December 14 Daily Journal

December 14, 2020

I have always liked those nights where I binge watch Netflix with snacks. A clean house and comfortable clothes make me feel better. A yoga session and knowing my assignments are completed just make me feel like I'm living the life.

December 15, 2020

It's possible for humans to become extinct. It's more likely that the government gives us all a million dollars though. I think maybe a fireball as big as Jupiter can crash right into the earth and that can make the whole world explode but at least we'll be advised first. Humans can become extinct someday but what's happening right now is the total opposite with abortion. So I don't think it's very likely humans are to become extinct.

December 16, 2020- Can a person love too much?

A person can love too much. Too much love is just obsession and that's not healthy. When someone loves too much where you can't leave them alone or always want to keep them safe because you "love them so much" that's an obsession, and in a romantic relationship that would be considered clingy and that's a turn-off according to most people.

LITERATURE ANALYSIS #1-THE BEST OF ME

The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks

The plot of The Best Of Me is Dawson and Amanda fall deeply in love though they were from opposite sides of the tracks. Dawson leaves Amanda because their parents couldn’t accept their relationship. Nevertheless, twenty-five years later they are bought together once more for a funeral. They both have lived a life and had different experiences. Amanda now has a husband with children whom she doesn’t love. Dawson stays single but goes to jail. They meet up, talk, eat, and sleep. The next day they bump into each other once more and go pay their respects to the lost one and dance the night away. Amanda realizes she has a family she needs to get back to. She leaves Dawson. Meanwhile, Dawson’s cousins are looking to kill him. Long story short: they do. Amanda gets a phone call while at the hospital because her son got a heart attack and cries.
The themes of The Best Of Me are love, vengeance, and loyalty. Dawson and Amanda fell deeply in love but had to test their loyalty at the end of the story which led to the climax. It was also about vengeance because Dawson had some cousins that hated him which led to his death.
Nicholas Sparks seemed to have a hard time writing things, which led me to believe that he woke up very early just to write and had to go to bed very late at night. I know he had a hard time reading The Best Of Me because I do read the acknowledgments, and in the first sentence there it states, “Some novels are more challenging to write than others, and The Best Of Me falls into that category.” When I usually finish books I have pending questions such as, “Wait, what about this person? What happened after he did this…” but with this book, I had no questions that needed to be answered which made me realize that Sparks is very organized and patient. I’d say he drinks a lot of coffee because of this. I know he’s read over his book several times to cover any gaps he might’ve left. I also believe that he is very social and loves hanging out with people and I might throw in there that he might’ve even loved to celebrate every once in a while. In the second line of the acknowledgments, it states, “The Best Of Me was difficult to write-I won’t bore you with those reasons-and without the support of the following people, I’d probably still be working on it.” He’s thankful and loved.
Five literary techniques I observed were flashbacks, tone, foreshadows, symbolism, and personification. The flashbacks helped us understand what happened to Dawson and Amanda after they hadn't seen each other in over twenty years. There was a part of the story where Dawson finds a four-leaved clover symbolizing and foreshadowing that there was going to be good luck. In the sentence, "...the morning pricked the back of his neck..." prick being personified.

What drew me to this book was mainly its cover. I know people often remind me that you shouldn't be judging a book by its cover but it was just so pretty and it motivated me to read it. I really expected this to be a happy story with a happy ending… boy was I wrong. I compared The Notebook with The Best Of Me since they are written by the same author and I wanted to cry of happiness as I did with The Notebook. Unfourtanrtly, that's not what exactly happened.
What kept me reading the first ten pages was definitely my imagination, feeling of guilt, and stress over my commitment to reading this book. I imagined the scenery, every detail of it, and I created an image in my brain to see how it would look like. I also felt guilty because this book was recommended to me by my 8th-grade teacher and I never read it. I also continued reading this book because I kept on telling myself that there was no going back with the book of my selection.
My reading habits used to be to read the ending to check if it ends well. Which never really did anything for me because I wouldn't read the book at all at the end of the day. I didn't really start reading until quarantine, but sometimes I would get impatient or mad and take a peek at the ending. But I proved I could read the beginning to the end without taking a peek at the end with this book.

1.) Two examples of indirect characterization of Dawson is intelligent and careful. It states, "He (Dawson) was probably the only kid in his school's history who studies hard to hide his differences as best as he could." This tells us that Dawson is smart. Smart enough to know that he needs to be careful with what he's showing. His family would get mad and physically abuse Dawson because of this. He tried always avoiding conflict between himself and his family.

