Independent Reading Project Reflection

For my independent reading project I read Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. I have to say, I feel great because first of all: I had read a great novel and second of all, I had resumed my old hobby of reading for pleasure. I had been so enticed by the book that I could not stop reading, literally. The movie, being one of those people that revere it and give it its cult status - served as a wonderful source o external motivation. For the project itself however, I know I should've done better especially on the map. The book report I had written had met my standards for written work, however I've always been terrible at project work. Something that is related to posters, etc done my me end up looking terrible. I had started on it a while ago and yet, with this superfluous amount of time since it was assigned and since it's due date, I had still created a subpar (extremely subpar) poster. I do not know if there is a presentation grade, but I do wish I had done well. I had explained everything to an excessive degree because I was so familiar with the material. My presentation was more based off on trying to explain the plot and the interesting plot twists as opposed to anything else. I had seen the movie at least ten times and every time I watch it it's like seeing it for the first time. 

Archetypes

Archetypes are something we encounter everyday. Basically everything that we see has one true archetype. Say, the typical villain character. The typical in the word pretty much could be short for archetypical, because there could only be one typical villain type of character - bad, evil, and doing it to control something. Of course, another trait of the typical villain character is that there is some good left in him - and only doing whatever he's doing for revenge of some sort. Usually very bitter revenge. The typical hero character is the type that would rush in at the most convenient times - such as when a building is about to be toppled and fall upon a city or a crowd of people, the hero will rush in, flying at a super fast speed and catch the building or remove the people from harm's way. It's the typical hero setting, where the hero can truly shine. I believe the archetype developed from the inception of Superman, because that's something that Superman would do. He would either save the people, or just completely laser the building and turn it into ash.

Contemporary

The contemporary period of American literature is filled with borrowed examples from all the different preceding literary periods. First of all, it was the period of the Rationalists coinciding with the American Revolutionary War. It had been influenced greatly by the Englightment and the European thinkers of that period. I believe it was from here, a sense of American independence - coinciding with the Revolutionary war - from European literature had developed. Romanticism had developed and America had its own flavor in terms of all the different literary movements. Romanticism revered emotions above logic. There are definitely traces of these elements in the contemporary period. After that, there was the time of the realists - having been greatly influenced by the American Civil war. They had realized that the heroes of the world were not found in the jungles but instead right next to you, the man making your steel, etc, making your everyday life possible. Following that came the Modernists. They decided to scrap everything behind and create something new. Then the Contemporaries... Simply, the contemporaries were simply just extremely unoriginal that they had to "borrow" ideas from all the different preceding periods.

Reflect on Your Project

I believe we all had participated and spent a ponderous amount of time upon the project - especially Melissa Lee. I'd have to say, at first I thought the content of the project would be the most burdensome, because Ben and I had taken upon the daunting task of the content work. The book wasn't fresh in our heads anymore, our knowledge was a little rusty - but unpredictably, Melissa Lee had actually taken upon the hardest job of them all - the posters. I had not realized how hard she had worked on the posters. Thank god it was not me who had chose to do the poster work, for I would've simply done a crude, crude job. She had spent seven something hours (or even more) decorating the poster - and the next morning, I was awestruck. I had finished my content work within an hour's time, and I had thought that was challenging. I believe it was the same with Ben, too. But the time spent is really reflected upon the quality of our posters. It's filled with all the different elements to an A+ project. It's great. I would have to say that Ben and I had worked hard, but Melissa Lee worked harder. Props to Melissa! Yay!

A Horror Story?

A Rose for Emily would be considered a horror story. To me, a horror story is anything that has elements and good enough literary elements, whether they be suspense or using flash backs in a skillful way to be considered a horror story. To be specific, it seems like anything that twists our current perception of things - the way we were shaped to perceived things. For example, if a human had his guts leaking out - that's scary, and it's because it deviates from what we think of humans - whole and, well, guts on the inside. It mutilates our thoughts and presents us with a strange image of what we think we should perceive. I remember a great horror story read was the Shining, and it was because (specifically the things like the hedges and the dog man in the middle of the story) because that stuff usually doesn't happen. A hotel isn't supposed to be haunted like that, and the fact that a family of three had to live inside an empty and old hotel is just a scary concept.

Homer's End

I believe what had happened to Homer was sort of expected, but too bad I had not seen it earlier. There were many clues hinting the demise of our great Homer Baron, the Man's Man, the Gay guy, or also known as Ms. Emily's Little Necrophile Doll. It's a strange notion that she would keep his body. It was pretty obvious that a man like him would leave, but then again unbelievable that she would hold onto him.. even if it means killing him. What's really scary and hair raising is that she still slept with him and hugging him even though he's a skeleton - with his guts melded into the bed. The room's been there for what, 8 years, and that means she slept with him when he was rotting, and when he completely decayed and then turned into just a frame - skeletal frame. Quite disgusting and repulsive if you ask me. It's a very gross concept, and the fact that her house had some sort of putrid odor emanating just gives even more hints to this. She got the rat poison and killed him. He died peacefully because Emily needed to keep him as her doll.

Nobel Speech

I believe it had encompassed the ideas of what was given in his speech. It might've not encompassed all the ideas but I had been a form of execution of emotions. First of all, I believe Ms. Grierson has some sort of twisted emotional psyche about her that makes her really messed up. When she bought the poison, and when she had been asked to pay taxes, the townsfolk felt pity for her. What I had felt for her was complete disgust. She lives in a town and doesn't pay taxes. She is just a complete freeloader who does whatever she wants. Complete disgrace to society. I don't feel any of those emotions for her, only disgust and repulsion. All the taxpayer's money is going into this lowly woman and she's freeloading off of it. Very pathetic and a complete disgrace. I do not feel any sort of these emotions for her even if Faulkner was trying for it. I would not feel bad if she had burned to death or any sort of thing like that. It disgusts me.

Eccentric or Crazy?

