This week in our lit. circle for the novel The Lost Symbol, we discussed a few different things including the source of evil in the story, Mal'akh, the conflicts present for Langdon and Katherine, and what we think will happen next. Mal'akh is the antagonist of the story and all we know is that he is searching for a pyramid for some unknown purpose. In our discussions we also determined that he is planning on using it for some sort evil deed, a demonic ritual or evil tradition, we still don't know but those seem like realistic possibilities considering how crazy he is. We thought of why he would want to do such a thing but couldn't figure out why. It seems as if that answer will only be revealed much later in the novel. We also examined Katherine and Robert's situations throughout our discussion. We know that Katherine's science is so powerful that it will change the entire world when its results are revealed, and we've been getting hints that it could be legendary such as "...if enough people begin thinking the same thing...And it can have a measurable effect on our physical world.". We discussed this idea that everyone's thoughts have mass and thought of reasons why it would be important to the storyline but none of us had any real tangible ideas, so I guess we'll just have to find out eventually. Langdon was a main discussion topic as well since he's the one who can save Solomon, his discoveries so far have been amazing. We talked a lot about what could happen next with Langdon, what he'll find, solve, or come up with. We recognized Langdon's uncanny ability to bring up historical facts from deep inside his brain and use that information to figure things out, all the while under huge pressure from the fact that his best friend might die if he doesn't. His mental capacity is what's going to save Peter. We also discussed what will happen in the next part of the novel and hypothesized that Katherine and Langdon will continue to solve codes and decipher messages...etc and meet Mal'akh sometime soon because of it.
In the two discussions we had this week, I think we did a good job of building off each others' ideas, especially since with only three of us there, we could have more time to discuss our ideas as well. For this week, I think we will do even better because we will have our entire group present but we can still improve on asking more questions and delving deeper into the many layers of the novel which will lead to a richer discussion.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Movie Project Summative Piece-The Lord of the Rings the Return of the King
Synopsis
For our movie, Jake and I decided to do the third installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy- The Return of the King. This movie follows several sets of different characters so I will describe the movie as best as possible from all different perspectives. The War of the Ring reaches its end as the dark lord Sauron(the huge orange eye which looks for the Ring) plans to wage war once and for all at Minas Tirith, the capital of Gondor. Meanwhile, the members of the Fellowship, minus Frodo and Sam, are in Rohan and are warned of the battle that is sure to occur soon. Unfortunately, Pippin looks into the evil Sarumon's palantir and is contacted by Sauron, and sees the image of a white tree burning. Gandalf realizes this must be Minas Tirith that Pippin saw, as it has a white tree just as Pippin described it. Swiftly, Gandalf and Pippin ride to Minas Tirith in an attempt to decipher the situation more clearly and warn them of what might come. There, they meet the resistance of Denethor, who is steward of the city and whose family has acted as interim rulers while waiting for the real line of Kings to re-emmerge. This moment was soon to come, as Aragorn was to be the King of Gondor, as soon as he could overcome his own self-doubt. Meanwhile, Frodo, Sam and Gollum continue the treacherous trek to Mount Doom, the only place where the Ring could be destroyed once and for all. Along the way, Frodo is faced with many difficult decisions, all of which were influenced by the evil of the ring which he bore around his tired neck. Gollum manipulates Frodo and Sam's friendship by pinning the blame of lost rations on Sam, turning Frodo against him. They separate, with Sam on his own. This an example of some of the corruption that occurs, with the Ring putting a negative influence on Frodo. This, however, proves costly when Gollum leads Frodo to a trap where he is nearly killed, but saved by Sam who came back, knowing he could not leave Frodo in Gollum's evil hands. The goodwill of Middle-Earth rested on Frodo's shoulders, and his task became tougher by the minute with the Ring's power weighing him down. All the while, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimley attempted a task deemed impossible by normal men- find the Army of the Dead and return alive. They accomplished this through Aragorn's promise to them that they would be set free once their duty in the future battle is complete. The members of the Fellowship were brave people, and their efforts gave Frodo a better chance of destroying the Ring and returning peace to their kingdom. The final scenes of the movie are of the enormous battle in the plains in front of Minas Tirith, where the Riders of Rohan and Gondor fought the 10,000 enemies from Mordor. All seemed lost, until Aragorn arrived with The Army of the Dead, which swept through the Mordor ranks effortlessly and saving countless good lives. Frodo and Sam were also faced with their impassable task of destroying the Ring and succeeded through great determination and courage. The final scene showed Aragorn being crowned as King of Gondor and the hobbits being honoured for their brave efforts.
What are the layers of context/setting in this film?
