The Ending of "1984"

I was actually very disappointed with the ending of the novel. Throughout the novel I was hopeful that Winston was a glimmer of hope in the horrid dystopia and that he would some how find a way to prevail against the evil that surrounded him constantly. When he met Julia it seemed as if going against the party may actually be a slight possibility, and in the least she at least brought meaning back to life for Winston. It was also extremely disappointing to find out O'Brien's true nature although he did seem questionable all along and it seemed to good to be true for Winston to have found an ally in him and a tie to the brotherhood.

Winston's initial strength at the beginning of part three of the novel was surprising and seemed as if it could be another slight glimmer of hope. Throughout the novel he did not seem like he would be able to take the beatings described in the last few chapters of the book. That bit of hope was ultimately diminished also when he surrender to the torturing by rats that occurred in room 101. I was disappointed to see him ultimately betray Julia and himself as well.

At the end Winston has lost himself and come to conform to everything that he once hated. He know believes that "two plus two equals five" and repeats the party sayings and goes along living life like any other naturally obeying citizen of the party. Earlier in part three Winston told himself that he would always hate big brother in his mind, he would just have to make it seem otherwise outwardly. He says in doing this, even if he dies he will have won because he will have died hating big brother which is more than many others could say. However, at the end Winston betrays himself yet again in admitting that he loves big brother. The book is a disappointment because at the end Winston has been converted into an ideal party member therefore diminishing the little hope that readers had throughout the novel.

"The Book"

"The Book" is given to Winston by O'Brien. It was written by Goldstein and is entitled: The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism. The book essentially is a detailed and lengthy overview the party's history and how Oceania came to be. Two chapters of the book are entitled after party slogans, they are "war is peace" and ignorance is strength". Winston reads these two chapters while up in Mr. Charrington's shop in chapter nine. These chapters are described in detail by Orwell in 1984. First the social classes are traced as well as the Inner Party, the Outer Party and the proles. It described how Eurasia, Oceania, and Eastasia came to be what they are known as today. Goldstein says in the book that the war never progresses and will remain at a standstill since no one country has a leg up on another. In this way the book does reveal something, it reveals why there is constant war and why the enemy is constantly changing.

Orwell's purpose for the book seems to be to critique his current society, however in the context of the book it does not seem to be worth as much as Winton believes that it is. If anything the book just seems like a ploy to drag Winston increase Winston's curiosity and keep his interest. Although the book seems as if it is a glimmer of hope to Winston, in reality it just seems like it is repeating everything that he had already known and does not seem to have much real value to Winston although he makes himself believe that it does, even though it seems as if he may be disappointed by what little it had to offer him in his search for seemingly non-existent hope and answers to his many questions.

Explication of "The History Teacher"

Chapter Seven in sound in sense talks about irony. Irony is when something has a meaning that extends beyond its use as a figure of speech. In the poem irony of situation seems to play a large role, this is when a discrepancy exists between the actual circumstances and those that would seem appropriate. The chapter also talks about euphemisms which are substitutions of less severe terms in place of those that might be offensive.

In Billy Collins' poem, The History Teacher, both situational irony and euphemisms are at play. The speaker of the poem is telling a story of a history teacher. This particular teacher is extremely concerned with protecting his seemingly young students from the harsh truth and maintaining their innocence. He does so by replacing the offensive truths of the past with euphemisms. One example is "he told them the Ice Age was really just / the Chilly Age, a period of millions of years / when everyone had to wear sweaters" (2-4). He uses a euphemism in changing  "Ice" to "Chilly" and feels as if he is protecting his students from the past in doing so.

The situational irony is not revealed until later in the poem. It is revealed that on the playground, the kids in the history class are actually the bullies: "The children would leave his classroom / for the playground to torment the weak and the smart, / mussing up their hair and breaking their glasses" (14-17). Although it seems as if protecting the kids from the violent nature of the world would make them more peaceful, it actually has the opposite affect on them. The teacher is naive to the effect that his lessons have on his students. The serious message of the poem is that we learn from our mistakes and that is why they are not repeated. By learning about the bad things in the world the kids are unable to take lessons away from what they learn. Learning the harsh truth is a necessity in maturing and learning right from wrong.

