THE RETURN OF MACBETH TRAILER

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVkQxYWUlQA
BY: MARENA, MILA, ROWAN, ETHAN, LOUIE

10 Literary Devices From Life of Pi

Motif
"These are animals we haven't stopped by."
(Page 41)

Imagery
"A streak of black and orange flowed from one cage to the next."
(Page 39)

Dramatic Irony
"But he can't be a Hindu, a Christian and a Muslim. It's impossible. He must choose."
(Page 76)

Repetition
"But one thing is clear: atman seeks to realize Brahman, to be united with the Absolute, and it travels in this life on a pilgrimage where it is born and dies, and is born again, and dies again, and again, and again, until it manages to shed the sheaths that imprison it here below."
(Page 53-54)

Alliteration
"That a big, black, tropical cat managed to survive for more than two months in a Swiss winter without being seen by anyone, let alone attacking anyone, speaks plainly to the fact that escaped zoo animals are not dangerous absconding criminals but simply wild creatures seeking to fit in."
(Page 46)

Symbol
"My name is Piscine Molitor Patel."
(Page 24)

Simile
"I imagined it beckoned the Muslim faithful to the mosque, much like bells summoned us Christians to church."
(Page 65)

Assonance
"His hand went BOOM BOOM BOOM on my head."
(Page 63)

Foreshadowing
"Yes, it was all forcefully brought to the attention of my bemused parents. You see, they didn`t know. They didn`t know that I was practising Hindu, Christian and Muslim."`
(Page 71)

Hyperbole
"Is that so? Well, a whole lot of good it did God to be with you--you tried to kill him! You banged him to a cross with great big nails."
(Page 74)

Babylon English-Chinese (S)

(名) 拟人观, 拟人论

Morality - What's Right and What's Wrong?

     Morality is something that we must face when making decisions in our everyday lives. Sometimes we are torn between what is right and what is wrong. I believe it is something that we as humans learn and develop over time. We are not born with the ability to make the right decision. It is a type of knowledge that we gain over time from our own personal experiences. It could be something like making the wrong decision and learning from it or something as simple as getting advice from your parents. Taking a class on morality could teach you how to make the proper decisions. Most of this is based on your point of view and how you interpret things. Sometimes people are prone to making the wrong decisions and never learn from them. While others make mistakes and choose to learn and change from them for the better. People can influence and persuade you to make certain choices as well. Most of us have 'common sense' that is based on our view of morality. When we are born, we cannot make choices for ourselves but once we grow older, we gain the knowledge and soon the trust from our parents to makes our own resolutions. Whether is life threatening or something as simple as deciding which restaurant to go to, it all comes down to morality. Sometimes I ask myself the questions, what happened the last time I came to this dilemma? What are the possible outcomes? Who would benefit from my actions? What do I feel is the right thing to do? These are all answered with the knowledge I have obtained over the years. It can be a tough choice sometimes but we all have to make it at some point. I believe having a positive view on morality will help you succeed in life.

My Greatest Fear

     Fear is something everyone has to face at some point in their life. Whether it is something as stereotypical as a spider crawling out from underneath your bed or being afraid of crashing while on an airplane. Every single person has their own personal fears and some people can overcome it and move on while others have to deal with it for the rest of their lives. My greatest fear would be to disappoint my parents again. I say ‘again’ because this is a fear I have come face to face with in the past. Disappointing my parents is one of the worst feelings I have ever felt in my entire life. After what I put them through, they started to believe that they were doing something wrong with raising me. I have never seen my parents so upset with me that they have cried. Having my parents not talk, look, or even acknowledge that I was present was something I wish I never had to experience. Not only would I sit in my room alone and think about my life, which would result in crying, I would regret every choice I had made prior. Even though I know that I learned from my mistakes I still had to go through my most dreaded fear. Nothing would ever change the way my parents felt at that point in time and what they thought of me. That is why I can say this is something that scares me into being much more careful and making smarter decisions. I hope I never have to feel that way ever again in my life and more importantly, never have to put my parents through it again.  

Significant Quotes from Life of Pi

                In the novel Life of Pi I found three significant quotes so far in my readings. These quotes are very important moments in Pi’s life and are all meaningful in different ways. I found I had a better understanding of Pi afterwards and a deeper meaning into his life.

The first quote I found in Life of Pi is:

            “The water, having crossed all of Paris, came in foul enough. Then people at the pool made it utterly disgusting” (11).

This quote is Mamaji, Pi’s father’s good friend of the family, telling another story about the city’s oldest pool, Piscine Deligny.  Not only did Mamaji have a passion for swimming pools and competitions but Pi loved listening to these stories. This quote shows Mamaji’s educated knowledge about another pool in India. It is very fascinating to hear about how the public pools there are cold and dirty and that the people only make it dirtier. This also shows that Pi’s memories left of Mamaji, who was someone very special to him, are these amazing stories he used to inform him with. Pi will always remember how he was named after Mamaji’s favourite pool, Piscine Molitor.

