Rough Childhood

I've found out through now reading four Shakespeare books that this is just not a happy guy. There is never a "happy ending" or any of that. Something tells me he had a rough childhood.

"A Shakespearean tragedy is a five act play ending in the death of most of the major characters" (David Chandler). Even the definition of what Shakespeare does is in line with death. Chandler also does state "Defeat, shattered hopes, and ultimately death face us all as human beings." So I guess Shakespeare may have been one who simply accepted the glum reality of life. Still, not an optimist.

Hamlet fits into Shakespeare's realm of pessimism by obviously dying, and also by the continuous struggles he is faced with throughout the play. Gertrude's act of incest, Ophelia dying, his inner struggle of not being able to genuinely voice his emotions, along with many other aspects of his life post Old Hamlet's death all fit into Shakespeare's puzzle. 

In my opinion, the most tragic event was the death of Old Hamlet. He seems to have been one of the rare good people in Denmark, and his death lead to the downward spiral for everyone else. The death of all others was, to a degree, understandable or deserved. Old Hamlet on the other hand did not deserve to die, and only died because of the greed of power from Claudius. One thing led to another, and boom, everyone's dead. Horatio was the one exception, but it wasn't necessarily tragic that he had to go with young Fortinbras. It was his death that predominantly led to there being "something rotten in the state of Denmark", and the story only goes down from there.

Shakespeare obviously is a classic author, and his writing will always be remembered, but enjoying his tragic style of writing was something I would rather not endure through again.

http://www.lcurve.org/writings/Tragedy.htm

Rogue and Peasant Slave

"This is most brave
That I, the son of a dear father murdered,
Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,
Must, like a whore unpack my heart with words
And fall a-cursing like a very drab,
A scullion!" (2.2.611-616)

This sentence is basically the tipping of the iceberg to Hamlet deciding he will kill Claudius. He is fed up with simply speaking his discontent in the scenario he is forced to live with, and sends out his players to kill Claudius and gain vengeance instead of being all-talk. He realizes that he should be taking action for what has been done, almost pumping himself up in this sentence by saying he doesn't want to be a scullion (a servant).

This is important to the play because it is this epiphany that will ultimately depict that fate of not only Hamlet and Claudius, but also the state of Denmark. In general terms, attempting to kill anyone of high power will wreak havoc, and now that Hamlet has set his ambitions to do so with Claudius, it can only result in chaos and tragedy--both of which are Shakespeare's fortes apparently.

Before anything, I am most definitely not a Miami Heat fan. Lakers all the way. But, there's no denying that after all the talk before they even stepped on the court that Miami was going to win not one, not two, not three, yada yada yada, they lost the championship in their first season. Losing that championship was a loss of a season, because the Heat themselves depicted it as a Championship or bust season. In the next year, talking went away for the most part, and the Heat got to work, played hard, focused on the goal, and won it all.
Hamlet now is taking that turn into the second year of the Miami Heat, and is gearing up towards gaining that championship-in his case, revenge for his father's death.

Horatio

Horatio immediately strikes me as a tough guy, and someone who fears nothing and knows everything. He tells Marcellus and Barnardo that this ghost they are seeing is "...but our fantasy" (1.1.28). He is reassuring the others that this "ghost" will not appear and it's simply a figment of their wild imaginations. "Tush, tush, 'twill not appear" (1.1.35). While he initially comes off as nonchalant and a know-it-all, he completely changes after he becomes yet another witness to this mysterious ghost. "It harrows me with fear and wonder" (1.1.51). Exit know-it-all Horatio. Enter the humbled, bewildered Horatio. Immediately he becomes frightened but some of the old Horatio remains within him as he states he is filled not only with fear, but wonder for how this mysterious figure may be.

I think that Horatio wants to obtain knowledge of this ghost in particular and what its meaning and point was. I believe that throughout the story he will be trying to finalize the meaning behind this ghost, and what it wants not only with him and Marcellus and Barnardo, but also with the land of Denmark.

