The Lagoon Notes from 10-25-10

Type of Work

• ."The Lagoon" is a short story
• Has elements of realism, adventure, and romanticism.
• Joseph Conrad completed the story in 1896 and published it in Cornhill Magazine

Setting
• .The story is set in Southeast Asia (on the Malay Peninsula or in the Malay Archipelago)
• on a river flowing eastward to the ocean, on a creek flowing inland through dense forest
• and at a small house on a lagoon
• The action takes place in the last half of the nineteenth century after Europeans colonized southern Asia and after the Malay kingdoms of Wajo, Soping

Vocabulary

•nibong, nipa: Palm trees of Asia with leaves that can be used to make a roof.
•prau: Malayan boat with a triangular sail and an outrigger.
•rajah: an Indian, Malay, or Javanese ruler.
•sampan: small boat with a stern-mounted oar used for steering.
•sarong: Malay garment of men and women. It consists of a single length of cloth that is wrapped at the waist and may extend to the knees or ankles.
•tuan: Malay term for sir or mister.

Characters

• The White Man: Traveler who captains a sampan propelled by Malay oarsmen. He is unidentified by a given name or surname. A Malay friend, Arsat, addresses him as Tuan, a title of respect meaning sir or mister.
• Arsat: The protagonist, a Malay who has been living in a small house on a lagoon with his beloved, a woman named Diamelen, who was once the servant of a rajah's wife. After Arsat fell in love with Diamelen, he and she eloped and were chased by the rajah's men.
• Diamelen: Arsat's mate, who is dying.
• Arsat's Brother: Young man who appears in a flashback story told by Arsat. Arsat says he died while helping Arsat and Diamelen escape from the rajah's men.
• The Juragan: Steersman of the white man's boat.
• Oarsmen of the White Man's Boat
Rajah: A ruler in the land of the Malays. He is mentioned in the flashback story.
• Inchi Midah: Rajah's wife. Diamelen was her servant until the latter eloped with Arsat. She is mentioned in the flashback story.
• Rajah Warriors: They are mentioned in the flashback story. They chased Arsat, his brother, and Diamelen
•
Themes

Remorse

.......Remorse and regret for abandoning his brother to the rajah's men haunt Arsat like the ghosts that the Malay boatmen imagine inhabit the lagoon and the forests around it. He believes his failure to save his brother caused Diamelen's illness and death.

Stagnation

In describing the lagoon as stagnant (motionless, dead, inert; or putrid, foul, rotting), the narrator is also describing the life of Arsat and Diamelen since their arrival at their isolated forest dwelling. Their life together has been lonely, uneventful, and motionless; the fester of Arsat's guilt has poisoned their opportunity for a contented life just as the mosquitoes from the lagoon have poisoned Diamelin's veins with deadly disease.

Selfishness

.......Arsat claims Diamelen. With the help of his devoted brother, he selfishly runs off with her without stopping even to come to the aid of his brother.
The Ever-Present Past
.......Arsat has been unable to erase the memory of the day when he left his brother behind. So painful is the memory of that day and so keen is his desire to redeem himself that he deliberately offered up his own life when fighting with the white man.

Alter Ego Project

Due 10-25-10

The alter ego project is due today and has to be on paper that is larger than a standard sheet of notebook paper. Remember the project has to include two pictures. One side will have the real you and the other side will have your alter ego (who you are deep inside or when no one is looking). For each side you are to have 12-15 descriptive words of who that person is. Please use creative adjectives. If you do not have your project today, you may turn it in tomorrow, but because it is a project I will not take it after the third day. See me if you have any questions on how to set the project up, or if you are in need of paper larger than a sheet of notebook paper.

Journals 33-35

Journals 33, 34, 35 are due today 10-25-10 if they are not turned in today I will still accept them late tomorrow and I will follow the late schedule that is in posted in the classroom. See the schedule if you are unsure of the points deducted.

Vocabulary Quiz Update

2nd block - The vocabulary quiz from Friday, October 22 will be tomorrow 10-26-2010. You will also have your regular scheduled vocabulary quiz this Friday.

4th block-You all are on the regular schedule for quizzes and are fine

Journals 33-38

33-35 Due Monday, October 25
33. Is it okay to ever pretend to be someone you are not?