Julia from 1984

In our recent reading we have discovered that Julia is not an enemy but rather a love interest for Winston in a seemingly loveless society. Julia slipped a note to Winston saying that she loves him and since then they have met up multiple times. However so far it seems as if Julia is only interested in Winston for sexual purposes. Also, Winston had hoped that she may be a partner for him to talk about revolt against Big Brother and the Party. However Julia does not seem interested in a large scale revolt but rather isolating small problems within the society to show that it is not inevitable. It seems as if finding ways to outsmart the Party is Julia's only goal and sex is one way for her to do so.

It seems as if she takes pride in her previous sexual encounters with men of the party and also takes pride in the control seems to have obtained over Winston so quickly. Winston on the other hand seems to want to have a real relationship with Julia he even imagines living inside of the paperweight with her, because the paperweight is a link to the past. He also reveals his fantasies that Katherine will die so that he could marry Julia. Winston then shares his concern about the brotherhood and other aspects of the Party with Julia yet she seems to not be concerned which upsets Winston because it ruins his hopes for having her as a partner in rebellion.

Although in our previous reading we were led to believe that Julia would be an ally to Winston at this point it seems as though she is using Winston. She does not seem to actually love Winston even admitting that she does this often many different men. Her actions with Winston are Julia's own individual way of rebelling against the Party. It does not seem as though she will be an ally for Winston in his possible future rebellion against the Party. Winston has a bigger goal in mind than Julia does and therefore their characters are more different than it may have seemed at first.

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Winston's Fate

On the surface Winston seems like an ideal party member, he does his job and does it well and does not ask questions. However when he is alone all he does is question the party and big brother and even dares to write in a journal, something that is strictly forbidden. When he is alone, Winston shows all of the signs of an enemy of the party. At this point in the novel Winston's eventual death seems inevitable. He is everything that the party is against, however he has kept it all hidden thus far. He is far too smart for his own good, he knows too much about the party and what it has done. If he slips up, which it seems like he might, the party would have absolutely no problem killing him and making it appear as if he never existed, just like they have so many times in the past with others who they viewed as threats. Anyone who can think for themselves and does not take everything the party says to be true is an immediate threat. The party thrives on having absolutely control, and right now Winston secretly poses a threat to that control. If any of his thoughts or secret illegal activities were to get out he would be vaporized by the party.

At the end of chapter 8 it seems as though Winston's death may be approaching sooner rather than later. The dark-haired girl has been following him and Winston fears that she knows something that could lead to his downfall. In an earlier chapter Winston mentions that sleep talking is something fears him because it cannot be controlled. After reading this I predicted that it could be some sort of foreshadowing and perhaps Winston will actually reveal his uncertainties through sleep talking which will ultimately lead to his demise. Another possibility is that Winston will kill himself for fear of being discovered, this is something he began contemplating at the end of chapter 8. No matter which way look at it, it seems as though the only fate that Winston has in the novel is to arrive at an unfortunate death, for the sole fact of being too smart and curious for his own good. The party thrives on destroying people like Winston before they have a chance to destroy the party.

The Ministry of Truth

The Ministry of Truth is where the protagonist of the novel 1984, Winston works. The name of the ministry is ironic because the whole purpose of the ministry itself is to hide the truth from the people in the society. The Ministries role is to go back to old documents and alter information and history essentially to match the claims and actions of Big Brother and the Party. This is done so that no one is able to question the actions of the Party, there is no concrete evidence in order to make a claim against what they say is truth, so therefore the Party's truth is the only possible truth and the people just come to accept it because there is nothing they can do about it. In chapter four we are given an example of what the ministry of truth does exactly. Winston goes to work and is tasked with altering a speech made in the previous year which referred to Comrade Withers. Withers used to be an official of the party but has since been vaporized because he was seen as an enemy of the Party, therefore there must not be any record that praises him as a loyal member. Winston replaces Comrade Withers with a made up person, Comrade Oglivy. Comrade Withers is then referred to as a "unperson" since he no longer exists. 

The Ministry of Truth is deceitful and cunning. It creates lies so that people will not be able to start controversy and start an uprising against Big Brother and the Party. It is act of complete control and takes away basic human rights. This is critiquing Orwell's society by truly showing the dystopian essence of it. It reveals how powerful the Party and Big Brother are and how they do not allow anyone basic rights even as small as the truth. The ministry of truth is just another way for the party to gain power and control yet another aspect of its citizens lives, leaving them to be blind. In the end no one can really remember the originally truth since so many lies have built up over the years and therefore they just accept the Party's truth as reality and learn not to question it. 

