Tools That Change the Way We Think

See the excerpt that this is in response to here.

Technology, with the Internet now more easily accessible through smart phones, has changed my generation. Before, people would have to recall facts from memory if they didn't want to find the page in a book or the paragraph in an essay where they read about the concept in the first place. Now you can simply whip out your smart phone, laptop, or portable tablet and search that concept. However, with a seemingly limitless supply of descriptions, directions, photos, music, videos, social networking sites, and online shopping, for me, the internet absorbs time at a rate that seems unfathomable. It is the bearer of distractions which, depending on your state of mind, can either make the Internet desirable or despicable.

I also just wanted to add my first thoughts after reading this selection. How would people measure intelligence or value intelligence if there was an implant that allowed anyone to be a walking encyclopedia? How would people be prevented from using these implants during tests or contests where the participant's success should depend on what they know up to the point of taking the exam or going on a game show? I think it's an intimidating thought to think of everyone with the knowledge of the Internet not just on the tips of their fingers but already inside their minds.

"FILTER BUBBLES"

"Filter Bubbles" TEDx Video

a) I learned that Facebook deletes people from your profile that it believes you don't want on there because you are more likely to go to another person's profile. I also never realized that the Internet basically replaced editors for spreading news to the public. I suppose this is because I can't remember a time without the Internet.

b) I already knew that Google uses filter bubbles to suggest sites that I am most likely interested in. This information doesn't make me think too differently about what I see online, except on how different other peoples' searches look, because it makes it is more convenient if Google predicts what links I may want. However, this could just be because I am not able to see what other options I have which may only appear on a different person's search.

c) It makes me wonder whether many years from now, the Internet will be able to predict possible future searches based on what you have looked at in the past, possibly even based on your personality type. I also wonder how many links there are on the Internet that won't be a result of my search, but they may be more beneficial to me than the other results.

d) For me to improve the effectiveness of my search, I am going to look at more than the first five links that result from my search. I will look at the results on the next couple of pages to make sure that I can get the best link for what I want and not what the Internet thinks I want.

THOUGHTS ON HAMLET (IN PROGRESS)

In the beginning of the play, I sympathized with Hamlet because he was so grief stricken by his father's death and disgusted by his mother's quick marriage to his uncle, the new king.  By the end of Act III, however, I am sympathizing less and less with Hamlet because he is either driving himself insane with revenge on King Claudius or he is self-sabotaging by pushing away those who had little to do with his father's murder, like Ophelia and his mother, Queen Gertrude.  I will accredit Hamlet, though, with being very perceptive because of the way that he inferred Rosencraz and Guildenstern were visiting under orders from the king and queen and not simply to see their friend Hamlet.  Unfortunately, I don't see things going too well from here.  I know its a tragedy and with tragedy comes death.  I believe that Hamlet's revenge on Claudius will somehow backfire and Hamlet's unbridled craziness and his convolution of thoughts will lead to his demise.

WHAT I THINK ABOUT WHEN I THINK ABOUT ACT III

Act III reminds me of the play that was interrupted by the guilty conscience of the king.  It reminds that Hamlet must be right that his uncle murdered his father because King Claudius prays after the play to have his guilt assuaged.  I think of how badly that entire family and court communicates, and I am reminded of Lord Polonius's accidental death by Hamlet because he wasn't minding his own business.

