Lit. Analysis #4

Introduction to Big Question

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Still I Rise By: Maya Angelou

Still I Rise

By: MAYA ANGELOU

You may write me down in history 

With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

I chose this poem because it never fails to inspire me. It gives me the push I need to get up every time that I fall and to keep  moving forward. There are many people out in the world who will try to hold me back from doing what I want with my life but Maya Angelou makes it clear in this poem that we should not just sit there and take it but rather prove those people wrong. 

AP Practice Exam #1: The Open Question

"By their deeds shall ye know them." We often judge people by what they do; therefore, we consider people who commit cruel or reprehensible acts corrupt, base or amoral. In literature, however, authors often introduce us to characters whom we learn to like or even respect, despite their deeds.

Write an essay about one such character for whom you developed admiration or compassion. Briefly explain why you felt his or her behavior to be condemnable or contemptible, and how the author's techniques influenced you to admire that person. Do not summarize the plot. (40 minutes)

Big Question Abstract

The definition of language is a body of words and the systems for their use common to people who are of the same community or nation, the same geographical area, or same cultural tradition. I am going to study the way children develop new languages and how it is dependent on age or just the brain capability of the person individually. This study is important because we all need to communicate with others daily and not all of us have that ability due to the barrier of not knowing every language that is spoken around the globe. The main purpose of my study is to teach and help others understand the fundamentals of learning a new language effectively and to inform about how children do it already. I will start my study by researching the roots of spoken languages and start a basic timeline of how different languages developed and the ways that they are passed on by others not native to them. My sources will be books, internet, educational text and adults that have the knowledge and information I need.