It is also critiquing our society, it is showing how corrupt society is and how generally we focus on what we did right and tend to overlook what we did wrong. In our society if we are to succeed once we will often ignore the multiple failures that we went through getting up to that point, only focusing on where we were in the end, and when we look back we will remember that we succeeded because that is what our society has taught us. When we look back on history we tend to remember our victories over all of the bad things that happened because we have been thought to remember the good and push out the bad. The Ministry of Truth is kind of like that, it continues to go back and change history, rewriting its mistakes so that it always appears to be correct. It attempts to create a perfect world by essentially erasing its failures. 

Explication of "Weighing the Dog"

This chapter in sound and sense talked about allegories and symbolism. The poem Weighing the Dog, by Billy Collins, uses both symbolism and allegory in a unique and interesting way. First off, the title itself is an allegory, it refers to both literally weighing the dog, as well as weighing the dogs importance in the speakers life.  Although it is the title this relationship is not clear until later in the poem. The speaker begins by telling readers his tactic for weighing the dog: "I hold him in my arms [...] / balancing our weight on the shaky blue scale" (Collins 2-3). Collins describes this in great detail, including everything down to the color of the scale. This shows how important this task is to the speaker and hints to the readers that it may be more than just weighing the dog in a literal sense.

The speaker then goes on to continue to describe his weighing of the dog: "I subtract my weight / from our total to find out the remainder that is his" (7-8). However this gives an even larger hint to the bigger image and how weighing the dog is actually a symbolic task. He comes to realize that he and the dog are combined because they have shared so many experiences and years together, he says that "I never figured out what you amounted to / until I subtracted myself from our combination" (11-12). This returns to the allegory because the speaker could be referring to one of two things, either he did not know the dogs weight until he subtracted his own or, he did not know how important the dog was to his identity until he separated the two.

The speaker comes to realize that him holding the dog in his arms while weighing him is symbolic of all of the times that his dog helped him through. He realizes that he used to be closer to his dog and more recently has become ungrateful and taken his dog for granted, in the last line of the poem the speaker says that he and the dog are lost without each other and are no longer alike. The speaker weighing the dog is symbolic to a person not knowing who they truly are until they are alone.

Explication of Introduction to Poetry

In the poem "Introduction to Poetry", by Billy Collins the speaker compares a poem to many other things through metaphors a similes and also uses strong imagery. First a poem is compared to a color slide using a simile, then t is compared to a hive. The speaker compares a poem to a dark room or a maze because he wants the reader of the poem to analyze the poem and look for different possibilities of what it could possibly mean. He wants the reader to "feel the walls for a light switch" (8) in other words, not look to be given an answer but rather come up with one on his own find a meaning of his own for the poem. The speaker wants every reader to take his or her own ideas and meanings away from each poem they read. The messages of poems are not the same for everybody that is why each person must "feel" their way through each poem as if in a lightless room.

Next a poem is compared to the surface of the ocean. This is a great comparison because the ocean is known for being deep and endless as are the possibilities of what a reader can do with a poem. A reader can look at a poem from the surface level or dig deeper to find its many other meanings that lie in deeper waters. He says he wants readers to be "waving at the author's name on the shore" (11) and to me this meant that he wants the readers to consider what the author may have meant in his writing but not let it control what they take from the poem. This is because the speaker wants each individual to find what the poem means to them.

He then compares the poem to a prisoner, being tied "to a chair with rope / and torture a confession out of it" (13-14). In this part of the poem the speaker is referring to the readers who do not want to analyze poetry and come up with their own meaning but instead want the answer to be given to them. The speaker resents these kinds of readers and wishes they could see poetry as more of an adventure, where one can discover new meanings throughout. The speaker does not want poems to be tied down by the reader because there are so many possibilities within each poem if only the reader is willing to "feel the walls for a light switch" or "water-ski across the surface". The speaker wants poetry to mean more than a simple answer, he wants it to have individual meaning for each person that comes across it.

