My Final Blog

I am presenting my project today and I am kind of nervous but I think that my presentation will go well. I think that the topic I have chosen will be rather invigorating in the way of conversation. I will be speaking about humanity, about life's ability to make choices, to be free, to have an identity. All of these things I will incorporate into my presentation and my discussion.

I have also been very intrigued with other people's presentations and have enjoyed watching the various film clips, keynotes, and other forms of presentations presented by my classmates.

Finishing the Paper

I am so glad that I wrote a good portion of my paper last week. I have so many projects, paper, presentations, or other final related schoolwork that I must complete. I still must work on my own presentation and I can't wait to start it, but again I must complete my other school projects that are due earlier. I have almost finished all that I need to finish in my other classes before I begin working on my paper and presentation again. However last week I was able to write four pages of my paper and I still have so much information that I must add to my paper. I feel I may have to cut some of the background information out, although I really don't want to. I still must pick quotes for Brave New World, but other than that I have fond all the quotes and all the articles that I needed.

V for Vendetta

This week I have completed a lot. I was able to create a final outline and a paper proposal, complete with thesis. I believe that since I have already began my paper I will be on top of things and I will have more than enough time to work on all of the projects that must get done. Also last weekend I watched my movie that I needed to watch, V for Vendetta. I liked this movie very much and appreciated the various content that it gave me about dystopian movies. The movie begins by showing the various restrictions and corruption in citizens everyday life, from curfews to police who will take advantage of their power. The movie continues with V, the main character, blowing up a building as the beginning as his war against the government. V later goes into the news broadcast building where Evey works and displays his plan on the television screen in front of millions of people. When Evey helps him in escaping she must hide for fear of being captured and tortured by the government. Later on the war against the government comes to an end with the destruction of Parliament and millions of people wearing "V" masks and capes are there to watch.

Finally Finished

I was finally able to finish all of the books that I need to read. I completed A Clockwork Orange, and found it to be one of the most fascinating books that I have read in awhile. I am very pleased with the amount of quotes that I was able to find while reading A Clockwork Orange and I am prepared to use those quotes to my advantage when I begin writing the part of my paper about Alex and his droogs. Over the weekend I also worked on compiling my thesis and I was very pleased when I showed it to Mrs. Recine and it did not need revising or anything of the sort. I also created my paper proposal, which is similar to an outline and the quotes from my articles seemed to be sufficient in proving my thesis. Now I believe that I have finished creating my outline and I have begun to start putting together my thoughts and ideas in order to start my paper. I plan on starting my paper with a strong introduction and then continuing by defining exactly what a dystopia is and then using my various sources such as, 1984, A Clockwork Orange, and Brave New World to explain why writers write about dystopias, the historical context of it, and the influence it is meant to have on those who read it.

Understanding A Clockwork Orange

I started reading A Clockwork Orange this week starting on Monday. I began to read and realized that I was going to need help understanding some of the very strange and unusual language that I was completely unfamiliar with. I gave up for an hour or so because I could not focus on what the characters were saying and still be able to understand what was going on. I decided that I would look up the chapter summary online from Sparknotes.com and read that first and then read the chapter. After doing this I was able to understand the chapter that I was focusing on better and have successfully completed part one out of three sections. Although I am still having difficulty with the language I have been able to read and understand all of the book so far. I have also been making notes on where I find quotes that I think might be good for my paper. I had completed a thrid of the book already when I was informed that there are nadsat dictionaries that will further define the terms used in A Clockwork Orange. I plan on printing these out and using them as I continue to read.

One Down, One to Go

I am actually quite happy with myself for this weeks work on my Dystopian Novel Study. I have finished reading Brave New World. It was a fantastic book and I am already planning on how I am going to use it in both my presentation and in my research paper. I began looking for articles for the historical part of my research paper. I have found one or two good articles that describe the reason for dystopian novels, which is what my historical research is about. I need to demonstrate why these authors that I chose wrote a dystopian novel. I am glad to say that I have found many good articles that will be able to support my thought that the great depression, the cold war and fear of communism and other totalitarian governments are their main inspiration.

Spring Break

So far Spring Break has been excellent. However I have not worked on my english project as much as I had planned. I was hoping to have finished a Brave New World by the end of break but I still have about two thirds of the book left to finish. I have been working a lot at my two jobs and when I come home I normally go for a run, take a shower and then try to see my friends for some amount of time. I have been reading, just very very slowly. The book has lost my attention for now and I feel that I must be in the mood to read it. If I'm not in the mood to read it I end up reading only a few pages, not paying enough attention and having to re-read it over and over again. I feel as though I have too much going on. School, two jobs, taking care of my horse Cutter and trying to see my friends as well is very difficult.

Dystopian Novel Study

A few days ago I began a study of Dystopian Novels. The novels that I have chosen to study are 1984 by George Orwell, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, and A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. My first thoughts after choosing this topic for my final senior english project is "How am I going to incorporate all this and tie it all together?", "How will I be able to demonstrate how these novels are dystopias if most programs will tell you that the word 'dystopia' is not even a word?" SO it came to me. The first thing that I would need is to give the reader a good background on exactly what a dystopia is. I would have to explain the characteristics and how a dystopia is created. Then I would be able to use the books that I am reading and the movie that I am watching in order to give examples of what a dystopia is. I would have to make my readers understand through my examples.

I have already begun reading one book, Brave New World. I have already finished reading 1984, as that was one of our previous required reading novels. So far I have noticed a great deal of similarities between the two and I am only on chapter 3 of Brave New World.