I believe this sort of insanity she suffers was learned. She used to live a sort of lavish aristocratic lifestyle until everything went away. Her father wasn't really thoughtful by pushing away the men that were trying to court her, and now once her father died, she has no one to depend on. This sort of learned behavior, I believe, was from being too used to this lifestyle then having everything hit rock bottom. All in all, she's SOL and she cannot find a way out of it. She behaves this way to gain attention, and according to the Philip Zimbardo prison experiment, once she has taken that role as the helpless woman she HAD BECOME the helpless woman. She is a helpless woman. I believe a lot of women today in society are like this, they believe they are some sort of princess and then they get treated by one because they're so demanding and men are so submissive that they become what they really want to be. Just like how, in the first few weeks of marriage, a couple might feel out of place - they might feel like it's all an act, but after a while, they do become the "married couple" in a sense whatever a married couple is supposed to be.

The N-Word

The word today is known as some sort of derogatory term that emerged in  the 1800s to describe slaves. Black slaves, specifically. An enslaved native would not be known as the n-word. Today, it is also used by fellow descendants of these "n-words" as a term of endearment, to show their camaradarie. I believe it's a form of devolution to still be afraid of these words. People usually freeze, and think, "WOW I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU JUST SAID THAT... are there any black people around? Did they hear him?" This is just an unnecessary fear. I believe this is kind of a person trying to conform to the other people around him, trying to stay politically correct. To me, if you want to say it, then say it. It doesn't matter. Why do we have the first amendment? I believe it's pathetic if a person tries to excuse himself by saying it's politically incorrect, uncultured, inarticulate, blahblahblah. I believe if a word wasn't used to imply the meaning then that is the meaning of the word.

Retreat

Retreating from society is a way of hiding yourself, and to prepare yourself in the meantime to face whatever you need to face. Or to hide others away from the danger that you have, are, or contain. I believe that a person should be able to hide whenever they want. But they're just little felines if you ask me. Unless it's the latter, (the one where you are hiding something away so that it won't hurt other people) then you are a true feline. People might lack self confidence to confront society, since the all mighty and scary society is something that takes courage to face. I believe it's just simply human nature to want to keep the ugly part of ourselves hidden - so that you can seek out potential mates to hide the flaws that might be with you genetically. That's why we always see ugly people wearing baggy things. Unless they're of self confidence (where does it come from) then usually people will in some form or another hide themselves from society.

Free Write

Free write, I love free writes. The reason I love free writes is that I can fill up the whole entry with words that don't really even matter. But the amazing fact is that nobody reads this so I'll do it anyway. First of all, what the hell is homophobia? And why do people "frown" on people for being homophobic? Racist, too? Why can't I use an out of date pejorative term (or used to be pejorative, I mean) however I want? Why is there even censorship? I don't understand why people feel the need to correct other people to be more "politically correct." We are all so caught up on this "politically correctness" nonsense that we try to correct each other and conform that we have lost all freedom of expression and creativity. I want to swear. I want to express my emotions with words that way. Frankly, I don't give a damn if someone feels insulted. Why should they feel insulted if I had not meant to insult them? I don't get this. Do people think they're better than other people for correcting people? This is my way of rebelling: swearing, and using discriminating words in my own way. Of course, I do not mean to insult these people - of course, I am a very articulate person so I shall couple these words with a dapper style. But no thanks, please don't correct me, you conformists.

I Hate Poetry

I hate poetry. Simply because poetry is just so meaningless. It's like contemporary art. Actually, don't even get me started on contemporary art. I detest the fact that it even exists. Why people even brand it as "art." It tarnished the word "art" by calling that, which is comparable to bovine excrement, art. Art itself is supposed to be a beautiful thing. An accurate representation of something for a purpose. Contemporary art, someone putting a toilet on a bed. Art? I think not.
Poetry is a different little pickle. If the author/writer/poet whatever they want to call themselves want to express a feeling, then why not just say it? Why not just go, "I'm feeling sad, and this is my story..." rather than trying to sound deep and evoke some sense of feeling that does not exist in the reader? If I really wanted to read meaningless words that are not coupled together in a grammatically or comprehensible manner then I'll go on my computer, press a bunch of random keys and read that. But no, they try to teach this junk in class. I'm insulted and I feel disgusted. I hate poetry. I hate it with a passion. People ask, why do you hate poetry? And I shall retort with that.

Horror

What a scary story needs... Hmm, a scary story must appeal to the reader's specific reads - therefore, dividing it up into separate genres. First of all, these genres all appeal to specific readers. One might find torture porn exciting, while another might be repulsed by it. There are those that find suspense stories hair tingling, while another would find it boring. I believe a scary story needs elements of all nature to appeal to this. One important element is suspense. The reason I say this is because if there is no suspense then why not just reveal the whole story in one page. Or just give a picture of what's happening. Then the reader doesn't have to read through all your crap to get to the point. That's why suspense is needed. It builds up the reason to read through that crap. I believe (pardon my french for the previous sentences) another element needed is some sort of shocking detail. Such as gore, etc. This is what makes a horror story, well.. horrifying.

A Journey

Prufrock is no model for such thing. First of all, he is simply the passenger in his life. He does not take control nor does he even drive this car, the car that is the metaphor for life. He is simply a little gay man. I cannot help but stress the fact that, in part with my homophobia, that he is a gay little man and that gay men cannot do such things (take life on as the driver.) Sure, there are exceptions - but I doubt that the majority of gay men are the drivers of their lives. Prufrock is no hero, he is not on a journey, if he were he wouldn't know where he was going. He's simply remaining on the same plane - rock bottom. The same level. He is just a man that is so self conscious that he worries about a tiny little bald spot on his head. He is no hero. He is not on a journey... so the journey cannot even begin if he cannot even drive his own car (that which is his life.) Oh well, Prufrock's a sad case. T.S. Eliot, you've made your point.

Prufrock Revisited

T.S. Eliot writes that, in the thoughts of Prufrock, that HE is a spiritually empty man. What does that say about humanity? It gives it a nihilistic taste and tone to the poem. It adds flavor and character to the poem, because I've realized that all great poems invoke some sort of thought that questions an abstract and deep thing that humans cannot really put a concrete answer on. Maybe that's the secret ingredient to great poets - just writing about deep things. An example would be like Emily Dickinson's poems that invoke the feelings of death and the such. Prufrock says he'd rather be a pair of lobster claws - that just says he's a man that's in the passenger seat. He can't do a thing to save himself - he's the observer and the watcher of his life. He does not do, he watches. He lets things happen. That is why T.S. Eliot writes about him - a helpless man just contemplating shallow subjects.