Edmund, The Villain in King Lear

Most of the characters in  play King Lear, by William Shakespeare, have a malicious side or betray another character at one point or another. However, at this point in the play I would say that Edmund is the most villainous character in King Lear. He does not feel any loyalty towards anyone in his life and only is concerned with one thing: obtaining more power from himself. Edmund will not stop until he has all of the power possible, no matter who he must step on to get there. Edmund does not seem to care about anyone but himself, towards the beginning of the play it could have been argued that Edmund only got rid of Edgar in order to get closer to Gloucester. However we soon discovered that was not the case when he also threw Gloucester under the bus to gain power.

Edmund is the most villainous character because he is both manipulative and somewhat violent. Although he does not do anything violent directly he stands by and watches violent acts often. For example he watched Gloucester get his eyes gouged out and did nothing to stop it. He also manipulates many characters. First he manipulates Gloucester into thinking that Edgar is trying to kill him. Then he manipulates Edgar by making him think he was on his side. Both characters seem to have unwavering trust in Edmund, believing anything he says, no questions asked which proves how manipulative he is as a character. Edmund then manipulates Cornwall to be on his side, so that they are both against Gloucester. Cornwall sees Edmund betraying his father as a good thing and rewards him with the title of the Earle of Gloucester. At this point Edmund has successfully manipulated his way into power.

Next Edmund manipulates both Regan and Goneril. He has both of them falling for him and fighting over him, when in reality he most likely just wants to use them to gain more power. Another reason why Edmund can be considered the most villainous character is because he is smart, he was able to plot both Goneril and Regan against each other through is manipulation tactics having barely done anything. On top of these villainous acts he is also probably preparing to betray Cornwall. Edmund will undoubtedly dispose of him too as soon as he has gotten everything of use to him from him just as he did with his father and half brother.

Explication of Bereft

The poem "Bereft" by Robert Frost uses a metaphors and personification to present its meaning and message to readers. Frost also uses an interesting rhyme scheme in the poem that appeals to the reader's ear. The poem also has an immense relation to the character Lear from the play "King Lear" by Shakespeare. Both the speaker and Lear are at similar points in their life and are experiencing similar emotions over a major change in their lives. First off both characters are facing the strong forces of nature head on. In the play Lear is locked out in the middle of a huge storm and chooses to stay outside instead of taking shelter from the storm. Similarly the speaker is standing staring at the wind instead of taking shelter from it: "What would it take my standing there for, / Holding open a restive door, / Looking down hill to a frothy shore?" (Frost, 3-5). Both characters seem to not be bothered by the danger that the immensity of nature poses to their lives.

Also, both characters are aging and having trouble accepting that fact. Lear seems to be going mad in his old age, he is realizing that he is not ever so powerful and is becoming increasingly weak. The speaker however is more aware of his aging and seems to be a bit more okay with this fact of life but still resents it, he says: "Summer was passed and day was passed" (Frost, 6). both the speaker and Lear seem to have gone a bit mad in their old age both standing out in a storm and both regarding nature as if it were human.

Also the most noticeable relation between both the speaker of the poem and Lear is how they both seem to be alone in life. Lear used to be an all powerful King but in his old age he decided to give his power away to his daughters who have now betrayed and abandoned him forcing him to fend for himself. Lear felt that all he had left was nature which then betrays him also which is shown through the huge storm. The speaker also makes it clear that he is all alone: "Word I was in the house alone [...] Word I was in my life alone" (Frost, 13-15). It seems as if everyone has left the speaker just as everyone Lear cares about has left him. Just as Lear felt that nature was all he had left, the speaker sees God as his lone companion in life: "Word I had no one left but God" (Frost, 16). Both the speaker of the poem and Lear seem to be miserable, lonely, sad characters who are not accepting of their old age and lonely state.

Lear's Relationship with Nature

Lear often addresses nature directly in the play, which is called an apostrophe. He asks nature to help him at some points and other times seems to lash out at nature as a whole. In act II Lear looks to nature to punish his daughter Goneril for treating him so poorly. He asks nature to curse Goneril by not allowing her to have children. In this portion of the play he is asking nature to do him a favor, to make Goneril suffer the way that he is. Act II closes with Lear being shut out of his two daughters house amidst a huge storm that seems to be brewing.

