Les Miserables Preface

Hugo’s Preface

So long as there shall exist, by virtue of law and custom, decrees of damnation pronounced by society, artificially creating hells amid the civilization of earth, and adding the element of human fate to divine destiny; so long as the three great problems of the century---the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of woman through hunger, the crippling of children through lack of light—are unsolved; so long as social asphyxia is possible in any part of the world;—in other words, and with a still wider significance, so long as ignorance and poverty exist on earth, books of the nature of Les Miserables cannot fail to be of use.

My Reflection

Victor Hugo is saying in his preface that as long as punishments exist because of what society decides, Les Miserables will always need to be read. The artificial hells that he refers to are pronounced by society, meaning that the people are strongly stating punishments that should be given out, that are probably more serious than the crime originally committed. These hells are within everyday life all over the world. When Jean Valjean is released from prison he just goes into more of a prison. At least in prison he was with other people just like him. When he goes back into the real world he is the only one who has committed a crime and is looked down upon because of it. When Jean is released into what is supposed to be a new life, he is ironically treated the same or even worse than when he was in prison. The corruption of women through hunger can best be shown by Fantine. She becomes a prostitute because she has nothing and even sells her teeth and hair. She is corrupted by a hunger for something big; she hungers for a love after being dumped by the man she thought that she was in love with. All she wanted was to see Cosette and was corrupted by this hunger. An example of the crippling of children is how Cosette has to eat under the table at her foster parent’s home. Her lack of light is her lack of good parenting. By saying that until these issues of society are solved, Les Miserables, and book like it, will always need to be read; Hugo is saying that they will always be read. Society will always have these problems because we are human and these are the characteristics of a human society. The bottom line is that Les Miserables must always be read to teach the readers how to better live life.

My Preface

So long as there shall exist, by failed parenting, students who cannot create motivation for themselves, not working hard for the grade that they desire, and holding back those who actually want to learn; so long as the three great problems of the twenty-first century student- the procrastination of school work through x-box, the carelessness of students through a lack of determination, and the crippling of class time through unneeded conversation-are not corrected; so long as a student can value something more than an education;- In other words, and with a still wider significance, so long as self motivation and hard work do not exist in every student, the educators of the nature of Tim Ballard cannot fail to be of use.

Les Miserables Book Project

Jean Valjean’s Personality

Introvert, Sensor, Feeler, Perceiver

Jean Valjean is, in my opinion, a spontaneous open minded character. He is very dedicated to causes such as stealing bread for his sister’s children. After being released from prison I think Jean became a very compassionate being. You don’t really see this until after the bishop shows him such generosity. Jean isn’t quick to judge because he didn’t appreciate being judged by the people of Digne. Every inn that he went to wouldn’t allow him to stay because he was an x-convict. Jean believes in getting to fully know a persons’ story before judging them.

Parts of Speech that Relate to Jean Valjean

Verb

Accepting- Jean Valjean was treated very poorly in the town of Digne and after being shown what compassion was by the bishop he learned that being accepting of others is the right thing to do.

Noun

Dog- Jean was described as a dog when he says that even a dog would be happy than he. He is compared to a dog multiple times in the book.

Adjective

Spontaneous- He makes decisions without thinking all the way through such as stealing the bread for his sister’s children or even trying to break out of prison multiple times, which just added time to his sentence.

Dense Question

Text- Explain why Jean Valjean felt so honored to be treated the way that he was in the bishop’s home.

Other Lit/World- Describe how Jean Valjean’s experience at the bishop’s house is similar to how equality felt when he discovered the house form the unmentionable times.

Reader- Talk about a time when you have experienced an over whelming feeling of welcome from someone when you didn’t expect it.

