Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Final Journal

Throughout the rest of the book, it addresses of vampires are behind many of the worlds terrors, like WWI, WWII, and many others. The just of the book is this. Southern Vampires use slaves as a method of food, you keep em and kill them off to drink their blood. They are the Confederates. The Union are vampires and humans against that.

I really enjoyed how Smith tied in vampires into so many different parts of Abe's life. It was interesting seeing how they ran things from behind the veil of a war, and how the war had a deeper meaning than just that. I kept finding myself actually forgetting that this was just fiction.

Abraham Lincoln: The Vampire Hunter Analysis

Picking up where we last left off, Abe has vowed to kill all the vampires he could in his life. He starts practicing throwing his axe and developing methods to kill the vampires, along with strengthening his body by doing manual labor. At one point, Abe tells his dad that hes going to work in Louisiana, while really he's hunting vampires. One night while following this woman vampire, he startles her and she attacks him, but suddenly she is killed and says "traitor." Abe is saved by another vampire, who then rescues Abe and brings him back to his house.

I thought this part was very well written because it introduced another very important character into the story, unexpectedly as well. When I read about Henry (The vampire) mentoring Abe, all I could think that he was either going to die, or turn evil; that's always what happens to wise, old mentors. I also thought it was funny that Henry was teaching Abe all of these tricks to kill vampires, and letting him know of fallacies of vampire hunting that are always thought work, such as garlic only giving away the hunter's scent easier.

I really found it ironic how Henry is teaching him all of these tactics, and if he really does turn evil, it will probably be Abe who tries to kill him. That means Henry pretty much taught Abe how to kill his own mentor.

L^3 Journals #5-6

Vocab:

Wassails - A salutation wishing health to a person.

Ergo - Therefore.

Countenance - Appearance, especially the look of expression of the face.

Bodkin - A small, pointed instrument for making holes in cloth, leather, or etc.
#5:

Holofornes- I just dont understand why these idiots cant comprehend my speech. Its very modern to talk in the way I do, yet that Don Armado hates it for some reason, the twit. If I had it my way, Latin and intricate language would be required at Academe, and any learning institution.

I cant believe that I'm talented enough to play multiple Worthies, but I am! I amaze myself sometimes. I just wish these other dimbwits would learn their parts better. I dont deserve to be surrounded by these less educated beats.

#6:

Throughout the play the subjects of truth, love, and lies are an intergral part to the story. It seems to emphasize that true love needs the truth, for when everyone dressed up as someone else and tried to love the right person, they failed. It seems though that just because you aren intelligent enough to speak bombastically, doesnt mean you tell the truth. Some of the most truthful people were some of the dumber people.

L^3 Analysis 4

Vocab:

Adjunct - Something added to another thing, but not essential to it

Ostentation - Display intended to impress others

Preambulate - To walk before

Remuneration - Reward; pay

Berowne's Speech Analysis:

He starts out by asking everyone whats so wrong with loving someone. He explains how not loving and fasting is very detrimental to the growth of an adult. He points out that they cant study excellence if they cant see a woman's face. His speech talks about how women are beauty and excellence and how everything goes hand in hand and without one of them their studies could easily fail.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Analysis #3

This piece of the novel is by far my most favorite, mostly because of how thought provoking it is. During this time Abe and his dad have another lady, Sarah, move in. Sarah is a really nice lady but cant replace Abe's mother. Abe ends up burning Sarah's bibles one day, which causes her to be upset. Abe's reason is that he cant worship a god that allows vampires to exist. This is my favorite part of the book solely because of this incident.

It makes me think of all the arguments against god nowadays. How people say if god exists, why is there war, or why is there death? If God existed wouldnt he just make everything perfect? Couldn't he prevent bad things from happening? Its a very strong, thought provoking part of the book.

L^3 Analysis #3

VOCAB:

Coppice - A thicket of small trees or bushes

Capon - A castrated cockerel

Commiseration - To feel or express sorrow or sympathy

Magnanimous - Noble; generous in forgiving insult and injury

CHARACTERS:

Holofernes - Speaks very intelligently, seems highly educated. Paints pictures with his words and is very descriptive. "The deer was, as you know, sanguis, in blood: ripe as the pomewater, who know hangeth like a jewel in the ear of caelo, the sky, the welkin, the heaven; and anon falleth like a crab on the face of terra,  the soil, the land, the earth."

Nathaniel - Seems as intelligent as Holofernes. Speaks with Holofornes as if they are superior to Dull. "Sir, he hath never fed of the danties that are bred in a book; he hath not eat paper, as it were; he hath not drunk ink: his intellect is not replenished; he is only an animal, only sensible in the duller parts."

Dull - True to his name, he seems not too bright. He doesnt speak stupidly though, just bluntly. "I said the deer was not a haud credo; twas a pricket."

