"Thinking Outside the Box"

In Jean Paul Sartre's "No Exit” and in Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave”, both reveal the limitations of the human mind. Both pieces show how a narrow or closed mindset will enslave the soul and in the case of “No Exit” torture the soul and both show that a little courage or faith in the unknown can overcome that obstacle.

In Jean Paul Sartre's "No Exit", the souls were brought to a waiting room of sorts where each soul thought they would be awaiting for future punishment. They all knew they were condemned to suffer for eternity and this mindset helped bring them closer to that conclusion. At first they thought they were randomly placed in the room but as the play progressed and as the more they talked to each other, the more they realized that they were each others torturers and that the room was not actually a waiting room but the room of torture itself. Once accepting this fact, Garcin, who had the door to other passage ways and rooms before him, could not leave the room because he told himself that he was damned and that he wouldn’t be able to escape regardless. By this very act the play makes it clear that Hell doesn’t always have to be fire and brimstone if you are already suffering and already imprisoned in your mind. As long as your mind is suffering and you are trapped inside, you could be in heaven or any physical place you desire on Earth and still feel like you were in the deepest pit of Hell. If however Garcin did step outside, he would encounter a new situation, a reprieve of the room with Estelle and Inez, and this could at the very least give him hope that he had some control of the consequences of his actions in life. Although it’s not much, this would make his personal Hell less effective because as long as one has hope, one can never truly suffer.

In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”, none of the prisoners suffered but they were still enslaved by their own perception of reality. The one prisoner who was able to escape and tell the others about the world outside was put to death by the other prisoners because it was easier, simpler, and less bothersome to kill the one man than to have their perception of reality shaken or questioned in the least and disrupt their contentment. This killed any actual want to question what was being shown to them, any want to question the reality that they lived in and live in the cave that was preordained for them. If however one of the prisoners took him up on what he said however, he would see that the world is different and quite possibly convince the rest of the prisoners to walk free as well.

Both characters in Jean Paul Sartre's "No Exit” and in Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” were trapped by their narrow mindsets allowing no hope for change to occur in their existence. This was shown in “No Exit” by Garcin never being able to walk out of the open door because he “knew” that he was in Hell and in “The Allegory of the Cave” by having the other prisoners kill the one freed prisoner who saw things differently. The possible only solution laid in the open door/entryway for both stories and that all the characters needed was a little courage or a leap of faith to get them out of the situation they were in.

AP Lit. Term

Evocative: a calling forth of memories and sensations; the suggestion or production through artistry and imagination of a sense of reality. Originating from Latin, the first traces of the word seems to be around the early 1600’s.  Something that is evocative is something that brings back events in your memory that no longer happening. The smell of a campfire might bring back childhood memories of roasting marsh mellows on a summer night. In The Phantom of the Opera, the raising of the chandelier brings back memories of the old man and lady at the auction when the opera house was still in full use and their experiences there.

1984 Literature Analysis

1. Summary

1984 by George Orwell takes place in the year 1984 although no one is truly certain about that. The world is divided by three super-powers: Oceana, consisting of the Americas and Britain; Eurasia, primarily made up of Russia, the rest of Europe, and the Middle-East; and finally Eastasia, which includes China, Mongolia, Siberia, Australia and some of the Pacific islands. All three nations are in a perpetual state of war against one of the other two and are controlled by a wealthy class that completely rules with tyranny over the middle and lower classes. This is where our protagonist comes in. Winston Smith is what people would call an average human being nowadays, meaning he has a decent memory and has a vague sense of right and wrong. Unfortunately for him though is that the police, or known in the book as the thought police, watch his every move like every other citizen in Oceana through the use of telescreens. These screens can hear every decibel of sound for a good twenty or so feet, can even watch what people are doing for up to ten feet and are literally everywhere in Oceana. There is no private space. Although there are no rules in Oceana, any hint of uprising against the wealthy class or “inner party” as the book puts it and any slightly suspicious activity gets you put on trial and then executed. Winston works in the Ministry of Truth which falsifies all documentation to fit the Inner Party’s definition of truth. This bugs him quite a bit, and when he finds another defector in the party, they go on to break as many party rules as they can without being found out by the thought police which mainly takes the form of adultery seeing how they are neither married nor having sex by Inner Party approval. They get by for a while but then are caught by the thought police. While Winston is in jail, his defective thoughts are exposed and then cured by methodical torture and starvation in the first stage. Terrorization by using his worst fears against him which takes the form of surrounding him by sewer rats completes the process. At the end of the book, when Winston finally loves the party’s iconic hero, Big Brother and truly believes the Inner Party when they say 2+2=5 does he finally gets executed. It is only by this method does the Inner Party leave no opportunity for rebellion because by changing Winston’s beliefs and mind, they leave no martyrs behind.