LITERATURE ANALYSIS #3

1. I read A Passage to India by E.M. Forster.  The main character is Dr. Aziz, and the novel takes place in an India under British imperial rule.  One night, Dr. Aziz meets Mrs. Moore and likes her because she is one of the only Englishwomen he knows who is kind to him.  Her travel companion is Adela Quested, the possible fiancée of Mrs. Moore’s son, the City Magistrate who is vehemently against all Indians.  After a party requested by Adela to meet Indians, Adela instead meets Fielding, who works at the Government College.  Aziz is invited by Adela to have tea with a Hindu professor, Fielding, Mrs. Moore, and her.  Aziz and Fielding get along very well, but the gathering is interrupted by Mrs. Moore’s prejudice son.  Aziz offers the people at tea a trip through nearby caves.  Because Fielding and the professor are delayed, and Mrs. Moore becomes claustrophobic and scared of the echoes, Aziz and Adela are go through the caves together.  When Adela offends Aziz, he runs off, and when he returns, she has already driven away from the caves.  Later, he is arrested because Adela accused him of trying to rape her.  This shatters Aziz’s illusions that he could be friends with Englishmen.  In the end, Fielding defends Aziz and causes more conflict between the two races, Adela finally confesses in court that nothing happened, and Mrs. Moore dies on a trip back to England.  Fielding becomes friends with Adela because he admires her strength in court, and Aziz breaks ties with him because of it.  Years later, Aziz finds out that Fielding married Mrs. Moore’s daughter, and the two want to become friends, but Aziz says that can’t happen during that time of conflict and tension.

2. An imbalance of power in a society that consists of two different cultures, one of which considers itself superior to the other, can create a schism that can’t be bridged even if one wants to.

3. The tone is objective, but sympathetic to both sides of the culture.  “The earth didn’t want it, sending up rocks through which writers must pass single file.”  Through this matter of fact statement, Forster emphasizes all of the obstacles figuratively that the people of the separate cultures would need to overcome in order to connect their cultures and lifestyles.  “Fielding, for instance, had not meant that Indians are obscure, but that Post Impressionism is; a gulf divided his remark from Mrs. Turton’s ‘Why, they speak English,” but to Aziz the two sounded alike.”  This shows Forster’s sympathy that these two are trying to understand each other, but objectively put, their cultures are just too different.  “ ‘Why can’t we be friends now?’ ”  This shows Forster’s sympathy for combining both cultures, even though it would be an impossible road to take.

4. Imagery – Forster uses this technique to describe the setting of the book in a way that allows the reader to picture its elegance and beauty, elegance and beauty that is now infringed upon by “Englishmen.” 

“Clouds map it up at times, but it is normally a dome of blending tints, and the main tint blue.  By day the blue will pale down into white where it touches the white of the land, after sunset it has a new circumference – orange, melting upwards into tenderest purple.” (Page 8)

“League after league the earth lies flat, heaves a little, is flat again.  Only in the south, where a group of fists and fingers are thrust up through the soil, is the endless expanse interrupted.  These fists and fingers are the Marabar Hills, containing the extraordinary caves.”  (Page 9)

Personification – Forster also uses this technique to describe the setting of the novel by assigning human actions and verbs to non-human things.  “The toddy palms and neem trees and mangoes and pepul that were hidden behind the bazaars now become visible and in their turn hide the bazaars…Seeking light and air, and endowed with more strength than man or his works, they soar above the lower deposit to greet one another with branches and beckoning leaves, and to build a city for the birds.”  (Page 8)

“The sky settles everything...By herself she can do little – only feeble outbursts of flowers.”  (Page 9)

Parallelism – using parallelism provides a smooth transition to different actions of trees that Forster is describing.

“They rise from the gardens where the ancient tanks nourish them, they burst out of stifling purlieus and unconsidered temples.”  (Page 8)

Point of View – Forster writes A Passage to India in third person omniscient perspective, allowing the readers to know some of the thoughts and motives of some of the major characters, like Aziz and Mrs. Moore.

