ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
Texas EOC Videos 119 videos
Texas EOC English I: Understanding and Analysis of Literary Texts Drill 3, Problem 2
Want to pull an Oliver Twist and ask us for more? We've gotcha covered. Head over to /video/subjects/test-prep/texas-eoc-ii/texas-eoc-english/ for...
Texas EOC English 1: 2.7 Understanding and Analysis of Literary Texts 12 Views
Share It!
Description:
Want to pull an Oliver Twist and ask us for more? We've gotcha covered. Head over to /video/subjects/test-prep/texas-eoc/ for more Texas EOC goodness. No porridge included.
Transcript
- 00:04
Here’s your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by The Avengers.
- 00:08
Think they have room on the team for a giant cockroach? [The avengers and a giant cockroach]
- 00:35
All right. A theme of this excerpt is...what??
- 00:38
And here are the potential answers...[mumbling]
- 00:44
When we’re trying to indentify themes we have to focus on the larger picture. [baby looks closely at a jar of cookies]
Full Transcript
- 00:49
We have to infer things from the words on the page, not just repeat what’s been said.
- 00:57
We ask ourselves: what is the piece trying to say? [A baby girl sat with the cookie monster]
- 01:00
Option (B) is way off.
- 01:01
Gregor is an adult who helps to financially support his parents.
- 01:04
But it definitely doesn’t appear like the piece is saying his situation is the way things
- 01:09
ought to be.
- 01:10
Throughout the whole passage it’s shown that Gregor is totally miserable. [Gregor sitting miserably on his own]
- 01:14
He’s even more concerned with his depressing life situation than he is with the fact that
- 01:18
he’s transformed into a bug. [Gregor transforms into a cockroach]
- 01:20
Questionable priorities, but okay...
- 01:22
(C) isn’t going to make the cut either.
- 01:25
Yeah, Gregor is a hard working guy, but he hates everything about his job. [Gregor with a body of a cockroach typing on a computer]
- 01:29
There’s nothing in the passage that paints a life of hard work as a good thing.
- 01:34
Does Gregor talk about how fulfilled he is by his job? [Gregor waiting for a train]
- 01:39
Does he hum a happy tune as he walks to the train each day?
- 01:43
Not a chance.
- 01:44
The absurdity of the fact that Gregor focuses on his crappy job instead of the fact that
- 01:48
he’s now a roach shows just how awful a life of meaningless work can be.[Gregor holding a briefcase sat with Obama]
- 01:55
Choice (D) is a little more interesting than the first two options.
- 01:57
There is a chance that Gregor, in fact, has not turned into a cockroach. [Gregor looking at himself as a cockroach in the mirror]
- 02:02
It could be that his terrible life has finally caused him to snap.
- 02:05
All this mental distress might have caused some psychic break in which he now thinks
- 02:10
he’s transformed into a bug.
- 02:11
And, whatever’s going on, he is hiding it from his family by refusing to unlock the [Knock at the door and Gregor as a cockroach hides]
- 02:16
door.
- 02:17
However, the passage never comments on whether any of this is good.
- 02:21
When we woke up and thought we were koala bears, we told everybody.
- 02:24
And it was the best thing we ever did.
- 02:26
(A) is the only answer that gets it right. [Gregor sat by a desk]
- 02:29
The main theme is that Gregor feels like a disgusting, useless bug because he is always
- 02:34
serving others.
- 02:36
He hates his situation but does nothing to change it, which makes him feel more like [Gregor with a cockroach body feeling miserable]
- 02:40
a cockroach than a man.
- 02:42
So what did it mean when we felt like koalas? [A koala hanging onto a branch and a girl appears]
Related Videos
There's a change that needs to be made in this question. But students today? They're pretty darn smart. And their brains will surely help them figu...
Pay close attention and see if you can define "meticulously."
Think these guys ever wondered why they were single? Let's give them some good reasons by taking a look at this question.
Want to pull an Oliver Twist and ask us for more? We've gotcha covered. Head over to https://shmoop.com/video/subjects/test-prep/texas-eoc/texas-eo...