34. What are your life plans once you graduate high school?

35. Was the Senior Exit paper really as hard as you first thought?


Due Monday, November 1

36. Do you feel that by going to college a person could be more successful?

37. Write a 2 paragraph letter to a friend you need to apologize to.

38. Is the fact that being almost out of high school a scary thought for you?

Frankenstein Notes Chapters 22-24

These are the last notes for the novel. We will take a major test on the novel after the review and have a mini project that will be due after the test
Chapters 22-24

• Alphonse and Victor land in Paris.
• Alphonse tries to relieve some of Victor’s despair through tourist activities.
• V talks of hating the face of mankind – he says people repulse him.
• V tells his dad that William, Justine, Henry all died because of him.
• Dad tells V not to act so insane, and V denies that he is acting that way.
• V receives a letter from Elizabeth. She wonders if he loves someone else and says that she will understand if he does, but that she will love him forever.
• V thinks of the monster’s wedding night threat, and thinks that if he dies, then maybe the monster will go away.
• V returns home, marries Elizabeth, and still hears the echoes of the wedding night threat.
• V and Elizabeth plan to stay one night at Evian, and then take their honeymoon trip.

23:
• The honeymooners arrive in Evian, and as it begins to rain, V decides to patrol outside with a pistol.
• While outside, he hears Elizabeth shriek, and he returns to their room to find her dead with marks on her neck like all of the other monster’s victims.
• V sees the monster, fiendishly grinning, and tries to shoot him but he disappears.
• V fears for his brother Ernest’s and his father’s life and he returns to Geneva, where his father dies from grief over Elizabeth’s death.
• V visits a judge, hoping to get help finding his destroyer, but after listening to his story, the judge says he cannot help.

24:

• Revenge is all V can think of and he wants to leave Geneva forever, but visits the family graves one more time where he vows to live to enact revenge.
• Hears Monster’s fiendish laugh, pursues the creature, sees him hiding in a ship bound for the Black Sea.
• Follows creature through Russia and beyond (North Pole).
• Creature leaves a trail for him, notes carved in trees, “My reign is not over.”
• V buys a sledge, with dogs, and prepares to travel on ice. Talks to some people in a small town who tell of a creature(who has weapons) attacking them, and stealing all of their winter food.
• V searches for about 3 weeks, sees a dark speck on the snow far away, and tries to follows. The monster escapes his pursuits.
• V’s dogs die, he hacks up the sledge to make oars and a raft.
• Victor gets rescued by Walton
• Now, Walton takes over as the narrator
• Walton hears Victor’s tale and knows the truth of it because of the letters of Felix and Safie.
• It takes about a week for Walton to hear Victor’s story.
• Walton talks of V’s incredible knowledge about literature and his amazing eloquence.
• V thanks W for listening to him and continues to decline in health.
• Sailors demand that Walton go southward away from the ice, and threaten to mutiny if he does not.
• Victor chastises the sailors for not trusting Walton’s judgment as a captain.
• Before V dies, he asks Walton to destroy the monster.
• Walton sees the monster’s huge form looking at Victor’s body, and asks him to stay.
• The monster tells Walton his final story, and states. “Evil will thenceforth become my good.” Monster tells of his own misery and admits to being a wretch. Tells Walton he plans to go as far north as possible, and he leaves the cabin never to be seen again.

Notes Chapters 18-21 Frankenstein

Chapter 18: V returns to Geneva, puts off the task of building a partner for his creation
(Victor is the narrator).

• Decides to visit England
• V’s health and spirits recover, and though he fears what M will do if he does not create the female, he enjoys solitude.
• V’s dad begins talking of V’s relationship with Elizabeth, and encourages V to go ahead and marry Elizabeth.
• V cannot tell his dad of his fears regarding marriage and how the creature might react to the event.
• V yearns to spend time with English philosophers, yet ponders what would happen if the creature left forever, resolves that he is a “slave” until the creature is destroyed.
• V leaves for England, Alphonse and Elizabeth arrange for Henry to join V.
• V vows to marry Elizabeth upon his return to Geneva.
• V meets Clerval in Strasbourg and is startled by the contrast between the two. V is a tortured, miserable soul, and Henry is full of life.
• The two travel together enjoying the tranquility and beauty of the journey.


