Thinking Outside the Box

As humans we are born with the ability to use logic and reason to get through life. What is surprising is that most do not use it as often and have settled with what little they do know. Many philosophers and writers have created works that touch upon this, encouraging readers to seek knowledge. In "The Cave" Plato uses an allegory to talk about the ignorance of the people in politics and how they should seek enlightenment. In "No Exit" Sartre creates a hell for people that are blinded by their own perceptions of hell that they do not believe they are there. Through these works, they explore the human psyche and how people cling onto ideas that are the most "comfortable" rather than break free from shackles and into a brightly lit world as does one of the prisoners in "The Cave". Sartre, on the other hand, focuses on the fact that people have a hard time letting go of their perceptions and seeing things for what they truly are, at the beginning of the play Garcin expects hell to have torture chambers but comes to find hell is seeing parts of you that you do not accept. Both touch upon being open-minded about what is out in the world and searching all aspects of something rather than accepting what you see or hear before hand.

Literary Terms

A protagonist is the main character of a piece of work. They usually have an antagonist, which is just someone that stands in their way of achieving whatever goal they have.




Protagonists are easily identified, given that the entire work revolves around them and their journey. When I think of protagonists I usually think of super heroes, in comics and movies they're the protagonists and they all have an enemy.





Surrealism is a 20th-century avant-garde movement in art and literature that sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind. It is characterized by the juxtaposition of the bizarre and the banal, as seen in the photographs in the video below.






Prose is the ordinary form of spoken and written language; language that does not have a regular rhyme pattern.


In the following poem there is a clear rhyming sequence, followed by what it would sound like had it been in prose:


The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."


I was in the woods during the fall season and I came upon two roads. The first was visibly the one preferred by most, the second seemed as though it had been untouched. I would have liked to have travelled down them both but I chose the latter instead and I am glad I did because it indeed was a better choice.

My BIG Question

Is there a correlation between sexual oppression and self confidence?

Hamlet Essay #2

When people hear the word hero there are certain names that have been connected to it, like Beowulf; rarely does one hear Hamlet added into the mix. Hamlet is indeed an epic hero like the rest but he acts and speaks in a distinct way that those named do not. Hamlet is a far more intellectual man; he uses brains instead of brute force. Their motivations are quite similar but making this connection is quite difficult due to Hamlet’s self-expression. The languages of these men create an individual type of heroic tone.

            Beowulf is known for his strength, for defeating armies and creatures by himself. Hamlet, however, is known for his plot to kill his murderous uncle and remember his father. Beowulf does not think things through; he goes into battle with his haughty attitude and usually gets the job done. Hamlet planned out his revenge, in a way torturing King Claudius as he prolonged it. “ ‘The Mousetrap.’ Marry, how? Tropically. This play is the image of a murder done n Vienna. Gonzago is the duke’s name, his wife Batista. You shall see anon. ‘Tis a knavish piece of work, but what of that? Your Majesty and we that have free souls, it touches us not. Let the galled jade wince; our wither are unwrung.” He also set up a play in which he tricks King Claudius into reacting to something that would be insignificant were he innocent but of course he is not.

            Hamlet sounds as though he is unsure of what is right and wrong. “To be or not to be, that is the question, whether ‘tis noble in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them.” Beowulf goes into battle so sure of himself and that he will defeat whatever is in his way. Compare to Beowulf, Hamlet sounds like a young boy that needs to be handheld through a maze.

             

So Far This Semester...

I have learned quite a bit about epics and tragedies, about my own writing and others in my class. The one thing I learned indirectly is that I have a huge procrastination problem. I was aware of this before but it was not until now that I realized that I desperately need to fix it (she said as she does her homework two periods before class). I know that if I continue to procrastinate then I wont ever get to do the things I love. Take my photography, if I keep procrastinating then I wont get any solid photos, if I do not have photos I cannot make a portfolio, if I cannot make a portfolio then I cannot get a job, and so on. I hope that this class will continue to give me that incentive to stop procrastinating and getting my work done.


The way I relieve stress and make my problems not seem as difficult to solve is by laughing at it and making it a joke, that is why I chose this video. And she makes me laugh uncontrollably. Enjoy.