2. Theme

The theme of the novel is a warning. If people and the government do not change their act, then this fictional novel will take some form of reality.

3.Tone

The tone can be read as of bitter optimism. “But if there was hope, it lay in the proles.” (Page 73) The proles are the low class. I am stating this for clarification purposes.

4. Literary Elements.

Setting: Setting plays a crucial role in the book because it took place in the future of which it was originally written in 1949 and creates the basis of the warning.

Allusion: Allusion plays a big role in the story with how dates are continually being changed and how the Party is different from past tyrannies by referring to Communism and the Catholic Church’s Inquisition.

Imagery: By referring to the current state of Oceana, the reader gets a feel about how wealthy the Inner Party is compared to the middle and lower classes.

Theme: The warning that is the extended metaphor throughout the book really makes the events connect with current events going on in the lives of the readers’.

Diction: The word usage in the novel is critical because of the emphasis of the many lies the Inner Party creates and how they “bend” reality to their liking. The perfect example of this is in the second to the last page when the Thought Police truly makes Winston believe that 2+2=5.

Symbol Essay Make Up

We see symbols everywhere, we see them in brands, logos, and almost everything we touch or use, but they would all be meaningless if we did not attach some meaning behind them. Take the cross for example, it has been around for roughly 2011 years, represents the death of a powerful prophet known as Jesus of Nazareth and redemption of his followers through his death. Only people that are Christian or have knowledge of Christianity will ever get the reason why people respect two sticks or objects in the shape of a “t”.

            The whole story of Jesus in a nutshell is that he was a very powerful Jewish prophet that the high ranking Jewish priests did not like because he was preaching stuff and in some cases outright opposing practices that the Jewish synagogues performed. The high priests got with the Roman Empire and managed to kill him by crucifying him on a cross or “t”. Three days later he supposedly rose from the dead and by dying, redeemed the souls of all his followers. The key death happened on a cross, “t” and became a common symbol seen even seen today.

            Although the cross is probably one of the most universally known symbols known to mankind, only people who know the story will ever get the real meaning of the cross when they see it on a grave, building or jewelry. The cross also acts almost like an I.D card because the cross is seen as the one symbol recognizing Christianity just like how the Star of David represents the Jewish belief.

The Big Question

We have seen and heard people do amazing things by accessing parts of their brain to perform miraculous feats of all kinds. Most of us have seen someone who has been completely in control of their mind and body while performing an act of skill and grace if they haven’t felt like they “were in the zone” as athletes put it. My question is this: How can we reach enlightenment and once there, stay there and remain the master of our being?

My revised Big Question:

My question is how can people reach the conditions under which people achieve a state of mind that enables them to perform at high levels in circumstances others might consider stressful and what are those key conditions to begin with?

(The first part of this question was directly copied and pasted from Dr. Preston’s comment, thank you for your wording, it was just the right way it needed to be phrased.)

Hamlet vs Beowulf Comparison Essay

Hamlet, the prince of sighs, and Beowulf, the great hero of the Geats and slayer of Grendell are two classic heroes from Britain only separated by a millennium in their creation. People may argue that both died tragic deaths killing their hated enemy, both are old and hard to understand and that they are pretty much the same character so let’s move on already. Contrary to popular belief, Hamlet could never be so different from Beowulf and it all boils down to how Hamlet sets himself almost into a league by himself by the use of his language and words.