After Spending sixteen years in prison, Jean Valjean was finally set free. I assume that he wasn’t treated very well in prison because of how much of a different man he is when he came out- a hardened man. The book says that he travels a long way on foot into the town of Digne, and he just wants a place to sleep and eat. He knocks on the doors of every inn in the town and each of them says the same thing when they find out that he is a convict. Not even the dog would let him stay with him. When he finally goes to the bishop’s house, the bishops treats him like a human- Jean was not used to this treatment. The simple word, “Sir,” made him ecstatic. Jean Valjean was not used to this generosity since he had been in prison so long and everyone had kicked him out.

                The similarity between Jean Valjean’s experience and that of Equality is that they both had a sense of freedom when they walked into the houses. Jean’s freedom was that he was finally being treated like a human again, and Equality’s freedom was just that, he was free from the society that wouldn’t let him be himself.

                I have had an experience like this before. It was when I went on a church mission trip with my youth group. I had not been that involved in youth group, so I was afraid that I wouldn’t have that much fun because I wouldn’t know anyone. To my surprise everyone was just so welcoming of me and made me feel like I fit in. Just like Equality and Jean Valjean a burden had been lifted off my shoulders.

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind

Dense Question:

Text: Why does William switch from relying on magic and tradition to believing so strongly in what science can accomplish?

Other Lit/World: How can William’s experience be compared to that of Equality in Anthem?

Reader: Describe a time when you have done something that no one else around you has thought to do.

When William was young his family and village taught him tradition, just as every kid had been taught that grew up in Malawi. Williams lust for an educational triggers him to go to the library and start teaching himself, and he realizes that there is life outside of his African village. When he discovers the Electricity book he is amazed and begins to wonder how the concepts of electricity and producing electricity could help everyone in his community. I believe that William leaves his beliefs in magic and tradition because of his curiosity in what he could create using this new magic.

Much like William, Equality grows up in a society that teaches everyone to believe in the same thing. In Equality’s case, society took away everyone’s individualism so that no one would discover something that would make them think independently. Like William was taught about magic, Equality was taught that if something wasn’t for the group than it wasn’t right. Equality’s curiosity drove him to break the law and think on his own by finding the tunnel and creating the light from the unmentionable times. This curiosity eventually leads equality to become a dissenter of his society.

                Although this is not life changing or on the same level as William or Equality, one time my dad and I were trying to move a word saw to Wilmington for one of his friends from Raleigh. His friend didn’t tell him that the saw weighed a lot. We couldn’t lift the saw and its stand into the truck to move it. After spending thirty minutes trying to figure out what we were going to do, I came up with a great idea. I went into his friend’s garage and pulled out some old sheets of ply wood. With the wood I created a ramp to roll the saw up into the back of the truck. My idea actually worked out pretty well, so although I didn’t create light or a village powering windmill I did lead the way with a bright idea.

Anthem by Ayn Rand

Student Created Questions Writing Assignment

What are the similarities between Ayn Rand’s ideology and the ideology of today’s political system?

               

               In today’s political scene it is obvious that the two prominent parties disagree completely on many issues. The book, Anthem, has caused me to ponder which political party Ayn Rand would belong to or most likely agree with if she were alive today. While Democrats typically have a liberal view on politics, Republicans have a generally conservative stance. The issue most directly brought up in Anthem is the role of government in society. This is a question that has been debated for the history of our country.

                In her book, Ayn Rand stresses that the government in this dystopia of a society is bringing down the strong, by creating equality among all men. She believes that a person cannot reach their full potential if the government, or Council of Vocations in the case of Anthem, becomes too large, even to the point of forcing everyone to be the same. In today’s politics we see this debate of government forced equality through the supreme healthcare legislation coined as Obamacare. Conservatives view supreme healthcare as another step towards government takeover that costs citizens tax money. Liberals view these new healthcare laws as a way to give every American the right to good health, no matter what social class.

 Neither view is right or wrong, because it is all opinion, but I am very certain that Ayn Rand would favor the conservative stance, because she believes that people should help themselves and not burden everyone else in the country. She would believe that by using the government to give everyone fair treatment, or equality, it would take away the individualism of our country. As an egoist she wouldn’t believe in helping others unless it directly benefited herself.  If Ayn Rand were to be assigned to a political party in today’s politics, she would most likely be put into the conservative based Republican Party.

