Blog Three-Texting Can Be Literature too?!

I'm curious to see how many people had trouble we our activity last week of translating "Ulysses" into texting language. I know I had trouble with it. I've never really use abbreviations in my text messages--I usually write complete sentences with proper grammar, proper spelling, and all. Maybe it is just my type-A personality. Regardless, translating "Ulysses" into such condensed symbols was difficult for me.

Mrs. Elliott mentioned that according to some scholars, text language was used in literature during the Victorian period. Though its use is quite different today, text language is becoming very influential on our society. Now when you walk through the C-building hallways, you hear people yell "OMG!" in response to a surprising story their friend told them. In other words, texting language truly is becoming a language. According to some, it is becoming "a new genre" (Yukiko Nishimura, UC Davis professor). But although text language may be creating a new language, it may be destroying the English language as well. So the question arises: "Would email and texting together destroy the power of written language and literature?" Although texting is far from literature, it remains written language. However, with the growth and expansion of technology, I believe that the common interest in reading and literature is disappearing. For me, the only time I am able to read a good piece of literature is in school. I have too many extracurriculars and I don't have much time on my hands. In other words, I can only read literature when I am forced to for a class. But for others who do have time to read, texting and computers and technology in general could be a distraction from reading Alice in Wonderland or another piece of literature. I believe that texting is creating a language and destroying one. While creating a new and unique language, it reflects our lifestyle as Americans--we want things done easy and we want them done quick. And with the rapid growth of technology, texting and email have taken over our lives. My parents don't recieve a newspaper anymore because they can read all of the articles online. The only letters we recieve to our house are invitations, magazine subscriptions, and all of the pamphlets random colleges from the Northeast send to me (not to mention, I get emails from them, too). I think that as technology continues to grow, we will see the return of texting as literature similar to how it was in the Victorian period.

-Shelby F.

Blog Two: Realities in Alice in Wonderland

"I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is ‘Who in the world am I?’ Ah, that's the great puzzle!" (Chapter 2: The Pool of Tears)

    Though in this particular quote Alice was talking about her size, little did she know of the hidden reality this question posed. As the book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland progresses, I discovered the theme of the book to be of Alice growing up, changing from her child-like state of mind to adult thinking, and understanding the confusion of this process. Many parts of the book lead to this idea, such as the continual growing and shrinking. These forceful transformations relate to the changes going on within her and prove a valuable point. For example, when Alice was small, she thought she was worthless. But at the height of three inches, she was able to use her reasoning skills to escape the giant dog. This proves that size isn’t everything; adapting to difficult situations means more in adult life than simply a person’s physical size.

         I also found the idea of the baby turning into a pig interesting. To me, turning into a decent adult is a major part of this transition, and the baby turning into the pig is a metaphor of it turning into a disagreeable person, proving to Alice the seriousness of this change in her life. This quote says it all:

“If it had grown up, it would have made a dreadfully ugly child; but it makes rather a handsome pig, I think.” (Chapter Six: Pig and Pepper)

         By the end of the book, Alice’s reasoning, logic, and personality is more mature compared to the beginning. The court trial reveals it all, for as major injustices were being placed, Alice grasped this concept and spoke her mind against it all. She was able to think for herself rather than abide to the rulings of the court. She also increasing shows composure in frustrating situations, revealing a huge amount of self-control. This book constantly hints at ideas relating to growing up and the struggle in finding yourself, and in the end, Alice realizes the difficult task she has ahead of her. 


-Taylor C.

Salute! Blog One

Hello! This is Despicable Us's first blog. We are in Mrs. Elliott's third period class and consist of Shelby Flores, Taylor Cosanella, Anissa Rosales, Chad Larson, Ryan Lenart, and me, Sasan Amini.
I was lucky enough to be the first person in our group to post a blog (-_-). So here we go!

These past couple weeks, our class has been concentrating on the concepts of archetypes and some concepts that stem from it, such as allusions. The oddity of archetypes is the fact that we have known about them for basically all of our lives, yet we just did not know what they were. Everyone knows when they see a hero, he/she is usuallly a good person and when they see a villian, he/she is a bad person. Such examples include Harry Potter/Voldemort, Hercules/Hades, or even Spongebob/Planktin! Who is the hero and who is the villian? Well, that is up to one's perspective.

 This concept was essentially begun by Plato. Then, some big time Swiss psychiatrist named Carl Jung furthered Plato's work to what it is now. The basic definition of archetypes is a universal, prenatal image or symbol that can be determined form one's unconsious. Usually they do not require any thought processing to determine, unless they are a hidden archetype. For example, some pieces of literature may include an archetype that has a mixed meaning or that can cause conflict with a person's beliefs. Some people may believe that a snake is a sinister symbol, often compared to the serpeant in the Garden of Eden, others may thing that the snake is lucky entity. Again, a person's perspective is a main factor in determining archetypes.

So if one lived their whole life living with snakes, they will most likely have a positive connotation on snakes in a literature work. Likewise they can compare it to the evil, decieving snake of Eden.

Now, what are your thoughts on archetypes? Do you believe they can only have one meaning, or even just one connotation? Feel free to reply in the comments below!

-Sasan Amini