Blog #63 - Ryan Sliger - Period 7 - 6/12/2020

(Blog 63, Ryan Sliger, Pd. 7, 6/12/20)

6/12/20

Ryan Sliger

Aim: How is connotation, denotation, and paradox explicated through Orwell’s “doublethink”?

Important Definitions:

Denotation: the dictionary definition of a word.

Connotation: an idea or feeling that a word invokes to its literal or primary meaning.

Paradox: A statement that appears to be self-contradictory, but which may include a latent truth.

Do Now-

Denotation vs connotation:

The Do Now showed 6 different images but many of them shared similarities. For example, the Moth and the Butterfly, have a literal definition saying that they are both insects with wings, but their connotations are very different. The butterfly is perceived as beautiful, and pretty, and the moth is seen as dirty and ugly.  This is very similar to the cars, as their literal definitions say that they are both vehicles one can use to drive. But the Ferrari is seen as a much more expensive and nicer car.  

Paradoxes:

There are paradoxes in many books, for example, Macbeth, Animal Farm and 1984. These paradoxes are used to provoke the reader's thought and interest in the story.  The slogan of the Party is "Proles and animals are free." which is a paradox because Winston along with the rest of the working class is highly subject to supervision via telescreens.

After learning about Paradoxes and how they are very common in many books, we watched a video about paradoxes and how they can also be seen in movies. This paradox is from the movie Labyrinth and the Paradox is that there are two creatures. One is sworn to tell the truth and one is forced to lie. The paradox lies in that these two creatures are the only two who know which door leads to the castle and which door leads to certain death.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dgmgub8mHw&feature=youtu.be

Reflection of the lesson:

Today I learned about how common there are paradoxes in many stories, and the difference between denotation and connotation. Paradoxes can be used very obviously (Labyrinth), but also very subtly (1984) and their hidden meaning is always hard to figure out.  Denotation and connotation are very helpful in distinguishing between two items that have the same literal definition, but different characteristics. I learned all of this because of how prevalent they both are in 1984 as well as all of the stories we have previously read. The inner party is based all on paradoxes. I will use this information to be able to find and solve paradoxes in the future. I will also be able to see the difference between the literal and connotative definitions of a word.

Personal experience:

What is it like working from home?

Working from home is a very different experience from working in school because all of work has to be independent and you can't have peer discussions. In my opinion this makes some classes easier and some classes harder. For example I feel like this makes AP World History harder because you can't collaborate, but classes like Math are a lot easier because most of the work is independent anyways.

What are the updates around the world/community regarding the virus?

The amount of cases and deaths are dropping quickly and phase 1 of reopening is beginning. That means that construction workers and MTA workers can begin reopening. This is very good as it shows that NYC is on its way to completely reopening again.

Your own personal feelings and thoughts about what is happening right now.

I personally feel that the pace NYC is set to open is very good. Every two weeks they move to the next phase. This allows the government to have more control of the cases and not reopen again and have all of the cases spike again.