Advanced Research Topic

Is Anthem a realistic portrayal of life in a totalitarian society? Compare the fictionalized society in Anthem to a real dictatorship, past or present. Some options are Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, Cuba, China, Cambodia, etc.

        When Adolf Hitler rose to power, claiming to be able to restore Germany to its former glory, he took control quicker than any other dictator in history. Germany took terrible losses from the First World War and was desperate for a leader who could gain control of the economy again. There was no better candidate than Adolf Hitler, a well spoken, intelligent, and most of all charismatic man. As Hitler took control of the country everything changed for the worst. The country that was once a country of thriving wealth was now a country of equality controlled by the fascist government of the Nazi Party.

One group of Nazis that Hitler put in charge of law enforcement was the Gestapo. If people did not do what they were told, the Gestapo had the power to throw them into jail, or even kill them without real reason (sunnytim). The Nazis are, in a way, very similar to the Council of Vocations, in that they tell each citizen how they will live their lives, or else face severe punishment.

While Hitler did use techniques such as propaganda to brainwash citizens, his most successful technique of leading was using terror to scare everybody into doing what he wanted them to do (sunnytim). In Anthem, all of Equality’s brothers are afraid of going against what the government has told them to do, and some have even lost the will to care about being controlled and having no freedom.

 In communist governments it is absolutely against the law to talk bad of the government. In Nazi Germany a person would be put to death for bad mouthing the government, and in Anthem, no one even dared to say anything bad because they were so afraid (sunnytim). The only other person mentioned in the book that talks bad about society other than Equality is the Saint of the Pyre. All we know about the Saint is that he was burnt at the stake for speaking the unmentionable word, which is ego. The government was afraid that if people knew this word they would become independent thinkers and over throw the councils.

Adolf Hitler had a hatred for people of Jewish heritage, and to make their lives very difficult in he passed a set of laws known as the Nuremburg Laws (sunnytim). These laws forced Jews to live in fear, and in hiding. All of their rights were taken away from them, just because the leader didn’t like them.  Hitler eventually decided that he wanted to get rid of all of the Jewish people in Europe. This directly compares to how society and the council wanted to get rid of all independent thinkers by creating many laws to prohibit it, such as making the street sweepers, the smarter demographic, live in a room of gray to keep them from creatively thinking. The government in Anthem, didn’t want anybody to think own their own because it could threaten the government. The council was willing to go to any means of getting rid of independent thinkers, just as Hitler was willing to going to mass extermination of all of the European Jews.

Ayn Rand’s portrayal of a totalitarian society is right on the spot. She created a society that was ruled by a government that feared independence. They feared freedom, because they feared human nature. A government that formed originally to keep peace and create equal opportunity for everyone turned into a society where everyone was equally bad. Through this black and white society she has shown that total government control is bad, and will be the fate of mankind if we don’t start to accept the uniqueness and individualism in everyone.

Work Cited

Sunnytim. "How Did Hitler Keep Control of Nazi Germany." BBC News. BBC, 20 Apr. 2005. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/39/a3921239.shtml>.

Creative Writing 

Rewrite the scene about the Saint at the Pyre from the Saint’s perspective. What did he want to communicate to Equality?

