Daughter of Venice Annotations

Donna Jo Napoli uses a combination of metaphors, similes and imagery to drag the reader’s attention into the book, Daughter of Venice.

In chapters 11-15 of this book, there are varieties of similes used to describe the characters’ actions or feelings. “Instead, Messer Cuttlefish has a massive book, so massive that it has to be wheeled around when it’s not sitting on a shelf. He stands over it like a guardsman.”(143) This is a phrase representing a simile comparing the tutor, Messer Cuttlefish, to a guardsman. Donna especially chose a guardsman to use for this simile because it shows him guarding the book from Donata, which signifies that most girls are not allowed for education. Another simile can be found on page 147, where it focuses on Donata and her life. “So on Saturday I work like a madwoman, doing both my share of the chores and Laura’s.” This quote refers to Donata as a madwoman. I think the author did this because Donata is mad herself to take a dangerous risk to go out, dressed as a boy, working and making handbills. This also signifies that Donata is different from all the other girls and that she has a very out-going personality. However, her elder sister, Andriana has a different personality from Donata. “In any case, Andriana sounds like a paragon of modesty, which is much better than if she had actually played a second tune perfectly.”(150) This phrase shows that Andriana is a true lady and the author used this simile because the fact that Donata is referring to Andriana as a paragon of modesty, Donata knows that she is not lady-like herself. Her heart, however, is very lady-like towards Noe. “Noe puts his hand on my shoulder. The effect is like the shock of cold mountain water when we swim in summer.”(155) Donna compares Noe’s hand to the shock of cold mountain water. My interpretation is that Donna did this as an effect of foreshadowing. Sooner or later, Noe will be shocked by the fact that Donata is a girl and Donata will be shocked at how she likes Noe.

Donna Jo Napoli also uses some metaphors to express characters’ emotions. “Messer Zonico is a seppia-an ugly cuttlefish.” This quote compares Messer Zonico to an ugly cuttlefish and shows Donata’s feelings towards the tutor. The author used an ugly cuttlefish for this simile to represent the setting of the book. Since the setting is the Canal Grande, there are some cuttlefish and referring to Messer Zonico as an ugly cuttlefish shows Donata’s anger towards not being able to have rights.

Imagery is a great way to give a visual picture in the readers’ minds. “The first morning light breaks over the roofs across the Canal Grande. I watch it gradually filter through our room, lighting up the painted white and green walls, bringing to life the plaster flowers and ribbons and tassels that decorate our ceilings.” This phrase shows the beautiful morning in Venice and the glowing of sunlight in the Canal Grande. The readers can imagine the wonderful rays of sunlight gradually spreading out through Venice. Donna uses the morning light as a representation of hope and dreams increasing of Donata. This quote really creates a very beautifully image of Venice. Another imagery can be found on page 143. “Then his tight little mouth wrinkles along the upper lip and his cheeks puff.” This is an imagery of Messer Zonico’s facial expression. This quote is specifically detailed and creates a great image in the reader’s mind as if you could copy his facial expressions yourself.

Donna Jo Napoli uses metaphors, similes and imagery to help the reader get more interest into the book and have good visual views of the book and the characters.

How can Da Vinci be characterized as a true Renaissance Man?

Leonardo da Vinci can be characterized as a true Renaissance Man because he was respected by many people through his unbelievable skills. Da Vinci was a scientist because he was the first man to dissect the dead human bodies and observe the structure of them. Through these, Da Vinci began to draw paintings with anatomically accurate drawings of people. Source 7 in the Renaissance textbook shows Leonardo’s sketches of the muscles of human bodies. This sketch is very accurate with specific details of the human’s arm muscles. Leonardo’s sketches in his notebook were so realistic and important it remains in museums today in some manuscripts. Also, in portrait paintings, Leonardo shows great skills of being an artist, showing people’s feelings through the facial expressions painted. Source 15 shows the portrait of Mona Lisa, in which we can feel her mysterious smile through the realistic painting. As shown in Sources 13 and 17, Leonardo made experiments in drawing machines that were used for fights and wars. Therefore, Duke discovered Leonardo’s skill and commissioned Da Vinci to design weapons, buildings and machinery. This made Leonardo da Vinci as a scientist. Leonardo’s fabulous skills and the effort to try new things, had made Florence arts and many other things more strong and powerful.

http://www.usposttoday.com/mona-lisas-secrets-may-be-unlocked-leonardo-da-vinci/

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Brunelleschi's Risk-Taking

The story of Brunelleschi's dome is one of human ambition achieved through virtuosity, creative leadership, courage and risk-taking. I believe from these various characteristics, the one that most prompted Brunelleschi to succeed in the construction of his master piece was risk-taking. He was taking a great risk to build the biggest dome ever. Filippo Brunelleschi, an intelligent Florentine architect, took the risk of planning a way to build the dome. This was a risk because domes were last made by the ancient Romans and were long forgotten. He took the risk of bringing the idea back to life, studying how the Romans built their domes and attempting to build one himself. Because the cathedral was so wide, many architects did not think it would be possible to build a dome across it. Brunelleschi was taking a huge risk when he began to build the dome, considering the fact that it might collapse in the middle part. Brunelleschi succeeded in building the dome to be self-supporting by constructing it with an inner and outer shell. The inner shell was built with light materials and the outer shell was built with heavier materials. Brunelleschi’s risk-taking in trying to experiment with his idea and then making it work had a positive effect on Florence. Brunelleschi also had high expectations from the people of Florence of building the dome. It would be a great pride of the Florence. Through Fillippo Brunelleschi’s risk-taking and making an attempt to do something new, Florence had great success in building the greatest dome ever built.