The second quote I found is:

            “ It’s all right with me, brother. Anything’s better than ‘Pissing’. Even ‘Lemon Pie’.” As he sauntered away he smiled and said, “You look a bit red in the face” (26).

This is a significant quote because Pi talks a lot about how people would always mispronounce his name. Piscine Molitor Patel was the proper way of saying his name but no one was ever able to pronounce it properly. Therefore, people would result to calling him ‘Pissing’. This quote is Ravi, Pi’s brother, asking him about his new nickname. It shows that Pi would not only get angry but embarrassed as his face turned red when Ravi only asked him about it. Something as simple as a name being pronounced correctly seems like it shouldn’t take much effort but even his teachers would call him ‘Pissing’. His brother seems to be making fun in this quote as well because it’s a very silly nickname even though it is harmless but Pi seems to become very upset. Pi even writes his name on the blackboard one class because he is so fed up with people saying it wrong. Now I can tell that Pi can become very sensitive towards certain things.

The third quote I found is:

            “I come here all the time. One might say it’s my temple. This is interesting...” He was indicating the pit. “If we had politicians like these goats and rhinos we’d have fewer problems in our country. Unfortunately we have a prime minister who has the armour plating of a rhinoceros without any of its good sense” (29).

This quote is Pi’s favourite teacher Mr.Kumar speaking. It is a very important quote because not only did Pi love his biology teacher but he never knew he could have so much in common with him before he spotted him in his father’s zoo.  Mr.Kumar would come to the zoo not just to look at the animals but he would read every bit of information there and approve of every animal he saw. He would leave the zoo feeling scientifically refreshed. This quote is comparing the rhino and goats exhibit to the prime minister. Clearly Pi’s teacher has a strong compassion for animals and wishes that people could be as simple and smart as them.  I believe that this teacher inspired Pi to love animals even more and have a deeper understanding of them.

            In conclusion to these quotes, I believe they have shown that there are many things and people who make Pi’s life interesting and inspire him. I believe that all these moments in his life are setting him up for the start of something amazing.  

LOL , TTYL , L8TR, CYA, BRB

     Computer language and texting abbreviations are becoming more and more common as time progresses. This type of new language is usually seen being used on electronic devices such as cellphones and computer social networking sites. This type of conversation which simplifies our word span is being taken out of the electronic world and being used in what should be formal pieces of work. I believe that this way of communicating is not exactly something that should be frowned upon and should not be banned immediately. Although I do also understand why people would be upset because of this new generation that is slowly taking over. Some students do not enjoy reading literature and learning about history if it is about something that doesn't interest them. Often the way things are composed are in such a way that makes it harder to understand. Computer language makes the dread of reading something boring more interesting when it's put into a familiar state. Also it makes it easier and quicker to read and comprehend that piece of text. On the other hand, those who appreciate and love the style and authenticity of an original piece of literature are obviously going to be upset with the modern generation trying to change and get rid of the real meaning behind reading a passage just to make their lives easier. I can understand where those people are coming from because the literature they had to read when they were our age was meant to be read from it's original text to fully understand what was happening. They would most likely think that people these days who are trying to do this are just lazy and are being disrespectful. Really people being lazy is not usually the case and they really do want to understand the meaning of the literature but just in a simpler way. It can be very beneficial with time especially because students these days have a lot more homework and cannot remember each and every little piece of information given. A summary of a passage of literature in computer language and texting abbreviations is much more time efficient then reading pages of literature that will most likely go in one ear and out the other. I think not only will students be more willing to read the simplified writing but also understand the main concept quicker. Students writing their own pieces of literature will also be able to produce something much faster if they are using a familiar style of writing. The people who think this should be prevented have a point to take into consideration but if we all had the time to really appreciate the tiny details of each piece of literature then we would.

Meet Pi Patel

     In the novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the protagonist is Pi Patel. He is an educated and determined middle aged man that grew up in India. He moved to Canada to attend the University of Toronto and double-major in religious studies and zoology. He is interested in animals because his father owned a zoo when he was younger and was exposed to all types of wildlife. Once he was all grown up, he went to the equatorial jungles of Brazil to study the three-toed sloth. I find this character very real because he is coming from a cultural background just like anyone else and moved to Canada to create his future. I can relate to this character because I love animals and they fascinate me. I also live in Canada so I can relate to him in that sense. Pi seems to be a sympathetic character to me because of how he talks about fathers close family friend, Mamaji. Mamaji was around all throughout Pi's childhood and Pi was even named after Mamaji's favourite swimming pool, Piscine Molitor. The way Pi reminisces on his memories of Mamaji shows that he is caring and appreciative of the people in his life who have made a difference. When he explains parts of his childhood, he seems very thankful that Mamaji was there for him. I think that as the story progresses Pi while encounter new adventures and situations as he seems like he has a curious personality. Hopefully he relates back to his family in India as well as I would love to learn more about their culture and his experiences growing up as a child there. Pi is an interesting character and I can't wait to hear more of his exciting stories that he has to tell.