In the first layer, you can see that Sauron Sarumon and Mordor are evil because you see their intent is to destroy the human race and stop Frodo from restoring peace. These elements are a huge part of the story because they are what cause the problem that must be resolved, without them, there would be no story. The mood and lighting of the whole movie is also quite dark which adds to the sense evil.
In the second layer, you see the less apparent sources of evil- Gollum and the Ring. Gollum used to be good, that was before he saw the Ring though. However, the Ring pulled Gollum towards its own evil. The power of the Ring is too much and has completely corrupted Gollum to the point where he will do anything to get the Ring. The Ring itself is a source of evil because of the mailicious power it contains, corrupting whomever dares to bear it. This is where Frodo comes into his own: he was meant to destroy the Ring and his mental strength had to go to a whole new level to cope with the mental weight of the Ring and then also the near-impossible physical demands of the journey itself.
Connection - Text to World
We can connect this film to Hitler and the Nazi Germans of the 30s and 40s- Hitler's main objective was to destroy his opposition and obtain full power of the world much in the same way Sauron and Sarumon sought to destroy the humans and good beings in general in their quest for dominance. In both cases, there is an opposition who will do anything to stop them from realizing their goals and in the film, this is the Fellowship, and the people of Gondor and Rohan. In World War Two, this was the Allies, working together for a common goal of ending the war and restoring peace, like with Frodo destroying the Ring to save his kingdom. In both cases there were soldiers, and in both cases they fought with passion to bring an end to the madness of Hitler/Sauron and do their duty for their homelands.
Connection - Text to Text
The Return of the King can be connected to the movie Paulo did, Inception, in the sense that Frodo and Mr. Cobb and Frodo face similar challenges. Frodo is stuck with the Ring and he can't stop his journey or throw the Ring away because he knows if he did, everything that had been accomplished to that point would have been for nothing and Frodo would let everyone down and be guilty for the rest of his life. Cobb on the other hand is stuck with guilt that has already been with him since his wife committed suicide. He lives with his guilt every day and you can see how it could affect Frodo too. You can see how such profound guilt can affect someone, and in Frodo's case, the fear of having such guilt encouraged him to reach his goal. Both characters are doing something extremely dangerous, risking their lives in the process, both for good reasons. Frodo will return to having a peaceful life once the evil of the kingdom is gone, and Cobb will finally get to see his children, after painful times without them.
EQ Connection - How can a reader/viewer infer the author's intentions based on the text?
The main intention of J.R.R. Tolkien was to show how individuals working together for a common goal can achieve the impossible. They did it in The Return of the King, which is fiction, but the principle still stands that when a group of people unite with that amount of passion, friendship, courage and determination, impossible is nothing. Frodo and Sam beat the odds which were stacked miles high against them and Gondor and Rohan won the enormous battle despite being outnumbered 10 to 1. Those are examples of what the movie truly showed and how evil can be conquered and that good will prevail in the end.
For our movie, Jake and I decided to do the third installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy- The Return of the King. This movie follows several sets of different characters so I will describe the movie as best as possible from all different perspectives. The War of the Ring reaches its end as the dark lord Sauron(the huge orange eye which looks for the Ring) plans to wage war once and for all at Minas Tirith, the capital of Gondor. Meanwhile, the members of the Fellowship, minus Frodo and Sam, are in Rohan and are warned of the battle that is sure to occur soon. Unfortunately, Pippin looks into the evil Sarumon's palantir and is contacted by Sauron, and sees the image of a white tree burning. Gandalf realizes this must be Minas Tirith that Pippin saw, as it has a white tree just as Pippin described it. Swiftly, Gandalf and Pippin ride to Minas Tirith in an attempt to decipher the situation more clearly and warn them of what might come. There, they meet the resistance of Denethor, who is steward of the city and whose family has acted as interim rulers while waiting for the real line of Kings to re-emmerge. This moment was soon to come, as Aragorn was to be the King of Gondor, as soon as he could overcome his own self-doubt. Meanwhile, Frodo, Sam and Gollum continue the treacherous trek to Mount Doom, the only place where the Ring could be destroyed once and for all. Along the way, Frodo is faced with many difficult decisions, all of which were influenced by the evil of the ring which he bore around his tired neck. Gollum manipulates Frodo and Sam's friendship by pinning the blame of lost rations on Sam, turning Frodo against him. They separate, with Sam on his own. This an example of some of the corruption that occurs, with the Ring putting a negative influence on Frodo. This, however, proves costly when Gollum leads Frodo to a trap where he is nearly killed, but saved by Sam who came back, knowing he could not leave Frodo in Gollum's evil hands. The goodwill of Middle-Earth rested on Frodo's shoulders, and his task became tougher by the minute with the Ring's power weighing him down. All the while, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimley attempted a task deemed impossible by normal men- find the Army of the Dead and return alive. They accomplished this through Aragorn's promise to them that they would be set free once their duty in the future battle is complete. The members of the Fellowship were brave people, and their efforts gave Frodo a better chance of destroying the Ring and returning peace to their kingdom. The final scenes of the movie are of the enormous battle in the plains in front of Minas Tirith, where the Riders of Rohan and Gondor fought the 10,000 enemies from Mordor. All seemed lost, until Aragorn arrived with The Army of the Dead, which swept through the Mordor ranks effortlessly and saving countless good lives. Frodo and Sam were also faced with their impassable task of destroying the Ring and succeeded through great determination and courage. The final scene showed Aragorn being crowned as King of Gondor and the hobbits being honoured for their brave efforts.