Hamlet is often seen performing soliloquies to the audience for no other apparent purpose then just to say them. He is actually saying this to gather his thoughts and reflect on past events just like how many of us talk to ourselves, verbally or non-verbally, to help figure out what to do next.  “To be, or not to be--that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them.” Hamlet is reflecting how he must kill Claudius even though death itself looks like a pretty good option right now. He is not contemplating suicide; he already swore to the ghost that we would try to carry through with avenging him. More or less he is commenting the fact that he is stuck between a rock and a hard place. This makes Hamlet is one of the first characters in British literature to actually voice what is going on in his head.

Beowulf is classic hero of ancient Britannica, the youth who set out for a quest of glory and matured into a wise and heroic ruler. More or less Beowulf is integral by the fact that most of what he says is either a statement of what happened or a promise that he will fulfill. Other than the description of him and the actions that happens where he openly laments or is proud, there is no reflection, no second guessing or overly analytical speeches or mental notes going on in diction. “That this one favor you should not refuse me, that I alone and with the help of my men, may purge all evil from this hall.” It is a promise just like how Hamlet promised the ghost but different in how very quickly Beowulf disposes of Grendell compared to Hamlet who takes an entire play to kill Claudius. Beowulf is a man of action as dictated by his diction while Hamlet is a planner and a thinker.

There are multiple times throughout Hamlet where Hamlet is seen as second guessing the true nature of reality of which he lives in. He knows the social games being done all around him, all the manipulations that people try to do to each other to gain influence and get higher up in the scheme of things. “The spirit that I have seen may be the devil: and the devil hath power to assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps out of my weakness and my melancholy, As he is very potent with such spirits, Abuses me to damn me: I'll have grounds more relative than this: the play’s the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.” This reveals how Hamlet is not readily to be deceived and how well he can find purge the truth from the king without openly revealing himself that he knows that Claudius killed his father. By coming up with this intricate plan, Hamlet will have confirmed what the ghost has said as well as place the perfectly laid trap on Claudius.

            Hamlet and Beowulf are both similar in the fact that they were both tragic heroes in British literature, but that is where the similarities end. Through Hamlet’s use of language we clearly see that Hamlet is the manipulator and the planner while Beowulf is the man of action who gets things done in the moment and worries about the consequences later, as seen when he has to fight off Grendell’s mother.  Hamlet made every action count and twisted the reality around him through what he said to achieve his goals. Beowulf created the reality around him by committing great acts of strength and let his actions speak louder than his words. Beowulf is a lot easier to predict from a reader’s stand point while Hamlet is always a wild card because what he says and how he says those things to the people around him, including the audience.

Major Concept

The major concept that I learned in class was that we are essentially training ourselves for the world of tomorrow. We are getting educations for jobs that do not even exist in the present. It’s all about handing down the torch to our generation. “We look to reincarnation to explain our lives.” This class has taught me that after everything is said and done, the older generations are going to die off and it will be up to us to shape the world. “As if a child could explain our lives” I have learned that this is not going to be easy, far from it. There is a lot of pressure on our generation and what we are learning and experiencing must be strong enough to meet the demands of an ever changing society. We are not learning to pass the test; we are learning to succeed in our lives for the older generations, and the generations that taught us. These are the very people that we will be representing when we do change the world. “We rise again in the faces of our children; we rise again in the voices of our song,” We are the success of the past living in the present working to change the future. That’s all what I have learned in Dr. Preston’s boiled down into a nutshell.

Roy Christopher's Video Chat Notes

He first got started in social media in the late 90’s through magazine making when he was BMXing.

Balance between Analog and Digital time

It’s only a struggle only when he is trying to get important things done because facebook, twitter and other online things can be distracting.

How will Mash-Ups and the Web mix?

He has no idea how mash-ups will be taken/mixed when they hit the web more often. It’s anyone’s guess.

Hip Hop culture has now converged with the mainstream culture.

