a break? Are variety, moderation and balance instruments we use to keep us from boiling in any inferno of excess,' whether it be cheesecake or ravenous sex?

 - Hell could indeed be described as too much of anything without a break. If someone is bombarded with something and they are given no time to relax, they can be pushed to the point of frustration and exhaustion. 

3) How does Sartre create a sense of place through dialogue? Can you imagine what it feels like to stay awake all the time with the lights on with no hope of leaving a specific place? How does GARCIN react to this hell? How could you twist your daily activities around so that everyday habits become hell? Is there a pattern of circumstances that reinforces the experience of hell?

-Sartre creates a sense of place through dialogue because as the characters speak to each other the readers are able to really capture their sense of place and frustrations. Lying awake all the time with the lights on having no hope of leaving a certain place is something I do not want to imagine doing. That seems like it would make a person go crazy! Garcin reacts to this hell by simply not believing this is happening to him. He is in denial. 

Thinking Outside The Box

Plato describes the limitations of thinking when he states that knowledge cannot be passed down from teacher to student. In order for this to happen the student needs to actually experience it for it to become clear. Sartre describes the limitations of thinking as being when you are in denial. He also states the limitations as being when one cannot think straight when they are bombarded with numerous things and are in a state of exhaustion. 

Vocabulary Final List

-Shenanigans: (n) mischief, trickery

-Ricochet: (v) to move in this way, as a projectile

-Schism: (n) division or disunion; the parties so formed

-Eschew: (v) to abstain or keep away from; shun; avoid

-Plethora: (n) over abundance; excess

-Ebullient: (adj) overflowing with fervor, enthusiasm, or excitement; high-spirited

-Garrulous: (adj) wordy, diffuse; excessively talkative in a rambling manner

-Harangue: (n) intense verbal attack

-Interdependence: (n) the quality or condition of being interdependence, or mutually reliant upon each other

-Capricious: (adj) erratic, unpredictable of change

-Loquacious: (adj) talkative, chattering; to talk much

-Ephemeral: (adj) lasting a short time; short-lived

-Inchoate: (adj) not yet completed; not yet developed

-Juxtapose: (v) to place close together for comparison and contrast

-Perspicacious: (adj) having keen mental perception and understanding

-Codswallop: (n) nonsense, rubbish

-Mungo: (n) a low-grade wool from felted rags or waste

-Sesquipedalian: (adj) containing many syllables, given to using long words

-Wonky: (adj) unsteady, shaky, unreliable, boring

-Diphthong: (n) a vowel sound, occupying a single syllable, during the articulation of which the tongue moves from one position to another, causing a continual change in vowel quality 

-Obsequious: (adj) obed-ient; dutiful; fawning

-Beatitude: (n) exalted happiness

-Bete Noire: (n) a person or thing that one particularly dislikes or dreads

-Bode: (v) to be an omen of

-Dank: (adj) unpleasantly moist or humid; damp and, often, chilly

-Ecumenical: (adj) general; universal: promoting Christian unitythroughout the world

-Fervid: (adj) heated in spirit, enthusiasm; intensely hot, burning

- Fetid: (adj) having an offensive odor; stinking

- Gargantuan: (adj) gigantic, enormous

- Heyday: (n) the stage or period of greatest vigor, strength, success, etc.; prime

-Incubus: (n) a nightmare

-Infrastructure: (n) the basic, underlying framework or features of a system or organisation

-Inveigle:(v) to entice, lure, or ensnare by flattery or artful talk; to acquire by beguiling talk or methods

- Kudos: (n) honor, glory, acclaim

- Lagniappe: (n) tip, bonus, gratuity 

- Prolix: (adj) extended to great, unnecessary, or tedious length; long and wordy

Protege:(n) a person under the care of someone interested in his or her career or welfare.

