Literature Analysis on The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

Literature Analysis: The Namesake

1) Jhumpa Lahiri's novel The Namesake, is about a immigrant from India who deals with the hardships of being an Indian migrant growing up and living in the United States. Ashoke and Ashima the parents of Gogol have to raise their son in Cambridge and fight against all the controversy and problems they face for being a immigrant in the United States.

2) The main theme of this novel is family control. Gogol is constantly confronted by his parents about the new American customs he is getting used to. His parents want him to have a more traditional lifestyle following their Indian culture and ways, but Gogol is pressured by his other friends and made fun of for not fitting in. So Gogol often has confrontations with his parents on how to live his life.

3) Lahiri's tone in the novel is very serious. Gogol describes both of the cultures he grew up in (Indian and American). Often stating the culture his parents want for him, and then the more familiar American culture.
4) Lahiri uses flashbacks a lot when Gogol is comparing the American culture with his Indian culture. Also Gogol voice is compared to a Husky's bark, which is uses of Personification. Foreshadowing is used, all the ways Gogol reacts to how his parents are towards the American culture shows us what his actions will be. Last Lahiri uses irony, it is ironic how Gogol is just a nickname, but then ends up being his official name on his birth certificate.

Who Was Shakespeare?

Shakespeare always has struck a string of curosity in me. I find Shakespeare's work enteraining, to say the least, but his ability for his writing to take forms and images to many different people astounds me even more. I find it hard to believe that someone in the 1500s could find time to write plays, much less then become a proffesional. This changes the way I thought about Shakespeare. His life was full of writing plays and enteraining others, which he enjoyed above all, but I had previously thought that his writings were created completely out of love of the arts (which of course does have something to do with it). As a student, I see Shakespeare as I do authors today, lonely and sitting at a desk constantly thinking of ideas for another story. Shakespeare, it seems had a extremely difficult life, being a proffesional writer, actor, director, and more, but Shakespeare never at once, while reading, seemed to give up on himself or his writing, which is a sad story for most authors that are successful. It never became a chore, as it seemed, for him to write another story. This truly shows Shakespeare as a lover of the arts, a man with determination, and a clever humor.
Searhes:
http://www.gprc.ab.ca/employees/homepages/ghanna/life.html);(http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/timeline/timeline.htm)

To Facebook or Not to Facebook

Facebook was created for the sole purpose of staying in touch with friends and possibly getting to know other people. So the fact that personal information is given is already going forward with the first step in a relationship, making those you talk to feel like they "know" a bit about you. This is a failed effort to make people come together. People who you don't know in reality could be of use to you, in a professional way, or in a relationship, but getting to know them first hand is part of gathering the relationship that will make two people friends.

Vocab List and Remix

Vocab. List:
1. abortive: (adj) failing to succeed; unsuccessful
2. bruit: (verb) to voice abroad; rumor
3. contumelious: (noun) a humiliating insult
4. dictum: (noun) an authoritative pronouncement
5. ensconce: (verb) to settle securely or snugly
6. iconoclastic: (adj) attacking or ignoring cherished beliefs and long-heldtraditions
7. in medias res: starting the story in the middle of something instead of at the beginning
8. internecine: (adj) of or pertaining to conflict or struggle within a group
9. maladroit: (adj) lacking in adroitness; unskillful; awkward; bungling; tactless
10. maudlin: (adj) tearfully or weakly emotional
11. modulate: (verb) to regulate by or adjust to a certain measure or proportion
12. portentous: (adj) ominously significant or indicative
13. prescience: (noun) knowledge of things before they exist or happen
14. quid pro quo: (noun) one thing in return for another
15. salubrious: (adj) favorable to or promoting health
16. saturnalian: (noun) unrestrained revelry; orgy
17. touchstone: (noun) a test or criterion for the qualities of a thing
18. traumatic: (adj) of, pertaining to, or produced by a trauma  or wound
19. vitiate: (verb) to impair the quality of
20. waggish: (adj) like a wag;  roguish in merriment and good humor