The Advent Horizon

A time where the environment we live in changes in such a way that it changes or impacts our lives. It is a time when we truly realize that we have lost the need for an older technology.

Will the Advent Horizon create or destroy opportunities?

It will do both, the older generation will have a harder time of it while the younger generations will pick things up more quickly.

The medium is the message. What happens when the medium is the medium?

He has no idea what technology will be able to surpass that when we have come to that point. That is the best that things will ever get.

In today’s world, you have to either program or get programmed when using the web. People do not need to know how the web works to use it but it is a whole lot better if one does because they will be able to pull themselves out of more difficult situations than not online.

Roy’s prediction for 5-10 years from now for himself

            He hopes he will have a place in academia but also in writing.

Everything is going mobile

Internet is taking over T.V. He is wary about that fact a little because of the affect it may have on our attention spans.

Mobile will probably be used for trivial stuff while bigger things will always be learned/done at home or at a place of learning.

How will the network grow and change? Will it take over analog time?

Digital could squeeze out our analog time in an instant but it is probably not going to happen though. A balance will be met.

Should we be embarrassed about how we are using technology?

No, the older generations have to trust us because we have been growing up with this for most of our lives. We are quick learners.

Multi tasking, ok or not?

            More focused creates better quality work but multi tasking is ok.

We are digital natives now; will that change in five years?

            No, we are still going to be natives. The process of change will take some time.

How do the students like the internet use in class?

We like it; it gives us more tools to express ourselves. It is nice to have real time responses and social groups to help understand the material and each other.

Technology can be used for learning.

Our professional and academic lives will be heavily impacted by technology.

We are going to have to create our own jobs. This is an exciting time.

You do not have to adapt to technology however, you do not have to be “plugged in” if you choose not to.

Technology is the means to an end. What is the end?

            No one knows for sure.

This class is one of the few classes students have outside of the arts or hands on crafts that have escaped the standardization noose. People in this class have chosen to go beyond the minimum requirement.

Hamlet Essay (Rework)

Integrity: the name given for doing what one states and turning one’s thoughts and spoken words into the reality that was stated or thought. This definition closely follows what English philosopher J.L Austin’s idea of performative utterance. His theory was based off the fact that what people said could actually change or impact the reality we live in. This is also true for Hamlet; the guy who most people think talked too much and couldn’t make up his mind about anything. Not surprisingly, performative utterance plays a critical role in the play Hamlet as well as my own life.

Hamlet confronts the ghost of his father and swears to avenge him. This statement says that he will avenge his father’s death through locution: the ability to create a message in an understandable way, with the illocutionary effect letting the ghost know that the action will actually be done and Hamlet isn’t just blowing smoke, and finally the perlocutionary effect of Hamlet doing what he swore by slaying Claudius in Act five Scene two. If Hamlet did not do this, this very text would probably look more like this: Ghost tells Hamlet to avenge him and after a long series of weird and almost connecting events, Claudius is slain by Hamlet in apparent act of trying to kill the person who killed him at the end of the play. The madness that Hamlet showed to Polonius, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern and pretty much all other characters in the play except Horatio would be just as confusing to the audience as well.

In my self-overhearing, I reflect on what I’ve done, mostly about the faux passes I’ve committed and try to better myself from those experiences. Compared to Hamlet, I do not try to influence others as so much myself. Whether it is in “To be or nor to be” or some other soliloquy, Hamlet needs to influence people with what he says to achieve the murder of Claudius. I on the other hand typically say to myself, “Did I really just do that? Or, “Oops! What do I do from here?” and even, “Ok this situation pretty much sucks for everybody involved, what can I take away from this though?” By thinking and saying these thoughts I help get myself to that goal where hopefully I will not make the mistake again. 

I am not really trying to influence anyone as much as take myself from point A to point B. In my process of reflection, recollecting past events or incidents by nature brings a feeling of nostalgia, or remembrance by nature. Remembering the mindset I had when I was going through and goals I had back then brings back the expectations I had and reminds myself about how badly I wanted some of those goals to succeed. The actually arrival at point B or where I am now was when I took those memories and expectations and turned them into an actual reality.