- Prototype: (n) the original or model on which something is based on for formed; someone who serves to illustrate the typical qualities of something 

- Sycophant: (n) a self-seeking, servile flatterer; fawning parasite

- Tautology: (n) needless repetition of an idea

- Truckle: (v) to submit or yield obsequiously or tamely

- Accolade- (n) any award, honor, or laudatory notice

- Acerbity- (n) sourness; harshness or severity as of temper or expression

- Attrition- (n) a reduction or decrease in number, size, it strength 

- Bromide- (n) a person who is platitudinous and boring; a trite saying

 - Chauvinist- (n) a person who is aggressively and blindly patriotic; a person who believe one gender is superior to another

- Chronic- (adj) constant; habitual; inveterate; having long had a disease 

- Expound- (v) to explain; to interpret

-Factionalism- (adj) of a faction or factions; self-interested

-Immaculate- (adj) free from spot or stain; free from moral blemish; pure; free from fault

- Imprecation- (n) the act of imprecations; cursing

- Ineluctable- (adj) incapable of being evaded; inescapable 

- Mercurial- (adj) changeable; animated; lively

- Palliate- (v) to relieve or lessen without curing; alleviate; to try and conceal the gravity if excuses, apologies 

- Protocol- (n) a supplementary international agreement; the customs and regulations dealing with diplomatic formality 

- Resplendent- (adj) shining brilliantly; gleaming; splendid

- Stigmatize- (v) to set some mark of disgrace; to mark with a stigma or brand.

- Sub Rosa- (n) confidentially; secretly; privately

- Vainglory- (n) excessive elation or pride over one's own achievements, abilities; boastful vanity 

- Vestige- (n) a mark, trace, or visible evidence of something that us no longer present or in existence

- Volition- (n) the act of willing, or choosing, or resolving; exercise of willing; a choice of decision made by the will

-Apostate: (n) person who abandons his religion, cause, party 

- Effusive: (adj) extravagantly demonstrative of emotion; gushing; overflowing

 - Impasse: (n) a position or situation from which there is no escape; deadlock

- Euphoria: (n) a state of intense happiness and self-confidence

- Lugubrious: (adj) mournful, dismal, or gloomy 

- Bravado: (n) a pretentious, swaggering display of courage

- Consensus: (n) majority of opinion.

 - Dichotomy: (n) a division into two parts, kinda; contrast between two different things

 - Constrict: (v) to draw or press in; compress

- Gothic: (adj) pertaining to a style of architecture originating in France in middle of 12th century 

- Punctilio: (n) a fine point as of conduct; strictness or exactness in the observation of formalities or amenities 

- Metamorphosis: (n) a complete change of form, structure, or appearance as transformation 

- Raconteur: (n) a person who is skilled in relating stories and anecdotes interestingly

- Sine qua non: (n) an indispensable condition, element, or factor; something essential 

- Quixotic: (adj) impulsive and often rashly unpredictable; extravagantly chivalrous or romantic; impractical 

- Vendetta: (n) a fued in which members of the family of a murdered  person seek to avenge the murder by killing the slayer's relatives

- Non Sequitur: (n) a statement that has an illogical conclusion; an inference or conclusion that does not follow the premises 

- Mystique: (n) framework of doctrines, ideas, beliefs constructed around a person or object; an aura of mystery surrounding a particular pursuit 

- Quagmire: (n) an area of boggy ground whose surface yields under the tread; soft or flabby

- Parlous: (adj) dangerous, perilous

- Aficionado (n)- an ardent devotee; fan, enthusiast

- Browbeat (v)- to intimidate with overbearing looks or words; bullying

- Commensurate (adj)- having the same measure; equal extent or duration.

- Diaphanous (adj)- very sheer or light; almost transparent

- Emolument (n)- profit, salaries, or fees from office or employment

- Foray (n)- a quick sudden attack

- Genre (n)- a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, or technique

- Homily (n)- a sermon; an inspiring saying or cliche. 
 
