Literature Analysis #2

Title: Buried Onions

Author: Gary Soto

Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read.

• Eddie, he's a nineteen year old Mexican boy that lives in a bad conditioned apartment in Fresno.He has lost his father, best friend, and recently his close cousin. Throughout the whole novel, Eddie was trying to find out who was the guy responsible for his  cousin Jesus' death. Eventually that lead him to be apart from everyone and having issues trusting everyone else. Once he found out who was the one to blame, he got into a fight with him trying to get revenge for what had happened. This young man though, during his lifetime after his cousin's death, he had tried to become a better person but living where he was with gangsters and all the crime brought him so many obstacles that led him getting nowhere. He started off at a city college studying to be a air conditioner repairer but ended up dropping out. He had no job so he would just go around to work at whatever place that would offer him a job but that did not work for him either. Eddie finally made the decision to join the navy and that is where he ended up staying at.

Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.

• The theme, I would say would be "No matter how hard you try, you can never get rid of your past--it will always follow you everywhere." The theme is reflected upon this novel in the way that the main character, Eddie, tried so hard to become a much better person but his past always came back to him in various ways.

Describe the author's tone. Include three excerpts that illustrate your point(s). 

• Gary Soto's tone in the novel to me would be like a hopeful but at the same time hopeless tone. Eddie, throughout the whole novel is just hopeful that life will turn out better for him, he doesn't want to be dealing with all the problems that he's had in the past but life for him is so hard that his past keeps coming back to him."For me there wasn't much to do except eat and sleep, watch out for drive-bys, and pace myself through life." This quote shows a little bit of a hopeful/hopeless tone in the way that he says it in the way that he hates living like that but really he can't do much about it. "No telling when someone was going to jam a knife in me. No telling when Angel would pull a gun from a paper bag and fire on me just as I crossed the street or bent down to tie my shoes." this quote again shows the hopeful tone in the way that he is like begging that none of this ever happens to him but shows hopelessness because he doesn't know if it will happen, when it will happen, or if it won't happen at all. Another quote that reflects the tone would be "I wanted to resemble a straight-ahead kind of dude, someone who had his act together." this quote shows full on hopefulness in the way that he wants to become a better person and actually says it.

Describe five literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the theme and/or your sense of the tone.  Include three excerpts that will help your reader understand each one.

• Gary Soto wrote his novel in a similar way as most authors. He used many literary devices to get through his whole plot. Soto's diction was perfect for anyone who would have wanted to read this novel--it was not difficult whatsoever. He was very descriptive while writing the book which made it easy for his audience to understand. The author used a lot of imagery in which we could have pictured exactly what was going on in our heads. Other literary devices Soto used were irony, symbolism, and a couple similes here and there.

1. “The sun was climbing over the trees of City College and soon the black asphalt would shimmer with vapors. I had a theory about those vapors, which were not released by the sun’s heat but by a huge onion buried under the city. This onion made us cry. Tears leapt from our eyelashes and stained our faces. Babies in strollers pinched up their faces and wailed for no reason. Perhaps as practice for the coming years. I thought about the giant onion, that remarkable bulb of sadness.”-Metaphor
2. "I had no more than a couch and two chairs, college books that I intended to resell, a bed and dresser, and family pictures angled so they almost looked at each other. I had a print of a ship riding the ocean, its sail full, going somewhere."- Imagery
3. "...with Angel's crucifix that he probably stole"-irony

 

Tools that Change the Way we Think

I have found that the extensive media/internet/technology is just the easy way out for most of us. Nowadays, like it says on the passage, Google or mostly any other site can just give you your answer in an instant and that's what most people go to when they are too lazy to think. Media/internet/technology has pretty much taken over our thinking and is now what we usually depend on. Sometimes I can say that I actually find it difficult to think for myself when I'm shut off from the internet. Now, I don't really challenge myself, I just let the internet do the work for me. Also, it's really difficult to actually learn about what you're supposed to if the internet/media/technology is giving you the answer... Yes you'll get the answer right but most likely it will not stick to your head. I guess this could be something that we can't avoid no matter how hard we try just because of the fact that it's everywhere now and it's mostly what we depend on.

Who was Shakespeare?