Preceding this occurrence in act III scene i, there is a monstrous storm in the kingdom. In the middle of this immense storm Lear is wandering around, challenging the storm attempting to antagonize nature to bring its worst. The fool tries to urge Lear to take shelter but he refuses, this almost seems as if he is trying to fight nature and see who is stronger. However the nature proves its strength when the storm rips his cloths from him, proving that his power means nothing to nature because nature is an equalizer. Lear trying to face nature head on shows his increase state of despair and his loss of a sense of reality. In the next scene of act III Lear is praying in the middle of the storm and repenting for not being a better King and helping the poor and others who were defenseless against storms like this one.

The fact that Lear is talking to nature directly is in itself evidence of him losing his mind, but it is also mad that he is the only one who will not take cover from the raging storm. It is clear that Lear's mental state is slowly deteriorating as he is losing his relationships with his daughters. Lear's relationship with nature mirrors his relationship with his daughters. In both cases he asks for loyalty to be shown but instead he is betrayed. In the past he looked to nature to be on his side but this storm shows how nature is also going against him immediately after all three of his daughters have just betrayed him. Lear has seemingly lost all that was meaningful to him which is driving him to madness.

Edmund's Deceptions

In Act II of King Lear by William Shakespeare, Edmund continues his journey of deception. The reason for Edmund's deceit is because he is resentful towards the other characters because he believes that he is not treated as an equal solely because he is Gloucester's illegitimate son. For this reason he is extremely resentful towards Gloucester's legitimate son, Edmand and in Act I he vowed to bring about his downfall. He begins his plot for Edmand's downfall in Act II Scene i of the play. The measures that he takes to accomplish his vengeance show a lot about his character and also the ones that he deceives.

At the beginning of the act Edmund finds out that Regan and Cornwall are coming to the castle and he sees this as a good opportunity  to begin his plan to get rid of Edgar. Edmund tricks Edgar into thinking that Cornwall is angry with him and that Gloucester has discovered where he is hiding and that he should leave immediately. This shows that Edmund is smart and that Edgar is too trusting in his illegitimate brother. It appears to Edgar that Edmund is loyal and that he is the only one left to defend him, when in reality he is the one tearing him down. This part of the play brings to light that Edgar is the good brother and Edmund the evil one.

Edgar is not the only one that Edmund deceives in act II, Gloucester, Regan and Cornwall also believe his well thought out lies. Gloucester is also easily deceived by his illegitimate son. In the first scene of act two while Edmund is talking to Edgar he sees Gloucester approaching and draws his sword on him and Edgar flees. Edmund then deceives Gloucester by telling him that Edgar was trying to convince him to join in on his plan to kill their father. Edmund says that he refused and Edgar tried to kill him. Gloucester is easily deceived by this story and becomes even more enraged towards Edgar, which is exactly the reaction Edmund was aiming for. Edmund's story telling showing exactly how cunning he is. Regan and Cornwall believe  Edmund's claim that Edgar is one of Lear's knights and that he was put up to murdering Gloucester. Edmund's deceit shows his immense immorality and his manipulation shows his true colors as a villain in the play. His deceit also reveals the how gullible the other characters are and how little trust they have in one another.

Explication of "Those Winter Sundays"

       This chapter in "Sound & Sense" talks about the many different varieties of imagery that can appear in poetry. The poem "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden makes great use of many of the different imagery types presented in this chapter. The poem is about a father who works extremely hard in order to provide for and comfort his family and even on sundays, his day off, he gets up to make his family warm on cold winter days. The speaker of the poem seems to be either his son or daughter. The speaker realizes how much his/her father does for the family and how his actions go unappreciated most of the time. The speaker gives readers a picture of his hard working, fatigued, exhausted father through his uses of visual, tactile and organic imagery.
       Although the author puts many types of imagery to use in the poem, the type that is central to the poem is visual imagery. When the speaker describes his father it is in such detail that the reader is able to imagine his pain: "With cracked hands that ached / from labor in the weekday weather made". This quote provides visual imagery of a father's hard work that has resulted in an aching body. In this quote the author is also using organic imagery to show the father's fatigue. Also in the quote "had driven out the cold" visual imagery is at work. This leads the reader to imagine the father physically pushing the cold out of his house, all for his family.
       The author also uses Tactile imagery to describe how the fathers changes the house from cold to warm: "I'd wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking. / When the rooms were warm he'd call" This shows how the father would sacrifice his warmth to provide it for the rest of the family. The reader is able to feel the house changing from cold to warm through the father's doing. Also when the author says "the blueblack cold" the reader is able to imagine how cold it truly is outside on this winter sunday morning, and it helps to show the strength of the father and the sacrifices he makes for his family.

