The Importance of Being Earnest Post

          Dishonesty is very common in The Importance of Being Earnest  (TIBE). Oscar Wilde sneaks it into the plot in many different ways. Most are found in silly things that shouldn't really be funny at all. These would be called epigrams. Jack states: "...it is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth." (Wilde 89). It seems life should be easier if everyone was truthful, but as pointed out by Algernon "The truth is rarely pure and never simple." (Wilde 14). Jack and Algernon, whose characters are quite opposites, are constantly disagreeing. Jack would be the inner conscience, and Algernon would be the devil on your shoulder. Though on the second to last page of TIBE, it is almost as if Algernon's words are coming from Jack's mouth. Near the beginning Jack seems to be the person who has never done anything wrong, the romantic angel who will do anything to win dear Gwendolyn's heart. Yet when Gwendolyn's mother steps in the way, this dream becomes a lie stricken maze. Jack must lie about his name and conceal the people in his life to get what he wants; Jack's on the pursuit for pleasure.
          Along the way down this dangerous path, Wilde exposes dishonesty through marriage, edution, social class, and religion. Gwendolyn shows that she is commited to Jack when he proposes, but her answer seems a little dishonest with her obsession with "Ernest's" name. "Jack: Darling! You don't know how happy you've made me." Gwendolyn responds "My own Ernest!" (Wilde 20-21). Gwendolyn's mother has a high social status, and in her eyes Jack must be perfect in every way possible for him to marry Gwendolyn. Jack seems to pass her tests in every way, until it comes to the background check. When Jack is unable to provide his parents for her expection, she refuses to let him marry her daughter. She says "...a cloakroom at a railway station might serve to conceal a social indiscretion." (Wilde 27). Jack is only barely on the list because of his lucky jump into a higher status when adopted. This status jump could also be looked upon as dishonesty on Jack's part because he isn't so sure that he's supposed to be where he is in life. Before you know it, Jack lets the lies take over. A professional bunburyist and yet his life seems no more untangled than before. Algernon, though, takes this as an advantage. Upon discovering Jack's true home, he goes there to meet Cecily Cardew, disguising himself as Jack's brother Ernest. The plot for a long while becomes very confusing as there are two "Ernest's" (Jack and Algernon) who are pretending to be the same fake being. More dishonesty. This is ironic because the name Ernest sounds just like the adjective "earnest" which means sincere. When the truth finally falls together Jack becomes his "innocent" self again. He states "On the contrary Aunt Augusta, I've realised for the first time in my life the vital importance of being Earnest!" (Wilde 90). Wilde makes each character's job very clear. He does this by matching their characteristics with their names; Algernon is nick-named "Algy" and Jack is really Ernest even his character is earnest. Their actions and words are also very significant. Cecily is very romantic and makes her own "Bunbury" out of loneliness. Algernon is always being clever, even his words are witty. Jack's simple self doesn't understand half the time what's going on. It all fits, Wilde makes everything amusing but still keeps things similar to a regular romance novel (or in this case play).

New Year's Resolution

Sisterly friendship and fights

       Something I really need to work on this year is the compatibility between my sister and myself. My sister is younger than me and we get into disagreements with each other constantly. Not only is this hard on our relationship, but it's really a drag to come home and immediately feel stressed with my own sibling. I do love her but for some reason we have the hardest time with the smallest things. Once my mom or dad finally steps in, the solution seems so much easier than it did just a minute before. So I suppose I just need to work on actually trying to understand and listen to her. As opposed to trying to prove my point in why this conversation is so unnecessary and a waste of time. You never know, it might even end quicker if I make her feel like her point has been heard. Wow, this may seem weird but this makes so much more sense on paper (...or on my computer...).

Animal Farm Evaluation

Nic: Picture
Totally relates to the book and how manipulative Napoleon really is. But holds a lot of literal meaning with the beer and the clothing, and standing on two legs.

Aqua-Man: Comic strip
Basically a summary of the original story, pretty cool though. It was funny though to see the animals with the little music notes above their heads when Major is supposedly teaching them Beasts of England.

Catherine: Picture
I think it might have been a bit better if it showed more of a relation to the Russian Revolution, like labelling the dogs "KGB" and giving the pigs their names. What is shown doesn't really describe the plot or the relationship between Animal Farm and it's corrupted society.

Conor: Picture
Woah. Looks amazing, shows the reason the book was written (reference to Russian Rev.) and still describes a part of the story (with manipulated commandments).

Maddie: Comic
My main confusion: the last pic is labelled "after taking power". Is this from the pig's perspective? Because the animals didn't really succeed in ridding the world of humans.

Britta: Song/Poem
Gives a good understanding of the book, even to those who haven't read it. Super cool, it even rhymes!

Aaron: Comic/Pic
Was hard to understand at first, the explanation below is very helpful though :) shows lots of understanding of not just the story, but the ironic cycle Animal Farm has become stuck in.

Meghann: Picture
  Hahahaha, that's exactly what it's like! This shows the animal's lack of knowledge, and the pig's ironically powerful ability to abuse power.

Daryl: Picture/Comic
Isn't all that clear but it's still okay since we all read Animal Farm. Shows reference to book with the manipulated commandments, and I got that the whole power by creator reference was Napoleon's way of thinking (he controls therefore he can manipulate).

Galen: Comic
Shows what happened in the book without drawing it out a ton. Information is from the book (accurate) and relates to the animals lives and their mistakes. 

Even after seeing my classmates' awesome projects I still feel pretty good about the time I spent creating mine, and  the effort I put into it. It's really too bad that my project wouldn't work on my blog though, I still don't completly understand what I could have done to make it work. I feel that my electronically produced picture correctly reflected the aspects of Animal Farm, and why it just didn't turn out. It's really cool to see my classmates' reflections on the book and their ideas are all different and inspiring. You can get so many perspectives on the tiniest of things.

Animal Farm

 

Hope this works, I've been having some trouble with it lately:

If "comic-pic" doesn't pop up feel free to try the URL above it.

C:\Users\Kahli\Documents\Animal Farm.docx