For my second
journal, I have decided to write about one of my all-time favorite poems; Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening
by Robert Frost. This poem especially appeals to me now, because it is very
calming. The speaker is weary, and wishes he could fall asleep, giving the poem
a sleepy and dreamy quality. I find it interesting how you can almost feel the
heaviness of the snow, and how noise is muted because of the oppressive blanket.
My favorite lines at are at the conclusion of the poem-“and miles to go before
I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.” Upon initial reading, the speaker
just seems to be exhausted and weary of his journey and day. But, with closer
inspection, Robert Frost’s dark poetic nature is revealed. The narrator is
truly tired of his life, and he is all alone in a dark thicket of snowy woods.
This sight, although very beautiful, reminds the speaker that he is tired of
his obligations in life. Despite this dark and horrible thought, the speaker is
able to stop and enjoy the lovely, dark, and deep woods. Another aspect I look
for in poetry I read in rhyme scheme. Stopping
by the Woods on a Snowy Evening has a consistent and strong scheme. It is
AABA, CCDC, etc. I have always had a preference towards poems that rhyme
because I pay closer attention to the lines and connect with the poet more than
I would in most other poems.
Joe's Blog
Friday, March 21, 2014
Divergent Pt. 2
As a Dauntless transfer from Abnegation, Beatrice Prior was
immediately forced into change because the abnegation and dauntless are
virtually opposites of each other. The transition was immediate and harsh; she
changed her name, her appearance, and her personality just to survive the
conditions of the severe faction. Beatrice, now know by the name Tris, was
stripped of her old self, allowing for a new, brave woman to break her girlish
history. Tris tattoos her collarbone with three birds, one for each member of
the family she left behind. This is the only reminder she allows herself, and
although Tris misses her parents and brother, Caleb, she powers through to
survive. Armed with these new, ‘tough’ tattoos, Tris begins to dress in the
faction-sanctioned color- black. This change of identity is swift, and no one
supports, or holds Tris’ hand during the process. Against all odds, Tris
survives the first week. Her journey would only get harder, however. Tris
begins training week- fighting her new roommates and friends to keep her new
home. Falling out of place, falling to last
place, means becoming faction less. Homeless and starving, the faction less
people of the world wander around and beg for food, money, anything to help
them survive in the unforgiving world of Divergent.
Needless to say, Tris was desperate, and day in and day out allowed her body to
be beaten and basically tortured, all in favor of keeping her new ‘family’.
Tris never questioned her faction choice, and although she may not have been
the strongest, smartest new Dauntless member, she proved herself to be the
bravest. She stood up for her new friends, quite literally, when she placed
herself in front of an amateur knife-thrower, just to save her friend from the
perilous Chasm. Eventually, Tris finds her niche. She starts to enjoy herself
in Dauntless, learning the ropes and soon finding thrill in impossibly
dangerous events. Tris is joyful when presented with life-threatening and hazardous
opportunities- she even begins to seek the feeling of chaos and instability. Tris
is, in fact, the only person from Dauntless who can deny and suppress her fear
long enough to climb an old, rusted Ferris wheel during an intense game of
capture the flag. Perhaps the most interesting characteristic about Tris is
that, although she was not even born into Dauntless, she hates showing any type
of weakness, and this quality transformers her into a true Dauntless- although
time will tell if she will succumb to her true Divergent nature.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Divergent
Beatrice Prior lives in a future
version of Chicago where there are five distinct factions. Each faction molds
the lifestyle of its community surrounding the ideals of one particular virtue.
The faction system exists because people were corrupt in the past and by
following a faction lifestyle people are bettering themselves. Each faction
believes that the virtue they devote themselves to, is the most vital.
Dauntless believe in bravery and courage, the Erudite obsess over knowledge,
Abnegation promotes selfless acts, Amity focuses on friendship, and Candor
believes in the truth. Beatrice grew up in an Abnegation family and on her
sixteenth birthday she took a test to discover what faction she should join for
the rest of her life. Her results came back inconclusive and her proctor told
her she was “divergent” because she could be an erudite, a dauntless, or
abnegation. She was told that being divergent was a bad thing and that she
would be putting herself in danger if she told anyone, including her family, what
she was. She made the drastic decision
to change factions and at the choosing ceremony she became the second
abnegation member to ever become a dauntless initiate.
I like how the author writes and
uses imagery in her writing style to depict each scene with enough detail that
you can picture everything happening. I am excited for the movie that is coming
out soon because I want to compare how I expected the scenes to look to how
they actually turn out. She makes the main character’s life so dramatic and it
definitely appeals to the reader’s senses and makes them feel the same emotions
that Beatrice is going through. Also the book was great in general and I would
highly recommend it for all readers. It is the first book of an addicting
trilogy and I had a hard time putting it down.
Monday, March 17, 2014
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - What values do the Wudan masters teach their pupils?
The values that the Wudan masters teach their pupils are passed down from generation to generation. They are to respect your master and others, to act justly and do things for the right reasons, to be determined and fight passionately, to be true to one's inner self, and lastly to uphold the responsibilities one has to his or her master. To honor his or her master the student must embrace and follow these principles. The Wudan masters instruct their pupils to consistently respect their master and always be courteous to their elders and all people. They teach the pupils to always fight with passion otherwise their hard work becomes useless. Each student has their own obligations and beliefs that they must uphold. They have to honor their master. For example, in the movie, Li Mu Bai was an honorable student and after Jade Fox murdered his master, he felt he had the responsibility of avenging his master’s death. The masters also teach their pupils to always be true to themselves and do what will be best for them. To never let outside events or people influence their actions.