Chapter 19: Henry and V travel

• V can feel no joy in the trip. Talks of a “blight over his existence.”
• Clerval wonders why V is so miserable, and wishes to remain in Switzerland
• V senses the presence of the monster and tells Clerval he wishes to tour Scotland alone (for a month or two)
• V goes to the Orkneys (remote area in Northern Scotland) to begin the task of building a mate for his creation. Lives in a old hut (like the De Laceys)
• The work of creating a companion makes V feels repulsion; it sickens him to look at his creation; he grows restless, nervous and alone and working on this miserable project.

Chapter 20/21: V Reflects on his task, bad things happen
• Three years before this he created the monster, and he worries that the mate may be much more malignant that the monster.
• Also the monster said he would leave with the mate and never be seen again, but V realizes that the mate may not agree with that, or even stay with the monster.
• V also worries about offspring of the two monsters and the generations of people who may suffer because of the children of these two.
• V sees the monster with a “ghastly grin” looking at him (so the monster has followed V waiting to claim his companion.
• V realizes he was mad to agree to the creation of the companion, so he tears it to pieces, and later dumps it in the sea.
• V sees the monster watching all of this, and tells the creature to leave him alone. The creature threatens V, saying he will be with him on his wedding night, and says that he, the monster, is the master of V.
• After dumping the remnants of this horrid project, V sails to a nearby town and is accused of murder since he was seen near where a dead body was found in the water.
• He is arrested, and when he views the corpse, he realizes the monster has begun his revenge because the dead person is Henry Clerval, Victor’s BFF.
• V grieves over Henry’s death, and wishes he himself were dead.
• V’s dad come to see him, and a court trial proves that V is innocent.
• V knows he must return to Geneva to face the creature and V’s sleep is constantly interrupted by nightmares.

Chapter 11-17 Notes

Chapters 11-17:
The Creature’s Story
Chapter 11: Tale of the Monster
Describes awakening, confused, indistinct sensations.
It was dark and cold when he awoke so he covers himself with some clothes and wanders outside.
Sees the moon outside and wonders at its beauty.
Finds water in a nearby stream, and seems an abandoned fire (left by beggars).Throws his hand into the fire because of its warmth, and screams in pain.

C. 11: Survival in the forest
Searches for food, which is scarce.
After some snow falls, he sees a small hut and watches an old man near the fire, who sees the monster and flees leaving a delicious meal behind for the monster to enjoy.
Near a village, the monster is seen by some women and children who shriek when they spy him.

C. 11: Villagers pursue the creature
He finds a shelter with a lean to attached to a hut. While looking inside the hut, unknown to its occupants, the creature sees a family, observes their speech, music, and benevolence toward each other. There is an old man, and a young man and girl.
The creature continues to observe the family and is fascinated when they light candles at dark.

Chapter 12: The Lonely Observer
Monster is fascinated with the gentle mannerisms of the cottagers.
Watches their routine; notices their unhappiness.
Old man=blind, young man works away from the home, young girl and man show affection and sacrifice to the old man (these are the Delaceys).

Creature wonders why the cottagers are so sad. (C. 12)
The monster is perceptive enough to realize that it is less strange that he is so lonely versus the loneliness of the DeLaceys.
M stops stealing food from the family because he realizes that they have so little of it. M begins to find his own provisions and brings firewood to the family anonymously.
M listens to the words of the family and learns language.
Young girl is named Agatha, and the young man is Felix. (Felix is the saddest of the three family members).

C. 12: Learning and Loneliness
M notices the use of written language and yearns to learn that also.
M sees himself in a pool of water and is horrified at his ugliness. M and the cottagers settle into a routine where M clears a path in the snow for the family and cuts firewood for them.
As the season changes to spring, M is invigorated by the changes in nature.
*M = Monster

C. 13 – The most moving part of my story”
A beautiful stranger arrives on horseback and Felix is delighted.
Felix calls her “his sweet Arabian” – there is a language barrier, but she begins to learn English (M listens to the lessons and learns faster than Safie (the girl).
M watches all of this for two months.
M progresses in understanding human feelings, society, and what humans value (money, noble birth) which he does not have.

C. 13 Knowledge and Discontent
M wonders why people might kill others, and yet feels “there was just one means to overcome the sensation of pain, and that was death-a state I did not yet understand.”
M learns about gender differences, and hates not having a family of his own.
Questions if his life has any value at all.

