Literature Analysis 2

1. The Namesake  by Jhumpa Lahiri describes the struggles and hardships of a Bengali who immigrate to the United States to form a life from everything they are accustomed to.  The story begins as Ashoke and Ashima leave Calcutta, India and settle in Central Square, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Through a series of errors, their son's nickname, Gogol, becomes his official birth name, an event which will shape many aspects of his life.  Gogol has to deal with the problems of immigration and being an Indian kid growing up in America.

2.  There are a couple themes in this novel one is idenity.  The American born  Gogol wants an American life. He changes his name to fight for that and rebels against his culture.  The other theme was pressure because Gogol and Sonia feel pressure from their parents to marry Indian people.

3. The tone of The Namesake is very serious and throughout the story the author is trying to compare two different cultures.  The main character Gogol reflects on his life and tells us all the difficult decisions he had to make growing up, but that's what shaped him as an adult.

4. Jhumpa Lahiri uses imagery, by having Gogol describe his memories and painting a vivid picture of his loving parents who tried to lead him down the right way in life.  The author also uses flashbacks when the main character talks about his memories throughout the story.  Personification is used because Gogol voice is compared to that of a Husky. Another literary technique that is used is foreshadowing, because Gogol says that he lived most of his life outside his homeland, just like me.  The last technique was irony and the author used that to describe Gogol's life.  Calcutta, India and settle in Central Square, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Through a series of errors, their son's nickname, Gogol, becomes his official birth name, an event which will shape many aspects of his life.  Gogol has to deal with the problems of immigration and being an Indian kid growing up in America.

Tools That Change the Way We Think."

The extensive use of Internet/media/technology makes it easier for me to get information.  It's quick and efficient,  to just go on Google to look up whatever I want to research.  I can't really imagine how long it must have taken people to do things like research papers, when they didn't have these sources.  It must have taken a long time, but they were probably learning more going through all the information.  Now since it is so fast and easy, I might not learn as much.  Also from what I learned about the filter bubbles, I really am not learning everything when I do a search on Google. They are blocking me off from the other side, which can really be beneficial in learning the facts.  I also don't really need to remember much because anything I won't to know takes about 5 minutes, at the most, to figure out. When there was no extensive use in Internet and these other sources, people had to remember more information to save them the time of looking it up again.  All of the use of the Internet just makes me feel I don't need to learn much,  and depend on these other sources when I need to know something. 

Hunter Walker
Period 3

In Search of

From the video I learned what a filter bubble is and how little control I have over my searches on Google. I always thought I was the one in control when really I'm not.  I also thought when people searched the same key words on Google they would get the same results as everyone else.  When really no two people will get the same results unless those people are almost identical.  This makes me think about other information that is out there on the topic I'm researching.  I wonder what the other side of the story may be and if I'm actually getting the correct information.  Some questions that I have are what information have I been missing out on and which facts should I use from these search engines?  To improve my searches I can use different key words, that I might not usually use.  I can also use different search engines and see what different ideas I get.  When re-doing a search on Shakespeare, instead of just going to Google and typing who was Shakespeare, I took a couple extra steps. I used two different search engines, Ask and Bing, these websites gave me close to the same information I got from Google. I then used a couple different key words, like why is Shakespeare so mysterious. This lead to some different results, and helped me learn that I will have to search most topics in different ways. I can't just use the one sided information I get from Google, and that's why watching this video was important. 

Notes on Hamlet

At the beginning of the play it seemed that Hamlet was a little upset about his fathers recent passing, and that was understandable.  As the play goes on it seems like he is a little unstable and can't deal with the decision of what he should about his father's death.  The ghost tells Hamlet that his uncle was the one who killed him and he has to decide whether murder of suicide is the route that he should go.  I feel that Hamlet is going a little crazy and not acting like he normally does.  I predict that Hamlet will go through with killing his uncle, then after that I'm not sure whats going to happen.  He might either commit suicide or have to deal with the consequences of killing the king.

Who was Shakespeare

Before I even searched anything, I knew that Shakespeare is the man responsible for writing some of the most famous plays of all time.  I also knew that he wrote Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, but that's about all I really knew about him.  With some research, I found that he still is really a mystery and there aren't really any hard facts about him.  Things like his birthday, what he looked like, and even his identity is some what of a guess.  Also in the reading we had the other night, I thought it was interesting that some people believe that there's no way Shakespeare could have written those plays.  With no evidence they are questioning someone who is considered to be the greatest of all dramatists.  I feel that Shakespeare is thought of as a great writer by most students, but not to many want to get assigned something that deals with him.  Most students, are just turned off by the thought of having to read something by him, and they really don't give him much of a chance.  Over the years I've learned how to interpret Shakespeare's meanings a lot more then I could when I started studying his works.  I am able to translate his writing easier, but I still struggle with some of the extra meanings that Shakespeare intended his audience to get.


When searching I typed in Who was Shakespeare into Google and clicked on the link from PBS.

To Facebook or Not to Facebook

Before I actually got a Facebook, I never understood what the big deal was about it.  Then I got one and my initial responses to Facebook was that it was an extra way for me to communicate to my close friends and friends I might not see every day.  At first I felt like it was a necessity and I was some what addicted.  Over time I started using it less and less, because it started to feel like it was just the same thing repeating.  I use Facebook for entertainment reasons, but other people use it for different reasons.  It is shocking to see how many 12 year olds are actually on Facebook.  It doesn't seem very safe, because some of them might not know what is appropriate and inappropriate to post online.  I see a danger in sexual predators lurking on their pages and getting information that could potentially be dangerous to that little kid.  If the people operating Facebook don't change the privacy, then I feel that parents should monitor what their kids are doing online.

"(Don't) Be Hamlet"

In the soliloquy by Hamlet, he is debating the decision of suicide and whether or not he should go through with it. He feels that the reason why people will put up with the struggle of life sometimes, because people are scared of what will happen after death. Also Hamlet is frustrated with his own weaknesses and for not getting revenge of his father. Even though he might be mad at himself for not taking his Uncles life, he seems more interested in the idea of taking his own life.

Hamlet can also be portrayed as going insane, but it also seems some what understandable for him to be acting this way. His father had just been killed and his mother had married that man that killed his father. Now everyone was trying to get him to get over it and act like nothing had happened. He has the thoughts that he wants to escape, but doesn't know what to except once he does.

Suicide is something that is on everyones mind, but most people won't act on those feelings. Hamlet expressed these emotions during a tough time he was having. I hope that Hamlet doesn't act on this ideas and faces his problems.