Anti-Hero

He does not fit into the theme of an anti-hero. He is simply an apathetic person who does not care much about anything else other than the daily triviality of life. Vanity, looks, etc. He is a person who is so vain he cares about himself before he walks into a room. He shouldn't even be included in the category of an anti-hero because he simply is just too ordinary to be an anti-hero. We are simply tapping into his thoughts. An ordinary man who used to live a lavish lifestyle (maybe he still does now) but is simply too concerned with himself and appearance now because he has grown old. He's just a man of vanity. He's gay if I could say it, a gay and depressed little man that used to fit into the elite of society (and probably still fits in) but is just so self-conscious and absorbed into his little mind and society that he'd rather be a pair of lobster claws. What a pathetic man. Is he even a man? Those are the thoughts of a woman, or a gay man. Perhaps this poem should be changed to the "Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, the Gay Man". Nonetheless, it does not take away from the greatness of the poem and it does not diminish the level of admiration I have for T.S. Eliot, (whether he is a poet or not, he is a brilliant man)

What’s His Problem?

I believe J. Alfred Prufrock's problem is that he is aging and growing old, and he is thinking out all these insecurities he has at social functions. The women that speak of Michelangelo are those who he only associated himself with - perhaps, the high class women. But since he is aging, he is falling out of their circle and failing to meet their elitist standards. He is very vain and perhaps he used to be a good looking fellow, but now, failing to meet his friends' standards. He is about to join one of their social functions again the smell and such are reminiscent of his younger days. He is a very self conscious fellow, and sometimes he wished that he was just something so low that it's unnoticeable - maybe from the start he never wanted to be a part of these social functions anyway.

Poetry’s Social Function

I disagree with this assertion. I do not believe poetry has any benefit to society or anything whatsoever other than to prevaricate a first impression that they're smart or something. They do make great topics, but to me I don't think they're actually contributing anything. Sure, it has some value in terms of history but actually I don't think it benefits literature directly. I think poetry, the way its written, is pointless. I believe there are more efficient ways to tell a story than to actually have to use obscure and abstract forms of writing. Poetry to me is kind of pointless because of the fact that it tries to provoke you to think about all the possible endings - but if I'm reading something, I'd rather read something striaghtforward.

War and Economics

I don't see any similarities simply because of the fact that the two are the same thing. Because history is ongoing, then the two are the same. To compare I would need two different things but I am unable to do so. But for the sake of this topic, I will treat them as different things. I do not believe anything has changed. First of all, our economy is the same as it was. The conditions are completely different then and now. In twenty years, historians will judge our time period as the time when art went stagnant (whatever art is) and people had lost their attention span. Everything is handed to us, that we refuse the right to create and believe it is the right that things should be handed to us. Historians will judge humans at this period (when all humans flourish / had flourished) as being useless. The useless period is what I believe.

No Ideas But In Things

Poems are written about meaningless things. To me, they're just meaningless pieces of writing into an abstract form that is completely incomprehensible to any logical person (strictly adhering to the fact of logic and no wiggle room to understand anything that is not logical) because everything is so vague itself, even if the idea was something of meaning (that is a subjective matter). To be honest, I do not understand poetry. It sounds nice but if someone wanted to (by the wise words of T.S. Eliot) "improve upon the English language" then why don't you say it in a form that people can straightforwardly understand? Is it cool to be abstract and write things that doesn't really have a concrete answer? People may ask why you need everything spoonfed to you (in the subject of information) but why shouldn't it? I'm reading something after all, aren't I? I do not get poems. I do not like them, they are nothing but a mere form of entertainment for me. That is simply my opinion of poems.

Historical Influences

I think the most familiar events with the movement probably were the radio and then the photographs of World War 2. I am familiar with both because I see these on a regular basis. First of all, the radio: our internet is basically radio waves travelling back and forth (wifi internet that is) and also when I get in the car I listen to the radio. A lot of things are powered by radio waves. Another are the photographs because I could understand how they are influential to us today. It gives us an image of how terrible warfare is. Warfare is terrible because it costs human lives for things that are trivial to us in daily life but only matter to politicians. Perhaps the Jews getting killed by the Holocaust was not just something politicians argue about, but does not affect me personally. I believe war is not a good thing. But it is inevitable because humans will have conflicts. I had an idea that humans will only progress forward if we unite, but warfare tears us apart.

Social Influences – Entertainment

Entertainment in the past probably was just the radio, some newspapers, and the nickel theater. I would have loved to enjoy the lavish entertainments of the past, live a life like a classy gentleman, start the day off with a cigar and end the night in my classy car and watch a movie with a monocle dangling off of my eye whilst my arm wrapped around a girl in a dress. With silk gloves or whatever they were called, and fall asleep. It would be a great way to live, and not have been spoiled by the technology of today. The technology today, we are never satisfied - entertainment wise. We are always seeking new forms of entertainment, with the bare and most ethereal form of entertainment twisted and changed into something and so many different forms that we can't even recognize entertainment anymore. Entertainment now is an amorphous thing that takes on many different forms, many sports are all the same. Everything is the same.

Make It New

What Ezra Pound means by new art is for art to be innovative and original. Art shouldn't be an exact or close to exact replica of something that's already been done. That's just redoing what's already been done. Art in a sense can be compared to inventing something. If you're going to invent something, why would you reinvent something that's already been invented? You would want to invent something that's totally new and original and serves to a different function rather than provide the same benefits. To the viewer of art, art should provide and evoke a different feeling from a different perspective to the person rather than to evoke the same feeling. A person would just look at a picture of the previous painting than to see some crappy replica. That is what Ezra pound means. Perhaps he also means for poets to break away from the restrictions set upon poets by following the strict and rigid format that they have been following for a long time: the sonnet format, etc. I think poets should be more innovative rather than to just keep following the same format over and over again.

Modernism

It looks as if modernism focuses more on the modern era such as looking at things from a more realistic point of view compared to the previous movements. Romanticism was really impractical compared to other movements. It focused on things such as impulse, but who really would operate on impulse? I think, sorry to be blunt, but I think the other movements were stupid. If a person really would exist outside in the woods with some superhero bayonet and a machete that had the heart of a child and went out to slay sabertooth tigers, that's just unrealistic. Thank god for the modernists. They brought humanity back to the realm of dignity and gave us art that made us look at our modernization in a totally different way. I think this is great. I love modernism.