“Some day he too would build a mosque, smaller than this but in perfect taste, so that all who passed by should experience the happiness he felt now…he always held pathos to be profound.  The secret understanding of the heart!” (Describing Aziz’s thought process on Page 19-20)

“He had not forbidden her to think about Aziz, however, and she did this when she retired to her room.”  (Mrs. Moore’s thoughts on Page 34)

Foreshadowing – Forster prepares the reader for the rude way in which the Englishmen treat the Indians by including an argument over this between the main character, Dr. Aziz, and his friends in the beginning of the book.  A couple of pages later, Aziz was snubbed by two Englishwomen. (Page 17)

Simile – Forster uses this simile example to provide the reader with a better picture of the night sky in his description of it.  “Then the stars hang like lamps from the immense vault.”  (Page 9)

Repetition – Forster uses repetition to emphasize the multiple descriptions of the city from different perspectives.  “It is a city of gardens.  It is no city, but a forest sparsely scattered by huts.  It is a tropical pleasaunce washed by a noble river.”  (Page 8)

Symbol – The horses symbolize that even though Fielding and Aziz want to be friends, their two cultures were against coming together like the horses in the example, “But the horses didn’t want it – they swerved apart,”  (Page 322)

Cultural Allusions – Throughout the book, Forster incorporates multiple words from Indian culture like “purdah,” “hookah,” and “chuprassi”

Irony – Mr. Turton throws a Bridge Party to form an invisible bridge for an evening between the two separate cultures.  However, the Bridge Party consists mainly of all of the Indians standing on one side of the tennis court in a line and all of the Englishmen standing on the other, the Englishmen not really wanting to form the “bridge.”

 Characterization

1.  Direct Characterization – “His memory was good, and for so young a man he had read largely; the themes he preferred were the decay of Islam and the brevity of Love.”  (Describing Dr. Aziz on Page 15) and “Rather small, with a little moustache and quick eyes.” (Mrs. Moore describing Dr. Aziz on Page 30)

Indirect Characterization – “ ‘If Dr. Aziz never did it he ought to be let out.’ ” (Adela says on Page 203) and “ ‘She was certainly intending to be kind, but I did not find her exactly charming.’ ”  (Describing Mrs. Callendar on Page 22)

Forster uses the first example of indirect characterization to increase the conflict between the Englishmen and the Indian culture because she is an Englishwoman, and the Englishmen in India weren’t supposed to sympathize with the Indians, like she is doing in the quote.  Forster also includes direct characterization because most of the accounts of Aziz by Englishmen are biased by their intense dislike for and demeaning attitude towards all Indians.

2.  Yes, diction changes because when Aziz is with his Indian friends in the beginning, he openly jokes around with them about death or all the food being eaten, but when he is with his English friend Fielding, they are more formal and their conversations can be somewhat strained because of a society that doesn’t encourage the melding of the two cultures and lifestyles.

3.  Aziz, the protagonist, is round and dynamic.  At the beginning he really believes that he can be friends with Englishmen if they accept his kindness, but then, when Adela falsely accused him of the crime, he became disillusioned and realized in the end that there isn’t a way for him to be friends with Fielding, an Englishmen.  He is round because the reader is allowed to witness the similarities and differences in his interactions with Indians, his thoughts when he is observing the world alone, and his conversations with Englishmen.

4.  I feel like I met a character in Dr. Aziz.  A third person omniscient perspective allowed me access to his thoughts, and being inside someone’s head like that lets you connect to them, even if it is only a character in the book.  It let me know what his interests were as well as what or who he detested. “The contest between this dualism and the contention of shadows within pleased Aziz.”  (Page 19)

DEAR OPHELIA (with Vocab #8)

Dear Ophelia,
     It sounds like you're in a bit of a conundrum.  I will tell you this, though; love is not an abomination nor an anomaly in life.  If you are sure that your affections for this prince are not ephemeral, then do not be the saboteur of your own happiness.  I would advise you to make sure that he loves you.  Ask him if he was king whether or not he would be willing to abdicate himself from the throne for you.  Make sure he is worthy of you in that he doesn't abase you in public, reply brusquely to your innocent questions, or behave in a bellicose, rapacious, rancorous, or churlish way towards you.  Don't slip into the temptation of a debauchery by allowing yourself to make precipitous decisions.  If your father and brother detest your love, then there must be a reason why.  Ask them what it is, if you don't already know, and determine whether this reason is enough to end your relationship with him.  For example, if their reason is that he is just gauche, then this may not be enough for you to stifle what you feel.  Good luck with whatever you choose.

