Themes in Black Boy

Richard and his friends are very ignorant and this makes them hateful.
Throughout the book Richard struggles with believing in God. Richard doesn't believe or want to believe in God.
Richard feels unlucky and underprivileged.
Richard isn't well-behaved.
Richard is extremely racist, The people around him are extremely racist. They are intolerant sometimes. Richard and his friends got into fights with white boys for just the reason that they weren't black.
Richard is resilient and though he has a hard, unfortunate life
Richard doesn't trust authority figures because his dad, one of the biggest authority figures in his life, left his mom for cheating on her. And he doesn't really trust people because he thinks they might be dishonest or hurtful like his dad.

TWIST - Using Literary Devuces

TWIST helps you get to R's:
How literary devices enhance themes

• Tone/Mood
• Word choice - metaphors, simile, connotation, personification
• Imagery - senses, especially sound
• Style - punctuation, syntax, etc.
• Theme

TWIST Practice Passages:

• "There was" statements, pp.7-8 or pp. 45-46
• Sign up for one sentence to TWIST with your partner

Writing CERs

• C = Claim = theme, author's intent, main idea -- your point about an idea
• E = Evidence = direct quotation that proves your point  -- your illustration
• R = Reasoning = further information to prove your point Explain how a literary device enhances the theme addressed in your point. The R is also known as your explanation.

"There was the aura of limitless freedom distilled from the rolling sweep of tall green grass swaying and glinting in the wind and sun" (Wright 45).

T: nostalgic, serene, carefree

W: personification "swaying and glinting"; connotation "limitless freedom" very positive

I: shows the wind's effect on the grass with the words "rolling sweep"; expresses the brightness of the day with "glinting" and "sun"; there is an "aura of freedom" so it feels free; gives the sense of wind, relates to the sound of whooshing

S: sentence rolls similarly to the way the grass does by the way it's long and rolling

T: freedom and beauty to easily to those are let go

C: the author is expressing how the grass looked beautiful and free while being rolled down by the wind and glinting in the sun

E: the imagery and tones of nostalgia, serenity, and freedom

R: the connotation of those words prove it's true

A to Z Literary Devices Blog Post

A Allusion - reference to history or another text; alliteration - repetition of a consonant sound; asonance; allegory - hidden meaning, extended metaphor; analogy - comparison between two pairs; antithesis - two opposites; anaphora - a rhetorical (literary) device that involves the repetition of the first words of a clause or sentence

B 

C connotation - a relation between a word, characterization
D dialogue - conversation between characters

E

F Foreshadowing - hinting what will happen later; flashback - vivid memory or reference to the past; foil - opposite of main character

G genre - type of text, a literary topic

H hyperbole - exaggeration; haiku - 3 lines with specific syllables 

I Irony - not expected; imagery - evokes a mental image 5 senses

J juxtaposition - author places contrast on two things

K

L

M Metaphor - comparison without 'like' or 'as'; motif - repeated symbol; mood - emotion of the reader; monologue - one character talking by himself

N

O Onomatopoeia - a word that is a sound (spelled how it sounds); oxymoron - contradicts each other and doesn't make sense

P personification - nonhuman things get human qualities; paradox - contradicts itself; pun - a play on words

Q
R Repetition - using a word or idea more than once; rhyme - sounds the same; rhythm - beat of the line, stress unstress
S Simile - comparing things with 'like' or 'as'; symbolism represents something; stanza - poetic paragraph or rhyme scheme; satire - making fun; static character - character that doesn't change; suspense - building up; syntax - arrangement of words; soliloquy - one character talks by himself
T theme - central message; tone - author's style
U
V voice - who's saying it
W
X
Y
Z

My Most Vivid Childhood Memories

I was five years old, and it was nap time in kindergarten. I was lying relatively close to my best friend Ana. Between us was a pail of our teacher's markers.

Blog 102214 - S.M.A.R.T. Goal

SPECIFIC - I am going to make a certain number of notecards every week. I am going to have new sources every week.

MEASURABLE - I want to have a total of AT LEAST 25 notecards.

ACTION-ORIENTED - I will research my topic and find new sources every few days.

REALISTIC - I will stay focused and keep up with my Passion Project.

TANGIBLE - I will have an outline finished by this weekend. I will know every paragraph I want to have.

Blog 100614 Compare-Contrast The Girl Who Fell From the Sky and The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Part I
In both The Girl Who Fell From the Sky and The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the main character had tough childhoods and problems in their families. Both characters are going to new schools and having to make new friends.