Tuesday, October 23

English 12A: Today, along with reading pages 65-79 in The Alchemist (see the schedule to keep up on the PDF), we focused on the Sentence of the Week ideas of front, rear, and middle attribution. If you were absent, or didn't finish, here were the two things we did and that you should complete on your CSDdocs account:

Choose one of the following quotes from The Alchemist:

-Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own (16).

-”...people are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of” (23).

-”The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never forget the drops of oil on the spoon” (32).

-”Every blessing ignored becomes a curse” (58).

Explain the theme revealed by one of these statements and write a paragraph that does the following things:

1. Set up the quote and provide the reader with context.
2. Correctly format the quote using front attribution.
3. Comment on the quote.  

Example:

Yann Martel’s novel Life of Pi is, above all, about the power of stories. It’s protagonist, Pi Patel, advocates we “choose the better story” (64). Pi - and Yann Martel - seem to argue throughout the book that choosing the better story allows us to see the potential of the world instead of its limits.

Choose one of the following quotes from The Alchemist:

-Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own (16).

-”...people are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of” (23).

-”The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never forget the drops of oil on the spoon” (32).

-”Every blessing ignored becomes a curse” (58).

Explain the theme revealed by one of these statements and write a paragraph that does the following things:

1. Set up the quote and provide the reader with context.
2. Correctly format the quote using rear attribution.
3. Comment on the quote.

Example:

Yann Martel’s novel Life of Pi is an adventure story about a young man named Pi Patel who survives for 227 days in the Pacific Ocean aboard a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger. In Part III of the novel, Pi is questioned by two men who doubt the truthfulness of Pi’s story. They tell him they are just being reasonable. “So am I… Reason is excellent for getting food, clothing, and shelter… Nothing beats reason for keeping tigers away. But be excessively reasonable and you risk throwing out the universe with the bathwater,” Pi responds (298). What Pi seems to be saying is that intellect alone is not enough - we humans must also have imagination and belief.

CNF: Today we conclude the documentary So Much So Fast and discussed how we are all victims of information asymmetry.