Abortive- abort is to quit, or to quit because of failure. Abortive is causing an abort.
bruit- "My coffee perk makes a noise when you brew-it."
contumelious- -melious reminds me of malicious, which is spiteful, so insulting  to with (con) mischief intent (?)
dictum- "I must DIC-tate Um'!"
ensconce- " ensconce sounds something like iskon (lord krishna's temple which is a peaceful place..hence can settle comfortably ... (feel like staying their only and settle down in such peaceful place..)"
iconoclastic- icono- as in a holy "icon" for a religion; sarcastic: to ridicule through mimicry;     -clastic is similar so, as to ridicule an icon; religion
in medias res: media is spanish for "middle", so "in the middle res"; just replace res with of then it sounds more grammatically correct in english
These are some of the ones i could make up.

Hamlet Act III, Scene IV Remix:

QUEEN GERTRUDE 
O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.

HAMLET 
O, throw away the worser part of it,
And live the purer with the other half.
Good night: but go not to mine uncle's bed;
Assume a virtue, if you have it not.
That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,
Of habits devil, is angel yet in this,
That to the use of actions fair and good
He likewise gives a frock or livery,
That aptly is put on. Refrain to-night,
And that shall lend a kind of easiness
To the next abstinence: the next more easy;
For use almost can change the stamp of nature,
And either [ ] the devil, or throw him out
With wondrous potency. Once more, good night:
And when you are desirous to be bless'd,
I'll blessing beg of you. For this same lord,

Pointing to POLONIUS

I do repent: but heaven hath pleased it so,
To punish me with this and this with me,
That I must be their scourge and minister.
I will bestow him, and will answer well
The death I gave him. So, again, good night.
I must be cruel, only to be kind:
Thus bad begins and worse remains behind.
One word more, good lady.

QUEEN GERTRUDE 
What shall I do?

HAMLET 
Not this, by no means, that I bid you do:
Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed;
Pinch wanton on your cheek; call you his mouse;
And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses,
Or paddling in your neck with his damn'd fingers,
Make you to ravel all this matter out,
That I essentially am not in madness,
But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know;
For who, that's but a queen, fair, sober, wise,
Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib,
Such dear concernings hide? who would do so?
No, in despite of sense and secrecy,
Unpeg the basket on the house's top.
Let the birds fly, and, like the famous ape,
To try conclusions, in the basket creep,
And break your own neck down.

QUEEN GERTRUDE 
Be thou assured, if words be made of breath,
And breath of life, I have no life to breathe
What thou hast said to me.

HAMLET 
I must to England; you know that?

QUEEN GERTRUDE 
Alack,
I had forgot: 'tis so concluded on.

HAMLET 
There's letters seal'd: and my two schoolfellows,
Whom I will trust as I will adders fang'd,
They bear the mandate; they must sweep my way,
And marshal me to knavery. Let it work;
For 'tis the sport to have the engineer
Hoist with his own petard: and 't shall go hard
But I will delve one yard below their mines,
And blow them at the moon: O, 'tis most sweet,
When in one line two crafts directly meet.
This man shall set me packing:
I'll lug the guts into the neighbour room.
Mother, good night. Indeed this counsellor
Is now most still, most secret and most grave,
Who was in life a foolish prating knave.
Come, sir, to draw toward an end with you.
Good night, mother.

Exeunt severally; HAMLET dragging in POLONIUS

Hamlet's Feelings at this Point:

     Let's look at how Queen Gertrude is feeling so that we can understand both situations better. First, we start with line 1, where the Queen says, "O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain." This shows the Queens distraught and surprised point of view from Hamlet's knowledge of the king and queen's misdeeds. 

     Next, we see Hamlet's reaction. To the readers understanding, Hamlet is reacting with determination, saying that all that he does is in the justice of Heaven, "I do repent: but heaven hath pleased it so, To punish me with this and this with me, That I must be their scourge and minister." At this point the audience realizes that Hamlet's scheme has turned for the worse, his mind and thoughts being greatly skewed by his determination to kill the king. He even goes so far as to make death threats to his mother. But in the middle of this scene Hamlet still shows his love for his mother. Hamlet wishes her to be more "pure", avoiding the sins that she previously showed in her kingdom. 

