Friday, January 28, 2011

The Importance of being Earnest: Dishonesty

In The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde, the theme of dishonesty is expressed in relation to several other kinds of literary elements. An example could be the play's multitude of humorous expressions. A great number of these, particularly epigrams, concern the concept of dishonesty. In one passage, the character John (Jack) Worthing says to another character that, "[i]t is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth." (89). Mr. Worthing is discussing, in an epigram, how the things he had said and done were not untruthful, as he had thought, but in fact the truth. The theme of dishonesty is also involved in much of Wilde's satire of social institutions. A prominent instance of this is when the two characters Algernon and Jack seek to be christened by the church, only for unscrupulous reason of being renamed as "Ernest", so that they can continue in their deception of others. This mocks religion in that the characters' motive in for doing this religious practice is not for their belief in the religion, but for untruthfulness. This example of dishonesty relates to another major topic in the play, namely the many instances of the words Ernest and earnest. As stated above, both Algernon and Jack seek the name Ernest. Throughout the story, they deceive other characters into believing that it is their true name. This also gives incorporation to the literary element of irony, as Ernest is a homophone for earnest, and yet the characters that use this name are far from that. Additionally, Algernon and Jack use the nom de plume of Ernest for their own benefit. The former character, in the latter portion of the book, uses the name to be able to go to the country and visit the character Cecily, whereas the latter character, in the former portion of the book, does the same to visit the city and his love Gwendolen. In these circumstances, the men are using dishonesty to pursue pleasure.

Oscar Wilde incorporates the theme of dishonesty into a great portion of his play, in accordance to several literary elements, and through the dialogue of practically all of his characters. However, this dishonesty comes on many different levels as well. Some are minor, such as when Lane pretends that there were no cucumbers at the market, and others are much more major, such as how Algernon and Jack pretend to be called Ernest. The untruthfulness also varies in terms of intent and length of deception: when Cecily and Gwendolen say that they will not be the first to speak, they then do so a moment later; their intent is not to really try to trick or mislead any others, but to be slightly humorous. However, such as in the grandest lie, concerning the name of Ernest, the two initiators are being dishonest, with the intent of deceiving many other characters in order that they can have pleasurable experiences, and without the intent of ever admitting to the truth. It could be said that Wilde is trying to convey to the reader the multiple levels of dishonesty, and encourage them to think about each of these forms' existence in real life. The implication that I gathered from the novel is that of the many kinds of lies, some are certainly more, or less, harmful than others.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Animal Farm Project Evaluations

1. Aaron B: Artwork

I found that Aaron's project, an circular cycle surrounded with images, did well to convey the theme of the pigs becoming more like the humans that they had once overthrown. The element of symbolism was also well expressed in several of the images, such as the Picard facepalm.

2. Galen B: Comic Strip

Galen's comic strip provided a good and accurate representation of the plot and story of the novel. It also effectively expressed the irony of Animal Farm returning to Manor Farm.

3. Jake B: Artwork

The location of the characters in Jake's artwork was particularly thematic to the book. Napoleon and the dogs were at the top of the barn, being "more equal" in the story, whereas Snowball was at the bottom.

4. Daryl M: Artwork

Daryl's project was an appropriate symbolic depiction of Animal Farm in the arrows and speech bubbles of the animals. The altered commandments also had relevance to the novel.

5. Kyra B & Amaya K: Movie

Kyra's project, a paper puppet movie, well showed the events and alterations of the commandments in the book. This progressing change expressed the foreshadowing of further changes.

6. Kady Z: Movie

Kady's trailer and movie was very accurate to the book. The images, especially of the windmill being drawn and "un-drawn", and the music were symbolic of the events of the book.

7. Joel R: Artwork:

Joel's picture symbolically shows how the pigs become more like man. The pig wearing clothing in the right frame is an occurrence in the novel, and so relevant to it.

8. Britta S: Poem

Britta's poem, with the change from a version of Beasts of England to praise for Napoleon and the other leading animals, accurately expresses this theme from the book. The irony from the book is also present in the poem, such as concerning the windmill.

9. Josh A: Song

Though it was literal at times, Josh's song was quite relevant to the book in the facts that information that it gave. It also discussed the symbolism between the pigs and figures from the time of the Soviet Union.

10. Porter N: Artwork

Porter's artwork was directly symbolic to the theme of the pigs becoming like the humans in what they did. The humor in the depiction of the pig's face in the latter half of the drawing helped to convey the irony of this.

My Project

Having viewed some of the other projects of my classmates, I think that I put the right amount of work and effort into making my own project. Some of the other projects looked like they might have taken longer and more planning than mine, and some less, but I am satisfied with the product that I made. In respect to literary elements, I made sure to include each of the literary elements into my project, and I saw many other projects that did this too.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

New Year's Resolution (Extra Credit)

With jazz band in the morning, requiring me to wake up early in the morning, and a host of extracurricular activities late at night, I have not been sleeping as much as I would want since the beginning of the school year. By the time I arrive home after soccer or Aikido practice, have a shower, and get ready for bed, its usually around 9:00. Depending on how much homework I have, I then only get into bed by around 9:00 to 10:00. As it takes me around 30 minutes to fall asleep, and I wake up at around 6:00, I usually only get around 7 to 8 hours of sleep, far less than I need. Thursday, when I have both piano and soccer, leaves me even less time at home to finish homework, and thus even less sleep.

A person sleeping in his clothes.
Lack of sleep has a greatly negative effect on me, throughout my day. In the morning, and sometimes even later into the day, I often feel sick and groggy when I am sleep-deprived. This makes it harder to concentrate on what I am doing, including school, homework, and my after-school activities. Also, being in this state raises the risk of me catching a cold or the flu, which would be extremely inconvenient to me.

I believe that the best way to allow myself more sleep is to be more efficient in my homework and piano practicing. With the exception of Thursday, I have around 2 to 3 hours at home before my soccer and Aikido practices. As I practice 1 hour of piano each day, this leaves me with 1 to 2 hours to do homework. If I could become more efficient in doing my homework, I could complete the majority of it beforehand, and then be able to get to bed sooner, guaranteeing me more sleep. In addition, I could take steps to help myself fall asleep faster, such as relaxing more just before I go to bed, or trying to clear my thoughts. Preparing my backpack and clothes the night before would also enable me to wake up 5 to 10 minutes later in the morning. For the rest of this year, and hopefully beyond that, I am aiming to try and get a great deal more sleep and rest.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Animal Farm Creative Project

Below is my creative, technology-based project on the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell. It is designed to resemble a portrait gallery, with the right side containing images of the historical figures of Joseph Stalin, Leon Trotsky, Karl Marx, and the KGB, and the left side containing the corresponding allegorical animal counterparts of Napoleon, Snowball, Old Major, and the dogs. The "X"'s on the portraits of Trotsky, Marx, Snowball, and Old Major represent their death or expulsion. Below the portraits, the seven commandments are written down, with obvious editing in red representing the alterations that the pigs had made in the story. The checks next to several of the commandments indicate that they have already been edited, while the question marks next to the others introduce the possibility that they could be changed later as well. The image can be enlarged to its original size if clicked upon.