LITERARY FICTION AND EMPATHY

After reading the article, I would almost like to be a psychology major now. My main response was what is the difference between popular fiction and literary fiction?  I googled "literary fiction vs popular fiction" (I think "googled" should be a real verb), and this site compares them very clearly.  Now I know that literary fiction focuses more on the characters than the plot unlike popular fiction, which emphasizes the opposite.  For this reason, I definitely see how literary fiction can help you to understand others.   Reading characters that are deep, round, and realistically written can be almost the same as meeting a person and learning what makes them do what they do with the personality that they have.  The play Hamlet allows the audience to dive into the main character Hamlet's innermost thoughts and motives with every soliloquy that he completes during the play.  Without these soliloquies, the audience wouldn't be able to know Hamlet's plans, regrets, or motives as well by the end of the play, and therefore, the audience may feel slightly indifferent towards his death in the end if they never got to know the character enough to sympathize with him.

Hamlet Learning Communities

Finally, I was able to discover three learning communities that are studying Hamlet at the present.  I first tried just typing "Hamlet" into the search bar, but it wasn't specific enough to produce results for what I was looking for.  After some thought, I decided on the search phrase "Hamlet discussion group."  This got many relevant hints, but most of the sites didn't have the ability to comment that I was looking for.  I did find one site that I liked, though: this cox teach Hamlet Discussion Group.  Then, I tried my luck with a new search phrase because I realized that I wanted a site that had the ability to post comments, like a blog.  For this reason, I searched the keywords "Hamlet blog."  That came up with a lot more relevant results than my first search.  From this search, I found The Hamlet Blog, which provides summaries and insight into some parts of Hamlet, and it even uses the vocabulary word "juxtapose!"  The third site I found is actually an interactive high school site of the English Lit class at Herbert Hoover High School, which is somewhat related to our setup.  The teacher posted some interesting questions, and the students have answered some of them.  This is a current learning community because the questions are from this fall.

GREEN EGGS AND HAMLET

a)  All I know about Hamlet: Hamlet sees his father's ghost and knows that his uncle killed his father.  His uncle is in a relationship with his mother because he wants the throne.  Hamlet loves this girl named Ophelia, but I think he kills her father and so she kills herself by drowning.  Then, I believe that Hamlet's mother is killed, and he dies from a poisoned sword in a duel at the end of the play.

b)  I know Shakespeare wrote the plays Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, and Hamlet.  He lived in Stratford-Upon-Avon in the 16th century in England.

c)  Students involuntarily frown when they hear "Shakespeare" because his writing is not contemporary, and therefore, there are many words and phrases, sometimes even words that he has made up, that take time to decipher the actual meaning of a scene.  Also, reading a play is a lot less interactive and intriguing as watching a play performed.  I feel like the meaning of the lines of Shakespeare's plays can be more easily inferred in the context of the actions and facial features of actors in the play.

d)  We can make studying this play an amazing experience if we go to see the PCPA production of it in the spring.

WHAT I MEANT TO SAY WAS

Thesis: In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer appeals to the general public of his time through his Prologue, the Cook's Tale, and the Wife of Bath's Tale and the use of humor, irony, and direct characterization to challenge the beliefs and social conceptions of the occupations in his time period.

