:( I'm getting sad.

Today I wrote my essay on Grendel and it made me think about how “the end of man is knowledge.” That idea comes up throughout many of the books that we have studied this year, For example, All the Kings Men, Grendel, the Awakening, Hamlet, and many others. In Grendel, one of the main ideas is that power leads to destruction and eventually that power and destruction proves the fall of man is a result of too much knowledge. We studied this subject throughout many novels. In All the Kings Men Willie Stark gains tons of power and gets shot by a physician. Nobody likes him towards the end of the novel. In the awakening there is another display of power when Edna is beginning to discover life in the more self taught way she become to sure of herself and eventually loses out.

This idea is also very clearly seen Hamlet in the closing scene where Hamlet and the others are fighting with another. They all feel that they are stronger than their enemies and they feel that they can defeat the others. Gertrude switches the poisons and kills Claudius who planned to kill Hamlet. Hamlet kills Laeretes, and Gertrude kills herself by accidentally drinking the poison in celebration. Hamlet drinks the extra poison and falls to death. To me, this scene highlights the ideas planted into their society that power comes from physically being the most fitting for a win. Hamlet thinks he has power because he let himself get to him. He killed himself and he should have just lived. I mean what is the point in just defeating everyone and the vanishing?

It seems that this was the theme of literature this year. I’ve learned that schools think we can not learn unless each year has a theme. Like, sophmore year was all about conformity and crazy people between Lord of the Flies and the Catcher in the Rye. Junior year was about people not fitting in and how hard people try to fit into society with The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin and The Scarlet Letter. Why does every year have a theme? It is so strange.

Oh my goodness, Ms. Clinch. THIS IS MY LAST BLOG EVER! I love you. Thank you for being such an awesome teacher. Thank you for writing countless recommendation letters, helping with tons of essays, and for always being so understanding throughout the years. Thank you for coming to the art show. That meant so much to us art kids. I am so happy I got to have you for two years. You have taught me more than just literature these two years--- I am so thankful for all of the life lessons you have shown me throughout the years and for all of the support you give to the entire class. Your class is such a positive environment and I really value that. It makes everything so much less stressful. Thank you so much for everything. <3

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I have been thinking about the AP Literature exam since you just gave them back to us and considering the fact that the test is next week. AHHH!!! :) yay! I got a three on my exam. I think it is because I got fives on all of my exams. I really need to get those up because then I could get a four. If I could get six or seven’s on my essays maybe I could be not at a three on the exam. I found that it was much harder to answer the prose passage because I was not used to them anymore. There was a point where I felt that the poetry ones were harder but now it’s the other way around. The poetry ones are so much easier because I feel that there is actually something to analyze. I feel like the prose passages are just parts of movies or something. Sometimes I find it difficult to find any literary merit in the passages chosen. During my essays for the prose passages I tend to summarize way too much. I already summarize too much but I think in prose passages I feel like I have nothing else to talk about.

The thing I need to work on most is not falling into summary too much. I always think I need to explain parts of the passage but I really do not need to do that. My writing would be so much stronger if I could avoid so much summary in my writing. I think I need to implant it into my brain that summary is not necessary.

The multiple choice part is easy but after a while it becomes difficult to comprehend the passages because there are so many of them. Also, sometimes it feels like the passages are far too unrelated to the questions. I guess that means that I just need to read more deeply into the passage and analyze the phrasing and word usage, not the plot.

I feel so ready for this test! I am going to destroy it. Your class has prepared me for everything and I do not think I could be any better prepared after the practice exam. I know what I need to fix and what has to be done to get the score I desire. I am so excited that there is only a couple more days until the exam because then we get to have fun with you the rest of the time! I’m excited for the AP lit feast! Can we bring another piñata?