What are the layers of context/setting in this film?
In the first layer, you can see that Sauron Sarumon and Mordor are evil because you see their intent is to destroy the human race and stop Frodo from restoring peace. These elements are a huge part of the story because they are what cause the problem that must be resolved, without them, there would be no story. The mood and lighting of the whole movie is also quite dark which adds to the sense evil.
In the second layer, you see the less apparent sources of evil- Gollum and the Ring. Gollum used to be good, that was before he saw the Ring though. However, the Ring pulled Gollum towards its own evil. The power of the Ring is too much and has completely corrupted Gollum to the point where he will do anything to get the Ring. The Ring itself is a source of evil because of the mailicious power it contains, corrupting whomever dares to bear it. This is where Frodo comes into his own: he was meant to destroy the Ring and his mental strength had to go to a whole new level to cope with the mental weight of the Ring and then also the near-impossible physical demands of the journey itself.
Connection - Text to World
We can connect this film to Hitler and the Nazi Germans of the 30s and 40s- Hitler's main objective was to destroy his opposition and obtain full power of the world much in the same way Sauron and Sarumon sought to destroy the humans and good beings in general in their quest for dominance. In both cases, there is an opposition who will do anything to stop them from realizing their goals and in the film, this is the Fellowship, and the people of Gondor and Rohan. In World War Two, this was the Allies, working together for a common goal of ending the war and restoring peace, like with Frodo destroying the Ring to save his kingdom. In both cases there were soldiers, and in both cases they fought with passion to bring an end to the madness of Hitler/Sauron and do their duty for their homelands.
Connection - Text to Text
The Return of the King can be connected to the movie Paulo did, Inception, in the sense that Frodo and Mr. Cobb and Frodo face similar challenges. Frodo is stuck with the Ring and he can't stop his journey or throw the Ring away because he knows if he did, everything that had been accomplished to that point would have been for nothing and Frodo would let everyone down and be guilty for the rest of his life. Cobb on the other hand is stuck with guilt that has already been with him since his wife committed suicide. He lives with his guilt every day and you can see how it could affect Frodo too. You can see how such profound guilt can affect someone, and in Frodo's case, the fear of having such guilt encouraged him to reach his goal. Both characters are doing something extremely dangerous, risking their lives in the process, both for good reasons. Frodo will return to having a peaceful life once the evil of the kingdom is gone, and Cobb will finally get to see his children, after painful times without them.
EQ Connection - How can a reader/viewer infer the author's intentions based on the text?
The main intention of J.R.R. Tolkien was to show how individuals working together for a common goal can achieve the impossible. They did it in The Return of the King, which is fiction, but the principle still stands that when a group of people unite with that amount of passion, friendship, courage and determination, impossible is nothing. Frodo and Sam beat the odds which were stacked miles high against them and Gondor and Rohan won the enormous battle despite being outnumbered 10 to 1. Those are examples of what the movie truly showed and how evil can be conquered and that good will prevail in the end.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Movie Project- The Lord of the Rings the Return of the King- Stephen and Jake D.
What are the layers of context/setting in this film?
What we see is a group of people fighting for a common cause with many challenges along the way. What you don't see is the mental aspect of this journey: imagine being Frodo and know the fate of the good world relies solely on your courage and determination, that is something now everyone can accomplish. Or, being, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimley when they went to the Army of the Dead, no one had ever come back from the path that led there, and they had the bravery to risk their lives to save their kingdom.
Connection:
We can connect this film back to around WWII times, when Nazi Germany wanted control. In the same sense that Hitler wanted control over the whole world, Sauron, the evil eye that sought out Frodo's ring wanted control over the entire kingdom and to eliminate all of the humans, elves, and good beings in general.