C. 14- The Story of Safie and Felix
The elderly man, De Lacey, has origins in France. He once lived in an aristocratic home, and his children were once high in societal position.
Safie’s dad was the cause of the decline of the De Laceys. He was a Turkish merchant who was placed in jail because of his religion and wealth.
Felix happened to be at the trial. Felix vows to help the Turk, and is offered Safie’s hand in marriage by her dad.

C. 14
The monster has copies of letters between Felix and Safie and he offers to show them to Victor to prove that his story is correct.
Felix helps Safie’s dad escape, with forged passports, and then her dad wishes to betray Felix so he cannot marry Safie, so her dad tells the government of Felix’s deceit.
The De Laceys are imprisoned, and Felix is unable to help as a trial ensues and they lose their fortune and are exiled from their home country.

C. 14
The De Laceys are exiled to Germany in the cottage where the monster sees them.
Safie, who is supposed to stay in Italy in exile according to her dad’s plan, secretly escapes so she can find Felix. An attendant helps her find the family.

Chapter 15 – “My beloved cottagers”
On an August night, M finds gifts for him: clothing, a leather portmanteau (large suitcase), some books – Milton’s Paradise Lost, Plutarch’s Lives, and The Sorrows of Werter.
M reads, learns, analyzes his condition, mentally, physically, socially.
Ponders God, and wonders if Satan may be more of an emblem of his condition.

Chapter 15 - Discovery
M finds some papers from V’s lab (V’s journal of creating the monster).
Lots of description of V’s horror at the creature’s appearance. This makes M mad at his “Accursed creator!” and he questions why he was formed.
In the meantime, life improves for the exiled De Laceys. As their lives improve somewhat, the monster is in despair and a continually increasing tumultuousness.
M prepares to find a way to meet with the De Laceys in a few months.
M yearns for love/companionship
As winter comes, the monster is obsessed with meeting the family so one day he visits the old man, while the young people are gone.
M speaks of his loneliness, and his “friends” who live nearby. M finally admits that he means the De Laceys and the young people return and in horror send the creature back to his hovel.

C. 16 – Notice M’s rage at his creator
M grieves over why he was created, and is overwhelmed with feelings of rage and revenge.
He begins to wander in the woods, howling like a beast. Says he has a hell within him, like Satan. He hears voices and hides.
Sleeps, but with fitful dreams.
A man is asking for rent from the De Laceys, but Felix says they can no longer live there because of danger to his father.
M is filled with rage and revenge and burns the cottage. Then he decides to find his creator.

C. 16 M on a mission to find V
M travels at night, knows geography because of his studies
Saves a young girl who falls into a stream, then as he attempts to render aid to her a farmer sees him and fires a gun at him.
Arrives near Geneva (V’s home) and sees a beautiful young boy (William). When he tries to talk to the child, the child screams at him for being ugly and says his father, M. Frankenstein, will punish him.

Encounter with William
M kills William, and sees the miniature of the beautiful Caroline, and is angry that he will never be attractive.
M sees Justine sleeping, and places the miniature in the folds of her dress and flees.
M wonders if he might see V…and now asks V to make him a female companion.

C. 17 M and V talk about the companion
M begs for a companion who is as ugly as he is, and reasons that since he is shunned by humans, he deserves someone of his own.
M says he hates V and wishes to destroy him…says “you will curse the hour of your birth” to V.
M says that he and his female companion will travel to South America and never bother V or his family again.
V agrees to the newest “creation”
Dedicates himself to a hateful task.
Returns to Chamounix to start the creation.
M vows to watch and make sure the project is complete.

Senior Exit

The Senior Exit TYPED ROUGH DRAFT is due on October 20, 2010. This paper must be typed and you must include the works cited, the outline, and the title page in order for the paper to be viewed. Please also know that your paper will need to be turned in in a folder that has the note cards and the entire senior exit book. I do have a limited amount of portfolios if any senior would like to have one and they will be available on Monday, October 18, 2010 starting at 3:05. This will be a first come first serve type of situation.

Vocabulary Quizzes for the next three weeks

Vocabulary Quizzes

October 22

revert
manor
emblem
minion
disyllable
legislate
batten
reformer
velvety
foresight



October 29

quandary
oculist
mania
refute
vicarious
ailment
successful
deleterious
wholly
concur

November 5

endemic
impetuosity
gravity
course
wizen
vacate
perspicacious
obstetrician
wampum
composure