The American Dream

What really is the American Dream? When one thinks about the American dream one thinks of something that can be achieved through hard work, but with the Industrialization the wealth gap between the rich and the poor has expanded beyond measurable limits with extreme tycoons rising out with big names such as Rockefeller and Carnegie, while employing thousands of workers on minimum wage. Can these people hope to achieve the massive amount of wealth that Rockefeller has? No. The brutal truth of reality has set upon them and pessimism is everywhere. They reject the traditional ideas of the previous eras of happy-go-lucky attitudes and take on the truth. They lost faith in the American dream. They reject sentimentality and artificiality. The American people, of which the majority work in factories, have lost faith in the roots of which this country was founded. That greatness is destined for everyone. What really is greatness, if everyone can be great? The modernists face the truth and harsh reality that life isn't so happy and that the American dream can only be achieved by those wealthy and affluent individuals: it is not for everyone. It is a dream only available to a small sector of people in America.

Better Things?

The question of the dilemma of the modern age is a large and ambiguous question that deserves to be viewed from all facets of life and opinions. I think the dilemma of modern life is whether or not we should choose the ethical or unethical route. It applies in all directions of life. Whether or not you should eat that trans-fat loaded butter replacement called Margarine and perhaps risk your health, or buy the pure butter that has been made from pasteurized milk that came from a free range cow. It all depends, and it can come from recycling too, whether or not you should buy the box that's made from recycled corrugated cardboard or that other box that's made in China with non recyclable materials. That's the modern dilemma we face, ethical or unethical. Unethical will give you a selfish gain, while ethical will help those around you. Environmental issues, etc, all fall under this category.
It's all a matter of altruistic behavior or greedy needs. Greedy needs come from the need for self-sustenance and the most efficient way at staying alive: it seems like most of us has chosen that path when we do not have an ample amount of resources to spare.

On Impulse

Impulses just pop out. They are impulses because they cannot be controlled. I have impulses all the time, whenever something in my head that snaps together and makes that synaptical connection, I say it. The connection has to be funny or is clever in some way, I'll say it. I can't control it. It's a really hard urge to control and once I say it I cannot retract the statement: since I had already said it. The more I think about something the less chances of me saying it will be, so I think I'll lose all of my comedic creativity and originality if I think about it too much. Sometimes something is funny to me I'll just tell people straightforward the funny thing. I can't help it. It doesn't feel like anything, that's the thing. If it had some sort of evil and ominous feeling to it, I'd stop myself dead in its tracks. But I can't. That's why I'm known for my facetious comments and flippant humor in class at school. 

I think to people with self-restraint, they simply think over the things they are going to say before saying it. I do this a lot, but not with these funny comments (they're funny, at least to myself.)

Romantics v Realists

Romantics loved to emphasize on the perfection of nature and all its little intricacies that the romantic writer found to be "correct". The realist found the ordinary things in nature, the things that aren't worth pointing out to be the things that are worth writing about. They viewed nature as it was, instead of emphasizing their stories and novels around little unrealistic perfections. If they envisioned a tree to be perfect, then the realist would imagine it as real as it could be. A romantic tree wouldn't have any flaws in it, while a realist tree would have all the ordinary characteristics that a romantic tree lacks except are found all elsewhere in the real world.
Romantics also emphasized on heroes, while realists emphasized on ordinary people. Sure, ordinary people can be heroes too but the romantic hero consisted of an odd combination of a pure and innocent soul growing up in the natural world and living a vigilante lifestyle of fighting evil. The ordinary hero is one who comes from an ordinary life of the times back then (such as the slums of New York City) and then doing his work and saving other people. Something like that.

Think About…

How did they respond to the civil war? Well, photographers go onto the battlefields, reeling in their giant machinations of taking these things called "photographs" that captured the light and then further published them into local newspapers. I believe these writers then look at these reproduced images and take thought and inspiration from that. The basic characteristics of realism I find usually deal with the realistic scene rather than the naturalistic scene. It may seem obvious, but by realistic scene I mean the realistic environment they had to face everyday of their lives. Things such as the slums, battlefields, diseases, etc, were all the things that they wrote about and more. They depicted humans as humans, an average Joe going through the grueling and arduous journey that is Life. Whether it be on the battlefield or in the shantytowns, life seemed terrible and it gave these realism writers a chance to blossom and flourish as they spread knowledge of the existence of such conditions worldwide. It's quite an interesting flow of information. I find that these realism writers that are able to accurately portray others' lifestyles as amazing and spread awareness.

You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby

The differences I've noticed from the time of Kate Chopin was that women were all concerned with their outward appearance. Atleast the women who would be potential wives, that is. They had little silk gloves and things like corsets, while the women of today such as feminists believe that they are strong, etc, and shouldn't conform to the rules of modern society. There are women who remain single their whole lives, are they celibates? These women are the ones that do not care about their outward appearance, but I've noticed that the women of yore cared a lot more than the women of today. I've noticed that the women of today, the fashion that they adhere to, focuses more on being tall and slender while before, accented the natural curves of the voluptuous female figure. The busty shape of an hourglass, I find much more attractive. Perhaps if the two extremes were mixed together then there would be the perfect balance, a slim and tall woman with a little bit of curves. That is the difference of women today. Before they usually only existed in the kitchen, but for some reason over the past hundred years they have evolved to accommodate cars or even get a job! How insane is that!

A Reprieve

What I fantasize about to escape reality is being an astronaut. I imagine myself floating through the classroom carelessly, picking up a pencil or two, writing on the ceiling while chomping an apple I found floating around that came from someone's brown paper lunch bag. I find this relaxing because being able to float through air, ignoring the deteriorating effects it has on your muscles, feels very relaxing. To just imagine it calms me. I imagine myself floating up to the whiteboard, drawing inappropriate pictures, of perhaps, say, genitals, and then floating back to my chair. I won't even need a chair, but I feel like sitting in one just because I'm a boss. Maybe to be more realistic, I would actually probably end up just falling asleep to escape reality. It makes perfect sense, as you sleep you leave reality and enter a dream-state world. It makes perfect sense. That's what I would do, as you dream you are taken away by your own thoughts and a world conjured by your brain itself. I love dreaming, and yes, it is the perfect way to escape reality. The humdrums of daily life.

