How does religion affect your life? Is it important to you? Do you see any problems with religion? Think about religion as a whole, on a world scale.

Questions #2

Research and discuss satire. What is satire? How is satire used in literary works? Give an example of satire to demonstrate your understanding.

1 paragraph for each question; paired with introduction to Gargantua and Pantagruel.


Religion affects life everyday. It affects the way people are, things they say, the clothes they wear, how they pray, and how they repent. Religion is important to me because if you understand it you'll understand why some people act the way they do. In religion there are a few problems because some religions think that it is okay to commit suicide while killing many others.

Satire is the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices. Satire is used in many literary works for example Gargantua and Pantagruel uses satire and fart jokes. It makes fun of the rich and how they can eat until they are fat and have enough leftover for days, but won't give a poor man food. 

“What concepts of society and education do you think are silly and unimportant? In your school or education, what have you had to do that you find to be worthless? What do you think would be a better way to handle the situation? (What alternatives could you provide to make things better for yourself and your classmates?) How do you let “the system” know about your disappointment?”

The concepts of society and education that are silly and unimportant to me are that we can't leave the school for lunch and that we only get 20 minutes for lunch while other countries get hours. In my school things that I find worthless that we have to do are having to stay in the lunchroom or gym before class and not being able to go and see the teachers if we need help with an assignment. Some alternatives to make things better would be to have a sign in sheet if we need to go see a teacher or we could start school later like Shawnee Mission South, if roaming the halls is a big issue with the principal. To let "the system" know about my disappointment would be to write a letter to whom it may concern or go and talk to them in person about the alternatives.

An event in my life that has impacted it enough to inhibit my happiness was someone who I care for and loved a lot breaking my trust multiple times which now has made me paranoid, stressful, and second-guessing. Last year and part of this year this person who I care for and loved a lot was talking to  multiple girls at my school and some from Texas and other places in a way he should have been only talking to me. I used to trust people and not be paranoid all the time about everything. I used to be happy and have a non-stressful relationship, but he made me not be able to trust anymore because every time I try to believe him or give him another chance, it blows up in my face and I'm the one looking stupid. All i used to do is think about who he's with, what's he doing, where is he, and who he's talking to. Just knowing that he was talking to someone at my school gets under my skin and irritates me. I see this girl in the halls all the time and wonder what did he see in her that he does not see in me. It makes my self esteem low and I try to forget about it, but I can't help but wonder. When I would confront him about it he would get all defensive and irritated. Just recently I confronted him about that same girl and he lied in my face and told me he never talked to her and that he does not know her. He got so mad he called me an idiot saying that I have no idea what I'm talking about when I do. I have proof of  the messages he sent her and other girls trying to get them to have a relationship with them. I don't know what I did to deserve that. He always seemed to treat those girls better than me when I'm the mother of his child. Those other girls weren't there for him through what he went through. I'm the only one that was there when he was down and crying. No other girl seen him cry but me. There was never a reason for him to treat me like this and do that stuff to me. Now, I guess he seen that he was breaking my heart more and stressing me and our son out because he stopped talking to those girls like that and now he tells me he loves me and wants to be with me and only me, he tries to hug on me and tries to do everything he should of been doing from jump. I hate that he's so two-faced with me. I don't want a relationship like this, but i have to have some kind of communication with him for our son. for me to stay with him he'd have to be dedicated to his family, be the "husband" he should be, stop talking to other girls, and be committed to me, and communicate with me. Anyways ladies, don't you agree that an event in your life like your man cheating can takes months maybe even a year to get over, but it will always come back up in an argument. Also never let a man treat you like your nothing or make you fell undesirable, ugly, and have low self-esteem because there's always someone who will treat you like their queen no matter what.

Experiences working with partner, iMovie, and bringing our issue to life.

My experience working with my partner was a good one. We worked well together and did not argue. iMovie was a different story. It was confusing at first, but then my partner, Carol showed me an easier way to do it. Bringing our issue to life was a great and informational experience. I learned many things about bullying that I couldn't believe. 

What is a personal narrative? What can you learn from reading/writing personal narratives?

A personal narrative is a true story of what happened to you. It is also about sharing your personal life with others, experiences you have encountered, read, or heard about. From reading a personal narrative we can learn about a big event that happened in someone's life. We can also learn about their experiences. Writing personal narratives we learn how to make them effective. We learn ways to make people laugh or be in suspense. You also learn how to put the reader in the midst of your experience: make them feel like their actually there.

What have we learned about how Rabelais used his society to bring about social change? How is this still relevant today?

We learned that Rabelais used his society to bring about social change by using satire. He used satire in Gargantua and Pantagruel to show corruption. He used low brow jokes. He mocked the rich by saying they ate and ate until they were full and invited other rich people to get full while there were people who didn't have food were starving. Also he showed that with jokes anyone can get can show how stupid things in society were.

This is still relevant in society today because things have not changed that much. Rich people eat a lot while the poor are starving. People still refer to Gargantua and Pantagruel as a satirical way to show corruption in the world. Low brow jokes are still being used. Also people can still understand how the people were full of themselves and didn't care about others.

What are you thankful for? How can you show your gratitude all the time, rather than only at Thanksgiving?

I am thankful for my family and friends, my son, my boyfriend, my sight, taste, touch, and being able to hear. I am thankful for being able to receive an education. I am thankful for the good times I have with my grandma and that she got to see her first great grandson. Ways to show gratitude all the time, rather than only at Thanksgiving are to say thank you just because, give gifts from the heart. Another way to show gratitude is to do things for others.

Write about the 17th and 18th Century

The 17th and 18th centuries had a lot of literary movements after the Renaissance. For example, there was the amatory, the cavalier, the metaphysical, the augustans, and the beginning of romanticism movements. These movements involved many genres from love to conceit to satire and skepticism. The poets and authors, many of which wrote about love, comedy, the enlightenment, and the Restoration period were the inspiration so to speak of later authors. 

an English author of the 18th century was Mary Wollstonecraft, the mother of Mary Shelley who wrote Frankenstein. Wollstonecraft wrote novels, treatisies, a travel narrative, a conduct book, a children's book, and a history of the French Narrative. She was also an advocate for womens' rights. Wollstonecraft believed that men and women should be treated equally.  Wollstonecraft believing this led her to write A Vindication on the Rights of Women. 

What research tools will you use to help you complete your research?

The research tools that I would use would be the internet and google. To figure out which ones would be the best site to go on I would have to read the info it has on it and then decide if the title matches what I am looking for. I would skim the article to see if it had the info I needed. After that I would peruse it. Finally, I would pick out the info that I needed.

What can you do to ensure that you are successful in English next semester? What can you attribute to your successes or difficulties?

Things I can do to ensure my success in English next semester is turn work in on time, be in class, and get in touch with the teacher if I am missing an assignment, absent, or do not understand the directions. I can attribute my parents to my successes because when I was younger I always had to do good in school or I would be in trouble. If I had gotten a C, I would have to be grounded and miss out on things. So therefore, that is what makes me succeed.