VOCAB #7

Because Miki was hiking more slowly than the rest of the group, she turned a corner and the group was gone.  Miki was lost and sat down on a rock, only to fall backwards through a wall of ivy.  She discovered a cave, which at the other end, opened up in view of a giant tree house.  Miki heard a noise in some of the trees, and Lindsey came swinging in on a vine, only to ricochet off a tree.  Miki was now involved in Lindsey’s shenanigans.  Lindsey was ebullient when she saw Miki, filled with a plethora of excitement.  She became loquaciously garrulous and asked Miki how she found her.  Then, suddenly, she burst into a harangue and started verbally attacking Miki.  Lindsey’s ephemeral happiness, then capricious attitude scared Miki.  Miki called her a dipthong, but secretly wished that they would get along and be interdependent with each other.  Lindsey’s sanity was at a point of no return; everything she muttered was undetermined codswallop, with the use of a sesquipedelian.  By the time the rest of the group arrived, they figured Miki had become wonky. 

            Meanwhile, the group’s inchoate plan to find Miki caused them to search along the trail for hours.  Finally, they found Miki’s water bottle by a rock and Rachel stumbled into the wall of ivy.  When they found Miki with Lindsey, the Lindsey they saw was juxtaposed to the one they knew in high school; she wore mungo clothes and her hair was messy.  When Lindsey saw the group, she tried to eschew them away from her hideout.  After talking to Lindsey and trying to see the composed and tame Lindsey they once knew, the group knew that they needed to get Lindsey back to civilization, but she refused any help from them, saying that the world was too stressful.  A schism formed in the group over whether to stay with Lindsey or leave her.  Then, perspicacious of this controversial decision, Melissa suggested that they compromise by taking turns to come visit Lindsey every so often.  Everyone in the group, besides Lindsey, agreed, and then, the group became uncertain as to what they should do next.  They didn’t see much of a need to continue hiking the Pacific Crest Trail when they had “found” Lindsey.  Then, Rebecca had an idea.  She was thinking of the times they had had in high school and remembered how they had all wanted to go to explore Egypt together.  She didn’t want this reunion to be over so she suggested this trip to the group.  After some hesitation, they seemed genuinely excited about the prospect of adventure.  They said goodbye to Lindsey, each of them promising to return, and headed back the way they had come so they could all travel to Egypt.

IF I JUST HAD MORE TIME

I was not as prepared as I could have been for yesterday's vocabulary midterm.  I had a Physics lab due on Friday that took me longer than I thought it would.  Because of this and other factors, I didn't get as much studying in for the test as I would've liked.  This studying probably wouldn't have benefited me for the second question of the test because I don't think I would've thought to study Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales; I would have focused mainly on vocabulary.  If I just had more time I could do everything I want done and have the spare time to relax.  I would have been much more familiar with the words, and as a result, I probably would have been able to list and define more of them.  For me, on the test I could define all the words I remembered; the trick was remembering the words.  In the future, I need to plan even more ahead for the time that I think I will need for certain assignments and studying for exams.  Basically, even if I think I will have enough time, I need start planning as if I won't.

Literature Analysis #2

1.  I read The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway.  The main character and narrator of the story is Jake Barnes, who lives in Paris.  The beginning of the book reviews the life his friend, Robert Cohn, had as a boxer in college.  Robert Cohn is a romantic who wants to write books and is controlled by his girlfriend Frances.  A couple chapters in, the reader meets another person Jake knows named Brett.  It is unclear what relationship she and Jake have until they kiss in a cab, and it is revealed that they are lovers, however a war injury prevents Jake from sleeping with her.  Brett, even though she is engaged, attracts the attention of and flirts with all of the guys around her, including Cohn.  Cohn goes with her on a trip to San Sebastian, and because Cohn is such a romantic, he falls madly in love with Brett after the trip.  This relationship that Cohn had with Brett makes Jake more jealous than any of Brett's other relationships because Cohn is a good friend, and so his actions just emphasize more what Jake can't do with Brett.  By the middle of the book, it is apparent that Brett doesn't love any of the men she strings along; she only loves Jake, but that isn't enough to overcome the fact that they can't be together.  Every time Jake and Brett talk, they avoid the elephant in the room with small talk that always ends in a forbidden love goodbye.  Jake travels with Bill to Spain to go fishing with Cohn and to see the bull-fighting, and Brett and her fiancée, Mike, who is oblivious to everything and a drunkard, are invited to join them.  In Spain, Cohn grows more attached to Brett, but she starts fooling around with a young bull-fighter named Pedro Romero.  Cohn gets more and more jealous, and he beats Romero into a bloody mess, being a former boxer.  The group splits up from there, and Jake goes to Saint Sebastian, where soon he gets urgent telegrams from Brett saying that she needs him to come because she is in trouble.  When Jake travels to San Sebastian, he meets Brett in her hotel, and she cries after they talk a while because she hates that their future together will never happen.  They go to drink at a bar, where we see that Jake needs to get drunk because it is too painful to face their nonexistent future together sitting across from Brett, and she comments on how great a life they could've had together.

