Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Words 1-83 (Today's Words Included)...

The test on Thursday will cover the first EIGHTY (80) words.


1.      patronizing   
2.      repress        
3.      pragmatic       
4.      reticent   
5.      capricious    
6.      frivolous
7.      ignominious   
8.      squalor    
9.      subjective       
10. objective   
11. vulnerable    
12. anomaly
13. revere       
14. pretentious    
15. condescending   
16. alleviate   
17. uncanny    
18. conventional
19. vilify       
20. slander    
21. trepidation       
22. turbulence   
23. puritanical    
24. crucible
25. rapturous       
26. languish    
27. indulge       
28. hedonism   
29. convoluted    
30. abstention
31. misanthrope   
32. avarice        
33. recoil       
34. enervate   
35. meek        
36. averse
37. relinquish       
38. dissension
39. rue
40. disseminate
41. disdain
42. chastise
43. contempt
44. spurn
45. scorn
46. surreptitious
47. malice
48. stringency
49. iniquity
50. iniquitous
51. malevolent
52. malicious
53. valor
54. valorous       
55. amoral
56. maniacal
57. compelling—evoking interest, attention, or admiration in a powerfully irresistible way
58. daunting—seemingly difficult to deal with; intimidating
59. cunning—having or showing skill in achieving one's ends by deceit or evasion
60. aspersion— an attack on the reputation or integrity of someone or something
a.      The verb “asperse” means to attack the integrity of someone.
61. compunction—a feeling of guilt or moral scruple that follows the doing of something bad; remorse
62. absolution (n)—freedom from blame, sin, guilt; clemency; exculpation
    1. verb—absolve
  1. exculpation—(n) freedom from guilt or blame; clemency; absolution
    1. verb-exculpate
  2. limpid- clear, transparent
  3. latent- hidden but capable of being exposed abigail's intentions were latent in the community
  1. archetypal (adj)—
  2. quintessential (adj)—
  3. ambivalent (adj)—not having strong feelings of like or dislike; not affected; unsure; hesitant; of two minds
  4. affluent (adj)—rich; wealthy
  1. bombastic (adj)—pompous; pretentious

  1. opulent (adj)—wealthy; lavish; luxurious
  2.  supercilious (adj)—excessively proud; arrogant
  3.  cajole (v)—coax; wheedle; flatter; sweet talkremoved (adj)—distant; detached; uninvolved
  4. bigoted (adj)—racist; prejudiced; biased; xenophobiccomplacent (adj)—often without awareness of some potential danger or defect; self-satisfied
  5. complacent (adj)—often without awareness of some potential danger or defect; self-satisfied
  6. languid (adj)—lacking in spirit or interest; listless; indifferent
  7. discomfit (v)— humiliate; to make someone feel uneasy
  8. divert (v)—deflect; distract; change direction
  9. disputatious (adj)—inclined to argue
  10. intimation (n)—a hint; an insinuation; a suggestion; a warning
    1. to intimate (v)—to suggest; to hint
  11. enigma (n)—a mysterious or puzzling object/person; a person who is difficult to understand
    1. enigmatic (adj)—puzzling; mysterious
  12. pine (v)—to yearn for; suffer a mental and physical decline, esp. because of a broken heart

Friday, May 11, 2012

5: An Author's Legacy

Watch the following video:

Arthur Miller states that a great play must inform the people of their societies' problems.  It is true that authors--after death--leave their legacies behind, specifically what infuriated them about their societies.  Considering this philosohpy, decide upon the most powerful point Arthur Miller conveyed to people.  Argue your point by supporting it with evidence from the text.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

4: The Importance of a Title

        The word “crucible” is used once in the play but for an important reason; it is its title.  With that point made, the word "crucible"  has two definitions: (1) “severe test” and (2) "a ceramic or metal container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures." Discuss the meaning of the title and its connection to the play.  You must support your claims with thorough evidence from the text.  How is it an effective title?  You may also discuss the importance and connotation of “heat” in the play.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Notes from Today