     Again, the reader is surprised to see that the Queen is still listening to her son, taking his words to heart. This scene indicates the point where Hamlet's insanity act crosses paths with his true feelings for the situation that he is in.

To Be or Not To Be...

In an effort to cram in the last stages of the poem, I understand those who feel that they can't memorize that monster. It is extremely intimidating. But if you can look past the size, you should see the meaning, when you understand the poem part by part, it makes so much more sense. The poem can be split into three sections, that makes it seem smaller, and much easier for the brain to visualize. Secondly, I plan to use this technique to study Act III. By splitting it into events and characters involved, as well as the tone of each character, your perspective is greatly enriched by what your are able to analyze.

Vocabulary Definitions and Paragraph

Words and Definitions:

1. abeyance: (noun) temporary inactivity, cessation 
2. ambivalent: (adjective) having ”mixed feelings about someone or something; beingunable to choose between two (usually opposing) courses of action
3. beleaguer: (verb) to surround with military forces
4. carte blanche: (noun) unconditional authority; full discretionary power
5. cataclysm: (noun) any violent upheaval
6. debauch: (verb) to corrupt by sensuality, intemperance, etc.; seduce
7. eclat: (noun) brilliance of success, reputation, etc.
8. fastidious: (adjective) excessively particular, critical, or demanding; hard to please
9. gambol: (verb) to skip about, as in dancing or playing
10. imbue: (verb) to impregnate or inspire, as with feelings
11. inchoate: (adjective) not yet completed or fully developed
12. lampoon: (noun) a sharp, often virulent satire directed against an individual or institution; a work of literature, art, or the like, ridiculing severely the character or behavior of a person, society, etc
13. malleable: (adjective) capable of being extended or shaped by hammering or by pressure from rollers
14. nemesis: (noun) something that a person cannot conquer, achieve, etc
15. opt: (verb) to make a choice; choose 
16. philistine: (noun)  a person who is lacking in or hostile or smugly indifferent to cultural values, intellectual pursuits, aesthetic refinement
17. picaresque: (adjective) of, pertaining to, or resembling rogues
18. queasy: (adjective) tending to cause nausea; nauseating
19. refractory: (adjective) hard or impossible to manage; stubbornly disobedient
20. savoir-faire: (noun) knowledge of just what to do in any situation

Paragraph:


     I found that Hamlet's attitude changes and efforts seem to be in a determined manner, but are completely out of anger. Hamlet's abeyance earlier in the story is no longer apparent for now he wants his revenge. Hamlet is mainly upset that Claudius is taking the throne of his father and is being a lampoon, insulting Hamlet's family. Hamlet is really not ambivalent on the inside, but shows his family his sadness and rage so that they can see him as picaresque as possible, throwing aside their thoughts of Hamlets revenge against his nemesis. Hamlet's plan, instead of a cataclysm for the king, but to stop his carte blanche, by using his eclat, Hamlet will decide, with his thought being completely under control will make a play with and imbue the death of King Hamlet within it. Hamlet's skill to opt is not that of a mad man, but that of one who is determined by anger and grief.

Mid Term Study Habits

• First I will begin by creating flashcards
• Now I will review the words about 30 to 40 at a time in a stack and take the ones that i know by heart out of the stack
• For the ones that I don't remember I will set in a separate stack
• These you will practice creating a mnemonic device for yourself (when making a mnemonic device one doesn't even need to draw a picture, what is the point of drawing the picture if you can't envision one there in the first place?)
• Exercising using memory recall using these devices will greatly help you while studying for ANY test

This test I will be reviewing vocabulary learned, therefore an example of a mnemonic device would be one of burgeon, to grow rapidly. My last name is Boerger (pronounced Burger) since the first 5 letters of the word look like "burger" I think of myself. I am a boy and my last name is Boerger, and I grew quickly in high school. This may sound bland and stupid, but this is what got me to remember the word, and that is all that you need to do.