Don Armado - Seems to try to be very romantic, uptight and pompous with his speech. "By my sweet soul, I mean setting thee at liberty, enfreedoming thy person; thou wert immured, restrained, captivated, bound."

Jacquenetta - She doesnt seem very intelligent, she seems somewhat promiscuous. She doesnt seem to know how to read. "Good master Parson, be so good as read me this letter: it was given me by Costard, and sent me from Don Armado: I beseech you, read it."

Moth - Seems somewhat intelligent, somewhat of the voice of reason among the group. "...Now will I begin your moral, and do you follow with my l'envoy. The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee, were still at odds being but three."

Love's Labour's Lost #2

VOCAB:

Dispensation - A certain order,  system, or arrangement.

Votaries - A person who is bound by solemn religiouis vows.

Aquitaine - A lowland region in South-West France

Perjured - Guilty of giving false testimony under oath or affirmation.

CHARACTER ANALYSIS:

Boyet - Seems to speak intelligently, and wittily at times. Seems very professional about his job from the way he speaks. "Be now as prodigal of all dear grace, as Nature was in making graces dear. when she did starve the general world beside, and prodigally gave them all to you."

Costard - Very dull; Doesnt seem to bright, but is comical most of the time when speaking. "No enigma, no riddle, no l'envoy; no salve in the mail, sir: O, sir, plantain, a plain plantain! No l'envoy, no l'envoy; no salve, sir, but a plantain!"

Rosaline - She seems intelligent and witty with the way she speaks. She toys with the men.
"Biron  -What time o' day?
 Rosaline - The Hour that fools should ask.
Biron - Now fair befall your mask!
Rosaline - Fair fall the face it covers!
Biron - And send you many lovers!
Rosaline - Amen, so you be none.
Biron - Nay, then will I be gone."

Princess - Intelligent and witty like Rosaline; toys with and belittles Ferdinand. "Good wits will be jangling; but, gentles, agree: This civil war of wits were much better used on Navarre and his book-men; for here 'tis abused."

Berowne - Seems to have to most normal speka of all the lords. Not to dumb, not too intelligent.
"Berowne - What's her name in the cap?
Boyet - Rosaline, by good hap.
Berowne - Is she wedded or no?
Boyet - To her will, sir, or so.
Berowne - You are welcome, sir; adieu."

Ferdinand the King - Intelligent, but seems unaware that the princess toys with him.
"Ferdinand - Heard me, dear lady; I have sworn an oath.
Princess - Our Lady help me lord! He'll be forsworn.
Ferdinand - Not for the world, fair madam, but my will.
Princess - Why, will shall break it; will and nothing else.
Ferdinand - Your ladyship is ignorant what it is."

L^3 Humor ACT I

Cormorant - A Greedy person

Edict - A decree issued by a sovereign or authority

Vicegerent - An officer appointed as deputy to and by a sovereign or supreme chief.

Immaculate - Free from spot or stain; pure

The humor in this story is quite funny if you are able to understand what is happening. I think it would help to understand the period language and slang better, but there are some very funny parts in here. It seems like a lot of it is dry, obvious, oblivious humor. An example would be when Ferdinand is reading the letter, and Costard keeps interrupting him, claiming that every person the letter mentions is him, even the derrogative names. Another hilarious part is when Costard kept trying to one up himself when he was describing the woman he was with. It is also ironic at the end of the Act when Armado has a soliloquey about the woman he loves after he condemns Costard for loving someone just a few minutes before. So far the play is quite funny, but I feel afraid that some of the humor is lost through the aging of the language.

Abraham Lincoln: The Vampire Slayer Assesment #2

So when I last left off we were just in the prologue, describing how the author came about these "journals". Now's where the story starts. The author goes into extensive detail describing Abe's early life in the wilderness with his parents. The author does an amazing job conveying the loneliness and desparity that there is out in the wild; but also the stark contrast it all is to Abe, a young, loving boy who cries and vows to never kill again after killing an animal for meat.

So years pass and Abe grows up, and he finally becomes aware of vampires because one of them kills his mother his father reveals. During this part of the story I get the feeling that Abe becomes more masculine and has a growing up moment. Not because he hits puberty necessarily, but he begins taking responsibility into his own hands and trains himself to fight the undead.

One of the most chilling moments so far is when Abe's dad reveals to the young boy that his mother was actually killed by vampires. For the whole beginning of his life Abe's father always denied supernatural, but we learn why. We learn details about how Abe's grandfather was killed by a vampire in front of Abe's dad. This part kind of creeped me out just from the way the vampire was described. It was a young looking vampire, and very pale. Yea, that's where the comparisons with Twilight stop. The vampire had jet black eyes and a kind of drawn back face, not to mention fangs. He also is enormously strong, for he lifted up Abe's Grandfather and broke his neck.