Hamlet is the greatest manipulator in the play Hamlet through the use of his performative utterances. Although the only action he actually commits in the entire play, based off of what he says, he is able to lead the entire cast of the play on a wild goose chase, whether it be through taking the appearance of misery or madness. Performative utterance is also critical to how I work as a person as well because it gives me the outline of the probable future actions I will take. They get me at least halfway to whatever goal I am going for by refining my thoughts in the process. Without performative utterances, the actions of the play as well as my life would be very disjointed and very jerky in sense of fluidity from one action to the next. This is a result of the heavy role performative utterance has in planning and actually committing to action.

Literature Analysis #2 The Aenied by Virgil

1. Aeneas and the remnants of Troy flee over the Mediterranean Sea to Italy where the fates prophesized that Aeneas would be the founder of a great empire. Along the way across the sea, Juno shows her hate towards the Trojans and beguiles Aeolus to scatter and destroy the fleet by sending in a massive storm. Neptune hears the commotion above and quiets the seas and scatters the winds reminding that he is lord over the oceans and to spite Juno, grants the Trojans safe passage from then on.

            The fleet is in horrible shape and searches for the nearest land in sight and happens on the Libyan coast and Venus shows Aeneas he should take his seven remaining ships to Carthage as well as beg Jupiter to make a hospitable greeting for them once the Trojans have arrived at the city. Jupiter complies but Venus is alarmed to discover that Carthage is firmly under Juno’s command. Venus usurps her control by sending down Cupid to make Queen Dido of Carthage desperately in love with Aeneas as soon as he arrives.

            The Trojans arrive and are greeted hospitably by the Carthaginians. Aeneas recounts the fall of Troy and how he sailed off to Crete mistakenly thinking that the fabled prophesy meant to build a city there and not in Italy. A plague hits them in Crete and forces the fleet seaward again and in the dark land on the island of the Harpies. Upon landing they see many wild cows and goats and kill them in preparation for a feast. This angers the Harpies greatly and they place a curse on the fleet so that they will not reach Italy until they have known extreme hunger. The Trojans flee yet again just barely avoid an encounter with the blind Cyclops and finally land in Carthage.

            The Trojans stay in Carthage for a while with Aeneas and Dido as lovers. Mercury warns him of his duties though and Aeneas is forced to depart. Dido is terribly upset by this and makes a pyre of all the remnants the Trojans left behind and seeing the fleet departing stabs herself with Aeneas’s sword and burns on the pyre.

            The Trojans then sail to the Sicilian coasts and rest for a couple days in which Juno turns the women of the Trojans against the rest and attempt to set fire to the ships. Jupiter, taking pity on Aeneas, douses the fire at Aeneas’s request and later Aeneas is taken down to the underworld to see his father and the importance of him going to Italy. Aeneas sees the Golden Age of the Roman Empire and is invigorated upon returning.

            The Trojans land on Italy and are greeted peaceably by King Evander of the Arcadians while met by great hostility from the other neighboring nations. A great war breaks out of which King Evander’s son, Pallas, is slain in battle by the leader of the opposing force, Turnus.  Jupiter is angered by this bloodshed thinking that the Trojans would land peaceably and declares he will no longer aid either side. Aeneas’s forces are almost defeated but later get reinforcements from Tuscany and win the war. At the end, Aeneas deals Turnus a fatal blow and Turnus begs for mercy. Aeneas almost complies, but seeing Pallas’s belt on him, is angered and finishes him.

2.  The theme of the novel is the preordination of Fate and how mortal lives are always subject to the will of the supernatural powers that control mankind.

3. The tone of the author seems almost boastful. There are many passages glorifying the future Roman Empire as seen here: “To cherish and advance the Trojan line. The subject world shall Rome's dominion own, and, prostrate, shall adore the nation of the gown. An age is ripening in revolving fate when Troy shall overturn the Grecian state,” Book I

“See Romulus the great, born to restore the crown that once his injur'd grandsire wore.” Book VI

“Rome, whose ascending tow'rs shall heav'n invade, involving earth and ocean in her shade;” Book VI

4. Rhyme: Rhyme helped me out a lot throughout the books in the Aeanied if not to understand the flow of the book. The book is an epic poem consisting of rhyming couplets throughout.