A Change of Heart

The way I view this change is that the Romantic poets or painters etc actually went out to the world and saw what really existed. They thought that nature was the best and to follow emotions. Well, they sat at home and followed emotions. Now these photographers are going out and taking pictures of the event, so they now realized that what really happens outside is cruel and get a peak into the lives of ordinary people. They worshiped heroes in their Romantic ideal. Very in touch with nature, etc, but instead, they saw that the real heroes were not these archetype Romantic heroes. The real heroes are those who fight for freedom, such as the ordinary folk who fought against each other in the Civil war. The ones who fight for what they believe in. They also witnessed the scenes of these battlefields etc, so they probably thought of it as an opportune moment to draw upon the ideas. Because Romanticism gets boring after a while. Also, not to mention the fact that they opened their eyes, they also changed their heart and feelings in regards to this. This is all I can say about this.

I Exist

What the sense of obligation the universe is referring to is that it does not owe mankind anything. The world will not bend to mankind, and mankind is on its own. It made man, but it does not care about man. That is what the quote means. The civil war means that they're on their own. Man's existence is insignificant. The United States had felt as if the universe was on their side, until turmoil struck and that they're trench deep in a warfare against their own brethren. That is what caused the statement of, "Sir, I exist!" because the man is trying to get the universe to acknowledge him.
We are our own trailblazers of fate. We control our own destiny, not the universe. The universe does not owe you anything. To follow an idea of Mao Ze Dong, he says that we are not obligated in responsibility towards the next generation or anyone for that reason, and the universe would defend it. It does not owe anyone anything. We are our own method of survival, our own tools, and our own resources. The universe was generous enough to give us life, and now we must (on our own) preserve it.

Power

I think the people with power are the commanders. They're the ones with power because they contrl the handmaids, the victims of the story. This leads on to make me think that men are the ones in real power too. This feminist author is simply implying that she had forgone her faith in the female society and accepted true dogma. The dogma of human society, where men rule over everything and yet provide for the helpless creatures we know as women who are simply the counter of our gender as reproductive machines. They should all be making sandwiches, ironing clothes, and other things for men. Men offer protection, strength, and are the breadwinners of society, therefore women should give something back by occasionally pleasuring their male counterparts and make a few sandwiches for them on the side. Men are the ones in power, just look at the White House or any other political organization. It feels as if this woman, Margaret Atwood, simply wants to send out the message that men are superior and that women are inferior. It is an awesome statement, that the women of this world are supposed to be concubines. Yes, indeed, it is. Concubines they are and Ofbills here they come.

Slanted Truth

The reason Emily Dickinson or perhaps many other poets tell the truth at a slant, embellish their stories is simply to fit the rhyme scheme or the type of poem they're writing. It might also account for more vivid details or interest from the reader that would make the poem more appealing. It could also serve as some sort of symbolic purpose. I believe it is not telling a lie, but instead a partial lie. I don't understand why people do it, since simplicity appeals most to me. But I believe she tells these half lies half truths for the sake of the reader. When she says that Death carries people off in a carriage, I mean she doesn't know this for a fact but instead she says it like it actually is like that. All in all, she's a little liar and she tells these things simply to make the reader interested (in something false and doesn't exist.) It is also to fit the rhyme scheme, HER unique rhyme scheme. The abab-rhyme scheme-except-not-completely-rhyming rhyme scheme. I think it might add details to the poem but at what cost? Lying to the reader? I think telling the truth is more important and therefore Emily Dickinson should eat some hotdogs and hamburgers because that's what they're made for. She's also a weird woman.

Pessimism

I think the reason why Emily Dickinson always writes about these topics is that she is in such isolation that she doesn't think of any other thoughts other than things that are regarded as "pessimistic." Seriously. She's stuck inside her room/house all day doing nothing other than wearing a white dress. How must her family members treat her? They must treat her like a pile of feces. She's utterly useless, writing a few pieces of poetry (during her lifetime.) She probably barely engages in any sort of housework, as she wouldn't want to get that white dress dirty. She must be contemplating suicide all the time. If there was a person in my house who didn't do anything other than scribble words on a piece of scratch paper all day, I would get mad too. Not just mad, actually. I'd get furious. Then I'm sure that person would start thinking about pessimistic things. Negative feelings. That's how I feel, anyway. Also, she could be mentally ill. Extreme mental illness and seeking catharsis instead of going on a serial killing rampage she writes them out in words. Instead of wanting to try to be like death she instead writes about death, flies, and so on and so forth. She is a strange lady, and I'm glad she didn't leave the house or else quite possibly she would've killed a few people.

Speculation or Sci-Fi?

I think the reason Margaret Atwood uses the term "speculative fiction" is because there basically is nothing else that could describe this novel. It is basically a bunch of different concepts wrapped into one book and is hard to categorize into one genre. I don't understand why people feel the need to HAVE to put something into a box. Anyway, I've come to realize that the whole concept of Handmaid's tale can only happen in the future, thus it takes place in the future and then pieces of information are added to fill up the plot to make it seem as if it was the future. Since the future is believed to be more technologically advanced (I mean, of course, we're in the FUTURE.) and so therefore a lot of the elements of the story are added and thus fall under the sci-fi category. She can't write a novel of the past, it's already happened and it would turn into some sort of witchcraft erotica type story as opposed to a dystopian novel. Margaret Atwood added those elements to make it seem as if we were in the future to set up the scenario for this novel.

The Soul

First of all, I'd like to debunk the existence of the soul. There is no real way to prove whether or not the soul exists, and therefore it doesn't. Something doesn't exist until there is actual concrete, solid evidence provided to support this claim. For now, the soul to me is just a hypothetical entity for the purpose of this entry, because I want to clearly state that I do not believe in the existence of the soul. Instincts lie within our genetic information. Anyway, I do not know the answer to how most people select their friends. Either with their emotions or with rational thoughts, it is entirely dependent on the person. Whether or not they are emotional or rational, it is up to the individual, although I have noticed a trend that females tend to be more emotional than men. This leads me to believe that females usually base their choices upon emotions. This is especially true, since to me it seems like females with other females have a deeper closer bond, they hug, etc, and for males it is just downright awkward for us to hug each other all the time (and a tad bit homosexual). Sometimes, these emotions may stray and with a blend of rational thought, females make superficial friends. These are the fake people you hear people talk about all the time, and females tend to be more fake to their friends and have more fake friends than males, while males simply base their choices upon simpler emotions such as aggression and with a bigger mix of rational thought.

