Odyssey 12/8/14

The purpose for all the violence in books 22-24 is necessary for Odysseus to have his nostos. He was known for being a war hero and because of this the people who turned against him must pay for defying a war hero. He also killed the maids that started serving the suitors, this was also necessary. The maids were loyal to the family of Odysseus and no one else, when they served the suitors they sealed their fates.

Mous 10/20/14

The list rations of mous don't take away from the book but add to it. It would be close to impossible to list rate a story about the holocaust that doesn't seem generic with words. But when he uses illustrations he also symbolizes the people into different kinds of animals and he makes the Jews into mice. I believe he did this to describe how hitler bunched them into a race rather than a religious following and how defenseless they were against the german forces. I look forward to reading more of this story for a unique perspective into an age old historical horror.

9/29/14 the alchemist

The alchemist uses dreams and expresses them in a way that any spiritual society would. Dreams connecting to the soul of the world would be a strange concept in today's society, people would be confused at hearing the world had a soul and that anyone can access it. Our society is built on the sad concept of the privileged are a treasure and the malnourished are a burden; while in the alchemist all people are respected as equals in the sense of potential.  

9/15/14 the alchemist

The sheep in these quotes represent the people of a nation. If a nation takes care of its people the people forget how to survive without it. There are also many stories that compare people to sheep and their leader to a shepherd. He keeps the sheep for his traveling knowing they need him for survival and that he needs them to keep himself mentally stable. He also personifies the sheep more than once saying that one of his sheep that is lame is the smartest and produces the most wool. His behavior is not strange or out of the ordinary in any way; people fine animals or inanimate objects and gives them personality when they’re alone or away from society.

test blog 9/4/14

I want to become a better writer this year and I hope to gather the skills required to become said writer. I also want to better my reading and journaling skills. all in all I want to work harder this year and, so to say, redeem myself.

Journal Entry: Week of 5/12

The primary conflict of The City of Ember is the decay of a life supporting city surrounded by nothing but darkness; the type of conflict is man vs. environment .The city of ember was built to last 200 years (give or take a few years) after those 200 years the city would begin to collapse on itself until the city was dark and dead. The people of ember are faced with a clock that is counting down and when it hits zero their world ends. There are many conflicts in many books but the end of a civilization has to be one of the most tense situations to have to deal with.

Journal 2/24

In the time where this play takes place it was an acceptable and common thing to be anti-semitic. Most of the audience and actors and probably even William Shakespeare himself were all anti-semitic or non pro-judaism. Shakespeare had one pro-judaism speech in his entire play "the merchant of venice" and the rest made the main jewish character look like a selfish, harsh, and an all around horrid person to be acquainted with. Today we would see this as a not ok thing to do but then it was generous of him to give him that one speech of pity. Today we are expected to be "acceptant" towards all other religions and races while they were expected to be holy and to punish those who weren't. The persecution of the jewish community in Europe went on all the way to the 1940's while in america most people were acceptant. All in all we just have to take into consideration the conditions of the time and location where the literature was written before judging it based on our current beliefs.

journal 2/17

Shylock is both a comedic villain and a tragic character. In the first part of the play he was mainly a comedic villain while near the end of the play he is truly reviled as a tragic character when you see him reacting to his daughter running away with a christian boy, his money being taken with her, and all of the christians hate him. He is a very sad character who wants wants respect and revenge from and against those who wronged him. He is simply a sad character, not a villain.

journal 2/10

I do not believe that this Shakespearian play is either a pure tragedy or a pure comedy. I find that this play is simply a serious tale containing mixed amounts of comedy and tragedy. It does not contain true sadness and pity or pure laughter and enjoyment. It is a tragicomedy because it has dark overtones, laughable dialogue, and a happy ending can be seen over the horizon. even though it has its comedic aspects we can not simply forget that each character has their own tragedies.

journal 2/3

Venice and Belmont are very different from each other. in Venice there are strict laws and regulations of social hierarchy and religious barriers while in Belmont it is more diverse and acceptant of all classes, religions, and gender. Also in Venice the men are introduced as power holders while in Belmont the female characters are the power holders. I believe that the Green world theory holds.

Journal Week 1/27

Elizabethan English isn't used in modern day communication. Understanding of the words will definitely be a very big issue because these words are not used very often in this day and age. i would imagine that most people would have trouble with understanding old english words.

Pronunciation will probably be one of the biggest problems for not only me but for lots of others.
Dyslexia has been a major problem for me in the past and will continue to be a problem for me in the future. i will most definitely have trouble sounding out the words and figuring out the proper pronunciation.