VOCABULARY WORDS FOR 5/9

  1. supercilious (adj)—excessively proud; arrogant

SAMPLE SENTENCE:


  1.  cajole (v)—coax; wheedle; flatter; sweet talk

SAMPLE SENTENCE:




Then, copy down this quote at the top of a blank sheet of paper:
It was an extraordinary gift of hope…such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again.  No—Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily close out my interest in the abortive (fruitless/without a product) sorrows and short-winded (short-lived/not lasting) elations (ecstasy) of men (HUMANS).

  1. Extraordinary—amazing—positive connotation (other words with positive connotations from passage: hope, gift, dreams, elations)—GATSBY—From these words, Gatsby is characterized as a good man.
  2. Prey—hunted (Animals that are hunted: rabbits, mice, deer—animals of innocence/purity)  This word choice illuminates Gatsby’s vulnerability, innocence, and purity.  He is the prey.  It also emphasizes Gatsby’s helplessness in the situation.
  3. It—The thing/the person—The story, although titled The Great Gatsby, is really about the “it” that preyed upon Jay Gatsby.  The narrator chooses to tell this story because he is truly bothered by what preyed upon Gatsby.  Thus, the focus of the story is the “it” and not GATSBY himself.  The “it” is what changes our narrator.  The “it” closes our narrator off from society.
  4. IT—FOUL DUST—PREDATOR—Right from the start, our narrator indicates to us that it is a battle between GOOD (GATSBY) AND BAD (IT).
  5. wake—funeral—The word “wake hints at/provides us with the image of death. It also brings to mind the image of water (waves).  It highlights the concept of the rippling effects of water.
  6. From the last section of this passage, we can see that this experience had a traumatizing effect on our narrator.  He feels that sorrows are useless and that happiness is always short-lived.

3: Arthur Miller's Intention

        Read the following excerpt from an interview with Arthur Miller.  Throughout the year, we have discussed that an author writes to expose the injustices he/she sees in the world.  With this in mind, were Miller's intentions  SUCCESSFULLY AND EFFECTIVELY conveyed through The Crucible.  Use one (1) THOROUGH EXAMPLE in your response to support your claim. 

Miller’s response to why he wrote the play:
…I wished for a play that would show the sin of public terror as it divests man of conscience, of himself. I had known of the Salem witch hunt for many years before “McCarthyism” had arrived and it had always remained in inexplicable darkness to me. When I looked into it now, however, it was with the contemporary situation at my back, particularly the mystery of the handing over of conscience, which seemed to me the central and informing fact of the time. The central impulse for writing was not the social, but the interior psychological question of that guilt rising in Salem which the hysteria merely unleashed, but did not create. Consequently, the structure reflects that understanding, and it centers on John, Elizabeth, and Abigail.

NOTE: You may have to look up some of the vocabulary to truly understand Miller's point.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

2: Elizabeth Proctor's Dilemma

Watch the video below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=Y_MeLaZuKYs&feature=endscreen


In a well-developed paragraph, discuss your interpretation of Elizabeth Proctor.  How do you see her dilemma?  What does it say about her if she willingly lied in court about John?  Remind yourself of Act 2 because in that scene she will not let him forget his sin.

REMEMBER:  The quote worksheet...

Monday, May 7, 2012

1: John Proctor's Confession

In lieu of a formal class test on The Crucible, you will be responding to 5 posts, Monday through Friday of this weekEach post will be worth 20 points.  Here is today's question.  Watch the film clip below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Eel02K-WPo

In a well-structured paragraph, discuss and evaluate this man's analysis of John Proctor's confession.  He calls John Proctor a savior.  Are Proctor's actions at the end of the play as valiant as this man claims them to be?  Why or why not?

NOTE: The quote worksheet must be handed in by FRIDAY, without exception.