Choices

       Choices are what shape  our life. Everything we do in life is by choice. Without them we won't be where we are now. There are some good choices but there is also some bad choices. So the next time I have to make a choice, I will make sure I think before I make it because it will scare me for life even if it's in a good or bad way.
       In the poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost the narrator has a choice to choose between two roads. The color of the wood in the two roads diverged was yellow. One of the roads bent into the undergrowth. He took the other road because it was grassy and wanted wear. The two roads were equally lay. He wouldn't return to travel the other road because he took the one less traveled by and he said "I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference". He will be telling his tale in ages and ages hence. The tone of the poem is serious. He took both as far as he could and then took the other one and had a better out-come, the one that was less traveled on. His choice was important because it all depended on where he wanted to get.
       In the short story "DEAD END"  Maria the main character has a choice of keeping the promise she made to her mom or fool around with a kid in her school that she has a crush on. I agree to Maria's choice, I think that she was very smart of her to choose that because school is a very important thing in life but not only that she made a promise to her mom that she would finish school and be an important and educated person. I have been through something like that, i had to choose from cutting to have fun with my friends and from going to school. This was a hard thing to choose from because I am not really much of a girl who likes being in school but yet I am trying to graduate and its pretty hard to ignore having fun or staying home sleeping at times. The legend "Hispanic Legend of La Llorona" is a great influenced in the short story because Maria, is with Frankie by the river she heard the lady and that's what snapped her out of the bad choice she was going to take, because it remind her about her mother. The setting of the story is important because the place and time she was leaving in showed that it was hard to grow up in as a teenager and specially that Maria was trying to finish school and the environment she was leaving in made it hard for her and she had to make a choice of continuing school or fit in the crew. The main characters are Frankie, Sandra, Denise

Satire

      Satire is a literary term that uses humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose people's stupidity. Satire is used to correct people's mistakes.
      In "The the impotence of proofreading" by Taylor Mali, he is criticizing people that don't proofreading after their work is finished. In this whole article he makes spelling mistakes and he is trying to give people advice that he doesn't follow him self. He is modeling the importance of proofread and he definitely didn't proofread the article. This article should make the reader notice how important it is to proofreading. For example, "Proofreading your peppers is a matter of the the utmost impotence" in this sentence he misspelled "papers" and "importance" and he also repeated the word "the". Another example is, "It was the most humidifying experience of my life," in this sentence he misspelled the word "humiliating". We can clearly see how he is trying to prove a point, to make the readers realize the importance of proofreading their work. He also mentioned that he used speller checker, but in order to use spell checker you have to know how to spell or its not useful.
"Has this ever happened to you? You work very horde on a paper for English clash And then get a very glow raid (like a D or even a D=) and all because you are the word¹s liverwurst spoiler. Proofreading your peppers is a matter of the the utmost impotence."
What he really meant was... "Has this ever happened to you? You work very hard on a paper for English class and then get a very low grade (like a D or even a D-) and all because you are the world's worst speller. Proofreading your papers is a matter of the utmost importance."
        In the article "Us Quietly Slips Out of Afghanistan in Dead of Night", the author is making fun of the United States and the abandonment of Afghanistan. The author is criticizing how the United States just goes to another country and mess with the people and then leave like nothing happened. For example in this quote, "KABUL, AFGHANISTAN—In what officials said was the "only way" to move on from what has become a "sad and unpleasant" situation, all 100,000 U.S. military and intelligence personnel crept out of their barracks in the dead of night Sunday and quietly slipped out of Afghanistan.", the author is showing how selfish is the United States. The author is trying to embarrass the U.S to see if they think before thinking an action about something.
         In "Advice to Youth" , the author Mark Twain is satirizing the fact that it's a waste to give advice to youth because most of the time we don't take it the advice. Yet he is giving the youth good and bad advice. For example, the author states "Never handle firearms carelessly."  and "Always obey your parents, when they are present." in this advice he clearly gives, says good advice, but at the same time making it negative. 

Irony

        Irony is the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or strongler expression. There are three kinds of irony: verbal irony is when an author says one thing and means something else, dramatic irony is when an audience perceives something that a character in the literature does not know, irony of situation is a discrepancy between the expected result and actual results. Irony is found everywhere if you pay close attention to it, we can see it on the subway, in ads, in any media we use. For example, "Colgate ad" this is really ironic because the man doesn't have teeth. 
        An example of irony is seen in Edwin Arlington Robinson's poem "Richard Cory".