So far this book has kept me extremely interested, and I hardly want to put the book down unless I have to. I really want the vampire hunting to start though, and I've been thinking how the story might end sinces Abe is killed in the theater by who everyone though to be a "man." So far this book has had enough dark humor, creepiness, and detail to keep me reading.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (Independent Reading Assessment #1 )

Vampire Hunter is quite the interesting book. It takes the life of a man that every American should know, but throws in the, "What if he hunted vampires?" The story doesn't get right into the action of course; it shows backstory to how the writer, Seth Grahame-Smith, came about acquiring these journals that Lincoln wrote about his vampire hunting and slaying in. I came into this thinking that it would just be a hilarious perversion of an American figures life, but boy was I wrong!

I really enjoy how he gives backstory to how the journals were practically thrust onto him. I mean, writers give the origin for the books a lot, but never do the do it quite as humorous, crazily,  and yet believably as Smith does. He works in some knick-knack store in a small podunk town in New York, but has a frequent, odd, quiet, and seemingly wealthy visitor. The guy is your typical mystery man, donning shades, even in the winter. I liked the character, and after learning who he really was, I thought it was a nice touch to the story.

The mystery man turns out to be one of the bloodsuckers himself, and seems to offer little choice to Smith on how he can go about these journals. If you were to look at this from a different light, he could be the bad guy! I wonder to myself why a vampire is getting in touch with humans when the story is mostly about the killing of vampires. Why couldn't he get some vampire to write the story? Dont they live forever? Would that not give him all the time in the world to get whatever message he needs out to the world? I dont know yet, but the opening was a very excellent one at that, and I cant wait to read further into this book.

Things Fall Apart Critique

Things Fall Apart was somewhat of a shocker to me. At first I really couldn't get into it. I disliked the slow pace of the beginning, and it kind of just seemed random old memories at first. Then at about 40% through the book things turned around. The pace picked up when Ikemefuna died, and it started just building momentum which made it hard for me to put down at times. Nearing the end I began to appreciate the vague beginning, it was refreshing having a beginning like that instead of the author spelling out everything in chronological order.

I also found the conflict between the church and the indigenous people to be intriguing. The ending was somewhat of a shocker coming off of the chapter before, because the events of Chapter 24 didn't really indicate what was going to happen in Chapter 25. Overall I ended up liking the book, it was a great read, and I do recommend it, you just need to get past the slower beginning to gain understanding.

Tragic Hero

My idea of a tragic hero is a hero that is destined to fail, no matter how hard they try to succeed. Okonkwo starts to always lose at life, no matter what it is. Whether its sharecropping, getting titles, or just plain havin a funeral. I also can compare my definition of  a tragic hero to some ancient myths. The way I thought of it was that my definition is a lot like prophecies many mythological heroes receive or are part of that foretell their death or a failure of that magnitude.

Fear

Fear is one of the most simple emotions we feel, not convuluted or caused by other emotions, but something thats usually just hardwired into us. We fear because we want to protect ourselves, as is human nature. Fear is an emotion we get when we sense something harmful or wrong coming, we are hardwired to avoid that. In the sense of countries fearing other countries because of destruction, we just want to be the best, which is simply humanity, we need to be the best. Humanity is competitive, and fearing that someone else is better will drive us to better ourselves. We fear unknown because we dont want them to compromise us, whether its by simply being better than us, or by killing us. That compromises or human nature or humanity, and we cant be second.

Live Life

Connectivity. Is that not what the internet was designed for? Connection of everyones computer to one another, the ability to transfer data seemingly in an instant. The internet was made to connect computers for easier transfer of data. It seems fitting that a generation later its used to now connect different applications and sites together. To me this is what the internet is all about, a vast profile and vault of information. This live nation, the upcoming constant connection doesnt bother me. If it does bother you, there are more than likely settings that can lower how much is revealed. Everything you do online has had vulnerability of being monitored if someone wanted to do it bad enough anyways. As long as you have nothing to hide and nothing to be ashamed of, and use the web in a smart manner, then you should have no problem.

Hero Vs Epic Hero Vs Beowulf

In modern day culture, our heroes seem to be more personal, whether its your parent(s), who raised you and taught you many things that will help you along in this world, or an armed forces veteran, who gave up so much to try and protect this life we've grown accustomed to. Maybe back in the Dark Ages and any time where stories like this were written the heroes may have been the same kind of breed, protectors of their people, and those who taught them how to grow.

To me, an Epic Hero seems more made up than truthful, many of our legends and folktales drew influence from warriors and events of their time. An Epic Hero seems like an exagerated version of the ones we know. Beowulf, to me, definitely seems like an epic hero; battling sea monsters, slaying trolls, and having the strength of many men. Maybe Beowulf drew influence from a warrior of it's time, but I know that when I think of Beowulf, I think of epic battles, monsters, and yes, perfectly quaffed hair.