2.) The author's diction does change when he focuses on each character. On Amanda, the author gives us more fancy and harder words because of her personality rather than Dawson who didn't get much education thus his vocabulary is simple.

3.) The protagonist which is Dawson Cole is flat. He doesn’t have much personality. He’s very static throughout the whole story but curious. He is very quiet and since his mom left him at three and his dad was an alcoholic which means he had to raise himself up and that’s why he was so mature. He’s was abused a lot in his life which is why he was quiet and tried to stay out of people’s business.

4.) After reading this book I did feel like I came away feeling like I met a person. There was a part where Dawson finds his purpose of living, which is helping the son of the guy he ran over many years ago. "He suddenly understood why he had been brought here-and perhaps even what his purpose had been along." The son was involved in a fight with the Dawsons same cousins that wanted revenge on Dawson. As I read this text I remember feeling shocked because this was foreshadowing that his life was to end and I didn't want that, I knew he deserved way better.

FINAL REFLECTION FOR WORLD LITERATURE 2020-2021

This year has made history and not in a good way. We've had many hardships and difficulties that affected many of us both mentally and physically. This pandemic that we hear and live each day has been the main problem. It hasn't been a safe environment with this disease going around, but our education had to continue.

This course that I took was very different and exciting. What made it different was we had work to do every day like the journals. Instead of using Canvas, we had a website that personally seemed more organized, it was easier to know what we had to do and it was more interactive. I'm not so sure I would've done well in my English class if I hadn't gotten Dr. Preston as my English teacher, so thank you.

As I look back on our experiences, I find teachers wanting to help the most meaningful. Not only was it hard for students, but it has been even harder for adults, adults with pre-existing medical conditions because they were the ones most at risk. Despite the higher risk of infection, I saw effort, compassion, and wanting to help all their students pass, and that meant a lot to me. I am beyond grateful for all the teachers.

There are many assignments, projects that I am proud of because of the time and effort I put. But this most significant assignment is the poster I created for my science class. I didn't pay attention to class and when I had my blank poster in front of me I didn't know where to start and instead of getting mad at myself, I thought about how I could change things right now and not dwell over things I could have done, like paying attention. I told my teacher the truth about how I hadn't been paying attention and she took her time to help me out and tell me exactly what I was supposed to do and I got a complete score even though I think I didn't deserve it.

There are many things I wish I could have done differently. Starting strong and fresh is one of those. I got lazy and apathetic. I kept telling myself that I would do the assignments later, but I never did till about the third week. I wish I had been steady with my assignments, so I wouldn't get stressed or tired and then realize I have even more coming my way. But it's now a lesson learned, and I know now what to do and what not to do for the next and hopefully final online semester.

I learned a lot in this course. I came to English class eager and willing to learn something new, mainly hoping I could find some new words to expand my vocabulary. But it was the fact that writing each day helped me express myself, letting it all out, and it also helped me become a better writer, and I think that is what will help me in the future to become an even better writer.

Three texts I've read this semester were, "The Best of Me" by Nicholas Sparks, Richard Cory by Edwin Arlington Robinson, and "Fox in Socks" written by Dr. Suess. The book "Fox in Socks" is mainly concentrated on alliteration. It also contains a bit of onomatopoeia. In "Fox in Socks" it says, "Clocks on fox tick." Tick being the onomatopoeia. It also rhymes a lot in this story. One example of this is, "Knox on fox in socks in box. Socks on Knox and Knox in box." Another book I read was "The Best of Me" it contained a hopeful tone but at the same time, it also foreshadowed that things weren't going to end well for Dawson and Amanda. It was suspenseful because you had no idea what could happen, and that made it exciting. It also contained many flashbacks. Flashbacks as to what happened after they didn't see each other for those twenty-five years. Richard Cory, written by Edwin Arlington Robinson, was an allegory. It taught us the message that wealth and looks can't make you happy. It also contains onomatopoeia such as, "...he glittered when he walked." Hyperbole is also a literature term that is used in this poem. Richard was described as rich "richer than a king." he uses exaggeration to help us realize how rich he was.

This semester has been a wild ride for both students, and teachers. It unlike any semester we've had before and that makes it unique.