My Final Post

What do you see when you look at this picture? A road? Hovering trees? A path way? A light leading the way off into the distance into a mysterious path? You know the saying "a pictures worth a thousand words"? Well.... it actually just depends on the picture... this picture could actually be worth much more. When I saw this picture, I thought of life. Off in the distance you see your future just ahead of you. So close, yet so far away. This reminds me of growing older, learning new things and as you get farther off into the distance, you begin to see more of what the world is truly like. Reading through my posts... there is one thing that stood out to me the most. I noticed that I mostly base my posts off of my previous life experiences and things that I've had to face throughout my life.

As I continue my journey through life, new things begin to be revealed to me making things more clear for me as time goes by. Things begin to make better sense and pieces of the puzzle begin to fit together. The books that we read throughout this year... they weren't like other books. Like Doctor Seus or anything like that. But they all truly had a deeper meaning to them all. No matter how hard you had to look to be able to find the meaning... in between those lines within the pages it's always there. These books that we read, they all showed a progression through time. Something changing about the character. Whether it was maturing, or becoming hardened to reality.
Not all posts were about the lives of characters within books though... But also showed a reflection on my life as well. Such as the posts "Memories", "My Best Friend", and "Life Lesson" where bit by bit I gave some background detail on my life. These posts as well as others such as "Fate: Pisces", and "Essay Writing" also helped to discover some of the background details about myself giving me clearer and more organized thoughts for when I express myself and my opinions instead of just following what others might say. These posts often help to show my perspective of life and how my experiences may affect my opinions when interpreting the meanings of books, passages, or poems.
All my posts ultimately gave my outlook on life through different experiences. These posts also helped me to discover new things about myself as well as how others may live their lives today. As my journey through life continues I also notice a change in the way I think and feel about specific situations. These life situations and all that people experience in daily life is what gives people their freedom of perspectives and opinions and their way of imagining a world outside their own. These posts collectively give you my opinions, and how I interpret literature through my knowledge of what's beyond the words on a printed page within a book.

Essay Writing

Recently, writing essays has become an easier process for me. I've been able to write them with more ease and with less stress in mind. It's almost become a routine for me as writing essays becomes a more frequent process. Analyzing literature i find to be extremely important. What I've found out about what I've been missing in between the lines while reading books has both surprised me and has caught my interest. How much I have realized I can get out of a book has lead me to life lessons that are either useful or has expanded my knowledge of others perspectives. But analyzing literature is most definitely not an easy process. At times you may even be looking so deep into the writing within the book that you find yourself going beyond what the author intended for you to see. During these times, you might actually find more use out of your findings then what most people can be able to interpret within the literature. How you're able to dig deep into the author's writings is through figurative language, motif's, themes, character development, and such things that the author intentionally uses for you to discover so that you may get more out of the book then what's just surface level material.

In my essay, they were some challenges I had to confront with the topic I chose for my thesis. The one thing my thesis made me struggle with the most is being able to dig deeper into Romeo and Juliet. It was extremely frustrating that I wasn't able to figure it out with such ease that I've had in previous essays. This topic was much different and seemed more surface level than the topics that I could've chosen. But I'm really hoping for the best with the commentary I wrote for my concrete details. Another thing I seem to struggle with at times is word choice and not being repetitive with the point I'm trying to get across. But through this essay, I feel that I've gotten better at not being as repetitive as before in my previous essays. These things are really the only things that I have the most concern about. But I am putting great effort into figuring out how I can use the authors intentions to support my thesis to the best of my ability.

Summer Reading

The summer! Oh how I love the fresh air, the warm sun dazzling without a cloud in sight :) this would be the one time out of the year where stress isn't in my vocabulary and I can just relax! The best way to read in the summer is while in the sun on a porch swing. It's relaxing and peaceful and is an enjoyable way to spend your time while reading. But... choosing books for me to read is most definitely not a walk in the park. I'm a horribly picky reader and it usually takes me a while to find a good book that I can just enjoy and read for fun without feeling like I absolutely have to read it.

So for me this is a pretty tuff decision. But a book that I'm really considering reading over the summer is The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolken. But instead of just reading the first book out of the series I'll probably end up reading all of them. But I probably won't end up finishing them all by the end of the summer. The reason I want to read the series is mostly because of how me and my sister used to watch the movies. and from what I've heard is that the books are even better so I'm pretty positive that it'll be an amazing book!