Real or Romantic

Whitman could NOT have been there to experience these songs he's singing. It's just not possible. For one, he sings about the workers being happy and such. Well, why would these workers be happy if they're on an 16 hour work schedule seven days of the week? Purely because they're American, they'll feel different from all the different workers in the world that are basically going through grueling conditions? No, not that. Is it because they're somehow so enthused about working that they start bursting out in songs and rhythms while they're stuck on the cotton mill? I don't think so. I think it's just an overgeneralization that all Americans are happy somehow because they're working no matter what kind of work it is. I'm sure Rockefeller would be happy just sitting on his chair behind his desk, but then again, I'm sure that the 5 year old picking coal out wouldn't be so happy. Once he realizes that there is some sort of strange American spirit inside him that comes from the very land he's standing on trying to burst out of him and sing songs that show his ecstatic nature about working in the coal mines. It's kind of interesting, really.

Work Songs

The work songs mentioned in Whitman's poem clearly show a sense of self-adherence to values such as reliability and a sense of confidence, and the such. This is clearly American. Whatever America stands for, it stands in these workers. A nation built upon democracy, the common people, is mostly made up of the common people and Whitman decided to include the common people in his poem. The common people are able-bodied Americans who heave around heavy stones or work on houses. They sing songs to express how much they love their jobs. This kind of reminds me of Soviet propaganda, to show how hard people are working and how much they love their jobs. It might be American propaganda, after all, because Whitman could've been hired by a bunch of guys in caps and wigs to write this poem. We're all supposed to feel inspired by it, but truthfully I don't see what's so special about this poem. It's mediocre, it doesn't really invoke any senses literally or any senses figuratively such as in the head about like virtue or anything. It's just a poem about a bunch of people singing. While doing other work. But nonetheless, I suppose it does show a degree of Whitman's love for America.

Ode

My Ode will be about freedom, America, and everything it stands for. America is a great country. It is the home of the Shotgun, the Truck, and freedom. African Americans too, but they're not that important. It is the home of Beer, where beer was invented, same with the hamburger, computer, and everything else. It is a great country. It's won all the wars possible in the whole world and all the wars that's ever been fought and will be fought. It won the cold war head on same with the Vietnam war.
It is the greatest country in the world. It is better than the country of Africa. The world gets its internet from America, same with the money and same with tanks. This is my ode.
It's a rough draft, but this is roughly what it'll sound like.
My Ode to America
America is the single greatest country in the world. America will topple Canada and shut off the Chinese production. America will consecrate the defiled grounds in Africa and purify the humans there. America will raze the city of Moscow and all that is Russia and set ablaze the Siberian oil fields.
That is a rough draft, hopefully all of you will enjoy it.

Oppression

I believe women of any Muslim society are probably oppressed. But is it really oppression when the women don't mind? Just like when people wonder if it's really abuse when the people don't mind? I'm not sure if the Qur'an had stated this, but I believe someone had told me that in some passages it stated that women were objects of desire or something, and that it would be the women's fault for flaunting herself if the man were to rape her. Or maybe that's some sort of twisted Islamic law, but I do know it exists and is a defensible stance and often used defense against crimes like rape. I think oppression is a term that should be carefully used and is largely based on personal opinion, though. I am not taking a clear stance on this issue, but I do know for a fact that if the people realize they're being oppressed, like the students of Tiananmen square in 1989. Or the random uprisings against the Soviet Union in the satellite nations during the Soviet era following the defeat of Germany. They would just roll in the tanks. Many people today are oppressed, and even found in PAS. The hat wearing community are low on numbers at the school enough already, and yet, we get condemned for covering our heads for reasons of warmth and protection.

Holiday Reality

What I had actually done over the holiday break was do what I had exactly planned: acquire money. I had made bank, absolutely BANK by the end of the week. I had collected a large from my mom's side of the family, and yet even a LARGER sum from my dad's side of the family. The only thing missing were from my in-laws. They had stopped by the house, but the infamous Chim Ten, whom you've probably never heard of, came over to my house without warning and warded off these gracious visitors. I had hoped to acquire more money, as people of my nature are usually greedy, and so by merely having enough wasn't enough. I need more. I think I'll invest this money in some sort of small business plan and maybe let it bloom into another Google or Youtube. Maybe, in my dreams or something. But for now, shoes and t-shirts as well as clothing's no problem for me. Hah! Not to mention it's almost my birthday too - another plus. My mom, my dad, everyone's going to have to get me a present. Maybe a six-pack as a present from my dad? Who knows. But I'm thinking I won't be disappointed this year, as this year's the big one eight. Yep, that's it for now.

Holiday Plans

My plans for the holiday are to become an astronaut... wait, that's not realistic. My plans for the holiday is to make me some MONIES! I had actually recently found out (actually a few hours ago) that saying monies (as retarded as it sounds) is actually correct. I want some monies is a correct way of saying something. I made lots of monies over the holiday is also a correct way of using the word, but the plural form of money is basically money now, the older more archaic form is rarely seen now (other than on silly captioned images of cats doing silly things). My other goal is to gather up with my relatives that I rarely see and bond with them. A few people that come to mind are my many uncles, my cousins, etc. Both sides of the family, too. I rarely see my other grandma, and in my whole lifetime I've probably spoken less than 100 sentences to her, (language barrier: she barely speaks chinese, only taiwanese) and I don't really have any feelings for that side of the family, but nonetheless, I'd make bank off of that side of the family. I need to make that money! That's pretty much my only goal for the holidays. Make money! Make money! Make money!

Justice?

When I think of justice, I think of courts and such because that's how justice is delivered now. I think justice is something that should be delivered to someone when they commit some sort of wrongdoing. This is because they deserve it, and justice is the punishment for it. I think the Ewells deserve justice. The standard of justice is an eye for an eye. It should be done back to them what they have done to others. I don't think Tom Robinson deserves any justice. However, I do believe that the group of people with Mr. Cunningham also deserve justice, for the way that they operate, the way they wish to incite fear into others without regard for their lives or anything. I think justice should be served swiftly unless the wrongdoing that the person committed was slow and painful. Eye for an eye, retribution should be brought upon them the way they have brought pain onto others. This means I believe in capital punishment. Eye for an eye is the standard in which justice should be served, and once justice has been served, they both should be in the same position, if the man had inflicted a wound so much that it would cripple the other man, then that man should be crippled very much in the same way. I think that's how justice should be served, anyway.

