Week 2- Entry A

Vocabulary

(p 93) languorous- (adj) languid, lacking in vigor, slow

(p 99) calliope- (noun) instrument like an organ with whistles sounded by steam or compressed steam

Appeals

1. (p 63) “Inside, Grandfather, Douglas, and Tom saw him tinkering, make a minor adjustment here, eliminate friction there, busy among all those warm, wonderful, infinitely delicate, forever mysterious, and ever-moving parts.” The adjectives at the end of this sentence are emotional appeals. Just reading the words makes me feel them.
2. (p 92) “Ladies, I know you’re both vigorous. You look it. Eighty years.” The salesman is using the emotionally appealing word vigorous when trying to sell something to two old women.
3. (p 92) “The storage batteries are fully charged and ready now! […] You recharge it every night in your garage.” The salesman now uses a logical appeal when selling the Green Machine.

Quote

(p 104) “The colored windowpanes on the little round windows, have they always been there? […] I never saw them before today. On the way walking through town I looked up and there they were. Doug, what was I doing all these years I didn’t see them?”

Life passes by quickest when you’re not paying attention, and then before you know it, it’s too late. Pay attention to the details in life when you have a chance to. Notice the flowers in bloom. Count the cracks in the sidewalk. Savor the taste of the first ice cream cone of the summer. In the fall, the flowers will wilt. Someday, the sidewalks will be replaced. When summer ends, you won’t taste ice cream until the next summer comes around. Time can pass you by if you aren’t taking the initiative to notice things.

Theme

Things are ever changing. In the novel, things move on even though characters want them to stay the same. An old woman, Mrs. Bentley, finds that children don’t believe she was young once. At first she’s angry and dwells on her past, but she realizes what matters is the present. She throws away objects from her childhood and begins living her life to its fullest. She realizes she must change to be the person she wants to be. Another instance of change is when Douglas’s friend, John, must move away. He doesn’t understand how things can change so quickly.

Week 1- Entry B

As all of you who are reading my blog know, a memoir is a segment of a person’s life. Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury is very interesting, as it doesn’t feel like it fits this definition at all. If I hadn’t have picked this book off Mrs. Burgess’s memoir list, I would never have guessed this novel depicts Bradbury’s life.
This work is more fictionalized than it is fact. Each chapter focuses on a different person; not every event is seen through the eyes of the author. The first couple chapters make a believable memoir, but after a few chapters, smaller story lines pop up. Leo Auffmann, the creator of a “happiness machine” becomes the focus of one chapter, and then Douglas’s little brother, Tom, is another focus. Within a few more chapters, the story is told through the eyes of an elderly woman, Mrs. Bentley. I have yet to figure out the advantage of seeing so many peoples’ points of view of one summer, but I assume Ray Bradbury has a very good reason for writing in this style.

Week 1- Entry A

Vocabulary

(p 27) Intuition- (noun) a direct perception of truth, fact, etc., independent of any reasoning process; immediate apprehension.

(p 42) Intangible- (adj) incapable of being perceived by the sense of touch, as incorporeal or immaterial things; impalpable.

Appeals

1. (p 43) “There are a million small towns like this all over the world. Each as dark, as lonely, each as removed, as full of shuddering and wonder. The reedy playing of minor-key violins was the small towns’ music, with no lights, but many shadows. Oh, the vast swelling of loneliness of them.” This is an emotional appeal. Many of the words: dark, lonely, removed, shuddering, shadows, and loneliness make the reader feel a surge of emptiness inside. Bradbury uses his words wisely, and creates a feeling of being sad and scared.
2. (p 14) “The water was silk in the cup; clear, faintly blue silk.” This sentence makes water sound even better than it is. By using the emotional appeal of the word silk, Bradbury makes me want to go drink some water even though I’m not thirsty.
3. (p 7) “Books I read: four hundred…. In that time I figure four hundred lollipops, three hundred Tootsie Rolls, seven hundred ice-cream cones…” This logical appeal becomes important later in the book. Doug, the protagonist, says that these statistics aren’t what summer’s all about, it’s the other half, discoveries and revelations that make summer what it is.

Quote

(p 27) “There are five billion trees in the world. I looked it up. Under every tree is a shadow, right? So, then, what makes night? I’ll tell you: shadows crawling out from under five billion trees! Think of it! Shadows running around in the air, muddying the waters you might say. If only we could figure a way to keep those darn five billion shadows under those trees, we could stay up half the night, Doug, because there’d be no night! There you are; something old, something new.”

This quote isn’t incredibly important to the plot of the book, but I just love how it’s written. After reading it the first time, I went back, read it again, and then read it to two other people as well. Bradbury’s writing style is well displayed in this paragraph. He has such deep ideas that make me feel happy after reading them.

Theme

So far, happiness is a point addressed in this novel; Leo Auffmann attempts to create a “happiness machine”, but instead builds a machine that makes everyone who uses it sad, because they realize that they can’t be as happy in real life as they are when sitting in the machine.

First Blog

Hey everyone! Here's Megan's first blog for Enriched English 10. I don't have much to say momentarily, but you should leave me a comment just the same. Enjoy!