Syntax: Again this helps with the overall flow of the book. It helped maintain the rhythm of the poem and an example can be seen just above.

Ok, beyond these literary elements helping the flow of the story, I have nothing as to help with the interpretation of it. I came in liking the Roman legends but got heavily bogged down in the ancient English that the poem was translated into two or three centuries ago. Any discussion at all on this post will help everyone including myself as to the understanding of the meanings and hidden messages of the poem. I know what happened and why it happened but got lost beyond that. I do apologize in advance for not being particularly helpful in this area.

"Tools That Change the Way We Think."

The internet/media/technology only changes the way I think in a very minimal way. I do not look for information on the internet unless it is used for a school assignment. I know that the internet is a vast sea of information which was created by a multitude of informed and uninformed minds. I know for a fact that I will probably “short out” by trying to absorb so much information so I naturally lean away from using online sources to learn. Plus I can never fully know what I want to know until I run past something in life that strikes my interest and start asking myself and others present if they are around. I use life as a learning experience and my ability to concentrate and memory solely are dependant on that drive to search out an answer. Since there are no real features online that advertise knowledge about particular subjects, my curiosity is next to none when it comes to surfing the web for answers that I don’t have the questions for. I do not trust the internet with subjects that interest me too much because I keep finding advertisement everywhere for various things related to that subject in particular. There’s just nothing like reading a book or article about psychology or philosophy and not have some pseudo scientific ad flash in the corner of the page as a “sponsor” and makes you question the very integrity of the article. I see the internet as very manipulative and being lazy on the internet, I do not like having to check 5 articles to make sure one point out of five in a given article is correct. It is much harder to print erroneous information in books.My sense of time and priorities get really messed up online or even on the computer. There are so many ways of distraction that unless I sit down on the computer with a mission to get something done that I lose my focus and sense of priority within a matter of minutes by either looking up Facebook or playing a game. I need the mentor aspect or the feel that I have knowledge in my hands when reading a book and that it is up to me to unlock the knowledge within. I will never be able to let go of books. I see books as a way to learn and the computer as a way to blow off steam and relax and I dare not attempt to change it. I will admit, I love the technology of word processors that aspect of technology has been able to truly convey the ideas of my mind and let them be viewed by the world at large. In that sense technology has given depth and complexity to my thoughts because I can attempt to use words I typically wouldn’t use and look them up really quickly to make sure I used the word correctly.

“In search of”

A) I learned that the internet is actually trying to custom tailor everything we see and hear when we search for things based off our first click responses and location we are in.

B) I now see the information that is brought to me by search engines such as Google pretty much as a history/ track record of what I choices I have made in the past on the internet and as a means of spoon feeding me stuff that should “make the baby happy” information rather than information that challenges my intellect, beliefs, morals, and essentially all other types of information that allows a person to grow individually in life.

C) If people at large are not aware of this customization, will the few that do enlighten the others and show people what the world is really like, or will they use it for their personal advantage; attempting to use the algorithms as a type of self induced propaganda filter for the masses while slipping behind the stage and attempt to orchestrate the world events to their own agenda instead of for the good of the people as a whole?

D) I think when we search on the internet now, we must search for the good, the uncomfortable, the confusing, and the relevant with equal importance and stay away from the school honored tradition of hunting and pecking information out of a textbook style search by just grabbing the answer that is most relative to your grade for tomorrow in class.

By pushing my filter bubble I was able to find these new facts about Shakespeare: His father was a glove maker and wool merchant. His mother was Mary Arden, the daughter of a well-to-do local landowner. He married Anne Hathaway in 1582 and had a daughter together in 1583 with twins coming up in 1585. The first collection of Shakespeare’s work was published after his death in 1623 and is known as 'the First Folio'.