- Immure (v)- to imprison; to shut-in

- Insouciant (adj)- free from worry; carefree; nonchalant

- Matrix (n)- a point when something else originates, develops, or takes form

- Obsequies (n)- a funeral rite, or ceremony

- Panache (n)- a grand manner; style; flair

- Persona (n)- the characters in a play

- Philippic (n)- any speech of bitter denunciation

- Prurient (adj)- having lustful thoughts or desires

- Sacrosanct (adj)- extremely sacred

- Systemic (adj)- of or pertaining to a system

- Tendentious (adj)- having or showing a definite tendency, bias, or propose

- Vicissitude (n)- a change or variation occurring in the course of something 

- Abase: (v) to lower; to put or bring down; degrade 

- Abdicate: (v) to give up a throne, right, power, claim, or responsibility  

- Abomination: (n) anything greatly disliked; detestation 

- Brusque: (adj) abrupt in manner; rough

- Saboteur: (n) a person who commits or practices sabotage 

- Debauchery: (n) excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures; intemperance 

- Proliferate: (v) to increase in number or spread rapidly and often excessively

- Anachronism: (n) someone or something that is not in it's correct historical or chronological time

- Nomenclature: (n) a set or system of names or terms by an individual or community; the names or terms comprising a set or system

- Expurgate: (v) to purge or cleanse of moral offensiveness; to amend by removing words deemed offensive

- Bellicose: (adj) inclined or eager to fight; aggressively hostile; belligerent; pugnacious 

- Gauche: (adj) lacking social grace; awkward; crude; tactless

- Rapacious: (adj) inordinately greedy; predatory; extortionate

- Paradox: (n) a self-contradictory and false proposition 

- Conundrum: (n) anything that puzzles; a riddle whose answer involves a pun or play on words 

- Anomaly: (n) someone or something that is abnormal or does not fit in; peculiarity; abnormality; exception 

- Ephemeral: (adj) lasting a short time; short-lived

- Rancorous: (adj) full of or showing rancor (hatred)

- Churlish: (adj) boorish; rude; mean

- Precipitous: (adj) extremely steep

- Accoutrements: (n) personal clothing, accessories; the equipment including weapons and clothing of a soldier

- Apogee: (n) the highest or most distant point; climax 

- Apropos: (adj. or adverb) opportune; pertinent; at the right time 

- Bicker: (verb or noun) to engage in petulant or peevish argument; an angry dispute

- Coalesce: (verb) to unite as one or come together 

- Contretemps: (noun) an embarrassing mischance; an inopportune occurrence

- Convolution: (noun) a rolled up or coiled condition 

- Cull: (verb) to choose; select; pick

-Disparate: (adjective) dissimilar; essentially different; distinct in kind

- Dogmatic: (adjective) opinionated; asserting opinions in an arrogant manner

 - Licentious: (adjective) lewd; unrestrained by law or morality; disregarding rules

 - Mete: (verb) to distribute or apportion by measure; allot 

- Noxious: (adjective) harmful or injurious to health or well-being; morally harmful

- Polemic: ( noun or adjective) a controversial argument; a person who argues in opposition to another 

- Populous: (adjective) full of residents or inhabitants; heavily populated 

- Probity: (noun) integrity and uprightness; honesty

- Repartee: (noun) a quick, witty reply

- Supervene: (verb) to take place or occur as something extra or extraneous

- Truncate: ( verb) to shorten or cut off. 

- Unimpeachable: (adjective) above suspicion; impossible to discredit; impeccable 

- Adumbrate: to outline; give a faint indication of

- Apotheosis: the elevation or exaltation of a person to the rank of god; the ideal example

- Ascetic: a person who dedicates his or her life to a pursuit of contemplative ideals and practices extreme self denial or self-mortification for religious reasons; a monk 

- Bauble: a showy, usually cheap, ornament; trinket  

- Beguile: to influence by trickery, flattery, etc.; mislead; delude

- Burgeon to grow or develop quickly; flourish 

- Complement: something that competes or makes perfect

- Contumacious: stubbornly perverse or rebellious; willfully and obstinately disobedient

- Curmudgeon: a bad tempered, difficult, cantankerous person
- Didactic: intended for instruction; instructive

- Disingenuous: lacking in frankness, candor, or sincerity; false or hypocritically

- Exculpate: to clear from a charge of guild or fault; free from blame; vindicate