2. The theme of this novel is that you can still live some sort of a life even if your are dissatisfied with your life situation, but it may not be the life you want. My favorite quote is the last line of the book when Jake responds, " 'Isn't it pretty to think so?' " to Brett's statement that they would have had a good life together.  This is a great example of the theme of the novel because it shows that Jake has accepted that he can never be with Brett the way he wants to, and instead of wasting his life with the romantic illusions that Robert Cohn and Brett have, he is set on living it, even if he's miserable and lonely.

3.  The tone is very objective and unemotional.  There are long passages where the only thing that is being described is the path the narrator takes to a certain destination.  The narrator, who is the main character Jake Barnes, goes into a lot of detail about turning down this road and that, listing off the names of streets and buildings, like the author is of the assumption that the readers have an extensive knowledge of the layout of this particular area in Paris.  For example, "We turned to the right off the Place Contrescarpe, walking along smooth, narrow streets with high old houses on both sides...We came onto the Rue du Pot de Fer and followed it along until it brought us to the rigid north and south of the Rue Saint Jacques and then walked south, past Val de Grace, set back behind the courtyard and the iron fence, to the Boulevard du Port Royal."  If the tone wasn't unemotional, then it would be expected that these streets and roads are being mentioned because they have some important significance to the character. Instead, Hemingway seems more concerned with illustrating his knowledge of Paris, rather than entertaining his readers with something pertinent to the lives of the characters.  Perhaps, with these listings of street and cafe names, Hemingway is attempting to include a part of a character's life that isn't normally included.  He is describing the journey to the destination, while other authors simply write "When they arrived at..."