Film v. Print

On film, the story is depicted more visually and with more sounds. Descriptions appeal to our senses immediately, there is only surface though. A broad surface, I might add, but through books, you must dig layer into layer, like the pages within a book. You will uncover intelligent information with a narrow surface, sometimes expanded by the author, but still, no matter what, extremely narrow compared to the big screen. You must, if a film adaption was in the question, find a good balance point between the two. Because only then can you have a satisfied crowd of people watching the movie. The movie has a lot more potential for story and visuals and audio effects, because instead of having to visualize everything in our heads we already have it visualized, it just requires interpretation. Then, it saves space for our brains to think about other things, rather than in a book that we are already occupied with the details and then still have to ponder about the plot and other plot devices that require thinking. Movies have more potential, but people usually emerge through books. You can easily wreck the production of the movie, but books will tend to remain more in the positive light of critics more often than films because films are harder to pull off.

American Poetry Today

Poetry today is found at special, classy meetings at cafes with lesbian waitresses and a live jazz band playing with coffee served in a tall cup with creative sounding names such as "Java storm" or "Mocha Delight" surrounded by "modern and contemporary" art that is merely something abstract and random branded as art, with lofty chairs for its audiences and dim lighting. Also, adobe painted walls and black tiled floors are essential, the cashier's table shouldn't look like a table but rather a wavy reincarnation, and behind where they make coffee should be various earth toned colored objects filled in the area. The crowd is quiet, and the stage has a poet presenting his material. The material is golden, mostly free verse and has the crowd awe-struck, no matter the quality of the work, the crowd is amused.
Another form of poetry is also found in music today. Most of the time the music carries no content, just being an empty chain of sounds played to keep the listener's attention, but rather some other songs would carry a deeper meaning with its lyrical content. Music is poetry, as it can express happiness, grief, anger, etc, all in one song.

Letter to the World

I believe Emily Dickinson meant by "This is my letter to the world/That never wrote to Me" is implying some sort of self deserving attitude that she had been longing for. She has so much self pity that she had wish the world itself had written to her a letter explaining how sorry it was to her about her potential spouses dying. This is why she locked herself in a room and wrote poetry - because she was pitying herself so much and writing poetry to express that pity in the form of written catharsis about how much the world should've given to her that she even wished for the world itself to write her a letter expressing its condolences for her. I do not share her feelings, she should've just manned up and faced the world in whatever she had instead of locking herself inside a room and feeling sorry. She needs to stop feeling sorry for herself and just go out and do things. Even though her writings today might be worth some sort of entertainment value, she could've accomplished more in that walking corpse of hers than just writing poems and instead actually doing things.

Boot Soles

What Walt Whitman means by Boot Soles is his quixotic idea that we'll all naturally decay into the earth into calm, living soil that will nurture the world from under them. Under the boot soles, that is. That is simply what he had meant, and he had meant it literally. Another thing is that Walt Whitman also implies we're all going to die. This is what he had meant by the quote, "if you want me again look under your boot soles," he is saying this for all of humans that we'll be returned to the earth. Walt Whitman sounds like a very outdoorsy, impractically idealistic and chivalrous type of person. A typical American author of the 1800th century, Walt Whitman is that type of person. This is all he had meant by the quote and nothing more, it addresses all of humanity and our fragility and easiness to die. He is also trying to draw off superiority and such from the modern reader to imply that he is just like us, that he will die and fade into time and also be returned to mother nature. That is simply my interpretation on his quote, and that is the best that I can draw from it.

Sound Effects in “The Raven”

The rhymes in the Raven give it this dramatic and scary feeling as you read it, because naturally these rhymes flow so well that it just makes you read faster. Faster and faster, with the addition of alliterations and the internal rhymes, it speeds things up easily and then you can't even comprehend how fast you're reading because your eyes are just moving across and your mouth is having a hard time catching up. It's kind of hard to realize the power of these rhymes until you read these poems, ones that flow so well with these rhymes. The rhyming is just so strict and well-versed and so beautifully put together that it makes the reader's mouth bleed and sweat ammonia. Urine leaks out of pants and drains from the body, as the person perspirates and cries out in tears of sodium hydroxide as it slowly dissolves the entire face and nothing left but a shadowy visage of the person reciting the rhymes of this poem, that is the power of these rhymes. The sound effects are crazy and enticing, embracing yet unforgiving, once you fall into the trap, you will never come out. It is a bottomless pit, a helldom of hells and a tartaros of burning fiery wrath.

Symbol of the Raven

The raven stands for something high and royal. The colors of the raven are midnight blue and sometimes black, but yet a prismatic gleam when you look at it under a certain light. It is a symbol of esoteric power, crypticness and arcane powers that the boy would never understand. All he knows is that Lenore is somehow related to this bird, and his insanity for her has driven him to project such an elegant creature. Yet at certain times, it is mistaken for a crow - the lowly crow- and that could describe its sinisterness in this poem, how the Raven simply draws upon the boy's nightmares and wishes and then crushes them with just one word: nevermore. The raven is a classic symbol of elegance, and as mentioned by Mr. McCool in class before, the raven was the creature that flew around and around on top of Noah's ark in the Book of Genesis, so there was some sort of truth in that when it had some trace of malice in it. The raven is one to screw with people, to better put it in a layman's terms, because they like stealing things, make fun of people (symbolically) and that's pretty much it.

Ugly Reality

I believe that there really isn't a fine line for when children should know about things like this or be exposed to it. Children of today are already exposed to violent video games. The thing is, what you cannot prevent, you must educate over it. I guess these court cases would serve to educate them instead of having unmonitored amounts of violence drilled into their heads and desensitized via video games and television. These court cases are more educational than video games. The thing is that punishment is involved in these court cases, and could serve to prime up the child and shape them in ways which they will learn that violence and the such is wrong rather than learning that causing gratuitous carnage and massive amounts of bloodshed will earn you coins or tokens. Virtual coins and tokens, that is. By yesterday's standards, yes, it might be too early for kids to learn about these things - but today, it is not because children today are already exposed to things like this. Massive amounts.
This is why I believe that there should be a line, but it's inevitable that children will discover violence. So my point of view is that there should be no age limit for when children are exposed to these kinds of court cases. They're already controlling characters that steals cars and hires prostitutes, why not legal court cases?