 - Faux Pas: a slip or blunder in etiquette, manners, or conduct; an embarrassing social blunder or indiscretion 

 - Fulminate: to explode with a loud noise; detonate; to issue or pronounce with vehement denunciation 

 - Fustian: a stout fabric of cotton and flax; high flown or affected writing or speech

 - Hauteur: haughty manner or spirit; arrogance

 -Inhibit: to restrain, hinder, arrest, or check; to prohibit; forbid 

 - Jeremiad: a prolonged lamentation or mournful complaint

-Opportunist: a person who practices opportunism or the policy of adapting actions, decisions; to effectiveness regardless of the sacrifice of ethical principles

-Unconscionable: not guided by conscience; unscrupulous; not I'm accordance with what is just or reasonable

 

 

Allegory of the Cave Sonnet

My world was very different than yours.
Dark shadows were the only things I saw,
Dancing, swirling upon the walls and floors.
Cold shackles constricted my hands and jaw.

Then one day my shackles were loose and plop!
Free was I to stand up and move about.
I saw a hole and decided to drop,
Everything was overwhelming no doubt!

My eyes blind as the sun had just risen.
Puzzling questions formed inside my head;
Should I explore or return to the prison?
But they won't believe even if I plead.

So off I walked in the opposite way,
Praying that everything will be okay.

Brain With 6 Legs

My partners for this reading are Caroline Mantoura and Haley Zahn. Our reading plan is to read the first half of the book by Sunday the 24th. We will read the second half of the book by Wednesday the 27th so we do not have to worry about reading it over break. Instead, we will talk about what we each got out of the reading together during the break. We will try to get together sometime during break but if we are not able to, we can either text or FaceTime. We chose the book Great Expectations because we read the back of the book and decided this one seems a lot more interesting than the other.

Final Vocabulary List (Part 2)

-Shenanigans: (n) mischief, trickery

-Ricochet: (v) to move in this way, as a projectile

-Schism: (n) division or disunion; the parties so formed

-Eschew: (v) to abstain or keep away from; shun; avoid

-Plethora: (n) over abundance; excess

-Ebullient: (adj) overflowing with fervor, enthusiasm, or excitement; high-spirited

-Garrulous: (adj) wordy, diffuse; excessively talkative in a rambling manner

-Harangue: (n) intense verbal attack

-Interdependence: (n) the quality or condition of being interdependence, or mutually reliant upon each other

-Capricious: (adj) erratic, unpredictable of change

-Loquacious: (adj) talkative, chattering; to talk much

-Ephemeral: (adj) lasting a short time; short-lived

-Inchoate: (adj) not yet completed; not yet developed

-Juxtapose: (v) to place close together for comparison and contrast

-Perspicacious: (adj) having keen mental perception and understanding

-Codswallop: (n) nonsense, rubbish

-Mungo: (n) a low-grade wool from felted rags or waste

-Sesquipedalian: (adj) containing many syllables, given to using long words

-Wonky: (adj) unsteady, shaky, unreliable, boring

-Diphthong: (n) a vowel sound, occupying a single syllable, during the articulation of which the tongue moves from one position to another, causing a continual change in vowel quality 

-Obsequious: (adj) obed-ient; dutiful; fawning

-Beatitude: (n) exalted happiness

-Bete Noire: (n) a person or thing that one particularly dislikes or dreads

-Bode: (v) to be an omen of

-Dank: (adj) unpleasantly moist or humid; damp and, often, chilly

-Ecumenical: (adj) general; universal: promoting Christian unity throughout the world

-Fervid: (adj) heated in spirit, enthusiasm; intensely hot, burning

- Fetid: (adj) having an offensive odor; stinking

- Gargantuan: (adj) gigantic, enormous

- Heyday: (n) the stage or period of greatest vigor, strength, success, etc.; prime

-Incubus: (n) a nightmare

-Infrastructure: (n) the basic, underlying framework or features of a system or organisation

-Inveigle:(v) to entice, lure, or ensnare by flattery or artful talk; to acquire by beguiling talk or methods

- Kudos: (n) honor, glory, acclaim

- Lagniappe: (n) tip, bonus, gratuity 

- Prolix: (adj) extended to great, unnecessary, or tedious length; long and wordy

- Protege: (n) a person under the care of someone interested in his or her career or welfare.

