Quarter 2 Reflection

Quarter 2 is finally over and I believe I have good work to show for it. Of course it did get a little harder, but that’s how you learn. I was glad to see that I improved in my writing. But still a little uneasy because I don’t think I am where I’m supposed to be. Hopefully third quarter bring that security.

We did a lot of reading this quarter and lucky us, all the books were good. Tartuffe by Moliere was extremely funny, which made it a lot easier to read. Othello was a tragedy, but I think that that’s what made the class interested in the play. We all had the same question, “Who was going to fall victim to Shakespeare’s deaths?” well by the end of the play we all knew, and I was upset because the ending was unfair, but I guess that’s why they call a tragedy right? The final book we read, Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky was one of the best books I have ever read. I always wanted to read it; I just never had the chance. Once I finally got to dab into the mind that Dostoevsky had created in his book, I couldn’t stop reading, it was too good. My favorite book as you can already imagine was Crime and Punishment, and it’s going to be hard to top that this year; but then again we are reading Wuthering Heights third quarter, and that book was also good.

The only thing I have to complain about second quarter is that I don’t feel like I am where I should be. But I do know what it is I have to fix to get there. It’ll take a lot a work because I’m used to the way I write, but I’m hoping that we practice more doing third quarter so I can catch my mistakes and fix them early on.

Although I’m still not where I want to be, I believe that second quarter helped me climb a little higher to where I want to be. All I need to do is keep practicing and make sure I checking my work before I turn it in, so that I can finally get the grades I should be getting. Let’s say hello to a quarter =].

Othello Pancake Paper

Othello Paper

Trust, a good quality in a person until the person becomes too trusting of the other people around them. Throughout Othello, the main character Othello is viewed as a tragic Hero, but every tragic hero has his hamartia. Othello’s way of trusting easily caused him jealousy that made his obsession climb until he had nothing left to do but act on what he was led to believe. Othello’s trust in Iago’s word began a chain reaction that ultimately led to Othello’s downfall.
Othello is a character that seems to have it all, which means that there is someone who doesn’t have enough. Iago is one character that doesn’t have enough so he sets out to get what he wants. “My lord you know I love you.” (3.3.134). Othello was a good man, how could he believe that someone was out to get him? His good nature and his great position led him to believe that no one would dare hurt him, which increased his trust in everyone around him. Which is why the words above, which were given in the most deceitful was were taken in as true. By believe those few words Othello gave much power to Iago, and Iago’s plan to destroy Othello.
Now that Iago has planted the seed of doubt, he begins to care of what he has planted. How does he make sure that his seed is growing strong; by lying. “I speak not yet of proof [...]I would not have you free and noble nature, out of self-bounty, be abused.” (3.3.227-231). Othello’s trusting matter made it easy for Iago to enhance the doubt that he had already invested in Othello. Iago in the quote above stated that he had no solid proof, but advised Othello to watch both his wife and his ex-lieutenant to see for himself if something was wrong. Poor Othello believed everything Iago said to him, and everything that Iago showed him.
As humans, it is natural to feel a little jealous toward something that is ours. So when Othello hears from Iago that Othello’s wife Desdemona might be cheating on him, Othello goes mad with “the green-eyed monster.” You would think that Othello, being a great man of his country, would not be easily persuaded into the idea that his wife has failed him. But jealousy can cause a man to change his view on things instantly. “By the world, I think my wife be honest and think she is not…I’ll have some proof!” (3.3.438-441). Othello’s trust in Iago has given Iago the right to torment Othello; which is what the quote above shows, Othello’s confusion between what is true, and what his jealousy is leading him to believe.
Every chain reaction always has to end. Othello’s chain reaction started with the moment he began to trust Iago; continued with his built up jealousy, and will end with the murder of the one he loved driven on by his obsessed mind. “For I will make him tell the tale anew--.” “(Iago) Ply Desdemona well, and you are sure on ‘t…(Cassio) laughing. (Othello) Look how he laughs already!” (4.1.99-127). Othello is completely taken over by jealousy that his obsession on the subject begins to turn the slightest insignificant think like laughter into something that means so much more. Othello lets his obsession consume him until all he sees is his wife and his ex-lieutenant being deceitful together.
In the end Othello’s obsession causes him to kill his wife. He does not know what he has done until he strips himself of everything that has been thrust upon him and actually analyzes what he has done. “You told a lie, an odious damned lie! Upon my soul, a lie, a wicked lie!...” (5.2.216-218). Emelia was the one who helped Othello strip away all the things that plagued his mine. By the times that she confessed that Desdemona was the most sincere woman, it was too late, Othello had done the deed. Once Othello realized what he had done, without a hint of jealousy, or obsession, he didn’t what else to do but to mourn the death of his wife with his own death.
Othello was a good example for those who trust easily and are led quickly by things they see and don’t understand. The road to Othello’s downfall began with the simple belief that someone who was out to get him “loved him.” Later, this person, Iago, had the ability to give Othello a piece of information and have Othello view it in the incorrect way. If Othello stopped between these occurrences to think about what it was that he was actually hearing, and seeing, he would’ve figured out that there was no way that Desdemona and Cassio were going behind his back and doing deceitful things. But Othello was a man who worked on so much passion that he let it increase every bad feeling that he had, which led to the death of the most honest person in his life; Ironic isn’t it?

