Stopping by woods on a snowy evening - Robert Frost

      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. 

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.

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.

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. 

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.