Cory was a rich man from a town, clean favored and imperially slim. Richard was a clam man and a gentleman. Everyone admired Richard Cory, they all wished they where in his place, for example in this line "We thought he was everything, To make us wish that we were in his place".  Some facts that were mentioned is this poem is how people really saw him but little they knew.  The last line is so surprising  because Cory seemed like he was so happy but he really wasn't, "And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,Went home and put a bullet through his head". This poem shocked me because the way people describe this man makes it seem like he is fine and he has a perfect life. The people of the town envy Cory because he seemed Happy for example in this line, "He was a gentleman from sole to crown" in this line the author uses the word "sole" to make it sound like "soul" so that the reader thinks about Cory's soul to really gets us thinking about his true side. And he was rich and he got to eat what ever he wanted for example in this line "So on we worked, and waited for the light, And went without the meat, and cursed the bread" this shows how they envied because he got to eat the things they couldn't. This poem is different from a news item in a paper because that's not a thing people most likely would. People who will kill themselves is those who have problems. The tone of this poem is sadness. The reason why this poem is ironic is that we don't expect it to end they way it did, "And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, Went home and put a bullet through his head". The poem is told by someone that lives in the same town and admires him also.
        In the short story "Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl, Mary the main character is waiting for her husband and starting doing the usual until he got home. When her husband got home he was acting a little weird. Mary was trying to get him comfortable and he resisted. And this is when the story has a twist he tells her that he cheated on her and she went wild. Well this isn't the ironic part but the fact that she killed her husband with a leg of a lamb, and she cooked it is ironic. "There was a good deal of hesitating among the four policemen, but they were clearly hungry, and in the end they were persuaded to go into the kitchen and help themselves. The woman stayed where she was, listening to them speaking among themselves, their voices thick and sloppy because their mouths were full of meat. Have some more, Charlie? No. Better not finish it. She wants us to finish it. She said so. Be doing her a favor. Okay then. Give me some more. That's the hell of a big club the guy mustve used to hit poor Patrick, one of them was saying. 'the doc says his skull was smashed all to pieces just like from a sledgehammer. 'that's why it ought to be easy to find. Exactly what I say. Whoever done it, theyre not going to be carrying a thing like that around with them longer than they need. One of them belched. Personally, I think it's right here on the premises. Probably right under our very noses. What you think, Jack? And in the other room, Mary Maloney began to giggle." This part of the story, which is the ending, is a situation irony, discrepency between the expected result and actual results, because the  reader thinks she will end up getting caught but she doesn't which makes it more ironic besides her having the police officers eat the weapon.
        In the article "The House that Slaves Built" by Gardiner Harris, is about how ironic and life changing is the fact that Barack Obama and his family move into the White House. There is many reasons why this is ironic and one of the main reason is that the White House was built by slaves. The fact that Barack Obama and his family are African Americans and because "when you a look back at a 200-year-old house that has not always been so welcoming to blacks", said Gardiner Harris. This is ironic.

       In this article "Is it ironic that so many don't understand irony" by Daily Writing Tips, writes about  how its a ironic how people can't tell the difference of whats ironic and what's not. I agree with daily Writing Tips because the thing this writer is talking about are so true. He talks about how my generation doesn't know much about irony he does a survey with a couple of sentences either ironic or just normal sentence and the kids had to choice if the sentences where either or. It shows the percentages of people who voted and the corrected answer. And most of the youth got it wrong.
      The 'For the thousandth time, I don't want to take part in a survey!' cartoon is ironic because there is two guys in a island and one of them is doing a survey but a survey is take by a group of people and that makes it ironic because they are only two of them in an island all by themselves so it doesn't make sense to do a survey.
       The lyrics of Alanis Morissette's "Ironic" she writes about how ironic is the death of an old man and she compairs his death to other ironic things. She starts off the lyrics with "An old man turned ninety-eight, He won the lottery and died the next day" this is ironic because he didn't even get to enjoy the money.
         The video of the car commerical is ironic because a girl is talking about how she readed part of an artical about how older people are turning more anit-social, but her parents are not.


         

Metaphor

        A metaphor is a comparison of two unlike things. This literary term is broken into seven basic terms which are simile, personification, anthropomorphism, hyperbole, parable, fable, and analogy. Metaphors are mostly used in poems and other writing to describe/compare something or someone. For example, "a fierce person can be referred to as a tiger." A simile is the comparison of two unlike things using like or as. For example, "the water is likes the rain", this is an example of a simile because the water and the sun  have little in common, and yet they're being compared to one another. The "is" is also part of what makes this quote an example of a simile. Personification, makes a thing, idea, or an animal do something only humans can do. For example, "the wind yells while blowing". This is an example of personification because wind can not yell. Only a living thing can yell. Another example, is this poem:

Joy
Just when you thought
that winter
would be here forever,
that it could never end,
you saw:

Amidst the frozen white,

a tiny tip of green,
first blade of grass,
the messenger of spring.