What I did that allowed me to come up with new information is by typing up the word “Shakespeare” and be as vague as possible. I then looked past page 1 into the infinite pages behind the first until I found a new approach in getting the same old news I look for in when I typically do searches. (I actually got this information from the BBC history site.) It was crazy because the first couple links where to Wikipedia and then various Shakespeare interpretations, famous monologues, and soliloquies by Shakespeare (including Mark Anthony’s speech from Julius Caesar) because whenever I have looked up Shakespeare, that was what I was after. It took me at least three pages to get the single news, television information link to get to this result with the added bonus of seeing Google actually being somewhat random since I disregarded its spoon feed diet of the first few pages.

Almost as a side note, I have come to realize that pushing one’s filter bubble can be very hard in practicality because we are all geared for looking for one answer and being done rather than look at a variety of good answers and picking the best one from them.

"Who Was Shakespeare?"

Shakespeare was baptized 26 April, 1564 and died 23 April 1616, known as England’s national poet and was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon and had a successful career as playwright, actor, and part owner of an acting company. Not much else is known about his private life with the exception that we know that he retired three years before he died. No one knows how Shakespeare actually looked like.

            Shakespeare is perceived by most students nowadays as famous writer who wrote incredibly hard novels to understand both in diction and in content matter that English teachers seem to adore. I get more of Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter but knowing full well I will never be able to write in it and I get that Shakespeare had to design plays that could be read by all audiences. I still have a lot of struggle with grasping his language because the English used is so different from today’s but I feel that if I keep fully immersing myself in it and openly question and learn it that this learning curve will decrease dramatically.

“Notes on Hamlet”

When I first picked up Hamlet my first thought was, “Great! Another book I need a word for word dictionary for with the bonus of the language being my native tongue!” I was constantly flipping to the foot notes and side definitions at the beginning of the play. While I have not come far in understanding the Shakespearian language, my knowledge of the play has increased quite a bit. At the beginning I thought Hamlet was just a cry baby and his friends were very superstitious; now I know that behind the wish washy and sometimes erratic appearance, Hamlet is actually very cunning for his age and that there are millions of circles within the play that are all pretty much trying to ensnare each other. The relationship between the characters could be seen as a scale with ever increasing weight on it so that when the scale tips then everyone goes down with it. I see the play evolving more mistrust and more deception in the plot and the eventual deaths of more of the players. Hamlet himself said that Polonius was only a casualty! I wonder how many more will die though.

"To Facebook or Not to Facebook?"

When I first signed up for a Facebook account, it was to stay connected with my cross country team and merely thought Facebook was a means of sharing pictures and an alternative way of contacting people other than via email. I saw maybe child pornography as a risk and the benefits almost limitless. I was pro-Facebook.

Now after reading the article and getting actual information from the class, I am completely against Facebook and at the point of deleting my own if I cannot make it do some basic functions without completely opening my ways of communicating pictures and text to friends but mostly family. With how much advertizing and how much revenue Facebook makes off advertising, I am partially sickened to know that I am basically using a website that wants to drain me of every dollar I make by using my “personal information” against me.

What truly got me was how insecure Facebook was, a friend of mine had her Facebook hacked by her boss to check her online profile. Taken into a different situation, someone hacks your Facebook account and has the notion to completely trash you by posting horrible comments and the like. I focus on the comments and posts because the written word has a lot of power. Dr. Preston proved this point by giving our class the example of a senator who a journalist didn’t like. The journalist posted junk about that senator online and then flooded Google with searches about that one item which resulted in changing the fill in algorithm for that guy’s name to only show that bad incident. I highly doubt that the senator in question had a good time finding a job after that. I now see Facebook as a potent online weapon for even rudimentary hackers. Destroying a person’s reputation used to be hard because they had to commit faux pases to get them. Now all one has to do is destroy a person’s online profile and one has destroyed the person by using the “hard” evidence of the written word from a very insecure online profile that can be broken into and sabotaged. This is all the based off the new information I read from the article and from the discussion in my class.