4.  Allusion - Ernest Hemingway assumes that the reader is familiar with the literature of the time period, or in this case Horatio Alger's various publications. "For a man to take it at thirty-four as a guide-book to what life holds is about as safe as it would be for a man of the same age to enter Wall Street direct from the French convent, equipped with a complete set of the more practical Alger books." (Page 9)
Simile - Hemingway shows the thought process of the character Bill Gorton with this example of one of the many similes he includes in The Sun Also Rises: 
" 'Can you bet on bull-fights?'...'It would be like betting on war.' " (Page 98-99)
Also, Hemingway uses a simile to depict Brett's figure. "She was built with curves like the hull of a racing yacht..." (Page 22)
Hyperbole - Hemingway also used this literary technique example to illustrate the character of Bill Gorton. " 'It's enough to make a man join the Klan' " (Page 88)
Humor - This example shows the similar, non-serious personalities of Jake and Bill together. "The waiter who served us was soaked through.  His white jacket was purple under the arms. 'He must drink a lot of wine.' 'Or wear purple undershirts.' 'Let's ask him.' " (Page 88)
Imagery - This literary technique example provides insight into how Jake Barnes views the world.  "It was a warm spring night and I sat at a table on the terrace of the Napolitain after Robert had gone, watching it get dark and the electric signs come on, and the red and green stop-and-go traffic-signal, and the crowd going by, and the horse-cabs clippety-clopping along at the edge of the solid taxi traffic." (Page 14)
Metaphor - Hemingway, through character Georgette, compares a room to a box, illustrating Georgette's perspective of her surroundings, and how she possibly feels enclosed or trapped on all sides, like you would package something in a box. " 'My God,' Georgette said. 'What a box to sweat in!' "  (Page 19)
Breaking the Fourth Wall - Ernest Hemingway has Jake acknowledge that he is narrating a story, and consequently, he makes the audience feel more connected to Jake.  "He was the archivist, and all the archives of the town were in his office.  That has nothing to do with the story. Anyway,..." (Page 96)
Stream of Consciousness Writing - Hemingway shows Jake's thought process as he is "praying" in a church using a stream of consciousness style for this one sentence.  "I wondered if there was anything else I might pray for, and I thought I would like to have some money, so I prayed that I would make a lot of money, and then I started to think how I would make it, and thinking of making money reminded me of the count, and I started wondering about where he was, and regretting I hadn't seen him since the night in Montmartre, and about something funny Brett told me about him, and as all the time I was kneeling with my forehead on the wood in front of me, and was thinking of myself as praying, I was a little ashamed, and regretted that I was such a rotten Catholic, but realized there was nothing I could do about it, at least for a while, maybe never, but that anyway it was a grand religion, and I only wished I felt religious and maybe I would the next time; and then I was out in the hot sun on the steps of the cathedral, and the forefingers and the thumb of my right hand were still damp, and I felt them dry in the sun." (Page 97)
Personification - Hemingway includes the personification as Bill Gorton is describing and admiring his face to show how Bill views his looks.  " 'It's an honest face.  It's a face any woman would be safe with.' " (Page 102)
Repetition - Hemingway uses repetition in this context to illustrate that Bill Gorton is slightly drunk so he's rambling a little bit to Jake.  " 'Let us rejoice in our blessings.  Let us utilize the fowls of the air.  Let us utilize the product of the vine...Let us not doubt, brother.  Let us not pry into the holy mysteries of the hen-coop with simian fingers.  Let us accept on faith and simply say...' " (Page 122)

CHARACTERIZATION
1.  Hemingway used direct and indirect characterization to describe the character of Robert Cohn through Jake Barnes's eyes.  Direct Characterization: "This changed him so that he was not so pleasant to have around." (Page 9) and the long description on pages one to five that discusses Robert
Cohn's good and bad characteristics and actions in his lifetime. The long description in the beginning talks about how shy and dedicated a character Robert Cohn is, but the quote foreshadows a future dislike of Robert Cohn because he is haughty and oblivious.
Indirect Characterization: " 'I don't know. I just don't believe it.  Have you known her a long
time?' " (Page 38) and " 'That moron,' said Harvey." (Page 43).  The first example is a statement made by Cohn in response to Jake telling him that Brett is engaged that tells the audience that he is as irrational as he is romantic because he is hoping that she will be with him since he loves her so much.  The second example shows the reaction of a minor character when he sees Cohn coming towards Jake and him, implying that in general people that know Cohn don't have a very good opinion of him.
Hemingway uses both direct and indirect characterization because the direct characterization in this book narrated by the main character will always be influenced by the relationship Jake has with Cohn; it will never be purely objective observations.  The indirect characterization in this novel is to show the differences and similarities between Jake's description of Cohn and the general consensus of Cohn's personality made by various minor characters that interact with him, letting the audience decide which descriptions of Robert Cohn's character are the most accurate.

2.  Yes, Hemingway's diction changes with each character.  Many parts of the novel are written as dialogue between two or more people, and it isn't made clear who says what so the reader must interpret who say what by becoming familiar with the different styles of speech of the characters.  For example, Jake always makes short, to-the-point statements when he talks.  He never include flowery language.  Brett always describes situations as "dull" and calls everyone "Darling."  Robert Cohn's statements, throughout most of the story, are full of wishful thinking and illusions, and they most always have a subdued tone to them.