Decietfulness of the Characters in Hamlet

Characters in order based on their deceitfulness:

1) Claudius is the most deceitful character in the play, he betrays his closest family, he kills his own brother in order to obtain his selfish desires.

2) Hamlet deceives most by acting crazy and secretly plotting to kill his uncle Claudius.

3) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are very deceitful because they betray their childhood friend, Hamlet, and follow everything that King Claudius tells them to do.

4) Gertrude is deceitful because she acts innocent in the act of marrying her dead husbands brother.

5) Ophelia deceives the other characters when she kills herself, she makes it look as though it was an accident when in reality it was a suicide.

6) Polonius was also deceitful because he spied on others often and did not mind his own business. He deceived others in order to report news to Claudius.

7) Laertes deceives others when he decides to work with Claudius to kill Hamlet without telling anyone.

8) The ghost betrays Hamlet in a way when he only appears to him and not Gertrude in turn making him looking crazy.

9) Horatio is the least deceitful character because he is loyal to Hamlet and keeps his word to not tell anyone that he is acting mad or that he saw the ghost.

Explication of "Cross"

Langston Hughes is the author of the poem "Cross" the speaker of the poem is  half black and half white. It is unclear if the speaker is a male or a female. This poem was written during a time period when slavery was very common and the poem's setting is probably somewhere down south. The poem addresses a major issue from this time period, an issue that went ignored and unpunished for many years, the tendency of white male slave owners to rape their female slaves. This was just another way for the men to assert control over their slaves and a way to make them feel even weaker and more helpless.

The speaker makes it clear that he resented his/her white father for a long time for what he did to his mother. However, in the poem the speaker seems to be forgiving him and actually apologizing for talking poorly of him: "If I ever cursed my white old man / I take my curses back." It seems strange to me that he would feel the need to apologize for hating the man who raped his/her mother and probably never acted as a proper father towards the speaker. The speaker also talks about how he resented and wished ill upon his mother for a long time. I wonder why that is, was it because she may have not treated him/her well because the speaker was a physical representation and a constant reminder of her rape and the evil of the white man? I wonder if she was not much of a mother to  the speaker. In the poem the speaker also apologizes for his/her resentment towards her.

The speaker then addresses the death of each of his parents. When he talks about their deaths he makes it clear how different their lives were: "My old man died in a fine big house. / My ma died in a shack." The speaker's father had so much power over his mother. He lived an easy life while she lived the most difficult one imaginable. Each of his parents came from different worlds and he did not belong to either: "I wonder where I'm gonna die, / Being neither white nor black?" As hard as the speaker's mother's life was at least she had a place she belonged and people she could relate to. Being both black and white the speaker probably did not fit in anywhere, blacks would hate him/her for being part white, and whites would hate him for being part black therefore he had no where to turn. The poem does a good job of portraying how alone the speaker must have felt and how he resented his parents for so long.

Thinker or Doer?

I would say that I am more of a thinker than a doer in most aspects of my life. Similarly to Hamlet, I prefer to consider every possibility and every possible consequence of my actions. When I have a decision to make it takes me a very long time to make up my mind. I often have to ask for other opinions also before making very major decisions. Since  Hamlet is a thinker and not much of a doer, it must be difficult for him to have to make the decision of whether to kill his uncle or not without consulting anyone first.  In some cases this can be a good thing, but in other situations it can be negative.

Thinking before acting can be positive because it hinders any rash decisions that could have poor end results. By thinking things out and considering consequences it is less likely that I will make a major mistake. Another reason why being a thinker is positive is that I am usual happier with my final decision than I would have been with a spur of the moment decision. For example, when going shopping I am usually more happy with the purchases I make after thinking about whether I really want the item or not than I am when I quickly decide to buy something without considering whether I need it or will use it.

Although their are positive sides to being a thinker, their are also many negative aspects. For example many times I will put things off because I am thinking about them off so long instead of actually doing them. This happens often with projects and homework. One particular assignment that I put off for a very long time but was constantly thinking about was my college essay. I thought about my essay for months, when in reality it would have been easier to have just sat down and done it and see what idea I came up with along the way.