"(Don't) Be Hamlet"

“To be or not to be-that is the question:” Hamlet is stuck in between what many of us call a rock and a hard place. He is given two choices, kill his uncle who killed his father, or kill himself and forget about the entirety of his life altogether. Both options include someone dying and there is no middle road to take either. He is being overwhelmed by the current events that are happening and doesn’t know which course of action to take. He believes that suicide is the easier course of action because he thinks that by ending himself, he will end all his worldly cares, “And by a sleep to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to.” Sounds tempting but part of him is drawn by duty or conscience to live and carry out his fathers ghost’s wishes.

            Though the thought of death may be pleasing to Hamlet, he is still scared about dying as seen when he laments, “But that the fear of something after death,” he doesn’t know if things will get better or if he will be at peace if he just dies. He also has the lovely memory of his father’s ghost saying it was being tortured to add more to his fears.

            I honestly think that Hamlet should carry out the murder of his uncle. That way his beloved father can finally rest in peace and the wrongs that have been committed will be righted. Also as a nifty motivator, since Hamlet is of the Christian faith, his conscience reminds him that if he doesn’t do this and kills himself then he will probably be going straight to the place of fire and brimstone for all eternity. “Thus conscience does make cowards of us all.” Hamlet is motivated by fear and a little bit by duty. This choice is an extremely tough one to make because his father died, mom re-married to his uncle, Ophelia is in love with him, and the ghost of his father decides to drop by and tell him his uncle killed him. All this happened in the space of a month or so. No one can blame Hamlet for being so overwhelmed. I had a similar situation by trying to juggle more AP classes than I could manage and the stress nearly tore me apart. If Hamlet does make it through this ordeal, he will see how strong of a person he has become and be glad he did made it. After all, what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.

Troubleshooting Comment Posting

If people are having troubles posting to mine or any blog, try downloading the Mozilla Firefox internet browser. It helped me when Internet Explorer funked out on me. Also, while I am posting a troubleshooting post, try using livejournal.com to post if anyone is having trouble with using Google Account when posting comments. I would recommend doing this first before using Mozilla because the issue may be with Google and not the internet browser. If one does not work, try the other and use process of elimination to try to figure out the variable that is creating the bug in either trying to create posts or comments. I hoped that this post will help all the new bloggers like myself.

Frankenstein Literary Analysis

The novel tells the story of poor Victor Frankenstein who is very fascinated with the nature of the world. He studies the works of alchemists and philosophers as a child and later goes to college to study chemistry. It is while he is deep in his studies that he discovers how to create life from inanimate matter. Inspired by this epiphany, he begins work on creating a structure to imbue life into. This structure as it turns out is a man of disproportionate size and strength; the height of a giant, the intelligence of man, and the hardiness of the toughest creature on Earth. When the creature becomes alive, Victor is disgusted by the very sight of him and flees his laboratory, leaving the creature isolated and truly alone. Seasons pass and the monster is consumed by his isolation and anguish and starts to kill off all of Victor’s loved ones after Victor betrays him after promising to make another like him so he may not be alone. Victor is lead to his death by grief and the monster marches to the northern frozen wastes to destroy the life that was irresponsibly given to him and to silence the suffering and loneliness he endured forever after.

The themes of the novel are to be careful and meticulous when exploring untested areas especially in the scientific region, and that even a beautifully kind and compassionate person can becomes a true monster when only faced with hatred and whose only companion is their isolation in life.

The author’s tone could be said to be sad or regretful for the characters. There are very few positively charged words such as joy, glee, or happiness used in the dialogue of the characters and the description of the scenes taking place around them. These excerpts from the book exemplify my point.

Ch. 1. 1^st line: “You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you regarded with such evil forebodings.”

Ch. 5. Verse referring to Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner between paragraphs 7&8 “Like one who, on a lonely road, Doth walk in fear and dread, And having once turned round, walks on, And turns no more his head; Because he knows a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread.”

Ch. 8. 1^st line: “We passed a few sad hours until eleven o’ clock, when the trial was to commence.”

I honestly do not have a clue what to put in this section.