The Glass Menagerie Author's Arguement

Précis:

In the play The Glass Menagerie (1945), Tennessee Williams uses the characters (Tom, Amanda, Laura, Jim, and their father) to argue many points in life. Williams argues through Jim that a disabled person should not give up on life because of their condition and that self confidence is the one thing every one needs to get rid of being shy, because being being shy is simply the fear of rejection. Jim was the type of person that just stops by in that person's life to leave a long lasting impression. Through Tom, I believe Williams was descibing man's need of adventure and also man can be selfish in order to fulfill his own dreams. 

Tone:

Sincere, humorous,

Vocabulary:

Prominent: distinguished, eminent, or well-known

Nimble: agile, fast, and light in movement

Coarse: harsh or rough to the touch

Paragon: somebody or something that is the very best example of something

Negligence: the condition or quality of being negligent

Rhetorical Strategies:

Dialogue: "You-won't-call again?

Telegraphic sentences:

“It is. I went walking.” (14)              

Hyphens:

I couldn’t go back there. I-threw up-on the floor! (15)

Listing:

Evening, dances! Afternoons, long, long rides! (54)

Imagery:

 [Amanda crosses through the portieres, humming gaily. Laura moves slowly to the long mirror and stares solemnly at herself. A wind blows the white curtains inward in a slow, graceful motion and with a faint, sorrowful sighing.] (53)

Questions:

Do you think Jim is a flirt and was just leading Laura on?

Do you pity Laura or feel as though she should have made more of herself even though she is disabled?

Do you believe Tom is a selfish brother and son for leaving his family or do you empathize with his choice?

Why do you believe Amanda is so excited that Jim has entered their lives?

If you were Laura would you regret meeting Jim because things didn’t go as planned?

Quotation:

“You know what I judge to be the trouble with you? Inferiority complex! Know what that is ? that’s what they call it when someone low-rates himself!” (80)

Precis:

In David Grann's nonfiction narrative The Lost City of Z (2010), he describes the relationship between Fawcett and Jack growing . At this age he is surrpassing his father in ability and wants more than anything to follow his father's footsteps in these dangerous yet intrieging journys.Crazy encounters in Indian Territory got out of hand and at one point his men had to kill indians because of their stubborness to back off. He and his men came close to death on many occassions and at one point he himself questioned why he wwas not at home in the god forsaken Amazon.

Tone:

Suspenceful, informative

Vocabulary:

trekking: To make a long difficult journey; especially on foot and often over rough or mountainous terrain

putrefaction: To decay with a foul smell, or make something decay with a foul smell

communal: Used or owned or owned by all members of a group or community

menus: A list of dishes that can be ordered in a restaurant or that are to be served at a formal meal

evasiveness: Not giving a direct answer to a direct question, usually in order to conceal the truth

Rhetorical Strategies:

Syntax:

(hyphens) "They eat only fish and vegetables--never meat" (241)

Imagery:

"The path wound through a partially submerged mangrove forest"(305)

Telegraphic Sentence:

"The room was dark." (294)

Dialogue (suspense):

"Up that way is where the bones were dug up. But they were not Fawcett's bones-they were my grandfather's"

Hyphen:

"I filled Paulo in about my trip to England and about everything Sawcett had done--including planting false leads and using ciphers--to conceal his course.(222)

Listing:

"...isolated, desolate, primitive and God forsaken" (240)

Questions:

• If you were in the situation Fawcett was in, would you have ordered your men to kill the indians or wait to see what happened?

• What type of man do you believe Fawcett is?

• What would it take for you to embark on such a journey?

Quotation:

"My story is lost. But it is a human soul's vanity to endeavor to disinter it and convey it to the world" (304)

Author's Arguement : The Lost City Of Z (10-17)

In the novel The Lost City of Z by Dvid Grann (Feburary 2009), he basically describes what Fawcett is going through while trying to find the lost city of z. Throughout the chapters Grann is portrayed as very successful in his expiditions " He was probably one of the world's foremost expert on South America" (120). His son is just as fixated with the idea of these journy's just like his father. In the end Fawcett met a woman who gave him the opportunity to study a manuscript in which he thought was very key an important in his expidition.

Tone:

Suspenceful, formal

Vocabulary:

 impetuousness: acting on the spur of the moment without considering consequences

Precipices: a high, vertical, or very steep rock face

Eerie: unnerving or unusual in a way that suggests a connection with the supernatural

Plateaus: an area of high ground with a fairly level surface

Pernicious-destructive or deadly
 

Rhetorical Strategies:

Imagery: "Streets paved and nearly aligned, thatched cottages covered in ivy, pastures filled with sheep, church bells tolling in the rain, stores crammed with jellies and soups ..." (115)

Listing: poems, documentaries, movies, stamps, children's stories (22)

•  "Hair," "Odour," "Motions," "Pathology," (155)
   

Dialogue:" The idea is to drain yourself physically and mentally and see how you respond under such circumstances," (23)

Telegraphic Sentences: 'There were other clues' (162)

Rhetorical Questions:

Why are people obssessed with the lost city of z anyway?

What would make you go to the extremes of Fawcett?

Who do you think is more obssessed, Grann or Fawcett, maybe even his son?

Quotation:

:" The idea is to drain yourself physically and mentally and see how you respond under such circumstances,"..."Some people would break, but i always find it slightly exhilarating"

The Lost City of Z blog #1

In the novel The Lost City of Z (2010), David Grann argues the affect of obsession in man, and moreso of the cliche 'curiosity killed the cat'. Grann depicts through the main character 'Fawcett' that man's fixation blinds them of obvious signs of risk or hazardous situations. He uses imagery to describe the various creatures in the amazon and to create a visual for the reader. Grann's tone is obsessive and curious; his audience is anyone that takes a liking for mystery novels

Vocabulary:

infanticide (n) : the act of killing an infant

inveterate (adj) : fixed in a habit or practice, especially a bad one

embolism (n) : medicine a condition in which an artery is blocked by an embolus, usually a blood clot formed at one place in the circulation and then lodging in another

chafe (v) : transitive and intransitive verb to become sore or worn by rubbing, or make something sore or worn in this way

Tone: curious, obsessive

Rhetorical Strategies:

imagery: "On a cold January day in 1925, a tall, distinguished gentleman hurried across..." (pg 7)

"Although his hair was thinning and his mustache was flecked with white..." (pg 7)