        In this poem "Joy" the author uses a type of metaphor called hyperbole, an exaggeration or overstatement, by saying "just when you thought that winter would be here forever". The part that makes this line a hyperbole is the word forever, this is an exaggeration because a season can not last forever.  In the last stanza lines number eight and nine, the metaphor being used is personification, what is giving human qualities to animals or objects. The way the author shows personification in this poem is by giving the grass a human characteristics as a messenger of the spring.The grass is being personified as a "messenger" the fact that its announcing the ending of winter which is what message's do announce something. But in the this case the grass is a sign of spring.

        Another example of a metaphor is this poem "Peace":

Peace
 The wind is now
a roaring, smashing
monster of destruction,
raking all man's work
from the valleys,
from the vales,
and sends them spinning,
broken flying -

but all of that is
not its core,
its center is in truth
eternal stillness
bright blue skies
and all you hear
are gentle whispers
far away
and unimportant.

        In "Peace" the author uses personification in the last stanza. In this stanza the author compares the wind to gentle whispers. This is personification because only humans whisper.
        They are using similes to compare the elephant to their daily life for example:

the guy who is touching the elephant's tail and saying it is like a disconnected

phone line.   

Dinnertime Chorus 

The teapot sang as the water boiled
The ice cubes cackled in their glass
the teacups chattered to one another.
While the chairs were passing gas
The gravy gurgled merrily
As the oil danced in a pan.
Oh my dinnertime chorus
What a lovely, lovely clan!

        

           In the poem above "Dinnertime Chorus" the author is mainly focusing on personification.  For example, in this line "As the oil danced in a pan", the oil is being personified when the author writes that it danced in the pan. The oil is a liquid substance that is used to cook at times, the author uses dancing to describe the oil on the pan to show its movement in the pan. Another example is the line that states, "the teacups chattered to one another", the teacups are being personified when the author states that they are chattering, make a series of quick high-pitched sounds, teacups can't talk so this makes it personified.

    In the fable " The Goose with the Golden Eggs"  the metaphor that is used in this fable is personification because the message of the fable is "Greed often overreaches itself." the reason that this is a personification is because of the meaning of the word overreaches, making the word greed sound like a humans characteristics. The word overreaches means defeat one's own purpose by trying to do more than is possible, or reach too far. Also, the author is using the word itself to give it more human characteristic.

     

Hope Is the Thing with Feathers

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

        

      In the poem "Hope Is the Thing with Feathers" by Emily Dickinson is also another example that shows a metaphor which is personification because in this line she states that "sings the tune without the words" and "It asked a crumb of me". In these two lines she is giving human characteristics for example the the singing and it asking her something, remind us the hope is a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. This makes this poem personification.

        Another example from Emily Dickinson's poems is this one:

The Bee

Like trains of cars on tracks of plush
I hear the level bee:
A jar across the flowers goes,
Their velvet masonry
Withstands until the sweet assault
Their chivalry consumes,
While he, victorious, tilts away
To vanquish other blooms.
His feet are shod with gauze,
His helmet is of gold;
His breast, a single onyx
With chrysoprase, inlaid. 

His labor is a chant,
His idleness a tune;
Oh, for a bee's experience
 
In the poem"The Bee" has a simile, in the lines "Like trains of cars on tracks of plush, I hear the level bee" she compares the plush of the trains of cars on the tracks by using the word "like" which makes this a simile.

l(a
le
af
fa
ll
s)
one
l
iness 

          In the poem above, "l(a" is a metaphor because of the structure of it makes it show the really meaning of the poem which is loneliness. The leaf falling is the symbol the author uses to show loneliness... l(aleaffalls)oneliness. The reason this is a metaphor is because its an anthropomorphism. The reason that this poem is an anthropomorphism is because the falling leaf is taking the characteristics assumed to belong only to humans, loneliness. 

         Metaphors are literary terms that we use in our daily life style even without noticing. For example, we sometimes use hyperbole, an exaggeration or overstatement, with out noticing. I use hyperbole a lot when I am trying to prove a point that is obvious to someone. Hyperbole is one of the seven terms of metaphors. The other six are: simile, personification, anthropomorphism, parable, fable, and analogy. My life is like a classroom, I always have something new to learn.