Horatio reminds me of those scientists from Jurassic Park, who are initially shocked at this land of dinosaurs, but are also fearful of their potential, which we all known is grossly displayed eventually. Hopefully this ghost is nicer than those dinosaurs.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwMhKmps1jdIyhrv4_mezvnBi28xQmknZQukG60V5qnF5leXXS82z9ssbOvtA-t25zbc14BGTk1dWSAVQFT3O3XBgppYXSIZHPurpywuEodbTuPnTxEfIrtkH2MbHkMqdf7bvrtHozF3Y2/s1600/JurassicPark.jpg

http://www.chud.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/35.jpg

The Radical Expectations to be Perfect in “Barbie Doll” and “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”

[W2] In the texts read this year, expectations clearly hinder the development of the individual. The radical expectations to be a perfect girl in the poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy and the expectations to maintain a perfect society in the short story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin hinders the development of the individual because the universal pursuit of perfection does not allow the individual to be happy just the way he or she is.

            “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy is loaded with expectations for a young, innocent girl to be accepted as beautiful. Although she does [W3] everything else accordingly, the simple fact that she is not beautiful hinders her acceptance of herself. “She went to and fro apologizing./Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs” (Piercy 10-11). No matter what she did, the common perception to who she is as an individual is the fact she has a fat nose on thick legs-the fact that she is not beautiful. Throughout the poem, Piercy describes this “girlchild”[W4]  as a girl who tries to be accepted by being “…healthy, tested intelligent/possessed strong arms and back/abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity” (Piercy 7-8)[W5] . Eventually, these expectations catch up to the girl. “Her good nature wore out/like a fan belt/So she cut off her nose and her legs” (Piercy 15-17).[W6]  She deals with the constant put-downs by simply taking off her legs and nose as an attempt to look pretty. Ultimately, she kills herself for that[W7] , and never gets the opportunity to mold her individuality. “Doesn’t she look pretty? everyone said./Consummation at last./To every woman a happy ending” (Piercy 23-25). [W8] These last, chilling lines of the poem sum up the desire of this poor girl, who essentially kills herself and cuts off the criticized parts of her body in a vain attempt to look pretty. This radical expectation to be a “Barbie” [W9] clearly hinders her development to be an individual, but in “The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas”, the expectations to maintain a perfect, “Barbie Doll”-esque society was what hindered the citizens to mold a personality.

            In “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”, Ursula K. Le Guin uses a small child to depict the fate of the cite of Omelas. [W10] The child is extremely malnourished, and barely lives each day, but there is nothing the people of Omelas can do. “No matter how well the matter has been explained to them, these young spectators are always shocked and sickened at the sight. They feel disgust, which they had thought themselves superior to. They feel anger, outrage, impotence, despite all the explanations, they would like to do something for the child. But there is nothing they can do” (LeGuin 325).  These expectations to simply accept the dark reality of the child disallows for the citizens of Omelas to be individuals in their respective ways, and to be happy knowing everyone else is content in their own ways. It is the universal pursuit of perfection that the citizens of Omelas have that frightens them to not let the child be happy. “They all know it is there, all the people of Omelas. Some of them have come to see it, [W11] others are content merely to know it is there” (Le Guin 325). Clearly, the people of Omelas comply with these expectations, and are content with it. They somehow, someway believe that if the child is treated properly, “…all the prosperity and beauty of delight of Omelas would wither and be destroyed”[W12]  (Le Guin 325). Instead of helping the child, the people of Omelas opt to maintain perfection and do nothing. Eventually, they leave Omelas instead of taking a risk against perfection to help the child, resulting in a lack of a personality and opinion, which plays along with a lack of solid individuality. “The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to most of us than the city of happiness” (Le Guin 326).

            Expectations to be perfect are what hinder the development of an individual, and that is clearly shown in the readings “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” and “Barbie Doll”. The issue to be perfect not only hinders the development in these texts, but it also hinders the development of people today, in real life. If you aren’t perfect, you will be criticized, and that radical expectation is what hinders[W13]  so many people today from having their own, unique personality and be happy with it.