All the men and all of the children of the city are standing in the square with their eyes fixed upon me as I am carried out into the open by my captors. Strangely enough, I’m not nervous about my departure from this world of man. All these people screaming and cursing at me, but for what,? All I did was give a little bit of truth back into this world that has been taken out by the men who claim to rule us. And because of this, my face will remain the calmest, and happiest, of all men present here today. And while I take pride in knowing that I am of a species of man that is capable of thinking independently, my captors take pride in clothing my body in this heavy chain, which in a way represents the handicaps that society places on us who are stronger and superior to our brothers. As the flame of my foes rises underneath me I look not down, but up to the city around me. I can taste blood in my mouth, probably from the beating I received just moments ago. I am dying for this city. This city, and all of the cities on the earth, and all of the men who inhabit them. This thought alone brings joy to my soul and a smile to my face, but not because I will be remembered as a martyr, but because in my heart I know that I am dying for a civil society that once inhabited this land, a society that was ruled by free men, who lived to satisfy themselves.  I search the crowd calmly, looking for one person who is like me, for I know that I cannot be the only one. And then it happens. A boy, no older than ten years old locks his eyes with me, and I don’t break contact with him. I need not to use my mouth, for my eyes can tell more than I could ever speak. I pray that the boy can understand the message I am trying to convey to him. For the sake of mankind he must understand. And all of a sudden, like a burden being lifted from me, I know that he understands. He understands the word that allowed men to be free and that will lead man kind to freedom once again. The word, the unspeakable word…Ego.

Quotes with Reflection

“Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”  -- Dr. Suess

This quote from Dr. Suess can relate to many things in peoples lives, and I believe that everyone can relate it to their lives in some way, big or small. The first thing that came to my mind when I read the quote was how I feel everytime my brother or sister comes home for a weekend to visit us.

Since I am the youngest in my family both of my siblings are not living at home. I like to think that I am lonely without them but really I just don’t remember what it was like when they were at home. I am so used to being the only child at home, so it is a little refreshing when they come home to visit. We always play music and have a good time, and when it comes time for them to leave I am really disapointed that they have to go. This quote reminds me to be happy that they came at all instead of being sad that they are leaving.

“Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.” – John Lennon

Sometimes I think that people get carried away with planning. Some people spend all day planning for tommorow, and completely miss what happened today.  This quote is quite similar to the quote, “Live everyday like it is your last day on earth.” I feel that in my everyday life I can be caught spending life wasting time with planning my life.

I have been looking at different colleges and taking tests about what to major in since seventh or eighth grade. My parents always tell me to “just make it through my sophomore year in highschool.” I love to look at different colleges and “plan my life,” but I think that I could spend a little more time living in today instead of the future.

“Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.” – Albert Camus

AP Writing Prompts

Digital Fortress

From a novel or play of literary merit, select an important character who is a villain. Then, in a well-organized essay, analyze the nature of the character's villainy and show how it enhances meaning in the work. Do not merely summarize the plot. 

In Dan Brown’s Digital Fortress, the character Hulohot serves as a most villainous creature. He is portrayed as a thing instead of a person throughout most of the book, and is referred to as “The figure in the wire-rimmed glasses.” In each chapter that involves this assassin, the author never describes Hulohot in detail, it is almost as if the chapter is written in the victim’s eyes, and the only part about the killer that the victim remembers is his wire-rimmed glasses.

In addition to being a cold blooded murderer, Hulohot is hauntingly described at the end of many chapters as a stalker. He follows one of the main characters- David Becker- around the entire book waiting for his chance to kill him. “The passenger in the wire-rim glasses gazed through the plate glass windows of the well lit terminal.” The most haunting part of Hulohot’s character is that he is deaf, leaving no chance for his victims’ to bargain with him.

If Hulohot just killed his victims in an ordinary way, and the same way each time, the book would have no fun thrills. Hulohot kills four people in text, and “The list [goes] on.” He is called a genius by Commander Strathmore, but is finally outsmarted in the end by his “prize,” David Becker. On top of being terrified Hulohot was extremely arrogant. He sent to his handler a message over his minicomputer that stated, “Subject: David Becker—terminated,” before he had even made the kill. I believe that Hulohot’s arrogance is what got him killed, because he flowed David Becker into a tower because he thought that he had him trapped, and it came back to bite him. The way that Dan Brown formed the character of Hulohot, through textual pictures, gave the story and terrifying murders depth and style.

In a literary work, a minor character, often known as a foil, possesses traits that emphasize, by contrast or comparison, the distinctive characteristics and qualities of the main character. For example, the ideas of behavior of the minor character might be used to highlight the weaknesses or strengths of the main character. Choose a novel in which a minor character serves as a foil to a main character. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the relationship between the minor character and the major character illuminates the meaning of the work. 