  William Shakespeare, he was the best English Language writer in the world. He has impacted the world with his areas in art, literature, culture, theater, and film. Really that is what we actually know a lot about him. His religious affiliations, sexual orientation, sources for collaborations, authorship of and chronology of the plays and sonnets are all known but in speculation. Also, the dates of birth and death is something that is still a mystery since back when Shakespeare was alive, they weren't dated. We do know when he was baptized and who his parents were but that's about it. Also what church he attended and when he began to write but the exact dates are unknown. I guess I can say that I understand Shakespeare's writing way more than I did before when I had barely started reading his work. I'm sure I'll never fully understand it but it'll be enough to know what I am reading about.

Notes on Hamlet

  In the beginning, honestly, I thought Hamlet was going to be one of those boring pieces of literature books that we are forced to read in an English class but now that I'm actually reading it, I have all my interest in it. This play is actually really nothing that I had expected, it has a great plot in my opinion. I do think that it is hard to understand but once I know what's going on, I don't want to stop reading. I actually do not think that Hamlet is going to end up killing anyone I mean he really wants to kill King Claudius but I doubt that he will do it. I just think that he may make sure that King Claudius lives that miserable life he deserves and feels more and more guilt as days come.

To Facebook or Not to Facebook?

  When Facebook was first out, I really just thought it was plain stupid but then again there was Myspace going on too. Finally though Myspace was over so I moved on to Facebook and at first I had no idea how to use it but then little by little I began to like it. I guess it was a much easier way to communicate with people; I have met so many people with it so I think that would be one of the benefits. Another thing I'd say is a benefit is the fact that you can keep in touch with people that have moved away or like family that is not from here. In addition to this, Facebook also helps throw out messages that many people can't easily get from somewhere else or like even nowadays instead of people making invitations in paper, they make events on Facebook which are announced to all or certain people who have one. Facebook recently though has changed dramatically. The privacy has decreased overtime and now you can literally see like every move that your friend makes and the worse part is that you can't remove the side bar that allows you to see all the information. Also, I post some stuff on Facebook through my phone and on the settings which I can't change, it allows everyone to see what I have posted. Privacy to me is the biggest risk. Cyber bullying is also one big thing that goes on on Facebook, throughout the comments, you can see many people just talking shit to each other or like even just people getting into fights. This article actually just had me wondering if any of the information I have posted on Facebook is one that would catch the attention of others but then again, I am sure my information that I have posted is decent. I pretty much no the standards of what to and not to post on Facebook.

(Don't) Be Hamlet

   Marisol Zepeda

 Monday, October 10, 2011

 Period 6

  

  Many people today all have inside conflicts about there life in which they do not know what's wrong or what's right. Hamlet from the play Hamlet by Shakespeare is a great example of those kind of people. He is in the middle of deciding whether he should commit suicide or just man up and deal with all his problems. In my opinion, if I was Hamlet, I would choose to man up and just deal with all the drama that is going on in my life.
  Committing suicide to me is not the best answer. Hamlet by choosing to do that would only end up losing the most valuable thing in life. This man is so religious too and of course if he decided to take his life away it'd be one of the greatest sins he has ever committed. Hamlet would end up in hell and pretty much be damned either way. Death to me just doesn't solve anything; it'll just most likely bring happiness to everybody since right now people are just worried about why Hamlet is depressed. In addition, if Hamlet decided to murder himself, King Claudius would pretty much win the war since Hamlet right now is his only enemy.
  The problem to me, I don't think is that big of a problem in which he should choose to die. He should man up! I'm the kind of person that believes in KARMA (what goes around comes back around). If King Claudius was really the one who killed King Hamlet then obviously he's going to get payback for what he did. To me something can't just happen like that and then not get something out of it. Something will end up happening to the person whether it's good or bad but in King Claudius' case, it'll most likely bad. Hamlet doesn't even have to dirty his hands with blood, something will happen to King Claudius eventually.
  Hamlet, he is a young man who I'm sure has a whole life ahead of him. He is a prince and can easily become successful. Yes he might care so much about his father and his death but I'm sure his father wouldn't want him to die. Hamlet is in love with Ophelia as it says in the play and to me if he really was in love with her then he should focus more on making their love happen than on trying to kill himself. Hamlet can grieve for his father but at the same time forget it little by little and move. He should just let things happen and eventually fall into place. This man  can do so much with his life; he doesn't necessarily have to stay where he is at now if he's unhappy, Hamlet should make choices of his own.
  Sometimes even if life gives us the worst problems ever we got to know how to deal with them and just look for different solutions not just go straight to committing suicide. Nobody said life was going to be easy; it's hard. Hamlet by choosing to take away his life is just trying to go the easy way out but doesn't really think about the positive outcome of his life if he were to stay alive.