Licked

What the book meant by "licked a hundred years ago" means that they had lost the battle in slavery a hundred years ago. Because racism had stemmed, rooted in the firm soil of America and had set its roots into the brains of the youth generation through generation. Because slavery and racism is a political matter, political socialization of political culture has a lot to do with it. In America, your parents (aka family in political socialization) has a lot to do with the way you vote or think politically. Political socialization plays a large role today in our country, too. Back then it did as well. But the fact is that these traditions and values have been passed down through generation, the thinking has been too, therefore that means the parents have been educating the children of these kinds of things, pretty much meaning that they had lost the sway of the people because the people are all already thinking in this preset idea that racism is good, black people bad, etc. Political socialization is a powerful tool, as we follow our parents, what they say. So what he meant by being licked a hundred years ago means that they had already lost the case a hundred years ago.

I Dare You

Dares are just a way for one to tempt another at doing something to prove nothing. Basically, yes, there isn't a better way to state what Mr. McCool had said in class today: it just proves you're easily manipulated. People who are easily agitated and give in to taunts and challenges are often easy to manipulate. You can basically say that you're incompetent if you can't do so and so, and they'll do it just to prove to YOU, the darer, that they can. This proves nothing, because basically it's just "okay, good job, you can do it. want a cookie?" and you had just achieved something while they had not.
Dares are good if you're the giver of dares, the darer, while they're not good if you're the one that's out there doing them. I was dared in outdoor school once in middle school to lick the wall of my cabin. I did it, because I wanted to prove to my new peers that I could do it. After I had done it, I realized: I had proved nothing. Other than my repulsive willingness to lick an old cement wall, I had accomplished nothing. After that, I analyzed anything and everything one step higher to see what can I really accomplish? Is it worth it? And then, I do not give into dares easily.
If doing a dare allowed me to embarrass someone, then yes, I would do it.
But of course, everything is situational.

Welcome Back

For break, I hadn't done much. I went to a party in Toufen the first week, and that was all that had went on. I ended up getting a bunch of stuff drawn on my face when I fell asleep, which was not a pleasant surprise when I woke up. After that, at the end of the week, I went to a birthday party in Taipei. It was pretty fun, a bunch of people and it was at this restaurant in Taipei. The restaurant name is Hooks, and serves western food. Pretty tasty, too. They had a Mexican hot dog, which was deceivingly spicy, caught me off-guard and made me sweat like crazy. My forehead was entrenched with sweat, and the brim of my beanie was getting wet. It was kind of funny, too, because I'd like to think of myself as having a high tolerance for spice - but maybe because I was sick that I had reacted so strongly. Or that it was like habanero or something. After that, I went to Derek's mini birthday party. We made a big pizza sandwich, by topping like fifty different kinds of foods and then finishing off with the top layer as pizza. It was insane, the abomination we had created. That was a fun night, too.
Then, going to the Taipei 101 to watch fireworks finished off my break pretty nicely with a decent ending. Although most of the time I was at home sitting, knowing that I had at least socialized once with my friends means I am not lifeless.

America

Everyone knows the American Dream. It is that everyone has an equal chance of taking root in the soil that is the Great Land of Freedom and flourish in the clean, crisp air that is in America by absorbing its everlasting and infinite nutrients by just working hard.

Well, the air's not so clean if you're not born white.

The fact I am basing this opinion on skin color is because in the past, white people have reaped this land of it wealth and fenced it and kept it to themselves, using others such as slaves, leaving them in the hole they are in now, Blacks, many of whom lack so many opportunities compared to the average white child.

Black people work hard, too. But the reason is that the youth are so misguided and cannot help themselves that they're left in the dust while others are far ahead of them, in a race called Life. 

Black people begin at a disadvantage, so do mexicans, etc, because white people have set themselves at such an advantage since the first colonies.

There are exceptions, however, but face the truth: it doesn't happen often. 

Even though the gap is closing (slowly), it is still apparent as the urban youth today can usually be categorized based on their skin color to correlate to success in the future.

Harsh Words

Words that offend people usually judge them greatly.
Firstly, we must look at when it is okay to use such words and when it's unjustified.
When a person cannot help it, such as being called stupid or based on the color of their skin, the discrimination here is unjustified.
When a person screws up due to his lack of attention or practice, it is justified.
The things we cannot help are thing such as appearance, etc. Also, when someone puts you in a box and judges you immediately without getting to know you, that's also something people get offended by. Me, personally dislike being put in a box. In high school, when people made racist jokes about my race, even if it was positive like saying I'm smart or whatever, I still found it offensive because it puts you in a box without getting to know you due to your race. Not seeing the individual for who they are.
When people make judgments about you, they're putting themselves in a higher place of power, over you, when they mutter those prejudice words. It is okay, because for me, I believe, they are not worthy of being in that place they have set up themselves and I generally view myself as superior to all others. So it is okay for people to insult me, because intellectually I can usually make the right choices to simply ignore it.

Mockingbird So Far

In the Mockingbird, we've learned that Atticus is a wise man. The neighbor is a strange fellow, who's actually quite nice. The two boys get along well and then the girl feels left out, so she makes friends with the neighbor lady. So far, they've been discovering things inside the tree outside of the strange man's house. They've also noticed that later, afterwards, that the hole that they were discovering things in ended up being covered up. The two boys, Dill and Jem like to mess with the strange neighbor man, Boo Radley. Scout, who is the girl, just talks about their short adventures. Also, her brother broke his arm.
From what we've been hearing, it seems like the children live in a kind and quiet place in the south, where everything is carefree and the children get a fulfilling childhood with friends and family regardless if they're in the Depression era or not. Their father is a wise man and they have a complete family with good morals at home and rowdiness when they're playing together.
Also, Dill seems to be the leader of the crowd. He doesn't talk much about his past. Also, when a kid in class was borrowed money from the teacher and couldn't return it, the teacher hit him. A kid named Boris shows up in class and he's dirt poor and the trailer trash of the most trailer trash type character in the story yet.