The second book that I'd probably put on my reading list is the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. Yeah... I know. Kindof surprising that I haven't already read these books right? So i was just thinking why not read them now while I have some free time on my hands. But that's not the main reason for why I want to read them. It's mostly because I love the movies and how creatively they were made!! But they didn't start out with the movies. It was the books that came first. So surly they must be better then the movies! At least that's what I've heard. But I know I'll enjoy them because of the suspense and the uniqueness of the books :)

Fate: Pisces

Okay, so my research on the unique astrology connected to my birthday lead me to the knowledge of that I am a pisces. My research on a pisces character surprisingly was really accurate and close to mine. This is what it said a Pisces character was like:

• possesses a gentle, patient, malleable nature
• has many generous qualities, are friendly, good natured, kind and compassionate, sensitive to the feelings of those around them, and show sympathy towards others
• are befriended with all kinds of people- partly because of their easygoing, affectionate, submissive natures offer no threat or challenge towards stronger and more exuberant characters
• accepting of other people and their circumstances in which they find themselves rather than trying to adapt them to suit themselves, and they patiently wait for problems to sort themselves out rather than taking the initiative in solving them
• they are more readily concerned with the problems of others rather than with their own
• are never egotistical
• tend to withdraw into a dream world where their qualities can bring mental satisfaction
• are artistic and creative
  

So these qualities are extremely similar to mine, except for the waiting for problems to sort out for themselves. In some ways that is true for me, but I'd also much rather have problems sorted out much sooner than later. These similarities in my character compared to how they describe a Pisces character fascinates me and makes me curious as to what they describe the other traits of the Pisces to be. What I find to be pretty interesting is how it says Pisces are artistic. I've loved art ever since I knew how to use a pencil and I've decided recently to begin to embrace that talent of mine instead of pursuing other things that I may not be as good at. Also, almost everyone, even some people who don't know me, even know that I'm super caring, and compassionate, sympathetic, and how I care about other peoples problems more than my own! I thought that was insane how the Pisces qualities were able to pinpoint mine like that.

In Romeo and Juliet, reoccurring thoughts and predictions are made from the characters. Especially in act three when Romeo continuously is bringing up his death after killing Tybalt. When Romeo says "and sayest thou yet that exile is not death? Hadst thou no poison mixed, no sharp- ground knife." in 3.3,45-46 this pretty much is summing up Romeo and Juliet's death and how they die. Though this doesn't really relate to zodiac signs the zodiac signs and the characters predetermined fates relate because they both determine what will be before it happens just like the zodiac sign predicts a person character before birth.

Culture Shock

Okay, so seeing as there's no possible way to use the Taylor Swift song for my reference of Romeo and Juliet to modern day culture... I came across the reality of peoples expectations for what a relationship should be like. For example, in the song Check Yes Juliet by We the Kings, is an example of someone looking for a happily ever after with someone else. Peoples minds have been caught up in fairy tails expecting that a relationship with someone else should be absolutely perfect. But in all honesty, they're anything but perfect and involve plenty of struggles. But peoples minds have been influenced. Influenced by media, and movies such as Cinderela, or any other Walt Disney movie that involves a princess. These fairy tails are what all girls dream of at some point. Whether it's when their a little girl or even while growing up. But through Romeo and Juliet it pervades the actuality of life. Though it may not seem like it, I've realized a deeper meaning that's within the play Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet start off as if they are going to live happily ever after, how they first meet! Love at first sight!! But if it weren't for their parents, love would be so much easier. And in the end, they end up dying. This shows how lives expectations for happily ever afters and fairy tales never really live up to the hopes we have for a perfect relationship. All of what Romeo and Juliet is about tells us that life isn't a fairy tail and we shouldn't live off of those hopes of a happily ever after that may one day come true.

Great Expectations Skit Ideas

• In Chapter 49 when Miss Havisham is sitting by the fire and catches her old wedding dress on fire and Pip uses his greatcoat to try to put the fire out and ends up burning his hands.
• I personally liked the scene in Chapter 54 when Compeyson and Abel are thrown overboard together but Abel ends up getting away. I'm not sure how this would be acted out, I just thought it would be interesting to see what ideas people came up with.
• I also thought the scene when Pip is being held captive by Old Orlick in the dark and empty sluice house when Orlick is threatening to kill him for revenge and to burn him in the limekiln so that there would be no evadence or remains of Pip's body so no one would suspect a thing of Orlick.

Another Question

So after finding out that Abel Magwitch is Pip's benefactor I became confused as to why Abel decided to help Pip out and what specifically he was trying to do for Pip in Ch. 40. I'm pretty sure I understand why he's trying to help Pip, because he's trying to repay Pip for helping him when Pip was a lot younger. But what I don't get is whether he's just trying to provide money for Pip or if his intentions for Pip's benefits are bigger and having a wider meaning behind them. Like if he also wants Pip to grow in maturity or if he just wants to provide support financially so that he can be moved to a higher class in his social status.