Blog #1: S&S Ch. 1

Reviewing Chapter One

Ordinary language does not say more and says it more intensely as poetic language does.
The uses of language:
Information: most common use of language, it helps us with the ordinary business of living.
Experience: this exists to bring us a sense and a perception of life, to widen and sharpen our contacts with existence.
Persuasion: is used in advertisements, sermons, and political speeches to convince audience to support a certain argument.

Looking for moral instruction and beauty may be limiting approaches because if you do what is morally correct to the world, and write about what the world think beauty is, you deny yourself the chance to find out what your personal opinion on those subjects are.

Distinctions between poetry and other imaginative literature are that poetry is the most condensed and concentrated form of literature.
Four dimensions of experience that poetry involves:
Metaphor: comparing two things with “like” or “as”
Irony: when you get something opposite of what’s expected
Sound repetition: Beginning letters, endings in words, create rhythm/pattern
Allusion: Mirrors ideas from different work of literature

“The Last Night that She Lived” portrays all the things exemplified in the chapter because the language isn’t dry, or scarce, the writing has more behind what’s read, and the poem causes feelings with the story.

Sound & Sense: Chapter 2

1.Review the 5 preliminary suggestions for reading poems.

•Read the Poem more than once.

•Keep a dictionary by you and use it.

•Read so as to hear the sounds of words in your mind.•Always pay careful attention to what the poem is saying.

•Practice reading poems aloud.

2. List step in paraphrasing, and create paraphrases of several poems, showing how paraphrase helps to clarify the theme.

•To paraphrase a poem means to restate it in different language, so as to make its prose sense as plain as possible. The paraphrase should contain all the ideas in the poem in such a way as to make them clear and to make the central, or theme, of the poem accessible.

3. Explain how identifying the speaker and the occasion of the poem show the dramatic quality of the poetry.

•Identifying the speaker and the occasion of the poem show dramatic quality of the poetry because the speaker and the occasion might reflect the poets life, while the speaker and the occasion may only be something fictional that the poet thought up.

4. Explore the concept of a "central purpose" of a poem."

•The concept of a central purpose of a poem would be to figure out what the poem was written for. Without knowing why the poem was written we don’t get the full effect of the poem.

5. Consider the difference between the means and the ends in determining a central purpose of a poem.

•The means of determining a central purpose of a poem would be determining what the poet was trying to say, and then the ends of it would be whether or not you agree with it or not.

6.Determine which ideas in this chapter are exemplified in the following poems.

•The poem There’s been a Death, in the Opposite House best exemplifies paraphrasing because it is simple to put it in your own words and figure out the meaning of the poem.