- Prototype: (n) the original or model on which something is based on for formed; someone who serves to illustrate the typical qualities of something 

- Sycophant: (n) a self-seeking, servile flatterer; fawning parasite

- Tautology: (n) needless repetition of an idea

- Truckle: (v) to submit or yield obsequiously or tamely

- Accolade- (n) any award, honor, or laudatory notice

- Acerbity- (n) sourness; harshness or severity as of temper or expression

- Attrition- (n) a reduction or decrease in number, size, it strength 

- Bromide- (n) a person who is platitudinous and boring; a trite saying

- Chauvinist- (n) a person who is aggressively and blindly patriotic; a person who believe one gender is superior to another

- Chronic- (adj) constant; habitual; inveterate; having long had a disease 

- Expound- (v) to explain; to interpret

-Factionalism- (adj) of a faction or factions; self-interested

-Immaculate- (adj) free from spot or stain; free from moral blemish; pure; free from fault

- Imprecation- (n) the act of imprecations; cursing

- Ineluctable- (adj) incapable of being evaded; inescapable 

- Mercurial- (adj) changeable; animated; lively

- Palliate- (v) to relieve or lessen without curing; alleviate; to try and conceal the gravity if excuses, apologies 

- Protocol- (n) a supplementary international agreement; the customs and regulations dealing with diplomatic formality 

- Resplendent- (adj) shining brilliantly; gleaming; splendid

- Stigmatize- (v) to set some mark of disgrace; to mark with a stigma or brand.

- Sub Rosa- (n) confidentially; secretly; privately

- Vainglory- (n) excessive elation or pride over one's own achievements, abilities; boastful vanity

- Vestige- (n) a mark, trace, or visible evidence of something that us no longer present or in existence

- Volition- (n) the act of willing, or choosing, or resolving; exercise of willing; a choice of decision made by the will

-Apostate: (n) person who abandons his religion, cause, party 

- Effusive: (adj) extravagantly demonstrative of emotion; gushing; overflowing

- Impasse: (n) a position or situation from which there is no escape; deadlock

- Euphoria: (n) a state of intense happiness and self-confidence

- Lugubrious: (adj) mournful, dismal, or gloomy 

- Bravado: (n) a pretentious, swaggering display of courage

- Consensus: (n) majority of opinion.

- Dichotomy: (n) a division into two parts, kinda; contrast between two different things

- Constrict: (v) to draw or press in; compress

- Gothic: (adj) pertaining to a style of architecture originating in France in middle of 12th century 

- Punctilio: (n) a fine point as of conduct; strictness or exactness in the observation of formalities or amenities

- Metamorphosis: (n) a complete change of form, structure, or appearance as transformation 

- Raconteur: (n) a person who is skilled in relating stories and anecdotes interestingly

- Sine qua non: (n) an indispensable condition, element, or factor; something essential 

- Quixotic: (adj) impulsive and often rashly unpredictable; extravagantly chivalrous or romantic; impractical 

- Vendetta: (n) a fued in which members of the family of a murdered  person seek to avenge the murder by killing the slayer's relatives

- Non Sequitur: (n) a statement that has an illogical conclusion; an inference or conclusion that does not follow the premises 

- Mystique: (n) framework of doctrines, ideas, beliefs constructed around a person or object; an aura of mystery surrounding a particular pursuit 

- Quagmire: (n) an area of boggy ground whose surface yields under the tread; soft or flabby

- Parlous: (adj) dangerous, perilous

Plato's Allegory of the Cave

1. According to Socrates, what does the Allegory of the Cave represent?
- The Allegory of the Cave represents what we believe is reality and when we are brought out of our reality, we are lost and confused.  

2. What are the key elements in the imagery used in the allegory?
- The darkness is used to represent the reality in which the prisoners live in while the light represents the unknown world they have been deprived of. 