Monday, January 6, 2014
Ready Player One - Part III
The
ending of Ready Player One was partially what I had anticipated; the main
character Wade Watts won Halliday’s Easter Egg competition. But there were
several major twists. I was surprised when I found out that his oldest and
closest friend Aech, a typical white guy in the OASIS was actually a black
lesbian girl. Secondly, I was not expecting the competition to end as
dramatically as it did. An all-out-war on the government players no one liked
and they ended up detonating a nuclear bomb killing everyone all of which was
completely unexpected. The competition was also extremely close right up until
the very end and I was surprised how willing Online Industries was to threaten
or kill their competition in order to win. Aside from all these occurrences, the
ending was excellent. I liked how the leading players all met in real life, became
friends, and teamed up. I thought it was cool how Ogden Morrow, the other
founder of the OASIS reached out to the top four players and helped them win to
preserve the integrity of the competition. I also liked how his mansion was
designed to be like the elf city in Lord of the Rings, which was pretty cool.
In the beginning of the story Wade Watts is an overweight loser who lives in a
trash heap of recreational vehicles and at the end he is a billionaire
and has friends and a girlfriend.
My
favorite thing about the ending was that it contained so many elements that I
was not expecting! It kept me on my toes up until the last page and once I had
finally finished reading I wanted to know what happened next. I hope Ernest
Cline writes a sequel because the end of Ready Player One leaves a lot of
possibilities for the future of the champions. Just like the rest of the story,
the ending was unpredictable. This made the entire text so much more
interesting to read, I was constantly hooked and curious to know what would
happen next. Despite how strange the ending was, it was pretty obvious that
Wade would be the winner of the competition right from the start. Nevertheless,
the ending is certainly appropriate, it was fitting and all of the players both
good and bad got what they deserved. The Online Industries’ leaders went to
jail for murder and the young winners had everything they had ever dreamed of
in the palm of their hand.
Ready Player One Part II
It was easy for me to connect with
the purpose, experience, and values that were expressed in the text because of
the author’s elaborate details in every situation throughout the text. When the real world is too real for someone
30 years from now they most likely plug themselves into a virtual world called
the OASIS to escape. The main character Wade Watts is a dedicated OASIS user
who spends the majority of his time online because his real life contains too
much misfortune and stress to deal with. People in 2014 often shy away from
their problems too, and many people find their relief in technology now. I know
that when I’m stressed out I usually turn to my phone, television, or computer.
Wade experiences fantastical things quite often throughout the story, things
that are so outstanding they are hard for me to imagine being possible. However
in the story, the intense descriptions were easy to picture and imagine almost
like watching the scenes play out in my mind as I read. It helps that the
author uses hundreds of references from the late twentieth century because
there are so many of them I already understand and the ones I do not are
interesting to learn. The purpose of Ready Player One is a little vague, but to
me the purpose is point out corruption in the present or possibly just to
predict what the future may possibly be like similar to how George Orwell did
in his book,” 1984.” Regardless of the author’s intentions, it was extremely
easy for me to connect with this text because I am something of a nerd myself
and even if I was not this story is still excellent.
In the
story, all of the characters who were good were competing against each other
and a government agency that controlled the internet. They were competing for a
prize called Halliday’s Easter Egg, James Halliday was a founder of the OASIS
and his prize consisted of the fortune he had collected during his lifetime,
his estates, and his character’s power along with control of the entire OASIS
server. At the end the good characters team up to fight the government because
if they won, the OASIS would be ruined forever. The government agency attacks
and harasses the people who are ahead of them in the competition and cheat so
they can get an upper hand. By teaming up the players who are good win the
competition and the agency’s worst members are brought to justice.
Friday, December 13, 2013
Ready Player One
Ready
Player One by Ernest Cline is one of the best books I have ever read and I have
hardly even dented it. After just five chapters I love everything about this
book, it is well written with lots of captivating descriptions of intense
situations that have kept me consistently interested and entertained. Even
though the book is written about years into the future it is still extremely
realistic through the author’s use of detail and imagery. I liked how it started out explaining the
setting of the story and the hardships people faced in the future such as a
massive fuel shortage and widespread poverty. It explains how people do almost all
of their daily activities in the OASIS, a virtual world that everyone can
access through the internet. People use it because it is so much better than
the actual world they lived in. The creator of this alternate simulated
universe, James Halliday, was remarkably similar to Steve Jobs, an icon and
celebrity for his enhancements in technology. When he died he released a
contest for the users of his virtual world to try to obtain his massive
fortune. The main character Wade, who is dirt poor, makes it his mission to win
this challenge which could completely change his life since he was born in a
bad neighborhood and had almost nothing to his name.
The story hooked me immediately by starting
in the middle and then explaining what led up to everything that had happened.
Plus I find it interesting that even though this book is written about the
future, the creator of the OASIS who was raised in the 1980s sparked a rebirth
of 80s culture and it’s thrilling that I understand a lot of the references
made in the story. This story is excellent and factors in the struggles of
school which nearly all students can identify themselves with, as well as teenage
friendship and love which apparently hasn’t changed that much 40 years from now
except that you meet and interact with everyone online. The plot is constantly
twisting and it’s exhilarating because I never know what’s going to happen
next! As a senior in high school, I rarely enjoy reading for pleasure anymore
and when I have the time I find it very difficult to find books I enjoy.
However, I am absolutely addicted to this story and am eager to find more time
to read it.
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