What we see is a group of people fighting for a common cause with many challenges along the way. What you don't see is the mental aspect of this journey: imagine being Frodo and know the fate of the good world relies solely on your courage and determination, that is something now everyone can accomplish. Or, being, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimley when they went to the Army of the Dead, no one had ever come back from the path that led there, and they had the bravery to risk their lives to save their kingdom.
Connection:
We can connect this film back to around WWII times, when Nazi Germany wanted control. In the same sense that Hitler wanted control over the whole world, Sauron, the evil eye that sought out Frodo's ring wanted control over the entire kingdom and to eliminate all of the humans, elves, and good beings in general.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
The Road Not Taken
By Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
I chose "The Road Not Taken" because it shows how the choices we make affect us. When the narrator comes across the forked path, he must make a decision, and how he makes this decision is reflective of his identity. In this poem, the paths are symbolic of the choices we make in life so when we take one path or the other, it represents our decisions that we make.We don't know how what lies beyond what we can see of the paths but we do know that whatever experiences we endure from this "path" will change our identity. The fact that the narrator took the path less traveled by reflects on his identity- he may be someone who likes being on edge or just wanted to try something different because if he were scared or shy, he probably would have taken the one that is more worn because it is obviously tried and trusted.
By Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
I chose "The Road Not Taken" because it shows how the choices we make affect us. When the narrator comes across the forked path, he must make a decision, and how he makes this decision is reflective of his identity. In this poem, the paths are symbolic of the choices we make in life so when we take one path or the other, it represents our decisions that we make.We don't know how what lies beyond what we can see of the paths but we do know that whatever experiences we endure from this "path" will change our identity. The fact that the narrator took the path less traveled by reflects on his identity- he may be someone who likes being on edge or just wanted to try something different because if he were scared or shy, he probably would have taken the one that is more worn because it is obviously tried and trusted.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Power
Definition:
1. Possession of controlling influence
2. One possessing or exercising power or influence of authority
3. The ability or official capacity to exercise control
Reasons for it's existence:
-Without power, the world would be in ruins, we need certain people to lead the way for our countries and moderate what goes on within our society, government and world
Ways to get it:
-Particular skills in certain areas can be very valuable, earning you a position of power
-Being a good leader
-Herditary (ex. Queen Elizabeth II)
-Hard work
Ways to maintain power:
-Doing you job well
-make people see/think/believe that you are doing a god job at whatever your job is
Ways one would use it:
-To help other people
-To help ones own desires (greed)
-To get rich (more greed)
Ways one could lose it:
-You don't do your job well
-You scam peope and they find out
-Abusing your power
How it affects people:
-Can bring out the best in people
-Can also bring out the worst in people
When we think about power, too often people think 'greed', 'get rich' and more negative things than positive. That's because ultimately when peole think of people in power we think of the prime ministers and presidents of the world/ politicians. When we think of politicians in general, we see the bad things and their mistakes before the good things that they've done. In truth, most politicians have done many more good thing than bad ones but the public usually can't see it that way. That's my two cents' worth.
Power is connected with the other terms because all the terms are things that every individual either has or wants.
Definition:
1. Possession of controlling influence
2. One possessing or exercising power or influence of authority
3. The ability or official capacity to exercise control
Reasons for it's existence:
-Without power, the world would be in ruins, we need certain people to lead the way for our countries and moderate what goes on within our society, government and world
Ways to get it:
-Particular skills in certain areas can be very valuable, earning you a position of power
-Being a good leader
-Herditary (ex. Queen Elizabeth II)
-Hard work
Ways to maintain power:
-Doing you job well
-make people see/think/believe that you are doing a god job at whatever your job is
Ways one would use it:
-To help other people
-To help ones own desires (greed)
-To get rich (more greed)
Ways one could lose it:
-You don't do your job well
-You scam peope and they find out
-Abusing your power
How it affects people:
-Can bring out the best in people
-Can also bring out the worst in people
When we think about power, too often people think 'greed', 'get rich' and more negative things than positive. That's because ultimately when peole think of people in power we think of the prime ministers and presidents of the world/ politicians. When we think of politicians in general, we see the bad things and their mistakes before the good things that they've done. In truth, most politicians have done many more good thing than bad ones but the public usually can't see it that way. That's my two cents' worth.
Power is connected with the other terms because all the terms are things that every individual either has or wants.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
This razor is a huge symbol in "Just Lather, That's All" because it could have been the difference between life and death. The barber could have taken the captain's life with one slice of the razor blade and he would have never seen it coming. The razor represents the dilemma because it was the one thing that could have changed the situation entirely.
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