3. What are some things the allegory suggests about the process of enlightenment or education?
- I believe the allegory suggests that in order to learn something new you must be willing to step out of your comfort zone and have an open mind.

4. What do the imagery of "shackles" and the "cave" suggest about the perspective of the cave dwellers or prisoners?

- To the prisoners, the cave is the only world they know of. It is their reality they have been limited to. The shackles represent how they are trapped and so greatly restrained they are not even able to turn their heads. Everything they see in front of them is the only thing they know.

5. In society today or in your own life, what sorts of things shackle the mind?
- I believe limitations and rules shackle the mind today. For example, I have not traveled a lot due to the fact traveling fees these days are so expensive. I also have a very busy schedule that inhibits me from doing fun things or going on vacations. Rules can shackle the mind in school, for example, because students' freedom is so limited. 

6. Compare the perspective of the freed prisoner with the cave prisoners?
- Unlike the cave prisoners, the freed prisoner is able to see things the cave prisoners can't like the sun. This leads him into the world of imagination as he is able to imagine what other things may be out in the world. Before the freed prisoner escaped, he would never have imagined something so bright like the sun existed. The cave prisoners still believe in only the shadows because it is the only thing they have ever known.  

7. According to the allegory, lack of clarity or intellectual confusion can occur in two distinct ways or contexts. What are they?
-Lack of clarity can occur when one simply doesn't know of any other possibilities. If someone is taught one thing all their lives and someone suddenly tells them they are wrong or there are other possibilities, how could they have known that in the first place? Intellectual confusion can occur when you are trying to explain something to someone they didn't even know existed. 

8. According to the allegory, how do cave prisoners get free? What does this suggest about intellectual freedom?
- The cave prisoners can get free if they simply just try to escape. This tells us that in order to do something new you need to step out of your comfort zone. Though it may be scary at first, that one decision can hold a million different outcomes and opportunities. 

9. The allegory presupposes that there is a distinction between appearances and reality. Do you agree? Why or why not?
- I agree with this statement. In the allegory, the cave prisoners only saw the appearances of the shadows on the walls. In reality, those shadows were different things like animals and people. 

10. If Socrates is incorrect in his assumption that there is a distinction between reality and appearances, what are the two alternative metaphysical assumptions?
- One assumption could be that everything you see is indeed what it appears be and nothing else. Another assumption could be that all the things you know of are the only things that exist in the world. 

Vocabulary Final List (Part 1)

- Aficionado (n)- an ardent devotee; fan, enthusiast

- Browbeat (v)- to intimidate with overbearing looks or words; bullying

- Commensurate (adj)- having the same measure; equal extent or duration.

- Diaphanous (adj)- very sheer or light; almost transparent

- Emolument (n)- profit, salaries, or fees from office or employment

- Foray (n)- a quick sudden attack

- Genre (n)- a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, or technique

- Homily (n)- a sermon; an inspiring saying or cliche.
 
- Immure (v)- to imprison; to shut-in

- Insouciant (adj)- free from worry; carefree; nonchalant

- Matrix (n)- a point when something else originates, develops, or takes form

- Obsequies (n)- a funeral rite, or ceremony

- Panache (n)- a grand manner; style; flair

- Persona (n)- the characters in a play

- Philippic (n)- any speech of bitter denunciation

- Prurient (adj)- having lustful thoughts or desires

- Sacrosanct (adj)- extremely sacred

- Systemic (adj)- of or pertaining to a system

- Tendentious (adj)- having or showing a definite tendency, bias, or propose

- Vicissitude (n)- a change or variation occurring in the course of something

- Abase: (v) to lower; to put or bring down; degrade

- Abdicate: (v) to give up a throne, right, power, claim, or responsibility 

- Abomination: (n) anything greatly disliked; detestation 

- Brusque: (adj) abrupt in manner; rough

- Saboteur: (n) a person who commits or practices sabotage 

- Debauchery: (n) excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures; intemperance