3.  The protagonist, Jake Barnes, is a static character, but is very round.  Throughout the story, he remains ambivalent towards life because of his war injury, and he always has trouble dealing with the relationship he has with Brett.  Jake is a round character, though, because on the surface he seems unemotional and uncaring, but there are times in the book where the reader gets glimpses of his inner turmoil.  One of these times, he is lying in bed and starts crying because he couldn't tell Brett to stay the night, and he is always alone in bed.  Another time, he becomes the one with the romantic illusions for a brief moment when he asks Brett why they can't at least live together.

4.  After reading the book, I feel like I have met a character.  Part of this reaction results from reading a book with a first-person point of view of, in this case, the main character Jake Barnes.  With the first-person point of view, I got to read some of his thoughts and know the motives behind his actions.  Also, Jake breaks the fourth wall in the book by saying the quote that was listed above in the literary techniques: "That has nothing to do with the story."  That statement in itself influences the reader to feel that they are being personally told the story by the narrator, and it makes the narrator seem more real rather than an "I" constantly appearing on the page.  These two situations, combined with a number of other opportunities to see the many sides of Jake Barnes's nature, left me with the impression that I could most likely predict his reactions to many things because I know him so well now.

TALE OF A CANTERBURY TALE

My group chose to read the tale of the Wife of Bath.  In the beginning of the tale, a knight takes advantage of a maiden that he sees while he is riding.  He is condemned and sentenced to death, but the queen saves him from the king, on the condition that she won't kill him if in a year, he is able to find out the thing that woman most desire.  The knight asks every woman he finds, without luck, but just when the year is up, he comes across an old lady.  She says that she will give him the answer if he agrees to do one thing that she wants after he is pardoned.  In front of the queen, the knight tells her that the one thing that women most desire is to be in charge of their husbands, to be independent.  The queen and her court accepts this answer, and the old lady tells the knight that her bidding is for him to marry her.  On their wedding night, he tells her that he is acting weird because she is old and foul.  She gives him the choice of having either an obedient, chaste, but old wife, or a young and fair wife that will attract other men from around the country, and not be as obedient.  She also presents arguments for why her low social standing and state of poverty should not affect his opinion of her.  His response was that she should choose whatever pleased her, and that would please him.  She then told him that she would be both good and fair, changed her looks to a young and beautiful maiden, and they lived happily ever after.

1.  The knight is very impulsive through the impromptu way that he decides to take advantage of a girl alone on the side of the road, and through the way he quickly agrees to the old lady's arrangement without thinking of the consequences of the debt he will owe her.  The knight is ungrateful and selfish because instead of effusively thanking the queen for saving him from immediate death, and providing him with an opportunity to live, he sighs grievously and reluctantly gives his word that he will seek out the answer she desires.  The knight is noble and dedicated to keeping his word because he searches so ardently for the answer and for his life.  It is described that he visits every household he can to find the answer to the queen's question.  The knight is also very shallow because he refuses to see past the old wife's age, wealth, and social status before forming an ill opinion of her.  In the end, however, he is clever because he realizes that the answer the old lady is looking to hear from him when she gives him a choice between two types of wives is the answer she told him to what all women desire: power in their husband's lives.

2.  I believe that Chaucer's purpose in writing this tale was to challenge the demeaning attitude of society towards the poor and lower classes.  Near the end of the tale, he has the old lady explain how gentility shouldn't be affected by social standing, "that he is noble who does noble deeds."  This contradicts the popular conception that people of a higher social status are automatically considered gentlemanly, despite their actual actions, while those of a lower social status aren't considered gentlemanly, even if their actions are nobler than those who are considered to be nobles.  Chaucer, through the words of the old lady, also opposes the stigma that poverty is a shame to those who are in it.  He does this by having her present an appeal to authority saying, "The High God, in Whom we believe, say I,/In voluntary poverty lived His life."  This is intended to provoke the question, why is poverty despised in marriage and social standing when the God we look up to chose was poor also?