Video Conference with Roy Christopher

    There was a lot said during the one hour interview, the beginning was mainly giving us all background on who Roy Christopher is and what he is working on. Then things started to get interesting once people in class submitted questions. What really caught my attention were his thoughts on multi-tasking, knowledge on technology, and the way older generations perceive the newer ones.
    His stance on multi-tasking was that it was improbably, a "myth". He said that if you want something to be your best work then you must give this one thing all of your attention. He also went on to say that he feels that when he has one project to do he does better on it than when he has multiple ones because his mind is only focused on that one project. I completely agree, yes you can do two things at once but they will be a poor representation of what you are capable of. 
    He also brought up "Program or be Programmed" by Douglas Rushkoff. It is a book that talks about whether we should take charge of technology or let ourselves be ruled by it and those that have mastered it. He made an analogy to having a car. You don't have to know how the car works to drive it but it does have its advantages. When your car breaks down, a person that knows their car in&out can find the problem while those that do not will have to seek help. Knowing the ins and outs of the technology you are using will ultimately benefit you because then you can control exactly what you put out there and what you share with others (those you know and do not know).
   The one thing that I thought was cool to hear was that he acknowledged the fact that older generations sort of look down on the younger generations because of their tech savvy ways. He said that they were just "jealous" basically because we understood most of it. It reminded me of our discussion about memes, they create and in & out crowd. The out crowd is usually resentful at the fact that they are not "in". But going back to the main point, what I took from it was that no matter what time period we are in the older generation will feel as though the younger one is not ready to take on "adult problems". However, if we are expected to fail then it could potentially become a self-fulfilling prophecy.




In all I thought this was a very interesting and informative experience. It is not every day that you can get feedback and insight from the author of an article you read. I hope we get to do this again this school year.

The Shining by Stephen King

Jack goes to an interview at The Overlook Hotel to see of they will hire him to keep an eye on it during its off-season. Jack is an aspiring writer and former alcoholic. While he is in Colorado, his wife is at home with their son Danny. She seems to be worried because Jack is taking a long time at the meeting. Jack does get the job and then is shown around the huge hotel and given instructions on how to take care of it. Danny, the son, waits for his father on the curb. He is a very peculiar boy, claiming he has a boy, Tony, living inside his mouth which can later be interpreted as his clairvoyant guide. It is shared little by little that Jack's last drink was when he broke Danny's arm after Danny had scattered all his papers on the floor one night. Things start off alright, then Danny starts ti get these horrific visions that appear to be warning him. His father also starts to inhibit some changes, his behavior becomes erratic and unusual. Once at the Overlook, the chef confesses to Danny that he has a gift his grandmother called "the shining" and he suspects he also has it. He warns Danny of the dangers in the hotel and how he is susceptible to them. It is learned that Jack had an abusive father and he fears he will become him. Then Danny has a vision and Tony visits, his parents bring him back when they notice he has been in the bathroom for a long time. That night, the empty wasps' nest Jack gave Danny suddenly is filled with wasps again, in his room. Days later, Jack finds the Overlook's history and at the same time, Danny contemplates entering room 217 the same room the chef told him to stay out of. Danny believes that staying at the hotel will help his family stay together but it will actually tear them apart. Then Danny decides to enter the room, and he feels a corpse' hand on his neck. Jack has a dream in which his father tells him to kill Wendy and Danny, he soon finds out he is sleep walking when he awakes to himself  breaking a radio. They find Danny in real bad shape with bruises everywhere, and Wendy assumes it was Jack. Danny tells them he saw a lady in the room and when Jack goes to investigate& finds nothing they become worried about Danny. Things start to go from bad to worse when Danny is attacked by the hedge animals and they find confetti in the elevator car. Danny decides to give the chef a psychic call which he receives and he starts to make his way from Florida to COlorado. One morning Danny sees a man in a dog costume crawling on the floor and he threatens Danny. Then Wendy finds Jack drunk as a skunk passed out downstairs and when she awakes him he begins to threaten and choke her. Wendy and Danny then lock Jack up in the pantry fearing for their lives. Grady, a man that once took care of the hotel but was driven to madness and murdered his family, comes and frees Jack on the condition that he kills Wendy and Danny. The chef, Halloran makes it to the hotel but is attacked by hedge animals. Wendy locks herself in the bathroom after Jack has been after her. He gets into the bathroom, clawing at the door. Danny finally meets Tony, who is revealed to be Danny in 10 years. Danny can see that a piece of his father is still alive, that the hotel hasn't completely possessed him. Danny then realizes that Jack hasn't been letting out the pressure from the boiler and knows it will explode. He tells Jack and he goes to look to it. Danny, Halloran and his mother take this chance to escape. The Overlook explodes with Jack in it. Halloran moves to Maine and Wendy&Danny plan to move to Maryland.
The novel takes a look at the human psyche. It shows that isolation can have very harmful effects to a person's mind. When a person is in one place with little or no contact with the outside world they begin to go a bit mad, cabin fever. This was true for Jack, although the hotel did possess him. People's minds have been trained to socialize and when that is taken away it doesn't quite know what to do or how to cope so it begins to make hallucinations and things spiral. Time alone also gives people time to overanalyze everything and to bring up old skeletons. Jack was plagued with a violent upbringing and starts to see that he himself is a lot like his abusive father which frightens him.
The author's tone is very eerie and thrilling. He uses more of a psychological fear rather than a shock type of fear where things just pop up. These visions that Jack and Danny see can lead people to believe they were schizophrenic but once these hallucinations leave marks it makes one question whether or not these people are sane driven to madness by the hotel.