In my opinion,  I think that it is important to be a doer and to be spontaneous in some cases but in other cases be careful and think things through. Whether one is a thinker or a doer the most important thing is to have good judgement.

Question

In the poem Question, by May Swenson the author the speaker is a man who worries what he will do when he loses the things that he considers to be most important to him. He dreads losing his horse, his dog and his house. He begins to imagine what his life would be like without these things that he holds so dear. The thought of losing his companions and his house saddens him deeply as it would anyone else. It is difficult to imagine life without the things you have grown to love and appreciate. The speaker tells the audience all of the things his dog, horse and house have done for him over the years that he has probably taken for granted. This reminiscing adds to the speakers appreciation for the things that he loves and makes him wonder where he would be without them.

I think the reason that this poem is so powerful is because it is something that everyone can relate to. The poem has a broad audience. Not everyone necessarily dreads losing the same things as the speaker, but everyone has something or someone that is important to the them that they would never want to imagine losing. For this reason, the message of the poem is universal.

The short stanzas of the poem are effective. It gives a voice to the poem and allows the reader to imagine that the speaker can barely utter these words because he does not want to imagine his life with the absence of his treasures. The questions also add to the poem. Through the questions the speaker is able to effectively share his thoughts with the audience and allow them to understand how important his dog, horse and house are. The questions show that he would be lost if he were to lose these things. The questions also help to place the reader in the speakers position allowing everyone to wonder, what would I do if I were to lose what I love?

To Be Or Not To Be

"To be or not to be? That is the question" (3.2.55) Almost everyone is familiar this famous line from William Shakespeare's well known play Hamlet. However, it is not so regularly recognized how often we ask ourselves this very same question. Although some decisions and questions may seem small and insignificant at the time, all of our decisions lead to who we will be and who we will not be. These can include major decisions, such as to attend college or not to attend college  or in Hamlet's case to live or not to live, all the way down to, to eat breakfast or not to eat breakfast or to do homework or not to. Our decisions and our habits make us into the people we are, and deciding to do something or not to do something builds our character over time and defines us.

One question I have struggled with lately is to keep my job or not. On one hand it is extremely stressful to maintain good grades and work however on the positive side it betters my time management skills and prevents me from pushing my responsibilities aside until the last second, and also it is nice to have that extra money. To be a working student or not to be, that is my question and although it does not seem like that big of a question, certainly not as life changing as Hamlet's question, it will impact me no matter which decision I arrive at.

Hamlet's question is much more intense. He is wondering if life is worth it anymore because everything around him seems to have gone horribly wrong. Hamlet is extremely disappointed with his life and considers ending it. This a huge moment n the play because the audience realizes just how much everything has affected Hamlet, with his father's death and his mother marrying his uncle. Everything is weighing down on him so heavily that he has been brought to a very dark place where he has come to ask himself this end all question.

Parental Involvement in Hamlet Act II

The Act opens with Polonius speaking with his servant Reynaldo. The readers soon discover that they are discussing Laertes and that Polonius is ordering his servant to spy on his son. He gives Reynaldo money and to go to France and letters for Laertes. He gives him strict instruction on how to pursue Laertes and how he can find out exactly what he is up to without making him look like a disgrace: "You must not put another scandal on him [...] But breathe his faults so / quaintly / That they may seem the taints of liberty" (2.1.29-32). Polonius is an example of an overbearing parent who does not seem to trust his son's judgments and choices.   Polonius seems to desire control and he is able to achieve it through his parenting. His actions in this scene tell the reader that he does not truly trust his son, whereas earlier in the play he seemed to support his decision to go back to school and was confident in his ability to be on his own now he wants to check up on him to make sure he is being mature and responsible. This amount of extreme parenting is not appropriate, since he let his son go out on his own he should allow him the opportunity to make his own choices and become an adult without being spied on and watched over. Polonius is not justified in his actions during this part of the play, because he made the decision to trust Laertes to go off to school and is now going back on his decision by spying on him and is also taking away part of the freedom that he granted him. I believe that most of the major  and most important aspects of parenting have remained constant over the years.  Some parenting habits that have not and will not change are that parents are always going to be protective of their children and that parents will want to make sure their kids have good reputations. Although these habits are common it is how the parent goes about maintaining these habits that determines appropriate or inappropriate parenting.