In Dan Brown’s Digital Fortress the use of minor, foil, characters is used in order to influence the main characters actions. In the novel the deputy director of the NSA, Commander Strathmore, is a minor character who puts pressure on his head cryptographer, Susan Fletcher. It is told that the commander “always had a soft spot for Susan,” which made Susan feel like she owed something to the commander, which ends up getting her into big trouble.

At the end of the novel Commander Strathmore reveals that he had plotted against the government to help himself, and make himself look good. When he begged Susan to join him and not tell anyone, she was forced to make a quick decision. Strathmore betrayed his country and Susan who trusted him.

After killing Greg Hale and making it look like a suicide, Commander Strathmore professed his love to Susan. Susan was in love with the man that Strathmore had sent to Spain to be murdered. While Susan thought that Strathmore was trying to “save the world,” it turned out that he was just plotting against everything that Susan loved just so that she would for some reason like him. Obviously Commander Strathmore didn't know that you can’t win love by killing everybody and everything that a person loves.

This I Believe

                This I Believe...

               When I began to think about what I believed in, I really couldn’t come up with a topic that I could write an essay about. It is easy to list things that I believe in- friendship, God, family, etc.- but none of those things I could write about wihtout making it cheesy. I had been over analyzing the assignment to create an essay with super-deep meaning. The answer as to what to write about had been there all along. Band.

                I, like everyone else, started school band in the sixth grade. We picked our instruments about a month into school. I picked to play the alto saxophone, not knowing that it would affect my life in high school three years later. The reason I originally took band was because my brother and sister both took band, and all of my friends were going to take it. I don’t know what I would have done without it.

                It is sad the number of people that actually join high band. There are those who join because it is something that they really want to do, and there are those who’s parents make them do it. The ones who are forced, always end up liking it by the first football game. My friend, Kyle, played sax with me in middle school band, and his parents forced him to try it in high school for at least one year. Now he loves band and would never miss a marching season.  Our annual eighth grade night is this Friday. It is a football game where the eighth graders from our school district join us in the stands and play with us. This is an attemt to recruit them to join high school band. Unfortunately, of the seventy-two eighth graders coming, we will be lucky to have fifteen or twenty join next year. If we could manage to get all of them to try it for at least one year, none of them would quit, and we would have a giant band.

                If I hadn’t taken band in middle school, I would have come to high school without many of my good friends. One of my friends is a senior in the saxophone section this year, and if I hadn’t chosen to play saxophone in middle school I would have never been as close to him as I am.  Being part of band gives you a certain feeling of accomplishment, one that you can’t necissarily get from anything else. Most people believe that band is social suicide. It happens to be the complete opposite. The band starts practicing three weeks before school starts, and when school started my freshmen year I already new thirty or forty upper classmen, that would talk to me in the hall and hang out with me. With the marching band being one giant family, no one feels left out. Suprisingly, students (at hoggard at least) like the band and don’t make fun of us.

                Band programs in high school help you academically and socially. Without band many high schoolers wouldn’t know as many people. My belief is that everyone should try band in high school, because of its social benefits and the impact that It can have on your high school career.

I believe in being with the marching band, with my church praise band, and with my piano teacher playing   music.

 I believe in working hard in school and in life whether I receive a reward or not.

I believe in Backpacking with my family for four days in the woods, sleeping in tents, and messing around     in the river.

I believe in spending all day on the lake casting a worm into the water waiting for a fish to take the bobber   under.

I believe in being there for your friends and being the person that they can always rely on.

I believe in going on mission trips with my youth group to help less fortunate people in the country.

I believe in doing what I say I am going to do- in keeping promises.

I believe that if you can’t be on time, be early.

I believe that a good education is priceless.

I believe that everything happens for a reason.

http://thisibelieve.org/essay/89028/  -- Favorite Essay

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0lRBTsKL0A  -- Favorite Video Essay