Where Do We Get New Ideas?

Everyone has a mind of their own and comes up with different new ideas. New ideas mostly come through deep thoughts of people’s minds. New ideas can come from many different things such as nature, your daily life, what you experience, media and many more. In humanities class, we mostly write and think. Therefore, most of our new ideas come from our deep and thorough thoughts. When you are given a question or a subject to think about, you refer to what you have experienced before. From here you can expand your memories to bigger categories and develop your thoughts. This can help you create a new idea. These are examples of how new ideas can be born in our humanities learning environment. But if we refer to our whole school community, there are other ways we think of new ideas. In our school community, there used to be a lot of meetings discussing for improvement of ISKL’s society. Since there are people who have been in the school for a long period of time and some who are new, they will have different opinions about the school and how to make the community better. And if we think of a bigger community like the nation and/or world, there would be countless new ideas to come. As we all known, the major source to new ideas is nature, such as mountains, hills, trees, sun, moon, sky, stars and more! From what’s originally there, you can develop them to create something new. New ideas can also come from our daily life. If there are some uncomfortable things surrounding our home or other places, we can draw new ideas to make things a better situation. As pointed the above, we can create new ideas from many things in our environment. However, the most important factor of new ideas is our attitude. Our enthusiastic, positive and creative way of thinking for our human life is the most.

My Favorite Story-What Makes a Good Story?

As I look over our short story unit, my favorite short story was “Thank You, “Ma’m.” Mostly, I like this story because of the author’s message-theme. The theme is how believing in others may change them since they will want to maintain/earn respect. I agree with this theme. I believe that teaching people what is right and wrong requires to be done wisely. Instead of scolding them for what they have done wrong, you could teach them how to be right. This theme of respect and compassion is portrayed in the short story through the protagonist, Mrs. Luella Bates washing Jones. Based on the story, she is a religious woman with confidence and a sweet heart. She shows trust, belief and respect towards a poor boy, Roger. However when they first meet in the exposition, the boy tries to steal Luella’s purse. Therefore the rising action makes the reader have tension when Luella simply picks up the boy and screams at him. You may be curious of her next action. Will she hurt the boy? Why is she dragging him home? However, the author releases the tension through the resolution. Resolution is that she brings Roger home, makes him wash his face and feeds him supper. She even understands his want to buy something and gives him ten dollars to buy himself some blue suede shoes. Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones treats the boy Roger with kindness, which wraps up the whole theme of compassion and respect. Through this story, I can realize how sometimes in life, we may face difficulties. At those times we can try to understand each other and help each other to succeed in life.

Less Lies, Less Pain

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I believe lying to one another is committing a great sin. As the same human beings living in this world, we should cooperate and be honest to each other. But there are also challenging obstacles that we have to overcome. Every human is stuck in a cycle of greed, fear and pain. There are many times when they want to make themselves better than others, for their pride. There are times when someone is in this difficult situation and needs to hide something through a lie. These are only some things that lead to lies and big problems.

My grandmother always warned me that ‘the moment you lie to one person, you are breaking the trust between you and them.’ When I was in 1^st grade in Korea, I had one best friend that always looked out for me. But I had to lie to her many times to make her think that I was a close friend of hers. Once she found out about all the lies, she wouldn’t talk to me anymore. That’s when I realized that there are no such things as secrets in this world. When the time comes, secrets will always be revealed. And when someone finds out you had been messing with them, your friendship will be torn apart.

Lying to your family is the last thing that you should do. When your family realizes you have been lying to them, they would feel rather disappointed than getting mad, like others. This is because family is a relationship that is most trusted in our lives. Having a family is a great blessing and with families, you can share thoughts and happiness. This is why families will be most disappointed if they found out that you had broke the trust between them.

One person lying can lead to and involve many other people lying. This causes even bigger trouble. One lie can even lead to more and more lies. Lying is something that is endless for everyone. We lied to each other so many times that it’s become part of our lives…this is not a good thing. If this continues we can trust no one in this universe and our world will be full of lies. We have to stop this together.

Lying is not necessary or needed in our lives. There will be less trouble for you and many others if you just admit the truth then to just hide it. The truth will always be revealed. I hope our world can have less lies and more trust. ‘The moment you lie to one person, you are breaking the trust between you and them.’ This I Believe.

Survival or Death?

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The game that I played was basically about the Battle of Hastings. This battle was between Duke William of Normandy and Harold Godwinson of England. In this game, you are allowed to arrange your soldiers however you prefer and can be in both positions. Also, there are multi choices given to you for the game and when you pick one, it will show you what happens in result of your choice of command. A specifically enjoyable thing about the game is that you can choose which command to give and see what happens (you can see which one was a good strategy). The game also gives you a chance to reflect and give your own thoughts and opinions. During this game, I learned about the different strategies that can be used in a war and what time is appropriate to use them. During the Battle of Hastings, everything was very tough and fierce. Harold’s soldiers were at the top of a hill to fight and had a strong shield wall built for protection. This made it very difficult for William’s soldiers to fight against. But soon by an accidental mistake, William came up with a scheme for a trick retreat. Harold kept falling for this and many soldiers were killed. Soon, Harold was killed with an arrow in his eye and a sword in his body. This made William the new king of England. This type of game is very valuable learning because you actually get to experience the war yourself and get to be in the positions of each king. This game was a very valuable experience for me and to help my growth of knowledge. :D