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 [W1]That’s not even the name of the story

 [W2]This is analytical. Not chat

 [W3]Make present tense throughout whole essay. There’s a lot of past tense verbs

 [W4]Just use girl. Piercy never refers to her as the “girlchild”

 [W5]Incorrect citing. Since you start in the middle of the line, you have to put … to denote that there are words before the part that you cite. Also, its more than three lines so you have to take it out as a separate paragraph. You also cited the lines wrong. Its (Piercy 7-9)

 [W6]Same problems. Need to add that … in. Also is three lines so need to take it out again

 [W7]For what?

 [W8]3 lines, take it out as separate paragraph

 [W9]“ Barbie Doll” capitalize thie d

 [W10]In “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”,  LeGuin uses a child to ultimately depict the fate of the city of Omelas.

Some weird syntax here, also Omelas is a city not  a state.

 [W11]What?

 [W12]Add the … at the beginning. Im 100% sure that the sentence doesn’t start like that. OH 100%? ALRIGHT.

 [W13]hinders

The Waking-Post In-Class Conversation

This poem was not an easy read or easy to decipher. Turns out, this is quite the dark poem. Definitely not what I had imagined reading it the first time. I just perceived it as an innocent tale of a boy, comparing the poem to school. After the in-class discussion, I hereby apologize to Sage Hill. You are not death by any means, because that is the gist of the poem by Roethke.

Waking to sleep is his way of saying that basically we are all going to die one day and that it is inevitable. "I feel my fate..." (Roethke, pg. 822). Fate: The development of event's beyond a person's control. Death is beyond our control, he cannot fear it, as he later says.

So, after this in-class epiphany, I definitely realize how dark this poem and Roethke are. Like I said in my previous post, the word "have" in the repeating line "I learn by going where I have to go" gives a negative connotation of living life because he is forced to do so, and he simply wakes up to, in short, pessimistic terms, get closer to the phenomenon to death.

The Waking

"I wake to sleep" (Roethke, 822). That right there is a fantastic line. Pretty much defines me also. Everything in between is just mumbo jumbo to feed my brain sweets while my everything else is being fed brussels sprouts and bell peppers. It shows that Roethke is one without necessarily much of a desire to enjoy each and every second of being alive, and instead wants to just get through the day to sleep (For the record I do enjoy being alive and I like brussels sprouts-not bell peppers though. Irrevelant. I apologize for that pointless reading session you may have just had).

The last line of the poem, "I learn by going where I have to go" (Roethke 822), contains one word that particularly sticks out to me, and that is "have". "Have" gives a negative connotation and one that is forceful and without desire, such as his perspective on sleeping and waking up. He is forced to go where is has to go. Basically, Roethke has no choice but to go and once he is there, he has no choice but to learn. Ultimately, Roethke is learning by putting himself out there even if he doesn't want to go. It's all similar to school. We learn by going to the designated classes of the day and their times, even if we don't feel like going. As we pile up on missed classes and learning, we no longer can go anywhere.

LeGuin's "The One's Who Walk Away from Omelas" was my least comprehended short story of the year. As far as I know, there is a place called Omelas and a little girl who depicts the happiness of the people, some of which walk away. That's the plan-spoken truth. Relating these two isn't easy, but maybe the relationship has something to do with going where he HAS to go, the same way as those who walk away from Omelas. Those who walk away faced no choice, and were forced to do it, even if it was wrong or controversial.

Metaphors

After reading the first line of this poem, "I'm a riddle in nine syllables" (Plath, pg. 717), I thought to myself, what could she possibly mean by that? After reading the poem, and re-reading it, I discovered that each line had, shockingly enough, a total of nine syllables! And to top it off, their were nine lines! After my mind was blown, I asked, why? Sylvia Plath had created an entire beautiful, meaningful and deep poem using nine syllables for each line. Nine didn't necessarily mean to much to me or to anybody else I know-except for how long pregnancy is in regards to months. Feeling like Sherlock himself, I went back and re-read the poem yet again to discover that Plath was indeed referring to pregnancy. Everything in the poem refers to how large she has grown, with phrases such as "fat purse", "melon strolling on two tendrils"-all side affects to the phenomenon itself. 