- Proliferate: (v) to increase in number or spread rapidly and often excessively

- Anachronism: (n) someone or something that is not in it's correct historical or chronological time

- Nomenclature: (n) a set or system of names or terms by an individual or community; the names or terms comprising a set or system

- Expurgate: (v) to purge or cleanse of moral offensiveness; to amend by removing words deemed offensive

- Bellicose: (adj) inclined or eager to fight; aggressively hostile; belligerent; pugnacious

- Gauche: (adj) lacking social grace; awkward; crude; tactless

- Rapacious: (adj) inordinately greedy; predatory; extortionate

- Paradox: (n) a self-contradictory and false proposition

- Conundrum: (n) anything that puzzles; a riddle whose answer involves a pun or play on words

- Anomaly: (n) someone or something that is abnormal or does not fit in; peculiarity; abnormality; exception 

- Ephemeral: (adj) lasting a short time; short-lived

- Rancorous: (adj) full of or showing rancor (hatred)

- Churlish: (adj) boorish; rude; mean

- Precipitous: (adj) extremely steep

- Accoutrements: (n) personal clothing,accessories; the equipment including weapons and clothing of a soldier

- Apogee: (n) the highest or most distant point; climax

- Apropos: (adj. or adverb) opportune; pertinent; at the right time

- Bicker: (verb or noun) to engage in petulant or peevish argument; an angry dispute

- Coalesce: (verb) to unite as one or come together

- Contretemps: (noun) an embarrassing mischance; an inopportune occurrence

- Convolution: (noun) a rolled up or coiled condition 

- Cull: (verb) to choose; select; pick

-Disparate: (adjective) dissimilar; essentially different; distinct in kind

- Dogmatic: (adjective) opinionated; asserting opinions in an arrogant manner

- Licentious: (adjective) lewd; unrestrained by law or morality; disregarding rules

- Mete: (verb) to distribute or apportion by measure; allot

- Noxious: (adjective) harmful or injurious to health or well-being; morally harmful

- Polemic: ( noun or adjective) a controversial argument; a person who argues in opposition to another 

- Populous: (adjective) full of residents or inhabitants; heavily populated 

- Probity: (noun) integrity and uprightness; honesty

- Repartee: (noun) a quick, witty reply

- Supervene: (verb) to take place or occur as something extra or extraneous

- Truncate: ( verb) to shorten or cut off. 

- Unimpeachable: (adjective) above suspicion; impossible to discredit; impeccable 

- Adumbrate: to outline; give a faint indication of

- Apotheosis: the elevation or exaltation of a person to the rank of god; the ideal example

- Ascetic: a person who dedicates his or her life to a pursuit of contemplative ideals and practices extreme self denial or self-mortification for religious reasons; a monk

- Bauble: a showy, usually cheap, ornament; trinket 

- Beguile: to influence by trickery, flattery, etc.; mislead; delude

- Burgeon: to grow or develop quickly; flourish

- Complement: something that competes or makes perfect

- Contumacious: stubbornly perverse or rebellious; willfully and obstinately disobedient

- Curmudgeon: a bad tempered, difficult, cantankerous person

- Didactic: intended for instruction; instructive

- Disingenuous: lacking in frankness, candor, or sincerity; false or hypocritically

- Exculpate: to clear from a charge of guild or fault; free from blame; vindicate

- Faux Pas: a slip or blunder in etiquette, manners, or conduct; an embarrassing social blunder or indiscretion 

- Fulminate: to explode with a loud noise; detonate; to issue or pronounce with vehement denunciation 

- Fustian: a stout fabric of cotton and flax; high flown or affected writing or speech

- Hauteur: haughty manner or spirit; arrogance

-Inhibit: to restrain, hinder, arrest, or check; to prohibit; forbid 

- Jeremiad: a prolonged lamentation or mournful complaint

-Opportunist: a person who practices opportunism or the policy of adapting actions, decisions; to effectiveness regardless of the sacrifice of ethical principles

-Unconscionable: not guided by conscience; unscrupulous; not I'm accordance with what is just or reasonable