Explication of "Ballad of Birmingham"

The speaker of this poem is an African American mother living in Birmingham Alabama during the 1960s. The occasion of this poem is a traumatic event: the bombing of a church on the day of the Freedom March. This poem is set during the Civil Rights movement, when blacks were protesting for equality and an end to segregation. The poem opens with the daughter of the speaker asks her mother if she may "march the streets of Birmingham / In a Freedom March today" (Randall 4-5). The young girl wishes to protest racial segregation of schools and other public facilities with fellow African Americans, however, her mother denies her wish saying it is too dangerous. Instead the speaker tells her daughter to attend church, because it will be safer: "The mother smiled to know her child / Was in the sacred place" (21-22). The mother does not want her daughter's life to be in danger and therefore sends her to the safest, holiest place she can think of, church. Randall foreshadows the last lines of the poem when he explains the young girl's appearance for church head to toe: "She has combed and brushed her night-dark hair, / And bathed rose petal sweet, / And drawn white gloves on her small brown hands / And white shoes on her feet" (17-20). Soon in the poem tragedy strikes the protective mother. When she learns of the bombing at the church: "She raced through the streets of Birmingham / Calling for her child" (27-28). The diction in the poem shows how devastated the mother is and sickened that such an awful thing could have occurred in such a holy place. She must wonder, if church is not even safe anymore where is? The ending lines of the poem are saddening and the sadness of the speaker is evident, she has now lost the one thing that she had been trying with all of her being to protect. The mother is shocked and refuses to believe that her daughter could really be gone: "'O, here's the shoe my baby wore, / But, baby, where are you?"' This si a strong line for the author to end on that sticks out in the reader's mind and shows the intense emotions of the heartbroken mother.

The poem follows a pattern of four line stanzas. Within each of the stanzas, two of the four lines rhyme. In my opinion the rhyming makes the poem seem to flow better. It seems as though the speakers intended audience are other African Americans who have also experienced tragedy during the Civil Rights movement. Another possible audience that the speaker and writer could be addressing is to those who are carrying out these horrific acts of violence towards African Americans, attempting to make them understand the loss and pain they are causing.  

Hamlet's Family

In the first three acts of scene one in the play, we are introduced to Hamlet's family. The dynamic of the family is very strange. Hamlet does not seem very fond of his new family "situation" that has resulted following the death of his father, the former Danish King. He makes it incredibly clear that he thinks his mother remarried to his uncle far too soon after his fathers death. He also makes a point to say that his mother has not grieved properly and has moved on incredibly quickly to marry his uncle, Claudius. Hamlet seems to be the only member of the family who is grieving over the loss of his father. It seems that King Hamlet was highly admired and many people saw him as a great leader who was extremely brave and courageous. Hamlet does not see his uncle as an equal to his late father and does not think that he should have the privilege of marrying his mother or inheriting the throne. Hamlet says that his uncle and his father were nothing alike which insinuates that he does not think he deserves his father's life. It is possibly that Hamlet also resents his uncle because he thought that he was next in line to be King but instead his uncle swooped in and stole his dreams and his mother.  Claudius also is not grieving properly over his brother's death and is basically telling Hamlet that he is fretting too long over the subject and that he needs to move on. This shows that Claudius is insensitive and full of himself, not caring about the feelings of anyone else and Hamlet seems to be the only family member with morals. It seems clear that throughout the play, this strange family dynamic will intensify and end explosively.

Goals For This Year

My goals for this year are set even higher than in years past because this year's accomplishments will help to determine my future. My first goal for this year is to achieve a higher score on the SATs then I did previously.  A goal that I have set for the school year as a whole is to earn all A's and B's and get on the honor roll. Reaching these two goal will in turn help me to reach one of my biggest goals for this year, which is to get accepted to the colleges that I decide to apply to. The most difficult school that I am planning on applying to is Northeastern University. By aiming to get into this school I have set a very high goal for myself. I hope that I can reach this goal through hard work and dedication throughout this school year. Another goal that I have set pertaining to college applications is to write a strong college essay. A goal that I have set specific to this class is to achieve a better score on the AP exam for AP Literature than I did on the AP exam for AP Language. I hope to become a stronger reader and writer in this class throughout the course of the year, and also hope to enjoy the reading material. My over all goal for this year in and out of school is to not get overwhelmed with stress and to be able to have a positive outlook on everything, in doing so my hope is that this year will be enjoyable and memorable.