The image in particular that is very striking is the last line. "Boarded the train theres no getting off". It almost gives a sightly negative connotation, as if she wants to get off the train. She doesn't want to board this train but there isn't a choice for her. The train, which most likely means pregnancy, is one that is not appealing to Plath and there will be no turning back. Basically, it means what's done is done, good or bad, and it's time to simply accept the ride. 

Digging

"By God, the old man could handle a spade, Just like his old man" (Heaney 730). This is a clear indication that Heaney has a feeling of respect for what his father and family can do-specifically his father. The entire concept of digging for the good of the turf and not stopping for anything is undoubtedly very desirable for Heaney. The last paragraph of the poem, "Between my finger and my thumb, the squat pen rests. I'll dig with it" (Heaney 730), shows how determined he is to be like his father and to mimic what his father does. The fact that he will dig with a "squat pen" instead of a spade is a clear indication to his ambition to do whatever it takes in order to follow in the praised footsteps of his father. 

Words Heaney uses such as coarse and rasping exude an understanding to me of how difficult the conditions are in which his father works in. The line, "As snug as a gun" (Heaney 730), is indeed an interesting way to phrase it. Why gun? Why not, as snug as someone sitting next to a fire on a cold winter day? That seems much nicer, doesn't it? That's the point that Heaney is trying to make though. When you are holding a gun, it is by no means a comfortable or easy sensation. There has to be some degree of uneasiness and fear no matter who you are. To put it simply, holding a gun is not easy, and neither is following in the footsteps of his father, which is why this imagery is important. 

"To the Ladies"

"To the Ladies" by Lady Chudleigh shows how, as a woman, she needs to value and appreciate herself no matter what the men do. According to her, living a life filled with happiness, a woman, like herself, must be accepting to themselves and not care as to what men think, even if they despise a woman. As long as women are proud, they are wise-wise in their conducting of the happiness of life. Even though women and servant are ultimately the same thing to a man, she ends the poem by saying "Value your selves, and Men despise, You must be proud, if you'll be wise" (Chudleigh 950) which clear iterates her opinion to be proud as whomever she desires to be, nevertheless of the hatred she may receive from men.
This poem and the short story "Eveline" do indeed have aspects that intertwine. The entire poem, "To the Ladies" relates to the ultimate decision of Eveline in the end to stay in Dublin. Oh Eveline. So much potential! She could have escaped and gone to the beautiful city of Buenos Aires, but nooooooooo, she couldn't decide for literally her life and opted to stay in the dreary city of Dublin where she was forced to take care of her family and continue living life looking out her window at what could have been and what her life could have been with Frank. This indecision, this lost opportunity, to be free, is what Lady Chudleigh is attempting to portray in her poem, and if only these two were best friends, maybe, just maybe, would Eveline gain the guts to take a risk and be free from Dublin. "And never any Freedom take:" (Chudleigh 950). Lady Chudleigh only wished for freedom, but instead accepted herself with what she had, and was proud of it.
So, basically, Eveline did not "carpe diem" or seize the day with her potential to turn a struggle for freedom into the opposite, whereas Lady Chudleigh, based on her yearning to be free and self-confidence, would have captured the opportunity in an instant. If only, if only. Cry us a river. Oh Eveline. Sigh.

Wordle

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/5647064/Miladle

There's my "Wordle" defining English. I would definitely say that it's a fun and creative way to express what I thought English was to me. Would recommend this to anyone else, and I definitely would like to use it in the future.

Me.

I really don't feel too much of a need to give you each and every specific detail of what I have done throughout the course of each and every class. Honestly, who cares. I'm just an average, fun-loving guy who attends Sage Hill School, loves sports, travel, discovering, and learning from everything. So, no, you won't be getting a new blog every three hours from me describing how difficult each and every writing assignment was given in all my classes. This blog will be updated weekly based on a summary of what has been accomplished since my last blog, and generally on the stuff that will impact me in the future-material that I can count on having in a final or on the portfolio. Writing truly is a passion of mine, and I love to express myself through it. It gives me an opportunity to properly think out my thoughts and to slow down and simply ponder upon not only what I need to do to succeed in life and in academics, but to discover who I am as a person and individual. I'm excited for this blog, and I can't wait to take on what the year shall manage to hurl straight at my innocent self. Should be fun!